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The attic suffered significant fire and smoke damage. (Courtesy James City County Fire and Life Safety)

Firefighters spent more than 30 minutes battling a fire that damaged the entire attic of a home in James City County early Friday morning.

Two people were asleep in the home on the 100 block of Pierces Court near Wareham’s Pond in Kingsmill at around 3:47 a.m. Friday when they awoke to the sound of fire burning in the attic, Assistant Fire Chief Miles Pettengell said in a news release.

Fire units arrived five minutes after the two people called 911 and found “intense smoke and fire” in the attic. Firefighters had the flames under control by around 4:30 a.m., Pettengell said.

No one was injured in the fire.

Pettengell said the attic space suffered significant fire and smoke damage and the living areas of the home suffered moderate smoke and water damage.

James City County firefighters remained on the scene for several hours to remove debris and check for additional fire damage.

The cause of the fire is unknown at this time.

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James City County Police are asking parents to supervise children who are using toy guns. (Courtesy James City County Police)

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When a toy gun and a real gun are presented side-by-side, it’s almost impossible to tell which is a fake, James City County Police warn.

It’s even difficult for officers — who carry real Glock 9 mm handguns — to quickly tell the difference between their weapons and that of a pellet gun handled by a child or adult.

That was the case during one incident Wednesday, when James City County Police were called to Ironbound Park after a man was struck by some kind of projectile, Stephanie Williams with the James City County Police Department said.

Officers found eight people between 15 and 19 years old with two pellet guns that, from a quick glance, are indiscernible from the real thing.

“While, fortunately, no one was injured in this incident, it is an important reminder about the dangers associated with toy guns,” Williams said in a news release. “The harsh reality is that an individual in possession of one of these two guns could be hurt, or worse, because someone mistakes the toy gun for a real gun.”

Williams said historically, toy guns are marked by an orange tip, but people will remove the orange tip or fasten an orange tip to real guns to hide the distinction.

To her knowledge, this is the first time an incident such as this has been raised in the county.

She encouraged parents to supervise children playing with toy guns and noted the county’s code states it is unlawful for a minor under age 16 to operate a pneumatic gun.

“Parents should be sure kids understand the dangers associated with these guns, both from the perspective of what they can do to another person but also how it looks to a law enforcement officer or other citizen encountering someone bearing one,” she said.

Pellet guns are often advertised as having the look and feel of a real pistol and can be found at local sporting goods stores.

Questions regarding firearm safety can call Master Officer Alan McDowell or another officer at 253-1800.

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The James City County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 Tuesday to disband a regional group formed almost 20 years ago to spur conversations between the Historic Triangle localities.

Williamsburg’s City Council has previously voted to disband the committee. The York County Board of Supervisors must still vote to disband the group, which was originally formed in 1987 to advise the three localities on issues affecting the entire region.

York County’s board is set to vote on the issue Tuesday.

During its life, the Regional Issues Committee has worked on several studies, including looks at the areas bikeways and natural resources. It also brought the localities together during the past decade as they considered simultaneous reviews of their own comprehensive plans, which are documents outlining how the localities should grow.

But now that work is done and the committee became little more than a place to share information. There are plenty of other regional groups now in place to consider cross-jurisdictional issues, prompting committee members to vote 7-2 in April to recommend the group be disbanded.

Those groups include the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission, the Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization and the Historic Triangle Collaborative. The HTC is the only one exclusively focused on the Triangle. The other two primarily consider issues affecting all of Hampton Roads.

The HTC’s membership is largely identical to the committee in that they both include staff members from the three localities, elected officials from the three localities and representatives from the College of William & Mary, Colonial Williamsburg, the Greater Williamsburg Chamber & Tourism Alliance and Busch Gardens and Water Country USA.

While the Regional Issues Committee opened its meetings to the public, the HTC meets behind closed doors. That prompted Supervisor Mary Jones (Berkeley) to vote against disbanding the committee.

“It is imperative that the HTC operate under public meeting laws, so I will not be supporting discontinuance of [the Regional Issues Committee],” she said.

Supervisor Jim Kennedy (Stonehouse) has served on the HTC and agreed with Jones’ desire to see it open to the public.

“It’s my feeling and it’s been my feeling that it’s funded with tax dollars we should have a more open and transparent committee where the public can attend if they would like to,” he said. “I hope we can get the support of the board that we can request that of the HTC at the next meeting.”

The HTC was formed in 2008 after people who planned the 2007 celebration of Jamestown’s 400th anniversary decided they wanted to keep the channels of communication open between them, according to Sandy Wanner, a former James City County administrator who chairs the HTC.

Wanner said the issue of the HTC’s closed meetings is a “legitimate question” and he plans to discuss whether that should continue during the group’s June meeting. While the meetings are closed, the group does post meeting minutes on its website.

During its life, the HTC has been behind several studies into the area’s economy, including two economic diversification reports that explore how the area can grow sectors of the economy not directly tied to tourism. It has also advocated to the General Assembly on behalf of issues important to Triangle leaders, such as keeping school start times after Labor Day.

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Xanterra, the owner of Kingsmill Resort, has announced in an email to Club at Kingsmill members it intends to list the resort for sale.

The sale will not affect any services and amenities at the club, according to the email from Wayne Nooe, the resort’s general manager and vice president of sports and club operations.

“… [T]he purchaser would acquire title to the Resort subject to the terms and conditions of the existing Membership Plan, the related Rules and Regulations, and that Membership Agreement between you and Xanterra then in effect,” Nooe wrote.

A date for when the resort will go on the market nor a reason for the sale were included in the email.

The resort did not return a call from WYDaily requesting comment.

Xanterra has owned the resort since 2010, when it purchased it from Busch Properties. The sale price of that deal was not disclosed by either company.

During its ownership of the resort, Xanterra restructured access to the resort so that only club members and resort guests could use its amenities. It also invested $4 million in upgrades to the resort, including a $1 million addition to its spa.

The resort is one of Xanterra’s only properties not contained in a national park. The company is the largest concessioner in the country’s national parks, managing resorts, lodges and gift shops at parks throughout the nation.

The resort and its accompanying spa includes 422 rooms, six restaurants, a conference center, a spa and fitness center, marina and tennis center. It also has three golf courses.

Related Coverage:

• Busch to Sell Kingsmill Resort to Xanterra
• Kingsmill Announces Planned Changes to Club, Resort (w/ Slideshow)
• Kingsmill Resort Opens New Spa Along James River

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Eelsnot Marine Coatings CEO Toby West (right) cuts the ribbon to his new Norge storefront with his family and James City County Office of Economic Development Director Russell Seymour. (Courtesy James City County)

Eelsnot Marine Coatings has moved to a spot in the Candle Factory Shops in Norge, where it offers compounds for boats that shield them from contact with water, reduce marine growth and boost fuel efficiency.

