LOUISVILLE, KS-lTUCi
PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
Volume 33, No. 9
Hertford, Perquimans County, N.C., Thursday, Mar. 3, 1977
15CENTS
Perquimans Has
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20.4 Illiteracy
A DEMOCRATIC WELCOME - Estelle
Felton, chairperson of the Democratic
party in Perquimans County, welcomes
Attorney General Rufus' Edmisten,
guest speaker for the Monday night fund
raiser.
A LITTLE REMEMBRANCE - Following his remarks,
Rufus Edmisten was presented a gift from the local
Democrats. Pictured above, local merchant and
Democratic supporter Willie F. Ainsley presents a pen and
ink lithograph by Jerry Miller of the Newbold-White House
to the Attorney General. Ainsley pointed out that Per
quimans County is the home of the house, the oldest brick
home in the state. (Staff photos by Kathy Newbern)
Edmisten Boosts Democratic Spirit
By KATHY M. NEWBERN
Rufus Edmisten, North
Carolina's Attorney
General, was in Perquimans
County Monday night to fur
ther the cause of the local
party.
: A large crowd turned out
at Angler's Cove Restaurant
for the Annual Fund-Raising
Dinner sponsored by the
local Democratic party.
; Bill Cox, Mayor of Hert
ford, introduced Edmisten
as "a man whose dedication
and ability is being proved
by the job he's doing."
Edmisten opened his
remarks by saying, "What
are we going to do with that
public trust that the people
gave us?" He stressed
holding public office as a
public trust and said, "We
owe allegiance to those who
elected us. People in public
life owe it to get back to the
people and find out what's
on their minds."
On The Fire Line
By CHIEF CHARLES SKINNER JR.
R There is a fire demon at work in Perquimans County. This
demon stands about 35 inches tall, is 22 inches in diameter
' and is usually rusty colored.' This demon usually stands
aione in aeaa grass or in a backyard trass pile. This demon
is known better as a 55-gallon trash barrell. It is more con
venient to burn trash than it is to take trash to containers
provided throughout the county, and also makes starting
fires in grass a very hazardous situation. -
Recently, burning trash after lunch has caused many
fires that seriously endangered nearby buildings. In one
case, the trash blowing out of the barrell ignited grass thus
spreading to a two-story wooden frame dwelling resulting in
a serious loss of property. At this fire, the expedient fire
fighting by the Hertford Fire Department saved the house
from more extensive damage.
Bethel Community Fire Department answered a fire call
recently caused by burning trash in a 55-gallon barrell. The
fire spread to nearby woods. The fast fire attack by the
Bethel firemen prevented this careless fire from spreading
to a tree plantation of several hundred acres.
In North Carolina, the Board of Water and Air Resources
enforced a regulation that prevents open burning of refuse
or other combustable materials except as allowed in Sec
tion 13 and 143-215.1 of the regulation.
-We would like to encourage people to stop burning trash
and garbage in barrells and in yards during the extremely
dry periods. If unthoughtf ul people are still going to burn in
the little short "backyard demon," we suggest they place a
piece of screen wire over the barrell and stand by with a
water hose or buckets of water. If the people that cause this
"act of Ignorance" were required to make a sizeable con
tribution to their nearest fire department, this might pre
sent a lot of costly runs of fire apparatus.
The Attorney General said
fairness, decency and
honesty should be guidelines
of elected officials. He said,
"As Democrats we have on
ly one obligation. That to
take a stand on something,
stick with it and not worry
about the political conse
quences of it."
Edmisten continued and
received applause when he
said, "I think we've got too
much government. In fact,
I'm tired of government. We
are being governed to
death." He then quoted the
old adage, "The govern
ment that governs least
governs best."
The Attorney General
went on to discuss young
people, courts, and law en
forcement. He said, "I think
the only thing that we have
to offer is our youth. It pains
me to see these young peo
ple we arrest. If you want to
see a young person get a
first-hand degree in how to
be a criminal, then put him
in our state institutions." He
continued, "Now you know I
don't like dope pushers. As
long as you make me At
torney General of this state,
we're not going to let up for
one moment."
