THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
M*51 USPS 426-080 Hertford, Perquimans County, N.C., Wednesday, Dec. 31, TWO
? CENTS
Hertford receives more
pioney for waterfront
Ike tm of Hertford received a
Christmas preaeat af sorts last week in
the way of a S1S.M grant intended to
he* faat the Ml of the some taM.N0
water-Area* park project
TV town will use the State Community
Development grant as part of the its
maicn require mem. icconim^ 10 nen
Jord Major awd Town Manager Bill Cox,
Jfltha said thai the town had agreed to a SO
percent match of the total project cost
some foar years ago when the park
project was originally conceived.
He atted that the town had since ap
plied lor and received grants to help
ewer the town's share of the park cost.
"We're hoping to receive enough grants
(to ftmd half of the coM) so we wont have
Jo pal any local money into it (the
project)." said Cox.
Initiated to February of 1177, the
waterfront park has suffered setbacks
largely due to red tape. Work on Site B of
the park, which consists of the boat
ramps located behind the Municipal
Building, was completed in June of 1900
at a total cost of WJflM.
But work oo Site A, which comprises
approximately 4.7 acres of river-front
land located behind the recreation
department's building on Grubb Street,
still lags. Cox attributed setbacks to the
reluctance on the part of contractors to
bid on the work.
While be said that the town was
presently in the process of negotiating
with a contractor, bids on Site A work
may have to be re-advertised after the
first of the year.
The town has, however, begun some
site work on its own. Cox said that the
town has hired a "local operator," at a
cost of some $5,000 to break and grade
the site, and that funds for the work were
budgeted under revenue sharing.
He added that any money spent on
preliminary site work would be credited
toward the town's match obligation, at
"a fair market price," which would
probably exceed the actual cost.
Because construction costs have
greatly increased since plans for the
park were drawn up in 1177, many of the
original features have been discarded so
that the project may remain within the
projected budget.
The revised waterfront park plans
include the elimination of bulk heading, a
boat basin, and a multi-purpose court
from Site A. It is anticipated that the
water-front area will include picnic
tables and shelters, as well as public
restroom facilities and a walkway.
But even the revisions have been
revised. Cox said that recent changes
include modifications of the picnic
shelters and restroom facilites. "They
won't be as elaborate as planned," he
said.
Cox said that he hoped that Site A work
would begin "by early spring," and be
completed by ' mid-summer."
The water-front park project is
coordinated by the Albemarle Soil and
Water Conservation District, chaired by
Floyd Matthews, in conjunction with the
town of Hertford.
Three's company for this trio of cocy cats
pictured on a front porch h Winfall. The
Three s a crowd
c?tibeHttalrp??)1h^i?ghtete
phdtfripked, tka miiM away.
(Photo by NOEL TODD-MCLAUGHL1N)
cA calendar full of events made 1980 a special year
As of midnight tonight, 1380 will be no
' aaore. TV old calendar caa be discarded
and a new one knag in Ms place, a new
calendar to be Sled with the dates and
events that will make 1381 special.
But before throwing away that old
calendar, take tine to flip through the
^^Vaa^onjITtbe'frrt snow of 1S80
Ml in Perquimans County. It wasn't
?nek to talc about really, only a couple
of inches. But it was indicative of things
ttcoae.
lie first of a king season of political
events also took place in January.
Governor Janes B. Hunt was the guest of
honor at a $N a bead pig picking at
Anglers Cove Restaurant in Bethel.
For tanners, it was the beginning of a
Ibleak year, as the embargo against the
Soviet Union established in retaliation
against the Soviets' march into
Afghanistan, wreaked kavoc on grain
prices.
Near the end of the month, it was an
nounced that a 80.000 grant had been
approved for the Tri-COunty Career
Center finding search. The center. which
would (each advanced vocational and
ftcademic courses to students from
Viates, Chowan and Perquimans Coun
ties, is yet to become a reality.
r
In February, the Atlanta regional
office of Health Education and Welfare
turned down a request for funds from the
Northeastern Rural Health Development
Association, which had sought to
establish medical clinics in Perquimans
and Bertie Counties.
NRHDA had generated a great deal of
support as well as controversy in its
plans to provide medical clinics through
public funding.
Tbe first of two 1M0 blizzards also took
place in February, as Perquimans
County was dumped on to the tune of
from 13 to 20 inches on Feb. 6. Activities
came to a dead halt is residents of town
and county began digging out.
