THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
Volume 59, No.8
USPS 428-080
Hertford, Perquimans County, N.C. Thursday, February 22,1990
30 CENTS
SPORTS
Wilkins breaks record
Page 6
Farm
“————
Beyond the Weeds
Page 10
FEATURE
Charlie says good-bye
Page 4
Local
Briefs
Community plans bonofit for
hunting accident victim
A group of citizens has banned to
gether to plan a benefit supper for
Mack Bunch of Perquimans
County, who recently received inju
ries to his face and chest in a hunt
ing accident.
The pork barbeque and trim
mings meal is scheduled for Satur
day, March 31 from li a.m. until 7
p.m. at the Bethel Fire Station.
Tickets will sell for $5.
Anyone interested in making ben
efit donations or needing more in
formation may contact Jeff
Proctor (426-7812), Willis Proctor
(482-8073) or Wayne Layden (426
7591).
Bunch is presently in Pitt Memo
rial Hospital.
Democrats plan annual
precinct meetings
Perquimans County Democrats
have scheduled their annual pre
cinct meetings to be held at their
regular polling places on March 8
at 8 p.m.
County Democratic Chairman
Julian H. Broughton encouraged all
registered Democrats to attend.
“We want all Democrats to attend
this meeting, whether they’re party
regulars or just want to get in
volved with the party again,” he
said.
Chairman Broughton said that
precinct meetings are the most ba
sic ingredient for Democratirsircr
cess. “The precinct level is where
all policy-making begins,” Brough
ton said. ‘’Hie more that people get
involved in precinct meetings, the
better the party can represent the
views of all Democrats.’1
At the March 8 meetings, Demo
crats will elect delegates to the
April 21 County Conventions.
1'Precincts also will have the
chance to pass resolutions on the
Party’s public policy issues.
For more information, call
Chairman Broughton at 426-5667 or
' 426-5438.
Committee of 100 plans
" dinner meeting Monday
Perquimans County Committee
of 100 will hold its annual meeting
on Monday, Feb. 26, at Angler’s
Cove Restaurant. Social hour will
begin at 6:30 with dinner at 7:30.
Members and guests are welcome.
Tickets are $7.50 and may be
picked up at the Perquimans
County Chamber office.
Witwer elected to New
'York Academy of Science
Dr. Timothy Witwer, an Eliza
beth City internist, has been
elected to the New York Academy
of Science. The Academy recog
nizes leaders in medical and scien
tific fields internationally.
The Board of Governors of the
Academy acted on Dr. Witwer’s
< nomination this month. Candidates
are judged on their achievements
in their field of endeavor. The Acar
demy announced new members at
a special award ceremony in New
York City.
, Witwer commented that he was
pleased to be elected into the distin
guished organization. Witwer and
•nis wife, Susan, live in Elizabeth
•City and are the parents of two chil
dren.
Thinking of placing a
Classified Ad; hut not
sure how to do it? Just
call our friendly Ad-,
Visor, Elenora she will
be glad to help you.
426-5728
;: Perquimans
Weekly
119 W. Grubb St.
8 a.m.-5p.m., Mon.-Frl.
Perquimans schools approves differentiated pay and
school improvement plans after months of study
By JOE SOUTHERN
DaHy Advinc* Staff Writer
The Perquimans County Board of Educa
tion, with support from the system’s employ
ees, has approved its differentiated pay plan
and school improvement plan, and has sub
mitted them to the state for approval.
The pay plan closely follows the Career De
velopment Program the school system has
been test piloting for the state for the last five
years. Through the plan, teachers earn their
raises and bonuses based on student perfor
mance and improvement. It is one of the big
gest factors listed in the school improvement
plan, as submitted through the provision of
the Student Improvement and Accountabil
ity Act (a.k.a. Senate Bill 2)
“Research shows that certain teaching
practices are positively correlated with stu
dent achievement,” the pay plan says. “The
focus of teacher evaluation in the CDP is on
those effective teaching practices which can
make a difference in student performance.”
The plan has three major goals. They are:
“to improve the quality of instruction; to in
crease the attractiveness of teaching; and to
encourage the recognition and retention of
high quality teachers.”
The plan calls for advancement based on
performance as judged by a panel of trained
evaluators. Employees entering into the sys
tem are assigned an “initial status” during
the first two years of employment. An em
ployee who has completed the requirements
of the initial certification program, but is not
yet tenured in the county school system, will
be assigned a “provisional status.”
After tenure has been obtained, the em
ployees can then earn “Career Status I.” Af
ter three years the employee is eligible to be
promoted to “Career Status II.” .
