P The
ERQUIMANS
t. LWE E K LY
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"News from Next Door”
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 10, 2016
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Planning board recommends wind project
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The Perquimans County
Planning Board recom
mended approval of a plan
to build a $400 million wind
project in Bear Swamp last
week.
The board voted 4-0 in
favor of three of the find
ings and 3-1 on the fourth.
There are five members on
the planning board, but one
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project because his mother
in-law owns property in
Chowan County that would
be part of the Timbermill
project.
The planning board is
an advisory body and the
action last Tuesday has no
binding authority. It’s just a
recommendation to the six-
member Perquimans Coun
ty Commission which is to
consider the Conditional
Use Permit (CUP) later this
month. The meetings are set
for Aug. 24-25 at 5:30 p.m. at
the courthouse annex.
Leary Winslow, one of
the opponents of the proj
ect, said Tuesday’s action
hasn’t changed anything.
aH "Regardless of what the
planning board voted, it
would still go to the com
missioners for the quasi-ju-
dicial hearing. So nothing
has changed. Now it goes
to the commissioners with
a 3-to-l vote to recommend
the CUP. I believe our plan
ning board was in way over
their head and just wanted it
off of their plate. We would
have rather seen a 2-to-2
vote but in the overall pic
ture it doesn’t really mat
ter.”
Charles Woodard, the
owner of Woodard’s Phar
macy and resident of the
area near the Apex wind
project, was more blunt.
“I hope the county zoning
board realizes that they have
signed the death certificate
for Perquimans County for
30 pieces of silver,” Wood
ard said.
Woodard is one of four
people running for one of
three seats on the county
commission.
Some supporters of the
Timbermill Wind project
point to the fact that the
See WIND, 2
Some
phone .
service
disrupted
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Some wireless phone
customers in the Holiday Is
land, Snug Harbor and Albe
marle Plantation area were
without service for nearly
a week after lightning dam
aged a transmission tower
on Holiday Island Road.
The problem apparently
started July 28 and contin
ued until Aug. 3.
Karen Schulz, a spokes
man for Verizon, said not all
service was impacted.
“As soon as the severe
weather moved out, our en
gineer teams and partners
began repairs.”
She said 4G LTE data net
work was quickly fixed. It
processes data sessions and
voice over LTE calls.
However the 3G EVDO
network that runs off the
same tower was still down.
Several Verizon custom
ers contacted last week said
the outage was a serious
problem.
Annie Gavin said when
she could get to techni
cal support, she was told
the problem was with her
phone, not the network.
“I just had two surgeries
and I can’t call 911 from the
house,” she said.
Sherby Hines, 70, figured
when the problem first start
ed she assumed it would be
See PHONES, 3
COA grant to benefit local high school
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
A grant means the Col
lege of The Albemarle will
be able to expand services
at Perquimans County
High School and two other
high schools as well as the
satellite COA campuses.
Last month COA was
awarded $288,492 through
the U.S. Department of Ag
riculture. In all 81 projects
in 32 states got funding.
The money will go to pay
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
Perquimans County High School band members Kaylynn Watson and Armando Feliciano play while Billy
Deloach, Preston Sablon, and Taylor Hollowell practice behind them last week during drills at the high school.
The Perquimans football team is scheduled to start the 2016 season at home Aug. 19 against South Creek.
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER
WILLIAMS
Donna Harris steps
off her moves during
practice with the
Perquimans County
High School band last
week.
for two-way video confer
encing equipment. It will
allow staff at PCHS to pro
vide programs to students
from COA and anywhere
else that has the technol
ogy. The instructor and the
classes will each be able to
see and interact with each
other no matter where the
instructor is.
COA was outfitted with
video conferencing equip
ment 18 years ago and
some area high schools got
it as well. But over the years
Band Practice
SUBMITTED PHOTO
The new Hertford Fire
Department ladder truck
will give the department
capabilities it doesn’t have
now.
Town
the equipment became out
dated and some broke and
wasn’t replaced.
Dr. Susan Peck, COA’s
coordinator of distance
education programs she
said Perquimans County
did keep the old system
updated, but the new sys
tem will go a step beyond
that. The monitors will be
touch screens.
“This is more a hybrid,”
she said. The University
of North Carolina uses
similar systems to stream
instruction to dental stu
dents from the main cam
pus in Chapel Hill.
The old system could
send content one way. The
new ones allow face-to-
face interaction and the
screens are 65-inch, far
bigger than what used to
be offered.
The addition will help
COA’s satellite campuses
as well. Peck said they
currently don’t have video
conferencing equipment.
The main campus is in
Elizabeth City, but COA
operates from facilities in
Edenton as well as Curri
tuck and Dare counties.
Peck couldn’t say when
the new course offerings
may be available, but she
hopes they can have one or
two courses by spring.
“The possibilities are
quite endless,” Peck said.
The first to use it in
Perquimans are likely the
students who are dual-en-
See GRANT, 3
to buy
ladder
truck
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Hertford officials agreed
last week to spend $638,000
for a new fire truck now in
stead of waiting until some
time next year.
In a special meeting
Wednesday, the Hertford
Town Board voted 4-0 to en
ter into an agreement with
the USDA to finance the re
placement vehicle.
The town has two fire en
gines and the oldest is about
24-years old. The agencies
that rate fire departments
for insurance purposes rec
ommend replacing them at
20 years.
In response, this spring
the town board agreed to set
aside $100,000 of its reserve
account as half of a down
payment. The plan was to
set aside the other $100,000
in the 2017-18 budget.
The old truck is a fire
engine, and a new engine
would cost about $400,000.
The new vehicle will be
a ladder truck, and it will
serve both capacities as an
engine and a ladder truck,
said Fire Chief Drew Wood
ard.
“When you’re spending
that much money, it makes
since to plan for the future,”
See TRUCK, 3
Farmer’s market to waive fees for vendors this week
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Vendors who might be
interested in participating in
the Hertford Farmer’s Mar
ket but have held off have
a chance to try it for free
this Saturday. The Hertford
market is being sponsored
by Perquimans County High
6 89076 47144
2
School’s Future Farmers of
America (FFA) program.
Participation has been
steady since May 21, but it
hasn’t grown.
“We have about five to
eight vendors every week,”
said Angel White, the FFA
teacher at the high school.
The market is held from 8
a.m. until noon at Missing
Mill Park on Grubb Street in
Hertford.
There is a fee to partici
pate as a seller. There is a
one-time $10 application fee
plus $10 for each time the
vendor comes.
“So you’re looking at $20
even if you just come once,”
White said. “Some people
who may be interested might
not be sure they’d sell enough
to make worth while.”
It was White’s FFA stu
dents that suggested waiv
ing the fee for one weekend
to see if that might attract
more vendors. The market
is mostly run by the high
school students, with sup
port from White and mem
bers of the local FFA alumni
organization.
“We were brainstorming
and they came up with the
idea,” White said.
The one-time-free offer is
open to commercial growers
as well as to home gardeners
who might simply have more
produce than they can use.
It’s also open to people who
make homemade crafts.
“If somebody doesn’t
have enough to sell, and they
want to donate produce they
can donate it to the FFA and
we’ll sell it.”
To take advantage of
the offer, contact White no
later than noon on Thurs-
See MARKET, 3
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
Organizers of the Hertford Farmer’s Market are opening
up the market to anybody who has produce or crafts to
sell for non fee this Saturday.