Hertford
polioe ofHoer
chai^with
assault
Complainant
assaulted sister
of officer
JEREMY DESPOSITO
, The Daily Advance and
Six months after he inter
vened during an alleged attack
on his sister, a Hertford police
man has been charged with
assaulting the woman’s attack
er.;.
On June 24, an arrest war
rant was filed against Officer
Charles Boone Jr., 25, of 103B,
3rd Avenue, Hertford. Boone
was charged with simple
assault, a misdemeanor. The
charges stem from a Jan. 19
incident.
The warrant was filed by
Richard Williams Jr., 22, of 315
Stokes Drive. Williams was
arrested Jan. 19 and charged
with assaulting Boone’s sister.
Williams was later convict
ed of assault on a female.
Police Chief Dale Vanscoy
said Boone remains on active
duty. His trial date has been set
for July 28.
•- 'A brief narrative on the
warrant states that Boone
allegedly rammed Williams’
head into a car window. Boone
is also accused of slamming
Williams to the ground and
.ramming his back to the street.
Vanscoy said last week that
officers at the scene of the
arrest were sure that the
woman had been assaulted.
. vShe had to be transported
to I Albemarle Hospital,”
Vanscoy said.
Vanscoy said officers were
responding to a domestic vio
lence call when the incidents
occurred.
According to court records,
Williams “assaulted and
struck the woman, by pushing
and tossing her around” in the
Food Lion supermarket.
In a recent interview,
Williams said that at the time
of the arrest, the arresting
officer had told Boone to back
away from Williams.
“Instead he came charging
toward me,” Williams said. “I
kept asking, ‘What’s wrong,
what’s wrong?’ He just kept
ramming me.”
After a warrant was filed
against Williams, he filed a
counter warrant against the
woman involved, charging her
with assault. She was later
found not guilty
Since his conviction, the
court has ordered “defendant
(Williams) is not to threaten or
assault (female victim) pend
ing outcome of this case.” No
previous domestic violence
has been recorded on
Williams.
At the time of the incident,
the woman lived at the same
address as Williams.
An August 1998 article in
The Daily Advance states that
Boone — then an Elizabeth
City police officer — was
charged with assault by point
ing a gun, but the charge was
later dismissed.
Boone then was hired as an
officer for the town of
Hertford.
Elizabeth City Police
Captain Bill Williams said,
“His resignation was (fUed) to
accept the job in Perquimans.
... He wasn’t charged with any
thing.”
WUliams appealed his guilty
verdict in March. His case is
pending in Superior Court.
Hertford may update
landscape regulations
SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
■ -: • Hertford Councilmen will
' ■ take a month to study the
updated commercial landscape
regulations proposed by the
planning board.
, The regulations establish
• minimum standards for land
scape design for non-residen-
tial properties. If approved by
council, it would most likely
■ apply to those covered proper-
- ties developed or expanded
' after its effective date.
Councilman Sid Eley did ques
tion whether existing proper-
,ties could be given a specific
time period to comply with the
ordinance. Town manager
John Christensen said it had
been done in other places, but
required commitment to
.. enforcement by council.
>: • Christensen said the plan
t-ping board spent months work-
t^ing on what he termed the
^comprehensive document.
't The ordinance defines all
^:typbs of vegetation and terms
to make clear what vegetation
can/must be used in certain
circumstances.
The new regulations call for
a “street yard” for commerical
properties. A street yard is a
planting area parallel to a pub
lic street designed* to provide
continuity of vegetation along
the right-of-way and to soften
the impact of development by
providing a pleasing view from
the road.
Planting yards would also
be required. These are areas of
vegetation separating proper
ties such as residential and
manufacturing, which are
somewhat incompatible,
although allowed within the
zoning districts. The planting
yards would provide a buffer
between the two properties.
Trees would be planted in
new parking lots, or parking
lots to which at least 10 spaces
are added.
The ordinance would also
make property owners respon
sible for maintenance of the
plantings.
Young entrepreneurs
PHOTO COURTESY WALTER EDWARDS JR.
