THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
Volume 59, No.12
USPS 428-080
Hertford, Perquimans County, N.C. Thursday, March 22,1990
30 CENTS
SPORTS
Lady Pirates win opener
Page 6
Tgffg .
Choose seed wisely
Page 10
FESTPEE
V. Gail Winds
Page 4
Briefs
Senior Center
plans Spring
Bahamas trip
The Perquimans County Recre
ation Department/Senior Center is
sponsoring a trip to the Bahamas.
An extraordinary trip is planned,
but spaces are limited. Please con
tact Patti White at the Center im
mediately for information on this
trip. You must reserve your space
this week.
Cooking fire
damages town
apartment
Hertford firemen responded to a
cooking fire at Stokes Drive Fri
day. Thirteen firefighters an
swered the call and were on the
scene in under three minutes. Chief
Edgar Roberson cited extensive
damage in the kitchen of the town
house apartment, which is owned
by the town of Hertford. He esti
mated replacement costs of cab
inets at between $3,000 and $5,000.
Saturday wreck
claims life
By SUSAN HARRIS_
A Perquimans County woman
was killed and six others injured in
a three-car collision near Elizabeth
City early Saturday morning.
Nellie Combs Mallory, 45, of
Route 4, Box 1000, Hertford died at
around 6:40 a.m. as a result of inju
ries sustained when her 1989 Plym
outh was struck by a 1983 Ford
operated by Clarence Melvin Mad
ison, 54, of Richmond, Va.
According to the report of N. C.
Highway Patrol Trooper C.R. Hai
ley, the Madison vehicle was
stopped at the intersection of U.S.
Highway 17 and Rural Road 1144.
Mrs. Mallory was traveling south
on U.S. 17. Madison attempted to
make a left turn west onto Road
1144, striking Mrs. Mallory, who
was crossing the intersection. Mrs.
Mallory had the right-of-way.
A third car operated by Rosa
Brothers Frost, 47, of 1145 Mt. Her
mon Church Rd., Elizabeth City,
was stopped at the intersection.
Her 1979 Buick was struck by Mrs.
Mallory’s car.
Madison’s vehicle struck a traffic
island and two highway signs be
fore coming to rest in the eastbound
lane of Road 1144.
Madison has been charged with
death by vehicle and failure to
yield.
Damages to the Plymouth were
estimated at $9,000, while the Ford
sustained $1,000 in damages. The
Buick received minor damages.
Sylvia Armstrong, Beryl Combs
andKatasha Combs, all passengers
in the Mallory vehicle, were trans
ported to Albemarle Hospital with
minor injuries.
Ms. Frost and her passengers,
Sheila Frost and Regina Powell,
were also taken to Albemarle Hos
pital with minor injuries.
-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.
426-5728
Perquimans
i Weekly
119 W. Grubb St.
8 a.m.-5 p.m., Mon.-Fri,
‘Heated’ characterizes Hertford public hearing
By JOE SOUTHERN
Dally Advance Staff Writ*
Tempers flared, voices were raised and
Angers were pointed during a public hearing
Monday night on a proposed amendment to
the town’s zoning ordinance.
The Hertford Town Council, after hearing
several people in a packed room oppose the
amendment, voted to refer the issue back to
committee for further consideration. Over 20
people crowded into the municipal building
to protest the amendment that would allow
councilman Jesse Harris to continue to oper
ate his mobile home park in a zone that does
not allow mobile homes.
The problem began several weeks ago
when town and county building inspector Au
brey Onley refused a permit allowing Harris
to put a mobile home in a vacant slot in his
mobile home park on Pennsylvania Avenue.
The park is in an R-8 zone which prohibits
mobile homes.
When the zoning ordinance was approved
in 1980, the park and all mobile homes in the
zone were allowed to stay under a grandfa
ther clause. The clause states that once indi
vidual mobile homes are removed, they
cannot be replaced. It also said that Harris’s
mobile home park could continue to operate
until it was vacated or abandoned.
Harris’s park, which has been operating
for over 30 years, has five slots, one of which
was vacated two years ago. Harris was about
to rent the slot to a tenant a month ago when
he was denied the permit. He said he can do
it because he is still operating a mobile home
park there. Onley said the trailer was illegal
since the space was abandoned.
Speaking at the meeting was William B.
Dunn, the community development planner
from the Department of Economic and Com
munity Development who helped Hertford
develop its zoning ordinance. He side
stepped the question of who was wrong or
right, and only commented on the proposed
amendment.
“This proposed amendment clarifies what
appears to have been town policy for a
while,” Dunn said. He added that similar
amendments have been passed by towns fac
ing similar problems.
“I’m the one who is on trial here,” a red
faced Harris said while stating his position
on the matter. “There is nothing here which
stops me from putting trailers back into my
park,” he said, waiving a copy of the zoning
ordinance in the air.
Harris said he does not hold anything
against Onley for trying to do his job to the
best of his ability, but he did feel that Onley
went beyond his duties in not allowing the
permit.
