THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
Volume 58, No. 33 USPS 428-080 Hertford, Perquimans County, N.C. Thursday, August 17, 1989 30 <
I Farm
I Feature
Local
> Briefs
Hertford Post Office
sets 200th gala
The Hertford Post Office has a
big celebration planned for
Wednesday, August 23 at 11 : 00 a.m.
honoring the 200th anniversary of
North Carolina's statehood.
Town and county officials, Re
storation Association members,
Jim "Catfish" Hunter and other
special guests will be a part of the
historic occasion.
Sara Winslow will sing "The Old
North State" accompanied by pia
nist Lyn Winslow. The Hertford
Fifes and Drums will present a flag
program.
k Three television stations have
* promised coverage. Channels 10, 7
and 9 will send camera crews and
reporters from their Tidewater,
Virginia, Greenville and Washing
ton stations. WTKR TV3 has also
indicated that they will be in Hert
ford for the event.
The new statehood stamp, cre
ated by artist Bob Timberlake, will
go on sale that day.
Mayor W. D. "Bill" Cox signed a
} proclamation declaring August 23
North Carolina Statehood Day in
the town.
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November 21,1789
NorthCarolina
EMC sets annual
members' meeting
* L. A. Harris, Jr., president of the
Board of Directors for Albemarle
"EMC, announced recently that the
| EMC will be holding its annual
meeting of members on Saturday,
"September 9, at 2:00 p.m. in Hert
ford at the Perquimans County
High School. Registration begins at
12:30 p.m.
Members will be voting to elect
three members to serve on the
EMC Board of Directors. The fol
lowing districts have one seat each
up for election: District No. 1, Cam
den County; District No. 2, Chowan
| County; and District No. 4, Perqui
mans County.
A nominating committee met on
July 11th and will be presenting the
following to the members for elec
tion during the September meeting.
The nominees are as follows :
District No. 1 Camden County
Garry Meiggs - Incumbent
George T. White (Tom)
District No. 2 Chowan County
I Thomas A. Bateman
Paul C. Williams
Note- The incumbent Joseph A. By
rum is not seeking reelection.
District No. 4 Perquimans County
C. T. Harrell (Tommy)
Charles H. Mathews - incumbent
Manager Dorris B. White will be
reporting on the EMC's 1968 finan
cial condition. Mrs. White stated
that members who register before
t 2:00 p.m. will receive a two dollar
" bill.
Albemarle EMC a locally owned
controlled electric cooperative,
serves 7,500 members in portions of
five counties: Chowan, Perqui
mans, Pasquotank, Camden and
Currituck.
Peoples Bancorp,
applies to American
> Stock Exchange
Peoples Bancorporation an
nounced recently that it has filed an
application with the American
Stock Exchange for the listing oi its
common stock and its 8%, percent
Fate off Buck House lies in hands off town zoning board
? By: Joe Southern
After lengthy discussions between the town
council and a prospective buyer of the Buck
house Monday night, the zoning board was
left with the choice of proceeding with con
demnation or calling it off.
The prospective buyer, Brian Piontka of
New York, presented his proposal for refur
bishing the house on Market Street. He asked
the council to stop condemnation proceed
ings so he could oe assured his purchase
would be worthwhile.
The council wanted assurance he would
i
make good his proposal to rehabilitate the
house. Neither party could give the other
what it wanted.
Mayor W.D. "Bill" Cox and the members
of the council voiced support of Piontka's ef
forts but could not call off the condemnation
proceedings. The owner of the house, Victo
ria Shovelski of Maryland, must call off her
appeal of the condemnation procedure or the
town must stop it
The town cannot act until the zoning board
hears Mrs. Shovelski's appeal. An obviously
frustrated Piontka told the council he needed
assurances the procedures would be stopped
before he woula close on the house and sink
any more money into it. He did say it was his
intention to start rehabilitation in September
and to move in about a year later.
