THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
Volume 58, No. 9 USPS 428-080 Hertford, Perquimans County, N.C. Thursday, March 2, 1989 ? rcurc
I
Farm
Who will grow beans
in the future?
page 10
'
Feature'
Eastern Echoes shifts
to Gail Winds
page 4
Community
Engagements and
weddings announced
Daae 3
Local
Briefs
False alarms
yield arrest
A Tyner man was arrested Sat
urday and charged with giving
false fire alarms after allegedly
causing to be called in four false
alarms to the Perquimans Dis
patch office.
Robert Earl Griffin, 18, of Route
1, Box 555, was arrested by Sgt.
James Logan of the Perquimans
County Sheriff's Department.
Logan said the Belvidere-Chappell
Hill Fire Department, of which
Griffin was a member, received
and responded to four false alarms
Saturday.
When one call was placed, fire
fighter C.W. Overton was at the
fire station. He observed Griffin
pick up a phone book, place a call
and ask the party to report a fire at
the residence of Braxton Jones.
Overton alerted Belvidere-Chap
pell Hill fire chief Jimmy Chappell,
who in turn informed the Perqui
mans County Sheriff's Depart
ment.
Griffin was placed under a $500
secured bond and transported to
Albemarle District Jail. He is
scheduled to appear in District
Court on March 15.
Causeway will
close Monday
The causeway linking Hertford
and Winfall will close on Monday,
March 6, highway officials have
told Perquimans County Manager
Paul Gregory. Originally sched
uled to begin in March, the exten
sive repairs are expected to take
approximately six months.
Town Councilman T. Erie Haste,
Jr. suggested at the council's Feb
ruary meeting that the contractor
be asked to get the job done as
quickly as possible. Haste cited the
inconvenience of driving several
miles due to the closing as a con
cern.
The traffic light at the intersec
tion of U.S. Highway 17 Bypass and
Church Street Extd. should also be
installed next week. The light was
deemed necessary due to the antic
ipated traffic increase expected as
a result of the causeway closing.
Drug arrest
made here
A six-month joint investigation
by the Hertford Police Department
and the Perquimans County Sher
iff's Department resulted in the ar
rest of a Hertford man last Thurs
day.
The departments obtained a war
rant to search the Route 1, Box
989F home of Johnny Ray Warren,
31. There they found over 61 grams
of marijuana, a small quantity of
cocaine and a host of drug par
aphenalia. Kirby, the Sheriff's De
partment's drug dog, assisted in
the raid.
Warren, who was not at home at
the time of the raid, later turned
himself in. He was charged with
possession of a controlled sub
stance schedule 6 with intent to
manufacture, sell or deliver.
He is presently out of jail on a
$2,000 secured bond awaiting his
First court appearance scheduled
for March 15.
LP gas truck
overturns
An LP gas truck overturned on
U.S. Highway 17 south of Hertford
near the intersection of Highway 17
and Bethel road Saturday af
ternoon.
The truck, operated by Joseph
Wayne Hooker, 24, of Virginia
Beach, was travelling north of
Highway 17 when the driver at
tempted to pull off on the right
shoulder. The shoulder and ditch
embankment gave away, and the
truck overturned on its right side.
Highway patrolman J.R. Strick
land called for the assistance of the
Bethel and Hertford Volunteer
Fire Departments.
Approximately $600 in damages
was estimated to the truck owned
by Merritt Trucking Company of
Greensboro. No citations were is
Local boards, NAACP agree on electoral changes
New laws should be implemented by early fall
After more than a year of re
search into the voting system in
Perquimans County, the Board of
Education, County Commissioners
and NAACP agreed last Tuesday
night on a change in the way mem
bers of the two boards will be
elected.
The boards will be expanded
from the present five members to
seven members, and there will no
longer be seats for each township.
All candidates will run at-large.
These measures are designed to
make it easier to elect black candi
dates. Theoretically, this will allow
the blacks to support one candidate
and get that candidate elected by
single-shot voting. The other votes
would be split among the white
candidates, dilluting the votes.
Although it was not the recom
mendation of the committee that
reviewed the voting system, the
NAACP requested that black resi
dents be appointed to fill the posi
tions that will be made available as
soon as the state passes the nec
essary legislation to increase the
number of board members.
One of those appointees from
each board would come up for re
election in 1990, the other in 1992.
The committee, comprised of
William "Buddy" Tilley, John
Matthews, Emma Burke, J.C.
Cole, Gloria Thomas, Cliff Towe
and Paul Gregory, was appointed
after the NAACP threatened to sue
the county. The threat came after
the county commissioners named
Durwood Reed to fill the unexpired
term of W.W. "Welly" White,
rather than appointing one of the
three black candidates they en
dorsed.
