Newspapers / The Perquimans Weekly (Hertford, … / Sept. 27, 1979, edition 1 / Page 2
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Weekly Perspective Local Hero It's not every small town that has its own bona fide hero, but some of them do. Plains, Georgia has Jimmy Carter, though some would argue that he's not much of a hero right now. Hertford and Perquimans County have Jim Hunter, and even cold hearted New York City agrees that Hunter is a hero. Last week the governor of New York and the mayor of New York City set aside a special day to honor the Yankee pitcher. That's pretty heady stuff for a country boy born and raised on a farm in rural Perquimans County. But Hunter deserved every bit of it. He is one of only four pitchers this century to win 200 games before his 31st birthday. Add to that the fact that he strung together five consecutive 20 win seasons, pitched a perfect game in 1968, and played in eight all star games. Sounds like the record of a superstar, right? Well, Hunter is more than a superstar to the people of Per quimans County. He's a hero. The Yankees management has called Hunter "one of baseball's premier pitchers and classiest gentlemen." The New York Police Department's Yankee Stadium detail gave him their "Good Guy Award" for 1978. These are the qualities that make Hunter a hero to us. Now Hunter is retiring from baseball for family life and farming in Perquimans County. The Yankee organization's loss will be our gain. We want to thank Jim Hunter for giving us our hero, a baseball player and a gentleman we can brag about anywhere. Conservation This may include keeping our cars tuned up and with tires properly inflated, cut ting down on unnecessary trips and keeping those ex tra lights switched off. There is a $300 federal in come tax credit available for those who insulate or take other energy saving steps in their homes. In this day of dwindling oil supplies and continually ris ing energy costs, conserva tion is one of the few bargains around. The United States, along with 19 other major in dustrial nations, is observing October as International Energy Conservation Month. During the month our na tion will be sponsoring and participating in special events, programs, discus sions, technological demonstrations, and reports on progress toward energy conservation. We here in Perquimans County can help out by do ing our part to conserve. '.VA?w.wm?mxWWW(-:<4WNHC<C Editor's Note Letters to the editor are welcome. Each must be signed and include complete address. The subject matter should be of interest to the community, not a personal gripe. Letters may be edited for clarity and space limitations. No more than one letter per person, concerning the same subject, will be published each month. Taking a look back Sept. 1M1 By VIRGINIA WHITE TRANSEAU SEVEN BOYS PASS LIFE SAVING TESTS GIVEN BY LOCAL RED CROSS: Seven boys, Broughton Dail, William Elliott, Jack Hoffler, Bobby Holmes, Bobby Jordan, William Murray, and Thomas Perry, successfully passed the life saving test conducted last week by tbe Perquimans Chapter of the American Red Cross. The tests were under the supervision of Miss Louise Payne and were given at the Municipal Pier. Thirteen young swimmers appeared to take the examination but only the above seven made passing marks. PHILIP ERNEST WHITE DIED THURSDAY AT HOSPITAL IN CHINA: Philip Ernest White, Baptist missionary to China and a native of Hertford, died Thursday in Kweiteh, Honan hospital, where he had been operated on for appendicitis. Death resulted from peritonitis which developed after the operation. He was born in Bethel community, Sep tember 6, 1897, the son of Isaac and the late Geneva Keaton White, of Hertford. The Rev. Mr. White amd Mrs. White, in 1924, were appointed missionaries under tbe Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. They sailed for Kweiteh, Honan, China, on September 11, 1924. After serving a three-year period in China; the couple returned to the United States when China had its civil war. The Rev. Mr. White held pastorates in Winstom-Salem and Leaksville but returned to China in 1935 to continue mission work. Surviving are his wife, the former Mattie Macon Norman, and two children, Geneva Jo and Norman. Because of war conditons in China, Mrs. White and the children returned to the United States last December. BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENT: Mr. and Mrs. J. W Pearce announce the birth of a daughter, Joyce Fay, on Monday, September 8, 1941. LOCAL STORES END THURSDAY CLOSING: Yesterday marked the last day for tbe half-day holiday closing of the Hertford stores on Thursdays. Growth ? : ? mike Mclaughlin It didn't surprize me a bit when I got the news that the town of Hertford had gotten the governor's Community of Ex cellence Award. i I knew there was something excellent about the town the first time I came across the drawbridge and saw all those beautiful old homes hugging the banks of what they said was a river but looked more like an inland sea. Here was a town that was different from the monotonous parade of small towns that line the four-lanes of North Carolina. It looked like, and so far has proven to be, a com fortable, slow-paced place to call home. Those who carried out the extensive preparations necessary to qualify for the award deserve to be commended, and that's part of the purpose of this column. The other part is to warn against the perils of too rapid growth, the kind that can destroy tbe character of a historic old town. The award indicates that we are adequately prepared for, and are actively recruiting industry. But all this talk about the need for growth scares me a little. Of course we may not have anything to worry about. It may be that it will take a whole lot of coaxing to attract just a little bit of industry to our area. This much could be used. We need to improve the living standards of many of our county residents, and we need to be able to offer job opportunities that will keep our young people from being siphoned off by more promising vocational prospects elsewhere. I just don't want to see us get in too big of a hurry. Traffic problems and unsightly, misplaced development are just two of a whole host of problems brought on by too rapid development. We need to anticipate these problems before they become reality and plan for slow paced, orderly growth. This town is built of sturdy but fragile old wood. Brick and clapboard don't mix too well and plastic goes along even worse. In our rush to expand, there is always the chance that we will destroy a characteristic of Hertford extremely im portant to most of us.. .the living