Cox said the council would gladly give Pi
ontka the time he needed to close the deal on
the house and start rebuilding, but that
proper procedures had to be followed. Those
procedures include hearing the appeal of the
condemnation procedure by Shovelski before
the zoning board Thursday night. A sched
uled public hearing had to be held unless
Shovelski calls off the appeal. If called off,
the council would be cleared to delay pro
ceedings long enough to give Piontka the
time he needs.
After further discussion the council de
cided to let the zoning board decide. Cox said
the board has the powerto decide if proce
dures should be continued, stopped or de
layed. The council holds the ultimate
authority on the recommended action by the
zoning board.
The meeting is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. in
the municipal building.
New environmental regulations require that older metal in-ground gas tanks be removed and replaced.
Here a work crew removes a tank from Jimmy's Barbecue III in Hertford.
Sunday fire injures two children
A mid-afternoon fire Sunday injured two young children in their home in the four-mile dessert area.
Winfall, Hertford and Inter-county firefighters responded to the call which came around 3:30, according to
Winfall Assistant Fire Chief George Roach. Roach said that the home was believed to be owned by Donna Lamb
Stevenson, but that it was rented at the time of the fire. It is unclear whether the parents of the one and two-year
old children who were taken by ambulance to Albemarle Hospital were at home when the blaze started.
The renters' names and the condition of the children were unavailable at press time.
Perquimans convicts drunk drivers
Not only is it very unsafe for you,
your passengers and other travel
ers if you drink and drive, driving
while impaired in Perquimans
County is a good way to find your
self in court.
According to recent statistics
compiled by the N.C. Department
of Transportation, Perquimans
County led the state with a 100 per
cent DWI conviction rate. Of the 26
cases that went through Perqui
mans courts in 1988, all were found
guilty. Polk County achieved a 99
percent conviction rate, while Pas
quotank and Ashe counties re
corded 98.7 percent rates.
Statewide, 89 percent of all mo
torists prosecuted for driving with
a blood alcoholconcentration of .10
or more were convicted by the
courts in 1988.
According to the report, 30,236
motorists were convicted during
that year of driving with a blood al
cohol content .10 or more. A total of
3,737 drivers, or 11 percent of those
whose cases were adjudicated by
the courts, were acquitted of drivin
while impaired with a BAC o .10 or
more.
Conviction records are based
only on the number of DWI cases
adjudicated by the courts for a
Tl : 1
blood alcohol level of .10 or more.
Bond forfeitures are counted as
convictions for the purpose of
driver license revocations. Not in
cluded in the statistics are cases in
which defendants registered a BAC
of less than 10 percent.
n I w SI ? )
Police Captain Brad Krause was sworn in last Monday.
Jaycees will sponsor
second library dinner
The Perquimans County Jaycees are sponsoring a fish fry on Saturday,
August 26 from 5:00 - 7:00 p.m. Proceeds from the dinner will be donated
to the Perquimans County Library building expansion fund.
Tickets are $4 each for the meal which will include fish, stewed pota
toes, coleslaw and hush puppies They can be purchased from Jaycees and
library committee members.
Along with the fish fry, an auction will be held. Everyone is invited to
donate items for sale. Items can be taken to the library, or by calling the
library, you can arrange to have items picked up for the sale. All dona
tions are needed and will be appreciated.
Last year's dinner-auction raised almost $3,000 for the library fund.
These funds combined with private donations and monies raised and-or
donated by the Perquimans Quilters, New Hope Ruritanettes. Chowan
River Moose Lodge, Perquimans Extension service, Hertford Savings
and Loan and the library committee add up to over $13,000.
Under the terms of the matching grant application filed by the library,
175,000 must be raised locally for the building addition. The Perquimans
County Commissioners have pledged $50,000 towards the project spread
over two fiscal years. About $12,000 more must be collected in order to
qualify for the grant.
Personnel from the Pettigrew Regional Library and local library staff
say the present building is not adequate to serve the county's needs.
