Third murder trial set for Oct. 6

Hung juries have twice refused to convict in brutal slayings of Richard and Rosa Flowers

State prosecutors, having twice failed to convict the man accused in the January 2003 brutal stabbing deaths of Richard and Rosa Flowers, will pursue the case yet again in a highly unusual third trial, scheduled to begin Oct. 6 in a Craven County courtroom.

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Third trial set for Pamlico
double-murder suspect

Attorney Richard McNeil will defend Jones for a third time

Vaughn Jones enters a courtroom last year

Accused double-murderer Vaughn Jones, arrested more than five years ago for the January 2003 stabbing deaths of Merritt residents Richard and Rosa Flowers, returns to a Craven County courtroom Thursday for defense and prosecution motions in anticipation of his third trial, set to begin Oct. 6.

Juries have twice refused to convict Jones. The first trial, held in Pamlico County, ended with a 6 to 6 deadlock.

Last year, the proceedings were moved to Craven County over the objections of Jones’s court-appointed attorney, Richard McNeil. In that trial, five jurors held out for acquittal.

The tense two weeks resembled a TV drama, including the appearance of a surprise witness.

A former girlfriend of Jones, who survived his vicious knife assault in August 1995, testified as to details of the attack, which bore an eerie resemblance to that suffered by the Flowers.

At the time of the murders, Jones was an employee of the Flowers’ business, Custom Steel Boats. He has been held without bail since his arrest.

In Thursday’s hearing, courtroom observers expect prosecutors to file burglary charges against Jones, an offense that was not pursued during either of the earlier trials. The additional count signals the prosecution team is intent upon securing some type of conviction, in the wake of two consecutive hung juries who considered only murder charges.

Quashawn Monk injured

Photos by Kathy Enzerink/Pamlico News

Pamlico County Rescue Squad and volunteers from the Triangle Fire Departments responded to a single-vehicle accident Sunday afternoon on Hwy. 304 near Cash Corner.

Quashawn Monk, a 2008 graduate from Pamlico County High School, apparently misjudged the curve in a heavy downpour and rolled the burgundy color Nissan Pathfinder he was driving. Complaining of back and neck pain, Monk was transported by ambulance to the Moose Lodge in Grantsboro where he was airlifted to Pitt Memorial Hospital in Greenville.

The vehicle left deep ruts in the right-o-way on the opposite side of the two-lane road and muddy tire prints on the blacktop before ending on its side in the ditch.

First on the scene, Glenn Hopkins who lives next to the crash site, helped pull Monk through the busted out back window of the vehicle.

Unsafe tires and heavy rain may have played a part in the accident. Charges are pending, according to Highway Patrol Trooper Thomas Wetherington, who investigated.

Trailer fire in Arapahoe

Photos by Jeff Aydelette/Pamlico News

Home unseen from Hwy. 306,
no road sign a potential problem 

Seven units from three different volunteer fire departments -- and more than a dozen firefighters --responded to a fire in Arapahoe Sunday afternoon that completely destroyed the furnishings and interior of a single-wide mobile home on Griffin Road. No injuries were reported.

Reports of the blaze were called into 911 at about 1:15 p.m.

The trailer is one of a few homes, including several brick structures, near the end of the dirt road.

Approximately two-tenths of a mile off heavily traveled Hwy. 306, the small neighborhood is concealed by woods. And, for whatever reason, no sign marks the intersection.

Arapahoe firemen know their hometown district well. As a result, they had no trouble responding. However, back-up units from Southeast Pamlico near Oriental, and Grantsboro-Silverhill, were slightly slowed by the lack of basic, and mandatory, signage.

A random sample of 25 students, drawn from those in grades 9 through 12 who participate in extracurricular activities, took a saliva-testing procedure Friday morning at Pamlico County High School.

“They were all 100 percent negative,” reported high school principal Tom Marsh, a term used to indicate no illegal drug use had been detected. “I knew we were going to have one (a test) some time, but I didn’t know when.”

All of those who were asked had previously signed a ‘pledge,’ in which they agreed to participate. The consent form was also completed by either a parent or guardian of every student.

A list of student identification numbers, randomly selected by a third party administrator, was transmitted to school superintendent Rick Sherrill.

Marsh, in turn, received the list early Friday morning. And, according to procedure, he used the school’s computerized database to match the ID numbers with students’ names.

“Then we called them out from class five at a time,” he said. “They did a mouth rinse, waited 10 minutes, and then we administered the test. And, we got the results four minutes later.”

Approximately 100 students who belong to the football, soccer, volleyball, and cheerleading squads comprised the pool. Those with parking permits and who plan to take Drivers’ Education classes will soon be added to the mix.

