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PERQUIMANS COUNTY LIBRARY
I 514 SCHURCH ST
HERTFORD NC 27944-1225
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I WEEKLY
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"News from Next Door 1 '
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29, 2018
75 cents
Jackson arrested for being late to court
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Hertford Town Council
man Quentin Jackson was
arrested last week for fail
ing to appear in court on the
charges of breaking and en
tering and first degree tres
passing.
Jackson was scheduled
to be in district court on
Wednesday. When he didn’t
JACKSON
show up on
time, Per
quimans
County
deputies
notified
Jackson of
the war
rant for
his arrest
and had
been issued. Jackson was
released on $5,000 secured
bond and he didn’t have to
go jail.
The charges stem from
a dispute between Jackson
and a cousin, Catherine
Flowers, over property
Flowers owns on Brace Av
enue in Hertford.
Jackson maintains it’s not
that he failed to appear, he
just wasn’t there when court
opened. He also said he was
led to believe the case had
been continued because
Flowers was out of the
country and couldn’t attend
the hearing.
“I didn’t fail to appear I
came to court late,” Jackson
said.
Jackson said the court
session started at 9:30 a.m.
and he arrived about 11 a.m.
Jackson claims normally a
judge would strike the or
der for arrest for failure to
appear if the person showed
up, but Judge Edgar Barnes
would not.
“I accept the responsibil
ity,” Jackson said.
A Chowan County magis
trate heard the case in June,
but could not rule on it be
cause magistrates only have
authority to decide clear
landlord-tenant disputes.
That meant the case would
have to be heard in District
Court.
Flowers was seeking six
months of rent from Jack-
son — a total of $2,400 —
and $200 for damages she
claims Jackson made to the
property.
In the case before the
magistrate in June, Jackson
said he and Flowers had
an agreement, and Jackson
See JACKSON, 2
Schools
look into
trades
program
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
There are good paying
jobs locally that don’t re
quire a four-year college
degree and Jill Cohen wants
to make sure Perquimans
students know that.
Cohen
is the di
rector of
the Career
Technical
Education
(CTE) pro
gram with
in the Per-
COHEN quimans
County
School system. She’s ex
ploring the idea of creating
a new program that gives
introductory instruction in
skills like welding, electri
cal, carpentry and concrete
and masonry.
She’s in the process of try
ing to write grants to fund
the program. The deadline
to submit proposals to sub
mit a proposal for the next
round of Golden LEAF
funds is coming up in Sep
tember.
Cohen said the cost of
such a program varies de
pending how much money
is available.
“I haven’t talked too
much about it, because
we’re looking at the project
that is still in the conceptual
stage,” she said.
If the funds can be found,
the program would include
a greenhouse, and buildings
to handle some of the trade
programs, like welding and
carpentry.
The goal is not necessar-
See PROGRAM, 2
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
The Hertford Grammar School panther mascot greets parents and students coming to school on Monday.
Hundreds return to school
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
It was back to class Monday for
more than 1,600 Perquimans Coun
ty students.
The first day appeared to go on
schedule with the typical number
of hiccups, with some of the buses
running late.
Perquimans had an expected en
rollment of 1,677 students this year
and all but 54 were in school on
the first day. Last year on the first
day of school, there were 1,609 stu
dents enrolled.
At Hertford Grammar School,
the students were greeted by a new
principal, John Lassiter. The Per
quimans County native filled the
vacancy when former principal Ja
son Griffin left to take a position as
director of elementary education
with the Craven County Schools.
Lassiter left Chowan Middle
School to take the job in Hertford.
The principals at the other three
schools remain the same.
Another thing that is new, Per
quimans now has a School Re
source Officer at all four schools.
Senior
defense
class
planned
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Paula Sqje said seniors
don’t need to be an expert in
karate to defend themselves
in many cases.
S a j e ,
65, will be
teaching a
one-hour
introduc
tory class
on self-
awareness
and self-
1 11
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
John Lassiter, the new principal at Hertford Grammar School, recites
the pledge of allegiance over the school’s intercom system at the
start of the school year on Monday.
defense on SAJE
Sept. 12 at
11 a.m. at the Perquimans
County Senior Center.
