weekly Perspective
- '
Decade begins
on dismal note
America limped into a new decade this week and needless to
say, the 70s left some unfinished business for the 80s to deal
with.
There is inflation that raged to 13 percent this past year, an
energy crisis that offers no immediate soloution, and the
dangling fate of the American hostages in Iran.
With these kinds of problems, the poor fledgling 80s will
hardly have a chance to create any problems of their own.
We've face worse difficulties as a nation in prior years and
we've surmounted them, even profited from them in some
cases.
But this time our nation seems almost listless.
Self interest has infested us, TV has lulled us, an
overabundance of the good life has fattened us up.
We seem quite happy to allow Japan to outstrip us in
technology and flood our markets while making it nearly
impossible for us to ship our farm products into their non
agrarian nation.
On our own industrial front Chrysler workers demand a huge
pay hike while the company staggers toward bankruptcy.
They appear content to ride the third largest automaker into
the ground and seek employment elsewhere.
Interest rates designed to curb inflation may also discourage
investment and further retard our nation's economy.
Meanwhile most of us look for an easier job with less work
and more benefits.
The list of symptoms could go on and on.
Still, we are asked to approach the 1980s with hope and op
timism and for some of us, it's a difficult task.
If we are to make the 1980s a decade of positive change,
though, this is exactly what we must do.
We must create an atmosphere of exploration and en
thusiasm and a willingness to sacrifice for the future.
America, as a nation, must roll up its sleeves and get down to
the business of reasserting itself as a world leader.
Otherwise, we hate to see the kind of problems the 1990s will
inherit.
Renewal notices
Angel Godwin, an employee of the North Carolina Depart
ment of Transportation's Motor Vehicles Division in Raleigh,
prepares 1980 vehicle registration renewal notices. Sales of
1980 validation stickers and license plates began January 2.
The 1980 stickers or tags must be displayed no later than
midnight, February 15.
Marching unit
slates bottle drive
The Perquimans County
Marching Unit will conduct a
door to door bottle drive this
weekend to help finance it's
February trip to Winter
Haven, Florida to participate
in the Florida Citrus Parade.
The drive will be held from 9
a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 5 until
sometime that afternoon.
Marching Unit members will
collect returnable soft drink
bottles and sell them to the
Pepsi Cola and Coca-Cola
distributor in Elizabeth City.
Bottles may also be brought
to the Nationwide Insurance
building on Edenton Road
Street, or phone 426-5427 and
ask for Lois Jennings or any
THE PERQUIMANS
WEEKLY
COURTHOUSE SQUARE.
HERTFORD, N.C.
27944
marching unit member and
your bottles will be picked up
at your home.
Last year the unit was able
to raise approximately $450
through its bottle drive.
Mrs. Jennings said that fund
raising activities are planned
every weekend prior to the
trip, which is scheduled for the
second weekend in February.
The Citrus Parade per
formance will be the last ever
for the 17 year old Marching
Unit.
The Unit is expected to
merge this year with the new
Perquimans High School
Marching Band.
1 980 auto registration underway
RALEIGH? North Carolina
motorists should have
received their 1980 vehicle
registration renewal notices,
according to Commissioner of
Motor Vehicles Elbert L.
Peters Jr.
Sales of 1980 validation
stickers and license plates
began January 2. All
registration renewals,
stickers or tags, must be
displayed no later than
midnight February 15.
State Secretary of Tran
sportation Tom Bradshaw
pointed out that motor vehicle
fees make up about 30 persent
of the state's highway fund
revenue.
Bradshaw said the vehicle
registration fees will be the
same as 1979 with fees for
each vehicle printed on the
renewal cards. The fee for a
private passenger automobile
is $16. Of that amount, $3 is for
driver's education expenses.
Perquimans County
residents may purchase the
stickers and tags from Ms.
Nan S. Reynolds at the
Municipal Building on Grubb
Street between the hours of 9
and 5 Monday, Tuesday,
Thursday, and Friday, and
between 9 and 12' noon on
Wednesday and Saturday.
Renewal stickers may also
be obtained by mail from the
Motor Vehicles Division in
Raleigh.
Vehicle owners who have
not recieved a renewal card
by Jan. 15, 1980, or who need to
report a change of address
should notify the Vehicle
Services Section, Division of
Motor Vehicles, 1100 New
Bern Avenue, Raleigh, NC
27697 or call 919-733-3025 from
8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday
through Friday.
Peters said it will take 10
days to two weeks for owners
to receive a card after
notification to the division.
He said many cards which
cannot ,be , delivered. by the
Postal Service will be for
warded to local license plate
agencies.
Instructions on how to
purchase the stickers or tags
through the mail or in person
at local agencies are con
tained in an informational
folder which accompaies the
renewal cards. In both in
stances, Peters said, owners
should remeber to certify
their insurance coverage by
signing the card and make
necessary address corrections
on both sections of the card.
The motor vehicles com
missioner said validation
. stickers will be used to renew
the registration of the
followng types of vehicles:
private passenger cars, 4000
' pound trucks, motorcycles,
trailers, and rental or leased
cars. All other vehicles will
receive license plates.
