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PERQUIMANS COUNTY LIBRARY
514 S CHURCH ST
HERTFORD NC 27944
PCMS Students of the Month, 7
"News from Next Door"
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2018
75 cents
Hertford town manager to step down
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Hertford Town Manager
Brandon Shoaf has resigned
to take the job as planning
director in Chowan County.
“I’ll miss this I know, but
I’m not leaving Hertford,”
Shoaf said last week.
Shoafs last day as man
ager will be May 28.
He’s worked for the town
for the past 11 years. For
the first four, he was the
town planner. When Town
Manager John Christenson
retired in 2011, the board
named Shoaf to the manag
er job. Prior to working for
the town, Shoaf spent three
years as a regional planner
for the Albemarle Commis
sion.
The Chowan planner po
sition has been vacant since
Elizabeth Bryant resigned
in December. She took the
job as planning director for
the Town of Edenton. Sam
Barrow served as planning
director in Edenton before
taking the job as county
planner for Perquimans in
May 2017.
Shoaf has been the sub
ject of repeated criticism
from Quentin Jackson, a
new member of the town
council. During the evening
of April 9, the same night as
Shoaf announced he was
stepping down, Jackson
called out Shoaf for his role
of managing the police de
partment.
Shoaf said last week the
main reason he’s leaving is
he and his wife are expect-
ing their second child in
May and he said he wanted
more time with the family.
“I felt I needed to spent
more time outside of work
ing,” Shoaf said. “The man
ager’s job, not just in Hert
ford, requires a lot of hours
in the week. The offer I got
in Chowan doesn’t require
all. that outside of normal
working hours.”
The move will mean a pay
cut. Shoaf makes $66,500
now and will make $61,000
in Chowan County.
While Jackson said he has
been critical of some things
Shoaf has done, he thinks
he’s done a good job.
“I respect him and think
he was doing a great job
as manager, but there are
things that needed to be
tweaked.”
He said for eight years
Shoaf worked with basical
ly the same group of coun
cil members, and with two
new members coming on
last year, he might have had
a hard time transitioning.
Jackson and Frank Norman
See SHOAF, 6
Chamber plans
special dance
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Week Of Pie YOUNG Child
A 17-year-old at Perquimans Coun
ty High School student is organizing
May’s first ever “Mother-Son” dance for
the Perquimans County Chamber of
Commerce.
Another first is
Quante' Gallop. He
is the chamber’s first
ever intern. He will
graduate high school
this year and plans
to attend Pitt Com
munity College to
study psychology. He
GALLOP started working part-
time at the chamber
in October and the term lasts until the [
close of school.
Gallop said the idea for the dance
came from Louise Privott, the owner of
Louise’s Event Center and a member of
the chamber’s board of directors.
Gallop said he’s excited about the
See DANCE, 6
County in the
running for award
STAFF PHOTO BY
PETER WILLIAMS
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Perquimans County is in the running
with four other locations for the Great
Places in North Carolina award.
Votes can be cast on-line at https://
www.wishpond.com/lp/2301863/ Peo
ple can vote once a day and the dead
line is April 27 at 5 p.m.
As of Monday night, Perquimans
was in first place with 101 votes.
Other communities in the running
are Wendell Falls, Wrightsville Beach,
Emerald Isle and North Park. North
Park had 70 votes as of Monday. The
others got: Emerald Isle, 53, Wrights-
See AWARD, 6
Top, C.W.
Overton shows
Hunter Overton
(no relation)
how to operate
a 1953 Farmall
tractor Saturday
at the Week
of the Young
Child event at
the Perquimans
Recreation
Center. Right,
Hertford
Firefighter
Tyler Clark
shows Dasean
Braxton how
to use a fire
hose Saturday
at the Week
of the Young
Child event at
the Perquimans
Recreation
Center.
Early
voting
starts
Thursday
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Early voting for the May
primary election starts
Thursday, but Perquimans
County Democrats will have
little to vote for.
Democrats can vote in the
county school board race in
May since it’s non-partisan,
but it’s not really a race.
There are three candidates
J running for three seats,
so unless there are a lot of
write-in ballots, the three
are all assured a victory.