“A lot of people don’t re
alize they don’t need their
own weapon,” Sqje said.
“Their own weapon is their
own mind. Your best weap
on is your voice. You can
scream.”
She plans to teach people
some basic release moves in
case somebody grabs them.
A large part of the lesson
will be situational aware ¬
The county commission made
the decision this spring to add the
fourth armed Perquimans County
deputy.
Perquimans Central has also
taken steps to make sure a stu ¬
dent isn’t sent home with some
one who is not authorized to take
the child. Central covers students
from grades Pre-K through sec-
See SCHOOL, 2
ness.
“If you are feeling uncom
fortable walking down the
street, go walk on the other
side of the street. Don’t wor
ry about what people might
think.
“If somebody grabs both
your arms with both of their
hands, you still have two
feet on in this case both of
their hands are tied up hold
ing you.”
People may know Sqje for
things other than her fourth
degree black belt in Isshin
Shoriqjiryu Okinaka-Te, a
type of karate. But she’s got
one.
See DEFENSE, 2
Simmons nominated for national ‘Health Hero’ award
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Guy Simmons has re
ceived national attention for
the work he does to improve
healthcare in northeastern
North Carolina.
Out of more than 200
nominees, the Hertford resi
dent was one of 10 finalists
for the National Association
of Health Center’s national
Health
Hero
award.
The award
is part of
National
Health
Center
Week in
SIMMONS August.
S i m -
mons said he was honored
just to be nominated. He
said the other nine finalists
were “hands on” profession
als that deal with patients,
and they are the true he
roes.
Simmons, 75, serves
as the board chair for the
Ahoskie-based Roanoke
Chowan Community Health
Center.
He started working with
community health centers
20 years ago in Boston’s in
ner city community of Rox
bury.
He moved to the region
six years ago and spent two
years in Edenton before
moving to Hertford.
Simmons is a retired
Navy captain who served
for 27 years. Simmons is
also active with the Rocky
Hock Lions Club and the lo
cal Civil Air Patrol. He also
works with veterans who
need help getting to medical
appointments.
“Almost as soon as I got
here, I started volunteering
with the Habitat Restore in
Edenton,” Simmons said.
“There I met a gentleman
who was involved with Roa
noke-Chowan and I decided
to look into it.”
He is now on his third
year as chairman of the
board. The previous two
years were as vice chair.”
“One of the beautiful
things about community
health centers is every time
someone becomes a pa
tient, two things happen,”
he said. “Their overall qual
ity of health care goes up
and the total cost of health
care goes down.”
See SIMMONS, 2
Food Lion to hold events at 105 remodeled stores this week
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The Hertford Food Lion
and 104 others in the Nor
folk, Va. market will hold
ribbon cuttings today to
mark the renovations of all
of the stores.
The Salisbury-based com
pany invested $168 million
in remodeling the stores
and buying two mobile food
trucks for food banks in Vir
ginia. An additional 4,000
employees were hired.
Today at 7:45 a.m. there
will be a ribbon cutting at
the store at 321 Ocean High
way South. After that, the
first 100 shoppers will get a
$10 gift card and a thermal
tote bag. One customer will
get a surprise $250 gift card.
At 5 p.m. the first 100
shoppers will receive a bam
boo cutting board.
On Sept. 1 at 7 a.m., the
first 100 shoppers will get a
$10 gift card.
“Food Lion has nourished
the greater Norfolk com
munity for nearly 40 years,
and we’re excited to bring
these improvements to our
105 local stores,” said Meg
Ham, president of Food
Lion. “We’ve created a new
grocery shopping experi
ence through the significant
investments in our stores,
customers, associates and
communities.”
With the completion of
this market, Food Lion has
remodeled 649 of its 1,030
stores in the last four years.
Food Lion officials say
they will continue to make
enhancements to create a
better shopping experience
across all stores and remod
el additional stores in other
markets.
Food Lion, based in
Salisbury since 1957, has
more than 1,000 stores in
10 Southeastern and Mid
Atlantic states and employs
more than 63,000 associ
ates. Food Lion is a com
pany of Delhaize America,
a U.S. division of Zaandam-
based Royal Ahold Delhaize
Group.