The plan has a provision designed to keep
employees from becomming lax in their du
ties once the higher level is achieved. If an
evaluator determines that the employee is
not maintaining appropriate levels, mea
sures can be taken to return the person to
Career Status I.
Because the school system served as one of
16 test systems for the program, the system
will have a three-year decrease in funding to
allow the rest of the state the opportunity to
catch up to present levels. The bonuses
earned through the pay plan are determined
by a percentage of the employees current
salary.
The proposal calls for Career Status I em
ployees to earn bonuses of 4.5 percent of cur
rent salary, and for Career Status II
employees to receive 14.1 percent. In the sec
ond and third years the same percents hold,
but with the provision of the availability of
funds. The faculty and staff voted on the
three-year pay scale, and approved it with a
74-29 vote by the faculty and a 10-0 vote by the
administration.
Included in the plan is the appeals process
policy.
Included in the school improvement plan
was the system’s five-year goals. Those
goals include professional development, in
creased community support, improved cur
riculum and increased funding sources.
Through those goals the system hopes to
improve SAT scores, address the adult liter
acy problem, expand various programs and
to improve relations with the community.
Restoration Association plans art show
The Perquimans County Re
storation Association is sponsor
ing its first art show on Sunday,
Feb. 25, from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. be
ginning with a reception honor
ing the artists. Local artists
whose work will be displayed in
clude Henry Rood, Jr., Nat White
and Mildred Edwards Whitley.
Members of the Perquimans
County Restoration Association
will preview the show at their an
nual dinner meeting on Feb. 24 at
the new Perquimans Center at
Newbold-White.
Mrs. Whitley, who has just ob
served her 95th birthday, has
been painting since she was 16,
and some of her paintings from
this early period will be shown.
“Mic,” as she is fondly called, at
tributes her love for this art form
to a woman named Miss Penel
ope Norcom who gave classes to
young ladies in painting and fine
“fancy work.1’ —- - —
“She was so strict that we all
called her the Pope,” Mic says,
“but it was fun, and I have been
painting ever since.” She also
studied music, and played the or
gan at Holy Trinity for 50 years.
Mic still keeps her easel set up on
her riverfront porch, with two
paintings of the Perquimans
River now near completion.
Henry Rood’s first love seems
to have been portraiture. He has
almost 500 portraits, hanging in
26 states, to his credit. Among
these are four governors of North
Carolina and many well-known
corporate executives. He works
in pastels and oils, and includes
landscapes of Greensboro, his
former home, the Outer Banks
and Perquimans County in his
collection.
Rood calls himself “portrait
painter, picture conservator, and
art educator.” A few years ago he
and his wife, nee Frances Wilson
White, decided to leave the
Greensboro home where they
lived for 51 years and come to her
native home, Hertford, for a more
leisurely life style.
He continues to paint, and will
unveil his latest work as a conser
vator at the annual meeting of
PCRA of Feb. 24. Frances con tin
ues her study of genealogy and
early Pequimans history. Both
.. ..
, Photo by Susan Harris
Mildred “Mic” Whitley contemplates a painting of the Perqui
mans River on which she is presently working in her den/studio
on the banks of the river. Mrs. Whitley is one of three local artists
whose work will be shown at the first Perquimans Restoration
Association art show.
serve as docents at Newbold
White.
Nat White, also a repatriated
Perquimans native, proves that
despite what Thomas Wolfe said,
you “can go home again.” Nat, a
Perquimans boy, married Mary
Lou Percy, a Perquimans girl,
which gives them a double dose of
Perquimans fever. He also hap
pens to be Frances White Rood’s
brother, and like her husband,
Henry Rood, studied at the New
York Art Student’s League.
White is well known as an illus
trator, with credits from the
Reader’s Digest and many other
magazines. He is in demand as an
illustrator for the better advertis
ing agencies, greeting card com
panies and publishers of fine art
books.
The Art Show will be open for
the reception from 1:30-4:30 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 25, and for three
days beginning March 1, when the
Newbold-White reopens to the
public for the 1990 season. The ex
hibit is free and everyone is cor
dially invited to visit the center
during regular hours of operation,
on March 1,2, and 3, from 10 a.m.
until 4:30p.m.
School system tries to raise test scores
By JOE SOUTHERN
OtfyAdv«no»8t«ffWriMr _'
Wanting to turn the tide of poor
test results and other problems of
educating a largely poor popula
tion, the Perquimans County
schools has taken its first step with
the Effective Schools program.
“The most common element of
all humans is not color, height,
weight or accent, it’s the ability to
learn,” Robert Fortenberry, Super
intendent of Schools in Jacckson,
Miss., told the faculty and staff of
file Perquimans school system dur
ing a special program Tuesday af
ternoon.