On Feb. 12, a Perquimans County jury
determined that former Hertford
resident Waymar Billups was indeed the
man who shot and robbed Isaac Wood
Lowe in his home on Feb. 20, 1979.
March came in like a lion, as the worst
snow storm in recent history rocked the
county on the first two days of tbe month.
An estimated 25 inches of snow fell,
swirled by winds of up to 60 miles an hour
and accompanied by thunder and
lightning
The month also went out on a quirk, as
three Marine helicopters landed on the
Four Mile Desert Road because of
mechanical difficulties.
The marines were taken by plain old
Perquimans County hospitality, and
even enjoyed a bucket of ham biscuits
offered by a county resident.
Crop insurance
As April came into being it was an
nounced that county farmers would be
eligible for federal crop insurance. They
had little way of knowing how badly they
would need it after a drought-laden 1980
fanning season.
A con artist walked away with 12,700 in
savings belonging to an 85-year old
Hertford woman in April, after he told
her he was a bank examiner attempting
to catch an embezxler.
It was also in April that the results of a
survey designed to get public input into
the county's land use plan update were
released.
Medical facilities headed the county's
wish list, followed by employment op
portunities, educatioal facilities and
industrial development.
On April 19, fire ravaged the home of
Mr. and Mrs. Henry Stokes of Front
Street in Hertford. The Stokes home has
now been fully restored.
And then it was May, time for the
primary election, prelude to the
presidential election in the fall.
County residents endorsed Clifford
Towe, Emmett Long, and Preston
Stevenson for seats on the board of
education, and made Charles Ward, Joe
Nowell and Lester Simpson the
Democratic nominees for county com
missioner.
Hertford Police Chief Marshall Merritt
noted in May that crime and citations
had been on an upward march in the
town for the past several years. County
Sheriff Julian Broughton, however, in
dicated that crime in the county had
remained steady over the years.
In June, more monies became
available for the Tri-County Career
Center funding search, bringing the total
for the year to some $73,000.
Band day took place on June 14, a
carnival-like event that raised some
$3,000 for band uniforms.
Albemarle Regional Planning and
Development Commission director
Robert C. Whitley resigned his post
during June, saying that his resignation
was not connected to charges of poor
leadership from ARPDC employees.
The town of Hertford was again
declared a community of excellence in
June, and another Perquimans County
High School graduating class marched
out of the high school gym, diplomas in
hand.
Area residents also began to enjoy new
boat ramps and docking facilities that
are part of a waterfront park plan for the
town of Hertford.
Holiday drowning
On Saturday, July 5, Winfall resident
William Cherry drowned in the
Perquimans River behind Heed Oil
Company while trying to recover a
drifting boat
Young men born during the years 1M0
and 1K1 began registering for the draft
in July, and separate traffic fatalities
claimed the lives of Camden resident
Ruth Ward Hurdle. 64, and Harry
Everett Smith, 71, of Holiday Island.
Some 55 jobs in the county were lost
during August, when Hertford Apparel
announced that it would be closing its
doors. The firm had been making mess'
and boys' pullover shirts in Hertford for
some three years.
On August 8, Harris Building Supply in
Hertford was hit by armed robbers. One
of them trained a shotgun on business -
owner Edison 'Spec' Harris, and another
held a knife to the throat of clerk Worth
Dale.
Hie two victims, along with customer
Jan Spruill, were forced into a restroom
and the robbers fled with SI SO from the
cash register and the wallets of Spraill
and Dale.
Two of three men charged in the
robbery have been convicted, and
another awaits trial.
It was also in August that the fin
cancial crunch of the town of Hertford
first case to light The town is still trying
extract itself from a deficit that ap
proached $100,000.
Another traffic fatality occurred in
August when an auto driven by Charles
Luther Burch of Hampton. Va. skidded
off a sharp curve on Beach Springs Road.
Andrew Hamby. 32. of Newport News.
Va. was killed in the accident
Perquimans County High School's
band made its marching debut at the
first home football game in September,
and both band and football team turned
oat to be successful.
The Pirates battled to a M season
record and an Albemarle Conference co
championship under new head coach Pat
Morgan.
September also saw Carolina
Telephone announce details of a rate hike
proposal that would hike local phone
service by about a third.
