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"News from Next Door 1 '
WEDNESDAY, JULY 20, 2016
50 cents
Jackson Brother FOUND GUILTY
Given
18 to 34
years in
prison
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
One of six brothers ac ¬
cused of having sex with
their sister — the only one
not to accept a plea bar
gain — was found guilty
last week and sentenced
to between 18 and 37 years
in prison.
Plea
bargains
allow de
fendants
to accept
guilt for
some
crime, but
escape
punish
A. JACKSON
ment for others. District
Attorney Andrew Womble
declined to say what the
plea bargain offer was for
Aaron Jackson, but con
firmed Jackson rejected
it.
In court Tuesday Aaron
said “I’d rather get 80 years
in prison than do two or
three (years in prison)
knowing I am innocent.”
A day later, after about
three hours of deliberat
ing, a 12-member jury said
he wasn’t innocent.
• Tire jury found him
guilty on three counts of
second-degree sexual of
fense. They came back
with not guilty verdicts on
two more sexual offense
charges and one count of
incest.
Superior Court Judge
Jerry Tillett sentenced
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
Aaron Jackson and five of his brothers have been found guilty of abusing their younger sister in this home
on Chapanoke Road.
Jackson to between 73
months and 148 months
for each crime. Tillett
could have had the sen
tences run concurrently
- meaning he would serve
all the sentences at the
same time and be out after
73 months.
Instead Tillett ordered
tlie sentences run consec
utively, or back-to-back.
That means Jackson will
serve 73 months on the
first charge, then start
serving 73 months on the
second charge and then
another 73 months. Tillett
did leave the door opening
to reviewing the sentence
at a later date.
Perquimans County
Sheriff Eric Tilley,put it
this way. Tilley said Aaron
“rolled the dice” by not
taking the plea and lost.
Many of the sex crimes
occurred at the family
compound, a 5-acre place
on Chapanoke Road.
The victim in the case,
now 18 years old, spoke
after the guilty verdicts
and asked the judge io
give her brother the lighter
sentence. That prompted
meetings between her and
lawyers. The victim came
back and told Judge Tillett
that she didn’t want her
feelings to influence his
decision.
Attorney Danny Dono
hue, who represented
Jackson, also urged the
judge to run the sentences
concurrently, pointing out
that his client had never
been arrested before. He
said if sentenced on the
higher end, Aaron would
end up serving more
prison time than brothers
who pled guilty to more
egregious acts. The old
est brother, Eric, won’t be
released from prison until
2027.
Womble said the plea
bargains were offered
to spare the victim from
the trauma of testifying
against her family.
Womble said the sen
tence handed down by
Judge Tillett was appro
priate given Jackson never
accepted responsibility for
his crimes while his other
five brothers did.
“I am satisfied we
were able to secure, some
amount of justice for the
victim,” Womble said. “I
am saddened at the events
that led us to this point and
saddened we had to have
the victim come back and
relive what happened.”
Sheriff Tilley said jus
tice was done.
“I think the jury’s deci
sion was not quite what
the state was looking for,
but the sentence the judge
handed down sent a harsh
message,” Tilley said.
The deal offered
Aaron’s twin brother
Benjamin earned* him a
See JACKSON, 2
Students
exposed
to career
options
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
While the traditional track
to a four-year college degree
remains, Perquimans schools
are increasing efforts to show
students there are other op
tions.
Jill Cohen coordinates the
Career and Technical Educa
tion (CTE) programs for the
school system. Not only is
the school system increasing
the number of programs of
fered, it’s offering more at an
early age.
lite idea is to raise stu
dents that are career and col
lege ready.
“Our plan is developed
around the economic health
of Perquimans,” Cohen said.
“Seventy percent of our em
ployed residents work out
side of our county with 14
percent working outside of
our state. We need to prepare
students for the workplace
within a 75-mile radius of
Hertford as we transition
from a rural community to a
bedroom community.
“Schools have been work
ing in the past 30 years fo
cusing on getting a four-year
degree, but many of the jobs
in northeastern North Caro
lina don’t require one,” Co
hen said. “For some it doesn’t
make sense to go to school
for four years when you can’t
get a job.”
Cohen brought in Tim Nor
man to speak to students
last school year. He’s the ex
ecutive director of the N.C.
State board of Examiners of
Electrical Contractors and he
encouraged them to consider
the profession.
See STUDENTS, 2
Planning Board delays action on wind power project
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The Perquimans Plan
ning Board reviewed plans
for a $300 million wind
power project on July 12
but decided it wanted more
time to consider some of
tire information.
The next meeting is set
for Aug. 2.
Apex Clean Energy is
seeking a Conditional Use
Permit (CUP) for the proj
ect known as TImbermill.
