A war of words that has been escalating in recent months between Charles City school officials and a handful of persistent school system critics erupted into a full-blown confrontation at last week’s School Board meeting. Critics reacted angrily after the board voted to amend future agendas by permanently removing a portion of its monthly meetings set aside for public comment on non-agenda items. The measure goes into effect at the board’s May meeting. In the furor that ensued, board chairman Roy Campbell ordered one critic to leave the speaker’s podium and sit down and ejected another from the meeting. No…
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When her Lady Trojans fell behind 2-0 against Bruton, a team they had easily beaten earlier in the softball season, New Kent coach Betsey Lane feared a high school rite of spring had become a factor. “I was thinking to myself that if this is the ‘prom curse,’ I’m going to scream. We have a history of not playing well before prom,” she said, pointing to the event that was scheduled the day after last Friday’s Bay Rivers District contest. But her team shook off the so-called prom effect to move in front with a four-run fourth inning. From there,…
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Brian Wyatt won two events while Kierra Brooks captured one to highlight Charles City’s performance in an April 13 track meet with visiting teams from Lancaster, Mathews, Washington & Lee, and Rappahannock. Both Charles City 4×100 meter relay teams posted triumphs. Wyatt won the 110-meter hurdles in 19.1 and took the 300 intermediates in 45.7. Brooks, meanwhile, placed first at 100 meters in 13.04. The girls’ relay team won in 54.8 while the boys prevailed in 46.4. The boys placed third overall with 76 points while the girls took fourth with 56. Lancaster’s 90 points won the boys’ meet. Rappahannock…
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New Kent’s Lady Trojans had little difficulty in finding shots opportunities in the early going against Northumberland’s visiting Indians. Problem was, none found the goal. But that began to change at the first half’s midpoint when the hosts’ Ashley Pierce broke the scoring ice. From there, the Lady Trojans rolled to a 5-1 victory last Thursday, upping their record to 3-3-1. “We had trouble putting the ball in the goal, but Ashley scored and we started rolling after that,” said Lady Trojan coach Chad Honeycutt. “That’s been a problem for us all season. We seem to have trouble finishing,” he…
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New Kent’s Trojans managed a 1-0 lead in an evenly played first half, but the hosts dominated after the break to top Smithfield’s Packers 3-0 and gain their first Bay Rivers District soccer win. With the April 16 outcome, New Kent improved to 1-2 in district play and 2-3-1 overall. “The ball just kind of bounced our way a lot more tonight,” Trojan coach Clinton Leckie said. “We were able to put a lot of pressure on them and marked them tight. “Then our defense locked it in pretty well,” he added. “We didn’t just stand around and watch tonight.”…
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Charles City’s Panthers pushed across four first inning runs and eventually built a 6-0 lead at the expense of Amelia’s visiting Raiders. The hosts then turned back late Raider rally attempts on the way to a 9-5 non-district baseball win. The April 14 triumph evened Charles City’s record at 2-2 and avenged an earlier 8-1 setback on the Raiders’ home field. “We hit the ball a little bit better than we did the last time,” Panther coach Irving Bradby said, pointing to his team’s eight hits. “This helps us build a little confidence,” he said. “We’ve cut back on errors…
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New Kent’s Trojans had two goals in mind when King William’s Cavaliers came visiting for a non-district soccer contest last Friday — avenging a 4-0 early season setback and ending the Cavaliers’ unbeaten string at six games. They accomplished both. First, the Trojans got an early goal from Jared Dickerson. Then after the visitors knotted the contest in the second half, Billy Boyer drove in the game-winner with just over two minutes left to hand New Kent a 2-1 upset. “Our guys really wanted to win this one bad,” Trojan coach Clinton Leckie said after his team improved to 3-4-1….
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An incident where a Charles City elementary-age student carried a firearm to school is prompting county school officials to authorize walk-through and handheld metal detectors for all three county schools. On March 8, a student at Charles City Elementary School brought a .22-caliber semiautomatic handgun to school. The student, described only as a boy in the lower grades, showed the weapon to another child. That student reported the incident to school staff. School Superintendent Janet Crawley labeled the weapon as “inoperable” while discussing the incident during the April 20 School Board meeting. “We shudder to think what would have happened…
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New Kent residents get their chance to weigh in on the county’s proposed $55 million budget for fiscal 2010-11 during a May 10 public hearing. The budget proposal hinges on a 70 cents per $100 of assessed value real estate tax rate, but supervisors have the option of lowering the figure before taking final action. By law, supervisors cannot raise the rate. Supervisors made no adjustments to the proposal during yesterday’s work session other than to announce the board plans to discuss on May 10 a list of potential amendments forwarded by District 4 representative Stran Trout. Trout is recommending…
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Charles City supervisors have taken to heart county residents’ comments by incorporating several suggestions made during last week’s budget public hearing into the final, approved document. And the board has dropped a proposed real estate tax hike by 2 cents. Tuesday night, supervisors approved a $20.1 million budget for fiscal 2010-11. They also adopted a 68-cent real estate tax rate for next year, a figure that is down 2 cents from the 70 cents per $100 of assessed value rate advertised for the public hearing. Earlier, County Administrator Jack Miniclier had proposed a 4-cent tax hike with one penny dedicated…
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