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Police investigating violent home invasion

By
Miguel Lopez
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super-portrait

The suspect of a recent home invasion on South College Drive remains on the loose, and that has Franklin residents feeling uneasy in their small city of less than 9,000. According to Franklin Police, the suspect allegedly robbed and beat a 41-year-old woman mid-morning.

The incident was reported to officers around 10 AM by the victim who says she was assaulted. Police reports say that the woman opened her back door to usher in some air and went back to lay down. Then, she told police that a man entered her home and walked into her bedroom demanding to know where she kept her purse.

The victim says she initially did what the man told her to do because he had allegedly threatened her life.

When he grabbed her purse, however, that is when the woman defended herself and began trying to retrieve her belongings. The suspect allegedly began fighting the woman and pushing her about the bedroom and out into the living room where he threw her, reported Franklin police Detective Joshua Butts.

The injured victim was taken to Southhampton Memorial Hospital for treatment and then released. Police say that the woman did not sustain serious injury.

The victim gave police a thorough description of her assailant who has been described as a man with long dreadlocks, standing about 6 feet tall with a medium build. He wore jeans, white Nikes and a yellow shirt.

Neighbors in the area like Earline Williams are frightened, fear for their safety and hope the police tackle the issue of gang violence and shooting.

police-investigating

Meantime, Franklin Police remain on the hunt for the suspect and searched the home for further evidence. A member of the K-9 unit was brought in for tracking, and the crime scene area was roped off by police.

If any member of the community saw something or believes they know who the suspect is, they’ve been advised to call the Franklin Police Department with their tips.

Williams complained about residents who don’t bother to call police with tips that could help the investigation. “It’s ridiculous, and don’t nobody know nothing.” She believes there had to have been someone who heard something or saw something and hopes witnesses step forward.

Although Franklin is a very small city, many communities across the nation are vulnerable to the crime of home invasion. The United States Department of Justice estimates that there are 1.03 million home invasions every year.

Interestingly, most burglaries occur between the hours of 10 AM and 3 PM. That is when most people are away at work, and the home is usually empty.

A home invasion usually involves some type of force with its illegal entry into someone’s home. Under Virginia state law, a home invasion is considered a felony. Home invasion is punished as a burglary or statutory burglary, according to the underlying circumstances of the crime.

police-car

Statistics show that most suspects head straight to the master bedroom during a home invasion. Many homeowners leave their most valuable items in this room. These usually include cash, jewelry and weapons.

Although it depends on the degree of the home invasion, the jail term can vary from 5 to 20 years.

Anyone with information about this alleged home invasion on South College Drive has a couple of options. They can call Franklin Police at 562-8575, or they can contact Franklin Crime Solvers at 562-8599. Information that leads to an arrest can earn the caller a cash reward.

Meantime, some residents are on edge. Police recommend locking their doors and always reporting anything suspicious they see to Franklin Police.

Visit https://www.tidewaternews.com for more breaking news.

Rural Residents In Need Of Cable and Internet Services

By
Miguel Lopez
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qkaztig

Residents in Isle of Wright County were surveyed recently regarding the quality of cable services in the area. More than 1,000 county residents responded to the survey and voiced their concerns regarding the price, picture quality, and service received from Charter Communications. But for county residents who live in more rural areas, the concerns were even more pressing.

Phillip Bradshaw is a member of the Wright County board of supervisors and is a representative of the Carrsville District. Bradshaw said the problem is residents in the area where he lives and represents are simply unable to obtain the cable and internet services they need. He says the dialog has been ongoing for years with Charter Communications about bringing services to the area but the company feels the population there does not justify the expansion.

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Charter requires a minimum of 30 homes per square mile before they serve a particular area. There are large portions of the Carrsville District, as well as, other areas of the county that do not meet this requirement.

Bradshaw says he wants to see all the members of his district have access to high-speed internet. The only way this is possible for some residents of the district now is to pay for expensive satellite service or purchase wireless broadband cards.