About 17,000 acres of Per
quimans and Chowan land
would be leased, most of it
owned by Weyerhaeuser
The county allows wind
power projects, but con
siders them in a special
category, hence the CUP
process.
In February the Perqui
mans County Commission
made changes to its wind
rules.' An outside consul
tant reviewed the Apex
CUP document and con
cluded it satisfied the Per
quimans ordinance.
However Clarion Asso
ciates, a Chapel Hill firm,
suggested commissioners
should consider adding
some conditions if it de
cides to approve the proj
ect.
Opponents of the Apex
project maintain the Clari
on report is not an indepen
dent study of the project,
but simply a review of the
data that Apex provided.
Chad W. Essick, a part
ner in the Raleigh law firm
Poyner Spruill, raised a
number of questions that
he feels need to be an
swered. Among them are
health issues and the po
tential that property values
See DELAY, 4
Opponents: Wind
project is flawed
Chowan to review
project plan July 26
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The lawyer for opponents
of a proposed new wind
project in Perquimans and
Chowan county says, there
are flaws in the application
and important things that
are being overlooked - like
property values.
In an e-mail response,
Chad W. Essick, a partner in
the Raleigh law firm Poyner
Spruill, raised a number of
questions that he feels need
to be answered.
“Why has the applicant
not prepared an emer
gency response plan or a
traffic management plan in
conjunction with the CUP
(Conditional Use Permit)
application? Why won’t the
applicant agree to a proper
ty value guarantee for neigh
boring property owners if
they assert there will be no
adverse impact on property
values?”
The project is expected
to have a service life of 20 to
30 years. A decommission
ing study commissioned
by Apex as part of the CUP
process estimates he cost to
remove the structures will
be between $7.3 million and
$10.9 million.
Essick wonders if that is
See OPPONENTS, 7
BY REGGIE PONDER
Chowan Herald
The Chowan County
Planning Board will meet
next week to review the
Conditional Use Applica
tion (CUP) for the Timber-
mill Wind Project.
The review by the plan
ning board is advisory. The
actual decision on the per
mit application by Charlot
tesville, Va.-based Apex
Clean Energy Inc. will
be made by the Chowan
County Board of Commis
sioners following a quasi
judicial hearing — prob
ably late next month.
The Chowan Planning
Board meeting will be July
26 at 7 p.m. in the Chowan
County Office Building on
Freemason Street.
Apex has proposed a
utility-scale wind energy
facility in the Bear Swamp
and Center Hill areas of
Chowan and Perquimans
counties.
The planning board
meeting will include a
staff report, which will
introduce the project and
the application, and also
will include a presentation
from Apex and an oppor
tunity for public comment
on the permit application.
See CHOWAN, 7
Businessman says area catfish industry threatened
BY REGGIE PONDER
Chowan Herald
Chowan County officials
have gone on record in op
position to a federal regula
tory change that a local busi
nessman man says threatens
the livelihood of area fisher
men and other workers in
6 89076 47144 2
the seafood industry.
The Chowan County
Board of Commissioners
voted unanimously at its
July 5 meeting to send to
the congressional delegation
a letter supporting Senate
Resolution 28, which would
move catfish inspections
from the U.S. Department of
Agriculture back to the Food
and Drug Administration.
“The current inspection
program costs $700,000 an
nually; however, the USDA
inspection program would
cost approximately $30 mil
lion to be established and
another $14 million for an
nual operations,” the board’s
letter states. “The proposed
regulations were designed
to give protections on im
ported catfish; however,
native catfish are also be
ing affected. Catfishing in
Northeast North Carolina
provides the livelihood of
over 600 families. Because of
the potential for detrimental
impact on local economies,
we ask for our consideration
and support of Senate Reso
lution 28.”
Ricky Nixon of Murray
L. Nixon Fishery in Rocky
Hock said this week that in
order to comply with the
USDA inspections process
he would have to build a
new facility to process cat-
fish. That would not be cost-
effective for his operation,
he said.
“With FDA we haven’t
ever had a problem,” Nixon
said.
The FDA process has
not failed to protect pub
lic health and safety, so the
move to USDA is unwarrant
ed, he said.
Nixon said there had nev
er been any health-related
problems with the area’s
wild catfish industry under
the FDA inspections system.
“We have been cutting cat-
fish for 50 years and never
had a problem,” Nixon said.
Nixon said if the change
becomes permanent it prob
ably would cause him to cut
his workforce in half, “be
cause I would have to get
out of the catfish business.”
That in turn would put
commercial fishermen in
the area out of the catfish
business as well, he said,
because those commercial
fishermen catch catfish
would no longer have access
to a processor.
“We’re the only wild cat-
fish processor in the state,”
Nixon said. He said his facil
ity processes catfish caught
See CATFISH, 2