THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY Volume 59,No.11 USPS 428-080 Hertford, Perquimans County, N.C. Thursday, March 15,1990 30 CENTS SgggTg Lady Pirates win [ ■ Page 6 FaRm Aloe vera sooths hurts Page 12 FEATURE Community happenings Page 2 Briefs Peoples Bank will acquire Watauga Savings & Loan Rocky Mount—Peoples Banccr poration announced that it has re ceived final regulatory approval to acquire Watauga Savings and Loan Associaiton, Inc. The acquisition, which was proposed last August, took effect Feb. 28. Watauga Savings, with head quarters in Boone, and additional offices in West Jefferson and New land, had assets on Dec. 31,1989 of approximately $120 million. Robert R. Mauldin, Chairman of Peoples Bancorporation, said, “We are pleased to have die opportunity to join with Watauga which is a nat ural expansion of our franchise from the Triad into the High Coun try area around Boone. Peoples’ af filiation with Watauga allows the bank holding company to continue its commitment to community oriented service. ” George C. King, Watauga’s Pres ident said, “The management and staff are excited about the merger and the opportunity to broaden the range of financial services we can provide to our customers. ’ ’ Peoples’ first action was to reca pitalize Watauga by purchasing 100 percent of the thrift’s common stock. Watauga now exceeds the capital requirements imposed by the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act. Watauga will remain as a separate financial institution with its Board of Directors and staff continuing to serve in their present capacities. Peoples Bancorporation is the state’s ninth largest hank holding company with assets on Dec. 31, 1989 of $1.3 billion. Its subsidiaries are Peoples Bank & Trust Com pany, Rocky Mount; Mid-South Bank & Trust Company, Sanford; Peoples Bank of the Triad, Winston-Salem; and Watauga Sav ings. In January, Peoples agreed to a merger of equals with The Planters ; Corporation, Rocky Mount, which > would form a new bank holding ; company, Centura Banks, Inc., with assets of $2.5 billion. ; Sheriffs Department makes ’ several arrests In county The Perquimans County Sheriff s Department reported the following arrests: On March 4, Lee Ann LaSure Pritchett, 24, of 38M Chestnut St., Snug Harbor was arrested on a worthless check charge. The war rant was from Pasquotank County. On March 7, Willie Junior Stan ley, 21, of Route 1, Box 313A, Tyner, was arrested and charged with misdemeanor possession of mari . juana. •On March 7, Daniel Alphonso .‘Hurdle, 21, of Route 1, Box 373, Tyner was arrested and charged ; with misdemeanor possession of marijuana. On March 8, Ricky Alexander Speller, 26, of Lot 23 Dogwood Tra iler Park, Hertford was arrested and charged with communicating ‘ threats on a Chowan County war : rant. ' On March 10, Douglas Paul Cole- i man, 26, of 38 M Chestnut St., Snug Harbor was arrested on a worthless check charge. The Hertford Police Department, reported no arrests. j-'f s . ■ * .j *u*,. Thinking of placing a Classified Ad; but not sure how to do it? Just call our friendly Ad Visor, Elenora. She will be glad to help you. f 426-5728 'r . . ■ •• • . Perquimans Weekly .&• " '■ . ' - A 119 W. Grubb St. i 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Mon.-Frl. Mistrial declared in Harris murder case By SUSAN HARRIS and JOE SOUTHERN HERTFORD—A Superior Court jury failed to reach a ver dict after two days of deliber ations in what has been described as a racially motivated shooting. After the jury spent 11 hours Wednesday and Thursday dis cussing the case without reach ing a unanimous decision, Judge Frank R. Brown declared a mis trial. William Jay Harris, a 22-year old black man, stood trial for the shooting death of Willard Mi chael Perry, a 32-year-old white Elizabeth City businessman, as a result of an early-morning con frontation at Hardee’s in Hert ford. “I regret that you were unable to reach a verdict,” Brown said. “All of the parties in this ca se...came here expecting you to make a decision.” Brown told the jury that both the Perry and Harris families “deserved to have this matter re solved.” He said that each day they must wait for a verdict adds grief to their lives. “Your verdict would not have ended their suffering,” he said, but added that a verdict would al low the families to put the matter to rest, and begin rebuilding their lives. After being charged at 9:50 Wednesday morning, the jury re quested at 11:10 that Brown again spell out the differences in first degree murder, second-degree murder, manslaughter ana not guilty. They were allowed to go home for the night at 5 p.m. They re-entered the jury room to debate at 9 a.m. Thursday, but announced at 9:35 that they were unable to reach a unanimous deci Photo by Joe Southern William Harris stood trial last weekfor the murder of Willard Michael Perry last April 30. After 11 hours of deliberation, the jury was dead locked, and a mistrial was declared by Superior Court Judge Frank R. Brown. sion. Jurors were instructed to re sume their deliberations by Brown. After a lunch break, he en couraged them to try to resolve their differences of opinion. At 3:10 p.m., the jury filed back into the courtroom and told Brown they did not feel that there was a reasonable chance that a unani mous decision would be reached. Brown subsequently declared a mistrial after denying defense at torney John Halstead’s motion for dismissal. The state asked the jury to con vict Harris of first degree murder in the case. The defense argued that Harris, much smaller than Perry, thought that Perry in tended to kill him, and that he shot Perry in self-defense. Both groups admitted that there was a confrontation and that ra cial slurs were hurled; however, witnesses for both sides differed in their recanting of the night’s events which ended in tragedy. Perry, his wife and four friends had attended a Moose Lodge Dance in Chowan County before visiting Hardee’s. Harris and his friends had been at the Rainbow Lounge in Hertford. According to testimony, Harris had driven his car beside his girlf riend’s at the restaurant’s (five through window when the Perry van pulled into the parking lot. Harris and his girlfriend, Annie Bouey, were arguing when the Perry group passed near them. Stuart White, a member of the Perry entourage, made a com ment as he passed the vehicles. When White