news March 30-April 5, 2022 Smoky Mountain News 16
Application window extended for $350m grant to expand internet in rural N.C. The N.C. Department of Information Technology today announced that qualified internet service providers and electric membership cooperatives providing internet service now have through May 4 to apply for up to $350 million in grants to expand broadband infrastructure in North Carolina. This round of the Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology grant program uses American Rescue Plan Act funds to provide matching grants to broadband providers that compete for funding to expand access to highspeed internet service to unserved households, businesses and farms. Organizations and counties across the state have expressed interest in participating in the GREAT Grant program, and several have requested additional time to meet the conditions required by the program’s authorizing legislation and federal rules. “The grant program encourages partnerships between local governments and broadband providers to best leverage available federal funding. We are extending the application window to allow more time for county governments and internet service providers to create these partnerships and maximize the benefit to North Carolina residents,” said NCDIT Secretary and State Chief Information Officer James Weaver. “We want to fund as many eligible projects as possible so more North Carolinians can connect, learn and work online. This extra time will allow applicants to work through the grant conditions with their partners.” Interested applicants should continue to review the GREAT Grant Guidance document and FAQs at www.ncbroadband.gov/grants/gre at-grant-federal/great-grant-20212022 and the NC OneMap GREAT Grant Mapping Tool and Online Mapping Tool Help Document at www.nconemap.gov/pages/broadb and for any updates. Once all eligible GREAT Grant applications have been reviewed and scored, NCDIT will begin awarding grants on a rolling basis to expedite critical broadband infrastructure projects across the state. Additional details on the GREAT Grant are at ncbroadband.gov/grants/greatgrant-federal.
Sylva man pleads guilty in Jan. 6 riots BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER Sylva man arrested for his involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., pleaded guilty last week to a felony charge. Lewis Easton Cantwell, 36, entered the plea during a March 24 Zoom hearing before U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. While the crime, Civil Disorder and Aiding and Abetting, carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, $250,000 in fines and one year of supervised release, sentencing guidelines based on the nature of the offense and Cantwell’s lack of criminal history recommend zero to six months of prison time. The plea agreement states Cantwell will Lewis Easton Cantwell pay a special assessment of $100 to the Clerk of Court as well as $2,000 in restitution for the $1.5 million in damage the riots caused the U.S. Capitol Building. It also commits him to cooperate with law enforcement investigations into the events of Jan. 6 — specifically, completing an interview prior to sentencing and allowing review of any social media postings on and around Jan. 6. According to the plea agreement, neither the defense nor the prosecution will seek a penalty outside the guideline range. However, Sullivan will have the final say on sentencing, and he made it clear to Cantwell that he can’t guarantee what that sentence might be until he completes his own research. Sullivan will hand down the sentence in a hearing scheduled for 1 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 22. Cantwell initially faced six charges at his arrest in February 2021, the most serious of which — obstruction of an official proceeding and aiding and abetting — carried a maximum sentence of 20 years. Had he been convicted on all six counts, Cantwell would have faced a maximum sentence of 28 years. During the March 24 hearing, Sullivan repeatedly asked Cantwell to confirm his guilt, his wish to enter a guilty plea, and his desire to give up his right to a trial by jury. “What’s your decision? Do you wish to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty?” Sullivan asked Cantwell at the end of a hearing in which he had repeatedly stated his intention to enter a guilty plea. “I’ve chosen to enter a plea of guilty,” Cantwell said. “Because you are guilty?” asked Sullivan. “Because I am in fact guilty,” said Cantwell. This was a departure from Cantwell’s initial
A
near the entrance, Cantwell yelled for the rioters to ‘get the door open.’ At another point, Cantwell yelled that they needed ‘fresh patriots to the front,’” reads the court document whose contents Schesnol was relating. When he did that, Schesnol said, Cantwell knew that the officers were engaged in their official duties — thus the basis for the criminal charge. “Did it happen that way, Mr. Cantwell?” Sullivan asked. “Not exactly,” Cantwell replied, upending what would have otherwise been a routine plea agreement hearing. “What she said was correct, but it’s taken out of context in the shortness of the videos.” He then told Sullivan that he wasn’t advised on how to answer the question and wasn’t aware if he’d have a chance to speak at the hearing or not. Cantwell’s attorney Nic Cocis then advised him that he’d have a chance to make a statement at sentencing, but right now Sullivan just wanted to know if he agreed to the basic elements of the crime. Sullivan asked Cantwell if he needed to take another look at the plea agreement. Cantwell then said he was trying to get medical aid to injured people, not perpetrate violence. While he did say the words Schesnol quoted, he was not trying to push people to go inside the building, he told Sullivan. “There was people stuck behind the doors that I was trying to help,” Cantwell said. “There were multiple opportunities I was trying to help people.” “Well, that’s contrary to what you just signed,” said Sullivan. “If you’re not guilty, I’m not going to take your plea.” Jeffery Delannoy photo After further discussion with Cantwell, Cocis and Schesnol, Sullivan decided 24 was expected to occur. “Why do you wish to plead guilty?” Sullivan to adjourn the hearing and set a new date, March 24. He had initially wanted a longer, 30asked during the March 15 hearing. day gap, but Schesnol said the plea process had “Just because I was there, and what they said is appropriate as far as I can tell,” Cantwell already dragged on for months — it was delayed in December 2021 when Cantwell replied. changed attorneys and twice more this year “Are you pleading guilty because you are due to technical difficulties on the part of the guilty of a criminal offense?” court — and that the government did not wish “Yes sir,” said Cantwell. to keep the offer open for another month. However, later in the hearing, when “Nobody’s trying to force him to do anySullivan asked Cantwell to confirm the governthing. It’s a very serious matter,” Sullivan said. ment’s summary of events, he balked. “If he changes his mind and wants to go to U.S. Prosecutor Jaqueline Schesnol told the trial, fine. We’ll pick a trial date.” court that, while hundreds of thousands of When Cantwell reappeared March 24, he people were rioting at the Capitol, Cantwell repeatedly and unequivocally acknowledged made his way to the front of the Lower West his guilt. Terrace tunnel entrance, where dozens of peo“By pleading guilty, Easton accepted ple were “battling and fighting and assaulting members of law enforcement.” There, she said, responsibility for his actions on January 6th,” Cocis said in an email. “However, at this time, he used his cell phone to video the events. “During one of the recordings, when watch- any other comment will be made at Easton’s sentencing in September.” ing rioters battle with law enforcement officers story and even from sworn statements he made during a March 15 court hearing. In a phone interview with The Smoky Mountain News Feb. 22, 2021, shortly after his initial arrest, he insisted on his innocence. “I didn’t go there with any intention to hurt anyone or storm the Capitol,” he told SMN. “I didn’t go inside the Capitol Building. I never attacked anyone. I was there filming. And I helped a bunch of people who were injured come out of the front lines.” He maintained this narrative as recently as March 15 of this year, during a hearing when the plea agreement ultimately approved March
