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ERQUIMANS
Weekly
Volleyball, Football pick up wins, 7
"News from Next Door”
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2015
SEP 2 REC’D
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Jackson parents plead guilty, get 2 1/2 years
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The parents of five
brothers accused of having
sex with their sister for 10
years accepted a plea bar
gain Monday on reduced
charges.
John Jackson, 66, plead
guilty to two counts of
felony child abuse. His
wife Nita, 55, plead guilty
to two counts of felony
child abuse with sex act.
Both received sentences
of 31 to 47 months in pris
on. The total maximum
charge for the two counts
could have been about 14
years and if convicted on
all nine counts, the punish
ment could have been far
worse.
While accepting the
plea, Superior Court Judge
Cy Anthony Grant Sr. made
it clear thought the punish-
couple. He
called the situation “the
lowest, most despicable
case I’ve heard. It makes
me shudder to think about
it.”
After
making the
decision,
Judge Grant
told the
bailiffs to
“please get
them out of
here.”
District Attorney An
drew Womble told the
court the plea was offered
to spare the victim who
would have to testify at a
trial. The parents will get
credit for the time they
have already served, about
eight months.
Womble set out aggra
vating factors in the case,
including the fact that the
parents tried to thwart ef
forts by law enforcement
to talk to the victim and
the brothers. They eventu
ally moved to Colorado to
evade the investigation,
Womble said. The acts also
violated a position of trust
involving a young child.
The girl was four and half
years old when the abuse
started and is about 17-
years-old now.
The parents originally
were released on bond af
ter their arrest in May 2014.
They were jailed again
in February when more
See JACKSONS, 2
Boards
ALS WALK
Electric
consider
wind power
regulations
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
. A three-member subcom
mittee of the five-member
Perquimans County Plan
ning Board will review the
county’s rules governing
commercial wind towers.
IN A RELATED
| STORY
■ Changes made to Chowan
wind ordinance - 2
The next full planning
board meeting is set for Oct.
13, but the three-member
committee will meet prior
to that, said Brenda Las
siter, one of the committee
members.
The other members of the
subcommittee are Donald
Manley and Paul Cale.
Both Cale and Lassiter
said they would go into the
discussion with an open
mind.
“I’ve got a lot of e-mails
with a lot of attachments,”
Cale said. “I’ll make the
promise we’ll have a work
shop meeting to get them
the attention they deserve.
I don’t have an opinion one
way or another. But I’ll guar
antee that we’ll not make
everybody happy. I don’t see
where the ball will bounce,
but somebody is not going
to get what they want.”
Lassiter also isn’t sure
what the planning board
will do.
“I don’t want to say I’m
in favor of this one or not,”
Lassiter said. “I’m going to
do what I think is in the best
interests of the people of
Perquimans County.”
Crowds packed the
last meeting of the plan
ning board over the wind
See WIND POWER, 2
FILE PHOTO
A sea of people walk down Grubb Street last year for the Jim “Catfish” Hunter ALS Walk in Hertford. The
event is back this Saturday at Perquimans County High School. Registration is at 8 a.m. and the event starts
at 9 a.m.
ECSU officials set out goals
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Two officials from Eliza
beth City State Univer
sity laid out the school’s
“Pathway
to Promi
nence”
strategy last
week and
urged area
businesses
to take ad
vantage of
the school’s
internship
program.
Chancellor Dr. Stacey
Franklin Jones was sched
uled to address the Cham
ber Conversations Over Cof
fee event, but was called out
of town.
In her place were Provost
Dr. Van Newkirk and Alyn
Goodson, the school’s attor
ney. Newkirk was the asso
ciate provost for academic
affairs at Alabama A&M
before taking the ECSU job
in July. Goodson had been
ECSU’s deputy council and
was promoted in November
when Hermanda “Bemetta”
H. Brown was terminated.
Goodson said ECSU is
focusing on the 21-county
area of northeastern North
Carolina.
