A Wilson teen accused in two March shootings faces criminal charges including attempted first-degree murder. On March 26, police responded to a 3:41 a.m. shots-fired call into a home in the 200 block of Dewey Street. The homeowner told police that someone fired several rounds into the home, according to Capt. Steve Stroud. Several people were inside when the shooting occurred. No one was injured, Stroud said. Nearly 12 hours later, police responded to a 3 p.m. shots-fired call in the 900 block of Vance Street. Police say gunfire struck a home and vehicle. No one was injured. &#x201C;Due to drug evidence being seen inside the residence, a search warrant was obtained for the residence,&#x201D; Stroud said. Police said they found a handgun reported stolen from Kenly along with a small amount of marijuana. On March 31, police arrested and charged 18-year-old Blessed W. Peppers in connection to both shootings. Peppers faces five counts of shooting into an occupied dwelling and four counts of attempted first-degree murder in the shooting on Dewey Street. Peppers was also charged with possession of a stolen handgun and shooting a firearm with city limits in the shooting on Vance Street. Peppers was jailed under a $260,000 secured bond for both incidents. Peppers

Teen faces charges in shootings

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Superintendent Lane Mills warned the Wilson County Board of Education on Monday that rising steel costs will raise the new Wilson Academy of Applied Technology building&rsquo;s construction price. 
Mills said board members should anticipate higher costs for the $24 million project at Wilson Community College&rsquo;s Lee Technology Center. 
The state Needs-Based Public School Capital Fund will bankroll some $15 million of the more than 80,000-square-foot building. Wilson County&rsquo;s portion, a $5 million match, increased to $9 million for a gymnasium added to construction plans. 
Mills said cost increases and steel availability will affect the steel-framed structure&rsquo;s cost. 
&ldquo;The costs of steel are going to be a concern for our project,&rdquo; Mills said. &ldquo;The WAAT project is going to need some additional funding. There are going to be changes in WAAT&rsquo;s cost just because of the supply and demand of materials.&rdquo;
Mills said the cost of steel alone could raise the construction price by $700,000. 
Even if orders were made for the project this fall, trusses may not be available until March 2022, he said.
The topic came up as board members got their first look at a comprehensive report on costs to improve four of the district&rsquo;s aging elementary school.
The report, prepared by Skinner Farlow Kirwan Architecture in conjunction with Mark Letchworth, maintenance department director, examined costs associated with major upgrades to Barnes, Frederick Douglass, Lee Woodard and Wells elementary schools.
Board member Henry Mercer said costs associated with the WAAT building underscore the point that making renovations to existing buildings &ldquo;is a heck of a lot cheaper than building new schools.&rdquo;
IN OTHER BUSINESS
&bull; The board approved Wilson County Schools&rsquo; $24,961,517 local current expense budget request for 2021-22 with a $1 million capital outlay budget request. Wilson County commissioners will review the requests. In response to the governor&rsquo;s proposed budget, retirement rates have increased from 22.80% to 24.37%, and hospitalization has increased from $6,500 to $6,580. Teachers will receive a $1,575 salary increase. 
