News for New Kent County and Charles City County, Virginia | September 22, 2026
Local News
Briefly… for November 1-14, 2012
Church camp in NK safe for now Makemie Woods, the Presbyterian church camp located near Barhamsville in New Kent County, is no longer facing the prospect of closing, at least not for now. As reported in the Oct. 4 Chronicle, the camp’s fate rested in the hands of officials from the Presbytery of Eastern Virginia during an Oct. 23 vote. The Rev. Mike Burcher, Makemie Woods’ director, said in an Oct. 26 e-mail that the camp will remain open with a full summer camping program in 2013 along with retreats on a limited basis that can be supported by part-time…
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Defendants accept plea deals in NK
Several defendants accepted plea deals in New Kent Circuit Court on Oct. 22. The defendants and charges to which they pleaded guilty are: –Christopher Ray Burney, 30, of 6030 Hunting Creek Drive, North Chesterfield, on one count of possession of heroin. Under the plea agreement, Burney received a 10-year jail sentence with all but one year suspended. –Frances Adrienne Thames (also known as Frances Adrienne Haskin), 29, of 2965 Nairn Court, Douglasville, Ga., on an amended charge of misdemeanor distribution of marijuana. Two counts of felony child abuse were dropped. The incident occurred on May 5, 2011, when Thames was…
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Expect hefty fine, judge warns female motorcyclist
A Charles City woman received a stern warning from Judge Thomas B. Hoover during Charles City Circuit Court last Friday. Betsie Branham Pierotti, 43, of 2020 CC Road, accepted a plea agreement from Commonwealth’s Attorney Rob Tyler to plead guilty on one count of felony eluding police and one count of misdemeanor reckless driving. Under the agreement, the felony charge will be reduced to a misdemeanor if Pierotti completes 100 community service hours prior to her sentencing date next year. In a summary of evidence, Tyler explained that last July 22, Pierotti was speeding on a motorcycle while traveling south…
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Regional technical center in NK dedicated amid fanfare
School officials from New Kent, Charles City, and other surrounding counties celebrated the official dedication of the Bridging Communities Regional Career & Technical Center last Sunday. Festivities started off inside New Kent High School where New Kent superintendent of schools Rick Richardson spoke on the history that the new facility has made. “This is the first regional career and technical center approved by the state Board of Education in 25 years,” said Richardson. “We are also distinguished as we are the 14th government STEM academy in the state.” The center offers seven programs in half-day classes. Those programs are criminal…
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Rescue squad’s decision catches NK officials off guard
An ongoing squabble between New Kent officials and Providence Forge Volunteer Rescue Squad over the squad’s permit to operate in the county reached new heights last week. Squad members took out a paid advertisement in another publication to announce the organization was immediately ending emergency medical service in New Kent and turning its attention to Charles City County (The same ad appears today on page 4). In the ad, squad officials said their action resulted from unwillingness on the part of New Kent officials to work with them in ironing out details for renewing the squad’s operational permit. The move…
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At long last, revised land use plan adopted in New Kent
New Kent’s Board of Supervisors unanimously adopted the county’s comprehensive land use plan at the group’s meeting on Oct. 9. Supervisors removed references to Urban Development Areas (UDA) from the document due to recent legislation passed by the General Assembly making UDA designations optional in localities’ land use plans. Before addressing the final vote and editorial changes, the only public comment came from James Poole, who questioned language remaining in the document that he said appeared similar to the definition of an UDA. “I think the board overlooked a few pages,” he said, pointing to specific pages in the document….
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Theft scheme labeled ‘creative,’ but lands pair behind bars
Even New Kent commonwealth’s attorney Linwood Gregory admitted that a theft scheme by two co-defendants constituted something creative. But in the end, creativity scored no points as both co-defendants accepted plea deals from the commonwealth during New Kent Circuit Court trials on Monday. Cassandra Lucette Green, 48, of 3314 Jefferson Davis Highway, Richmond, and Rosoda Demond Satchell, 31, of 3411 Jefferson Davis Highway, Richmond, both pleaded guilty to credit card theft stemming from incidents occurring at the Pilot in the Talleysville area of New Kent. In a summary of evidence by Gregory, Satchell and Green showed up at the convenience…
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Financial data impasse of concern to CC School Board
Charles City School Board members are feeling frustrated about having limited access to financial data. The factor that makes it more concerning is that the data is their own. Board members spoke at Tuesday night’s meeting about the lack of access to computer data to help with their budgeting for the current school year, as well as closing out last year. Those concerns have caused problems in the financial department according to school board finance director David Papenfuse. “We’re basically submitting information to the state based on numbers I’ve worked up,” said Papenfuse. Papenfuse and superintendent of schools Janet Crawley…
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Briefly… for Oct. 18-Nov. 1
Two local post offices face time cuts In a cost-cutting move, the U.S. Postal Service has announced plans to reduce hours of operation at what it deems smaller local post offices, and it appears that measure will apply to the Barhamsville Post Office in New Kent County and the Ruthville Post Office in Charles City County. Barhamsville postmaster Naomi Fudge said she is aware that hourly cuts are on the horizon, but she has not received specific information on how many hours from postal officials. Ruthville postmaster Alexis Arnold echoed Fudge’s comments, adding she expects that reductions could go into…
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Charles City woman found guilty in animal cruelty case
A Charles City County woman who was responsible for the care of several horses on rental property will now be barred from any interaction with horses for the next two years. Rhiannan Vitiello, 27, of 9500 Sturgeon Point Road, was found guilty on four misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty in Charles City Circuit Court on Tuesday afternoon. During opening testimony, Charles City animal control officer Frank Bates said that he reported to the residence of Harrison Ruffin on The Glebe Lane on Oct. 5, 2011, in response to complaints from passersby and neighbors on the poor condition of the horses….
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