One by one the nearly
30 people attending the
meeting at the Perquimans
County Extension Center
were asked to speak to how
ECSU has touched their
lives. The vast majority had
stories to tell about how
they themselves attended
SUBMITTED
PHOTO
Elizabeth
City State
University
Provost
Dr. Vann
Newkirk
speaks at a
Perquimans
County
Chamber of
Commerce
meeting last
week at the
Perquimans
Extension
Center.
the school or had children
who did — or both.
Goodson said the first
step on the “Pathway” has
been completed. The goal
was to make ECSU the most
affordable academy success
See GOALS, 2
relief is
coining
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Hertford electric custom
ers should expect to see
about a 7 percent decrease
in rates under a deal that
allowed the town to sell off
assets in Duke Power power
plants.
The town expects its av
erage wholesale costs will
drop by 15 percent as re
sult of the agreement, but
town board members want
to hold some of that money
back to make improvements
and repairs to the electric
system. He said the town’s
utility has been operating
on a bare bones budget for
years and that’s not sustain
able.
“We do have system and
equipment needs, about
$1 million over the next 10
years,” said Town Manager
Brandon Shoaf. “The elec
tric fund is roughly 80 per
cent depreciated — mean
ing it’s really old.”
He said the list of things
that need replacing includes
everything from transform
ers to wire to poles and
trucks.
The town council agreed
to hold a public hearing on
Oct. 14. Board meetings are
usually held on Mondays
but some members will be
Winston-Salem for League
of Municipalities meeting
on Oct. 11.
The town has hired a con
sultant — UFS — to work
on the rates. Shoaf said the
company is working now on
the actual rate schedules.
Shoaf hopes the new rates
will be in place by the Octo
ber billing cycle.
Thirty-two cities belong to
the N.C. Eastern Municipal
Power Agency (NCEMPA)
and serve more than 275,000
residential and commercial
customers. NCEMPA cit
ies include Rocky Mount,
Wilson, Smithfield, Lumber-
See RELIEF, 3
State warns of algal blooms
Get FIT PROGRAM
From Staff Reports
RALEIGH — State of
ficials are urging people to
avoid contact with toxic
algal blooms in and around
the Albemarle Sound after
tests revealed that the algae
contains a toxin that can be
harmful to people or ani
mals.
North Carolina has had
no reports of adverse health
effects in people associated
with these algal blooms. The
algal blooms have turned up
in waters in Bertie, Chowan,
Hertford, Perquimans and
Washington counties.
6 89076 47144 2
Staff in the state Divi
sion of Water Resources’
Washington Regional of
fice sampled the algal
bloom in the Chowan
River on Wednesday and
sent the sample to the N.C.
Department of Health and
Human Services, or DHHS,
for toxin testing. DHHS
has completed its test re
sults, which show that the
algae contain microcystin
that can be harmful to peo
ple who come into contact
with it.
Algal samples collected
from the Chowan River
have been identified by
DENR' biologists as Mi
crocystis aeruginosa, a
colonial bluegreen alga.
This alga is visible as
green specks distributed
throughout the water col
umn but most noticeable
whei) it collects on the
surface forming thick films
and swirls.
While it is safe to boat
or fish in the affected ar
eas, the N.C. Division of
Public Health routinely
encourages the public to
avoid contact with large
accumulations of the algae
and prevent children and
pets from swimming or
ingesting water in an algal
bloom.
State health and water
quality officials reiterate
the following steps to safe
guard pets and children
from any potentially harm
ful algal bloom:
* Keep children and pets
away from water that ap
pears bright green, discol
ored or scummy. Do not
See ALGAL, 3
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
Participants in Perquimans Get FIT go through Zimba moves Saturday at the
Perquimans County Recreation Center. More than 70 people signed up by the
deadline. The program runs through November. Albemarle Regional Health Services
partnered with the recreation department to get funding from the Chowan Hospital
Foundation to put on the program.