THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
volume 37, Ho. 44 USPS 428-060 Hertford, Perquimans County, N.C., Thursday, NOV. S, 19ii 30 CENTS
White cleared
" in arson case
A total of seven prosecution wit
nesses testified tor the State, Moaday
through Wednesday of last week, in
the case of Wayland L. (Bud) White to
no avail.
White was found not guilty Wed
v nesday afternoon of the two felonies of
burning an uninhabited building and
breaking and entering the residence
of the Rev. Carl Yow
The jury of eight men and four
women took just twelve minutes to
reach their verdict.
"I don't second guess juries, but I
was surprised by the verdict," said
Assistant District Attorney Frank
Parrish.
| White is serving a ten-year sentence
in the state penitentiary in Creswell
for larceny in Gates County. He will
be eligible for parole in November of
1982.
The trial opened Monday with the
testimony of Perquimans Deputy
Sheriff Joe Lothian. Lothian testified
that he had checked the Yow house
after answering another call and "the
house was as it should be."
Jimmy Chappell, chief of the
Belvidere-Chapel Hill Volunteer Fire
Department was the lead witness on
Tuesday morning.
Correction
In last week's story on county
Superior Court action, the paper
mistakenly identified NancyLong
as the convicted defendant in an
embesslement case involving
Nectar's restaurant.
In fact, Edith Carol Ferrell was
the defendant. Long was a witness
in the case. We regret the error.
Chappeil testified that he has
. . responded to a Are call at the
' residence of the Rev. Carl Yow
shortly after 1 a.m. on October 26 of
last year.
"When we got there, the fire was so
hot we had to attack it with a straight
stream," Chappeil testified.
He also testified that nothing was
left of the frame structure but the
front portion.
Perquimans County Sheriff, Julian
^ Broughton gave lengthy testimony on
his movements the morning of the
fire. During this time a hand-drawn
map of the Belvidere area was en
tered as State's exhibit one to
illustrate these movements.
Broughton said that after he
responded to the fire, around 1:45
a.m., he found White's car on a lane to
an abandoned sawmill about a
quarter of a mile from the Yow house.
He went on to relate finding the
defendant walking on N.C. 37 around
2:30 a.m. about a mile from the fire
scene.
"I said, 'Good morning. Bud. You
want a ride home?' He said, 'I sure
do.' He said, 'I'm cold.4' Broughton
testified.
The Sheriff said that White told him
that he'd got his car stuck and that
he'd been sleeping in the car.
Broughton concluded by saying "I
5* carried him home."
Cross-examined by defense at
torney, James D. Singletary,
Broughtoo was asked about the
visibility that night. He said that, "it
was almost as bright as it is right now
in this room" alluding to a moonlit
night.
The next witness was Carl Yow, a
retired United Methodist minister, an
Elkton. Va. resident at the time of the
fire.
Yow testified that he had met White
two years ago and took title to the
property from him on July 31, 1900. At
that time, "He told me he needed a
week" to vacate the property.
The witness said that the defendant
was still in the house on August 7 and
that he said to White, "I thought you
were gone." The next day, "He in
formed me he wasn't going to move.
On top of that he said he was going to
burn the house and all I would have
was 30 acres," Yow related.
Further testimony by Yow recalled
harrassment by White the following
month involving driving by the house
spinning his wheels, racing his motor
and watching the house.
Singletary, who asked the amount
of insurance on the house, was told
$60,000. The defense attempted to
follow up by asking if Yow had had
any houses in Virginia burned, but the
question was not allowed by Superior
Court Judge Herbert Small.
More lengthy testimony was given
by Jerry Boyce, an Elizabeth City fire
marshall and certified arson expert.
Boyce testified with the assistance
of 24 color slides of the fire scene
shown to the court.
The witness said that the warping
and discoloration of the remains of a
refrigerator and stove in the kitchen
area showed the use of a flammable
liquid.