Bradshaw says many families in the area are unable to afford the added costs of these premium services. He feels that elderly residents and families with small children are affected the most by this situation. He asks that people remain mindful that their plight is about much more than missing out on entertainment. Seniors are losing out on valuable alerts and information that might come their way over the television or internet. While school-aged children suffer from not having the internet available to support their educational development.

A group of representatives from Wright County visited the small town of Wilson, North Carolina to see first-hand how officials there handled a similar problem. In Wilson, a fiber-optic network was used to provide residents with high-speed internet and cable services. County officials are also considering loan and grant options that will provide residents with the services they need.

Bradshaw says he and other officials in the county have high expectations for the services their residents will eventually enjoy. He says all options are being considered and county officials are making it a point not to make a decision out of desperation and end up with a service that is inadequate for the needs of affected communities.

rural

Bradshaw says the new round of negotiations with Charter comes at a time when their current contract with the county is set to expire. He says there are hopes Charter will agree to make an exception to their thirty homes per square mile standard and extend services to the areas in the county that do not presently possess them. As of yet, other companies have not seemed very open to doing business in the area.

Michael Johnson is the county administrator for Southampton. He says that residents in rural areas often complain about internet and cable access. Johnson says he has not personally received many complaints from residents in his county who are not at this time receiving these services. However, Johnson expresses sympathy for the residents of his county without cable and internet services and says it is main intent of his to find a solution to this problem.

Charter Communications is the current phone and internet provider for thousands of homes in Southampton County and is the main provider of services in the Isle of Wright, Suffolk, and Franklin areas.

Visit https://www.tidewaternews.com for more breaking news.

New SPSA Agreement Costs Suffolk County $2.23 Million After Years of Free Waste Disposal

By
Miguel Lopez
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spsa-southeastern-public-service-authority

The Southeastern Public Service Authority manages waste for multiple counties. Current localities include Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, Southampton, Isle of Wight, Fanklin, and Suffolk. For many years, Suffolk County benefited from a sweetheart deal with the SPSA, resulting in zero trash disposal fees. Now Suffolk County has paid over $2 million in solid waste disposal fees over the past year.

SPSA Modifies Its Agreements With Member Communities

On January 25, 2018, SPSA entered into new agreements with its members. Various modifications were made to the past agreements, most of them minor. Suffolk County lost its free disposal agreement with these changes, though. In the past, Suffolk hosted a regional landfill in county limits in exchange for no disposal fees. The county unsurprisingly benefited from this agreement far more than SPSA ever did.

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Prior Deal Let Suffolk County Coast and The SPSA Take On Water

However, a deal like this never existed without controversy and consequences. Member communities often criticized the deal as being unfair. Some communities paid SPSA the highest disposal fees in the United States while Suffolk County paid nothing. Also, SPSA itself faced mounting debt that it couldn’t pay off without added revenue. This fact played the biggest role in changing the servicing agreement with Suffolk.

Results One Year After The New Agreements Are Implemented

At a Board of Directors meeting, SPSA’s executive director announced the authority had paid off its debts in full. Less than a year of disposal fees from Suffolk helped the authority conquer its major debt problem. Suffolk paid $2.23 million in waste disposal charges from January 25 through December 31, 2018. On top of that, SPSA has worked to reduce its costs by relying more heavily on Suffolk’s regional landfill.

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What Are The Potential Consequences Of These Changes?

Just under 35,500 tons of waste were dumped into the Suffolk landfill in 2017. One year later the landfill received over 100,000 tones of waste. It remains to be seen whether the landfill can sustain increased volume moving forward. Regardless, suffolk County receives $4 per ton of waste disposed at the landfill. While the county paid $2.23 million in disposal fees, it should reap almost $500,000 per year in host fees.

Will Profits Be Put Ahead of Common Sense Now?

