Inside A8 Residents still fighting for Louise
Powhatan, Virginia
B1 Post 201’s Juniors come up short in doubleheader
Vol. XXX No. 27
July 12, 2017
Residents forming internet cooperative By Laura McFarland News Editor
P
OWHATAN – A group of concerned residents unhappy with the current state of broadband access in Powhatan County or even the possibilities coming its way in the future have banded together and decided to do something about it. Several local residents recently formed the Powhatan Internet Cooperative with the goal of joining residents and business owners together in a cooperative relationship to bring fiber optic broadband access to the county, said Corey Hitt, one of the interim board members. It was announced in May that SCS Broadband, the internet provider that local government had partnered with to bring greater broadband access to the county, would begin to make its presence felt in July in Powhatan. But the residents behind Powhatan Internet Cooperative do not believe that the fixed wireless broadband system that
will make up the bulk of SCS’s coverage will be effective in Powhatan, Hitt said. “It’s not reliable. You don’t see companies hooking up service to wireless. They hook them up to fiber. I don’t have confidence in wireless, and I think a lot of people already don’t. A lot of people have had exposure to wireless services,” he said. Instead, by utilizing Powhatan citizens, organizers of the cooperative want to train a workforce to build, operate and maintain a fiber optic network, he said. Any member of the cooperative, or co-op, would be an owner in the enterprise with a vote equal to any other member, he said. Currently the group is more of a “vision” than a formalized entity because it does not yet have State Corporation Commission (SCC) registration, nonprofit certification or a business license in Powhatan, Hitt said. He described making it a viable entity in three phases: formation, feasibility, and foundation.
PHOTO BY LAURA MCFARLAND
Powhatan residents work on a video they will use on the website for Powhatan Internet Cooperative, a company they are trying to start with community support to bring fiber optic broadband access to the county.
The group officially formed in June and started the process on some of the permitting required. It also launched a website, www.powhatancoop.org, to explain to people what it is about. The group has started a GoFundMe campaign at www.go-
fundme.com/powhatanco-op to raise $1,500 to help put the certifications and permitting in place so that it can move on to its next step, which would be a feasibility study about bringing fiber to the county, he said. To pay for the study, which could cost anywhere from $15,000 to
$80,000, he said the group wants to hold one or more fundraising events, such as a gaming tournament in the fall. The third step, foundation, is about building a facility in Powhatan, which ideally would supsee INTERNET, pg. 4
G O O D E FA M I LY L E A D S M A RC H I N D OW N TOW N R I C H M O N D By Laura McFarland News Editor
POWHATAN – Powhatan native Norris Goode Jr., who survived a fight in 2016 that ended with a blade broken off in his brain, took his fight for justice to the streets of Richmond last week. Goode and Phillip Thompson, who is the criminal justice chair for the NAACP Virginia State Conference, led a group of about 40 protestors in an action on Friday, July 7 to petition key officials in state government asking for
PHOTO BY LAURA MCFARLAND
Above, Norris Goode Jr. and Phillip Thompson hand a petition in at the Supreme Court of Virginia. Left, about 40 others offered support.
Prsrt. Standard U.S. POSTAGE PAID Powhatan, VA Permit No.19
see MARCH, pg. 3
Priest faces charge of Williams turns recycling into art By Laura McFarland second DUI offense By Laura McFarland News Editor
POWHATAN – A drunk driving case against one of Powhatan County’s prominent faith leaders has been LEWIS continued with a trial date now set in September. Father Walter G. Lewis, 64, of Powhatan, who is the priest at St. John Neumann Catholic Church, was set to appear in Powhatan County General District Court on Friday, July 7 for a misdemeanor charge of driving while intoxicated, second offense in five to 10 years, according to court documents. However, the bench trial has been continued by agreement from the defense and the commonwealth’s attorney’s office until Friday, Sept. 29. The charge against Lewis stems from a traffic stop made at 10:23 p.m. on June 6 by a Powhatan County deputy. In the complaint filed in court, see DUI, pg. 4
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