sense of history that prevades the town. W indmill Reproduction depicts its role in coastal history The lure of history. Fascination with the coastal way of life. Hopes of making money. That's why there's a replica of a 19th Century windmill on Roanoke Sound at Nags Head. It's authentic down to the hand-forged metal. That's the way it had to be built, even though it meant a hefty price tag of more than $250,000. Lynanne Wescott of Manteo wouldn't stand for it any other way. The 35-foot post-type wind mill, just like the windmills that once dotted the coast, was built in the Surry Coun ty, Va., shop of Derek Ogden, a professional millwright, using traditional millwrighting methods. The job of assembling the pieces at the sound began in early August. All wooden parts were cut with old tools ? no fancy electric power saws. The structure of the mill is join ed with hand cut wooden pegs, not nails. The main post of the mill is made of imported English oak, over 200 years old, carefully selected for its i close-grained dense wood to provide strength. The in terior machinery is simple, but efficient. The prakewheel, about six feet in diameter, drives a small lantern pinion which is fitted I to a quant and overdrives a single pair of millstones. The windshaft is all oak con struction with sail sticks morticed directly through the shaft A tail pole with wooden wheel on the end allows the miller to turn the mill to face into the wind no matter what the direction, so a shift of wind doesn't stop the milling process. "Everything was done just exactly like it would have been done back then," Ms. Wescott said. "It's different, and I like to do things that are different. It's something that just really appealed to me so I did it." She hopes the windmill will be a tourist attraction and a money maker. For a small admission charge, visitors will be able to view the entire milling process. The mill grinds corn, wheat, rye, oats and other grains when the wind blows. It will be attended by Master Miller John Elsea and an apprentice who, dressed in period costume, will guide visitors, explain ing the mill, its historical significance and how it works. Milled grains and windmill related gifts and handicrafts will be on sale in a barn near the mill. Ms. Wescott said the handicrafts are ?elected for one-of-a-kind uniqueness. There's even go ing to be a windmill museum with old photo graphs and maps showing Coastal mills of centuries past. The windmill isn't at all like the electricity producing windmill that recently went up in the mountain town of Boone. The technology is all different. Wood compared to steel and fiberglass. Modern compared to old-timey. She wondered out loud what the English and Dutch settlers who brought the windmill to this country would think about how far their technology had reached. Ms. Wescott had to secure loans from three lending in stitutions before the project could get off the ground. "Each felt the windmill was not only a good business venture, but also a signifi cant addition to the historical scene of the Carolina coast," she said. Windmills have been a part of life on the North Carolina coast since the ear ly 1700s. During the Civil War, Union troops used them as lookout posts. They were used as landmarks by ships rounding treacherous Cape Hatteras long before any lighthouses were built. But most of the windmills fell into disuse by the end of the 19th century. It is thought by many that early windmills were prob ably built by seamen and shipwrights since many of the fundamentals of sailing apply to the functions of windmills. The windmiller would need to know not only the particulars of grist grinding, but he would have to have knowledge of the construction, repair and use of sails, which necessitated an understanding of wind dynamics, carpentry, mechanics and engineering as well as an eye for the weather. The attraction of a mill is easy to understand. They harness the natural element of wind to turn raw material into usable form. Because our most basic need is food, mills that ground grain were the first to make the crucial advance that substituted natural power for human labor. A mill seems such a charming anachronism that it's easy to forget how essential they once were to community life and the ex panding economy. ? (Reprint ed from CAROLINA COUN TRY, September 19T?. The Perquimans Weekly Cowrt House Square. Hertford, N.C. 27944. En tered as second ckwt matter November 15, 1934 at Post Office in Hertford, N.C. MIKK MCL AUOHUN _ NOP. TOOQ WdAUOHUN Co^<?tor* PAKH BUM, Circulation Manager Monday Thru Friday Hwiw 426-5729 Www nx) iJwrtidt >:3fl ?.w. Tm. SUBSCRIPTION RATES YEAR IN COUNTY 7.50 COUNTY 8.50 ItOMMTMUINADVMKr PublishodBy Advance Publication s Inc. 4 Elizabeth Oty. N.C. t m ACT to play role for many pupils The 197M0 aeboot year is just beginning, but juniors tad seniors at Perquimans County High and other high schools across the country are already facing some big decisions. One of these decisions is what to do alter graduation.. .whether to go on to school, to get a Jofe.w to try to do both. Parents, guidance coun selors and friends will play an important role in the student's national service called the ACT Assessment Program. Designed to provide guidance information for education and career plan ning, the widely used program is recommended for use by student applicants at more than J, 700 colleges and PBS student will have live opportunities daring the Iff* M school year to make tse of the program, which consists of tow tests and a two part Students complete the queationaire at home aa part of the registration process, and then take the battery of tests at area teat centers on any of five Weekend national teat dates, explained James S. Midgette, PHS counselor. lit five im-lMB test dates and their corresponding registration periods an: Oct 20, with a registration period from Aug.* to Sept 21; Dee. I, with a registration period from Oct I to Nov. ?; Fob.*, with a tegistratioa period tram Nov.* to Jan. 11; April 12, with registration from Fett. 4 to March 14; and Jane 14, 1HD, with registration from March 24 to May 1?. It takes students abort three hours to complete the ACT Assessment's four exams covering subject areas af BM&h, math, social studies, and the natural sciences. Ob any of these te* dates, aaost PHS students will take the test at Hsmptou Institute. Hamp ?p,Va. J I 18th century windmill m near N.C. coast . Nearly completed reproduction, ? ' /.
The Perquimans Weekly (Hertford, N.C.)
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Sept. 27, 1979, edition 1
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