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Dive team holds exercise, 4
"News from Next Door"
WEDNESDAY, MAY 31, 2017
MAY 3 1 RETD
50 cents
Damaged
local pier
replaced
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Two local Ruritan Clubs
and community members
came together last week to
replace a damaged pier at
a swimming hole that has
been popular in the White
Hat community for at least
70 years.
Former Perquimans
County Commissioner
Mack Nixon spearheaded
the effort to rebuild the boat
ramp/pier, said Rena Eure, a
resident of the community.
The pier is located at the
foot of White Hat Road.
Johnny and Bobby White
of Whitewater Marine
agreed to provide the labor
if the community provided
the materials.
The pier, which juts out
into the Perquimans River,
has had to been repaired and
replaced over the years. The
latest damage came about
two months ago when a
Nor’easter slammed into the
area bringing heavy waves,
said Bobby Umphlett Jr.
“They were the big
gest waves I’ve ever seen,”
Umphlett said. “They would
hit the seawall and go back
and hit the pier.”
v “It actually looked like
the ocean out there, with
White caps,” Eure said. “It
was a sight. I remember say
ing that pier isn’t going to
last.”
When the storm was over,
the 60-foot pier was buckled
and no longer safe.
Community members
agreed it needed to be fixed,
and fundraising started.
Both the Forestburg and
Durant’s Neck Ruritan
Clubs got involved and do
nated money.
Nixon took on the job of
contacting CAMA and the
N.C. Department of Trans
portation to get the neces
sary permits. The land to
get to the pier is DOT right-
of-way.
Umphlett made up fliers
to hand out to raise funds.
Umphlett said he’s not
sure how long there has
been a pier there.
“I know my fattier and his
sister would go down there
and swim there when he
was a boy, and he’s 74-years-
old now.
Eure agreed.
“I know my father in law
used to swim down here
and my husband used to
See PIER, 4
Joseph Hoffler, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, gives the address Monday at a Memorial Day service
held on the courthouse lawn in Hertford.
Speaker: Vets answered the call
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Some veterans didn’t ask to go to
war, but they did and were called
-to-be-part of something bigger than
themselves, a crowd was told Mon
day by a speaker at the Perquimans
County Memorial Day service.
Some didn’t return, and they de
serve to be remembered, said Jo ¬
WWII veteran gets his final wish
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
A framed print of the Utah Beach
landing during D-Day in World War
II has been donated to Perquimans
County so it can hang in the new li
brary.
Carl Morris cherished the picture,
said long-time friend Steve Casper.
Morris died in 2014 but lived for de
cades in Holiday Island.
Morris was one of the soldiers who
was in the Utah Beach landing in
France. He remained close to the 4th
See WISH, 2
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Brittany Jacobs and
her 6-year-old son
Christian Jacobs
meet President
Donald J. Trump and
Vice President Mike
Pence in Section 60
of Arlington National
Cemetery on Monday.
Christian was eight-
months-old when
his Marine dad, Sgt.
Christopher James
Jacobs, died in a
training accident. The
mother and son live in
Perquimans County
seph Hoffler, a retired Air Force Lt.
Colonel.
“They were ordinary people who
responded in extraordinary ways, in
extreme times,” Hoffler said. “They
rose to the nation’s call, because they
wanted to protect a nation, which
had given them so much.”
Hoffler cited Rufus Rouse, a World
War II veteran. Rouse as drafted out
of high school and Hoffler called
Rouse his hero.
Hoffler grew up on Dobbs Street,
graduated college and then joined
the Air Force. Hoffler now serves as
a member of the Perquimans County
Commission.
Those who served in the military
and those who continue to serve
are part of a common cause, Hoffler
See VETS, 2
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Perquimans
County
Manager Frank
Heath and
Carla Morris
hold a framed
and numbered
print of the
D-Day invasion
that was
donated to the
county by the
estate of Carl
Morris.
DOT
to build
4-way stop
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The North Carolina De
partment of Transportation
is proceeding with plans to
create a four-way stop at
the intersection of Edenton
Road Street and Ballahack
Road/Wynne Fork Road.
Jerry Jennings, the re
gional engineer for DOT’s
Division I, said the agency
took a look at the intersec
tion at the request of the
Town of Hertford.
Presently north-south
traffic on Edenton Road
Street (U.S. 17 Business)
has no stop signs. The east-
west traffic does.
What DOT plans to do is
make it a four-way stop and
use some of the turn lane on
Edenton Road Street to cre
ate a concrete island.
There have been traffic
accidents, some severe at
the intersection in the past.
Jennings said the funding
for the project would come
from a “spot safety” account
DOT has set up.
“We’ve found with four-
way stops if there are ac
cidents they may be much
less severe,” Jennings said.
Jennings expects the
project can be completed
this calendar year.
In the long term the look
of that area of the county
may be changing.
DOT is doing a study
about turning the intersec
tion of Wynne Fork Court
and U.S. 17 into a full-
fledged interchange.
Even that may happen
sometime in the future. The
interchange project is in the
state’s 10-year highway plan,
but the Wynne Fork project
is scheduled for year nine of
that.
DOT is also looking at
turning all of U.S. 17 from
Williamston to the Virginia
state line into a full-fledged
Interstate. Jennings said
DOT expects a feasibil
ity study on that should be
complete by the end of the
year.
“That should give us
some real cost figures and a
variety of options,” Jennings
said.
Even if the project does
move forward, Jennings
expects it will be done in
phases.
“Any design will take
into account the impacts on
homes and private property
and the environment,” he
See ROAD, 2
Baccus named CIAA player of year
Theater To Host Concert
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Her college career may
be over, but Danielle Baccus
has no plans to totally walk
away from sports.
Baccus finished up at
Chowan University where
she was
named
the CIAA’s
softball
player of
the year.
That fol
lowed a
stellar per
formance
BACCUS
47144
89076
at Perqui ¬
mans County High School
where she played softball,
volleyball and basketball.
She freely admits, it
2
wasn’t all her.
“I couldn’t have done it
without my friends and fam
ily,” she said last week.
One of family members
couldn’t be there to see it.
Her grandfather, Gilbert
Baccus Sr. died in Septem
ber at the age of 81.
“That hit me hard when
he passed away,” she said.
“But I was able to tell him
before he died that I was
dedicating this season to
him.”
See BACCUS, 2
SUBMITTED PHOTO
The Albemarle
Community Orchestra
practices for an
upcoming ‘Salute to
America’ concert June
2-3 at Carolina Moon
Theater in Hertford.
Also performing will
be the Holy Trinity
Bell Choir. For more
on the concert, please
see page 3.