The business, which is owned by Toby West and Cherry Rose, was founded in 2006 as a home-based business in James City County.

Eelsnot Marine Coatings aims to help watermen cut down on time spent cleaning, scraping and fixing boats. The compound material protects surfaces on boats including wood, copper, aluminum, fiberglass, epoxy, gel coat, rubber and polypropylene, according to a news release from the county.

The compound is also designed to be friendly to the environment. It forms a barrier at the molecular level to protect boats, according to the company’s website.

Eelsnot Marine Coatings is located at 7521 Richmond Road, Suite #F-C.

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The green line across the James River represents where the over-river line would be built. The blue line represents another proposed line that would run from James City County to Hampton. (Photo courtesy Dominion Virginia Power)

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wants to know what the public thinks about how a power line proposed to cross the James River near Carter’s Grove might affect historic properties and of any changes the public would recommend to the project.

The call for the feedback went out last week.

USACE is reviewing Dominion Virginia Power’s application to build the line across the James River, which would originate at a point near the Hog Island State Waterfowl Refuge in Surry County and cross the river on 17 latticed metal towers up to 295 feet tall. The line would come ashore near Carter’s Grove.

The proposed line has attracted strong opposition from historic preservation groups and from James City County. They believe the line would mar vistas along the James River, as it would be visible at Carter’s Grove, Kingsmill and the eastern tip of Jamestown Island.

Dominion Virginia Power says the line is needed to ensure the Peninsula’s electric grid has enough power. Federal regulations require the utility to shut down the coal-fired Yorktown power plant by April 2017, so if the line is not in place by then, Peninsula customers may be forced to deal with power outages up to 80 days per year.

The utility says the route it wants is the only cost-effective option to build the line. It has issued a lengthy rebuttal of several commonly suggested alternative routes, available here.

USACE is one of two hurdles the line must clear before construction can begin. It also needs a permit from James City County to build a switching station near Skiffes Creek. The line would connect to the station, which would connect to the Peninsula’s power grid. The utility filed preliminary paperwork with the county announcing it was seeking the permit last week.

USACE has generated a complete list of historic properties that would be affected by the line and has posted several maps of the proposed route here.

Comments can be made to USACE in writing and sent to the following address:

Norfolk District, Corps of Engineers
(ATTN: CENAO-WRR-S, Randy Steffey)
803 Front Street
Norfolk, Va. 23510

They can also be emailed to randy.l.steffey@usace.army.mil.

Related Coverage:

• Dominion Files with JCC to Build Switching Station for James River Power Line
• Supreme Court Denies Dominion’s Motion for Rehearing of James River Power Line Case
• Dominion, SCC Seek Supreme Court Rehearing of Power Line Decision
• Supreme Court Sends James River Power Line Decision Back to JCC
• Nonprofit Groups Form Coalition to Oppose Dominion’s Proposed Line Across James River
• Supreme Court of Virginia Hears Arguments Over James River Power Line
• Preservation, Government Groups to Gather to Share Concerns on Proposed Over-River Line
• Virginia Supreme Court Agrees to Hear JCC Appeal on Dominion’s Over-River Power Line
• JCC Authority Won’t Grant Easement for Over-River Power Line
• Dominion Begins Construction in Surry for Over-River Power Line Despite Missing Permits
• BASF Appeals to James City Authority for Help to Prevent Power Line Route
• State Commission Approves Dominion-Preferred Over-River Power Line
• Dominion Asks SCC to Decide on Over-River Power Line by March
• SCC Hearing Examiner Recommends Against Dominion-Preferred Power Line Route
• Dominion Seeks Extension to Keep Yorktown Station Running Longer
• Dominion May Need to Resubmit Army Crops Application for Over-River Power Line
• James River Association Joins JCC Appeal on Over-River Power Line
• JCC Supervisors Vote to Appeal SCC Ruling on Dominion Over-River Power Line
• SCC Reopens Over-River Power Line Case, Sets Hearing Date
• SCC Reopens Case on Dominion-Proposed Power Line Over James River

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The Virginia Department of Education honored four local elementary schools for their students’ performances on state assessment exams.

Matoaka Elementary School in the Williamsburg-James City County Schools and Coventry, Mt. Vernon and Tabb elementary schools in the York County School Division received 2015 Board of Education recognitions for meeting state and federal benchmarks on the Standards of Learning tests.

“I encourage all of the schools and divisions earning awards to take time before the close of the school year to celebrate their success,” Superintendent of Public Instruction Steven R. Staples said in a news release. “Schools don’t succeed unless students are successful, and each of these awards highlights a school where young Virginians are being well prepared for the challenges ahead.”

Matoaka and Coventry were recipients of the Board of Education Excellence Award, which recognizes schools that met all state and federal accountability benchmarks, and made significant progress toward goals for increased student achievement as set by the state.

The award was given to 109 schools across Virginia.

Coventry’s principal attributed the school’s honor to the engagement of the entire Coventry community.

“[We] are honored to be recognized by the state for our students’ academic performance,” Coventry principal Paula Sasin said in an email. “Student success is a collaborative effort, with the teachers, students and parents all playing a critical role.”

Matoaka Principal Andrew Jacobs echoed those sentiments.

“We’re very excited for the recognition of the hard work of the teachers, students and community of Matoaka Elementary,” Jacobs said.

While the 2015 awards recognize performance on SOL results from 2014, Jacobs said Matoaka’s administration and faculty had consistently focused on preparing students for the exam. He said the school had spent this year familiarizing students and teachers with the new version of the SOL tests, which debuted for the 2014-15 school year.

“We want to help the kids to be comfortable, first and foremost,” Jacobs said.

Mount Vernon and Tabb elementary schools received the 2015 Board of Education Distinguished Achievement Awards, which went to 137 schools in Virginia that met all state and federal benchmarks and made progress toward the goals of the governor and the board.

Coventry and Tabb each received distinguished recognition in 2013 and 2014. Matoaka also received honors for its SOL performance in 2011, 2012 and 2013.

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James Blair administrative offices

Williamsburg-James City County Schools are looking for input on the school division’s engagement efforts with the community.

The school division has launched a survey geared toward residents of the City of Williamsburg and James City County — with or without children in WJCC schools — on how the division connects with the community.

The “family and community engagement survey” asks residents for their opinions on where they think WJCC is succeeding and where it needs to improve.

WJCC Director of Public Relations and Engagement Betsy Overkamp-Smith said the school division had organized division-wide community surveys in the past, but none recently.

“This is the first time in a while,” she said.

Overkamp-Smith said the survey also fulfills an objective in the division’s strategic plan to increase public engagement with the schools.

The survey is open to all residents of Williamsburg and James City County, and is accessible electronically on the division website. Residents can scan QR codes on posters distributed throughout the area to access the survey via smartphone.