&bull; School board members reviewed updated figures on student attendance and bus ridership as the district transitioned from Plan B (hybrid remote learning) to Plan A (face-to-face learning). In-person attendance more than doubled for middle schools and more than quadrupled for high schools in the transition from Plan B to Plan A. The district&rsquo;s six middle schools had an average of 596 children in their cohort in Plan B versus 1,388 in Plan A. Middle school bus ridership grew from 241 students in Plan B to 531 in Plan A. The district&rsquo;s three traditional high schools and two early colleges had 246 students in their cohort for an average day under Plan B and 871 under Plan A. High school bus ridership increased from a daily average of 50 in Plan B to 209 in Plan A.
&bull; Administrators detailed contracts that didn&rsquo;t require board approval, including $87,060 to Hershey Creamery for renewal of an agreement for ice cream; $47,885.80 to SFSPac Chemical Corp. to renew an agreement for sanitation and warewashing chemical products; $45 to $50 per hour to Aveanna Healthcare for private-duty nursing services for exceptional children (last year&rsquo;s cost was $43,464); and $52,426 to Envirocon Inc for a ventilation system controls upgrade at Barnes Elementary School.
&bull; School board members approved contracts of more than $90,000 that required board approval, including $1,278,693.88 to Encore for 300 86-inch interactive television panels for K-12 classrooms and $224,543 to Envirocon for a ventilation controls upgrade at Fike High. 
&bull; The board approved applications for Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act and the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act in the amount of $16,633,832 of ESSER II funds available through September 2023, $37,220,943 of ESSER III funds available through September 2024 and $7,444,189 from ESSER III set aside for hearing loss. The applications will be submitted for a variety of needs, including all costs associated with a six-week summer program; compensatory education for exceptional children; additional computer hardware needs like devices, hotspots and contracted services to strengthen wireless access points; classroom furniture to assist with social distancing and sanitation; heating, ventilation and air conditioning upgrades that will assist with air quality; removal of carpet in 58 classrooms and replacement of floor coverings with tile; instructional software and software to digitize processes; professional development for staff; mental health support positions (executive director for student services, mental health coordinator, lead social-emotional learning psychologist); classroom positions to reduce class size; and interventionists to work with small groups during the day. 
&bull; The board approved a 10-year lease agreement with the Rock Ridge Youth Athletic Association for after-hours use of the athletic fields at Rock Ridge Elementary School for $1 per year.
&bull; The board approved a proposed school resource officer memorandum of agreement between the Wilson County Board of Education, Wilson County Schools, the Wilson County Sheriff&rsquo;s Office and Wilson County Emergency Management &ldquo;in order to foster an efficient and cohesive program that will build a positive relationship between law enforcement officers, school administrators, parents and the students in the Wilson County public schools.&rdquo;
&bull; The board approved proposed items to be declared surplus and sold at an auction scheduled Saturday at Horizon Ltd. at the corner of Ward Boulevard and Goldsboro Street.
&bull; School board members nominated Mills for the Central Carolina Regional Education Service Alliance&rsquo;s Superintendent of the Year competition.&nbsp;

