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Powhatan, Virginia
The hometown paper of Jim Cox
Vol. XXVI No. 39
September 19, 2012
Injuries, lack of consistency work against Knights in loss to Blue Ridge. See page 1B
Forum brings together residents, officers
HAIL TO THE CHIEF
Man faces up to 5 years for stealing tan lotion Cumberland man found guilty of felony for taking $10 item from spa
NAACP-sponsored event offered chance to speak frankly about topics such as racial profiling
By Emily Darrell Staff Writer
By Emily Darrell Staff Writer
Racial profiling: It’s a sticky subject if ever there was one. Ask most police officers about the practice and they’ll likely tell you their department explicitly forbids it; they’ll also probably be telling the truth, as many jurisdictions officially condemn the practice. However, just because profiling is officially prohibited by many, if not most, modern-day police departments, that doesn’t necessarily mean it doesn’t go on. And even if it didn’t go on, it wouldn’t change the fact that many members of minority communities have an inherent distrust of law enforcement. Last week the Powhatan chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) held a forum titled “You and the Law,” in which four local law enforcement officials were invited to participate in a panel discussion on how citizens – particularly young people of color – can learn how to have better, safer, more pleasant interactions with law enforcement. Many of the around two dozen attendees – most of whom were middle-aged or older – had stories to share of times that they themselves, or their loved ones, were stopped, questioned, or pulled over by police for reasons they felt were not entirely legitimate. One woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, recalled a time a few months back that she and two friends were canvassing for a political candidate in a Powhatan subdivision. They were driving in a car with a New York license plate and were, acsee Meeting page 3A
PHOTO BY EMILY DARRELL
Powhatan artist Mark Staples created Chief Powhatan to honor the legendary figure the county was named for.
Artist completes tribute to Chief Powhatan
pleases his wife, he says, who is always dent; sculptor; painter; native of Victoria, urging him to make things that are “more Va.; husband of Diana; thrower of annual fun.” oyster roasts; co-director of the MichauxWhen: He started the project in May St. James Foundation; and owner of Richand put the finishing touches on the Chief mond-based Staples Fine Art, a printmakearlier this month. From start to finish he ing reproduction company. says the sculpture took around 150 manWhat: Staples recently completed an hours. It also took him about a year of approximately 10-foot, 800-pound statue practice, he said, to properly pronounce depicting Chief Powhatan doing a “sky Powhatan’s proper name, Wahunsenadance.” Powhatan was the chief of the Tse- cawh. nacommacah, an alliance of the AlgonWhere: You can see Chief Powhatan quin-speaking tribes of Virginia. Chief displayed at the corner of the Staples’ propPowhatan is also well-known as the father erty at the corner of Old River Trail and of Pocahontas, and was, as Staples puts it Maidens Rd. in northern Powhatan. The “no friend of the white man.” Like most of Staples’ work, the statue is in an abstract property serves not only as the couple’s style – although Staples says this is actusee Chief page 5A ally one of his more realistic pieces. This
Who: Mark Staples— Powhatan resi-
Jason Holbrook Saunders, a 37-year-old Cumberland man, was found guilty of larceny in a bench trial held in Powhatan Circuit Court on Friday. Although Saunders was convicted of shoplifting an item valued at less than $10 – a travel-sized bottle of tanextending lotion – he was charged with a felony, as he has two prior larceny offenses. According to court testimony, Saunders accompanied his mother one day last April to the Club West Med Spa in Midlothian, where she went for a spray tan. After Saunders and his mother left the spa, employees noticed a bottle of lotion missing from a shelf. A Powhatan Sheriff’s Deputy then contacted Saunders about the missing lotion and both he and his mother claimed it may have accidentally fallen into her purse. Commonwealth’s Attorney Bob Beasley called the mother’s testimony – in which she reiterated the purse theory –“the biggest heap of garbage I think I’ve ever smelled.” Saunders will re-appear in court in October for sentencing. He faces up to five years in the penitentiary.
Man sentenced to six months in jail for probation violation Powhatan resident Matthew Drinkard was sentenced to six months in jail on Friday in Powhatan Circuit Court for a probation violation. Drinkard had been on probation since he was convicted in September see Court page 3A
Inside
Sports
Index
A4 Powhatan Fare Passion for cooking nets Powhatan woman a brand new career.
B2 Catch them if you can Powhatan Cross county teams posted impressive finishes at recent Collegiate meet.
Calendar A9 Horoscope Classified B8-9 Letters Crime Report A2 Opinion Crossword A11 Quotes Extra Points B1 Real Estate
A11 A10 A10 A2 B10