Paper copies are also available upon request at each WJCC school. It is available in both English and Spanish language versions.

The survey will be open to residents through June 12.

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This week, police are investigating a case of indecent exposure, and a man is accused of assaulting police and security officers at Busch Gardens.

Check out all the crime stories that did not make the headlines this week and others you may have missed below.

James City County

Man Wearing Headpiece Exposes Himself in JCC, Police Say

James City County Police are investigating after receiving a report of indecent exposure in the Landfall at Jamestown neighborhood.

A post on the county’s Facebook page said a woman reported to police Wednesday she saw a man with brown hair driving a Honda Civic through the neighborhood.

When she was going to her mailbox, the woman saw the car turn and the man exit the vehicle wearing a headpiece that partially covered his face.

The post said the man “may have exposed himself” as he began walking toward the woman, who retreated into her home and called police.

Authorities are asking anyone who may have information on this suspicious incident to call Crime Line at 888-LOCK-U-UP.

Police Investigating Car Damage, Larceny at Captain George’s Seafood Restaurant

Three cars in the parking lot of Captain George’s Seafood Restaurant on Richmond Road were reportedly damaged May 23.

Police responded to a call of property damage at around 6:22 p.m. May 23 and found the three vehicles had damaged windows and various handbags, credit cards and cash were removed from the cars.

Anyone with information on this incident is asked to call Crime Line at 888-LOCK-U-UP. Callers may remain anonymous, do not have to testify in court and may be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000 if the information leads to an arrest.

VPRJ Inmate Accused of Breaking Jail Window

A man currently in custody at Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail is facing a felony destruction of property charge after police say he broke a window at the jail.

Stephanie Williams with the James City County Police Department said Caleb Sawyer Barnes, 20, became angry and hit a window May 17. The cost to repair the window is about $1,250.

Court records show Barnes is awaiting sentencing for three counts of credit card theft, one count of car theft and one count of grand larceny.

Police: Intoxicated Busch Gardens Guest Assaults Officer

A 32-year-old Newport News man is facing charges after police say he repeatedly assaulted and threatened officers.

Busch Gardens security guards responded to a complaint of an intoxicated man at around 9 p.m. May 22 and found Joseph Derrick Moore, according to a police report.

When the security guards approached Moore, he lunged at one of the officers and punched him in the face, police said.

James City County Police officers then arrived and took Moore into custody. As Moore was being searched, he allegedly drove his hip into the side of a police cruiser, pinning the officer’s hand between him and the car.

Moore is also accused of repeatedly threatening the officer and kicking the back window and roof of the police car while inside.

Moore now faces one felony count of assault and battery on a law enforcement officer and one misdemeanor count each of assault and battery, disorderly conduct and drunk in public.

Busch Gardens Security Responds to Assault of Pregnant Woman

A Virginia Beach man is facing charges after police say he assaulted a pregnant woman in the Ireland parking lot at Busch Gardens.

A police report said 36-year-old Pedro Cintron and the 29-year-old woman were arguing Monday in the parking lot when Cintron grabbed her wrist and forced her to the pavement, where he began hitting her in the head and wrapping his arm around her neck to choke her.

Passersby began yelling at Cintron to let her go, but he refused until security arrived, the report said.

Cintron was arrested by James City County Police and charged with misdemeanor domestic assault and battery and felony kidnapping.

JCC Police Looking for Suspected Cocaine Dealer

Bryan Elliott Tyler (Courtesy James City County Police)

Authorities are asking the public for help in locating a man wanted for allegedly selling cocaine.

James City County Police posted 32-year-old Bryan Elliott Tyler’s mugshot to its Facebook page Wednesday and said Tyler’s last known address is on Chickahominy Road.

Anyone with information on Tyler’s whereabouts is asked to call Crime Line at 888-LOCK-U-UP. Callers may remain anonymous, do not have to testify in court and may be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000 if the information leads to an arrest.

Defense Presents Evidence in Case of Deaf, Mute Capital Murder Suspect

A decade-old murder case encumbered with delays due to the suspect’s competency status may soon be coming to an end.

On Tuesday, Oswaldo Martinez’s attorney Tim Clancy presented evidence as to why his client, a deaf man who has little or no sign language skills, should be released because he will never be found competent to stand trial.

Martinez, an immigrant from El Salvador, is accused of raping and killing 16-year-old Brittany Binger in James City County in 2005. He faces two counts of capital murder and has been in jail since his arrest on May 19, 2005.

He has been in and out of court and state hospitals since his arrest, as the question of his competency has still not been determined, and the prosecution is down to the last option in the Virginia state code dealing with incompetency in capital charges.

In November, Williamsburg-James City County Commonwealth’s Attorney Nate Green argued for Martinez to continue treatment at Central State Hospital indefinitely in the hopes he will one day be able to stand trial.

According to Central State Hospital doctors who testified at the November hearing, Martinez has made little progress in learning communication skills.

On Tuesday, Clancy argued for Martinez’s release, using testimony from Dr. James Bell, the director of forensic sciences at Central State Hospital, to make his point, according to Commonwealth’s Attorney Nate Green.

After hearing the evidence, the judge asked both parties to present briefs summarizing their arguments, and he will make a final decision at a later date.

Martinez is due back in court at 10 a.m. Nov. 18 for a review of his case.

York County

YPSO Looking for Credit Card Fraud Suspects

Gerald Freeman (left) and Sarah Williams-House (Courtesy YPSO)

The York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office is asking the public for help in identifying two people accused of stealing credit cards in unrelated cases.

The Sheriff’s Office posted the mug shots of the suspects, Sarah Williams-House and Gerald Freeman, on its Facebook page Tuesday.

Williams-House is accused of credit card theft, credit card fraud and larceny. Authorities said she is known to frequent the counties of York and James City and the City of Williamsburg.

Freeman is accused of credit card theft and credit card fraud and is known to frequent Newport News and York County.

Anyone with information on the suspects is asked to call the Sheriff’s Office Facebook tip line at 890-4999 or Crime Line at 888-LOCK-U-UP.

YPSO Investigating Tabb Pistol Whipping Case

Police are searching for a suspect accused of hitting a 62-year-old man with a gun in the 300 block of Firby Road in Tabb.

The pistol-whipping happened a few minutes after midnight on May 20 after the two got into a fight, Capt. Jimmy Richardson with YPSO said.

The 62-year-old man, who suffered a 4- to 5-inch laceration to his head from the gun, told deputies with the Sheriff’s Office he was acquainted with the suspect but did not know him by name, Richardson said.

The 62-year-old man was transported to a local hospital for his injuries. The suspect has not been arrested at this time.

Employee Accused of Embezzling from Tabb Walmart

A Newport News man is facing charges after authorities say he was taking money from the Walmart cash register.

Carrington L. Grigley allegedly stole $1,149 from registers at the Tabb Walmart on Route 17 between April 4 and May 13, Richardson said.