Working with Dick Brockett of
the Institute of Government at
UNC-Greenville and Michael Cro
well, a Raleigh attorney who spe
cializes in voting rights issues, the
committee set out to update the
election system in January 1988.
A house count was taken in the
county to determine the numbers
of black and white voters, and how
they were dispersed throughout the
county. The purpose was to put into
place a system of voting districts.
Because blacks do not live in any
geographic concentrations, it was
impossible to district the county in
keeping with established
guidelines.
"The remedy that has been used
in many places in North Carolina
has been to vote in districts," Cro
well said, adding that the system
would not work in Perquimans. He
said that Dick Brockett had tried to
district, but to no avail.
Crowell said that 65 percent of
the population in any district must
be black in order to guarantee a
black majority. "Historically,
black voter registration is lower
than white voter registration," he
said. Only one district could be
drawn adhering to that guideline
generally used by the U.S. Justice
Department in voting rights issues.
"Even if you adopted districts,
you might have to change the lines
after the 1990 census," Crowell
said.
The new electoral system was
unanimously approved by both the
school board arid county commis
sioners. "It seems to me this is
about as equitable as we can get,"
commented school board member
Cliff Towe.
Spokesperson for the NAACP,
Elizabeth City attorney Ronald
Penney, said that the NAACP
would accept the proposed system,
but that if it did not work by 1992,
the county would need to deal with
the situation once again.
"How do you determine if it's
working?" "Buddy" Tilley asked
Penney. Penney replied that the
goal of the new system would be to
elect minorities to the boards.
School board Chairman Clifford
Winslow asked Penny, "What kind
of discretion do we have in filling
the vacancies (to be created by the
new system)?" Penny answered,
"We have significant concerns if it
is not a minority" chosen to fill the
seats, but "ultimately, the decision
is the boards'."
Leo Higgins approached the as
sembly and said that he feels there
are two sets of minorities in the
county: blacks and people who
have lived here less than 10 years.
He said he sees no change for the
latter group, and asked that the
boards give citizens time to re
spond to the proposed changes.
County Commissioner Chairman
Lester Simpson told Higgins that
the boards were working under a
time limit, and could not hold off a
vote.
Mike Crowell advised both
boards that the appropriate mo
tions from the respective bodies
would be to instruct board attor
neys to draft legislation for each
Earlie and Connie Byrum of the Bear Swamp community built this huge snowperson Saturday af
ternoon after the winter sun had caused the fluffy snow to compact.
board to increase the board up to
seven members, eliminate the resi
dency requirements (township sys
tem), have board members elected
in staggered terms with three and
four members elected on alternate
elections, have no run-off require
ments and that the expansion take
place as soon as legislation was ef
fective.
Both boards made the proper
motions, which were agreed upon
An LP gas truck overturned on U.S. Highway 17 south of Hertford Saturday afternoon. Officials re
routed traffic to avoid danger to motorists.
Committee of 100 holds banquet
Historic site proposal unveiled
By SCOTT YATES ,
Hertford-If members of the Per
quimans County Committee of 100
have their way, Smithville, N. J.,
and Hertford will have much more
in common.
Committee members viewed a
videotape this week recounting the
efforts of Smithville in establishing
a historic village which is now a
multi-million dollar success. The
idea of such a village in Hertford is
now being discussed.
"It is an ambitious task, but I
think we should look into it," com
mittee member Henry Carney said
at the annual meeting of the com
mittee Tuesday night at the An
gler's Cove restaurant.
Carney said many old buildings
in the county, such as old country
stares and farm houses, are vacant
and deteriorating. Hie idea is to
bring all these buildings to one lo
cation and provide a village atmo
sphere where local craftsmen
could sell their wares. The build
ings would not be restored, merely
reconstructed, Carney said.
Committee Chairman T. Erie
Haste Jr. said the idea has great
potential. "We need economic
growth and activities that will
bring more people into the area to
visit and live," ne said, adding that
the idea is to sell local crafts made
by local people.
"We have a lot of talented crafts
men in Perquimans County, and
we have a lot of talented people
moving into the community. We
would like to get moving on this as
soon as possible. So far, we have
not had any negative responses so I
feel we are on the right track,"
Haste said.
Committee members will con
tinue to discuss the idea with area
residents to see if it is the type of'
development people would uke to
see in Hertford, Haste said. The
next step in the project is to find a
suitable piece of land that can be
purchased by the committee. Pre
liminary drawings for the village
have been completed by the N. C.
