. THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
Volwra37, No. 19 USPS 421-010 ^ Hertford, Perquimans County, N.C., Thursday, May 14, 1901 20 CENTS
Schools present local
* budget to commissioners
By Mm Mclaughlin
School officials presented a 1981-1982
fiscal year budget calling for an 1.17
percent increase in spending from local
tax dollars to the Perquimans County
. Board of Commissioners Monday night.
^ The budget actually calls for spending
increases o I some 13 percent, with the
remainder coming from other sources of
revenue.
"I think we've put together a good
budget, one that is not exorbitant, and
that the county can live with and we can
live with," said school board chairman
Clifford Winslow.
Following a presentation by school
Superintendent Pat Harrell, there was
little comment from the commissioners.
Noting the importance of children, board
chairman Joe Nowell promised that the
commissioners would "be very con
siderate" of the school board's request.
"We're really in a bad position," said
commissioner Lester Simpson. "The
federal government is cutting and the
state is cutting and it looks like we're
A)going to have to go up."
Harrell said there were no local
replacement dollars in the budget for
cuts made by the federal government,
which total $165,206 and include eight
jobs.
From county property tax revenue, the
schools are seeking $601,200 on the
current expense side of the budget, up
from the present year's $571,200, and
$05,400 in capital outlay expenditures, up
from the present year's $71,400.
Total allocation from tax dollars would
be UN, 100, up tram the present year's
H42.I00. The total local budget would be
$1,001,551.
Harrell has consistently labeled the
current expense side of the ledger as
"hold the line."
Energy costs will be up significantly,
with electricity increasing from $35,000
to $52,000, and fuel oil rising from $15,000
to $81,000.
Gasoline costs will also be up.
In response to a question from a
commissioner, Harrell said that salary
increases included in the budget are 10
percent for professional personnel (5
percent step increase, 5 percent salary
increase), and 5 percent for "non
certificated" personnel. Salary figures
used in the budget were based on state
recommendations.
Harrell produced figures that show the
county's support for public education has
been increasing over the past several
years in relation to that of neighboring
counties.
In comparison Chowan, Gates, and
Pasquotank Counties, Perquimans was
third in percentage of local resources
expended for current expense, last in
percentage of resources allocated for
capital outlay, and last in percentage of
local resources expended for education.
By 1979, the last year for which figures
were available, Perquimans was third in
current expense, but had climbed all the
way to first in capital outlay and local
resource* budgeted for education.
The capital outlay budget, which totals
$110,400, includes major rennovations to
buildings and facilities that require
contract, and some equipment pur
chases.
Window replacement at Perquimans
Union and Perquimans County High
School, and extensive repairs to the King
Street building at the high school are
some of the major items included in the
budget.
It also includes a 122,000 allocation for
a new bus, and (8,500 for bleachers for
the high school football field.
In a budget-related matter, Lloyd
"Flutch" Dail sought a raise in per
meeting pay for school board members.
"I think my time at night is just as
valuable as yours," said Dail. "I don't
think I'm begging for any of these board
members for any more money, but it's
just a matter of being treated fairly."
The board of education meets twice a
month with an occassional special
meeting, just as the commissioners do.
Board of education members receive (25
per meeting, whereas the commissioners
receive $30.
No action was taken on Dail's proposal.
The commissioners had begun the
meeting with a public hearing on how to
dispose of |1>3,600 in revenue sharing
funds, but no citisens were in attendance.
The only request for revenue sharing
funds came from the board of education.
*W inf all water may cost more
Water rates in Winfall will more than
likely increase with the next fiscal year,
beginning July 1.
In a budget discussion at their regular
monthly meeting Monday, Winfall
councilmen agreed that Water rates
needed to increase. "Salt and chlorine
%>and labor is up so high, we're going to
have to go up," said Winfall Mayor Lloyd
Ray Morgan, who suggested initiating an
increase in July, and another one in six
months.
The council moved to discuss the
measure further at a specially called
meeting next Monday at 7 p.m. at the
town water department At that time, the
council will hear from representatives of
Compass Corporation, a cable television
franchise seeking contract approval
from tfie Town of Winfall. Town attorney
Walter Edwards, Jr., is also expected to
appear before the council next Monday
night with a draft of revised city or
dinances.
In other business, the council agreed to
purchase a door for $123 and brick the
end of the meeting room for a price of
$123. At present, there is a garage-type
door at one end of the room .
