A.A.R.P. meeting set Court news EMC manager honored
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see pg. 7 see pg. 11 see pg. 3
THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
Volume si, No. 12 USPS 428-00 Hertford, Perquimans County, N.C. Thursday, March 24, )?M 30 CENTS
Council
endorses
"Meals on
Wheels"
program
The Winfall Town Council came out
in support of having a meals on
wheels program established for the
Winfall area last week.
Mrs. Moore and Mr. Riddick of the
Albemarle Commission, along with
Executive Director Don Flowers,
came before the Winfall Town Coun
cil last Monday and outlined the pro
gram and highlighted some of its
benefits for both people receiving the
meals, and meals on wheels volun
teers.
The meals on wheels program is a
state and federal program, which
provides elderly and homebound citi
zens with a hot nutritious meal five
days a week. The program comes un
der strict guidelines, but can often
make a difference in the quality of
life for many people.
According to Moore and Riddick,
the current budget for the meals on
wheels program will not allow estab
lishment of the program in Winfall
this year, but they expect funding
will be available for the next fiscal
year. According to Riddick, who
heads up the program for the ten
county Albemarle area, funds are
currently being sought from many
sources, but he hopes to have additio
nal monies for expansion of the
homebound meals program for next
year.
Moore and Riddick both stated that
they came before the council to seek
support, so that if funding is in fact
available for expansion of the pro
gram as they expect, everything will
be in place to get started delivering
meals in Winfall.
Mrs. Moore stated that they know a
need is present in Winfall for the pro
gram, because they have had calls
about it, but stated that many things
must be in place before the program
could begin.
In addition to additional funding,
Moore and Riddick also stated that it
must be determined that Winfall
Would have a group of volunteers es
tablished to deliver the meals to
homebound residents. Moore stated
that often the lack of volunteers will
ing to deliver meals in a certain area
can pose many problems getting a
program underway.
Following Mrs. Moore's and Mr.
Riddick's presentation, the council
restated their support for this pro
gram and urged the commission to
?M meal* continued on pg. 8
Leadership
seminar
scheduled
"Creating A Successful Image" is
the theme for Perquimans County's
second Leadership Development
Seminar for Rural Minority Women.
This seminar will be held at the Per
quimans County High School on Sat
urday, April 16,1968, from 9:15 a.m.
to 3:00 p.m. Dr. Brenda Allen, who
heads the N. C. Agricultural Exten
sion Services' Leadership Devel
opment Program for Rural Minority
Women, will conduct the first ses
sion, "Creating A Successful Image
Through Positive Self-Esteem."Dr.
Allen comes with a wealth of knowl
edge on self-image as a result of her
experiences with the National 4-H
Foundation in Washington, D. C., as
a 4-H Extension Agent in New York
and as a teacher in the Seminary Ex
tension Program at Shaw University.
Paige Underwood will present the
second session "Dressing For Suc
cess-Your nothing Image." She will
be discussing how your clothing helps
develop and project a positive image.
;Tbe luncheon speaker, Mrs. Ullie
Jones of Raleigh will talk about de
veloping "Your Community Image".
Mrs, Jones is a lecturer and pres
ently teaches advanced and college
'level biology courses at Sanderson
High School. She is an active orga
nizer and leader of workshops and
! seminars in her community.
. H?e last session during the seminar
will be a panel discussion on "Hie
Image of Aids and It's Affect on
Families". The speakers for this ses
sion will be Clarie Mills, R.N. and In
. taction Control Nurse at Chowan Hos
pital and Dr. Candace Corson, M.D.
and Family Practitioner in Chowan
County. Mills and Corson will discuss
aids from a medical aspect.
?_ Call Juanita T. Bailey at 426-6428 or
Estelle Felton at 426-7061 Now to ob
tain luncheon information and to reg
ister tor this exciting opportunity
Registration deadline is ? March 31,
1966. This seminar is being provided
. by the Perquimans County Agricultu
ral Extension Service. Funding for
jfe. seminar is provided by the Z.
