P iThe
ERQUIMANS
I Weekly
"News from Next Door' 1 JULY 9, 2014 - JULY 15, 2014
50 cents
Elections
director
stepping
down
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Perquimans County’s
long-time elections director
announced last week she
plans to step down at the
end of August.
E u 1 a
Mae Forbes
spent 20
years head
ing the
one-per
son county
elections
depart-
ment. She
FORBES
has no immediate plans on
what to do next.
“I’m just at a time in my
life where I wanted to see
what else is out there,”
Forbes said Monday. “All
my options are open.”
Forbes ushered Per
quimans County from the
world of paper ballots to the
era of computer voting ma
chines.
“Moving up with technol
ogy was important,” Forbes
said this week. “I was able
to apply for grants and get
the voting machines without
any cost to Perquimans tax
payers and we moved from
counting ballots by hand to
what we have now.”
Forbes submitted her
resignation on July 1. The
three-member county elec
tions board is responsible
for picking a replacement.
That choice will have to be
ratified by the State Board
of Elections.
The county is advertising
for a replacement and the
deadline to apply is July 18.
It lists a minimum salary of
$29,431.
“Eula set a high bar for
See FORBES, 4
Hertford celebrates the 4TH
STAFF PHOTOS
BY PETER
WILLIAMS
Residents
gather at
Missing
Mill Park in
Hertford for
the start of
the fireworks
display on
Saturday
night.
JUL 0 9 RETD
Arthur
packs
little
punch
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The threat of a Category 2
hurricane sweeping through
the region last week proved
to be just that — a threat.
Perquimans County es
caped Hurricane Arthur
with minimal damage.
“We dodged the bullet on
that one,” said Jarvis Win
slow, Perquimans County’s
emergency
director.
MORE
INSIDE
■ Deadline
looms for storm
assistance - 6
management
Perqui
mans was
under a
tornado
warning
for a time
Thursday
night. A
warning
means a tornado had been
sighted, but Winslow said
he’s not yet been able to
find out just where it was
sighted.
“I’ve got to believe that
if a tornado was sighted
our 911 system would have
heard about it.”
There were some reports
of power outages, but resi
dents mostly reported some
high wind and occasional
heavy rain.
Surrounding counties,
reported much the same
thing.
That wasn’t what was
predicted.
As of July 3 at 3 p.m., the
National Weather Service
was advising Perquimans
Comity residents they
should expect one to three
inches of rain, winds of 25
to 30 miles per hour with
See ARTHUR, 5
State seeks input on new Strategic Mobility Formula
From staff reports
While some area counties
are upset with a new state
road funding program, Per
quimans County officials
seem generally content.
Elizabeth City Pub
lic Works Director Paul
Fredette and Edenton Town
Manager Anne-Marie Knigh
ton were among the officials
who attended a state De
partment of Transportation
meeting held in Edenton
last week to receive public
input on DOT’s transporta
tion improvement plan for
Division One.
The road-building formu
la, known as the Strategic
Mobility Formula, was es
tablished as part of the 2013
Survey to look at transportation needs
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Transportation officials are
wrapping up a survey this week
to determine Perquimans County’s
priorities for transporation im
provements over the next 25 to 30
years.
The questionnaire was mailed
to utility customers in Hertford
and available to other Perquimans
County residents on-line. Hertford
mails utility bills out in envelopes
so there wasn’t an added expense to
include the page with the question-
are. The county mails out monthly
water bills on postcards. Paper
copies of the survey are available
from Perquimans County Manager
Frank Heath. Hertford Town Man
ager Brandon Shoaf said the survey
was also available on the town’s
web page for a while.
The 17 questions include transpo
ration issues as well as quality of
life concerns like growth and the
environment. The results of the ef
fort will be folded into larger plans
in the future.
“This is an 18 to 24-month
Strategic Transportation In
vestments Act.
Everyone at Wednesday’s
meeting in Edenton ac
knowledged that the new
system generally favors
projects in higher-popula
tion areas, which tends to
make less money available
for projects in rural areas
such as the Albemarle.
Perquimans County Man ¬
ager Frank Heath didn’t
attend the Edenton meet
ing, but he did provide
comments to DOT before
the meeting. The county is
largely supportive of how
See SURVEY, 4
Perquimans fared in the
new state rankings.
“New Hope and Wood
ville Roads scored pretty
high,” Heath said. “I spoke
with Gretchen (Byrum) and
said we were thankful for
her help.”
Byrum is the planning en
gineer for DOT in Edenton.
The county wants to see
Phase II improvements
done to widen and improve
New Hope. The new section
is from Old Neck to Rob
Turner’s Store. The Wood
ville Road project is in the
area of Redbank to New
Hope Village.
Neither project will hap
pen in the next 12 months,
but Heath hopes to see them
soon.
“Perquimans ... overall...
I think did better than they
thought they would,” said
Angela Welch, the head of
See FORMULA, 5
DOT to discuss downtown bridge
From staff reports
Officials from the N.C.
Department of Transporta
tion are scheduled to make
a presentation Monday on
plans to build a replace
ment for the S-Bridge in
Hertford.
The 7:30 p.m. meeting of
the Hertford Town Board
is set for the Perquimans
County Courthouse.
Opponents of a plan to
build a new fixed span off
6 89076 47144 2
Church Street argue that a
bridge off Edenton Road
Street would be better.
Many of the opponents are
residents of Church Street,
Front Street and Phelps
Street in the general area
where the new bridge would
start out over the river.
Many of the opponents
of the Edenton Road Street
plan are businesses owners
in the downtown area who
fear redirecting traffic away
from downtown would kill
business. The Perquimans
County Schools have also
opposed the plan known
as Alternative E because it
would create far more traf
fic in front of Perquimans
County High School.
DOT officials have said
that Monday’s meeting is
not about debating the mer
its of Alternative D-Mod (the
bridge off Church Street)
or Alternative E. They did
that in September and drew
more than 100 people to a
public hearing at the Per
quimans County Recreation
Center. Three other public
meetings were held since
2010.
Instead they said Mon
day’s meeting is to lay out
a more detailed look of
what D-Mod will look like
and how it will — or won’t
— impact areas of Church
Street.
Hunter wraps up college
baseball career, not college
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
When next year’s base-
ball season kicks off,
John Hunter will be in
uncharted territory. For
the first time in 17 years,
Hunter won’t be playing
baseball.
“It’s going to be weird,”
the 22-year-old said last
week.
At Perquimans County
High School, Hunter was
all conference in baseball
See HUNTER, 5
SUBMITTED PHOTO
John Hunter
goes for
the ball last
season as
a player for
Chowan
University.
It was the
last season
of college
baseball
for Hunter.
He plans-to
complete his
degree in
Murfreesboro.