THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
Volume 58, No. SO USPS 42?-0?0 Hertford, Perquimant County, N.C. Thursday, December 15, IMS 30 CENTS
' LOCAL
Hertford to proceed with
repairs on water tank
Page 2
FEATURE
Middle School band
gives two performances
Page 12
COMMUNITY
Area counties get
federal emergency aid
Page 13
Officials seek payment for heating, cooling system
) The Perquimans County Board of
Education voted to seek a $250,000
reimbursement for the installation
of a heating and cooling system at
the high school after the first sys
tem installed following the renova
tion of the building proved faulty
due to engineering errors, Superin
tendent Mary Jo Martin reported at
this week's meeting.
Board attornev John Matthews
. said he is in the pn*. ~ss of pursuing
) legal remedies.
' Martin said the problem was in
the way the plans were drawn by
I =====
the architect, Sam Ashford Inc., of
Raleigh. The problem was with the
quality of the water being pumped
into the system.
Martin said the board had to pay
$250,000 to install the second sys
tem, which is now working prop
erly.
New board members
Ben Hobbs and Wayne Howell,
elected last May in the primary
elections for the school board, as
sumed their duties this week.
Reorganization
Clifford Winslow was elected by
board members as the chairman,
and Clifford Towe was named vice
chairman.
Assistant principal
Karen Luszcz, formerly a tea
cher at Perquimans Middle School,
was appointed as the new assistant
principal at the high school .
Warehouse building
Martin said board members
agreed to seek bids for a new stor
age and warehouse building early
next year. She said the estimated
$70,000 cost of the building is in
cluded in this year's budget.
After school car*
Martin said that 57 parents re
sponded to a recent survey to deter
mine interest in before and after
school care for students. She said 49
of the parents expressed an interest
in care after school .
Planning for the service will now
continue, and Martin said a site will
be selected, personnel will be hired
and a program will be developed.
Traffic concerns
Towe informed the board about a
proposed barge landing site in Win
tall. The proposal is now in the per
mit process. Outer Banks
Construction Inc. made the re
quest.
Towe expressed concern about
the additional traffic on N.C. High
way 37 caused by the site, which is
located on Major Road between
Winfall and Hertford and is near
both the Middle and Central
schools. It is within Winfall's zon
ing jurisdiction.
Board members instructed Mar
tin to write a letter to the Winfall
Town Council asking council mem
bers to consider the impact of the
site on school bus transportation.
Vocational building
An inspection was conducted at
the vocational building at the high
school after cracks were discov
ered in the wall.
The building, built in 1950, had
settled over the year, Martin said.
"At this time, we found that the
building is safe and only minor re
irs are needed. Repair work will
done in the summer," she said.
T v<
Roman Gabriel, former quarterback at N.C. State University and with the Los Angeles Rams and Philadelphia Eagles, was the
speaker at last week's Perquimans County Chamber of Commerce banquet.
Ex-grid star speaks at Chamber banquet
Roman Gabriel tells about price of success on, off the field
Roman Gabriel, former quar
' terback with N.C. State Univer
sity, the Los Angeles Rams and
Philadelphia Eagles, told the au
dience at the Perquimans County
Chamber of Commerce annual
banquet last week that success is
something that must be worked
for each and every day.
Gabriel recalled when he first
joined the Los Angeles Rams as
the number one draft choice, a
. Ram player walked up to him. "I
' expected him to say welcome to
the team, but he said 'aren't you
from Sonny Jurgensen's home
town?"'
Indeed, both Gabriel and Jur
gensen played at New Hanover
High School in Wilminghton. "Af
ter I made a name for myself,
people would walk up to Sonny
and say, 'aren't you from Roman
Gabriel's home town.' Now, peo
ple walk up to both of us and say,
) 'aren't you from Michael Jor
dan's home town,"' he said. "Ev
ery day is a new beginning."
While in high school, Gabriel
was all-state in three sports and
most valuable player in both bas
ketball and football. He was of
fered a pro baseball contract
with the New York Yankees, but
instead opted to attend N.C. State
where he was All-American.
Gabriel recounted one of his
most memorable games at N.C.