Smith Reynolds Foundation and RJR
Nabisco, Inc. in cooperation with the
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? jHorui *^ir<>nrva /vgncuiLurai lunm
Getting ready for showtime!
On Saturday evening the cast of "Funky Winderbean's Homecoming" will open their musical
comedy at Perquimans County High School. The group will be performing one show, and tickets
are still available for their performance.
"Funky Winderhean's Homecoming"
opens Saturday night at high school
Fans of the nationally syndicated
"Funky Winkerbean" comic strip
will want to see Perquimans County
High School Drama Club's produc
tion of "Funky Winkerbean's Home
coming", a new stage musical by
Tom Batiuk and Andy Clark.
The musical, which features all the
main characters from the comic
strip as they try to cope with the
many homecoming activities at the
strip's fictional school, "Westview
High", will be presented Saturday,
March 26, 1968 at 7:30 p.m. at Perqui
mans County High School audi to
rium.
In the Drama Club's production of
the musical, Alan Kirby will portray
Les Moore; Christy Waters will be
the "air-headed" majorette, Holly
Budd; Cornelius Mack will appear as
Mr. Crankshaft, the mean old bus
driver; and Reggie White will por
tray Harry L. Dinkle, the "World's
Greatest Band Director". Other stu
dents with prominent parts in the
musical include: Del Potter, who will
play The Coach (who hasn't won a
game in 21 years); Brian Seay, who
will play Grazy Harry (leader of the
"Air Guitar Band"), Allison Gre
gory, who will play Suzi Peterson
( the most popular girl in school) ; and
Grey Chesson, who will play Funky
Winkerbean.
"Funky Winkerbean's Homecom
ing" will be directed by Lynda
Perry; the pit band will be conducted
by David Ziemba; and the chorus
will be conducted by Lyn Winslow.
Tickets can be purchased at Per
quimans County High School Li
brary, through a Drama Club stu
dent, or at Perry P:yt)t & Glass Co. in
Elizabeth City.
Perquimans County Dispatchers;
Providing a vital link in emergency situations!
I I HI li ? ! i III! II li il l .Tii II I ?, 1 1 -MH? ? , 1, Ml ? JB? I
Homeria Jenette, chief dispatcher for Perquimans County provides a vital link for area resi
dents during emergency situations. Here she discusses her daily activities with Sheriff Joe
Lothian.
In emergency situations time is of
the essence, and in many cases emer
gencies are life and death matters.
Getting fire and or rescue help to the
scene is essential, and one office in
Perquimans County is charged with
the duty of doing just that.
The Perquimans County Dispatch
Office is in charge of dispatching all
emergency personnel whether it be
fire, rescue, police, or the sheriff's
department. The dispatch office also
dispatches all emergency vehicles to
scenes where they are needed, and
they receive the utility calls for the
county after working hours.
Monitoring four radio systems, and
six phone lines can often be a difficult
job, but it is one which must be done.
TTie chief dispatcher for Perqui
mans County is Homeria Jenette,
and she along with Roberta Phillips,
and Nancy Schiskie work full time
for the department. They are as
sisted part-time by Ida Cory, Todd
Tilley, Lillian Chappell, and Henry
Spivey, and between the members of
the department they have over 35
yean experience.
The dispatch office operate* four
radios. They have motorola and areo
tron systems, which are two way mo
torband radios. The office has a sepa
rate system for the county fire
departments, a separate raoio for the
police and sheriffs departments, a
system for the Perquimans County
Rescue Squad, and the utility system
has a separate radio.
All of the radio communication of
the dispatch office is recorded on
tape, and they keep extensive written
records of all action handled by the
office. According to Jenette, the
tapes are kept for a period of 30 days,
the written records are kept forever.
Occasionally, it is necessary to re
view old records, and they provide
valued information on the daily oper
ation of the office.
Along with learning how to operate
all the equipment and radios used in
the dispatch office, Jenette says that
the dispatchers must all learn all the
state road numbers in the county,
and they must learn to give direc
tions everywhere from Hertford, be
cause everything is dispatched from
that general area.
