LOCAL
k
Yuvonka Reid honored
see pg. 5
FEATURE
4th of July celebrated
see pg. 14
I
COMMUNITY
Tractor pull scheduled
see pg. 2
! THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
. Volume M, No. 27 USPS 429-MO Hftford, Pfqi>iniMi? Comity. N.C., Tfcwrtday, July 7, ?WI 30 CENTS
Area farm
ttour set
On Thursday evening, July 7th, the
Agriculture Extension Service and
area civic cluts will sponsor a tour of
four local produce farms for the pub
lic. Hie value of horticulture crops
produced in Chowan and Perquimans
counties is over 95,000,000 annually.
A wide diversity of fruits, vegetables
and greenhouse crops are grown in
the two counties.
I As new residents move into the
area, they may not be familiar with
agriculture or realize the important
contribution agriculture and the pro
duction of horticulture crops gives to
the local economy. With is in mind,
Jim Mansfield, Area Horticulture
Extension Agent and Murray Good
win, retired Chowan County Horticul
ture Agent, came up with the idea of
a free tour of area produce farms for
the public.
| The tour schedule is as follows:
6:30 p.m. - Tour begins at Alice
* Carlton Perry's Farm on Mex
ico Road, Eden ton (Tomatoes k
Peppers on Black Plastic)
7:15 p.m. - Bobby & Emmett
Wlnboroe Farm - River Road,
Rocky Hock (Melons on Black
Plastic
8:00 p.m. - Robert & McCoy Ph
thisic Farm - Hunters Fork
Road, Tyner (Cantaloupes with Drip
) Irrigation)
8:30 p.m. - J. P. Perry Farm -
Hunters Fork Road, Tyner (U
Pick Grapes and Blueberries)
People will need to provide their
own transportation. We can caravan
or car pool from place to place if nec
essary. Refreshments, provided by
the Peoples Bank, will be served at
the Phthisic Farm. Please call the
Eden ton Extension Office if you need
directions.
Lt. Governor
supports the
expansion
of drug
education
| program
Raleigh? "Everyday North Caroli
na's one million school students are
confronted with the decision of
whether to use alcohol and illegal
drugi. It's not just older students who
face this decision. Each year more
and more younger children enter the
world of drug and alcohol abuse/'
Lieutenant Governor Bob Jordan
stated Monday during a news confer
ence to announce expansion of the
| Drug Abuse Resistance Education
Program (D.A.R.E.).
Senator Kenneth Royal] (D-Dur
??*m> and Representative Bobby
Etheridge joined Lieutenant Gover
nor Jordan in announcing that money
to expand the program has been rec
ommended in the 1988-89 budget un
der consideration by the Genera] As
sembly.
The D.A.R.E. program was started
by Attorney General Lacy Thornburg
P&fld Superintendent Craig Phillips
wi|fa a grant from Wachovia Bank
the program is now underway in 29
of the state's school districts, and this
has reached approximately
20,000 fifth and sixth graders.
? J D.A.R.E. is an innovative drug
^duration and drug abuse prevention
pngram that uses carefully selected
trained local law enforcement of
ficrs to teach a 17-week course to 5th
or 8th grade elementary school stu
nts," Jordan stated.
"A significant aspect of the North
Carolina D.A.R.E. program is that
teachers remain in the classroom to
lMen to the police officers' message,
and then to reinforce it Airing the
week," said Etheridge.
Royal] outlined the success of the
pngram in the Durham City and
County School systems. "This pro
gram has given our school children
kan entirely new set of skills and a new
"kind of self-confidence to resist the
to use drugs. It Imm given
9
view of themselves and of law
DARE, program has tre
i potential to keep i
[ free... We must give <
i every tool they need to "j
say no, and waft away,"
Dim to the fourth o!
July holiday schedule
the weekly article on a
county agency will not
appear this week.
? The series will reap
pear in next week'a
edition of THE PERQUI
0IANS WEEKLY.
Splash down!