State, and naturally it was
against UNC-Chapel Hill. Ga
briel said over the off season, he
gave up Moon Pies and began
lifting weights. He came into
camp at the beginning of the sea
son bigger, stronger and faster,
and his coaches decided to play
him at middle linebacker on
short yardage situations against
Carolina. He was successful in
two short-yardage plays and
stopped the quarteback both
times by "accidently" letting his
Christensen is recipient
of C-of-C business award
John Christensen, owner and
. manager of Darden Department
I Store in Hertford, was the selected
as the first recipient of the Perqui
mans Charles M. Harrell Jr. Busi
ness Person of the Year Award.
The award was presented at the
Chamber of Commerce banquet
last night and this is the first year
the award was established in honor
of the late Charles M. Harrell Jr.,
who was a business leader in the
town and the first president of the
Chamber of Commerce. Chris Har
I rail, the son of Charles and Mary
Harrell, was on hand to make the
presentation.
Christensen is a member of the
Hartford PTA and is past trea
surer, a member of the Hertford
Rotary Club and past president,
member of the Hertford Fire De
partment and its special rescue
team, and member of the Chamber
of Commerce. He is also a member
of the United Methodist Church, the
steering committee for the U.S.
Highway 17 Transportation Asso
ciation, and Ducks Unlimited.
He moved to Hertford in 1961 to
manage the family business. He
also volunteers for such projects as
Hertford Horizons and serves as
chairman of the downtown business
revitalization committee, and he is
active in the Perquimans Indian
Summer Festival.
Also at the banquet, Chamber
President Larry Swindell re
counted the accomplishments dur
ing the past year. Those
accomplishments included spon
hand slip up and hit the quar
terback in the jaw, causing a
fumble. N.C. State won the game
3-0.
"Being a Catholic, you have to
go to a priest if you think you
have done something wrong," he
said with a smile. In confession,
he said he told the priest about
the incidents and the priest said
he committed three sins. "By the
way," the priest said. "Who were
you playing."
"Carolina," Gabriel re
sponded.
"Well, anyone can make a mis
take," the priest responded in
quick forgiveness.
Gabriel spend 16 years in pro
fessional football. He was the
Rams' most valuable plaver
three times and an all-pro in four
years. He was the league's most
valuable player in 1969.
Gabriel got $15,000 to sign with
Chrlstensen
soring Ave ribbon cuttings for new
businesses.
the Rams. "Today, the minimum
a number one draft choice gets is
$500,000," he said. Also, in those
days quarterbacks did not run
out of bounds to escape a tackier.
"I had 265-pound guys jump all
over me ana tell me not to get up
because they are coming back,
he said. "I told them where I
come from, you always get up. "
Gabriel said a lesson he
learned from his high school
coach that has stayed with him
all of his life is that winning is not
the most important thing in the
world. "Enjoying to prepare to
win is," he said.
But perhaps the most impor
tant lesson came from his father,
he said. "Persevere," Gabriel
said. "Set a goal. Go climb the
biggest oak tree, don't be an
acorn sitter all your life and wait
for someone to pour water on
your head. Know you have the
ability to want to get there. That
is the desire factor."
Barge landing site
meets zoning rule
Bartlett says Winfall cannot
stop plans for intended use
WINFALL ? Mayor Bill Bartlett
said Monday that the town could
not stop plans for a proposed barge
landing site because the land is al
ready zoned for commercial high
way use.
The planned use of the property
by Outer Banks Contractors Inc.
would be acceptable under the
highway commercial designation,
he said.
"This council made that decision
when the zoning ordinance for the
town was approved in 1986," Bart
lett said. "I wish you had shown as
much interest in 1986 as you have
now."
He said the town was already
committed to accept the barge
landing because of the zoning desig
nation. "It will take a higher au
thority to change that," he said,
adding that the town could be taken
to court if the board tried to not al
low the barge landing site to be lo
cated in Winfall.
not been done," he said.
Bartlett said that town council
members did take a tour of an as
phalt plant owned by the company
and discussed the possibility of lo
cation of an asphalt plant in Winfall
if Outer Banks Contractors were
awarded a construction contract
for work on U.S. Highway 17. Since
the company did not receive that
contract, those plans were dropped.
