Audit shows
, County is on sound
financial footing
A recently released audit
shows Perquimans County
government to have com
pleted the fiscal year ending
A rune 30 in sound financial
shape.
According to the audit, the
county spent $105,765.15 less
than a general fund budget of
some $800,000. In addition, the
county received some $50,000
more than had been budgeted
in general fund revenue for
the fiscal year.
f The unanticipated revenue
"^iiae largely from ad
valorem taxes ($25,705.47
more in collections than had
been budgeted) and interest
on investments ($15,456.08
more than had been
budgeted).
"It showed we're in very
?ood financial condition," said
county finance officer Dur
wood Reid of the report.
The audit was completed by
R.E. Aiken, Jr., a certified
public accountant from
Elizabeth City.
As is customary in auditing
procedure, Aiken provided
some criticism of the county's
financial affairs in a cover
letter accompanying the audit
report.
In that letter, Aiken cited a
lack of internal controls in the
county tax office and water
department.
"This office is where the
majority of cash collections of
the county are received,"
Aiken wrote.
The county commissioners
discussed the problem at a
recent meeting and deter
mined that instilling more
internal controls would
require the hiring of ad
ditional personnel at
prohibitive cost.
They also stressed that
there is no reason to suspect
that the lack of internal
controls has been abused by
county employees.
In his letter, Aiken stated
that internal controls are
always a problem in small
counties.
Aiken also wrote of a
problem in dispensing of anti
recession funds by the county.
"Anti-Recession funds must
be spent or obligated within
six months," Aiken wrote.
"There was $23,842.99
available for appropriation at
July 1, 1978. The county was
not in compliance. During the
fiscal year ended June 30,
1979, all anti-recession funds
had been spent," he wrote.
Fire kills elderly woman
f An elderly woman was
killed and two others injured
when fire destroyed a two
story home in the Yeopim
Community on Wednesday
morning, Dec. 26.
Annie Skinner Bonner died
in the blaze, which erupted
when a faulty oil heater ex
Dloded in the downstairs
Juration of the Frank White
residence.
V
Her daughter and White's
wife Fannie White was
hospitalized with severe
burns, and her grandson,
Warner Bonner, was treated
at Chowan Hospital for slight
burns and shock.
The Bethel Volunteer Fire
Department was the first to
respond to the blaze, and fire
chief Donald Hobbs said the
wooden structure was flat
tened when the department
arrived on the scene.
The fire actually occurred in
Chowan County, though, and
Chowan County firefighters
arrived on the scene a short
time later.
White told authorities that
after the heater exploded,
those persons in the upstairs
portion of the house had no
time to flee before the
structure was totally engulfed
in flames.
He said he yelled to those
upstairs to jump, and rushed
off to get help.
Bonner knocked out a
window and jumped and was
followed a short while later by
Mrs. White.
The family had reportedly
already constructed a new
brick home and was preparing
to move into it.
T own hires new police officer
The Hertford Police
Department has announced
the addition of Eugene
- I| ' m II II I'll >?11
McLawhorn, 32, as a new
patrolman for the town force.
McLawhorn was born in
Eugene McLawhorn
Ayden, N.C. but has lived
most of his life in Elizabeth
City, where he attended Basic
Training School at the Police
Academy.
A former dispatcher with
the Elizabeth City Police
Department, McLawhorn has
also served as the police chief
in Gatesville, N.C.
"Actually, I was the entire
department in Gatesville,"
said McLawhorn, who left the
part-time post in search of a
full-time position.
An ordained minister with
the Holiness Assembly of God,
McLawhorn is a former pastor
and founder of the Roduco
Assembley of God Church in
Gates County.
He is married to the former
Deborah Ann Marriner of
Elizabeth City and they have
two children: Ronnie Eugene,
12, and Lora Lee, 8.
Although presently living in
Elizabeth City, McLawhorn
said that he and his family
would relocate in Hertford
after his wife, who is ex
pecting, has the child.
.. McLawhorn fills the
vacancy created by the
resignation last August of
Gene Mitchell who joined the
Army.
Holiday break-in
Thieves helped themselves
to a late Christmas treat as
they broke into the Super
Dollar Store in Hertford early
on the morning of December
26.
Hertford Police Officer
Robert Morris said that some
person or persons broke out a
front door of the store and
removed radios and a tape
player valued at some $170.
Store manager Reuben
Knoph discovered the theft
that same morning and
contacted authorities.
An investigation of the in
cident is continuing.
Bare tree reflections
Bare trees cast an eerie reflection on the backwaters of the
Perquimans River. Their leafless branches are a sure in
dication that old man winter is upon us. (Photo bv NOEL
TODD-MCLAUGHLIN)
It's taxpaying time again
Perquimans County
residents must pay their 1979
property taxes before Jan. 8 or
face a 2 percent percent of the
tax bill penalty, according to
tax supervisor Keith Haskett.