Running this year are in
cumbents Anne White and
Any Spaugh and challenger
Matt Peller. Peeler has
served on the Perquimans
County Commission before,
but opted not to run again
when his term expired two
years ago. This is his first
try running for the school
board.
Democrats remain the
single largest political party
in Perquimans with about
4,000 voters. Unaffiliated
voters come in second with
3,100 and Republicans total
about 2,600. There were only
31 libertarians registered as
of March 7.
Democrats would have
had a race for the N.C. Dis
trict 1 Senate race, but last
week a panel determined
Democrat Richard James
is not a valid resident of the
district and can’t be a candi
date for the seat.
Holly Hunter, Perqui
mans’ elections director,
See VOTING, 2
Republican candidates square off for May primary
Senate seat sees Steinburg, Twiddy
Goodwin, Hunter seek house seat
BY JOHN HAWLEY
The Daily Advance
Does North Carolina’s
Senate District 1 need expe
rience or a new start?
That’s the question fac
ing Republican voters in
the May 8 primary election,
where three-term state Rep.
Bob Steinburg, R-Chowan,
is effectively running for a
promotion to a Senate seat
covering almost twice as
many counties as he now
serves. He’s opposed for
the seat by Clark Twiddy, a
Navy veteran, Dare County
businessman and political
newcomer who argues he’ll
bring a collaborative, free-
market oriented approach
to serving the public.
6 11 89076 47144
2
TWIDDY STEINBURG
In interviews Thursday
and Friday, each candidate
discussed his record, posi
tions on economic and edu
cational issues, and differ
ences with his opponent.
Clark Twiddy
Twiddy, 41, said he’s
served others, both in the
military and as a business
leader, and is running for
office to continue that ser
vice.
“We have a responsibility
to participate in government
and derive the greatest good
for the greatest number,”
Twiddy said.
Twiddy says economic
development is his prior
ity if elected. He said he
first would work on reduc
ing regulations and taxes.
Asked for an example of
regulations that should be
repealed, Twiddy couldn’t
cite one, although he did
note his support for repeal
of a ban on plastic bags on
the Outer Banks.
As for taxes, Twiddy said
he would “work relent
lessly” to reduce taxes and
stimulate economic activity.
However, he said he could
not promise to never sup
port a tax increase, explain
ing the state might face a fis
cal emergency in the future.
One economic develop
ment tool the state has used
is economic incentives —
grants and other breaks to
lure mqjor companies to the
state. Twiddy said subsidiz
ing new companies but not
existing ones can create an
See SENATE, 2
BY JOHN HAWLEY
The Daily Advance
The two Republican
candidates for state House
District 1 have different
backgrounds but a similar
focus: to tackle the many
pocketbook issues facing
residents of rural commu
nities.
Candice Hunter, of Per
quimans County, and Eddy
Goodwin, of Chowan Coun
ty, are running to serve the
reconfigured House Dis
trict 1, which includes their
counties as well as Bertie,
Camden, Tyrrell and Wash
ington counties. The seat
in the 1st House District
is now held by state Rep.
Bob Steinburg, R-Chowan,
who is running for the open
state Senate seat in District
1 instead of seeking re-elec
tion.
In interviews last week,
both Hunter and Goodwin
made their case for why
HUNTER GOODWIN
they believe they have
the vision and ability to
improve the district, par
ticularly its economy and
educational systems. The
candidates will face off in
the May 8 primary elec
tion, for which early voting
starts April 19. The winner
will take on Democrat Ron
Wesson, a Bertie County
commissioner, in the No
vember general election.
Candice Hunter
Hunter, 46, is a north-
eastern North Carolina na
tive who returned to the
region last year. A graduate
of Currituck High School,
Hunter said she worked
her way through college,
serving as a television
anchor in three different
markets before starting her
own small business, Media
Hunter.
After returning home,
Hunter said she became
concerned about the 1st
District’s quality of life, and
believes she has the vision
to improve it.
“The most important val
ue we have in northeastern
North Carolina is preserv
ing quality of life and al
lowing our children to stay
here, and you do that by
creating jobs,” Hunter said.
Hunter said the district
needs to “reinvent” itself
after losing manufacturing
jobs decades ago. In addi
tion to encouraging small
business growth and hold
ing down taxes, she said it’s
vital to expand high-speed
See HOUSE, 6