(Coo United on p*gr 2)
12 year old youth mounts brave battle with cancer
PwtyiM ftffa ? determined c*ncer victim
Dwayne Parks fiddled with an
empty sleeve as he answered
questions about his pre-Christmas
operation.
The brown-eyed 12-year old boy was
almost stoic about the amputation
that claimed his right arm and part of
his shoulder.
"It had to be done," he said, without
a trace of bitterness. While X-raying a
bone broken throwing a football,
doctors discovered a tumor on
Dwayne's arm. It wu diagnosed as
Osteogenic Sarcoma, a rare form of
cancer.
Dwayne said he didn't mourn the
ion of his arm. "It hurt so bad I'm
kind of glad it's off now," he said.
The youth was spending the
Christmas holidays at home with his
family in Belvidere, and their trailer
looked like anyone else's home might
look on the day after Christmas:
games on the coach, stockings still
hang and bulging with treats.
But a phone call wu expected
within the next several days signaling
that the holidays were over, that tt
was time to retail to Bethesda,
Maryland for follow-up chemotherapy
These win require a rigorous
schedule of three-day weekends that
could last anywhere from five months
to a year
It will be eight weeks before
Dwayne can return to school at
Pwqniaans Union, and he wB miss
many Fridays and Mondays wUle
tUnde to tw thirds of the rare.
though, and Dwayne has the right
kind.
As a matter of fact, Dwayne's
mother said it was ber brave son who
helped to keep her spirits high during
their stay in Bethesda.
"He supported me. He was braver
than I was," said Ms. Gail Griffin.
"After the operation when they took
him to intensive care, the first thing
he told me was, "Don't cry Momma.
I'm alright."'
Being at the National Institute of
Health, where cancer is "just another
regular everyday word," also helped
a mother accept and learn to deal with
her son's illness.
There was a kind of espirit de corps
?t the hospital that was a source of
strength. "When something was going
good we'd all cheer together and when
something went wrong we'd all cry
together," said Ms. Griffin.
But when the treatments are done
and Dwayne is back in Perquimans
County, he must face, and overcome
his handicap alone. The youth ap
pears ready to do Jot that
"He said when he goes hack to
school he's jut going to pull his shirt
and let all his classmates soe it and
ask aO the questions they want to,"
said Ms. Griflta.
After that, Dwayne wil get few* to
the business of betog a normal 11 year
old boy again
The boy describes himself as a
be "a pro bniabal player ?r football
player ? and a farmer" whan he
Be also Hkw mask a grant deal
The only things Dwayne didn't get
that were on his Christmas wish list
were a Mr. Microphone and some
church clothes.
Now he's thinking about buying a
stereo with the $190 he's received
from friends over the holidays.
Dwayne was right -handed, and
must learn to write all over again with
his left hand when he returns to
school, but be isat waiting for in
structions from a teacher. 'Tve
already been practicing," he said.
Returning from Bethesda by air
plane was a first for Dwayne, and he
loved tt. There will be a lot more trips
between Perquimans County and
Bethesda, and travel opens will
mount
Bat because Dwayne's cancer is a
rare one, doctors at NIH are using it
for study, and arc helping with some
As for the rest of them. Ms. Griffin
is hopeful that they cm he met.
are not Ms. Griffin's
major concern, though. "God wfl
provide a way," she said.
Dwayne has two little brothers,
todtood to look up to Mm as Rth
brothers wflL His bravery to tbctog
the
n have to Mi up to
Dwayae hud planned to play Mttk
?|k hnsehnl ttos *ri*. MM
ivo to daisy Atone pluun tor awtoto.
"I wont he ahto to play (Ms your,"
be said. "I reckon HI have to practice
up for next year."
Part of the baseball inspiration
stems from visits from major league
players Jimmy Hunter and Jim
Spencer dropped to see Dwayne
while visiting with Hunter in
Perquimans County before the
operation. He said for Dwayne to give
him a call and he'd drop by while be
was in the hospital.
Dwayne called him m Bethesda.
and Spencer took the hour's drive
from bis home to visit
He brought the lad a baseball signed
by all the New York Yankees, and
more than that he brought Dwayne a
said Ml Griffin. "Dwayne said. 'I
cant do petops1 but he said, 'oh yes
yon can!"*
Pushing chairs tables and
fee unt of the way.
frt dnwn In the flour to