Higher costs forecast for Wilson Academy of Applied Technology building

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MINNEAPOLIS &mdash; Former Minneapolis Officer Derek Chauvin was convicted Tuesday of murder and manslaughter for pinning George Floyd to the pavement with his knee on the Black man&rsquo;s neck in a case that touched off worldwide protests, violence and a furious reexamination of racism and policing in the U.S.
Chauvin, 45, could be sent to prison for decades.
The jury of six white people and six Black or multiracial ones came back with its verdict after about 10 hours of deliberations over two days. Chauvin was found guilty on all charges: second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
His face was obscured by a COVID-19 mask, and little reaction could be seen beyond his eyes darting around the courtroom.
His bail was immediately revoked and he was led away with his hands cuffed behind his back.
The verdict was read in a courthouse ringed with concrete barriers and razor wire and patrolled by National Guard troops, in a city on edge against another round of unrest &mdash; not just because of the Chauvin case but because of the deadly police shooting of a young Black man, Daunte Wright, in a Minneapolis suburb April 11.
The jurors identities were kept secret and will not be released until the judge decides it is safe to do so.
Three other former Minneapolis officers charged with aiding and abetting murder in Floyd&rsquo;s death will stand trial in August.
Floyd, 46, died May 25 after being arrested on suspicion of passing a counterfeit $20 bill for a pack of cigarettes at a corner market. He panicked, pleaded that he was claustrophobic and struggled with police when they tried to put him in a squad car. They put him on the ground instead.
The centerpiece of the case was the excruciating bystander video of Floyd gasping repeatedly, &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t breathe&rdquo; and onlookers yelling at Chauvin to stop as the officer pressed his knee on or close to Floyd&rsquo;s neck for what authorities say was 9 1/2 minutes. Floyd slowly went silent and limp.
Prosecutors played the footage at the earliest opportunity, during opening statements, with Jerry Blackwell telling the jury: &ldquo;Believe your eyes.&rdquo; And it was shown over and over, analyzed one frame at a time by witnesses on both sides.
In the wake of Floyd&rsquo;s death, demonstrations and scattered violence broke out in Minneapolis, around the country and beyond. The furor also led to the removal of Confederate statues and other offensive symbols such as Aunt Jemima.
In the months that followed, numerous states and cities restricted the use of force by police, revamped disciplinary systems or subjected police departments to closer oversight.
The &ldquo;Blue Wall of Silence&rdquo; that often protects police accused of wrongdoing crumbled after Floyd&rsquo;s death: The Minneapolis police chief quickly called it &ldquo;murder&rdquo; and fired all four officers, and the city reached a staggering $27 million settlement with Floyd&rsquo;s family as jury selection was underway.
Police-procedure experts and law enforcement veterans inside and outside the Minneapolis department, including the chief, testified for the prosecution that Chauvin used excessive force and went against his training.
Medical experts for the prosecution said Floyd died of asphyxia, or lack of oxygen, because his breathing was constricted by the way he was held down on his stomach, his hands cuffed behind him, a knee on his neck and his face jammed against the ground.
Chauvin attorney Eric Nelson called a police use-of-force expert and a forensic pathologist to help make the case that Chauvin acted reasonably against a struggling suspect and that Floyd died because of an underlying heart condition and his illegal drug use.
Floyd had high blood pressure, an enlarged heart and narrowed arteries, and fentanyl and methamphetamine were found in his system.
Under the law, police have certain leeway to use force and are judged according to whether their actions were &ldquo;reasonable&rdquo; under the circumstances.
The defense also tried to make the case that Chauvin and the other officers were hindered in their duties by what they perceived as a growing, hostile crowd.
Chauvin did not testify, and all that the jury or the public ever heard by way of an explanation from him came from a police body-camera video after an ambulance had taken the 6-foot-4, 223-pound Floyd away. Chauvin told a bystander: &ldquo;We gotta control this guy &rsquo;cause he&rsquo;s a sizable guy ... and it looks like he&rsquo;s probably on something.&rdquo;
The prosecution&rsquo;s case also included tearful testimony from onlookers who said the police kept them back when they protested what was happening. Eighteen-year-old Darnella Frazier, who shot the crucial video, said Chauvin just gave the bystanders a &ldquo;cold&rdquo; and &ldquo;heartless&rdquo; stare.
She and others said they felt a sense of helplessness and lingering guilt from witnessing Floyd&rsquo;s slow-motion death.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been nights I stayed up, apologizing and apologizing to George Floyd for not doing more, and not physically interacting and not saving his life,&rdquo; Frazier testified, while the 19-year-old cashier at the neighborhood market, Christopher Martin, lamented that &ldquo;this could have been avoided&rdquo; if only he had rejected the suspect $20 bill.
To make Floyd more than a crime statistic in the eyes of the jury, the prosecution called to the stand his girlfriend, who told the story of how they met and how they struggled with addiction to opioids, and his younger brother Philonise. He recalled how Floyd helped teach him to catch a football and made &ldquo;the best banana mayonnaise sandwiches.&rdquo;