The 22-year-old man was arrested May 14 and charged with felony embezzlement.

In Case You Missed It:

• YPSO deputies are searching for a 15-year-old girl who has been missing for a month.
• A Williamsburg man is accused of sexually assaulting a girl in York County between 2008 and 2009.

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From left to right: Fireball Run Brand Integration Director Aidy Alonzo, Child Development Resources Executive Director Paul Scott, Virginia Tourism Corporation President and CEO Rita McClenny, Williamsburg Mayor Clyde Haulman, Greater Williamsburg Chamber & Tourism Alliance President and CEO Karen Riordan and Fireball Run Executive Producer J. Sanchez pose for a photo during a press conference of the show at the Williamsburg Municipal Building in April. (Gregory Connolly/WYDaily)

A web series depicting teams of astronauts, celebrities and dozens of others will film the final scene of one of its episodes in New Town on Sept. 28.

Fireball Run is a 13-episode web series entering its ninth season that features 44 driving teams playing a 2,000-mile trivia game beginning in Connecticut and ending in Florida.

Much of one of those episodes will film around the Historic Triangle, with the final scene shot in New Town. Scenes from the area will also be included in several other episodes.

The Greater Williamsburg Chamber & Tourism Alliance successfully bid to have Fireball Run select the Historic Triangle as one of several host locations during the eight-day race. The teams will track down clues and solve trivia questions hidden through area landmarks.

The Alliance hopes the series can help expose the area to a new audience. At an April event in Williamsburg, Fireball Run’s executive producer, J. Sanchez, said his series attracts 1.7 million viewers who are educated, affluent and interested in traveling.

After the filming in New Town, the show will host a reception and dinner at Legacy Hall. The public is invited to New Town on Sept. 28 to interact with all 44 teams.

The space-themed race features four current and former astronauts. They are: former NASA Astronaut Jon McBride; Rakesh Sharma, the first Indian in space and holder of the title Hero of the Soviet Union; Marcos Cesar Pontes, a Brazilian astronaut; and Jean-Loup Chretien, a retired French brigadier general.

The season of Fireball Run set to film in September will not broadcast until June 2016. Its theme is “Space Race,” with the four astronaut teams featured prominently in the show.

The four astronauts will be joined in the rally by celebrities including Jacqueline Siegel, star of The Queen of Versailles, America’s Next Top Model winner Adrianne Curry, Grant Imahara of MythBusters and Ray McClelland of Speed Network’s Car Warriors.

The show will be broadcast online in June 2016. It can be seen on the iTunes store, Google Play, Amazon Fire TV and other streaming providers. More information about the show is available at its official website.

Related Coverage:

• Astronauts, Celebrities to Help Promote Historic Triangle on ‘Fireball Run’ Web Series
• Reality Show to Film in Historic Triangle in 2015

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This map shows the land where the 50 homes would be built. It is the area in the red and white immediately to the right of the striped black line. (Courtesy James City County)

A request by the developers of Colonial Heritage to expand water and sewer services to 50 planned homes adjacent to the neighborhood has challenged the way the James City County Board of Supervisors manages growth.

That request has prompted the supervisors to ask County Administrator Bryan Hill to schedule a work session in the coming months for the board to confront its strategy for controlling development in the county. A precise meeting date has not yet been set.

The current growth management policy is called the Primary Service Area — homes and businesses inside get access to county services like water and sewer, while those outside must rely on wells and septic systems.

All of Colonial Heritage is inside the PSA, however a 220-acre tract abutting the age-restricted neighborhood is outside. The developer building Colonial Heritage is also planning to build 50 homes there, and it wants water and sewer access.

“I’d rather have water and sewer over there [instead of] wells and septic and failures possibly later [polluting nearby waterways like Yarmouth Creek],” said Michael Hipple (Powhatan), the chairman of the board of supervisors. “I think it’s a smart move.”

What makes sense environmentally clashes with the board’s desire to be strategic about county growth. Keeping some land outside of the PSA allows the county to maintain some of its rural character while also curbing large-scale residential neighborhoods, which often use more county resources — like schools — than they contribute in tax revenue.

The clash between the need to protect the environment from costly runoff from failing septic systems and to manage growth prompted several supervisors to renew calls to take a look at the PSA and whether it remains the best way to control growth in the county.

“This an imperfect growth management policy due to environmental impacts,” Supervisor Kevin Onizuk (Jamestown) said. “Clearly it makes more sense to pull [the 50 homes] into the PSA, but so it does with other ones down Centerville Road. Why is it better there but not the other developments we told no?”

Onizuk is referring to Liberty Ridge and Westport, two neighborhoods outside of the PSA that are set to use private wells and septic systems. If the supervisors did allow the 50 homes near Colonial Heritage to enter the PSA, the precedent could be set for other neighborhoods that want to get inside.

“The concern I really have here is we are effectively saying we’ll now be making a major exception to our PSA policy and how do you turn down the next person who comes down and makes the same argument?” Supervisor John McGlennon (Roberts) said.

McGlennon also said expanding the PSA to include the 50 homes would open the door to the developers requesting a rezoning of the land to allow for higher-density construction. For example, if the land were to be rezoned from its current agricultural designation to low-density residential, it could then have up to 880 units instead of the 50.

“This really dramatically changes the potential for that property in terms of its water usage and the impact of policy as a growth control tool,” he said.

Supervisor Mary Jones (Berkeley) said future boards that would consider such a proposal will have the minutes from Tuesday’s deliberations and other past meetings where the issue was discussed to use as a reference point, but McGlennon said history suggests boards do not always adhere to positions staked out in minutes from past meetings.

The call to explore whether the PSA is the best way to manage growth is not new. In September, Onizuk asked for the board to schedule a work session to consider the PSA after a lengthy discussion of a request to extend sewer service to a single house located outside of it. That request was denied.

The request for the PSA expansion was filed as part of the update to the county’s Comprehensive Plan. That plan serves as a guiding document for growth, spelling out a vision for all of the land in the county. The county’s planning commission recently completed a lengthy review of the draft update of the plan, and the board is set to formally receive the draft for consideration in June.

After that, the board will begin its own consideration of the draft update before voting whether to approve it. It will separately consider a series of land use changes, including the request to expand the PSA to cover the 50 homes. A date for that consideration has not yet been set.

Related Coverage:

• Chemical Company Eyes Grove Property for Resort, Riverwalk Trail
  
• Stonehouse Farm Owners Envision Future Industrial or Commercial Development
  
• Owners Seek Different Future for Longtime Toano Farm
• JCC Supes Renew Calls for Examination of Growth Management, Nix Sewer Line Extension

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It wasn’t easy for Master Officer Josh Drury to get to where he is today.

