Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1466075
WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM APRIL 27 - MAY 3, 2022 UCW 9 A special prosecutor announced April 21 that no charges will be filed against an off-duty Cumberland County Sheriff 's deputy accused of killing 37-year- old Jason Walker. e incident happened on Jan. 8 along Bingham Drive and Shenandoah Drive. Witnesses told police that Walker jumped on the hood of a truck. Inside the truck was Lieutenant Jeffrey Hash, his wife and Hash's teenage daughter. Walker allegedly tore off the driver's windshield wiper and started to hit the windshield. e windshield was cracked and shards of glass were coming into the truck, which was con- firmed by the Fayetteville Police Department. Hash told police that he shouted at Walker to stop and he then got out of the truck. Hash said that Walk- er lunged at him and had something in his hand. Hash told police that he wasn't sure whether it was the windshield wiper or something else. Hash pulled his 9mm pistol out and shot Walker four times. Fayetteville Police Chief Gina Hawkins turned the case over to the State Bureau of Investigations, who, after conducting the investigation, turned the case over to the North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys. e autopsy revealed that one bullet entered Walker's lower chest and traveled through his chest, hitting multiple vital organs. Another bullet entered the top of Walker's head and lodged in Walker's spinal cord. A third bullet entered the front of the thigh and exited the left thigh. e last bullet entered Walker's left-back and exited the left side. e report shows that with the wounds as they were, Walker's back was not facing Hash when he was shot, rather Walker was standing to the side. e NC Conference of District Attorneys made the decision not to file any criminal charges against Hash after reviewing the state's evidence, according to a letter from Executive Director, Kimberly Overton Spahos. "e shooting was indisputably tragic, but based upon these facts, the state of North Carolina will not be able to provide beyond a reasonable doubt that the shooting of Jason Walker was unlawful. Conse- quently, our office will not be seeking charges related to the death of Jason Walker," Spahos wrote in the letter to the SBI. Hash was put on administrative paid leave the day after the shooting. He will remain on leave until after the Cumberland County Sheriff 's Office conducts its own internal investigation. Contaminated wells prompt NC county to seek state grant e Gray's Creek community in Cumberland County could receive federal funding to help address the GenX contamination of some residential wells. e county Board of Commissioners unanimously agreed April 18 to apply for North Carolina's drinking water reserve and wastewater reserve grant. e grant, which has two rounds of funding in the spring and fall, is financed through federal alloca- tions to the state as part of the American Rescue Plan Act. e N.C. Department of Environmental Quality will administer the funds and determine which ap- plicants are awarded grant money. If accepted, the county could receive up to $15 million to fund construction of a new central water distribution system in the Gray's Creek area in southern Cumberland County, according to county documents. e state's grant is meant for at-risk water systems for which, among other purposes, the applicant's intention is to connect residences in dis- advantaged, underserved communities to a different water system. According to water sampling from DEQ, some residential wells in Gray's Creek are contaminated with GenX, a chemical substance produced in the nearby Chemours plant. GenX is a trade name for one unregulated per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance, or PFAS, used in manufacturing nonstick coatings, among other purposes, according to the N.C. De- partment of Health and Human Services. Last month, Cumberland County filed a lawsuit against Chemours and its predecessor company, DuPont, for allegedly releasing millions of pounds of PFAS into the air above its Fayetteville Works facility in the decades following 1970, as reported by Caro- lina Public Press. To determine how GenX affects the human body, more studies need to be done, according to DHHS. A small, limited study from the state agency suggests the substance, which DuPont started producing in 2009, may leave the human body quickly. Previously, the county had allocated $10.5 mil- lion for providing an alternative water system for Gray's Creek. A pending contract is in place with the Fayetteville Public Works Commission, but the board has not yet finalized and approved that agreement. e county has until May 2 to apply for the state grant. If DEQ doesn't accept Cumberland County's application, the department will automatically con- sider the application for the next round of funding in the fall. e state could grant a low-interest loan to supplement funding if Cumberland County accepts, according to DEQ. If funding is still available after both application rounds, DEQ will give more to accepted applicants in $5 million increments until all the money is ex- hausted. DEQ will reward applicants in increments in order of priority, which the agency will determine. Cumberland County discusses proposed African American museum e Cumberland County Board of Commissioners voted to earmark $450,000 for a proposed African American museum. e county appropriation would pay for a portion of the first phase, a feasibility study, with the remain- ing $895K coming from the City of Fayetteville. e Fayetteville City Council will receive a similar brief- ing and funding request at its May 2 work session. Dr. Dauv Evans, the associate director of the pro- posed downtown museum, made the presentation, calling the museum a "must-see stop on the Civil Rights Tour." Evans said the museum would be interactive and tell the story of Blacks in Fayetteville by collecting local compelling stories. e history will span from noted African American author and essayist Charles Chestnutt to locally grown rapper J. Cole. "It will reconceptualize the Market House from a source of division to a point of unity," he said. e vote was 5 to 1, with Commissioner Jimmy Keefe being the lone dissenter. Before the vote, Keefe said he was not aware of the project. "What's the process? I was not aware this was in the pipeline," he said. e project was first introduced at the board's agenda meeting on April 14. Keefe said he was uncomfortable fast-tracking a half-million-dollar project using taxpayer money without having more information and discussion. He asked what the total amount of the museum would cost. Another presenter, William Cassell, said he could not give Keefe a total dollar amount. "I can't predict [the amount]. ere's no bottom-line num- ber," he said. Commissioner Jeanette Council motioned to set aside the $450,000, saying she was excited over the proposed museum's ability to become a teaching tool for young students. Commissioner Toni Stewart seconded the motion. While agreeing that the board was fast-tracking the project, she said it was "way overdue." Commissioner Charles Evans said he was disap- pointed with Keefe for questioning the project, spe- cifically asking how many other African American museums currently existed. He was told there were about 40. Sir David Adjaye, a Ghanaian-British award- winning architect, is the proposed architect for the project. e largest project by Adjaye Associates is the National Museum of African American History and Culture, located on the National Mall in Wash- ington, D.C., which opened in 2016. Special Prosecutor says no charges will be filed in the death of Jason Walker by HANNAH LEE, BEN SESSOMS & JASON BRADY NEWS DIGEST Chemours' Fayetteville Works Plant Manager Brian Long describes a mechanism for waste management and emissions reduction in late 2018. (Photo by Melissa Sue Gerrits, Carolina Public Press) Cumberland County Board of Commissioners