Ex-cop guilty of murder and manslaughter in George Floyd case 

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Police charged a Wilson man with murder on Tuesday in connection to a Sunday killing. 
The suspect, 42-year-old David L. Alston, faces a first-degree murder charge in the death of 25-year-old Nicholas J. Ellis. 
Alston turned himself in to authorities, according to Capt. Steve Stroud. 
Alston is being held without bond in the Wilson County Detention Center. 
Ellis was found dead Sunday in Pender Street Park. Police were initially called to accompany someone removing belongings in the 800 block of Gay Street at 4:29 p.m.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: <a href="https://restorationnewsmedia.com/wilsontimes/news/police-investigate-fatal-shooting" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Police investigate fatal Wilson shooting&nbsp;</a>
While officers were responding, an update from 911 communications indicated that people were fighting at that location, police said.
Officers arrived at nearby Pender Street Park and found Ellis dead from a gunshot wound.
Police ask anyone with information to call the Wilson Police Department at 252-399-2323 or Crime Stoppers at 252-243-2255.&nbsp;

Man charged in Pender Street Park killing 

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Wilson city officials on Monday gave developers the green light to renovate the former Anderson Apartments. 
&ldquo;The historic rehabilitation of this iconic property will be the cornerstone for future investment within the Old Wilson Historic District and will have a profound immediate and long-term impact on the neighborhood,&rdquo; Wilson Chief Planning and Development Officer Rodger Lentz said in a document distributed with the Wilson City Council agenda.
Council members agreed to sell the Anderson Apartments at 503 Vance St. NE and the Anderson Duplex at 207 Bragg St. NE to Hurt LLC for $10,000. The developer plans to invest $1 million into the 1922 Colonial Revival apartments.
Work is scheduled to begin by August and should be complete by December 2022. 
&ldquo;These will become three-bedroom, market-rate townhouses, and his plan is to cater to college students,&rdquo; Lentz said of the developer. 
City staff requested proposals for the redevelopment project and Hurt LLC was the only bidder, despite others expressing interest. 
The property was part of a $9.2 million proposed housing development, but when state funding fell through, so did the project. The city eventually purchased the historic property and in 2018, Wilson invested about $20,000 to stabilize and secure the buildings against further deterioration.
In other business Monday, council members approved a request to annex a 0.216-acre parcel to make way for the Culver&rsquo;s restaurant planned in the Heritage Corner shopping center.
The Wilson City Council recessed its <a href="https://restorationnewsmedia.com/wilsontimes/news/greenlight-plans-broadband-expansion-to-4-wilson-county-towns" target="_blank" rel="noopener">regularly scheduled April meeting on Thursday</a> and reconvened Monday to vote on matters discussed last week. When government bodies hold remote meetings via videoconference or teleconference, state law requires a 24-hour period for residents to submit public comments before elected officials can hold votes.&nbsp;
RELATED COVERAGE: <a href="https://restorationnewsmedia.com/wilsontimes/news/greenlight-plans-broadband-expansion-to-4-wilson-county-towns" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Greenlight plans broadband expansion to 4 Wilson County towns</a>&nbsp;

City sells Anderson Apartments to townhouse developer 

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I love making weekend breakfast special at my house. Sometimes it&#x2019;s as simple as buying our favorite 12-grain bread and making egg in a frame or taking time to make waffles and cook sausage links. A few weeks ago, I made pancakes in a sheet pan. I had seen Ree Drummond make a version of this recipe on her TV show, &#x201C;The Pioneer Woman.&#x201D; The concept is simple. Instead of standing at the stove and making pancakes while the family eats the hot ones, you can mix up the pancakes, pour the batter in a sheet pan and cook it in the oven. To make the &#x201C;pancakes&#x201D; special, add such mix-ins as blueberries, strawberries and chocolate chips. If the family wants different mix-ins, it&#x2019;s no problem to accommodate. Just add the ingredients separately, in strips. Ree made hers from scratch. I did not. After a few online searches, I found many recipes that used pancake mix. I didn&#x2019;t want to spend extra time with prep work, so I used our favorite boxed pancake mix. Most of the recipes I saw were basically the same, mixing the pancake mix with milk, eggs and butter. Some added vanilla and sugar for extra flavor. One recipe just followed the directions on the box for making the pancake batter, but I&#x2019;d use the box instructions for making waffles if I were to try that. The prep work for this recipe is easy. I washed the fruit I planned to use and cut the strawberries in slices. Then I mixed up the batter and poured it into a prepared sheet pan. I visually divided my sheet pan into fourths. One fourth got strawberries, one got a mix of strawberries and blueberries, one got chocolate chips. I left the last fourth with no additions. We cooked sausage while the pancakes baked. I was very happy with the results. It was fun picking out which variety to eat. I loved the strawberry/ blueberry option. I wished I had added a little more vanilla, so that&#x2019;s reflected in the recipe. Next time you want to do something a little different for breakfast, give this a try. And unless you are feeding a crowd, you&#x2019;ll have leftovers for several days. Lisa Boykin Batts has been writing a weekly food column since 2001. Her column includes recipes she and her family enjoy.