The 1980 validation sticker
will be black and white. It
should be placed in the upper
right hand corner of the
owner's current license plate
on top of the 1979 sticker.
Area telephone firms merge
TARBORO? On Thursday,
December 27, the North
Carolina portion of Norfolk
Carolina Telephone Company
merged with Carolina
Telephone and Telegraph
Company, headquartered in
Tarboro.
Both companies are
members of the United
Telephone System whose
parent company, United
Telecommunications Inc., is
located in Kansas City, Mo.
Norfolk Carolina was merged
with United Telecom on April
26, 1978. Soon after that
Carolina Telephone assumed
management responsibilities
for the Elizabeth City-based
company.
With the acquisition of
Norfolk Carolina, Carolina
Telephone is serving an ad
ditional 32,000 customers and
50,000 telephones. Since their
merger, Carolina Telephone
operates in a total of 50
counties through 146 telephone
exchanges.
Besides serving seven
counties in northeastern North
Carolina, Norfolk Carolina
also served a small portion of
southeastern Virginia. The
Virginia properties of the
company will be sold to United
Intermountain Telephone
Company subject to approval
by the Federal Com
munications Commission.
The Norfolk Carolina ex
changes involved in the
merger with Carolina
Telephone are Buxton,
Coinjock, Edenton, Elizabeth
City, Gatesville, Hertford, Kill
Devil Hills, Mamie, Manteo,
Moyock, Piney Woods, Shiloh,
South Mills, Sunbury, Waves,
Weeksville, Welch and
Woodville.
Carolina Telephone will
continue to have an economic
impact in North Carolina.
Since the transition, the
company has some 5,600
employees. The company
expects to have a 1980 annual
payroll of $80.6 million, which
will contribute to the
economics throughout our
service area wherever our
employees reside. Plant in
vestment for 1979 was nearly
$856.4 million; that includes
investment in land, buildings,
technical and office equip
ment and furniture, cable and
poles, vehicles and other work
equipment.
Carolina Telephone, in
cluding its newly-acquired
service area, budgeted more
than $108 million for new
construction in 1980 to expand
and improve service to
telephone customers.
Both companies paid nearly
$7.3 million in county and
municipal taxes for 1979, and
more than $21.6 million in all
state and federal taxes.
Funds to aid handicapped
RALEIGH - The Office of
the North Carolina Em
ployment and Training
Council has signed a $95,710
contract with the Eastern
Carolina Vocational Center,
Inc., in Greenville, that will
Farm -Home
funds allotted
James T. Johnson, Farmers
Home Administration
(FmHA) state director, an
nounced last week the
allocation of FmHA Section ?
subsidy funds for fiscal jrear
1M0.
The allocation for 13
counties in Northeastern
North Carolina is for (4 units
with contact authority of
1248,272. The counties include:
Bertie, Beaufort, Hertford
Martin, Camden, Chowan,
Dare, Gatei, Hyde,
Pasquotank, Perquimans
Tyrrell and Washington.
Parties interested in
utilizing the Section I subsidy
in connection with FmHA
rental homing loans should
contact Kelvin Howell at the
Parti) Hone Administration
Office. ?
serve handicapped people in
Perquimans and surrounding
counties.
The contract, under the
Comprehensive Employment
and Training Act (CETA), will
run from Dec. of 1979 to
September of 1M0.
The vocational training
project will serve ap
proximately 16 persons in the
following categories: men
tally and physically han
dicapped, socially and
culturally deprived,
emotionally distrubed,
alcoholics and ex-offenders.
The 18 persons in the
program will be placed in such
areas as piano tuning, piano
refinishing and repair,
secretarial positions and other
areas in need of skilled and
Referrals for the project
wffl come through the N.C.
Division of Vocational
I
Rehabilitation, which also will
provide vocation evaluation of
cacfc person entering the
program.
But because only 16 slots are
open in a 24-county area,
Bernadine Duncan of the
Division of Community
Employment in Raleigh, said
that just how many han
dicapped Perquimans County
residents would be helped by
this program was hard to say.
"We base our selection on
need, eligibilUy, and
estimated chance of success,"
said Ms. Duncan.
Other services to be offered
participants art personal and
social adjustment elasses, job
f'- 'V. - ,
Special Sercies Grant of the
CETA program.
The Governor's Special
Grant is responsible for the
funding of projects which
provide supplemental
vocational educational
assistance, encourages
coordination and establish
ment of linkages between
CETA prime sponsors and
appropriate educational
agencies and institutions,
conducts coordination and
special services activities,
promotes the Governor's
Youth Employment and
Training Program activities,
and supports the state Em
ployment and Training
Council activities.
My turn
mike Mclaughlin
W.C. Fields once said that he never went out on New Year's
Eve because it is strictly amateur night.
Exhausted from the holiday whirl myself, and with Fields'
immortal words firmly in mind, I decided to stay home myself.
The quiet night gave me a chance to thir.k, and, of course,
the usual New Year's resoloutions came to mind.
