P9/C9******CAR-RT LOT**R 008 A0004
PERQUIMANS COUNTY LIBRARY
514 S CHURCH ST
HERTFORD NC 27944-1225
E E K LY
Flower power aids food pantries, A2
“News from Next Door”
CONTEST
Youth invited to participate in Turkey
shoot, photography contest — A5
THURSDAY, APRIL 23,2020
KIDS’ CORNER CLASS OF 2020
Go to the water in this sea-themed PCHS senior pictures continue — Bl
puzzle page — A6
$1.00
CHURCH
Local pastors weigh in on coronavirus,
God's love — B2
School District Seeks Fiscally Conservative Budget
BY MILES LAYTON
Editor
Perquimans Board of Educa
tion and the County Commis
sion held a joint budget work
session Monday to discuss
school expense requests for
2020/21 fiscal year.
This call-in meeting, which
was conducted in accordance
with social distancing guide
lines, sets the stage for future
budget planning.
Superintendent Tanya Turn
er made the case for a conser
vative budget that seeks less
funding than the 2019/20 bud
get for a school system with
an average daily enrollment of
around 1,624 students.
“This a conservative bud
get that balances the needs
of school system with the de
sire to be efficient, keep costs
manageable, particularly as
TURNER
COVID-19 may
affect budget
planning,” she
said.
School sys
tem’s proposed
budget for
2020/21 seeks
about $19,097
million which
is about $97,000
less than budget for 2019/20 -
$20,094 million. Funding from
the state is reduced about
$376,000 from about $13,469
million in 2019/20 to $13,093
million for 2020/21.
School system seeks an in
crease of about $273,737 in lo
cal funding up from 2019/20’s
appropriation of $2.9 million to
the proposed request of more
than $3,173 for 2020/21.
An additional $594,272 more
in expenditures is included
within the proposed budget
due to:
■ Shortall 2019/20-$142,400
from the fund balance
■ Loss of wealth funding -
$93,785
■ $52,000 in textbooks due
to no carryover
■ $90,000 Medicaid/Excep-
tional Children
■ $24,136 Loss of Federal
Funding carryover
See DISTRICT, A3
Food Lion
Offering
Special
Hours
to Seniors
BY MILES LAYTON
Editor
Food Lion is taking steps to
provide a measure of safety
in the wake of the COVID-19
pandemic.
Stores are offering volun
tary store shopping hours
for senior citizens and those
identified as high COVID-19
risk by the Centers for Dis
ease Control and Prevention,
according to a press release
issued by the company.
Stores will dedicate 7-8 a.m.
every Monday and Wednes
day for customers over the
age of 60 and for those folks
who are identified as high
risk for severe illness by the
CDC. These special shopping
hours, which are strictly vol
untary, started March 30 and
will remain in effect until fur
ther notice.
“We will continue doing all
we can to help prevent the
See FOOD LION, A2
Committee
Announces
Art Contest
Winners
BY STAFF REPORTS
Represented by Tourism Direc
tor Sharon Smith, the RIVERBASH
Committee recently announced
at a special Zoom meeting that
three Hertford Grammar School
students will be awarded the top
prizes in this year’s T-Shirt Design
Contest.
Taylor Matthews created the
first-place design, and Brianna
Ross and Layla McCreary teamed
up to make the second-place
drawing.
This is the first year for the Riv
erbash Art Contest - 3rd-5th grade
students at Hertford Grammar
School were invited to submit de
signs related to this year’s theme,
“All Hands on Deck”.
The winning designs were to be
printed on t-shirts that would have
been for sale at Riverbash on April
24-26. Unfortunately, Riverbash
See CONTEST, A3
6 1 89076 47144
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Vol. 86, No. 17
@2020 Perquimans Weekly
All Rights Reserved
PHOTOS COURTESY OF JOE CORLEY
Peaceful demonstration took place Tuesday in downtown Raleigh near the General Assembly.
Thousands Travel to Raleigh,
Protest Statewide Shut-down Decree
BY MILES LAYTON
Editor
RALEIGH — Thousands of
people took their message of
protest to the streets Tuesday to
send a message to Governor Roy
Cooper to reopen the state.
