THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
Volwnt V, Mo. U USPS 42HM0 Hertford, Perquimans County, N.C., Thursday, April 23, 1*1 20 CENTS
Telephone rate
hikes take effect
Carolina Telephone announced
recently that a rate Increase approved
April 3 by the North Carolina Utilities
Commission has already taken effect.
On April 3, a three member panel of the
.North Carolina Utilities Commission
issued a recommended order that
Carolina Telephone be authorized to
increase its rates by approximately $18.4
million annually. Carolina Telephone
had aaked for $25.2 million last August,
baaed on an earlier accounting period,
and said its needs had grown to $30
million by the end of 1M0.
The new rates were put into effect on
April 16 under bond in case a change in
(the order necessitated a refund to
customers. The order will become final
- on April 27.
In Hertford, a one party residential
phone will now cost H0.30 per month, up
from $8.80 (two party-$$.20, four party
$>.85). A one party business phone jumps
from $21.15 to $25.80 (two party-$23.10,
fourparty-$22.15).
Rates for other county exchanges were
fnot available as of press time.
The new rates will be reflected in the
next bill received by customers. Because
all billing dates except one do not coin
cide with the effective date of the change,
part of the bill will be at the old rate and
the part of the bill beginning April 16 will
be at the new rate.
T.P. Williamson, vice-president
administration, said, "We appreciate the
fact that the utilities commission
.recognizes our need for substantially
'more revenues. Carolina Telephone had
its local service rates increased in 1975,
after 18 years without any general in
crease. Local service rates were reduced
in 1979. Our needs have increased
because at inflation, increased expenses
and very little local service rate in
creases since 1957."
Williamson said two factors are in
fluencing the way Carolina Telephone is
adjusting its customers' rates.
"First, decisions of the Federal
Communications Commission, court
decisions and congressional interest are
bringing deregulation to the telephone
industry. The Communications Act of
1934 established telephone companies as
regulated monopolies to insure universal
telephone service at a local rate af
fordable to most Americans, with the
result that some telephone services
subsidized others. Now, modern
technology has brought competitors
demanding the right to compete in the
sale of new telephone and other com
munications equipment, provision of new
services such as data transmission, and
the offering of long distance calling.
"For that reason, we must make each
of our services self-supporting, so we
now are:
?separating the cost of the telephone
from the cost of providing calling ser
vices. Customers may lease their phones
or purchase them and avoid the monthly
telephone rental charge;
?increasing charges for service con
nections and move and change charges
so that they cover the actual costs to us;
?increasing extended area service
rates to more nearly cover the costs of
providing those special arrangements,
and;
?increasing charges for miscellaneous
equipment and services.
(Continued on page 2)
Simulated rescue
Hertford firemen Billy Nixon, Larry
Chappell and Parker Newbern rescue Sid
Eley , who affects a man overrcome by a
chemical spill in a Thursday night
training exercise at Albemarle
Chemical. The men were booing their
reactions in the event of an actual
chemical spill at the company (Photo by
MIKE MCLAUGHLIN).
'Yeopim Moon' hot off the press
"Yeopim lfoon," an oral history
project conducted by seventh graders
at Perquimans Union School, is hot off
the press.
The publication was unveiled at a
Monday night meeting of the
Perquimans County Board of
Education, and received rave reviews
from that board.
"First class!," and "Fantastic,"
were a couple of adjectives board
members used to describe the
students' effort, which involved
transcribing interviews with county
senior citizens into article form.
"You wait 'til you read it," school
superintendent Pat Harrell told the
enthused board members.
Perquimans Union gifted and
talented teacher Schariene Ringer
presented the 52-page volume to the
board.
Mrs. Ringer said it attempts to
focus in on the Perquimans County of
by-gone days through recollections of
the business community, and the
personalities of those doing the
recalling.
She continually stressed that the
publication is entirely the work of the
students, even to the point of putting
the copy on the pages for printing.
Aside from the general quality of
the work, what is most impressive
about "Yeopim Moon" is that it came
out on schedule. There was a time
when Mrs. Ringer wasn't sure that the
"Yeopim Moon" would rise at all.
About the time the students were
finishing up transcribing pages and
pages of quotes taken from the tape
recorded interviews, Mrs. Ringer was
hospitalized for surgery and absent
from the classroom for about a
month.
"I said, 'Hey, that's it," Mrs.
Ringer said. The project had to be
completed while grant monies were
available and she wasn't sure it would
make it.
But the students grabbed the
initiative while their teacher
recovered, and when her husband
handed her the completed articles she
was very impressed.
A total of 600 copies of the book were
printed, and they will be sold for $3
each.
