"News from Next Door" WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20,2018 75 cents
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
Heavy equipment starting moving dirt for a retention
pond at the new Perquimans County High School
athletic complex last week.
Stadium project moving forward
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Perquimans School of
ficials are pressing ahead
with plans to have the new
football field ready to play
on for the first game of the
season in August.
“We’ll be playing football
on Aug. 17 providing we
don’t get any hurricanes,”
said Jim Davison, the school
system’s maintenance direc
tor.
The school system had
been hoping to be further
along in the process, but a
permit for erosion control
took more than 10 days lon
ger than expected. The proj
ect is still expected to cost
about $1.2 million.
An earlier schedule had
concrete pads being poured
the week of June 25-29 and
the installation of sod on
June 27. Davison said that
may or may not be accurate
now.
“Some of the estimates
have changed, but the over
all completion date has not,”
Davison said.
This week people should
be seeing the grading of the
football field and more ero
sion control work. The large
piles of gravel on the site
are going to be used for the
construction entrances at
the side.
Trees on the south side
of the site will be burned off
this week.
The home season opener
this year is Northside-Pi-
netown on Aug. 17. The fol
lowing week, the Pirates are
to host South Creek.
Other home games this
year include Currituck,
Gates, Manteo and John A
Holmes.
See STADIUM, 2
Road,
bridge
projects
reviewed
BY PETER WILLIAMS
AND MILES LAYTON
Staff Writers
EDENTON — State DOT
officials confirmed Thurs
day that bids for the Mid
Currituck County bridge
project are scheduled to be
let in October — if not de
layed by environmental or
traffic studies.
Also, projects associ
ated with the proposed 1-87
highway are being vetted
to determine if they will be
included in the upcoming
10-year transportation im
provement plan.
N.C. Department of Trans
portation officials answered
questions about ongoing
and proposed road projects
during an informal public
hearing last week at the Di
vision 1 office in Edenton.
The meeting was held to
get public input on which
transportation projects in
14-county Division 1 area
should be a top priority in
the State Transportation
and Improvement Program
— a 10-year plan that iden
tifies funding for projects
and schedules them for con
struction.
DOT officials also made a
presentation to the Perqui
mans County Commission
Monday night. There are
three projects, including the
replacement of Hertford’s
S-Bridge, that are listed as
“current projects.”
The S-Bridge construc
tion is expected to start
in the spring of 2019 and
be complete by December
2021. The cost is estimated
at $56.9 million and final de
sign work is underway.
There is also plans to wid
en and resurface New Hope
Road from Union Hall Road
to Woodland Church Road.
The project was let in April
and is expected to be com
plete by May 2019. The cost
is estimated at $1.8 million.
The third project is re
placing a bridge over Mill
Creek in Winfall. That $1.5
million project was let in
May and is expected to be
complete by Nov. 30.
There are six other proj-
See DOT, 2
STAFF PHOTOS BY PETER
WILLIAMS
Top, police and
Perquimans County
Sheriff’s deputies
emerge from
Perquimans County
Middle School
after a live shooter
drill last week.
Right, one of the
coordinators of last
week’s live shooter
drill gives a thumbs
up at Perquimans
County Middle
School.
School hosts shooter drill
Eviction
petition
rejected
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Area lawmen and emergency of
ficials drilled last week on what
would happen if the unthinkable
happened — a person opened fire
inside a school.
The scenario played out June 12 at
Perquimans County Middle School.
In the exercise, an armed man went
through the front door and started
firing a shotgun. In the drill, the
shooter and four other people were
killed and six people were injured,
including a sheriff’s deputy.
About 90 school employees played
the role of students and teachers for
the drill. Officers from the sheriff’s
office and police from Winfatll and
Hertford participated along with
the N.C. Highway Patrol and Perqui
mans County Emergency Medical
Services. Firefighters from Winfall,
Hertford and Belvidere also partici-
7 think it was an excellent
opportunity for first
responders and a chance to
prove to the community how
important we think school
safety is."
Jonathan Nixon
EMS Director
pated.
Sheriff Shelby White said the exer
cise was the first time he’s known of
with a live shooter. There have been
tabletop simulations, but the Tuesday
drill included person firing blanks
and one deputy was armed with a
9mm pistol, also firing blanks.
Both White and EMS Director
Jonathan Nixon said some of the
school employees were worried that
somehow real bullets might end up
in guns, so precautions were taken.
“When we met at Perquimans Cen
tral, we had all of the officers unload
their guns and bring them to me per
sonally and I put zip ties on them.”
The zip ties were to the weapon
prevent the weapon from being
loaded or fired.
“We also made sure they didn’t
have Tasers or extra ammo. When
they left Central, the weapons were
checked again, and when we got
to the middle school, they were
checked again.”
Jonathan Nixon, the director of
Perquimans EMS, also said it was
worthwhile.
“I think it was an excellent op
portunity for first responders and a
chance to prove to the community
how important we think school safe-
See SHOOTER, 2
A Chowan County mag
istrate rejected an eviction
complaint involving a Hert
ford town councilman last
week, meaning the com
plaint will likely have to be
decided in District Court.
Magis- —-
trate Keith
Nixon de-
nied the
eviction t
p e t i t i o n
sought by
Catherine B^^I
Flowers " B
against JACKSON
her cousin,
Hertford Town Councilman
Quentin Jackson.
Flowers was seeking
Jackson’s eviction from her
house on Brace Avenue in
Hertford. She also was seek
ing six months of rent from
Jackson — a total of $2,400
—and $200 for damages she
claims Jackson made to the
property. Jackson in term
took out a criminal com
plaint against Flowers for
coming onto the property.
Nixon, however, said Ms
authority only allows him to
rule in eviction cases when
there is a clear landlord-ten
ant relationsMp between the
parties. He said that wasn’t
shown on Wednesday, so he
had no choice but to deny
the claim.
The burden of proving
that Jackson was in viola
tion was on Flowers, not
Jackson, Nixon said. The
Chowan magistrate was
asked to hear the eviction
complaint because Jackson
is a Hertford councilman
and Hertford is in Perqui
mans County.
Nixon explained that
having a small claims case
heard by a magistrate is the
lowest level in the judicial
system and quite often no
lawyers are involved.
“For that reason a lot of
people refer to it as ‘The
People’s Court,” Nixon said.
In Wednesday’s case, nei
ther Flowers nor Jackson
had an attorney.
Still Nixon asked if either
side objected to be sworn in
using a Bible. Jackson did
See EVICTION, 2
Some lawmakers split over early voting
Historic Preservation
From Staff Reports
Area lawmakers are split
on a controversial bill that
would increase early vot
ing hours in many counties
but would also eliminate the
last Saturday of voting.
The House and Sen
ate voted on party lines to
approve Senate Bill 325.
Originally a tax bill, House
Republicans rewrote it to
change the state’s early vot
ing schedule, introducing it
Thursday and passing it the
next day in a 6041 vote, af
ter wMch the Senate voted
23-11 to approve it with no
changes.
The legislation would
start the early voting period
on the third Wednesday be
fore an election, or one day
earlier, and require early
voting to end by the Friday
before the election, end
ing voting on the Saturday
before the election. That
means early voting for this
November’s election would
run from Oct. 17 through
Nov. 2.
In addition, the bill would
require all of a county’s early
voting sites to be open from
7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on workdays.
If the counties allowed early
voting on Saturdays and
Sundays during early vot
ing, it would have to open
all its polling places on the
same hours those days.
See VOTING, 2
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
Reid Thomas (left) gave talks on historic preservation
last week in Hertford.