“I do hold it against you for not checking
with the authorities in Raleigh for clarifica
tion,” he said, directing his statements at the
building inspector.
Onley responded saying he called Dunn
twice to make sure he was correctly inter
preting the ordinance.
From there the meeting lost direction as
citizens took turns complaining about Harris,
mobile homes and inconsistencies in the town
ordinance which governs them. Several
times Mayor W. D. “Bill” Cox had to settle
the room when heated arguments broke out.
At the suggestion of citizen Bill Glover,
councilman T. Eriie Haste, Jr. made the mo
tion to send the amendment back to commit
tee for further consideration. He said he
would like to see the amendment broadened
to address all non-conforming areas in the
town. He also said there needs to be specific
wording which defines a mobile home park.
After the meeting was adjourned, Harris
privately commented that he does not make
enough from the trader park for it to be
worth the fight, and that he is only pressing
the issue for the principle of the matter.
April 21 tour will showcase historic Hertford
Circle Saturday, April 21 on
your calendar and make plans
now to attend a unique tour.
For the first time, structures of
historical significance will be
opened to the public in Hertford,
a charming peninsula town lo
cated on the Perquimans River.
A hidden jewel, Hertford was
incorporated in 1758. Its many
distinctions include being the
home of the first woman post
master in the United States after
ratification of the Constitution.
Almost immediately following
her appointment in 1792, Sarah
Moore Delano DeCrow asked for
and received a raise in salary.
Her influence with national polit
ical leaders, such as U. S. Su
preme Court associate jsutice
James Iredell and his brother-in
law U. S. Senator Samuel
Johnston, may accourt for her se
lection.
Certainly, if this tavern keeper
postmaster personified the Al
gonquian Indian interpretation of
Perquimans, “the land of beauti
ful women.” she turned many a
gentleman's eye.. ——•
Since 1661 when settler-mari
ner George Durant pruchased
land from Chief Kilcocanen, resi
dents of Perquimans County es
tablished taproots of fairness and
strength of character.
In 1971 this heritage restored
North Carolina’s oldest hours, the
(ca.1685) Newbold-White House. It
also refuted North Carolina author
Thompas Wolfe’s “You Can’t Go
Home Again.”
Many repatriated natives (or
descendants of natives) came
home. Furthermore, they brough
with them the financial means to
restore ancestral homes, plus a
wide cultural experience that is
enriching the quality of life in the
area.
An example is Perquimans
County bornand reared Wallace
Reed, whose ancestor was Durant
as well as N. C. Gov. William Reed
(1722-1724).
A retired executive with South
Carolina National Bank, Reed and
his wife, Mary, a native of historic
Beaufort, S. C., bought and reno
vated the river fronted Simpson
Blanchard House. The couple
spend the summer months in Hert
ford, while maintaining a winter
home in Columbia, S. C.
Twenty-two homes and two
buildings, Holy Trinity Episcopal
Church and the 1825 Perquimans
County Court House, will either
show first floors, vegetable and
flower gardens, host art shows on
front porches and river front ve
randas, or all of the above.
The variety of architectural
styles promises to please every
one’s personal preference.
Sponsored by the Perquimans
County Restoration Association as
a fund raiser for the Newbold
White House’s maintenance, the
torn* begins at the Hertford Cham
ber of Commerce, where tickets,
rest rooms, coffee and guides are
available. It concludes with a
short drive to Newbold-White.
Other attractions on the site are
the ca. 1820 David Newby Cottage,
the Perquimans Center and an ar
chaeological dig involved in un
earthing the site of an earlier (ca.
1670) house on the property.
The $10 tour fee includes lunch,
which will be served in the Perqui
mans Center from 11 a.m. to 2
p.m. As stated, this is a unique
tour at a bargain price.
Inquiries and reservations may
be made at the Chamber of Com
merce office, (919) 436-5657, or at
Newbold-White, (919) 426-7567.
Groups welcomed.
rnoio oy ouson nan is
Grand opening
Hertford Mayor Bill Cox cut the ribbon Friday morning at the grand opening at Mickey B’s Professional
Cleaning Service on Edenton Road Street. Looking on are (left to right) county commissioner’s chairman
Lester Simpson, Chamber of Commerce vice president Nancy Newbem, Chamber president Lewis
Evans, Cox, coowner Lee Gordon, co-owner Leon Felton and employees Willie Vaughan, Elton Step
ney, Michael Bonner and Larry Mallory. Not pictured is co-owner McKinley Gilliam. The Perquimans
County Chamber of Commerce sponsored the ribbon cutting.
Crime report
The Hertford Police Department
reported three arrests made dur
ing the past week.
Henry Lewis Burnham, 42, of 205
Wynn Fork Ct. was arrested on
March 12 anti charged with failure
to appear and assault with a
deadly weapon.
Sharon Woods Burnham, 27, of
205 Wynn Fork Ct. was arrested on
March 13 and charged with failure
to appear on a show cause order
and simple assault.