One area youngster certainly knew how to spend a warm, sunny, fourth of July, in the dunking
booth. Monday area residents gathered a Missing Mill Park for a 4th of July extravaganza of
events. 4th of July in the park featured something for everyone, games for the children, enter
tainment, games for adults, the county wide church service, the dunking booth, and of course
fireworks The day was sponsored by the Perquimans County Jaycees, and was a huge success.
Hertford Police Department facing
shortage in manpower; chief frustrated
HERTFORD? Police Chief Mar
shall Merritt is feeling frustrated
over the revolving door at the police
department.
Merritt cited low pay and substan
dard equipment as the main reasons
why he is having difficulty in keeping
a full staff of six officers on the police
force. In addition, the officers that
remain are having to work overtime
and are losing vacation hours be
cause the department is under
staffed.
Presently, there are four officers in
the department.
Merritt said three officers have re
signed from the department this
year. "The salary is too low to attract
and keep officers," be said. The
starting pay for a Hertford police of
ficer is $12,000. The starting pay for
officers in Eden ton is $14,428, and the
starting pay for Elizabeth City police
officers is approximately $14,000.
"Even though the $12,000 is compa
rable to the starting salaries in towns
this size across the state, the problem
is that we have to compete with the
larger towns around us which offer a
much higher salary," Merritt said,
adding that be has many officers re
sign to accept positions on police de
partments at the beach.
In addition, officers may want to
leave Hertford because the chances
for career advancement are much
better in a larger department, Mer
ritt said. "Abo, officers are re
signing because of what they con
sider is inadequate equipment to
work with, especially the cars, but
also because of the lack of modern
notice eainnment."
Merritt said the can the town buys
for the department are all used cars,
"with a lot of miles on them al
ready." He said the cart are in need
of repairs often. "We are driving
family cars that can not stand up to
the stress of police patrolling," he
said.
"In my opinion, we need to buy new
cars through the state contract that
are designed for police use. My offi
cers tell me they are embarrassed to
drive some of the vehicles."
Officers remaining on the force are
losing vacation time because the de
partment is understaffed. Merritt
said two years ago, & cap of 192 hours
was placed on the amount of vacation
time an officer may accumulate. Of
ficers get one day of vacation for
each month's work.
Merritt said three of the four offi
cers now in the department have
reached their limit on accumulated
vacation hours and have each lost va
cation hours during the last two
months because there are not enough
people in the department to allow
anyone to take time off.
"Another reason officers leave is
because we have to work so much
overtime and that affects the family
life. We all made plans for vacation
when we had six officers in the de
partment a month ago, but since we
had two resignations last month, we
all had to cancel our plans," he said,
adding that officers in the depart
ment have accumulated approxi
mately 1,970 hours of overtime dur
ing the last two years.
"The department has been concen
trating a lot on drag investigations
because we have what we consider to
be a serious problem in the Hertford
area, and that also causes overtime
hours because such investigations
take a lot of hours," he said, adding
that their efforts have resulted in
several successful drag busts.
Hertford is not akme in facing the
problems of high turnover rates.
Small-town police departments
across the state face the same prob
lems. Officers begin their career at
small-town departments, but when
the officer becomes experienced and
mature enough to do a good job, they
go elsewhere for more money.
Merritt has now adopted a policy to
have new officers sign a three-year
contract If an officer leaves the de
partment to go to another law en
forcement position during the three
years, the officer must reimburse the
town for training costs.
Merritt said the longer the officer
stays with the department, the less
he must pay to reimburse the town.
"I have had one officer buy his way
out of the contract, but the idea of the
contract seems to be helping some,"
Merritt said.
High turnover rates in the depart
ment also do damage in other ways.
"New officers are not familiar with
the local criminal element. Officers
that do not stay long are not able to
develop good sources in the commu
nity and they can't develop a rapport
with the people on the street. They
also are not familiar with areas
where crimes may occur, such as
knowing the exits and entrances to
buildings."
He said high turnover rates also
damage the public perception of the
department. "People don't feel as
free to walk up to an officer an the
street and tell the officer something
in confidence. It causes a loss of pub
lic trust."