walked in front of the Harris car, it lunged forward, almost hitting White. Harris said in court that his foot had slipped off of the break pedal. Upset by the incident. White and R.P. White, also with the Perry group, admitted on the stand that they had made com ments which included calling Harris and his friends “niggers. They also admitted that they had heavily consumed alcohol earlier that night. After receiving his food at the drive-up window, Harris said he drove to the back of the restau rant, got out of his car and went to speak with his girlfriend. He said that Perry had fol lowed him and tried to start a fight, but Harris said he told Perry he did not want to fight. Harris told the court that he then got a gun and shot twice at the ground, but that Perry did not stop advancing toward him. Har ris said he was afraid that Perry was about to pull a gun because Perry’s hands were behind his back, so Harris shot, striking Perry in the chest. Perry seemed to be drunk, Har ris said, and he was certain that the man much larger than himself wanted to kill him. Perry, accord ing to a coroner, had a 0.23 blood alcohol level at his death. Perry did not threaten Harris and walked in Harris’ direction with his arms by his sides, said those with Perry on the night of the murder. Harris is being held awaiting a second trial. Photo by Susan Harris The winning conservation posters in the Perquimans County compe tition are on display at the Conservation Office. Mitchell is located on Queen’s Creek in Swansboro. At Mitchell you will enjoy learning about our coastal adventure. You will learn a craft, learn to canoe, learn archery, sail a boat, study fiddler crabs and blue crabs, ex plore an island, sing, dance, play volleyball and softball, study ma rine science and have lots of fun. The cost of the camp is $115, and includes three meals a day, snacks, lodging and transportation to , camp. This year Perquimans, • Gates and Camden counties will charter a bus to camp. To help keep transportation cost low ($25) for campers, the Perquimans County Extension Homemakers Council makes an annual donation of $100 in support of our .camping program. Youth attending camp must have in immunization record and a lealth exam. The deadline for the &25 nonrefundable deposit is May 1. Oue to the fact that we have only 15 spaces for summer camp, reserva ions will be taken on a first-come >asis. If you have any questions, call Juanita T. Bailey, Home Eco lomics Extension Agent at 426 >428. Plan now to join us for a week >f adventure and fun. v -- ^ Hertford Mayor Bill Cox signed a proclamation declaring March 12-17 as Employ the Older Worker Week in Hertford. The document stated that older workers bring extensive experience and high job qualifications to the work force, and that they should be seriously considered when jobs are available. Council votes to enforce tag ordinance By SUSAN HARRIS Hertford Town Councilman John Beers said at the board’s Monday night meeting that he felt the town should enforce the ordinance re quiring residents to purchase city tags for their vehicles. Beers said that he had noticed that fewer residents were purchas ing the tags, and that there seemed to be no penalty for those who did not comply with the city ordinance.' Hertford Police Chief Aubrey Sample was asked if he could rec ommend ways to handle the prob 1 em . Sample said that his department could set up spot checks. He also told the council that Elizabeth City had added the fee for their town tags to the registered owner's property tax bill. Councilman Erie Haste sug gested that Chief Sample be asked to establish a policy to deal with the problem. The penalty for failure to purchase a tag is a $10 fine plus the $5 cost of the tag. Councilman Jesse Harris said that he felt the residents should be warned that the town intended to strictly enforce the policy before is suing citations. “You can do it cold-bloodedly or you can do it with some common sense decency,” Harris said. Haste countered that the ordi nance is not new, and that people are deliberately failing to purchase tags. Mayor W.D. “Bill” Cox recom mended that city attorney Walter Edwards look into the legality of adding the fee to property taxes. Sample said he will probably di rect his department to run spot checks. Haste asked for an update at the next council meeting. Junk car ordinance Beers also asked what had been done regarding the junk car ordi nance passed by the town last month. Sample said that he had had some questions regarding the im plementation of the ordinance, but had discussed them with Edwards earlier and gotten clarification. He told the councilmen that both he and Captain Brad Krause have issued spoken warnings. One writ ten warning has also been issued. If some of the problem vehicles are not removed by Friday morning. Sample expects to have them towed Friday afternoon. Beers said that he felt the people were ready to see the town move on the ordinance. Retirement study Cox asked the board to consider allowing the state to review the town’s retirement plan at a cost of $740. He said that Hertford is one of the few towns not on the state re tirement system, and that it has hampered efforts to hire experi enced employees when they are presently on the system and will lose their benefits because Hertford has a private retirement package. Council voted to go ahead with the study. Acquired property Cox told the council that the prop erty at 100 Railroad Ave. owned by the Bertha Lane Estate has been purchased with monies from the block grant the town received last year. He said that the town will so licit bids to tear down the partially burned dwelling on the property. He also told the town that Ed wards had spoken with Edgar Lane regarding two other abandoned houses owned by the Bertha Lane Estate against which the town has initiated condemnation proceed ings. Edwards told Cox that Lane had requested information on allowing the Hertford Fire Department to burn the houses for training pur poses. Chief Edgar Roberson is working with Lane to get the proper forms signed to allow the depart ment to burn the structures. Cox announced that there w 'l be a zoning hearing on March 19 at 7 p.m. at the municipal building to discuss the placement of mobile homes in the city limits. The council went into executive - session at the request of Harris to discuss personnel matters.