Volume 36, No. II
Hertford, Perquimans County, N.C., Thursday, May 1, 1980
USPS 426-080
WEEKLY
20CENTS
Waterfront park , site B
This tranquil scene will soon
be the sight of a welcome
disturbance, as construction
begins on Hertford's $200,000
waterfront park. Site B,
located behind the Municipal
Building, will include boat
ramps to accomodate four
trailers, three treated timber
piers, and a parking lot area to
accommodate 12 vehicles and
trailers.
Newbold - White
,No charge for underground
The Hertford Town Council
has resolved to supply an
underground transformer to
the Newbold-White House at a
charge not to exceed their
present cost of supplying the
historic site with overhead
? power.
At the council's last regular
meeting, William Nixon,
representing the Perquimans
County Restoration
Association, had requested
that the town either release
the Newbold-White House
from its electrical system, or
run an underground line to the
site at a cost not to exceed that
of Albemarle Electric
Membership's price quotation
for the same service.
EMC had quoted the
association a sum of $255.43
for providing underground
power to the historical site, an
amount based on the dif
ference between overhead and
underground current and not
inclusive of labor and
material costs for providing
the service.
Although Hertford Mayor
and City Manager Bill Cox had
originally estimated the cost
of running underground power
to the site as."some $6,000," he
said the actual assessment
would be "considerably less."
Cox could not give any
approximation of just how
much under $6,000 the service
would be, but he did say that
materials would probably run
around $2,800, and that labor
cost would be "in house."
The cost of running un
derground lines to the site
would come within the elec
trical budget, according to
Cox. "We will consider the
service as a normal im
provement," he said.
Nixon had also pointed out
at the council meeting that the
Newbold-White House, located
about 1 W miles from town,
was not receiving the town
services, made possible
through utility profits, ren
dered town residents.
And although the council
told Nixon they "would look
into the possibility," their
ultimate decision was that it
was not possible to extend
town services to the site.
"We cannot extend our
services outside the corporate
limits," said Cox.
< Volunteer Day Saturday
Plans are being finalized for
Perquimans County's third
annual Volunteer Day, set
Saturday, May 3, at the
courthouse in Hertford.
Festivities, scheduled from
2 to4 p.m., will begin with a
, few words about the im
portance of volunteers from
Sister Gloria" Gillman, a
member of the Daughters of
Charity.
Representatives of the
Perquimans County Heart
Association and the Cancer
Society will speak briefly
about their recent funding
efforts, and demonstrations
from county volunteer fire
departments and the
Perquimans County Rescue
Squad will also be featured.
Area civic organizations are
expected to be on hand to
answer questions about their
organisations and offer in
formation about their roles as
volunteers in the community.
The Perquimans County
Lion's Gub will host the
Schools 4. -f
Budget work begins
The board also examined
Salaries, instructional
materials seeded for the
coming year, fuel and tran
sportation costs, and the
continuation of energy con
servation measures.
? -<}'?
? Although Harrdl would not
release any estimation of the
total budget amount for the
coming year because no
decisions bad been made, be
said that the board would
present a final budget draft at
the Pequimans County Board
of Commissioners meeting
slated for May 5.
-
/
tually
JS?
????
: In an article oil candidates
far the Perquimans County;*
Board of Education, we
reported remarks by Park
ville candidate Cliff Towe out
of context, obtcvring the
; ning of one particular
Wo reported Town as
me to succeed when I vu in
high school"
. He actually stated, "The
student who leaves our
community and looks back on
hit years in the Perquimans
County School System and
says 'Surely I would Ml be a
today if it wasn't for
while I was in
In answer to statewide
decreases in teacher
allocations, the Perquimans
County School Board will
attempt to retain existing
programs through the local
budget.
The board met last Thur
sday night to begin the process
of establishing the 1980-81
school budget, and although
no action was taken, every
item to be included in the
budget was examined. >
Schools superintendent Pal
Harrell said that amoung
capital outlay projects under
consideration are the
upgrading of acieaci
facilities, tbe construction of i
field knit
'Ml Ol
?a al
Mobile Eye Care Unit. All
participating clubs should be
at the courthouse at 1:30 with
their tables and displays.
Entertainment will be
provided by the Perquimans
County High School Band and
Miss and Mr. Perquimans
County, LuAnn Chappell and
Jay Meads, and Little Misi
and Mr. Sweetheart, Susan
Lavetzo, and Benjamin
Waters, will also perform.
W.M. Morgan
closing doors
An old established Hertford
business will be shutting its
doors to the public in the near
future.
W.M. Morgan Furniture
Company, established in 1914,
i is currently in the process of
closing out its stock
Co-owner Jay W. Dillon said
the firm is going out of
i business because both he and
fellow owner Helen Morgan
: reached retirement age
; several years ago.
The large main street
i ' building will be put on the
; market for sale, and Dflloc
i has hopes that it will find a
f "I hope some interested
- -- - - _ _ J
[ party would renovate anc
, open up some type <X
business " he Slid
Park project
getting started
Long-awaited construction
will begin soon on a portion of
Hertford's waterfront park, a
project conceived in February
of 1977 and tangled by red tape
for some three years.
