PERQUIMANS
W E E K LY
South Creek rolls past Pirates, 7
"News from Next Door"
WEDNESOAV. AUGUST ES, 20^ , ,
Speaker challenges local teachers
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Perquimans County
educators were urged last
week to find their “why.”
That could be “why”
they are in the classroom,
“why” a student behaves
the way they do, or “why”
things are the way they are
in the community.
Bonner found his “why”
and it wasn’t what he
thought it would be when
he was a standout athlete
at Perquimans County High
School in 2008.
At the time his “why” for
going to going to Winston-
Salem State University on a
basketball scholarship was
to make it to the NBA.
He played his fresh
man year, was redshirted
his second year and then
transferred to Elizabeth
City State University.
“I recognized basketball
wasn’t cutting it,” he said in
an interview last week. “I
saw my real purpose, as a
teacher. I love kids.”
Now Bonner, who is
6-foot-5, teaches second
graders at South Greenville
Elementary in Greenville.
He’s been accepted into
a the Principal Fellows
program at East Carolina
University in 2016 to re
ceive his masters degree in
school administration.
Bonner called his ad
dress to teachers gathered
Students head back to class for the new year
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
Jamyal Seala, (left) and Alison Cole practice on a keyboard during music
class Monday at Perquimans Central School.
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Perquimans County Schools
got off to a smooth start Mon
day even though some teaching
positions remain unfilled.
One va
cancy — that
of principal at
Perquimans
Central School
— was filled
Monday night.
The Perqui
mans County
School Board
approved Bonita Jones for
the job. She had been assis
tant principal at Perquimans
County Middle School and was
briefly called to fill in as an as
sistant principal at Perquimans
County High School.
The Central vacancy was
created when Chante Jordan
resigned as principal at Perqui
mans County High School. She
was replaced by Melissa Fields
who had been principal at Cen
tral.
Monday’s decision puts
principals in place at all four
schools, but there are other va
cancies.
Perquimans County Middle
School started the year miss
ing a language arts teacher, a
math teacher, a social studies
teachers and a career techni
cal education teacher. School
spokesperson Teresa Beardsley
said the school system is trying
to fill those slots as quickly as
possible.
The school system did
bring back 27 teacher’s assis
tants even though the General
See STUDENTS, 4
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
Michael Bonner Jr. gestures to the crowd last week during convocation ceremonies at Perquimans County High
School.
at the Perquimans Comity
High School auditorium
for convocation Wednes
day “humbling.”
“But I wasn’t nervous at
all. A lot of educators there
taught me as I was growing
up. It was like talking to
family.”
Bonner said he was
blessed to have the key
things. Education, he said,
is made up of a triangle
— teachers, students and
parents.
He said Michael and Fre
da Bonner were tough but
supportive parents.
“They weren’t the rich
est parents, but they were
rich with love,” he said. “I
had the complete triangle.”
Bonner praises his moth
er, Freda. She worked in a
school cafeteria when she
was pregnant. She’s now a
guidance counselor at Per
quimans Central School
and his father is ah advisor
at ECSU.
“She was pregnant with
me scrubbing floors,” he
said.
But at age 30, Mrs. Bon
ner went back to college
to get a degree from Eliza
beth City State University.
The job she landed in turn
helped pay for some of the
things Bonner had grow
ing up. Without that, “I
wouldn’t be here.”
“Your ‘why’ matters. You '
don’t know who it con
nects to.”
He also urged teachers
See SPEAKER, 7
50 cents
Winfall
post
office
closed
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The U.S. Postal Service
closed the post office in
Winfall for safety reasons
while it looks for another
location.
Chuck Adcock, a dis
trict representative for the
postal service, told a crowd
Wednesday that the floor of
the 122-year-old building on
Main Street was so rotten he
nearly fell through.
“I have to consider the
safety of our employees,”
Adcock said. “It’s in bad
shape.”
