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A2 BSH crowns Homecoming King and Queen
Powhatan, Virginia C Vote for your favorite Powhatan businesses
Vol. XXXI No. 16
October 18, 2017
Woodson — the winningest!
PHOTO BY ANJIE KAY
Powhatan High School football coach Jim Woodson reacts after being dunked with water in celebration by senior quarterback Noah Dowdy (7) following the Indians 35-0 win over Fluvanna on Oct. 13 at Powhatan High School. The win was Woodson’s 275th career victory as a head coach, which gave him the most wins all-time among Virginia High School League football coaches in the history of the Richmond area. Woodson had been tied with Roger Brookes, who coached at King William and Henrico high schools. All 275 wins for Woodson have come as head coach for Powhatan, the high school where he played as a student-athlete and was inspired to become a coach. For more about the win and Woodson’s legacy, head to Page 1B.
Unlicensed day care provider pleads guilty to child neglect in 2016 death of Powhatan infant News Editor
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CHE STE RFIE LD – An unlicensed Chesterfield County day care provider pleaded guilty last week to child neglect in a 2016 case that involved the death of a 3-monthold Powhatan boy but had several more serious charges against her withdrawn. In an agreement reached with the Chesterfield Commonwealth’ s Attorney’ s Office, Carrie Persichini, 53, of Chesterfield, pleaded guilty on Thursday, Oct. 12 in Chesterfield County Circuit Court to two felony counts of child neglect and a misde-
meanor charge of operating a business without a state license. Persichini was caring for Peter Hitt, 3 PERSICHINI months, of Powhatan, and as many as 15 other children, including other siblings, in her home when he died on Aug. 23, 2016. Deputy commonwealth’ s attorney Frank LaRuffa said it was the second day Peter and his siblings were in Persichini’ s care. She also was originally charged with involuntary manslaughter, child abuse/ neglect, and two counts of child endangerment. Of the two child neglect charges she pleaded guilty to, one was in reference to Peter’ s twin sister. Chesterfield Circuit J udge David E . J ohnson accepted Persichini’ s guilty pleas on the three
charges, but when LaRuffa said he was withdrawing the other charges, which had not yet been mentioned, the j udge asked for an explanation. He later said he wanted it on the record for the family of the victim. LaRuffa told the court on Oct. 12 that — since Peter’ s autopsy did not conclusively reveal how he died — it would have been difficult to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Persichini’ s actions directly led to serious inj ury in this case. Dr. J ennifer Bowers, assistant chief medical examiner for the State Office of the Chief Medical E xaminer, had testified during a preliminary hearing on May 16 that she performed the autopsy on Peter and ruled his death a case of sudden unexpected infant death (SU ID) associated with unsafe sleep conditions. She said that, in a case like this, there can be natural and environmental factors that see GUILTY, pg. 3 }
Student charged with felony for making threats to high school By Laura McFarland News Editor
POWHATAN – The Powhatan County Sheriff' s Office arrested and charged a Powhatan High School student in relation to a credible threat made on Wednesday, Oct. 11 against the school on social media. The male student was charged with making threats to commit serious bodily harm to persons on school property, which is a
Class 6 felony, according to a statement released on Thursday, Oct. 12 by Anne G . Reynolds, crime analyst. The student is male and a Powhatan County resident but no other identification was given because he is a j uvenile. A statement released by Powhatan County Public Schools to parents about the incident on the morning of Oct. 12 originally called it a “ vague threat” and said the “ threat see THREAT pg. 4 }
Lake Louise gets a second chance at life
PHOTO BY LAURA MCFARLAND
Residents of the Red Lane Subdivision worked hard to fix Lake Louise and are now eager for the rain needed to fill it.
By Laura McFarland News Editor
P
OWHATAN – For almost two years, many of the residents of the Powhatan County neighborhood that saw its beautiful lake drained were dreaming of the day when it would be fixed. Now, they are only hoping for enough rain to show that their dream has come true. Lake Louise, located in the Red Lane Subdivision, drained of almost all of its water on the morning of Oct. 17, 2015, and several dedicated neighbors have spent much of the time since then figuring out first how they could fix it and then how to fund the effort. All of that hard work was finally realiz ed when a contractor repaired a damaged culvert at the end of September, said J oe Washington, a resident since 1976 of Lake Louise Drive. “ Over the years it was a little tough at times, but I can say once everybody put their hearts and minds into it, we moved forward and things started to fall into place,” he said. Although it might not be as visible to people who aren’ t familiar with the lake since it has become so overgrown in the last almost two years, Wingding Davis, a resident since 1988 of Lake Louise Drive, said he has been watching it closely and could already spot small pockets of water building up. “ It’ s exciting to see it going back; to watch the process that happened was great,” Davis said of watching the repair work being done.
Long road back A core group of neigh-
bors worked together since the lake drained to figure out how to get it fixed. They believed if they could only fix the culvert that is designed to keep the lake at a certain level, nature would take over and its tributaries combined with some good rain could refill Lake Louise, Washington said. At first the residents weren’ t sure how to get the lake fixed, especially when they realiz ed the difficulty in figuring out who owned
“It’s exciting to see it going back; to watch the process that happened was great.” Wingding Davis Resident it and thus was responsible for the repairs. The homeowners’ deeds showed that their property comes up to the water’ s edge and follows the edge of the water. At the time, the lake had a listed owner of the Red Lane Land Corporation, but it had dissolved in 1983 and had not turned the lake over to the county or state. Nor did the subdivision ever form a neighborhood association. There are 15 plats, or individual properties, that border some part of the lake with some people owning more than one lot and some lots not developed. However, Lake Louise is not a private lake, as many people think, and even has a portion accessible along Moutainview Road that is accessible to the public, see LAKE, pg. 4 }
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