P The
ERQUIMANS
A^EEKLY
Perquimans
High School
principal
speaks at
recent Rotary
event, 3
"News from Next Door"
WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2016
50 cents
JUL K RETD
Sister testifies about decade of sexual abuse
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
An 18-year-old woman
testified to a jury Monday
about how six of her broth
ers sexually abused her over
the span of 10 years starting
when she was a little more
than 4 years old.
On trial is Aaron Jackson,
a 21-year-old former Perqui ¬
mans County resi
dent. If convicted
on all charges, he
could spend the rest
of his life in prison.
He and five brothers
were charged with
sexually abusing
their younger sis
ter when the family
JACKSON
lived on Chapanoke Road.
to start Tuesday, County Courthouse. Assis-
but jury selection tant District Attorney Jen-
took less time than
expected, so Supe
rior Court Judge
Jerry Tillett had
the case proceed
Monday afternoon.
The jury consists
of seven men and
five women. The case is be-
nifer Karpowicz maintained
the abuse started when the
victim was about four and
a half years old. The five
other brothers accepted
plea agreements and were
jailed. The parents also ac
cepted plea deals and were
The trial was scheduled ing tried in the Perquimans
sentenced to prison. There
is another brother, younger
than the victim, that was
not charged with abuse and
an older sister who was not
part of the case.
Court-appointed attorney
Danny Donahue represent
ed Jackson. In considering
jurors, he asked if any had
“sibling rivalries” with then-
own brothers and sisters.
In his opening statement,
he quoted a poem’s lines of
“Oh, what a tangled web we
weave when first we prac
tice to deceive.” Donahue
argued that the alleged vic
tim has never told the same
story the same way when
she’d been questioned about
the case and hinted she has
mental issues. The alleged
victim admitted to several
See TRIAL, 2
Planners
Career Learning
Search for
to mull
wind farm
project
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The Perquimans County
Planning Board is scheduled
to consider plans for a $300
million wind power project
this week.
The first meeting was
Tuesday night. If required,
a second meeting will be
held tonight at 6 p.m. at the
Perquimans County Court
house Annex, 110 N. Church
Street.
The project proposed by
Apex Clean Energy, a Char
lottesville-based company,
would straddle about 15,000
acres of Perquimans and
Chowan counties. The pros
pect of turbines as tall as
600 feet has prompted fierce
opposition from some area
residents. In previous meet
ings, more than 100 people
have packed commissioners
meetings and more than 900
people have signed a petition
in opposition to the project.
Industrial-sized wind pow
er projects are allowed under
Perquimans zoning rules, but
they require a conditional
use permit. The five-member
planning board reviews CUP
applications and then makes
a recommendation to the
Perquimans Board of Com
missioners, which has the
ultimate say on the project.
See WIND, 2
STAFF PHOTOS BY PETER WILLIAMS
Perquimans County Middle School
students crowd around the crew
of a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter
that made a visit to the school
on Wednesday, June 8. For more
on local programs designed to
promote careers in technical
education, see the July 20th
edition of The Perquimans
Weekly.
Coast Guard rescue swimmer Keith
Williams gives a high five to a
Perquimans County Middle School
student during the Coast Guard
aircrew’s visit to the school. The visit
was part of a Career and Technical
Education outreach program.
missing
boater
called off
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The active search for
a boater missing in the
Yeopim River was called off
Sunday afternoon.
John Poandl, 56, of Dud
ley, was last seen alive on
July 6. He and another man
were on board a pontoon
boat and decided to take a
swim and the boat drifted
away. Poandl lives in Dud
ley, a small community in
Wayne County, but accord
ing to Perquimans County
tax records, he also owns
property at both East Hid
den Valley Trail and Wisper-
wing Lane in Holiday Is
land.
On Monday N.C. Wild
life Service Master Officer
Johnathan C. Beardsley an
nounced the formal recov
ery effort was over.
“As of yesterday at 1 p.m.
the organized search for Mr.
Poandl was called off,” he
said.
“There has been some
citizens volunteering then-
time to search (and) we
have no way of knowing if
any of them are continuing
their search,” he said.
“We just ask that if any
one finds anything to con
tact us at 800-662-7137 and
to be sure and record the
latitude and longitude.”
See SEARCH, 3
Chowan board votes 3-2 to hire wind energy consultant
BY REGGIE PONDER
Chowan Herald
EDENTON—The Chow
an County Board of Com
missioners, by a split vote,
has elected to hire a firm
with wind energy project
experience to review the
conditional use permit ap
plication for the proposed
Timbermill Wind Energy
Project.
The board voted 3-2 at its
July 5 meeting to hire the
firm HDR to review the per
mit application submitted
by Apex Clean Energy Inc.
Apex, a Charlottesville,
Va.-based company, has
proposed building a 300-
megawatt wind energy facil
ity in the Bear Swamp area
of Chowan and Perquimans
counties.
Much of the land in the
proposed project area is
owned by forerst manage
ment company Weyerhaus-
er. Most of the remaining
land in the project area is
owned by local farmers.
Chowan Commisisoner
Emmett Winbome’s motion
to hire HDR to perform a
technical review of the CUP
application by Apex passed
with Commissioners Alex
Kehayes and John Mitch-
ener voting against it.
In addition to the propos
al from HDR, the county re
ceived a proposal from En
ergy Ventures Analysis Inc.
— a firm backed by some
members of the public who
were concerned that HDR
would be too prone to view
the project favorably be
cause of the company’s ex
perience in the wind power
industry.
In an extensive pre
sentation at the meeting,
County Attorney Lauren
Arizaga-Womble explained
to commissioners that the
ordinance does not require
luring an expert to review
the permit.
But if the board wishes to
retain an expert, she said,
“who you retain and bring
on is in your discretion.”
The purpose of the es
crow account required by
the wind energy ordinance
is to cover county expenses
related to the project, she
said, and she added that she
understood a primary pur
pose of the escrow account
was for staff to have access
to an expert in the review of
the CUP application, since
wind energy is so technical.
See CHOWAN, 2
SBI helping probe
theft of cigarettes
Ready for BEACH Volleyball
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
A state agency has been
called in to help the Hertford
Police Department investi
gate a burglary Saturday at
Jackson Wholesale in which
thieves made off with 5,000
cartons of cigarettes.
Police were dispatched
to the business at 300 Ocean
Highway South shortly be
fore 5 a.m.
When officers arrived,
they found a Ford E450
box truck owned by the
company had been driven
through the side gate of the
business.
According to police Chief
Douglas Freeman, thieves
damaged four security cam
eras and a security control
panel and stole a security
camera DVR unit.
The cigarettes were ap
parently taken away using
the company’s 2010 Ford
Econoline cargo van.
“Due to the circumstanc
es surrounding the break-
in, the N.C. State Bureau of
See THEFT, 2
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
Workers put the finishing touches on a beach volleyball court at the Perquimans County Recreation Center last
week. Brown Land Developing performed the work.