The council also agreed to mow vacant
lots in the town at a cost of $20 per hour,
with a HO minimum charge.
It was announced that the town was
now in business to sell raw water to area
fanners in bulk quantities at a price of $1
per 1,000 gallons. Morgan asked that
those intending to buy water first call the
water department to make sure someone
was there to operate the pumps.
Rain !
Mrs. Hannah Holmes, of Hertford, was
one of the few who ventured out during
one of Monday's several showers. Rain
fell on and off throughout the day, much
to the relief of fanners and garden en
thusiasts.
The Civil War as seen by a Confederate private
A handful of Perquimans County
residents got caught in a time warp
Friday morning and wound up talking
with a private fighting in the Civil War.
Some of what he said was a little bit
surprising, out of step with the popular
notions of the war that have marched
down through the ages.
What actually transpired was a first
^person account of of a Civil War private
^M9 portrayed by Mike Johnson, living
history consultant for the state of North
Carolina and director of the Edenton
Recreation Department.
Speaking in a southern drawl that may
not have been affected, Johnson began
his presentation at the Perquimans
County Senior Center with a foot soldier's
reflections on bo* the war effort was
going in 1M4.
He depicted a private in Company M,
(pfcnown as the Chowan Dixie Rebels and
tomposed mostly of Chowan and
Perquimans County residents.
The volunteer was tickled about the
y * ? > ?** 'i $?
rammer C.S.S. Albemarle's role in
recapturing Plymouth, and marveled at
the little Yankee "Cheesebox" the
Monitor and its efforts against the ?
Confederate ironclad Merrimac.
Johnson didn't wear a stitch of gray,
and said that his garb was authentic.
"War is not as glorious and glamorous as
it starts off to be." he said. Parading off
to war to the accompaniment of big
bands, some soldiers carried as much u
175 pounds of equipment on their backs.
Folding chairs and camp lights were
among the items they toted with them
when Utey set out to serve the cause.
But soon they boned their personal
effects down to the essentials of
fighting... and surviving, Johnson said.
Manufactured supplies dwindled early in
the war effort, and fancy uniform trills
were among the first to go.
Everything became functional and
much was homemade, Johnson said.
For instance, Johnson wore no tiny
little Confederate cap. Soldiers found the
caps virtually useless because they
wouldn't keep the rain from running
down a solidier's back, he said.
The rimmed brown hat Johnson wore
was called a slouch hat, and looked a
little more on the western side. It could
be used for watering a horse, drinking, or
even as a pillow.
His homespun wool jacket was so
prevalent among Confederate soldiers
that it earned them the title, "But
ternuts," because of its color, Johnson
said.
Wives and mothers made the jackets
and dyed them in walnut hulls, and
though it was unintended, the color of the
jackets provided good camouflage.
Johnson recalled reading in one Union
soldier's diary, "Them Rebs ain't
playing fair. They get in the woods and
start shooting at us and we can't see
who's killing us."
Johnson had his powder blue pants
tucked in his wool socks for a very
practical reason, to keep the red bugs
out. His black brogans had horseshoes on
the heels to keep them from wearing out
with the incessant walking.
Soldiers did carry Bibles in their
breast pockets and there is indeed a
Bible in the Gettysburg Museum that has
a bullet imbedded in it, but the books
weren't carried as chest protectors. The
soldiers read them. There were mass
revivals, and the soldier was probably
more religious than the average person,
Johnson said. "After he'd been in battle
if he didn't already have religon he'd get
it pretty quick," he said.
A small white haversack held the
soldier's more personal items. It in
cluded a deck of cards with no numbers
on it, because many Confederate soldiers
weren't educated enough to know Arabic
numbers. They recognized the cards by
their symbols.
The sack also contained a reproduction
of a Civil War newspaper. "A lot of the
Confederate soldiers could not read,"
Johnson said. "I'm fortunate. I
graduated clean through the third grade
so I could make a lot of that out. "
A wallet containing 12 Confederate
dollars was part of the haversack's
stash, pay for an entire month's work.
The haversack would also carry the
soldier's daily ration, which Johnson said
consisted of four hard-tack biscuits and a
little salt pork. The Confederate troops
did not eat nearly so well as the Union
soldiers and were often hungry.
Foraging was less an option for them
because most of the fighting was done on
their home soil, Johnson said.