Books are sitting on the floor in stacks with no room to shelve them. The
floor space is very cramped, and limits programs that can be offered by
the library, as weU as study and research areas
Time is running out for tha fundraising effort. Please support this
worthy cause.
Volunteers offer valuable
service to the schools
By: Jeanie Umphlett
Community-Schools
Relations Coordinator
When school starts each fall,
there are new staff members and
new students for everyone to meet.
Some of the new faces are not
school employees or students, they
are school volunteers.
The Perquimans County school
system is grateful for the volun
teers who continue to support our
schools. The system coula not af
ford to pay for the many hours of
assistance volunteers offer; yet, all
of the services volunteers provide
are important.
School volunteers are imperative
in helping to obtain the funds to
sponsor the athletic program, Spe
cial Olympics, and the band pro
gram. Tne PTAs have been
instrumental in providing funds to
obtain additional supplies, materi
als, and equipment. Without these
people, many of these important
activities would not be available
because of the amount of funds that
are necessary to operate these pro
grams.
Volunteers also may read to chil
dren, may help with bulletin board
displays and demonstrate crafts
ana science experiments. They
may help on field trips, in the li
brary, sponsor after school pro
grams, such as Odyssey of the
Mind, and lecture on topics of their
expertise. The list just begins to de
scribe what volunteers can do for
children in our schools.
The Department of Public In
struction estimates that at least
165,000 citizens contribute their
time to schools during one typical
year. Together, their efforts equal
more than two million hours of
working for public schools and their
students.
The number of volunteers in the
schools has been growing since 1977
when the General Assembly passed
the North Carolina Community
Schools Act, mandating the promo
tion of citizen involvement in public
schools. Only a handful of other
states have such a legislative man
date.
As the number has increased, the
type of person volunteering in the
schools has changed as well. Volun
teers include working parents, re
tired people in the community,
business and government leaders
and non-parents.
Scheduling is more difficult for
such a cross section of people, but
when volunteering schedules can
be creative, more people are able to
contribute. Working parents, for
example, couldn't spare an entire
morning to work in their children's
school, but they might be able to
come on their lunch hour and read
with children.
For information about volunteer
ing in Perquimans County schools,
E lease contact the Community
chool Relations Coordinator, Jea
nie Umphlett, at 426-5741 or any
school principal.
Governor endorses grant
County may receive
athletic field funds
Raleigh? Gov. Jim Martin re
cently announced nine local gov
ernments have been recommended
to receive grants totaling $300,330
for outdoor recreation projects un
der the federal Land and Water
Conservation Fund Program.
The grants include one for $38,500
to Perquimans County for the ini
tial development of a 7.87 acre site
in Winfall, which will include two
athletic fields with fencing, light
ing, backstop and dugouts, res
troom facilities and a parking area.
A 26-year old program which has
pumped more than $59 million into
state and local recreation agencies
in North Carolina, LWCF has in
volved 777 recreation projects for
local government units in 94 of the
state's 100 counties.
"LWCF funds have been used by
the state and local governments to
develop a permanent legacy of
parks for current and future gener
ations to enjoy," Martin said.
Grants awarded as part of the
LWCF Program are 50-50 matched
with local funds. The grants supple
ment local and state dollars to pro
vide expanded outdoor recreation
opportunities to the citizens of
North Carolina.
"These funds will improve and
create additional recreational fa
cilities for our citizens," Martin
said. "And I'm pleased, since quick
start-up and completion of these
projects is required, there will be
an immediate infusion of dollars
and jobs in local economies."
Grant recipients were chosen on
the basis of competitively rated ap
plications which described the pro
posed activities to be undertaken.
Factors considered in the rating
process include project need, pro
gram planning, site considerations
and administrative capability.
The grant recommendations are
being forwarded to the National
Park Service in Atlanta for final ap
proval. Response from the National
Park Service is expected by late
August.
The Perquimans County Library is bursting at the seams. Additional floor and storage space is needed.