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PERQUIMANS COUNTY LIBRARY
110 W ACADEMY ST
HERTFORD, NC 27944-1306
May 18, 2005
Vol. 73, No. 20 Hertford, North Carolina 27944
Perq
Weekly
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Three charged for Warren murder
ERIN RICKERT
Three Edenton men have
been charged with murder
in connection with last
month’s shooting death of
a Hertford teenager.
Skyler JeveUe Holley, 21,
of 203 E. Albemarle St. and
Darrell Lavone Boyce, 28, of
201 Vance Lane, were each
charged with murder on
May 9 for the April 14
shooting of 17-year-old
Shakim Rolon Warren.
The third suspect, Terry
Lynn Jackson, 16, of 105 N.
Oakum St. was already in
custody on unrelated
charges at Chowan
Detention Center when he
was charged with Warren’s
murder last Tuesday
evening, according to
Hertford Police Chief Dale
Vanscoy.
Secured bonds for HoUey
and Boyce were set at $1
million.
Vanscoy said law
enforcement originally
picked up six people as
“persons of interest” in the
shooting.
Darrell Lavone Boyce
However, during the
course of the investigation
the names of three sus-
Skyler Jevelle Holley
pects — HoUey, Boyce and
Jackson — continued to
resurface in police inter-
Terry Lynn Jackson
views.
“The more people we
talked to, the more these
individuals’ [names] came
to the forefront and eventu
ally led to an arrest,”
Vanscoy said. “There’s no
doubt these are the individ
uals responsible.”
Vanscoy said interviews
of witnesses placed all
three individuals in the
green car that puUed up on
the 300 block of King Street
where 17 year-old Warren
and two friends were stand
ing outside his home the
night of the shooting.
Continued on page 8
Runaway driver crashes
into Hertford house
ERIN RICKERT
Police are working to
locate a motorist who left
the scene of an accident
after the Ford Explorer
they were driving “took
off” from the street and
slammed into a Hertford
resident’s home last week.
Hertford Police Chief
Dale Vanscoy said no one
was injured in the May 10
crash, but the home at 104
N. Edenton Road Street suf
fered thousands of dollars
in property damage as a
result of the accident.
. Vanscoy said police are
stiU searching for Michael
Coston of 480 Pender Road,
the vehicle’s owner and the
individual police believe
was driving that evening.
“The investigation still
continues,” Vanscoy said.
“Coston is unable to be
located at this time.”
Vanscoy said he was
unsure why Coston and at
least one other person fled
the scene, but believes
Coston is still in the
Hertford area.
According to Vanscoy,
the vehicle was traveling
north at approximately 77
m.p.h on Edenton Road
Street when the driver lost
control of the sport utility
vehicle.
Vanscoy said the exces
sive speed caused the car to
hit the street curb and then
crash into a more than 25-
foot high light pole — snap
ping the pole in half.
The Explorer then
became airborne, accord
ing to Vanscoy, taking out
the chain link fence in the
yard behind the pole and
sailing into the screened-in
porch on the front of the
home.
Vanscoy said the
Explorer’s momentum
finally began to slow once it
hit the parked Nissan in the
driveway and the chain
link fence on the other side
of the yard — ending the
destruction and landing
back in the street.
Vanscoy said when offi
cers arrived at the scene of
the crash just after dark
that night, they found the
empty 1996 Explorer upside
down nearly 200-feet from
the intersection of Edenton
Road and Market streets.
Vanscoy said residents
who witnessed the crash
told police they saw at least
two men inside the vehicle
climb from the windows
and flee the scene.
The homeowner, Mary
Felton, who was in her
kitchen at the time of the
crash, said she also remem
bers seeing a man crawl
from the back window of
the SUV moments after
stepping onto what was left
of her porch the evening of
the crash.
“1 saw one person crawl
out of the window,” Felton
said. “He just walked down
the street like nothing hap
pened. He didn’t even look
at me.”
Vanscoy said police con
tinue to work to locate
Coston and determine the
number of charges he will
receive for the damage
caused to Felton’s home.
“1 just can’t believe this
happened. 1 heard this
awful noise and walked out
to this,” Felton said as she
surveyed the damage to her
home Monday. “How could
this happen?”
PHOTO BY ERIN RICKERT
Mary Felton stands on
what is left of the
screened-in front porch at
her Edenton Road Street
home Monday. Felton's
front porch, her fence and
her 1996 Nissan were all
damaged last week after
an out-of-control vehicle
plowed into a street lamp
last week and across her
property.
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Winfall
sample
Public Works Director Kelvin Roberson takes a
at the town's water plant.
Winfall water plant experiencing problems
PHOTO BY ERIN RICKERT
ERIN RICKERT
The discolored water
many Winfall residents
began to see late last month
pouring from their faucets
appears to have been
caused by an improperly-
mixed batch of liquid poly
mer that solidified and
clogged the sand filter at
the town’s water plant.
The filter, used primari
ly to catch iron and man
ganese, initially clogged
April 24 causing the water
to turn a dingy-brown
color, WinfaU Public Works
Director Kelvin Roberson
said.
This made the oxidation
process, which removes
unwanted substances from
the town’s drinking water
less efficient, causing high
levels of iron and man
ganese to remain in the
water even after it went
through each of the plant’s
filtering processes.
“In 1996 we added the
polymers to assist the sand
in catching,” Roberson
said. “It grabs onto stuff
you don’t want in water.
Things were just done
wrong during mixing.”
Roberson could not com
ment on how the polymer
was improperly mixed, but
said one pound of polymer
is t3q)ically mixed with 30
gallons of water to create a
liquid-like texture with a
consistency similar to
unset JeU-O.
When properly mixed
the liquid-like polymers
help the manganese level at
the plant to remain at a
level of about .015,
Roberson said, but tests
taken after the improper
mixing showed levels of
.575. Iron levels at the plant
were also up, reading close
to .76 in April tests, rather
than the more normal .01.
Though Roberson said
daily spectrophotometer
tests have revealed man
ganese and iron levels have
dropped significantly since
the first April readings —
with May 12 manganese
readings coming in at .033
and iron levels reading
closer to .01 — levels must
still come down.
“We have seen a drastic
change,” Roberson said.
“But we are still working
on it. The main thing peo
ple should know is the
water is still safe to drink.
The iron levels may mess
with the laundry a little,
but we are going to do
everything possible to get
this plant like it used to.
be.”
Next week, Roberson
said he and a few consul
tants plan to go inside the
7x3-foot filter system to test
the filter’s sand for
unwanted chemicals. From
there, Roberson said he
would be able to determine
whether the town must
replace the 10 year-old fil
ter completely.
Roberson said if the fil
ter does need replacing,
the town would be forced to
discontinue use of the
water plant during the
week or more it could take
to switch out the filters and
test the new sand.
Continued on page 8
Weekend
Weather
Thursday
High: 72«
Low: 57
SCAHERED T'STORMS
Friday
High: 73
Low: 56
Few Showers
Saturday
High: 71
Low: 55
Partly Cloudy
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