Streamline your pancake breakfast

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The following students at Community Christian School were recognized for their academic excellence during the third nine weeks. They are listed by grade and name.
<h5>ADMINISTRATOR'S LIST</h5>
Sixth grade: Jack Beamon, Jaxon Batten, Katelyn Brown, Alexa Crocker, Sha&rsquo;miyah Hassell, Ava Johnson, Christopher Keeler, Mary Abigail Lewin, Kevin Santiago-Jimenez, Pierce Stone and Caleb Taylor.
Seventh grade: Emilee Finberg, Lillie Long, Abner Martinez-Serrano, Aubrey Parris, Tyler Spivey, Ian Whitley and Brayden Williams.
Eighth grade: Vanessa Alvarez, Gracie Beamon, Olivia Carter, Luke Faulkner, Luke Holloman, Ava Page, Sergio Santiago-Jiminez and Aaron Shelton.
Ninth grade: Abby Crocker, Ruby Curl, Brandon Holmes, Tori Joyner, Cameron Reason, Hannah Surdzial and Noah Turner.
10th grade: Gabriella Alvarez, Jackson Finberg, Seth Huston, Abigail Jackson, Abby Jackson, Montana Lamm, Bryce Pittman and Scotti Williams.
11th grade: Ashley Abrams, Meredith Brown, Loreli Ferguson, Lexi Gardner, Olivia Kelly, Cheyenne Mundy, Graham Norville and Reagan Reason, Brandon Tyner, Kendall Walsh, Madelyn Walsh and Ebony Williams.
12th grade: Alexis Langley, Abigail Lenhart, Kaitlyn Manning, Kelsie Strange, Logan Vaughan and Olivia Walker.
<h5>A/B HONOR ROLL</h5>
Sixth grade: Zakurah Baker, Morgan Campbell, Claire Carter, Eden Evans, Evan Gattis, Jaydan Hernandez, Andy Holt, Ava Johnson, Yair Martinez-Serrano, Jack Pritchard and Grant Sabattus.
Seventh grade: Ethan Arizpe, Daniel Blackmer, Nathan Harrell, Luke Johnson, Hannah Spell, Addison Tinder, Baylee Varnell, April Ventura Cruz, Lyndie Weller, Allie Whitley and Tristan Winstead.
Eighth grade: Gabrielle Borg, Jacob Farmer, Connor Ferguson, Camden Harold, Lily Lyndon, Noah Mayo, Harley Murray and Cale Pittman.
Ninth grade: Trinity Gardner, Madalyn Land, Katie Mangum, Taylor Ricks, Evelyn Vasquez-Ventura and Tavares Williams.
10th grade: Will Brantley, Rylan Gay, Tyler Medlin, Noah Pierce and Ayden Smith.
11th grade: Landon Beamon, Caleb Boyette, Krystal Brink, Khouri Carvey and Brandon Tyner.
12th grade: Andrew Gattis, Jacob Harper, Chayce Joyce, Mackenzie Mosley and Austin Simmons.

Teen faces charges in shootings

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Life

Streamline your pancake breakfast

Community Christian School announces honor roll