He also pointed to deeply charred
floor joists in the kitchen area as
indicating that part of the house as the
fire's origin.
Boyce testified that evidence at the
scene ruled out the house's wiring and
furnace as possible causes of the Are.
"It was not an accidental Are. It was
set with a flammable liquid," he said.
Darrell Stalling*, 17, who lives with
his father ne*r the Yow house, placed
White in the neighborhood at about 10
p.m. on the night of the fire.
Stallings said White offerred to sell
him "pot plants" which he had hidden
at the abandoned sawmill. En route
there, "He said that he was going to
burn it," Stallings testified. Asked by
prosecutor Frank Parrish, "burn
what," Stallings responded, "The
house."
Stallings said that he was with
White when the car had been stuck
and subsequently abandoned.
(The Perquimans Weekly was
asked not to publish the name of the
next witness, a convicted felon, in the
interest of his personal safety. )
The witness testified that the
defendant told him prior to the fire
"Rev. Yow, he bought a pile of
ashes."
The witness went on to testify that
White described to him afterward, in
detail, how he had burned the bouse
using kerosene.
The defense presented no witnesses.
After summations for both sides,
the Jury went into deliberation at 3:05
on Wednesday afternoon.
ir?a
PottM Chief
? Mtf
Promotion to captain by Um
Boo!
Halloween brought out the
foblin in ? lot of people
around Hertford last week.
At right, the employees at
Peoples Bank take a break
at the Hertford Cafe. Below
right, Jeannie Umphlett
plays Raggedy Ann for the
children at the Three Bears
Day Care Center. Below
left, Doris Chappell,
Seymour Chappell and
Doris Harrell dress up to
entertain the school
children.
Hertford police arrest another for drugs
The Hertford Police Department
arrested another man Tuesday of last
week in connection with its in
vestigation of heroin distribution in
Hertford.
The latest arrest increases the
count to eight people facing various
charges of possessing and selling
heroin or cocaine.
Police arrested the others during a
early morning raid of four Hertford
residences Monday of last week. A
ninth arrest was made during the raid
for hindering an officer in the per
formance of his duty.
The latest arrest was of William
Emmett Harrell, Sr., 42, of 303 Royal
Dr., Jacksonville. He is charged with
conspiracy to sell and deliver heroin.
He faees up to 10 years in prison if
found guilty. He is being held in
Albemarle District Jail on $10,000
bond.
At the time of the arrest, Harrell
was out on bail pending trial on a
charge of possession of heroin for the
purpose of sale. The HPD arrested
him on that charge last April, and he
was scheduled to appear before the
Perquimans County Superior Court on
Tuesday of last week.
The trial date has been postponed
until the next convening of the court in
January due to the latest arrest.
The other seven arrested last week
were John Henry Askew, Fred Julian
Harvey, George Harvey, Annette
Johnson Harvey, Linda Gregory
Harvey, Mickey Louis Johnson and
Donald Vernel Broady, all of Hert
ford. They face from 20 to 45 years in
prison if found guilty
The two women were released on
(30,000 and (40,000 bond. The others
are still in Albemarle District Jail on
from $30,000 to $50,000 bond pending
trial.
Wadell Harvey had been arrested
for hindering an officer. He was
released last week on $400 bond.
The arrests followed a year-long
investigation, three months of that
using undercover agents from the
State Bureau of Investigation.
More arrests are expected in the
investigation, according to HPD Chief
Marshall Merritt.
Merritt said that police believe the
persons charged are part of the
largest heroin distribution ring in the
area, and allegedly are connected
with heroin distributors in New York.
The HPD and the SBI have been in
contact with law enforcement
authorities in New York concerning
the case.
Property recovered during the raid
at the home of Fred Harvey ? which
police believe may be stolen, and
some of which has been identified by
stores in Elizabeth City as stolen
property ? has been more accurately
estimated to be worth I7.SSO.SO, rather
than the $4,500 original estimate.