Merritt admitted that the solutions
to the problems are not easy. "I real
ize that we have a small tax base in
Hertford and our salaries can not be
the same as larger departments, but
I also feel our salary structure needs
to be reviewed with an eye toward
getting more in line with the other de
partments in tbe area.
We also need to take a long, hard look
at the equipment," he said.
Area farms open for picking season
Peaches, blueberries available!
Cobblers warm with vanilla ice
cream dripping down the aide, pie
steaming hot tram the oven. Does it
make your mouth water? If so, don't
# * " biI .111. ?? 1. *
fear tnnt pitting season is Here.
Peaches and bhisbetriao are faD
ing off the trees and bushes at area
orchards, and if you Uke to make
jam, )elly, pie, or cobbler, now is the
perfect time to take adrantage of the
county's local orchards.
Lote of other people win be loaded
*- a ? ?- ? ? _ . sf- ?- - ? -a
witn buckets, Doses or anything alee
that wiD hold the HL
Jaaper Winstar's IS acres of peach
?
Red Rubi, Red Haven, Norman, E3
lerby, Early Red Free, BeOe of
Georgia, and Alberta peaches, which
all bare different uses and flavor.
Mr. Perry featured three type* at
bhiebeii1 lea which come in at differ
ent timet during the approximately
two month won
Both of tbeae local pick your own
operations have been in hwiiw for
aome time. Mr. Winalow began let
ting people pick peaehte about nine
year* ago when he retired, and Mr.
Party baa been open for about 1C
It ia obvious aa you waft down the
rows at both farme that both
that they are their pride
and Jay.
Walking between the
Perry often stops, picks a I
in Us
the i
it dar
without a knife to stop, pick a peach,
peel it, pop a piece in his mouth, and
smile with sheer satisfaction at the
sweet, juicy taste.
Both men run their farms for fun.
It's their bobby and through the sum
mer months beginning the end of
June for Winslow and the beginning
of July for Perry, they spend as much
as eight and ten hours a day helping
customers and sellii? tfaeir fruit.
ries ts not all fan, prior to the season
both man say ttara la much wait to
be i
be done constancy to keep the farms
all ymr life as you waft tek, and en
joy an occaisioaal peach or
Hertford adopts
FY 1988-89 budget
Following a public hearing last
Wednesday, which was attended by
no one, the Hertford Town Council
passed the proposed FY 1988-89 bud
get
No changes were made in the
1827,400.00 budget, which reflects a
$38,000 increase over the FY 1987-88
budget Of *589,800
Mayor Bill Cox announced that
taxes will remain at $.48 per thou
sand, but users will be paying
slightly higher rates for water and
sewage.
Planned budget expenditures for
1988-89 are broken down as follows;
administration $89,000.00, police
$144,500, fire departments $28,300,
street departments $147,000, sanita
tion department $125,000, cemetary
department, $26,000, non-departmen
tal $55,000, contingencies $12,000, wa
ter and sewer fund $246,000, and elec
tric fund $1,699,000.
Adopted water and sewer rate in
creases are as follows: 1 to 3,000 gal
lons $5 to $5.50, 3,001 to 10,000 $1.75 to
$1.96, 10,000 to 30,000 $.75 to $1.00.
Sewer rate increases are as follows:
1 to 3,000 gallons (3.00 to $4.50, and all
gallons over 3,000 $1.20 to $1.50 per
thousand.
Increases in these rates are attrib
uted by the council to cost of im
provements being made at the water
and sewage plants. The town is cur
rently completing the $297,000 new
waste treatment plant.
The FY 1988-89 budget also reflects
a $130,000 expense for improvements
to the town's electrical system. Hie
cost of improving the electrical sys
tem was budgeted over a three year
period and will appear again.
Council members stated during
Wednesday's hearing that they feel
the coming year's budget is conser
vative and tight.
Following the public hearing on the
budget, the town council also held a
bearing regarding a grant applica
tion being made to the state designat
ing Hertford as one of the Governor's
coastal initiative communities.
