"News front Next Door"
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2018
PCHS performs ‘Our Town,’ 8
75 cents
Aples to step down from Hertford seat
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
A Hertford town council
man widely seen as a mod
erating influence on other
members of the town’s gov
erning board has announced
he’ll be stepping down on
Jan. 1.
Archie Aples, who also
serves as the council’s
mayor pro tern, didn’t say
why he’d
be leaving
with near
ly a year
left on his
current
term. He
did prom
ise, how
ever, to
have more
APLES
to say about his plans when
the board meets again on
Dec. 10. He made the an
nouncement at a meeting
last Tuesday.
A New Orleans native
who spent 20 years in the
Air Force before moving to
Hertford with his wife, Aples
is about three years into his
four-year term on the Town
Council. He was seen as a
moderating influence on the
board, seeking to calm egos
and urge fellow councilors
to reach toward a common
goal.
Aples ran for the town
board in 2013 but finished
short. With two seats open,
Ed Lane had the most votes
with 247 followed by Lillian
Holman with 223 and Aples
with 208. Quentin Jack-
son finished fourth with 87
votes.
Two years later as a write-
in candidate, Aples was the
clear winner. He drew 166
votes compared to 93 for
Eley, 88, for Frank Norman
(another write-in) and 25 for
Frank Jaklic.
Aples appeared to be
growing frustrated, how
ever, with some fellow
council members’ behavior,
including the alleged assault
of Councilman Sid Eley by
Councilman Jackson. When
Jackson had his last court
date on the assault charge,
all members of council were
called as witnesses in the
case since the incident hap
pened after a regular town
meeting.
Mayor Horace Reid said
Aples would be missed.
“I know a lot of people
who will not be happy to see
this happen,” Reid said.
See APLES, 2
Winfall
bridge
project
delayed
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Construction on a new
bridge on Creek Drive in
Winfall will not be complet
ed by the end of the month
as was originally thought.
Instead it may be the end of
December before the cars
can start using it again.
David Otts, the resident
engineer for NC DOT in Eliz
abeth City, said there were a
number of factors that con
tributed to the delay.
T.A. Loving Company,
the contractor, has about 61
percent of the work com
plete, according to a prog
ress report listed on DOT’s
web site.
“They had some things
that were under their con
trol and some things that
were beyond their control,”
Otts said.
One factor was weather.
While Perquimans County
was spared major damage
from two hurricanes that
hit the coast this year, the
threat of a hurricane halted
work on the bridge.
“They had to secure the
worksite starting about four
days ahead of the storm,
and a lot of the workers
went home. Some lived in
the Sneads Ferry area and
they sustained damage on
their homes and some didn’t
come back.”
Also asbestos was found
insulating a water line under
the bridge and that stopped
See BRIDGE, 2
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
A woman is carried by firefighters from the scene of a HAZMAT drill involving a van and a train.
Crews practice HAZMAT drill
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
What started as an accident be
tween a van and a train quickly
turned into a more deadly scenario
involving the plague in a hazard
ous materials drill played out in
Perquimans and Chowan counties
Saturday.
About 100 emergency officials,
including firefighters, paramed
ics and emergency management
workers took part in the drill that
started in Winfall and included.Vi-
dant Chowan Hospital.
The effort was coordinated by
the Chowan-Perquimans Local
Emergency Management Planning
Committee, said Jonathan Nixon,
Perquimans County’s EMS direc
tor.
In the exercise a van ran into
the side of a Chesapeake and Al
bemarle train at a crossing. In the
process, lime spilled from a train
car and coated the scene.
Firefighters got the four people
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
A person in a HAZMAT suit carries what is thought to be a container
full of plague to a containment chamber.
out of the vehicle and they were
transported to Vidant Chowan
Hospital. But in the process of
getting the people out, firefighters
discovered a metal cylinder that
was hissing. Tests indicated it con ¬
tained the plague.
Mary Spruill, emergency man
agement coordinator for Vidant
Chowan Hospital and-Vidant Bertie
See HAZMAT, 2
Housing
authority
installs
cameras
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The Hertford Housing
Authority has installed se
curity cameras at two of
its developments. Housing
officials say the move has
drawn rave reviews from
the people that live there,
but some town officials
have concerns.
The issue was brought up
at a town council meeting
last week.
Gail White, the executive
director of the authority,
spoke to the board about
what she has done, and
why.
“We aim to offer people
who need it a safe and se
cure place to live,” White
said.
Wynne Fork Court/Wynne
Fork Drive has been the site
of a number of violent inci
dents including murders,
shootings and stabbings.
There have been crime
problems at the King/Stokes
Street location as well.
So the authority followed
suit with what other hous
ing development have done,
and bought 10 cameras from
Nixon Solutions, a Hertford
firm.
Five of the cameras are
at the 36-unit King Street/
Stokes Drive development
and the other five are at the
Wynne Fork Court/Wynne
Fork Drive location. That
one has 69 units.
For now, none are in
stalled at the 12-unit Church
Street/White Street project
because White said they
See CAMERAS, 2
Rocky Mount man named interim director of Albemarle Commission
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Robert Murphy of Rocky Mount
will serve as interim executive di
rector of the Hertford-based Albe
marle Commission.
He began working earlier this
month.
Murphy’s hiring follows Cathy
Davison’s resignation, which took
effect on the first
of November.
The agency’s
Board of Dele
gates announced
Murphy’s new
position after an
emergency Sun
day meeting.
MURPHY
Murphy has experience in local
government leadership. He gradu
ated from Old Dominion Univer
sity in 1970 and earned a master’s
degree in urban affairs from Vir
ginia Tech in 1974.
After serving as county man
ager in Carteret County from 1997
through 2001, he served as county
manager for Nash County from
2001 until his retirement in 2013.
Since then he has served as the in
terim county manager for numer
ous counties, including Caswell,
Pender, Vance and Warren.
Murphy, who is 70-years-old,
plans to work in Hertford three
days a week. He will commute
from his home in Rocky Mount.
The Commission administers
state and federal programs over
10-county region of northeastern
North Carolina It has an operat
ing budget of $6.4 million.
Murphy said he’s had a life-long
interest in local government and
agencies and looks forward to his
temporary stay in Hertford. He
does promise one thing.
“I will be as open and as trans
parent as possible. I have found
over the years, it is best to be that
way”
See MURPHY, 2
Jackson takes Town of Hertford to court
TURKEY Drop
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Hertford Town Council
man Quentin Jackson has
filed civil complaints against
the town and a town em
ployee for their role in the
transfer of a vehicle he says
was his to another person
Jackson refused to com
ment on the issue last week.
However
because
of pend
ing legal
action, the
other town
council
members
met behind
6 89076 47144
2
closed JACKSON
doors
Tuesday with the town at
torney to discuss the case.
Jackson was excused from
that meeting.
Based on two complaints
filed in Perquimans County
the issues revolve around
the license plate agency the
town operates inside town
hall. Motorists can get new
tags and transfer vehicle
titles in the office.
Apparently at one point a
former business partner of
Jackson went to the office
and transferred the title of a
vehicle from the company’s
name to his own. Judy Bate
man, a town employee and
notary, notarized the signa
ture. She is name as a defen
dant in one of the two com
plaints. The town itself is
See JACKSON, 2
STAFF PHOTO BY
PETER WILLIAMS
John Christensen
unloads the
car of Darla
Matthews with
two turkeys last
week during the
annual Turkey
Drop at Hertford
United Methodist
Church.