The Hertford Town Council
authorized T.D. Eure Con
struction Company to begin
work on Site B of the park on
Monday. Site B will consist of
boat ramps, docking facilities,
and a parking area to be
located where the town boat
ramp is presently.
According to Harry Gibson,
a soil conservation engineer
from Edenton, existing
wooden piers and the wooden
boat ramp will be replaced
with two, double concrete
ramps (with a total capacity
of four trailors) and three
piers made of treated timber
which will measure four feet
and eight inches wide each.
( Continued on page 2)
Land use problem
won't cost county
Perquimans County ap
parently will not be penalized
for failing to meet a federally
set deadline for completing its
land use plan.
The county initially faced a
charge of nearly $8,000 when
the Coastal Area Management
Commission recently deemed
progress on the plan as
"severely off schedule." But
steps have been taken to
salvage what has been done on
the land use plan and to secure
another consulting firm to
complete the draft.
Required by the Coastal
Area Management Act, the
plan is designed to identify
problems and issues that
could confront the county in
the next five years, and to
project an overall view of
desired land use in 1985.
Members of the CRC met
last week with Robert
Whitley, director of the
Albemarle Regional Planning
and Development Com
mission, the agency con
tracted to devise the land use
plan, in an effort to ascertain
what steps should be taken to
produce a quality plan for
Perquimans County.
According to Whitley, the
CRC recommended the ter
mination of ARPDC's contract
in order to seek another
planner. "We cannot complete
a quality plan in the length of
time we have," said Whitley.
The draft plan would have
been due June 30, and
scheduled for the CRC's final
approval on August 30.
Whitley added that ARPD
C's community planner Dan
Tew, initially in charge of the
land use plan, would work
closely with whomever the
CRC commissioned to com
plete the work. "But we will
not be the lead planners," said
Whitley.
Because trouble on the land
use plan was detected early,
additional funds needed to
complete work can be ob
tained from the CRC. "The
county is not responsible in
this instance because it will
begin a new contract with
another planner," said Bill
Gardener, chairman of the
Coastal Advisery Council.
Gardener added that the CRC
would absorb the cost on a 90
10 basis. "The CRC will take
care of 90 percent of the cost
and 10 percent will be local or
in-kind," he said.
Gardener said he felt that
problems which arose on the
plan's completion were due to
personnel changes within the
ARPDC. "Right after they
(ARPDC) contracted to do the
plan, their head planner left,"
said Gardener referring to
Larry Chilton's resignation
from the commission early
last fall. "Dan Tew just was
not experienced enough to do
all that work," he added.
Tew had not only un
dertaken Perquimans
County's land use plan, but
Chowan's and Gates' as well.
"It is humanly impossible to
do all three in the time
allotted," said Gardener, "but
the work Dan did get done was
excellent."
T. Erie Haste, Perquimans
County's representative on the
CRC was in accordance. "Dan
has done a lot of work on the
plan," said Haste who added
that Tew "just did not have
enough time or experience to
produce a quality plan "
The completion of
Perquimans County's land use
plan now pends on the CRC's
hiring of another planner.
"Work will get underway as
soon as another consulting
firm is located and accepted
by the commission," said
Haste, who added that the
deadline would now be June
30, 1981 for the draft plan, and
August 30, 1981 for the CRC's
approval.
It s time to vote 1 uesdav
The polls will open at 6:30
a.m. on Tuesday for the 1980
primary elections.
Local state, and national
candidates will be endorsed at
seven polling places scattered
across Perquimans County.
These will be: the Bethel
Community Building; the
Nicanor Community Building;
the Belvidere Community
Building; the Parkville
Community Building in
Winf all ; the New Hope
Community Building, the
Perquimans County Cour
thouse; and Hertford
Grammar School.
County elections board
chairman William Tilley said
that voter turnout would be
largely dependent on the
weather. .
"If the weather's pretty and
the farmer's got work to do he
won't vote,' said Tilley. A
rainy day, though, could mean
a large turnout, he said.
Incumbent Register of
Deeds Jeanne C. White's
name will not appear on the
ballot because she has no
primary opposition, Tilley
said. Her name will, however,
appear on the ballot in
November.
Emmett Long, Bethel
Township school board can
didate, has also drawn no
opposition, but his name will
appear on the ballot as the
non-partisan school board
race will be decided by
primary balloting.
Voting will be by paper
ballot and the polls will close
at7:30p.m.
Spin your Partner
Snug Harbor's Harbor Lite*
Square Dance team swung
their way into the Perquimans
County High School last
Friday afternoon as part of
the North Carolina Heritage
Week celebration. The Harbor
Lites will also perform at the
courthouse this Saturday to
provide entertainment for
Perquimans County's
Volunteer Day. See the article
on this page for further in
formation on Volunteer Day,
and the story on page 12 for
more on Heritage
Week. (Photo by PAT MAN
SFIELD)