Concerning law enforce
ment, Edmisten com
mended the job that's being
done but criticized low
salaries and said he was
working to bring salaries of
law enforcement officials up
to "liveable standards." He
said, "I'm glad to finally
have a Governor who will
back me up on these things
because for the last four
years, we've had nothing.
We've had absolutely
nothing in the form of a
Governor."
In closing, Edmisten drew
parallel between Per
quimans County and his own
home county of Watauga
saying both east and west
need their voices heard in
state government.
RALEIGH A new state
survey has revealed that
Perquimans County has the
highest illiteracy rate in the
state of North Carolina.
Other neighboring eastern
counties had rather high
rates when compared
statewide.
The new survey used
driver's license applications
to find out how many North
Carolinians could read. Con
ducted by the Highway Safe
ty Research Center of the
University of North
Carolina, the survey
recorded those license ap
plicants who had to take an
oral test instead of a written
one.
The test results revealed
that 8.3 per cent of the
state's adult population are
illiterate. Other patterns
were revealed as a result of
the survey. It was
discovered that illiteracy is
greater in eastern counties
than in western ones and
that nonwhites were more
likely than whites to be
illiterate.
Perquimans County was
the highest with an illiteracy
rate of 20.4 per cent. Other
counties in the Albemarle
and their illiteracy rates,
Inside...
,..5
..6
according to the survey,
were: Chowan with 11.9 per
cent; Gates with 11.9 per
cent; Currituck with 11.3 per
cent; Camden with 7.9 per
cent; Pasquotank with 7.1
per cent and Dare County
with 5.6 per cent.
One hopeful sign in the
report is that a similar
survey conducted in 1959
showed a 20 per cent il
literacy rate in North
Carolina.
Baseball Schedule
Community News......
Melissa Lewis, Country
Singer
.10
Civic Calendar
MONDAY, MARCH 7
Hertford Town Council meets.
Perquimans County Commissioners will meet at 10 a.m.
The Winf all Town Council meets.
A meeting of the Winfall Volunteer Fire Department is
planned.
The Perquimans County Board of Education meets.
TUESDAY, MARCH 8
The Perquimans County REACT will meet at the
Albemarle EMC Building at 7:30 p.m.
The Perquimans Couhty Horse and Pony Club meets.
Hertford Rotary Club will meet.
Perquimans Masonic Lodge meets.
A meeting of the Perquimans County Girl Scout
Neighborhood will be held at the E.I.C. Office on Hyde Park
and King Street. Service team members are needed and
neighborhood jobs need to be filled. Anyone interested is
invited.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9
The Garland Onley Post 8148 VFW will meet at the
Municipal Building at 7:30 p.m.
THURSDAY, MARCH 10
The Perquimans County Jaycees meet.
FRIDAY, MARCH 11
Bethel Homem akers meet.
Up
RALEIGH State of
ficials today reported that
North Carolina's travel and
tourism industry in 1976
reached a record $1.2 billion
in revenues, a 17 percent in
crease over 1975. '
The total spent by visitors
- $1,280,000,000 - was up
$109 million over last year's
receipts.
Put another way, visitors
spent an average of $3V4
million a day, every day,
last year in North Carolina.
State Travel Director
William Arnold said the 1976
report compiled for his of
fice of Travel Development
by Dr. Lewis Copeland of
the University of Tennessee,
indicates that the travel in
dustry in North Carolina is
growing at almost twice the
national rate.
The report showed:
Out-of-state travelers
totaled 43.9 million up by
3.9 million from 1975 and
spent $855 million in the
state's resorts, attractions,
cities, and communities.
Tar Heels spent $425
million within their own confines.
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Library Update
GOOD OLE' BOY - Billy
Carter, brother of President
Jimmy Carter, was the
featured attraction at the
Wednesday session of the
Virginia and North Carolina
Peanut Trade Show held for
three days at Farmer's
Warehouse in Ahoskie. The
Plains, Ga. resident did not
let the many show visitors
down. He was up to his usual
cigar smoking and beer
drinking. Pictured above,
the colorful Billy Carter
takes one last swig before
departing from the Tri
County Airport near the
community of St. Johns.