Three young men got't'"fi^s-on eCdhomics lesson in supply and demand recently, when they took their suppfy of lemonade to the court
house lawn to check out the demand on a scorching hot morning. Business was brisk for the trio, Aaron Lane, Justin Maarschalkerweerd and
Zack Harrell. Hertford attorney Walter Edwards Jr. was the partners' first customer.
Winslow moves to Central Office
Former Central
principal to lead
development of
new evaluations
SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
There will be a new face in
the principal’s office in the
new Central School building to
start the new school year.
Former principal Susan
Winslow is now serving as
Staff Development/Alterna
tive Evaluation Coordinator.
Her appointment to the new
position was effective July 1.
Personnel Director Brenda
Dail said Tuesday that inter
views of candidates for the
principal’s position will begin
this week. She said that she
feels that the system received
applications from very good
prospects to fill the slot.
A committee composed of
teachers, parents, board mem
bers and central office staff
has -provided input into the
process of hiring a new princi
pal, DaU said.
Dail said to date, there will
be 14 new employees submitted
to the board for approval on
July 26. With interviews and
reference-checking in
progress, a principal and four
teachers could be added to that
list. Those 19 employees would
give the school system a full
faculty.
The main focus of
Winslow’s new role will be to
lead the design and develop
ment of a new evaluation pro
gram for the system based on
national board certification for
teachers, according to DaU.
Dail said that with the
state’s new policies and laws
on teacher licensure, school
systems must come up with
new ways to evaluate faculty,
as weU offer staff development
to help teachers grow profes-
sionaUy and be better able to
reach aU students.
New teachers come under
the state’s peiformance-based
licensure, Dail said. During
their first three years, teachers
must prepare portfolios which
wiU be submitted to the state
after the third year. The portfo
lio must pass state standards
in order for the teacher to
become licensed.
DaU likened the new proce
dures to senior projects.
Rather than base licensure and
job appraisal basically on
infrequent classroom evalua
tions, teachers are asked to
submit a professional portfolio )
that tells what they haveV
accomplished and how in the
classroom.
The state determines what
type of information should go
into the portfolio. Examples of
portfolio entries include how
the teacher differentiated
lessons to reach students of
many abilities, what t3q)es of
professional development
offerings were attended, how
the teacher involved parents,
and how the teacher was
involved in the community.
Outcomes of these examples
must also be included.
Compiling the information for
the portfolio is time-consum
ing and chaUenging, DaU said.
Perquimans has had only
one teacher required to submit
the portfolio. DaU said several
teachers are in their first three
years, and have begun the
process of compUing portfolio
information.
Winslow will also oversee
staff development.
Cable service poor, residents say
SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
Poor cable TV service was
the main topic at the Hertford
Town Council meeting
Monday night.
Councilman Sid Eley said
he was concerned about the
service received by town resi
dents from MediaCom. For
some time now, Hertford resi
dents have had to contend with
poor reception and even peri
ods with no service, Eley said.
He said a rate hike went into
effect on July 1, but service has
not improved.
Town manager John
Christensen said he had con
tacted MediaCom. The compa
ny is stUl upgrading its sys
tem. He wrote a letter to the
company, pointing out con
cerns such as black-outs and
customers being biUed on July
1 for upgraded service that was
not upgraded untU at least a
week lateiu He told MediaCom
that they were not building
good customer relations unless
they credited customers for
those times when the cable was
unusable. He said MediaCom
indicated they woiUd consider
issuing credits.
Eley said MediaCom sent
someone to his house to check
out the problem, and
Christensen said the company
was supposed to send someone
to his house.
Hertford resident Greg
Benton said MediaCom is not
nearly as accessible or respon
sive to other customers as to
town officials. He said his wife
called MediaCom six times and
got no response. Monday, he
was able to get the new chan
nels offered through the
upgrade, but couldn’t get the
old channels. He also said
when his wife finally got to
speak with someone at
MediaCom, she was told no
credits would be issued.
“They’re just not receptive
to consumer complaints,”
Benton said. He added that if
there was cable competition,
MediaCom would lose cus
tomers.
Benton said he appeared
before council on behalf of a
group of residents who were
upset about their cable service.
Councilman BUly Winslow
suggested that those with a
concern about cable service
call Kathy Ray at MediaCom to
discuss it.
Weekend
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