In recent years, several Supreme Court decisions have been interpreted as prohibiting school officials from testing students who attend only school. Those who partake of extracurricular activities have been ruled eligible -- and thus subject to occasional, and reasonable, drug tests.

Appointment of fill-in superintendent
divides school board

Outgoing school superintendent Rick Sherrill welcomes interim administrator Michael Priddy.

Holdouts want to promote from within

The Pamlico County Board of Education -- seven elected officials who set policy for the local school system -- split 5 to 2 Thursday night over appointment of an interim administrator to replace outgoing superintendent Rick Sherrill.

A former head of Pitt County Schools, who retired from that system in 2005,  Michael Priddy will serve through the end of the year to give officials breathing room as they seek a permanent replacement for Sherrill, who recently tendered his resignation.

Priddy brings a stellar resume to the post. He was selected Outstanding Educator of the Year in 2003 by the North Carolina Parent-Teachers Association. He is a member of the Educators’ Hall of Fame at East Carolina University. In 2005, he received the prestigious Order of the Long Leaf Pine, an award bestowed by the governor to honor citizens who have exhibited long careers of outstanding public service.

“My job is to help maintain the momentum that he (Sherrill) and his faculty and staff have achieved over the past three years,” Priddy told his new bosses. “You’ve got a lot to be proud of here.  I commend you and I commend your superintendent.”

Having recently completed a stint as an interim superintendent for Bertie County, Priddy explained his forays from retirement.

“I guess it gets in your blood,” he said. “You get up in the morning and immediately start thinking about schools.”

Despite his outstanding credentials, Priddy failed to sway Board of Education members Beatrice Mays and Reggie Hawkins, both of whom voted against his appointment.

Hawkins said later he favored selecting someone from within the ranks to fill in as superintendent. He referred to associate superintendents, Cathy Dunbar and Wanda Dawson, who could have jointly shared the responsibilities of Sherrill’s office while officials conduct the search for a fulltime leader.

Lawmakers overturn Easley veto

Joe McClees

Local lobbyist works behind the scenes

The General Assembly, summoned to Raleigh for a quick confrontation, dealt the governor an embarrassing setback Wednesday, as an overwhelming majority of both houses voted to override a veto -- an historic first in state government.

Local lobbyist Joe McClees, who worked his cell phone and Blackberry e-mail device almost nonstop last week, successfully gauged the pulse of the legislature. Monday, two days before the vote, he cautiously predicted the veto would not stand.

“I am humbled,” McClees said immediately after the vote. “The people have prevailed.”

McClees and his wife, Henri, live on a sprawling farm on Hwy. 55 just outside the Oriental town line.

They clearly relish the inner-workings of state lawmaking, particularly when a bill they push receives overwhelming bi-partisan support -- as it did earlier this summer when the legislature passed the measure.

That law, amended an earlier version, increasing the widths of boats that can be towed on many of the state’s roads. Easley objected, citing safety concerns. He vetoed the measure Aug. 17

Both local legislators -- Jean Preston, a Republican state senator; and, Alice Underhill, a Democratic house member -- voted to override.

“We were getting e-mails and calls from all over the country,” said Preston, reached on her cell phone. “They said ‘we will not be coming to North Carolina to do our fishing and boating if we keep getting tickets.’”

Preston cited statistics that corroborated proponents’ arguments. She said collisions involving boats are a micro percentage of the 230,000 traffic accidents each year in North Carolina.

McClees lobbied on behalf of his client, the National Marine Manufacturers Association.

 
Charlene Goodwin

Teacher struck in crosswalk of
elementary school

Classic English sports cars
visit Pamlico County

Saturday afternoon, Alden Kenney, 3, is one of many who admired more than a dozen vintage English-made automobiles lined up along Hodges Street in Oriental.

Most of the cars were the classic Austin-Healey brand exemplified by this authentic emblem.

More than a dozen British-made roadsters, most manufactured in the early 1960s, toured the streets of Oriental Saturday as part of the Austin-Healey Club of America’s nationwide Ice Cream Social. 

Charlie Overcash, who lives in Oriental and who owns a 1966 British Racing Green ‘Healey,’ hosted the event, which attracted a big crowd of onlookers.

North Carolina has two chapters of the club -- Charlotte and Winston-Salem. Gary Brierton, who serves as president of the Winston-Salem group, said the demise of the classic brand in 1968 was due in large part to safety regulations adopted in the United States.

Standards like “collapsible steering columns and crush zones” were difficult for the manufacturer to incorporate -- making those already on the road in this country even more valuable.

