08/03/2016

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Inside A6 Teens offer service to Powhatan horse farm

Powhatan, Virginia B1 Powhatan swimmers perform well at CHAMPS

Vol. XXIX No. 31

August 3, 2016

Sheriff’s office holds community meeting By Laura McFarland News Editor

and took questions from the audience. Nunnally said he wants

to hold similar community nights at least once or twice a year to stay in touch with

the community, find out how his department is meeting residents’ needs,

P

OWHATAN – Powhatan County Sheriff Brad Nunnally took another step in what he says is an effort to better the relationship between his department and residents when he held a community night last week. More than 40 community members attended the event on Thursday, July 28, in which Nunnally and several high ranking members of the Powhatan County Sheriff’s Office spoke about their current efforts

PHOTOS BY LAURA MCFARLAND

Powhatan County Sheriff Brad Nunnally invited the public to come to a community night on July 28 to discuss law enforcement in the county.

and learn what still needs to done. “That is what tonight is about. We want to present some information, but we want to get some information back. We would like to hear concerns. We would like to hear what is going well, and maybe what you think could be done better. So, don’t be shy; we certainly aren’t,” Nunnally told the crowd. Nunnally, several of his deputies and Rob Cerullo, deputy commonwealth’s attorney, took turns updating the people in attendance on what the office has done or plans to do going for-

ward. The sheriff made the point that law enforcement officers have a unique job because of the diversity of their responsibilities to the public. “We work for you, we work with you and at times we work because of you, and that is a balancing act,” he said. “We work for you because you elect us, you pay our salaries and we are to represent you in what you expect in law enforcement. We work with you when a crime occurs to you and we help investigate it and find out who did it. And see SHERIFF page 9A

Restored voter rights stripped again News Editor

POWHATAN – Powhatan County registrar Karen Alexander and her counterparts across the state ended July with a week of uncertainty as they slowly received direction on how to proceed after the Supreme Court of Virginia voted to strike down Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s executive order restoring civil rights to 206,000 felons. On Friday, July 22, the court declared in a 4-3 ruling that McAuliffe’s order was unconstitutional, saying it amounts to a unilateral rewrite and suspension of the state’s policy of lifetime disenfranchisement for felons. The civil rights restored by the executive order were the rights to vote, to hold public office, to serve on a jury, and to act as a notary public. Voting rights are the area

FILE PHOTO BY LAURA MCFARLAND

Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s restoration of civil rights to felons was overturned by the Virginia Supreme Court. Now the Department of Elections and local registrars are dealing with the aftermath.

that have garnered the most attention in recent months. The court gave Edgardo Cortés,

commissioner of the Virginia Department of Elections, until Thursday, Aug. 25, to require the statewide deletion from list of registered voters of the names of convicted felons who have been “invalidly registered” under McAuliffe’s executive order on April 22 and subsequent orders on, May 31 and June 24. As of the week of the ruling, 11,662 felons had registered to vote under McAuliffe’s orders. Alexander said about 40 convicted felons in Powhatan County had their rights restored and registered to vote under the executive order. There were also four cases under review. Each application had to be checked to make sure the felon met the requirements, which were that they had completed their sentences and supervised release, or probation, she said. see RIGHTS page 2A

PHOTO BY LAURA MCFARLAND

Girls in the Tech Divas Summer Camp watch a 3D printer making jewelry they designed.

Tech Divas Summer Camp encourages young girls to code By Laura McFarland

Prsrt. Standard U.S. POSTAGE PAID Powhatan, VA Permit No.19

News Editor

Board of Supervisors gives four constitutional officers raises By Laura McFarland

DELIVER TO: Postal Patron Powhatan, VA 23139

News Editor

POWHATAN – The final and most low-key vote of last week’s Powhatan County Board of Supervisors meeting was also one with the most history behind it. After coming out of a closed session near the end of their meeting on Monday, July 25, board members held two votes that passed 4-1, including a motion to grant four out of five of Powhatan’s constitutional officers a 2 percent pay raise. The vote gave raises to the county’s treasurer, commissioner of the revenue, sheriff and commonwealth’s attorney. David Williams, who represents District 1, was the only board member to vote against the motion, which excluded Teresa Hash Dobbins, clerk of the Pow-

hatan County Circuit Court, from receiving the raise. The other vote that passed 4-1 authorized a $7,000 one-time supplement to the salary of Jamie Timberlake, commissioner of the revenue, in connection with him achieving a Master Commissioner of Revenue designation in December 2014. Williams was also the lone vote against this motion. All of the salary increases became effective on July 1. The board adjourned without discussing the two motions or the members’ reasons for voting the way they did. However, several county employees and elected officials answered questions about the issue in the days following the meeting.

see RAISES page 6A

P

OWHATAN – In one corner of the room, three girls huddled around a 3D printer, watching the musical note pendant slowly taking shape, layer by layer. Nearby, a young girl added another bit of code to make the horse on her video game jump. Out in the hallway, two girls acted out a scene from a short movie they were creating using a green screen while another girl filmed them. The footage would soon be edited together and images placed behind them to add to the storyline. And this was only Day two of the Tech Divas Summer Camp, held last week at Pow-

“You have better things to do”

hatan High School. A group of 25 girls in second to eighth grade spent July 25 to 28 exploring technology in fun and interesting ways through the camp, Blythe Samuels, instructor, said. Now in its second year, the camp exposes girls to technology in a supportive and stimulating environment that approaches things like computers, coding, and programming using activities they find engaging, she said. “I would like to create a community for these girls and support them through their education so they know they can do anything they want to do and they are supported. I don’t want them to lose that confidence,” Samuels said. see TECH page 3A

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By Laura McFarland


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08/03/2016 by Powhatan Today - Issuu