Haskett said that payment
must be received in the tax
office on Monday, Jan, 7, to
avoid the penalty. After the
month of January, the tax
payer will be charged an
additional .75 percent penalty
for each month he is
delinquent.
Last year the tax office had
collected some 97 percent of
its levy by the end of June and
payments have continued to
trickle in since then, Haskett
said.
The total valuation of
taxable property in ]
Perquimans County in 1979
was $1,173,506, he said, adding j
that new construction and the
subdivision of property adds
some 8 percent to the million
dollar plus county tax base
each year.
January is also the month
for listing property for 1980
tax bills and the process has
already started in the four
townships of Perquimans
County.
Mrs. Paul Byrum is the list
taker in the Belvidere
Township, and is taking lists
at the Belvidere Community
Building.
The Bethel Township list
taker is Mrs. Charles Ward,
and she is working out of C.R.
Ward's Store.
In the Hertford Township,
Ora Winslow is taking lists in
the Perquimans County
Courthouse, and in the Park
"vflle Township lists are being
taken by Mrs. Anna Newton at
the Winfall Community
Building,
Taxpayers who do not list
during the month of January
will be charged a 10 percent
penalty. (Consult the tax
supervisor's ad in today's
WEEKLY for more detailed
information on tax listing. )
Clifforc^tphislow
Christian beliefs lead to service
' By mike Mclaughlin
. Except for the two years he
spent in the army beginning in
1954, Clifford Winslow has
lived hit entire life in
[to
lud his
Mm Belvidere
to the head of
> class for the entire state. -
eady chairman and IS
ir member of the
Cocnty Board of
Indication, Wlnilov was
recently elected chairman of
the itate school board
a position which
wtoids a great deal of in
fluence in setting state schools
poucy.
Wlntlow Is alto the
(rftbe
for any man, particularly for a
man who has himself had no
formal education beyond the
high school level.
Otherwise, his life has
followed a fairly average
pattern.
As is the case with many
young people, Winslow wanted
to get out of high school and go
to work, and, predictably
enough, not long after
graduation, Winslow and
Marie Rountree decided to
marry. Ia subsequent years
they were to raise three
children together.
That wasn't in the im
mediate future, though, as
tbey got back from their
honeymoon to AMI Winslow's
draft notice waiting in the
mailbox.
He took the oae year far
taking up arms against one's
fellow man.
Then, as now, he was
committed to his faith.
Winslow was among those
who opted for alternate ser
vice. "We were willing to give
our lives rather than take
another's if necessary, "
Winslow said.
He went through basic
training just like any other
soldier, except that he never
shouldered a rifle.
The refusal to bear arms
earned him some heckling and
some dirty details from
sergeants, but Winslow stuck
by his resohre and spent Us
military hitch as a dental lab
technician.
R^Hgtan twxW Mm dlWwwil
then, and has continued to
in which we c?n be of in
fluence to others," Winslow
Mkl.
In effect, Winslow has
turned over the reigns to
Christ, and his faith has led
him into so much volunteer
work that one wonders how he
finds time to keep the 450 acre
farm cultivated.
Citing the number of far
ming hunters in Perquimans
County, Winslow insisted
there is enough time to get
everything done.
"You put your priorities
where you want to." he said.
"You can always find time to
do what you want to do. "
In observing Winslow's
presiding over the county
school board one can easily
see why other organisations
hive turned to him for
leadership.
Rather than rush through
the agenda in rapid-fire
fashion, Winslow makes sure
the board takes time to
When sometimes heated
issues confront the board,
Winslow isn't afriad to let the
two opposing sides gather at a
board meeting and iron out
their differences.
His is the moderate, calm
voice that doesn't let emotions
get out of hand and from a sea
of confusion, he often pulls out
a soloution that is equitable to
both sides.
The toughest issue Winslow
has faced as a school board
member was integration. But
despite the difficulty, W^islow
said it was the most wor
thwhile step the school system
hat taken.
"We're better than 50
percent black in this county
and we've got to learn to live
and work together," Winslow
Mid.
By working together we can
improve our economic
standards and become better
citizens, he said
Presently, the most
pressing need of the county
school system is further ex
pansion of Perquimans High
School.
"It's terribly over
crowded," Winslow said. He is
on a school facilities needs
commission which will at
tempt to place a $600 million
state bond referendum on the
1980 ballot.
If the bond referendum were
approved, Perquimans
County would receive $1
million, he said, a sum that
would go a long way towards
relieving the situation at the
high school.
But all things considered,
Winslow feels the county
school system is better than
ever.
"There is no doubt in my
mind we're offering better
educational opportunity in this
county, for everybody, than
we ever have before," Win
slow said.
If his statement is true,
Clifford Winslow can take
much of the credit.
Winning by giving
Clifford Winslow has dedicated himself to his religion and to
community service. The result has been that his leadership
qualities are in demand on the state level.