The fairly recent change to operating agreements helps Southeastern Public Service Authority fix its financial situation. Nonetheless, some would argue that extra cost-cutting measures do more harm than good. The authority continues to send less waste to the Wheelabrator waste-to-energy plant. Less energy is produced at this plant, and more waste is dumped into Suffolk County’s landfill, which may cause long-term issues.

Agreement Changes With Other Communities Not Noteworthy or Major

New agreements with the other counties weren’t nearly as drastic. The SPSA and member communities did their usual bargaining to come to an agreement. For years, other member communities paid for their waste disposal. Some years they paid the highest fees in the nation for these services, and those communities were never happy. Most SPSA communities will still pay high rates not seen in other parts of the country.

In the end, Southeastern Public Service Authority benefits the most from these changes. The authority went from a mountain of debt to a small cash pile with no debt. Suffolk County may seem like the loser in this deal, but the county benefited from a sweetheart deal for many, many years. Either way, locals shouldn’t expect free waste disposal to return for the county anytime soon. The SPSA appears to have learned its lesson on this one after mounting debt nearly crippled the authority.

Visit https://www.tidewaternews.com for more breaking news.

Town admonishes dance studio after shooting

By
Miguel Lopez
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dance studio

A teen birthday party at a local dance studio that resulted in the shooting of a 17-year-old boy has led to a stern rebuke of the studio from the town of Windsor.

It all began with a Suffolk woman rented the facilities of the Windsor School of Dance. She was looking for a safe place to hold her son’s 18th birthday party. But problems started when a number of uninvited teenagers came to the party. Some of these people allegedly had links to local gangs, and fights eventually broke out in the parking lot, which led to the shooting.

studio dance celebrations

Rhonda Demsko is one of the owners of the studio, along with Jessica Cannavo. She insists that the woman who rented their facility had promised the two that there not only would be no alcohol served at the party but that there would also be adult chaperones.

Demsko went on to say that only 50 people were invited to the party. But this number swelled to at least 200, according to the police at the scene. She says that the others were likely notified by text messages and phones calls from those were invited.

According to Demsko, the woman who rented the facility decided that, by 10:30 pm the party had gotten too out of control, and she turned off the lights. This sent attendees outside into the parking lot, where the shootings began. Demsko further says that the woman was so frighten by this that she hid under a car.

At the commencement of the gunshots, many people reportedly fled the scene on foot and in cars while others sought refuge inside the building. When the police finally arrived, there about 40 to 50 there, and the police questioned everyone before allowing them to leave.

admonishes dance studio

The police eventually arrested two minors from Suffolk and charged them with the following: the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, malicious wounding, discharging a firearm in a public place, conspiracy to commit a felony, shooting from a motor vehicle, shooting at an occupied building and unlawful possession of a firearm. Other charges are pending as well.

In the meantime, police are looking for another suspect: Dijon Quartez Elliott, who is a 21-year-old man from Suffolk. They are charging Elliott with conspiracy to commit a felony and for being an accessory to the commission of a felony as well as for other gang-related offenses.

Police are asking that, if anyone knows the whereabouts of Elliott (or any other information about the crime), they provide this information to the Windsor Police Department at (757) 357-2151 or to the Isle of Wight County Crime Line at (757) 357-5555.

As a result of the shootings, Michael Stallings, who is the planning and zoning administrator for the town of Windsor, notified the studio that they can no longer hold parties at the facility. Stallings says that having parties at the facility would require a conditional use permit, but such permits are issued only to facilities that are not within 250 feet of residences and this is not the case with the studio.

The owner of the facility, Windsor Office Group LLC, also notified the studio that they could no longer hold parties there because of the shooting.

However, even before receiving these notifications, Demsko and Cannavo had decided that they would no longer rent their facility for parties. Demsko says that the renting of the studio was a “bad decision,” but she insists that they had rented the studio out for events more than 100 times before without incident, including to some church groups.

Visit https://www.tidewaternews.com for more breaking news.

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