The Newport News native grew up in what he calls an “unsavory environment” and was denied entrance into the military because of rods he had implanted in his back to treat scoliosis as a teenager, ending his childhood dream of working in the military special operations division.

As soon as he turned 21, he began applying to local police departments and has made his way up the career ladder at the James City County Police Department over the past 11 years.

On May 18, he was named Officer of the Year after being nominated by his supervisor, Lt. Stephen Humphries.

Master Officer Josh Drury (Courtesy James City County Police)

“Most cops say ‘[I became a police officer] because I wanted to help people,’” the 33-year-old said during an interview at the James City County Fire Station 2 on Pocahontas Trail. “I grew up in a sort of an unsavory environment, and I didn’t want to live that way, because so many people say, ‘Well this is where I came from, so this is where I ended up.’ That’s a bad way to look at life.”

Despite not being able to enlist in the military, Drury did all he could to make sure he became part of a special operations unit.

After six years of patrolling on the night shift, he submitted a letter of interest, received a recommendation from his supervisor, endured a challenging physical test and interviewed with the command staff before securing a spot on the James City County SWAT Team in 2010.

“If something gets so bad that the SWAT team needs to be involved, it’s a great way to protect officers, and the SWAT team guys get a lot more training, so I think it helps me to be a better officer out here on the streets,” he said.

He said the SWAT team is deployed regularly for drug-related search warrants in the county and works closely with the Tri-Rivers Drug Task Force, which consists of officers from several localities in the area.

Drury now works the day shift, patrolling the county from Grove to the Newport News line. Along with his SWAT team duties, he is a field training officer, taking police recruits fresh out of the academy and mentoring them for eight weeks out in the field.

He said he enjoys teaching the new officers the ins and outs of a patrol shift, which lasts nine-and-a-half hours.

“It’s just another way to make a difference,” Drury said.

He was nominated for officer of the year partly because of his initiative in several department-wide projects. Last year, James City County secured funds to purchase new handguns for the 100 officers in the police department.

Unhappy with the department’s HK 45 caliber handguns, Drury wanted to avoid getting the same, newer model, so he pored through data from FBI’s ballistics research and from medical journals to find the gun he thought would be best for the officers. After a successful pitch to command staff, he was able to get a Glock 9 mm pistol in every officer’s holster.

He was also recognized for the lesson plans he created for firearms training and building clearance training, among other initiatives.

The Officer of the Year award took him by surprise, but he remains humble even if the value of the title has not yet worn off.

“It means a lot. It’s nice to know I’ve been recognized,” he said. “At the same time, there are plenty of other officers who do just as much and more than I do.”

He said his personal motto to “always try to make something better” helped him earn his current title.

“I will continue to look for ways to help the department and continue to look for advancement s in equipment and training. If you go into a situation and you can’t identify some way to make it better, you’re not working hard enough.”

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Williamsburg Montessori School hopes to open a consolidated campus at 800 Richmond Rd., the former location of Suter’s Handcrafted Furniture. (Ian Brickey/WYDaily)

A Williamsburg-area private school is eyeing a new location on Richmond Road near the College of William & Mary.

The Williamsburg Montessori School has filed a request for a special-use permit to use 800 Richmond Road as a new school building for the school’s fourth- through eighth-grade students.

The property is the former site of Suter’s Handcrafted Furniture, which WMS Head of School Sandy Andrews said closed “in the last few weeks.”

Calls to Suter’s Harrisonburg headquarters were not immediately returned.

Andrews said the school was currently in talks with the property owner, CANC LLC, for a three-year lease on the property. She said the lease would be contingent upon the approval of the permit.

WMS currently operates at three campuses: one on Longhill Road in James City County and two in the City of Williamsburg, on Scotland Street and Penniman Road.

If the request is approved, WMS would relocate its upper elementary and middle school programs, which currently operate at the Scotland Street and Penniman Road locations, to the new Richmond Road site.

Andrews said the school had looked into consolidating campuses for several years. She said combining all of the school’s programs in one campus had been included in WMS’s most recent 10-year plan.

The location is zoned LB-2, which is meant for use as a mixture of office, commercial and residential purposes. A special use permit would allow for other uses of the property not laid out in the zoning ordinance.

Andrews said the building would not require any alterations or construction for use as a school building, and WMS would be able to occupy the building in time for the first day of classes in September.

“It’s perfect as-is,” she said. “If we receive approval, we can get in there and move in furniture, supplies, everything we need to be ready by September 8.”

Andrews said 40 to 50 students would use the building on a daily basis for school activities.

Andrews also said the school had informed Williamsburg city staff the new location would use a staggered drop-off and release system to limit parking and traffic congestion around the site. She said about five cars would regularly park on the site.

Andrews said the area around the Richmond Road site was well-suited for a school given its proximity to Colonial Williamsburg, museums and William & Mary. She also said WMS would be a good addition for the downtown area.

“Our school could bring a lot of advantages to the Arts District, with students and parents coming into a retail-rich area,” Andrews said.

City staff will make a recommendation on the proposal prior to the Planning Commission’s June 17 meeting.

The Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on the request June 17. The commission can then vote on whether to recommend the proposal to the Williamsburg City Council.

The City Council could address the request as early as its July meeting.

Williamsburg Montessori School was founded in 1982 and is affiliated with the American Montessori Society, which emphasizes self-reliance and self-motivation in childhood education.

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James Horn

James Horn has had a deep interest in the first English settlements on the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries since he began his career.

More than 35 years later, the career academic and researcher is now in charge of the Jamestown Rediscovery Project.

Since his earliest days in academia, he has been focused on life in the “far-flung English colonies” of the Chesapeake Bay area in the first part of the 17th century. He has authored four books on the topic, and as of Feb. 1, he is overseeing the team of archaeologists working on the Jamestown Rediscovery Project to excavate the first English settlement on Jamestown Island.

Now that he has settled in as the full-time director of the project, Horn has developed a vision for the project to carry it through the next five years.

At the top of his agenda is getting the island listed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization as a significant site. He has joined with the National Park Service — which owns much of Jamestown Island — to take the first step to placement on the list by submitting the island for inclusion on the U.S. list of potential UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Should the island become a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it would join a hallowed pantheon of sites across the globe, including the Taj Mahal, the historic sites of Rome and Machu Pichu. Horn said inclusion on the list tends to boost visitorship to a site by as much as 30 percent, which would be a boon to both the nonprofit project’s archaeological work and the Historic Triangle.

Horn took that first step with NPS in March, about a month after he started as the full-time director of the project. He had previously worked for Colonial Williamsburg as its vice president of research and historical interpretation and the O’Neill Director of the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library. While in that role, he coordinated research into how Colonial Williamsburg should accurately craft its interpretation of history.

That position also had him overseeing the project during a five-year partnership between Colonial Williamsburg and Preservation Virginia, the nonprofit behind the Jamestown Rediscovery Project.

