THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY Vetome S*, He. 2* USPS 421-OM Hertford, Perquimans County, N.C. Thursday, July 14, 1?M 30 CENTS LOCAL Yates appointed t6 Winfall council teepg. 10 FEATURE Baker honored with , William scholarship see pg. 10 COMMUNITY Lion's Club installs new officers Thurs. see pg. 5 New business opens in Hertford! On Monday Earl Owens opened his new business in Hertford next to Country Corner on Grubb Street, Owens Carpet and Tile, and Beech Springs Electrolux Outlet. Ribbon cutting ceremonies were held at 2:00 p.m.. Above Bill'Cox cuts the ribbon as Lester Simpson, chairman of the county commis sioners, Wayne Winslow, vice-chairman of the county com missioners, Shawn Owens, Earl's wife, Larry Swindell, pres ideni of the Perquimans County Chamber of Commerce, Earl Owens, and Marie Owens look on. Mr. Owens will offer a full line of carpet and tile as well as Electrolux products. The store will be open Monday thru Thursday from 8:30 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 9:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. Two men injured in weekend accident Wet pavement has been attributed as the cause of a weekend accident in the county. Minor damages and injuries were reported by the North Carolina High way Patrol in the two car accident which occurred on U.S. Highway 17 near Rural Road 1303 on Saturday morning. Long urged to make use of drought programs Farm Bureau has urged Agricultu ral Secretary Richard Long to make maximum use of existing programs to provide drought relief to farmers instead of "creating new programs that will continue after the drought is over." W.B. Jenkins, president of the North Carolina Farm Bureau, said that by utilizing authorized programs provisions already available, espe cially for livestock and poultry pro ducers, the Secretary has the flexibil ity to provide needed relief when conditions warrent. "Although North Carolina has so far been cpared the disaster conditions exist ing insome parts of the country," Jenkins stated, "the western part of the state is suffering and the drought Is beginning to move eastward." "Farmers don't necessarily need additional loans and an increase in their dept load," Jenkins said. "Di saster loans don't strive the problem. In fact, eventually they can become tfee problem, so it's best not to rush into theee types of programs." Among drought-relief recommen dations, Farm Bureau has urged that Long: Consider forgiving repayment of advance deficiency payments by farmers hi designated disaster and adjoiniiv counties. Make available uncommitted gov ernment-owned grain that can be bought with generic certificates in crdsr to help livestock producers who need to purchaae feed and to allow B|Mlt wurnlhimiti to be met. Make maximum use of the existing 0-U program by extending it to farm ers who were prevented from plant a crop. Under 041, farmers who agree to forgo planting feed grain cropi can receive H percent of their "Hopefully, there will be A pick-up truck driven by Jimmy Chappelle, 38, Route 1, South Mills, was stopped in the southbound lane of U.S. 17, waiting to make a left turn onto Road 1303. Another pick-up, driven by Kenneth Banks Jr. of Bel videre, was also traveling south on U.S. 17. Banks was unable to stop his pick-up due to wet pavement, lost control of his truck, hit Chappelle's truck, hit a traffic sign, and landed in a nearby ditch. Bank's speed was estimated at 35mph by the Highway Patrol. Chappelle and another passenger, Joseph Crane, 23, also of South Mills, both suffered minor injuries in the accident. Mr. Banks was reportedly unharmed. Damages to Mr. Chappelle's truck has been estimated at $2,000 by the Highway Patrol, and Bank's truck reportedly received $1,500 worth of damage. The investigating officer for the ac cident was Trooper Y. Z. Newberry. Newberry charged Banks with fail ure to reduce speed to avoid an acci dent. Nelson retires For the past 40 years Kathleen Nel son has strolled down Church Street to work at Eagles, but on July 16th she will make her last offical trip to Eagles as the store's manager. Mrs. Nelson came to the store in Hertford on February 9th, 1948, and she has been there ever since. Many things have changed over her 40 years including the company she works for. In 1984, the store which was a Roses was sold to Vari ety Wholesalers of Raleigh becoming an Eagles Store, but through it all Mrs. Nelson has remained a faithful employee. Does Kathleen Nelson like her job? "I must like it to have stayed here so long," says Nelson when you ask her. Nelson started with the Roses Com pany in 1940. She began working as a saleslady in Williams ton her home town, and in 1943 she went to Plym outh as the store manager. In 1943, Nelson was only Roses' third lady store manager. Five years later she came to Hot ford. When Nelson began her career she worked 48 hours a week, and made 15* an hour. That's changed, but many aspects of the retailing busi ness are the same. The whole bookkeeping system is different, many things have been put on computer, and the store has changed from a traditional store to setf-service. When Nelson first ar rived at the store there were five em ployees, but today there are only tnree Desioes nerseii Years ago Nelson bought many things tor the store, and she remem bers when candy bars Wtiio a nickel. Today Nelson buys the basics for the store, but maional items ,n|i cloth ing are bought at the home office. ftftkAn Sk T & ri m ft n ^ M .1 wmh rMMH pmvea id xianora Kathleen Nelson has worked at Eagles in Hertford for 40 years. On July 16th she will retire. she was only supposed to stay one year, but on November 16th, IMS, she married Wesley Nelson, and they de cided to stay here. The Nelson's have two children, Wallace and Kathy, and two grand children, Lauren and Ethan. Wallace lives in Hertford, and Kathy makes her home in Elizabeth City. Nelson says she doen't know what she will do when she retired, but she's sure it will be quite an adjust ment "I am going to take one day at a time, and maybe travel a little," said Nelson. A retirement dinner was