Along with the goods, $1,100 in cash
? believed to be payment for either
drugs or stolen merchandise ? was
also seized.
Police also found a small amount of
substance believed to be either heroin
or cocaine. The report on laboratory
tests of that substance hasnt come
back yet.
In other unrelated arrests, Hertford
police arrested Charlie Fleetwood
Wilson for second degree burglary
and three counts of larceny last
Friday.
Wilson, 27, of 319 Stokes Drive, was
arrested for allegedly stealing a
lawnmower and other garden
equipment from Leo Ambrose of 221
Market Street.
According to Merritt, a resident of
Dobbs Street ? who wished to remain
anonymous ? heard a "clattering
sound" and saw a man who police
believe was Wilson walking a lawn
mower down the street.
The Dobbs Street resident followed
the man in his car, and watched as he
left the mower between two houses on
King Street. The resident then called
police, who found the mower there,
and later found another mower ?
believed to be stolen ? which had
been sold to another man on King
Street.
The man who bought the mower
identified Wilson as the man he
purchased it from.
Poor prices, spotty rain spoil corn harvest
With all the results in. it looks as if
this was an off-and-on year for county
corn growers, according the county
Agricultural Extension Chairman Bill
Jester.
It was either off or on depending on
where you stood, or rather where your
corn stood. According to Jester, corn
growers north of Belvidere ex
.perienced another bad year ? the
fifth in a row for many of them .
Out in Durante Neck it was the
sam story. But for farmers west of
the Perquimans River, it couldn't
lure been better.
"Overall, It was a very good year
for eon," Mid Jester. Despite the hot,
dry weather ? which hit the area in
late June and early July, just as the
eon was pollinating ? farmers west
of the rhrer had yields weD above 100
bushels per acre, some even taking la
up to HO.
past Mt the river It was another
story. The combination of sandy soil
and spotty rainfall made the
Ckapueke >na "? disaster," said
jester, with Belvidere, Durante Neck
and Woodville right behind.
Farraeri in these areas ran about
40-50 bushels an acre, some farmers
even claiming as low as 20.
"Some areas were very good and
others were downright awful," said
Jester. As a whole, the county
averaged about 85 percent of its
normal yield, which is around 105
bushels an acre, according to Jester.
"The weather patterns were spotty
this year," said Jester. "At no time
did we have a general front come
across the area. Farmers just had to
rely on thunderstorms."
The thunderstorms hit best around
Bethel, Hertford, Bear Swamp and
Winfall, with the rest of the county ?
which needs more water anyway
because of its more porous soil' ?
coming up short.
For fanners who thought that last
year was the last bad year they could
afford, the peanut and soybean crops
, - which did well through most of the
county ? may Just poll them through.
But while some formers had rain
and others didn't, ooe thing will effect
all of them in the same way: prices.
Corn prices are down 60 cents a
bushel from last year, according to
Jester. Last year at this time, corn
sold in Norfolk for $3.46 a bushel. Now
its $2.87.
Soybeans have taken an even worse
dive, falling from $8.17 last year to
96.53 today. Peanuts have dropped
about $150 a ton from last year's
mark.
"The only thing I can say is that
farmers have to tighten their belts,"
said Jester.
Jester also advised using what
marketing tools farmers have
available to them. For instance,
farmer* who contracted their
soybeans last year are ia luck,
making close to <S per bushel more
than if they hada't contracted. Peanut
farmers who took the chance ea
contracting last year are also sitting
pretty right now.
Jester alto recommended ? if yo?
can afford a delayed payday ?
storing a portion of this year's crop
until the price la good. Crops can be
stored safely from one season to the
next, but Jester didn't recommend
holding out for two years.
Storage also can be a risk, but
Jester said, "storage can give you
some control over the market, and in
the long run it's a good management
tool."
This week
~N
Charlie Appktoo of Hert
ford commemorated mere
than just another
Halloween laat Saturday.
Weather
Cloady and warm with a
chance of rata today and
Saturday will be