That partnership ended in December. Horn left Colonial Williamsburg and transitioned to full-time director of the new Jamestown Rediscovery Foundation, a position that along with providing oversight of archaeological operations also requires him to oversee fundraising and operations at the site.

His experience with Colonial Williamsburg connected him with Lisa Fischer, the director of the Digital History Center at the living history museum. He has since hired her away from Colonial Williamsburg to come to the Jamestown Rediscovery Project to spearhead a new center for digital initiatives.

That center will help the project overcome one of its major challenges — depicting life in the early 17th-century colony without building elaborate replicas of buildings or using costumed interpreters. Visitors to the project currently see archaeologists at work excavating building sites from the James Fort period.

Horn said the James Fort area will never play host to re-created buildings like at the nearby Jamestown Settlement, as that is too cost-prohibitive and is not in line with the archaeological mission at the heart of the project. Jamestown constantly changed during the first decades of English settlement, and a reconstruction would also only capture one snapshot of the settlement’s varied life.

Instead, the digital center will create detailed 3-D renderings of the fort throughout its lifetime, from the first days the walls were up to when it was expanded to five sides in 1608 to when growth spilled outside the walls and created a town.

The digital work will also eventually allow visitors to explore the archaeology that uncovered the fort. Renderings will be created to show what an archaeological dig looks like. Those renderings would allow visitors to click through layers of dirt and check out artifacts that have been found during the more than 20 years of archaeology at the site. He sees the digital initiative as useful for both the general public and students.

“You might find an artifact, and you can click on it and it’s a piece of armor and as the archeologists remove it and take it to conservation you can follow the whole process, from the initial discovery to its emergence in terms of exhibition quality,” Horn said.

He wants to incorporate mobile technology into the digital initiative, too. Eventually, guests will be able to point their phone at a point on the island and scroll through the renderings of what previously existed at the site. He anticipates it will take at least three years before the digital initiatives are ready for public rollout.

Horn is also hopeful he will be able to start a pair of research centers in conjunction with NPS, which operates the visitor center on the island where the centers would be established.

One center would detail the cultures and legacies of the Native Americans who lived in the area during the initial period of English settlement. The Jamestown Rediscovery Project is close to a partnership with the Pamunkey Indian Tribe that would allow the two groups to exchange research and artifacts.

“This Indian research center will be another way of underlining the important Indian context of European settlement here,” he said.

The other center, called the First Africans Project, will explore the lives of the first Africans brought to the English settlements in the Chesapeake Bay. The history of slavery along with its cultural legacy will feature prominently in the center.

Horn wants to have both of these centers operational by late next year.

In the long term, Horn plans to have the archaeologists excavate the site of Jamestown’s original church and the site where the first statehouse was built. He wants to have that work underway in time for the 2019 commemoration, which will celebrate the 400th anniversary of the first meeting of representative government in the new world in 1619 at the Jamestown Church.

The Jamestown Rediscovery Project is located on the southwestern tip of Jamestown Island. Visitors to the Historic Jamestowne site have access to both the NPS visitors center and the project’s land, which is connected to it via footpath. Archaeologists are constantly at work during the warmer months, and visitors to the site can observe their labor firsthand.

The project also operates the Nathalie P. & Alan M. Voorhees Archaearium, where visitors can see artifacts the team has removed from the ground. The Jamestown Rediscovery Project has been underway since 1994, when it was started by Archaeologist William Kelso.

Related Coverage:

• Colonial Williamsburg, Preservation Virginia End Partnership

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Will Gibson (left) and Junho Oh were selected as Williamsburg Christian Academy’s class of 2015 valedictorian and salutatorian, respectively. (Courtesy Williamsburg Christian Academy)

Williamsburg Christian Academy will graduate 24 members of its class of 2015 on Saturday.

Each graduate is pursuing additional education or training after graduating from WCA.

Will Gibson was selected as valedictorian for the class of 2015. He plans to attend Christopher Newport University in the fall.

Junho Oh was named salutatorian and plans to attend Virginia Tech this fall.

Below is the full list of WCA’s class of 2015:

Daniel Thomas Bunn, James Madison University
John Reilly Busching*, Liberty University
Miranda Paige Christy, Virginia Commonwealth University
Enoch Steere Comber*, Virginia Commonwealth University
Nicholas Alexander Couch*, Christopher Newport University
Emily Louise Duncan*, Agnes Scott College
Will Payton Gibson*,Christopher Newport University
Kevin Carlysle Henderson, Assumption College
Jaclyn Marie Humphreys, VCU School of Art
Alexandria Theresa Jordan-Francavilla*, Southeastern University
Chandler James Manns*, Virginia Tech
Elizabeth Savannah Mothershead*, Christopher Newport University
Junho Oh*, Virginia Tech National Honor Society
Luke Beckley Pfeifer, Christopher Newport University; Principal Award
Kara Noel Prince*, Liberty University
Emma Caroline Rodenberg, Longwood University Principal Award
Noah Christopher Salavejus, Southeastern University Mid-Atlantic
Rowan Taylor Schreiner, Thomas Nelson Community College
Jessica Lee Scoggin*, Bridgewater College
Rebecca Lynn Scoggin*, Bridgewater College
Bryanna Noelle Stanko, Undecided
Megan Jill Swope*, Longwood University
Maria Catherine Terracina*, Pratt Institute
Simone Jasmine Williams, University of the Arts, Philadelphia

* denotes National Honor Society member

Senior Awards

The international Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is a non-competitive, self-development program for youths ages 14 to 25. The award honors personal achievement and aims to build self-esteem and promote character development within honorees. The 2015 recipients are Elizabeth Mothershead and Will Gibson.

The Principal awards are given to students in each grade at WCA who have modeled excellent behavior, character and self-discipline throughout the school year. The 2015 recipients are Luke Pfeifer and Emma Rodenberg.

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Hundreds of athletes are expected to participate in a bike race and a triathlon this weekend, meaning delays are likely in the morning hours on several major James City County roads.

The Jamestown Gran Fondo — a bike race where riders can go 30, 62 or 100 miles — will cause delays from 7:30 to 11:30 a.m. on Jamestown Road near the ferry, Greensprings Road, 4H Club Road and John Tyler Highway, according to a county news release.

On Sunday, the Jamestown Triathlon will cause delays on John Tyler Highway between Greensprings Road and Monticello Avenue. Police will be on scene Sunday to direct traffic during the race to try to cut down on delays.

Cyclists will be on the roads throughout the day Sunday, so drivers are asked to exercise caution at all times.

Maps of the Jamestown Gran Fondo route can be found here, while maps of the Traithlon can be found here.

The triathlon is a USA Triathlon Regional Championship. The top 33 percent of finishers per age group will qualify for the 2015 Olympic-Distance National Championships in Milwaukee.