Department of Natural Resources
ana Community Development at
no cost to the town.
To acquire the funds for the pro
ject, Haste said the initial effort
will be for the committee to estab
lish the village as a non-profit orga
nization ana the buildings will be
leased to craftsmen. As a non
profit organization, the town may
be able to receive some grant funds
for the project, Haste said.
Haste said the county's Indus
trial Development Commission has
been approached with the idea and
discussions of combining the ef
forts of the committee and the
commission are being pursued.
Haste said this would allow the two
organizations to pool resources and
work together on this and other
projects to promote economic
growth in the area.
unanimously. The groups will offi
cially vote on the proposed legis
lation on March 6 in their regular
sessions.
County Cancer Society
slates fundraising meal
By: Becky Winslow
President Perquimans County
Cancer Society
Cancer kills nearly 1400 Ameri
cans a day. It doesn't have to be
that way. Even though statistics
show that there will be 4,000 new
cases of lung cancer and 3,400 new
cases of breast cancer in North
Carolina this year, these can be
cured if detected early. So it is very
important that the public be edu
cated to the warning signs of can
cer and cancer prevention.
The American Cancer Society
provides education, patient sup
port and research funding.
The Society provides public edu
cation programs (youth and adult)
for clubs and organizations that
are interested. School kits have
been put in the libraries of all
schools in the county for teachers
to use in teaching about healthy
bodies, cancer causes and preven
tion. Also, professional education
is provided to doctors, nurses and
other public health personnel.
The service and rehabilitation
programs of the American Cancer
Society are designed to help meet
the emotional, as well as physical,
needs of cancer patients and their
families. Gene Boyce is the Perqui
mans Co. Chairman for service
and rehabilitation. Anyone who
needs financial assistance for
transportation to treatments, med
ication or counseling for patients
and their families can contact him.
In the year ended August 31, 1988,
15,825 cancer patients were
reached through the service and
rehabilitation programs in North
Carolina. Many requests were re
ceived through the Cancer Re
sponse System, 1-800-ACS-2345.
In the last 40 years, the Ameri
can Cancer Society's contribution
to cancer research has grown from
$1 million to more that $76 million.
In North Carolina, more than $5
million was spent in the state's
highly acclaimed medical institu
tions such as Duke, Carolina, Bow
man Gray, ECU and N.C. State.
The Perquimans Unit will be
having "Pancake & Sausage Day"
on Saturday, March 4 at the Per
quimans Co. High School. The local
Ruritan Clubs will be the cooks and
they will be cooking good home
made sausage. Without good public
support, the society's goals of elim
inating cancer and saving more
lives would be impossible.
Child care teleconference slated
A teleconference followed by a
local panel discussion has been
scheduled at College of The Albe
marle to help area residents and
childcare workers find out what is
happening nationally and locally to
provide quality, affordable care
for children.
The teleconference entitled
"When We Care for Children" will
air from 12:00 noon-l:30 p.m. Fri
day, March 3. A 45-minute dis
cussion will follow to provide par
ticipants an opportunity to ask
questions of Vernon James, Demo
cratic member of the House of
Representatives; Doris Jacob,
coordinator of Sex Equity with the
N.C. Department of Community
Colleges; Gwen Coleman, director
of the Pasquotank County Depart
ment of Social Services; a rep
resentati ve from the Office of Child
Day Care Licensing; and a local
childcare provider.
"COA is offering this special
event as a valuable training oppor
tunity for area childcare providers
and as an informational time for
anyone interested in the quality
and quanity of childcare available
in the Albemarle area," said Lynn
Hurdle-Winslow, COA's Student
Support Services counselor who is
responsible for the college's child
care program. "Not only will par
ents be interested, business lead
ers who are discovering that
auality childcare is an economic
development issue for their com
munity will also be interested in at
tending."
There is no charge for the tele
conference and panel discussion.
Participants are asked to bring a
brown bag lunch. Drinks and des
sert will be provided at the college.
The live, interactive teleconfer
ence will feature national leaders,
via satellite, discussing legislation
and programs being developed to
break the barriers to affordable
childcare. Conference members
will be able to call national panel
members directly to ask and re
ceive answers to their questions.
"The teleconference will focus
on the barriers we face as commu
nities and as a nation to providing
quality, affordable, accessible
childcare," said Hurdle Winslow
"Having a local panel will then al
low us to discuss this further and
find out answers to our questions
on a more personal, local level.
The teleconference and panel
discussion will be held in room 233
of the A Building at COA's Eliza
beth City campus on U.S. Highway
17 North. Persons interested in at
tending should call 335-0821, ext.
281, to register.