That's a small price to pay for living
versions of history. "With a history
book sometimes you don't get the true
flavor of the times," said Mrs.
Ringer.
"Yeopim Moon" illuminates times,
places and people that might other
wise have been forgotten, and does it
with the colorful light of memories.
The book is expected to be sold at
area businesses, or may obtained by
calling Mrs. Ringer at Perquimans
Union School.
Stay off drugs, ex-addict warns
by NOIL TODD
Mclaughlin
* A 1? year-old prisoner and former drug
addict talked to a group of 6th graders at
1 Hertford Grammar School Thursday, in
'ah effort, as he put it, "to keep (them)
from making the mistake of doing
drugs."
Steve Wright, a Virginia native, is
aresently doing 1 to 4 years at the
'Chowan County Detention Center for
accessory after the fact in an armed
robbery. Wright was the get-away car
driver in the Eden ton incident involving
a- robber who has come to be known as
the Milk Shake Bandit
-After entering HoDowell-Blount Rexall
Drug Store in Broad Street in Eden too,
Wright's accomplice apparently ordered
a milkshake, then trained a gun on the
store's pharmacist and demanded he
turn over certain drugs.
Although he wasn't apprehended at the
time, Wright said he eventually turned
himself in when he learned of warrants
pending for his arrest.
Wright said he was off drugs at the
time of his surrender, after having gone
through a gruelling, six-day withdrawl.
"I quit cold turkey, and it took me almost
a week of spitting blood, being tied up
and watched constantly," he said, adding
that friends had to sleep with their arms
around him to keep him from injecting
more drugs into his system.
Before he quit, though, Wright said he
was feeding a morphine and heroin habit
which cost him some $500 a day. "I was
shooting up so many drugs that I couldn't
go outside in the day time because I
couldn't ate, the sun wu too bright," he
said, "I couldn't talk and could barely
walk because I had lost about 40 pound
s."
Wright turned to robbery to pay for his
habit. "I ended up with a gun in
somebody's face because of drugs," he
said.
Wright told the sixth graders that his
troubles began when he experimented
with marijuana when he was their age.
Pretty soon, he said, smoking pot was
"no longer enough" and he went on to
"hard drugs."
As he got older, Wright said he was
missing increasingly more days in
school. He was kicked out of a Virginia
public school in the 10th grade for
skipping 45 days in one term, and sub
sequently dismissed from two military
academys as well.
"Drugs didn't just lead me to jail, they
also led me away from my education,"
Mid Wright.
He said drugs also led him to jail.
Wright painted an ugly picture of prison
life, telling the youngsters of being
sprayed for bugs, stripped naked and
searched, and being bullied by fellow
inmates. "One prisoner a month gets
killed in state prisons," said Wright.
A pencil and some paper were all he
was given to while away the hours, said
Wright, adding, "Nobody in there cares
about you."
Wright was off of drugs when he turned
himself in, and has already served about
80 days of his sentence. Much of his
prison life has been spent developing
talks and going around to various church
and school groups warning youngsters of
drug abuse.
He credits his wife of 4 months as
playing a major role in his decision to
give uo drugs.
Following Wright's presentation, the
floor was opened up for questions. One
student asked Wright what she should do
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PCHS athletic
additions likely
Funds from this year's school budget
may be used for the construction of a
public restroom facility at the
Perquimans High School athletic com
plex. as well as an addition to the gym of
a weightroom for high school athletes.
Board of education members agreed to
look at cost and various means of con
tracting the projects after school
superintendent Pat Harrell told them
that there are funds left over in the
capital outlay portion of the budget.
A total of |2S,000 had originally been
budgeted for the restroom complex,
which was later to have been expanded to
include a fieldhouse.
But bids far exceeded the amount
budgeted, and the restroom project was
put on the back burner until now.
Board member Lloyd "Flutch" Dail
volunteered to supervise the restroom
project free of charge so that it can be
subcontracted at what the board hopes
will be a smaller price tag.
Schools superintendent Pat Harrell
will check on the legalities of having a
board of education member supervise a
school construction project.
The weight room would be added to the
back of the gym, and Harrell estimated
its cost at from $7,000 to $8,000.
The board also began the process of
preparing a local schools budget to
present to the county commissioners.
Harrell, with the help of school prin
cipals, had prepared a working budget
document that showed about a 13 percent
increase in the current expense side of
the schools budget with no new additions
to the budget.
The present year's current expense
budget from local funds totals $785,212,
and with no cutback in services, that
figure jumps to $888,451.
Harrell also included a few items in an
expansionary side of the budget for the
consideration of the board, totalling
some $17,000.