The dispatcher's job is often diffi
cult because they are dealing with
people in emergency situations, and
it is hard to get the necessary infor
mation needed to dispatch the nec
essary personnel and equipment.
The dispatch office would like to
ask area residents to consider seve
ral things and keep them in mind, if
they should ever have to call the of
fice in an emergency.
First, people need to pick out a
landmark near their home or busi
ness and remember it. Often tbeae
landmarks can be used in giving di
rections or finding road numbers,
which make it easier for the dis
patcher to give good directions to
emergency personnel. Route num
bers and box numbers are of no help
to the dispatcher. Second, learn your
state road number. Third, learn
which Are department serves the
area of the county you live in. This is
very important. Fourth, learn direc
tions to your home or business from
Hertford. Also, when calling to report
a fire or emergency situation the dis
patcher needs to know your name
and telephone number, in addition to
your area fire department and direc
tions to your home. Knowing tele
phone numbers and names allows the
dispatcher to call people back, if nec
essary for additional information or
other directions.
Jenette says the dispatchers are
not asking so many questions be
cause th?y want to be difficult, but
the more information they are pro
vided with the better service area
residents will receive.
Also when calling regarding a res
cue call, the dispatcher will ask
about a person's symptoms or the
problem they are having. They must
obtain this information for the reacue
squad, so they know how many peo
ple, and what type of equipment they
will need in assisting the person.
In addition to aO of the above men
?m dtopMeh eonttaMMd on pf. ?
County commissioners .
meet with NAACP;
Work to continue
on new voting system
ine Perquimans county Hoard of
Commissioners met with representa
tives of the NAACP and their attor
ney, Ronald Penny, on Monday eve
ning and learned that the NAACP
(National Association for the Ad
vancement of Colored People) will
not seek an injunction to halt the up
coming November elections.
Penny, who serves as general
counsel for the NAACP in eastern
North Carolina and is president of the
Pasquotank County Chapter of the
NAACP, was hired by the Perqui
mans County Chapter of the NAACP
recently to look into violations of the
voting rights act, and more specif
ically violations of that act regarding
the election of Perquimans County
Commissioners.
Penny stated on Monday that prior
to being contacted by the local
chapter of the NAACP, the NAACP
had looked into the system of electing
public officials in Perquimans
County for violations of the voti^
rights act, just as they had in many
other counties throughout the state of
North Carolina.
Upon being contacted by the local
chapter of the NAACP regarding a
lawsuit against the county, further
investigations where done into the
system of election, and he stated on
Monday evening that he feels there
are specific violations of the voting
rights act under the present system
used for election in Perquimans
County, and that those violations fall
under section 5 and section 2 of the
act itself.
Penny stated on Monday that he
would reserve comment at the pre
sent time on the county's section five
violations of the voting rights act, but
would comment on the section two vi
olations.
He stated that section two of the
voting rights act was amended in the
mid 1980's and deals with the totality
of circumstance regarding the sys
tem of election.
Mr. Penny said on Monday that he
was not criticizing individual com
missioners, and added that he does
not feel that the present system was
established intentionally to dilute the
minority voting strength in the
county, because it is similar to voting
systems in other North Carolina
counties, but added that the system
does dilute minority voting strengths
and must be changed.
Perquimans County currently has
a district voting system in place and
according to Penny that is one of the
worst systems for diluting minority
voting strengths.
In further outlining the NAACP's
position, Penny stated that in chang
ing a system or in considering
changes for a voting system several
things are considered by the courts
and the U. S. Justice Department.
Penny stated that the factors con
sidered in forcing a county to change
it's voting system, include the extent
of discrimination throughout history.
Penny stated that both Perquimans
County and North Carolina unfortu
nately have a long history of discrim
ination, but he was quick to point out
that this county is not much different
than many other counties in our area
and state.
He added that Perquimans County
has racially polarized voting and it is
very easy to predict the outcome of
an election.