Some postal customers
in Winfall can’t get home
delivery but they are offered
a free P.O. box. The Winfall
boxes have been moved to
the Hertford Post Office for
now.
“This is temporary,” Ad
cock said.
The Winfall office official
ly closed on Friday.
Mayor Fred Yates said the
owner of the building at 317
Main St. where the post of
fice was has offered to tear
it down if the post office
brings in a mobile unit. Ad
cock said no mobile unit is
available at this point, but it
is something the postal ser
vice is looking at.
Yates said he wants some
thing to happen quickly.
“We want it to be as ex
pedient as possible,” Yates
said. He also wants to see a
new post office in the same
location as the old one and
he doesn’t want to see Win
fall lose the 27985 zip code.
Winfall Town Council
man Ken Rominger said the
building has been in poor
shape for years. He was
postmaster there from 1999
through 2003.
“There were places
where you had to step gin
gerly,” Rominger said.
Rominger said he’d like
to see the postal service
See POST OFFICE, 4
Deputies arrest marijuana grower in Belvidere
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
A 52-year-old Belvidere man was
arrested Aug. 19 for growing $150,000
worth of marijuana.
James Kenneth Rountree of County
Line Road, was charged with manufac
turing marijuana and possession with
intent to sell. He was released under
$2,000 cash bond.
Perquimans County Sheriff Eric Til
ley said his office got a tip to check out
the area in the 1200 block and go down
a farm path.
“As soon as you pulled in the path,
you could see it,” Tilley said.
Tilley described the haul of 50 large
plants the largest his department has
seen this year.
Some of the plants were more than
six feet tall. Tilley said Rountree also
grows seedlings of plants like water
melons for area farmers, and there
were greenhouses there but the mari
juana was growing outside.
Tilley estimated the value of the
plants at $3,000 each.
“The boy has got a green thumb,”
Tilley said of Rountree. He said mari
juana-growing operations have just a
few sprigs. “These plants were really
healthy.”
Rountree is scheduled to appear be
fore a judge for his first appearance on
Sept. 2.
See DRUG BUST, 7
STAFF PHOTO BY
PETER WILLIAMS
The Perquimans
County Sheriff’s
Office seized
about 40 pounds
of marijuana
on Aug. 19.
James Kenneth
Rountree, 52,
Countyline Road,
was charged with
manufacturing
marijuana and
possession with
intent to sell.
Band leader promises a treat for Indian Summer Festival
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Al Woodruff said Hert
ford music lovers should
be prepared to have some
fun when his band — The
Main Event — performs
Sept. 11 during the Indian
Summer Festival. The per
formance will be from 7-
10 p.m. on the courthouse
green.
Woodruff, 54, was born
in Virginia and his father
was a musician in the
Army.
“By the age of 15 I was
pretty much performing
with Dad’s band,” he said
earlier this month.
He said The Main Event
was created in the 1980s.
For the past 15 years
or so, the band has been
based out of Greenville,
but before that it was
based wherever Woodruff
was living at the time.
“We do about 100 dates
a year in North and South
Carolina and Virginia.”
“The band puts on a very
energetic show,” he said.
“We have members ranging
from their mid-20s to their
mid-50s and a mix of lot
of experience. Some have
music degrees and have
toured with other bands in
the past.”
Woodruff has shared the
stage with groups such as
The Four Tops, The Temp
tations and Kenny Rogers.
“It should be fun,” he
said of the Sept. 11 event.
For the past three years,
The Rhondels has per
formed at the Hertford
festival.
“I think some people are
in for a pleasant surprise,”
Woodruff said.
In August the band is
scheduled to play at six
events, including four
wedding receptions, a pri
vate party at the Peanut
Festival Street Dance in
Fountain.
Other members of the
band are:
Scott Pagona, trumpet
and vocals, joined the
Main Event Band in 2005.
Before that, he played and
recorded with groups in
cluding The Pamlico Sound
See ISF, 2