Beacham said up to four barges a
week would be brought in to the
site, and gravel and rock would be
unloaded off of the 200-foot barges,
35 to 40 feet in width. He said at
maximum use, that would result in
25 trucks each day leaving the site.
When asked how many jobs the
barge landing site would provide
for the county, Beacham said he
could not answer that at this time.
He also said the barges would not
block the narrow channel used for
navigation on the river.
"We have no authority to stop the
plant from coming in. This board is
not going to stick the town out on a
legal limb. We have to abide by the
zoning ordinance," Bartlett said,
adding that he wished this type of
public input would happen more of
ten.
Clifford Towe, a member of the
Perquimans County school board
and resident of Winfall, said he
didn't believe that the board made
enough of an effort to encourage
public discussion. "I think a
greater effort ought to be made to
get people to discuss matters when
something of this magnitude comes
up," he said.
More than 10 people spoke
against the proposal for the barge
landing citing environmental con
cerns, the potential disruption of
recreational activities, ana traffic
concerns. Plans for the site, located
on 19 acres of land along Major
Street off of N.C. Highway 37, are
now in the permit process with the
Division of Coastal Management.
Tim Beacham, of Outer Banks
Contractors, said the company has
no plans "at this time" to locate an
asphalt plant at the site. "There is
no work in the area to justify that,"
he said. An engineer for the project
did say last week that a mobile as
phalt plant could be moved to the
site in the future. Beacham said his
company would have to apply for a
clean air permit to locate an as
phalt plant at the site. "That has
PCHS band
and chorus
Christmas
concert set
The Perquimans County
High School Band and Chorus
will present a joint concert
Sunday, Dec. 18, at 3 p.m. in
the high school auditorium.
"An Old Fashioned
Christmas" is the theme of
the concert, and decorations
by Joan Wood and the art de
partment will create an at
mosphere of holiday cheer
and nostalgia. The chorus,
under the direction of Lyn
wood Winslow, will perform
selections ranging from J.S.
Bach's "Alleluia" to the per
ennial favorites "White
Christmas" and "The
Christmas Song." Various
soloists will highlight the per
formance. The band, con
ducted by David Ziemba, will
delight the audience with
their usual spectacular style
with yuletide numbers in
cluding "An Old Fashioned
Christmas."
The public is invited to at
tend what is certain to be a
wonderful afternoon of
Christmas music.
Permits to make fishing reef
from Albemarle bridge denied
Plans to use material from the
old Albemarle Sound Bridge to con
struct several fishing reefs in the
sound came to a halt as Perqui
mans County commissioners were
told last week that the county's per
mit would be denied.
County Manager Paul Gregory
said a letter from the Division at
Marine Fisheries stated that no
new estuarine reefs would be estab
lished until further research can be
done to study the productiveness of
such reefs.
Perquimans, along with Wash
ington, Tyrrell and Pasquotank
counties, applied for the permit to
use the material from the old
bridge for fishing reefs once the
new Albemarle Sound Bridge is
completed. The bridge is located
along N.C. Highway 32 between
Chowan and Washington counties.
Chowan County had investigated
the possibility of using some of the
material as a breakwater, but
County Manager Cliff Copeland
said the county was informed by
the Sea Grant organization that the
material would not be suitable for
that use because of the amount of
steel used to construct the bridge.
In denying the 12 permit requests
for the fishing reef, Steve Murphy,
artificial reef coordinator with the \
DMF, said the effectiveness of arti
ficial reefs in ocean waters has
been well documented. Such reefs
attract sea bass, red snappers, and
spanish mackerel.
"Hie productivity and effective
ness of ectuarine reefs is consider
ably less documented," he said,
adding that spot, croaker, white
perch and trout are primarily for
aging fish and are not associated
with structure or hard-bottom con
ditions.
Though striped bass have been
found to be associated with rocky
bottoms, use of a reef to attract
striped bass would increase the
harvest, Murphy said.
New deadlines
for Christmas
Due to the Christmas Holidays,
deadline for news articles appear
ing in the Thursday, Dec. 29 edition
of The Perquimans Weekly will be
Dec. 22 at 3 p.m.
Advertising deadline for that edi
tion will be Dec. 23 at 2 p.m.
, Bloodmoblle: Dec. 20, 3-7 p.m., Hertford United Methodist