A peaceful demonstration or
ganized by the grassroots group
ReopenNC, protesters broke into
chants of “USA,” “Freedom or
death,” as well as “Vote out Coo
per.”
“To be crystal clear, this event
is not an act of civil disobedience,
but rather it is an exercise of our
rights as granted by God and pro
tected by the Constitution,” said
Ashley Smith, a key organizer for
ReopenNC, at a press conference
in downtown outside the state
General Assembly.
Cooper imposed a statewide
COVID-19 executive order ban
ning sit-down service at restau
rants and private clubs March 17.
He extended the drder March 27,
closing all “non-essential” busi
nesses, ordering residents to stay
at home except for “essential”
purposes outlined in the order,
and barring “mass gatherings”
of 10 or more people. Cooper’s
Hertford Police Adds Crimefighting K9 Officer
BY MILES LAYTON
Editor
A superdog has officially
joined the Hertford Police De
partment.
Diesel won’t be wearing
a cape nor leotards because
this German Shepherd’s crime
fighting superpowers need no
introduction. This super dog
has a keen sense of smell, so
he’s trained to detect guns or
bombs as well as find people
by their odor - bad guys or
missing people.
“Diesel is going to be a great
add to the town, it will be much
harder for criminals to run and
hide also he can find firearms
in bags and other parcels,” said
Officer Patrick Castellanos,
Hertford Police.
Thousands of people attended a rally Tuesday that was
organized by ReopenNC, a non-partisan group seeking to end
the state’s shutdown order that threatens businesses and
families from Murphy to Manteo.
order expires April 29. The gov
ernor hasn’t said if or when he
would modify the order.
A non-partisan group with
more than 64,000 members, Re
openNC organizers said they plan
protests in Raleigh each Tuesday
from 11 a.m. to 3p.m. until the
orders are lifted. This was group’s
second demonstration within
two weeks.
“Governor Cooper, you are
not a king and we are not your
subjects,” Smith said. “You are
an elected official granted your
power only by the people. We the
people of this great state will be
heard. Reopen North Carolina.”
Cooper and the state’s health
experts, as well as federal health
See PROTEST, A3
Man’s best friend, Diesel and
Castellanos, an experienced
K9 handler, have been work
ing side by side for a couple of
years.
“Him and I have been paired
up for little over two years
now, we both where security
contractors for govt contracts
and private firms until we got
hired on here,” Castellanos
said. “My basic handler course
took about nine weeks but
training never stop every shift
we go out and train about an
hour a day.”
K9 officer Diesel can run too,
so no matter how fast any of the
crooks reading this story think
they can sprint, the dog can
run much, much faster. Even
See K9, A3
PHOTO BY ELIZABETH PORCHER JONES
Heron is probably thinking
when are the humans going to
get back to work, reopen the
economy.
Round-up
Puzzles
& Beaches
BY MILES LAYTON
Editor
A round-up of all things
Perquimans County-
Robert Emmert of
Sunset Circle wrote a
kind letter to this country editor.
“Keep up the good work. Re
porting on the local happenings in
Perquimans County is great.”
Emmert offered a good sugges
tion about our crossword puzzle
- not putting the answer key so
close to the puzzle because some
times, his eyes tend to wander
and peek at the answer key - and
he’s not the only one.
Robert, it’s a technical thing
with layout/design as to why the
puzzle and the key are side by
side. That said, our nation put a
man on the moon so surely we
can figure out a way to better
separate the crossword and the
answer key.
In other news, when writing a
story about the Easter Bunny, aka
Darius White, the newspaper
should have attributed the photos
that were submitted to noted
local photographer Ellen Silva.
She’s married to Dave Silva, also
a top notch photographer. Thanks
for the photos.
Hertford Police Department
See LAYTON, A3
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Hertford Police Department's K9 Officer Diesel makes time to
attend a birthday party for this little boy, Domonte Jones, who
turned 7-years-old.
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