North Carolina Newspapers

{ P iTHE 'a ERQUIMANS ^ _3Veekly Ei rested team Livestock team competes in Raleigh, 3 "News from Next Door" AUGUST 6, 2014 - AUGUST 12, 2014 M6 0 6 KCD 5O cents Bridge closing Aug. 18 BY PETER WILLIAMS News Editor The 60-year-old bridge on Great Hope Church Road over Goodwin Mill Creek just west of Hertford will be closed starting Aug. 18 so it can be replaced. The new bridge should open by De cember. The construction is part of a far larger N.C. Depart ment of Transportation ef fort to clear a backlog of bridge maintenance and replacement projects. Great Hope Church Road’s span is the second of six Per quimans County bridges that are scheduled to be re placed. The first was the one on Burnt Mill Road. So far the overall project is slightly ahead of schedule. “We had so many defi cient bridges in the state and we weren’t able to make any progress in overcoming that number so we asked what are some of the things we can do to make this process work better,” said Nicole Meister, a spokesperson for DOT. A solution was to set specifications but let the contractor decide some of the issues. In the case of design, a traditional bridge like the one in Perquimans could take two years to de sign. The new process cuts it and construction to a fac tion of that, she said. “We’re trying to spread limited money as far as we possibly can,” Meister said. “What we’ve done is stream line the design process and get better bids from See CLOSING, 8 Sharing RIE LOVE STAFF PHOTOS BY PETER WILLIAMS Men of Bagley Swamp Wesleyan Church’s “Love PQ” project tackle an overgrown held along Railroad Avenue in Hertford Friday morning. Church takes part in ‘Love PQ Week’ BY PETER WILLIAMS News Editor F or the second year, a Per quimans County church has been sharing the love. - “Love PQ Week" involves mem bers of Bagley Swamp Wesleyan Church getting involved in commu nity cleanup and service projects around the county. PQ is short for Perquimans. As of Thursday the group had cleaned up the yards of 15 homes for residents who needed help. •Nearly three dozen volunteers gathered one night last week at the See LOVE, 2 Phil Johnson trims a hedge along Railroad Avenue on Friday as part of “Love PQ Week.” Wreck snarls traffic BY PETER WILLIAMS News Editor Perquimans County emer gency officials responded Fri day afternoon to an accident involving a dump truck and a heavy-duty pickup truck on Harvey Point Road. The accident happened shortly after 2 p.m. near Hert ford Beach Road about three miles south of U.S. 17. The names of the drivers were not available. While nobody was killed, the wreck essentially closed one of the few links between the lower part of the penin sula and Hertford for almost four hours. A Hertford Fire Department fire truck re sponding to the wreck also broke down on the way to the fire and as Monday was still in the shop. The N.C. Highway Patrol investigated the accident, but the accident report was not posted on line as of this week and the trooper involved was not im mediately available. Perquimans County Emer gency Management Director Jarvis Winslow believes the wreck happened when tire driver of a dump truck head ed north on Harvey Point lost control and struck a heavy- duty pickup truck headed southbound. Winslow said the smaller vehicle might have suffered a minor fire, but it was out when he got there. The dump truck did not catch fire. Crews at the scene re quested a medical helicopter to evacuate the injured, but Winslow said they couldn’t fly because of the rain. At times there were heavy downpours See WRECK, 8 Perquimans bands welcome new leadership this year STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS Ryan Minster, the new band director at Perquimans . County High School, works with students during a band camp on Monday. BY PETER WILLIAMS News Editor Ryan Minster knows where he wants to go and he knows he can’t get there alone. The new band director at Perquimans County High School has high expecta tions but is also aware that support from parents and buy-in from students. The high school once had 100 students in the band. To day it’s about three dozen. There are more sports and activities that can occupy a student’s time. But both Minster and Malik Barrows — the new band director at Perqui mans County Middle School — are fans of bands. Minster is . taking over for Sarah Fen ske who re signed June 18 to take a post at Fike MINSTER BARROWS High School in Wilson. Minster comes across as confident but realistic and shows a maturity of some one who is a lot older than 22. . He grew up in Apex, a suburb of Raleigh and just graduated from Furman University in South Caro lina. He was settling in to his new home last week and band camp started on Mon day. Fenske was young too. She graduated with a mas ter’s degree from UNC- Chapel Hill in 2010 and immediately started at Perquimans High where she was band director for four years. Barrows is a native of Mayesville, S.C., a small town of about 700 people in Sumpter County. He earned a bachelors and master’s de gree from UNC-Greensboro in 2013 and spent the last year teaching in New York City. “I wanted to be closer to home,” Barrows said last week. Both Minster and Barrows played in high school bands that were larger. Minster’s band in Apex had about 100 students. Barrows estimates he had about 70 or 80 or so. Minster isn’t worried about building numbers as much as he is creating a su perior sound. “I’m not as concerned about reaching that certain number, but making sure that everybody who wants to play in the band has a chance to do it,” Minster said. “As director, the key is to have your students See BANDS, 8 Top teacher to assume new role Jackson child sex case BY PETER WILLIAMS News Editor One of Perquimans Coun ty’s top teachers is stepping away from the classroom but not the school system. Last week the county school board named Teresa 89076 47144 6 2 Beardsley to fill the vacancy when Bren da Lassiter retires as the school system’s public information officer at the end of August. In addition to being the official spokesperson for the school system, BEARDSLEY the job includes working with the Perquimans Comi ty Schools Foundation, the Ministers’ Council for Edu cation and other groups. For the past six years, Beadsley has been a fifth grade science teacher at Hertford Grammar School. “It’s going to be a big change and it’s going to be a chal lenge,” she said. “But I believe in stead of just touch ing the lives of 60 students, I can touch 1,800 and their families and their communi ties.” • Beardsley, 33, graduated from Appalachian State University in 2002 with a Bachelor of Science degree in elementary education. She completed her master’s degree in May in the same subject at Elizabeth City State University. She taught for four years in the Raleigh area and the last six in Per quimans County. Beardsley is originally from Massachusetts, but grew up in Raleigh. She moved to, Perquimans See BEARDSLEY, 8 postponed until Sept. BY PETER WILLIAMS News Editor The child sex case against six Perquimans County brothers and their parents has been continued until September. Superior Court Judge J.C. Cole agreed to the delay Thursday in court in Perquimans County. The pause was requested to allow the district attorney’s office to send an investigator to Colorado to interview the See CASE, 8 FIRST ROUND OF PLAYOFFS Thursday, August 7 th at 7p.m. Tickets $7 • Hosting Wilson Tobs PETITT CUP 1 ST ROUND INFORMATION FRIDAY, AUGUST 8 th * GAME TIME 7:00 P.M. • GATE OPENS 6:00 P.M, • ALL TICKETS $7.00 Season passes and unused regular season tickets not accepted for Petitt Cup games. For more information: (252) 482-4080 (‘if necessary) ► ^^^a^ Historic Hicks Field’s 75 th /f^/^^a^ with reduced concession prices