Fortenberry, who is credited
with making drastic improvements
in his home district, is the longest
tenured siq>erintendent in an urban
environment in the U. S. He has
held his position for 17 years. Most
recently be has become active with
the Effective Schools movement,
and was invited as a guest speaker
in Perquimans County.
“The best thing I can do for my
grandchildren is make public edu
cation work better,” be said. “My
job above everything else is to see
fiat kids learn”
Fortenberry spent a big part of
his lecture dispelling the myth that
the ability to learn is based on so
cio-economic factors. He stressed
that the poor not only have the
same right to the same education
as those of means, but they have
die same capabilities to learn as
wen.
“There are no more excuses. If
the children come, teach them.” he
said. He added that his school dis
trict’s motto has been “the aca
demic failure of any child is an
unacceptable outcome.”
He also provided some statistics
which appeared to shock his audi
ence.
“The people with the lowest ex
pectation ol black kids are the
Mack people,” he said.
He pointed out that one in five
children born in America are born
to teen-age mothers. One in four
areUlegitunate.
“A search in our district revealed
a 22-year-old grandmother,” he
said. “Do we owe ha* children any
thing less (than other children)?”
“The Dick and Jane household in
America is dead,” be said.
- “The birth rate in America is
determined by economics, not
race,” he said.
He showed how the birth rate de
clined as the household economic
levels rose.
“People ask me when we are
going to get through this school im
provement business. My answer to
mat is “never,” he said.
He also talked about the impor
tance of having good leadership in
a school system.
“I have not dealt with a school
improvement program in this na
tion that has bubbled up from the
bottom,” he said. He encouraged
principals to go into the classrooms
more often.
After his lecture, Fortenberry
said he felt that Perquimans
County schools would soon see
some improvement.
“It is going to improve here be
cause of the leadership,” he said.
He added that what be had to say to
the teachers and staff would make
them uncomfortable.
Perquimans Superintendent
Mary Jo Martin agreed. She said
that many of the teachers were, for
the first tune, getting a look at what
kind of students they really have in
class.
Hertford Town Council
enacts junk car ordinance
By SUSAN HARRIS
Editor
The Hertford Town Council en
acted a junked car ordinance on
Monday, Feb. 12 after a year of dis
cussion on die matter.
“I think it’s very enforceable and
very well written,” commented po
lice chief Aubrey Sample when
asked by council members for his
comments.
The ordinance, which was taken
from a model drawn up by the N.C.
League of Municipalities, defines
abandoned, junked and nuisance
vehicles.
Abandoned vehicles are unlaw
ful. The ordinance gives town offi
cials authorization.to determine,
that a vehicle is abandoned and or
der its removal.
It is unlawful for a vehicle to re
main on a real property after the
vehicle has been declared a nui
sance vehicle. The town building in
spector may determine that the
vehicle is a health or safety hazard
and a nuisance vehicle and order
that it be removed.
Junked motor vehicles are regu
lated. The owner of real property
upon which a junked vehicle sits
may not leave nor allow a vehicle to
remain on property after the vehi
cle has been ordered removed.
Only one junked motor vehicle,
subject to strict conditions con
tained in the ordinance, may sit on
any public or private property.
The building inspector may order
the removal of a junked motor vehi
cle after finding that the aesthetic
benefits of removing the vehicle
outweigh the burdens imposed on
the private property owner upon
whose property the vehicle sits.
Abandoned, nuisance or junked
vehicles can be towed from the
property by the town after the
owner of the vehicle and-or prop
erty upon which the vehicle sits is
are given adequate notice as de
fined in the ordinance.
Exceptions to the prior notice re
quirements include vehicles ob
structing traffic, parked in no
parking zones, parked in no stop
ping zones, parked in loading zones,
. parked in bus zones or parked in vi
olation of temporary parking re
strictions.
After a vehicle has been towed
subject to the conditions of the ordi
nance, the town must notify the last
registered owner of the vehicle, de
tailing the description of the vehi
cle, the location of the storage
facility, the violation with which
the owner is charged, procedures
for redeeming the vehicle and pro
cedures to request a probable cause
hearing on the removal.
Council considered a junked car
ordinance in 1989, but could not
move ahead with the measure due
to pending state legislation dealing
with the matter.
Town officials expect to begin en
forcing the ordinance immediately.
L
Photo by Susan Harris
What’s la there?
Curiosity got the best of Heather Nicole Byrum last week. She
couldn't figure out why there was a window in the side of the
municipal building, so she decided to investigate. Heather was
on an outing with her mother, Sarah Morton Byrum.