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The 18th-century French ship L’Hermione is on its way to Yorktown, its first port-of-call, where it will stay today through Sunday. (Courtesy Friends of the Hermione)

The French tall ship L’Hermione will arrive in Yorktown today to a dock packed with people interested in seeing the ship, just like in 1780 when the replica’s namesake ship arrived in Boston bearing a message of hope.

The original ship first visited North America in 1780, when it ferried the Marquis de Lafayette to Boston so he could share the news with George Washington and other revolutionary leaders that King Louis XVI was committing ships and more than 5,000 troops to the war.

A replica of the ship is set to make its first port of call in the U.S. today at Yorktown. Its three-day visit is projected to draw thousands to the historic village. Check out WYDaily’s visitors’ guide for the ship to plan your visit.

The original ship’s visit to the U.S. was its first official voyage. It was built in the late 1770s at Rochefort, a shipyard located along the La Charente River near the western coast of France.

While the ship was under construction, Lafayette was busy serving in the American military. In 1779, he returned to France to visit his family and gin up support for the American cause among French leadership. He lobbied hard for troops and ships and eventually secured the commitment from Louis XVI.

“Of course, it doesn’t always take a lot to get the French to fight the English,” said Diane Shaw, a Lafayette scholar who serves as the director of special collections and the college archivist for Lafayette College in Pennsylvania.

After the king committed the troops, L’Hermione made the journey to North America in six weeks instead of the usual two months the trip took at the time. Lafayette famously said the ship “sails like a bird” during its trip to America.

“Word had spread of [Hermione’s] arrival, the docks were lined with people [at Boston],” Shaw said. “Lafayette received a hero’s welcome because he was bringing fresh energy to an American campaign that hadn’t been going particularly well.”

The people gathered to see the arrival of the L’Hermione did not know the French were about to greatly amplify their involvement in the conflict, but that did not stop them from turning out. Lafayette went off to tell Washington the news, ending his formal relationship with the vessel.

The French frigate was built to serve as a supporting vessel rather than a mainline combat ship, but the 32-gun frigate saw plenty of combat anyway. Soon after dropping Lafayette off, the ship became involved in a one-on-one fight with a British frigate off Long Island. The two ships exchanged fire for about 90 minutes, damaging L’Hermione.

L’Hermione was a 32-gun frigate, said Ron Lewis, a regular speaker at the Mariners’ Museum who has studied the ship. Frigates were typically used to ferry information throughout fleets of larger ships and pick up stragglers. A larger ship of the line would often have more than 100 guns.

After the Long Island fight, L’Hermione was involved in a battle off the coast of Nova Scotia in July 1781 where together with another French frigate it damaged two British warships. After that fight, the ship appeared in Philadelphia, where the Continental Congress honored it for its involvement in the war.

The ship was also involved in the Siege of Yorktown in October 1781. It brought supplies and ammunition to the French blockade. That blockade was especially valuable to the revolution, because the American military did not have any major ships of the line to use against the British.

“The French navy was a huge part of the success of the American Revolution,” Lewis said.

After the war ended, L’Hermione sailed back to France in February 1782. Lewis said L’Hermione’s status as a frigate means details of its actions are spottier than would be if it were a larger ship of the line with a greater value to the French Navy.

The ship is known to have sailed to India as part of a squadron of vessels sometime after returning to France, but hostilities with the British ended before it had a chance to see combat.

In 1793, L’Hermione was involved in a renewed fight against British warships off the coast of France. The fight took place near Le Croisic, whose coast is notoriously rocky.  The ship rammed into rocks, and was subsequently battered to pieces by seawater.

That battle marked the end of the original Hermione. During its life, the ship had a crew of between 250 and 300 people. The ship required plenty of hands to take care of heavy masts and ropes, while each of its 32 cannons required four to six people to operate.

The replica vessel, while built of historical plans, does not feature the banks of cannons. It also uses synthetic sails, which weigh far less than the traditional sails on the original L’Hermione. Consequently, it has a much smaller crew.

The replica ship will dock in Yorktown on Friday morning and remain in place until Sunday afternoon.

Related Coverage:

• Heavy Rainfall Alters Parking Plan for Hermione’s Arrival
• Hermione Comes to Yorktown: Visitors’ Guide
• Yorktown Businesses Prepare for Thousands of People Expected for L’Hermione
• Hermione Comes to Yorktown: Events Guide
• Hermione Arrival Will Close Street in Yorktown
• Additional Security Expected for L’Hermione Weekend in Yorktown
• Parking Secured for Thousands Expected to Greet L’Hermione in Yorktown
• French Volunteer Helps Bring the ship Hermione to Yorktown
• Volunteers Needed for Arrival of Hermione in Yorktown
• Track L’Hermione on Its Journey to Yorktown
• Yorktown to be First Port-of-Call for Replica Revolutionary Warship of Marquis de Lafayette

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Matthew John Stickle (Photo courtesy Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail)

After more than six hours of deliberation, a jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict for a man accused of possessing and intending to distribute 22 files of child pornography.

The trial of Matthew John Stickle — which was originally scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday — ended at 6 p.m. Thursday with a hung jury, and the prosecution must now decide whether to try the case again or drop the charges.

A hearing has been set for 1 p.m. Wednesday to hear whether Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Maureen Kufro will try the case again.

For two-and-a-half days, the nine-female, three-male jury heard testimony regarding the laptop computer that contained 21 videos and one photo depicting child pornography.

They watched parts of all 21 downloaded pornographic videos that showed nude children engaging in sexual acts, heard the explicit titles of those videos, learned about the 2,700 search terms related to child pornography that were entered in the file-sharing software used to download the files and watched a video of the investigator’s interview with Stickle.

The jury wrote in a note to Judge Michael McGinty after more than six hours of deliberation they were stuck at a vote of 11 to 1 and there was “no chance” of the one vote changing.

During the trial, Kufro argued 43-year-old Stickle, who was arrested and charged with the 22 felony counts after a detective with the Southern Virginia Internet Crimes Against Children task force performed an undercover investigation, was responsible for downloading the files onto his laptop through a peer-to-peer file-sharing software called Ares.

“He sought and he downloaded images and videos showing children being penetrated, raped, sodomized and exploited,” she said in her closing argument, adding that simply by downloading the file-sharing software, he was intending to distribute the explicit material.

Lt. Scott Little, who investigated the case, said he also found three contraband videos showing Stickle with a minor on the laptop in a folder labeled “X” separate from the files downloaded from Ares.

Those three videos were the subject of separate charges alleging the manufacturing of child pornography, but the charges were previously dropped or dismissed, and the videos were deemed not relevant in the current trial.