The hearing was attended by no
one from the community, and the
council unanimously approved that
application be sent to the state.
Community residents
are cited for violations
HOLIDAY ISLAND: The Perxjui
mails County Health Department has
notified six property owners at Holi
day Island that they are in violation
of county health department laws re
garding septic tank systems, and
several others have been ordered to
cease draining water from washing
machines and sinks into the commu
nity's ditches.
According Perquimans County
Health Department District Sanata
rian Tim Peoples, the residents have
30 days to take action to ensure that
the problems with the septic tanks
and drainage are repaired or re
routed before additional legal action
is taken.
This action comes as the result of
an investigation prompted by the
Holiday Island Property Owner's As
sociation.
Earlier this year the Holiday Is
land Property Owner's Association
became concerned with environmen
tal conditions in the community fol
lowing reports of illegal dumping of
raw sewage, drainage of from wash
ing machines, and sinks into ditches,
and other apparent environmental
and health violations. After much
publicity, the association conducted
a community wide lot by lot investi
gation to identify alleged violations
in the residential and camping sec
tions of the island.
Upon completion of the survey the
property owners forwarded the list of
alleged violations to the health de
partment.
According to health department of
ficials the original list received by
them from Holiday Island had ap
proximately 15 apparent violations in
the residential section of the island,
six of which, when investigated by
the health department were actually
found to be violations. Most of the six
identified violations involve septic
tank systems flooding over and al
lowing sewage to seep to the surface.
Two of the six violations identified in
volve households which are draining
water from washing machines and
sinks into community ditches.
In a telephone interview last week,
Peoples stated the violations appear
to be fairly minor, and hopefully can
be corrected with few problems.
In the camping section of the com
munity the problem appears to be
much worse. According to Peoples,
the property owner's association has
identified 100 alleged violations, but
the health department has not been
able to begin an investigation to de
termine the true violations.
Peoples defined a dry well as a hole
in the ground with a few rocks in the
bottom with dirt on top where raw
sewage is dumped.
According to the HIPOA survey
some campers are allegedly using
these dry wells, but Peoples was
quick to point out that these viola
tions have not been verified.
Holiday Island has approximately
500 camping lots, but these lots are
not occupied year round.
Dumping stations are provided for
campers to use for disposing of raw
sewage into holding tanks, but appar
ently some are not doing so.
"We have not investigated the situ
ation in the camping area yet," said
Peoples. "But we begin investigating
the problem when we get the time.
TTiis is a busy time of the year," he
stated, adding that he is the only san
itarian in the district to conduct the
investigation, in addition to his other
duties of inspecting new sewer tank
installations. He also stated that the
health department was more con
cerned with taking care of problems
in the residential section of Holiday
Island first, since people live there
year round.
Peoples stated that he does not feel
the problems found in Holiday Island
are exclusive to that community. He
stated the soil in southern Perqui
mans County, of which Holiday Is
land is a part, is poor for septic sys
tems due to the clay contained in the
soil. Because clay is often as much as
three to four feet deep, water cannot
seep through, and this creates prob
lems.
Peoples also contributed other fac
tors to the problems seen at Holiday
Island. Lots on the island were devel
oped in the 60s, and most are no
larger than 10,000 square feet, which
hinders drainage of a septic system.
The county now requires that lots
with poor soil conditions be 25,000
square feet for septic systems, but
those requirements were not put into
effect until 1973 after much of Holi
day Island was developed.
In addition to drainage problems,
Peoples also stated that many people
who have septic tank systems do not
maintain the system properly. Peo
ples stated that systems in this area
should be pumped out every three to
five years to remove sludge build-up,
which often clogs drainage lines
causing problems like the ones at
Holiday Island.
see sewer pg. 8
Weather forecasters are calling
for warm weather this weekend
with a slight possibility of af
ternoon or evening thunder^
storms on Friday.
Temperatures will feature
lows in the 70s with highs in the
mid to upper 80s.