held on Monday to honor Nelson, and many of her former employees were on hand to honor her for her many years of service. Nelson attributes her success over the years to good employees, good customers, and the lord. Kathleen Nelson will be missed, but she says she'll be helping out ev ery so often. Nelson will be replaced by Lois Bryant. School board updated on voting rights In addition to discussing the budget cuts for the coming achool year, the Perquimans County Board of Educa tion dealt with the following tames oo Tuesday, July 5th, in their regular ? a. - a ? - a f ... ? ? a meeting rwcn6uUJflo lruui Moncsy . July ?fa. VOTING RIGHTS Board members learned Tusaday that a Joint committee, established JL and the county in studying the possi bility of changing the election system for both boards, met recently, and that the group is working to develop a solution and gathering data. Harrell, a member of the commit tee, W Board of Education mem bers Tuesday that Charlie Skinner, rurea oy tne xanmiuee to conduct a house to house **"?"? in the county, will bagtojsaking tbe caosai very teen will be responsible for collect ing data, and producing a map which will identify each and every house in the county and whether they are oc cupied by white or black families Harrell also reported that at the last meeting, the committee met with representatives from the Regional Development Institute in Greenville, who will take the data gathered and see board page It County plans to build new park The Perquimans County Commis sioners are planning to build a new park in the county during the coming year. During last Tuesday's meeting, the commissioners announced plans to build a new park on county-owned property off of Winfall Road in Win fall just behind the North Carolina Department of Transportation High way Maintenance Shop. Plans for the park included two athletic fields with lights for evening games, restrooms, dressing room fa cilities, a concession stand, and a parking lot. The board of commis sioners hope that the park will be equipped with bleachers this year, but if not, they will be added next year. Paul Gregory, County Manager, stated he hopes construction on the park will begin as early as this winter with the completion date scheduled for spring, just in time for the rec ation department's busy season. Funding for the project is expec to come from two sources, the coui has budgeted $20,000, and Gregory hopes that they will qualify for a matching grant from the state. "Budgeted monies and the grant money should take care of a large portion of the project, and we hope to get some volunteer work. Help from volunteers will make this project a reality," said Gregory. The land that the park will be built on is currently being leased by a local farmer, George Roach, but the board is optimistic that although two years still remain on Roach's lease he will give up the land so work on the park can begin. The idea of building a new park came earlier this year when the lights at the Middle School athletic field had to be taken down due to rot ting poles. This spring the adult teams have been playing night games in Edenton. WATER LINES In other business, the board of commissioners are still continuing their efforts to obtain monies from the state to move four miles of water lines along U.S. Highway 17. The board agreed on Tuesday to set up a meeting with area legislators to discuss the project. The North Carolina Department of Transportation is planning to four lane the highway between Hertford and Elizabeth City, and before this work is completed the water lines will have to be moved. Estimated cost for moving the lines is $189,000. Under normal circumstances the state does not pay towns and cities and non-profit, private water sys tems for the cost of moving water lines in such instances as the one above, but at this time no other mon ies are provided to local govern ments to cover such cost. RESCUE SQUAD Todd Tilley, Captain fo the Perqui mans County Rescue Squad, also came before the board to discuss the squads current staffing problems. Tilley reported that the rescue squad is having a very difficult time covering day shifts during the week, due to recent retirements of mem bers, and work schedules of others. Tilley reported that the squad cur rently has 35 active members, and that members are working 12 hour shifts. Weekends and nights are no problem, but the squad is having a difficult time covering the day shifts according to Tilley At the present time, one full day during the week is covered, but the others remain open. Most of the members work other jobs and unless they are just alloved to leave their places of employment, it is difficult for them to pull a shift during the week. The squad must have two state cer tified people, one ambulance atten dent, and one emergency medical technician for each call, and that is becoming increasingly difficult to get. At the present time, the squad averages two calls daily, but Tilley says sometimes its more and some times the calls are less. One alternative the county dis cussed during the meeting Tuesday is the possibility of hiring a full-time paid day crew, but according to county officials the money is not available for such a squad. After much discussion, the board and Tilley agreed to consult the state emergency medical services office for help with this problem. According to Paul Gregory, two men, L. Miner and Tim Kiell, both of Raleigh, one a State EMS Coordina tor, and one a Regional EMS Coordi see park planned pg. 10 School board makes cuts in 1988-89 budget The Perquimans County Board of Education took action last Tuesday to deal with a $96,000 slashing of county funds. After reviewing the proposed bud get, Superintendent Pat Harrell pre sented an amended budget to the school board, which reflected the cuts. "It's going to be a tight year," said Harrell adding that if an emer gency came up the board would be in trouble. Tuesday's actions became nec essary when the Perquimans County Board of County Commissioners cii the school budget, in an effort to prfl vent a tax increase this year f