Connie Lilly Forehand, 20, of 108
King St. was arrested on March 13
and charged with shoplifting.
The Perquimans County Sher
iff’s Department reported three
arrests also:
Anthony Ray Saunders, 32, of
Lowe’s Drive, Hertford Beach was
arrested on March 13 and charged
with assault on a female.
Frank Dennis Thompson, 27, of
P-Section, Holiday Island was ar
rested on March 14 and charged
with perjury.
Leslie Michelle Moore, 19, of Rt.
5, Box 106 was arrested on March
14 and charged with breaking and
entering and larceny on a Chowan
County warrant.
School board sets goals at annual retreat last week
By SUSAN HARRIS
At its annual retreat last week, the Perqui
mans Board of Education adopted four goals for
the 1990-91 school year.
First on the list was die board’s decision to be
actively involved in efforts directed toward pro
viding equitable funding for all school districts
in North Carolina.
To do this the board will continue to have rep
resentation on the Rural Initiative Task Force,
Task Force for Excellence in Secondary Educa
tion and Financial Advisory Committee in the
State Department of Public Instruction; and
will also retain its membership in the Small
School Consortium and continue to write grant
proposals.
The board will also support the activities re
lated to the successful implementation of Senate
Bill 2. This will be accomplished through staff
development, continued training for the Effec
tive Schools Team, and enrichment or expan
sion of curriculcum areas. Integrated studies,
an additional pre-kindergarten class, writing
across the grades, mastery learning, improved
remediation efforts, changes in scope and se
quence, elementary reading series expansion
and SAT preparation may be implemented.
Development of programs and activities that
more hilly involved* parents in the educational
progams offered is also a goal of the board. This
may be accomplished by expanding the Com
munity Schools program through activities such
as a printed annual report, community meet
ings with the superintendent and outreach pro
grams.
Other offerings may be the creation of family
counseling and parent education classes, contin
uation of the adult literacy class sponsored
jointly by CO A, and the school system, and ex
pansion of the volunteer efforts.
The board will also work to restructure the
vocational education program. Administrative
staff members have already begun meeting
with COA officials to determine what might be
accomplished jointly in vocational areas.
Board funds
OM team trip
By SUSAN HARRIS_
The Odyssey of the Mind team
that won first place in regional
competition on March 3 showed the
school board Monday night what
their project entailed.
Team members Adrian Frierson,
Matthew Byrum, Mark Swindell,
Michael Clinkscales, Jaime Stone,
and Kristy Roberson re-created
their presentation for the board.
Christopher Gregory, also a team
member, was unable to attend.
The board members listened in
tently as spokesperson Michael
Clinkscales told how the team had
designed by trial and error a struc
ture made from 15 grams of balsa
wood that was able to hold 142
pounds of weight in competition.
The team will travel to Charlotte
on April 6 to compete on the state
level.
Perquimans has placed teams in
state competition in each of its first
two years of participation in the
project. Last year, one team even
earned the right to compete on the
international level.
Later in the meeting, the board
voted to give the team $300 to help
defray expenses during the stay in
Charlotte.
Also requesting funding from the
board was a delegation of students
representing the Hunter Safety
Team at the high school.
Spokesman Chad White asked
that the board consider making the
team a part of the athletic depart
ment since it is open to anyone in
the school and there are try-outs as
in other sports.
White told the board that the
team is supported now mainly by
business donations and FFA mon
ies. Members many times supply
their own shells. Those who are on
the archery team must supply their
own equipment.
Each year, White said, the Per
quimans team has qualified to com
pete at the state championships.
Only the top 50 teams in the state
are eligible for that honor, he
added.
Wildlife Officer Jack Staley, who
has worked with the program for
the past five years, also spoke on
behalf of the team.
“What they’re here tonight for is
to seek support,” Staley told the
board. “I would like to see this con
sidered as a sport. ”
Staley said that Perquimans Is
“slipping behind due to a lack of
funds.”
Board chairman Clifford
Winslow told the team to have their
advisor, Harrell Thach, submit a
proposal to the board since budget
preparation for next year will begin
soon.
“...we’ll certainly give it every
consideration,” he told the dele
gation.
Middle School PTSA president
Nancy Harrell told the board that
the PTSA had raised approxi
mately $6,900 from their fall cookie
sale. She said that the PTSA board
of directors would like to put the
money back into the school.
The budget and finance commit
tee recommended that two ceiling
fans be purchased to be installed in
each classroom, and that screens
be installed in the windows to help
combat the flies caused by the sep
tic problems at the school. Any left
over monies will be used to
purchase blinds.
The board agreed to provide die
labor and supplies needed to install
the fans if the PTSA general mem
bership approved of the plan at its
next meeting.
The board approved a resolution
concerning local autonomy. The
resolution grew out of the debate on
whether local school systems had
the right to decide to use Channel 1
in the classrooms.
In light of Senate Bill 2, which
puts decisions beck on the local
level, the executive director of the
state school board association re
quested that local boards consider
adopting the resolution.