50¢
Powhatan, Virginia
The hometown paper of N.N. Reams
Vol. XXV No. 44
Gang member pleads guilty to murder
October 19, 2011
pour! et it po
L
This weekend’s 9th annual Festival of the Grape promises plenty of food, music and, of course, vino in Powhatan’s Village. See page 2A.
Richmond man was charged with fatally shooting one man and wounding another in Powhatan last May
“What I try to do is provide a service. Somebody may not want to buy or sell their gold, so they can pawn it. They can get a little bit of money.” Kevin Penrose, owner of Powhatan’s American Family Pawn
By Mark Bowes Media General News Service
A member of the Bloods gang pleaded guilty last Friday to fatally shooting a fellow member and critically wounding another in a late-night ambush in May near a Confederate cemetery in eastern Powhatan County. Joe Lewis Harris III, 19, of Richmond, pleaded guilty in Harris Powhatan Circuit Court to first-degree murder in the slaying of Dante J. Holloway, 23, and to malicious wounding in the shooting of Jerry Wilkerson, who survived the attack. Powhatan Circuit Judge Paul W. Cella accepted the pleas and convicted Harris, who will be sentenced this year. “It is believed that the motive for the shootings was related to an internal dispute within the Bloods street gang,” Powhatan Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert B. Beasley Jr. said in a
PHOTO BY EMILY DARRELL
American Family Pawn’s Kevin Penrose, left, examines some iPods Whitney Barker brought in to pawn.
see Murder page 5A
Candidates will have their say at Oct. 26 forum All candidates running in this year’s Powhatan County election will have a chance to share their views during a Candidates Night at Powhatan High School on Oct. 26. The event, which will be sponsored by the Powhatan Chamber of Commerce and the county Teachers Association, will begin at 7 p.m. All candidates, including those who are running unopposed, will be given around four minutes to make a presentation. The forum is meant simply to allow candidates to share their ideas, say organizers, not to push any particular agenda. “This is a neutral event,” said Chamber Director Tina Bustos. “Just for informational purposes.”
Pawn shop life is not quite ‘as seen on TV,’ says owner Kevin Penrose says most customers are simply trying to make ends meet in tough economy
only pawn shop to exist in Powhatan in recent memory. Barker and Wagner dropped in to the shop, pawned three iPods for a mere $30 – “It was all they asked for,” said owner Kevin Penrose – and were on their way to Meherrin. By Emily Darrell “We’ll be back,” Wagner said. The Staff Writer couple planned to get the iPods out of hock as soon as they cashed the settlement check. hitney Barker, a According to a 2010 survey taken Longwood Univerby the National Pawnbrokers Associasity senior, and her fiancé, tion (NPA), the average pawn amount Randy Wagner, came into is $100 and the average pawn shop customer tends to borrow only what he some luck last Thursday. or she needs. A settlement check they’d been The NPA reports that there are waiting on – from a car accident currently around 13,000 pawn shops Barker was involved in – had finally become available. They only needed to across the nation, and for those without access to credit, the low dollar collatdrive from their home in Chesterfield eral loans offered by pawn shops can to Meherrin, a village about 18 miles be seen as their only option for immesouth of Farmville, to pick it up. There was one glitch, however. The diate cash. “Banks right now aren’t giving young couple didn’t have the gas loans out and pawn shops are becommoney to get there. ing more and more popular,” Penrose Enter American Family Pawn, which opened on Route 60 just east of said. “Plus, right now, with the cost of Flat Rock last week. American Family gold going up as high as it is, it’s not Pawn is currently the only pawn shop only pawn shops, but also a lot of these in Powhatan County, and is, in fact, the
W
Inside A8-9 Election 2011 District 5 BOS candidates share goals for Powhatan’s future.
‘We-Just-Buy-Gold’ places. They’re popping up like 7-11 stores; there’s one on every corner. But they don’t provide a service. They just buy. What I try to do is provide a service. Somebody may not want to buy or sell their gold, so they can pawn it. They can get a little bit of money.” Penrose, a native of Detroit, has worked in the pawn industry for more than 20 years, mostly in Richmond. He chose Powhatan as his business location for several reasons. For one, he wanted a large lot, not a space in a strip mall, so that he could accept RV’s, automobiles, boats, and other large items. Penrose was also attracted by the fact that he did not have to pay the hefty $1,500 application fee that Chesterfield County requires of any aspiring pawn shop owner. With Pawn Stars and Hardcore Pawn being two of the most popular shows currently on cable TV, it seems that pawn shops are having something of a cultural moment. Penrose doesn’t expect, however, American Family Pawn to be anything
A11 Soggy weather couldn’t do in 4th Fridays Looking back on the third--and most challenging-- season of the much-loved county music series.
see Pawn page 5A
Index Calendar A4 Letters A12 Classified B8-11 Opinion A12 Local Briefs A2 Quotes A2 Crossword A13 Real Estate B10 Horoscope A13 TV Listings B12-13