His rifled musket was a "deadly
weapon," accurate from 600 yards, but it
had its drawbacks. The rifle required
nine motions of the hand to load and
prime, he said, and the soldier had to
stand upright while preparing his gun to
shoot.
"The manual said a good soldier could
get off three shots a minute," Johnson
said.
But that was under ideal conditions, he
said, and the soldier loading hie gun
made an excellent target. Some comfort
could be taken, though, in the fact that,
"both sides were at an equal disad
vantage."
Johnson described camp sanitation as
"disgraceful," saying that an en
campment of 40 to SO thousand soldiers
would foul one area, then move on to
another.
The lack of sanitation was evidenced
by the fact that more soldiers died of
disease than of wounds, he said
A member of the First North Carolina
Volunteers, Johnson said his interest in
the Civil War was planted by a great
great-grandfather who watched from a
Union prison on the Rip Raps as the
Monitor and the Merrimac battled.
Stories were handed down and a passion
for Civil War history developed.
The Volunteers will garrison at Fort
Macon near Atlantic Beach June S and 6
in a living demonstration of how the
soldiers lived.
Firemen get a lesson in safe driving
Some K parson touted oo ? fish fry
by county firemen la a qu?r
terly meeting of the Alboaaarle
Firemen'i Aasociatioo held last Tuesday
night at the Hertford ftre station.
Sergeant Glen Swanaoo of the North
Carolina Highway Patrol waa the
featured speaker for the evening.
Swanaoo spoln on Tartan laws relating
to emergency vehicle operation, as well
as oo the aaft operation of a firetruck in
an ? argoocy sttoatloo. .
The patrolman warned officers that
even though they were legally allowed to
disregard traffic laws when responding
to an emergency situation, they could not
do so in careless and reckless fashion. He
said the driver should see that no cars
are coming before running through a red
light or disregarding a stop sign. *
"Don't go through a red light unless
you see you can make it," said Swanson.
In another legal matter, Swanson said
that North Carolina's "Good Samaritan'
law," which protects those who help
accident victims or others in emergency
situations, does not apply to volunteer or
professional firemen.
He said the N.C. Attorney General's
office has ruled that because the
volunteer or professional has asked to be
? in the position he is in and has received
training, he is excluded from protection
by the law.
Swanson also said that the fire
department chief and an assistant chief
could have sirens on their personal cars,
and that these cars become emergency
vehicles when lights and sirens are in
use.
(Continued on page 2)
Lots for sale in redevelopment area
The Town of Hertford it proaeotiy
the Mle of Iota within the
MM S loll in pranltF
the sate of two rtuM|M
I Of A
The Brad iraofUoo. ?
9MM>
KlS
Elizabeth City, has
m Jots aid intends
.j' ' :
to build a 10-unlt apartment complex.
Hertford Mayor and Manager Bill Cox
said the lira hat built units in KUsabeth
City oat of natural wood, and that not
will more than likely bo ? btidiiod or
|a lajMkfHA |a|>a|
iQjuiiN w income wvei.
The rodarslopmsnt ana is aoaod
recideatiaM, which requires each lot to
be at least C.M square (bet, and allows
ankipte aad sis^le family dwellings, as
MilMtoohiehooaea.
Road layout and site improvement
have yet to be completed, according to
Cox, who said that itreet layout and site
preparation (drainage, and water and
aewer lines) would be completed w|th
proceeds from lot sales.
One remaining structure, located on
Brace Street, has yet to be demolished.
Initiated some three years ago, the
aornt NM.m redevelopment project
was funded under the CommvJty Block
Grant program of the federal Depart
ment of Housing and Urban Develop
ment.
The area involves the south side o i
Gum Street, properties facing Covent
Gardens, and an of Brace Street.
Although the town had hoped to extend
rehabilitation within the King Street
area, funding was refused because
present efforts were incomplete. The
town plans to re-apply far grant monies
next year.
I ?
C This week ^
Elmer and Ibbie Lamb were married
<5 years ago and they're still going
strong ? see page J.
Hie Perquimans County High School
track team got behind in the field
events, but came back to run away
with the Albemarle >-A conference
meet last Wednesday, and they did it
with only IS team members - see
Paget.
Resource Conservation and
Development helps counties like ours
to help themselves? see page 1
Weather word
Chanee of showers Ito-aday, ending
late Friday, than fair weather
Saturday. Highs in the lowfls, lews in
the son.