But this time it was a little different because a new decade %
was coming into being.
When you talk about a new decade your talking about a ten
year plan. The usual self-promises to lose 10 pounds and stop
oversleeping hardly seem appropriate when facing a span of
time as long as that.
New decade plans require a little more thought.
Still, I decided to make a few, and shot for the moon with
them on the presumption that If I failed, at least I would know
my goals were well worth aiming for.
My first resoloution was to get myself organized. That might
not seem like much, but for a kid who was serious about the 279 (Qj
times he told his teacher he lost his homework, it would be a
monumental achievement.
I figure the two hours I would gain each day from not looking
for lost car keys, light bills, and the notes for some story or
another could be applied towards living up to my other, more
noble ambitions.
That leads me into my next resoloution, which is to be less
selfish.
All of us could stand a good dose of unselfishness, if it means
only reaching for a chicken wing instead of a breast. ?
Unselfishness can lead in all sorts of good directions and it V
led me right into resolving to be a better person.
I also thought about application of my God given talents and
decided I could do a little better job? resoloution number four.
All these noble ambitions are well and good but they boil
down to one four letter word, and it isn't what those of you who
know me think it's going to be.
The word is work and if I don't start now a decade won't be
long enough to get these things done.
Looking back *
JAN. 1942
By VIRGINIA WHITE TRANSEAU
DEFENSE CHAIRMAN NAMES TIRE BOARD FOR
PERQUIMANS: Charles Whedbee, chairman of Civilian
Defense Board for Perquimans County, this week named E.
Leigh Winslow, George W. Nowell and G. W. Reed as the tire
rationing board for Perquimans. Mr. Whedbee announced the^
appointment of this board following the plan of OPM t'r
carefully conserve the rubber supply now on hand in the
United States, sale of tires was banned the middle of
December and later the OPM listed doctors, visiting nurses
and those caring for public health as those able to purchase
tires.
MISS MARY LAYDEN WEDS LEE RIDDICK: The
marriage of Miss Mary Layden, daughter of Mrs. Mamie
Layden of Hertford and the late Calvin S. Layden, to Lee
Riddick, son of Mrs. Elizabeth Riddick and the late Simon
Riddick of Hobbsville, took place Wednesday afternoon, ?
December 24, 1941, at 6 o'clock, at South Mills.
MARRIAGES ANNOUNCED: Mr. and Mrs. Charles E.
Lane announced the marriages of their daughters. Miss
Audrey Lee Lane and David Leroy Nixon were united in
marriage on December 13, 1941. Miss Ethel Louise Lane and
Luther Leroy Whedbee were married on December 20, 1941.
JONES-STEPHENS: In a ceremony December 16, 1941, at
the Methodist Church of Anniston, Alabama, Miss Ona Mary
Stephens became the bride of William Thomas Jones, M
Holland, Va. The bride is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs/^
Creighton G. Stephens, of Hertford, Mr. Jones is the son of
Mrs. Brock Jones and the late Mr. Jones of Holland, Va.
NIXON- WHITE: A quiet home wedding was solemnized
Sunday morning at nine o'clock, when Miss Marian Virginia
White, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Herman E. White, became
the bride of Wilson Irvin Nixon, son of Mrs. Thomas J. Nixon,
Sr. , and the late Mr. Nixon.
CELEBRATES SILVER WEDDING ANNIVERSARY: Mr.
and Mrs. Charles Whedbee entertained at a tea on Sunday M
afternoon, the occasion being their 25th wedding anniversary.
Guests were greeted by Mr. and Mrs. Whedbee and Miss
Jocelyn Whedbee showed them to the cloak room. Mrs. R. M.
Fowler and Mrs. T. J. Nixon poured tea, and Mrs. Silas
Whedbee, Mrs. W. G. Wright, Mrs. J. S. Vick and Mrs. R. S.
Monds, Jr., assisted in serving.
Excise tax down#
Thrifty consumers have a
special reason to be cheerful
this holiday season. They
saved an estimated $429
million because the federal
excise tax on telephone bills
declines on Jan. 1, Carolina
Telephone announced last
week.
In an annual process set in
motion by Congress several
years ago, the tax has been
declining by one percent each
January. This time it drops
from 3 percent of the phone
bill to 2 percent The levy will
be eliminated on Jan. 1, 1982.
The estimated '"-fence
between what telephone
customers would have paid at
the 3 percent rate, and what
they actually will pay at the
new 2 percent level, makes up
the tax savings for consumers.
Some J69 million of the total
1429 million win be saved by
customers of the nation's 1.500
Independent telephone
the savings ? some 1360 million
? will go to Bell System
customers. The Independent
companies serve more than 33
million telephones ? on* of
every 5 in the country.
. .7-; ? ?
Congress first imposed the
excise tax during World War I
as a "temporary" measlfre. Ifa
was repealed briefly after the
war, but was reinstituted
during the Depression. It has
continued ever since with
rates as high as 15 percent ?
local calls and 25 on loflf
distance calls. i C
Clarification .
Two weeks ago, TQE^
PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
carried a letter to the editor