A tentative capital outlay budget that
incorporates a wide range of needs was
also examined. "We listed everything
realizing that some things would have to
be cut out," said Harrell.
The total figure was $280,600, com
pared to the present year's $154,400
capital outlay budget.
Capital improvement needs of $192,100
were outlined (present year's figure
$114,000), equipment needs of $66,500
were listed (versus $40,000 in the present
budget), and a new activity bus was
included at a cost of $22,000.
Board member Cliff Towe lamented
that there never seems to be enough
money to meet the capital improvement
needs of the schools.
"Each year we cut out stuff that should
have been done two years ago," he said.
"We really need to see to it that the
schools are more presentable than they
are now."
Dail underscored the need for a
stronger maintenance effort, and par
ticularly an accelerated painting
program ($9,000 is included in the ten
tative budget for the hiring of a new
painter).
He also said the maintenance and
janitorial staffs need careful supervision
to prevent loafing.
The board must by law have a budget
document prepared and ready to present
to the county commisssioners before
May 15.
In another matter, the board received
good news on Perquimans High School
math students. The students won overall
competition with high schools from
across northeastern North Carolina in a
recent contest at Elizabeth City State
University.
PHS sophomore Paul Merritt finished
fourth out of 37 contestants in the
Algebra division, and senior Dennis
Godwin won a comprehensive full year
scholarship to ECSU for his honorable
mention finish in the advanced division.
The scholarship is renewable annually
if Godwin's classroom performance
stays up to par.
And finally, a welcome was extended
to board member Emmett Long, who
returned to an active role after heart
surgery.
Former drag addict Steve Wright visited
Mrs. Mead's sixth grade class at Hert
if someone threatened, "Try this or I'll
beat you up." While Wright told her she
would be better off in the long run to
"take the beating," Perquimans County
Deputy Sheriff Joe Lothian, who ac
companied Wright to the school, told the
girl to call the sheriffs department.
ford Grammar School last Thursday to
talk about drug abuse and life in prison.
"Call us whenever somebody tries to
force you to do something," said Lothian.
The presentation was sponsored by the
Perquimans County Sheriffs Depart
ment, which will appear before any
school, church, or civic organization with
a drug abuse program upon request.
Concert benefits cancer victim
Country linger and county resident
Melius Lewis and her band "Country
Magic" played a benefit concert at
Perquimans County High School Friday
tor Dwayne Parks, a 12 year-old cancer
victim who had his right arm and part of
his shoulder amputated in December.
Although the turnout at the concert
could be described as modest, Margaret
Brabble, who sponsored the event along
with husband Lee, said that many of the
H tickets had beea sold to Well-wishers
who could not attend Friday. As of press
time, Mrs. Brabble did not have a final
count of monies earned.
The benefit was staged to help defray
Dwayne's medical expenses, which often
surmount $4,000 a day. According to Ma
mother, Ms. Gail Griffin of Belvidere,
Dwayne is required to go up to the
National Institute of Health in Bethesda,
Maryland, for one week out of every
month. She said the family had no
medical insurance, relying only on
Medicaid.
Dwayne was expected to attend the
concert but an exceedingly low Mood
count prompted him to check into
Albemarle Hospital Thursday. There his
situation was deemed to be serious, and
he was rushed to King's Daughters
Children's Hospital in Norfolk, Va. His
mother said his blood count was "very
low" and be was hemorrhaging through
his now.
He was listed in "critical but stable"
condition early Friday, but hospital
spokesmen described him in "fair and
improving" condition earlier this week.
In a telephone conversation Monday.
Dwayne said that he was "feeling
alright"
"I'll get out as soon as my blood count
gets back up," said Dwayne, adding that
although he wouldn't describe his Easter
holiday ia the hospital as "nice," he said
"everything went okay."
As reported in the PERQUIMANS
WEEKLY in December, doctors
discovered a tumor on Dwayne's arm
while X-raying a bone broken throwing a
football. It was diagnosed as a rare form
o^caacer called OatMceakSarcoaa. ,
Some $4,000 was raised last week for
Dwayne's cause by WCDJ radio in
Ed en ton. Mrs. Brabble said that those
wishing to make pledges could send a
check made out to the Dwayne Parks
Fund to: Brabble's Country Store. Route
1, P.O. Box 511 Hertford.
Although the Brabbles have never met
Dwayne, they felt compelled to help him
when they heard about his illness. "Lee
and I were talking about it and saying it
could have been one of our grand
children," said Margaret.
"It could happen to anybody, and we
feel it's our obligation to try to help
people when we can," she said.
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