McGinty had previously ruled the three contraband videos that allegedly involve Stickle were not to be mentioned to the jury during the trial, but when Nagel questioned Little on the stand about not pursuing an investigation on Stickle’s roommate from New York — who may have had access to his laptop — Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Maureen Kufro asked Little to explain why he made that decision. Little revealed he believed Stickle to be the primary suspect in the case after seeing the videos he said featured Stickle and a minor.

McGinty instructed jurors only to review Little’s statement about the three videos in the context of the question regarding why Little did not further investigate the man Stickle had been living with in New York, as Stickle is not being charged regarding the three videos in which he is allegedly involved.

Patricia Nagel, Stickle’s attorney, argued there were others — his fiancée, his roommate in New York and a childhood friend — who had access to Stickle’s laptop and may have downloaded the file-sharing software and put the child pornography on the laptop.

She also pointed to the fiancée’s inconsistent statements as a reason to doubt the guilt of her client.

The fiancée, a middle school teacher who began living with Stickle in a Williamsburg condominium in 2013, accessed Stickle’s laptop on at least two occasions to enter grades into the school’s website, according to digital forensic evidence.

Nagel argued the fiancée initially told police she did not have access to Stickle’s laptop but recanted her statement after she remembered using it one time in December 2013.

Nagel said the fiancée “flat-out lied” that “she never touched that computer” during a preliminary hearing on the case in May 2014, but the fiancée said she did not remember using the computer until September 2014.

The defense’s expert witness Domingo Rivera testified he found hundreds of “hits” for the school system website where the fiancée worked in the internet search history on Stickle’s computer and saw her email address appear in the forensic analysis. The hits occurred on at least two separate dates.

Nagel argued her client had no idea how the file-sharing software or the child pornography got onto his laptop and therefore had no intent to distribute the files.

Stickle, who did not speak during the trial other than occasionally whispering to his attorney, still faces 22 felony counts of possessing with intent to distribute child pornography — nine of which are first offense, and 13 of which are subsequent or second offense — and will continue to be in custody at Virginia Peninula Regional Jail.

Related Coverage:

• Investigator Testifies to Finding Videos of Williamsburg Child Pornography Suspect with Minor
• Prosecution: Suspect in Williamsburg Child Pornography Case Shared Files Online
• Williamsburg Man Suspected of Producing, Distributing Child Pornography Requests Jury Trial
• City Man Accused of Producing, Distributing Child Pornography Pleads Not Guilty
• Williamsburg Man Charged with Producing, Distributing Child Pornography

WYDaily.com is your source for free news and information in Williamsburg, James City & York Counties.

Motorists can expect delays Sunday when one lane on both the Coleman Bridge and James River Bridge close for maintenance and for the Law Enforcement Torch Run.

On the Coleman Bridge, single-lane closures are scheduled from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. for Virginia Department of Transportation crews to perform mechanical work.

There will be two 30-minute southbound traffic stops at around 9 a.m. and noon to allow crews to reposition equipment.

Maritime traffic will be affected by the work being done.

If it rains, work on the Coleman Bridge will be pushed back to June 14.

On the James River Bridge, a single northbound lane will be closed at 8:30 a.m. Sunday to allow the participants in the Law Enforcement Torch Run to pass.

There will also be single-lane closures in both directions from Monday to Friday between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m.

Real-time traffic information from VDOT can be found on its website here. Commuters can also tune into Highway Advisory Radio at 1680 AM or call 511 or 361-3016.

WYDaily.com is your source for free news and information in Williamsburg, James City & York Counties.

From left to right: Austin Peterson, Christian Bearisto, Aaron Lee, David Hartman (Courtesy James City County Police)

Four men accepted plea deals Friday in connection to a string of car break-ins a prosecutor said victimized up to 100 people last fall.

Aaron Scott Lee, David Hartman, Austin Peterson and Terrence Terrell White all pleaded guilty to felony charges in Williamsburg-James City County Circuit Court.

The group stole jewelry, firearms, cash and a camera from cars in James City County neighborhoods between July 30 and Sept. 11.

The quartet was arrested along with another man, Christian Bearisto, at the end of September and early October. Bearisto pleaded guilty in March to pawning several of the stolen items. He will be sentenced in June.

Lee faced the most charges out of the group in court on Friday. He pleaded guilty to two felony counts of theft of a firearm and one felony count of possessing a firearm as a convicted felon. Williamsburg James City County Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Cathy Black told the court Lee has a robbery conviction from when he was a juvenile.

The plea deal also requires him to pay restitution of at least $2,318.42 to the victims of the thefts. Black said photos of the stolen firearms were found on Lee’s phone.

In exchange for the guilty pleas, three felony charges of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and two other counts of theft of a firearm were all dropped. He will be sentenced on the three felonies at 9 a.m. Sept. 2.

Terrence Terrell White (Courtesy Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail)

Peterson pleaded guilty to a grand larceny charge and agreed to pay the same restitution as Lee. In exchange, a conspiracy to commit grand larceny charge was dropped. He will be sentenced at 9 a.m. Aug. 19.

Hartman entered a plea of no contest to a grand larceny charge. He will have his charge reduced to a misdemeanor if he remains at good behavior for the rest of the year.

White pleaded guilty to theft of a firearm charge. He will be sentenced at 9 a.m. July 22.

Both men must also pay the same restitution as their counterparts.

The thefts affected the neighborhoods of Scott’s Pond, Kingsmill, St. George’s Hundred, Stonehouse, Greensprings West, Windsor Forest, Williamsburg West, Settler’s Mill, Great Woods, Wellington, Fenwick Hills and Graylin Woods.

Investigators caught a break in the case after a resident of St. George’s Hundred saw two people stealing items from vehicles on Wellington Circle early on Sept. 11. That man chased the two people on foot and got a partial license plate number from a nearby vehicle.

Police found the vehicle later that day and questioned two people inside before releasing them. That interview gave police enough information to charge Peterson, Bearisto, Lee and Hartman. White was arrested a short time later.

Related Coverage:

• More Charges for Man Accused of Stealing from Cars in James City County
• Man Pleads Guilty to Pawning Items Stolen from JCC Vehicles
• Two Men Suspected in String of JCC Car Break-ins to Face Grand Jury
• Three of Five Men Suspected in String of Summer JCC Car Break-ins to Face Grand Jury
• UPDATE: Fifth Man Arrested in Car Break-ins Allegedly Fired Shots With Stolen Gun
• Court Documents: Suspects Took Photos of Guns Stolen From Vehicles, Pawned Jewelry
• JCC Police Arrest Four in Connection With Series of Vehicle Break-Ins
• JCC Police Urge Citizens to Lock Cars After Thefts From Vehicles Continue
• James City County Police: String of Vehicle Break-Ins Likely Related
• James City County Report Series of Vehicle Break-ins Since Sept. 1. 
• JCC Police: Eight Vehicle Break-ins Reported in Toano
• JCC Police Investigate After 14 Vehicles Rummaged Through in Scott’s Pond