Other factors, which also would
face consideration by the U.S. Justic
Department, are employment, edu
cation, and income of minorities, and
opportunity of minority citizens to
participate in the political process.
Based on figures from the 1980 cen
sus, Penny stated that minority citi
zens in Perquimans County make .66
cents to every ?1.00 earned by white
citizens, and three times as many
blacks as whites live below the pov
erty level in this county, and in this i
century no person of a minority race
has been elected to an office of lead
ership in the county. He went to say
that all these factors would be consid
ered in making an assessment re
garding change for the present vot
ing system. "The totality of the
circumstances would be consid
ered," said Penny.
To rememdy these section two vio
lations of the voting rights act, Penny
stated that a new system must be de
signed, which does not dilute mi
nority voting strength in Perquimans
County.
That does not mean to say that be
cause 38 percent of the citizens in
Perquimans County are minorities
that 38 percent of the board would be
made-up of minority representation,
but a system must be developed that
gives minorities equal access to be
elected.
fenny stated mat ne is happy to
see that the county board of commis
sioners has established a commis
sion, which is currently looking into
possible alternative voting systems,
and stated that he would like to sit
down and work out a new voting sys
tem for the county, which everyone
concerned can live with.
He went on to say that he feels the
people of Perquimans County can
work out a system that would be bet
ter for the county than, representing
the needs of the county better than
could come through litigation
He added that he feels working this
problem out would be better both sys
tem wise and tax dollar wise.
In speaking .for Perquimans
County, Lester Simpson, chairman of
the county commissioners stated on
Monday that the county has set up a
committee and they are working on
developing a new system and will be
making a recommendation at some
point to the board regarding this is
sue. He added however, that the
board and the committee would wel
come any suggestions that Penny
had to offer to them.
John Matthews, Perquimans Coun
ty's attorney told Penny on Monday
that the board of commissioners rec
ognizes that there is a problem with
the voting system, and have been
talking about it for over a year. He
added that the county is also looking
into voting rights act violations with
regard to election of school board
members.
Matthews, who is serving on the
committee looking into changing the
voting system, stated on Monday that
he feels and he has told the board that
M? NAACP continued on pg. 8
Library gets funding
from county for new
expansion project
The Perquimans County board of
commissioners voted on Monday eve
ning to tentatively pledge $25,000 dol
lars this year and $25,000 next year to
the library expansion project.
Jean Umphlett, member, of the
Perquimans County Library Board,
and Maria Hoffman, local librarian,
came before the board on Monday to
make the request for funds. They told
board members on Monday that a
figure was needed from them so that
the library could submit a grant ap
plication for state matching funds by
March 31st. These funds, plus addi
tional funds raised by the library,
will be used to complete the expan
sion and rennovation project planned
for the library.
The expansion project will hope
fully begin within the next year and
will give the library additional work
ing space as well as allowing them to
add additional programs for resi
dents, particularlly children's pro
grams.
The library will be holding it's first
fund raising meeting this week on
Thursday evening, and everyone is
invited and encouraged to attend. It
will be held at the Perquimans
County Library at 7:30 p.m..
VITA offers free tax
help for residents
Members of the Future Business
Leaders of America Club (FBLA)
are offering free tax assistance to
taxpayers through the Volunteer In
come Tax Assistance (VITA) pro
gram sponsored by the Internal Rev
enue Service on Tuesdays and
Wednesdays from 3:30 to 6:00 p.m.
until April 13 at Perquimans County
High School, Occupational Building
on King Street.
VITA helps taxpayers fill out Form
1040EZ, 1040A, and state. Volunteers
also alert taxpayers to the special
credits and deductions for which they
may be eligible, such as child care
and earned income credits.
Taxpayers coming to PCHS should
bring this year's tax package,
usually received through the mail,
wage and earnings statements
(Form W-2) from all employers, the
interest statement received from
banks (Form 1099V a copy of last
year's return, if available, and any
other relevent information concern
ing income and expenses.