Court turns down appeal of
Oriental condo project

Click to Enlarge A drawing depicts the design and scale of the condominium, originally proposed in August 2006.

Knute Bysheim

Oriental developer Knute Bysheim lost his bid for court review of a proposed big box condo project, a permit originally denied by the town board in December 2006.

After a hearing held Monday, Aug. 18, Superior Court Judge Charles Henry waited until Friday to rule. He held that Bysheim -- represented by local lawyer Walt Pence -- failed to file his petition for a writ of certiorari within the prescribed 30-day period, immediately following the town’s written notice of denial.

Such a writ, if granted, would have allowed judicial review of the case to determine if proper procedures had been followed.

The immensely controversial 12-unit, four-story building was intended for a small waterfront lot adjacent to the Whittaker Creek Yacht Harbor. A boisterous public hearing on the required Special Use Permit occurred on four different dates in late 2006, spread out over almost a month.

Official notice of the denial followed in early 2007.

Six months after the rebuff, Bysheim submitted a second application for a scaled-back project. A permit for that residential condominium was also denied.

In his arguments before Judge Henry, Pence -- Bysheim’s lawyer -- referred to a letter that he submitted to town officials within the mandated 30-day period. He suggested filing a petition late was “reasonable,” particularly because his client pursued an alternative in the wake of the town’s first denial.

Pence also argued he and Bysheim received inadequate notice of the town’s first denial. Over the surprised stare of the judge, Pence cited “agency law.”

“The town’s Growth Management Ordinance specifically requires written denial from the town board,” Pence emphasized, hinting a letter signed only by Town Manager Wyatt Cutler and then-Mayor Sherrill Styron was insufficient. “The commissioners to date still have not sent my client a letter.”

As the Monday hearing ended, Henry signaled he found that logic farfetched.

“You’re arguing that eight months is a reasonable time,” he said, a tip off to his order issued four days later.

County Commissioner Carl Ollison nominates wife for planning board

Violet and Carl Ollison are seen here at a political rally last October.

NEWS UPDATE: 

In a letter submitted Tuesday, Aug. 19, Commissioner Carl Ollison asked to be reinstated to his former seat on the Pamlico County Planning Board.

“I wish to withdraw my resignation,” Ollison wrote, “for the good of the voters in my township.”

The change of heart comes as a surprise -- and whether Ollison can legally withdraw his resignation remains unclear. See next week’s issue of The Pamlico News for more details.

Having resigned two months ago from his seat on the seven-member county planning board, Pamlico County Commissioner Carl Ollison nominated his spouse Monday night to fill his unexpired term on the advisory panel.

According to her written application for the post, Violet Ollison, 43, is employed as a Medicaid Supervisor with the Pamlico County Department of Social Services.

“I’ve talked to just about everybody in Township No. 4 about serving on the planning board,” explained Ollison, “and I’ve found only one person who is willing to do it -- and that is my wife.”

For several years, Carl Ollison has acted as both a county commissioner from Township No. 4 and as the area’s designated representative on the planning board. He recently resigned from the advisory panel to protest when he believes to be an unnecessary expense for county taxpayers -- payments to a part-time professional planner for services rendered.

Because he represents the township on the county commission, Ollison can take advantage of both custom and formal procedure. He has the sole prerogative to nominate a representative from Township No. 4 to an earmarked slot on the planning board.

But to win the appointment requires a majority vote of the commissioners.

Ollison, as the county’s only black commissioner, has overwhelming support among voters in Township No. 4. In fact, he is considered by many to be the most unbeatable of the 60 or more elected officials in the county. In his last election, he ran unopposed.

Before Monday night’s show of hands, county attorney Jimmie Hicks suggested Ollison would have a conflict of interest. As a result, he agreed to recuse himself from the pending vote. That recusal opened the door for an unusual deadlocked board.

The formal tally went 3 to 3, with County Commission Chairman Doug Brinson joining fellow commissioners Roy Brinson Sr. and Paul Delamar III in support of Violet Ollison.

Commissioners Jimmy Spain, Christine Mele, and Ann Holton voted against the appointment.

Explosives screening at ferry

Click to enlarge

Vehicles traveling from Cherry Point to Minnesott Beach weekdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. will slowly drive through an explosives screening portal as part of a four-week pilot program between the Transportation Security Administration, TSA, and the North Carolina Department of Transportation. The pilot employs backscatter imaging technology to screen vehicles for explosives prior to driving onto the ferry near Havelock.

Read the complete story in the August 20 edition of The Pamlico News.

The truth will come out in the August
20 edition of The Pamlico News