By WAYNE HENRITZE
Story Hour
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4
. MRS. MAR JORIE AMBROSE ;
Receives Promotion
, R.L. Stevenson, ' Execu
tive Vice President, Peoples
Bank and Trust Co., an
nounced recently the ap-
Phelps Ambrose at
Manager of its West Office,
Grubb and Edenton Road
Streets. Steyenson stated '
that Mrs. Ambrose joined
Peoples Bank as a book
keeper in Hay ISS6. Later as"
teller, she completed the
Bank's staff sales training
program : and has led the
Hertford cIce in staff sales
for tie past three years, r
tlrj. Ambrose has been
chairman of the Per
quimans County Easter Seal
Campaign for three years,
in addition to being active in
other civic and church ac
tivities. A native of
Washington County, she was
a member of the Class of
1945. at Creswell High
School Mrs. Ambrose is the
daughter of Mrs. Golda C.
Phelps and the. late Claude
C. Phelps of Creswell She is
married to Leo Ambrose
and they have two children,
Peggy Ambrose of Morgan
ton N.C. and Nannette A.
Blount of Rock vllle, Md.
The Friday morning story hour for children ages 3 to 5
will take place as usual from 10 to 11 a.m. In addition, the
children will get a chance to draw a life-size, if not life-like,
: full length portrait of themselves. Come by and watch the
fun. We want to invite your children to join Branden, Chad,
John, Josh, Linda, Michelle, Sarah, Stephanie, and Tony.
Paperback Books
Many people would much rather read the paperback edi
tion of a book due to its lightweight and compact size. The
. library has a separate collection of about 1,000 paperbacks
filed by author in such groups as GothicRomances, Nurse
Stories, Westerns, Science Fiction, General Fiction, and
Non-Fiction. About half of these are in the GothicRomance
class which is very popular with the women of this county.
This part of the collection is supported entirely by gifts of
your old paperbacks which we are always glad to receive.
With so many area people liking the same books, there is no
reason for everyone to spend the same $1.25 for the book you
just finished. Do us and your friends a favor .. -'
: i , New Books for Adults -
Pepperby Pepper Rodgers is a humorous autiobiography
of the unconventional football coach.
It Beats Worklngby John Lardner is the Newsweek sports
reporter's view of the former sports greats
They Rose Above It by Bob Considine contains stories of
famous and unknown people who overcame handicaps,
fear, and disease with pride and dignity.
- Before Liberty by Roy Thompson is an interesting
episodic history of North Carolina from The Lost Colony to
the Revolution by a Winston-Salem reporter.
, Young Student's Encyclopedia is a simple, colorful, 20
volume set for the lower elementary grades.
Mrs. Pollltax on Safari by Dorothy Gilman continues the
adventures of the popular part time spy in Africa.
New Books for Children
Jim "Catfish" Hunter by. S.H. Burchard is a well il
lustrated, easy to read, biography for the primary grades
which includes pictures of the Hunter family, Perquimans
County, and Ahoskie.
. franco Harris it by the same author and is very similar
to the above book,
' How to Turn Lemons Into Money: A Child's Guide to
. Economics introduces children to business terms through
lemonade stand examples and wild illustrations.
Rotten Ralph is a fancifully malicious cat who learns to
appreciate his f am "y nf ea bis antics get him thrown out.
The Lost Boy U i cf an American infant supposedly
killed in an Indonesian fire who is returned to this country
years later.
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MAKING A POINT Billy Carter is pictured apparently
Intent on making some point. When visiting the show and
talking with newspaper, radio and television reporters,
Carter spoke openly of his life style, politics, raising
peanuts, and brother Jimmy. '
PEANUT EXHIBIT - George Lewis of Peoples Bank In '
Edenton was one of the many who set up booths and exhibits
at the Peanut Trade Show. The annual event attracted a
large crowd. (Staff photos by Kathy Newbern)