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THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
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Volume 59, No.27US PS 428-080 Hertford, Perquimans County, N.C. Thursday, July S, 1990 30 CENTS
Briefs
Two county mon honored
Two Perquimans County men
have been selected as Outstanding
Young Men of America. Their bio
graphies will appear in the annual
awards publication, Outstanding
Young Men of America.
Wayne Paul Layden and Edgar
Wilbur Roberson, Jr. were recog
nized for their outstanding civic
and professional contributions to
their community and state.
Layden, a 1976 graduate of Per
quimans County High School, owns
and operates Beech Springs Poul
try, a wholesale meat and dairy
product distributorship.
He has been a Jaycee since 1978,
and has held numerous offices and
chaired many projects during his
tenure. He has won a number of
awards from the chapter for his or
ganizational skills and dedication
to community improvement.
Layden has contributed his time
and resources to many community
sponsored benefits for those who
were in need.
He is a member of the Perqui
mans County Chamber of Com
merce and Anderson United
Methodist Church.
Layden and his wife, the former
Gail Stallings, live in Beech
Springs, where they have reno
vated his grandparents’ home. He
is the son of Elliott and Evelyn Lay
den.
Roberson became affiliated with
N.C. Farm Bureau Mutual Insur
ance and Southern Farm Bureau
Life Insurance in August 1988, after
15 years in the agricultural chemi
cal business.
A Jaycee for 15 years, Roberson
has served as a local director for
the past two years. He has also co
chaired the Red Cross Bloodmobile
during that time.
Roberson is a Perquimans Youth
League Director, is an assistant
little league coach, and has also
been an assistant T-ball coach.
A member of the Hertford Fire
Department for 16 years, Roberson
has served as chief for three years.
He is a member and past president
of the Albemarle Firefighter’s As
sociation. He was a member of the
Perquimans County Rescue Squad
for 15 years.
He is a member of the Perqui
mans County Chamber of Com
merce, Northeastern Life
Underwriter’s Association and
Great Hope Baptist Church.
. .Roberson and his wife, the for
mer Gail Chappell, reside south of
Hertford with, their children, Kris
tie, 12; Mindy, 8; and Justin, 6. He
is the son of Wilbur and Elizabeth
Roberson.
Chamber sponsors cruise
The Perquimans County Cham
ber of Commerce is sponsoring a
■Perquimans County Dinner Cruise
aboard the M-V VIKING SUN cm
. Saturday, August 11. Sailing from
Elizabeth City, the cruise will be
from 6 - 8:30 p.m. and will feature a
buffet dinner and live entertain
ment. The cost is $25 per person.
Reservations and payment should
be made to the Chamber of Com
merce by July 10. For further infor
mation call the Chamber at 426
5857.
Thinking of placing a Clas
sified 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
Weekly
.119 W. Grubb St.
8 a.m.*5 p.m„ Mon.-Fri.
School reorganization plan implemented
Staff, students to play musical schools
Perquimans students, teachers,
and administrators will play musi
cal schools in the 1990-91 fiscal year
as a result of actions taken by the
school board Monday night.
The board voted to accept the
school reorganization pattern pro
posed in May by superintendent
Mary Jo Martin. Under the plan, all
students in the county on each
grade level will attend the same
school. The kindergarten, first, and
second grade classes will be housed
at Hertford Grammar School.
Third, fourth and fifth graders will
attend Central Grammar School.
Perquimans Middle School will
serve sixth, seventh and eighth
graders.
“I think it’s an excellent plan and
it’s really overdue,” said board
member Clifford Towe just prior to
the board’s unanimous vote.
Parents and educators who at
tended the meeting to see what ac
tion the board would take
applauded the decision.
Milton Long, the parent of two
students, encouraged the board and
administrators not to keep Hert
ford Grammar students with Hert
ford Grammar teachers and
Central School students with Cen
tral Grammar teachers, as has
been discussed. He said that the
time to integrate students and tea
chers is at the beginning.
“I don’t think we need to try to
segregate them,” Long said. “Let
them go ahead and get it over with
the first year.”
In a related move, the board ap
proved the reassignment of admin
istrative personnel proposed by
Martin.
Bill Tice will move back to Hert
ford Grammar School from Central
School to serve as principal. Susan
Winslow will serve as part-time as
sistant principal at Hertford Gram
mar, in addition to being director of
second language, health and physi
cal education, cultural arts and lan
guage arts programs.
Gary Stubbins will relocate from
the middle school to Central School.
Chris Barber will serve as part
time assistant principal there, and
will continue to direct the Chapter I
programs.
Photo by Susan Harris
Dorothy Barbee, and 84-year-young Hertford resident, took advantage of the opportunity to give
blood when the Red Cross Bloodmobilevisited Perquimans County last Thursday. The Red Cross
has recently relaxed its guidelines, allowing those in good health who pass all the preliminary blood
donation tests to donate. Mrs. Barbee was one of 67 people who attempted to give at the Jaycee
sponsored blood drive. The Jaycees reported that 57 pints were donated, seven pints over the 50
pint goal.
Citizens rally behind reorganization plan
Parents, teachers and other in
terested citizens flooded the Per
quimans County Schools
adminstration building last Thurs
day night at the public hearing
scheduled to discuss the proposed
school reorganization pattern.
School board chairman Clifford
Winslow asked everyone to remain
honest, open and fair to the chil
dren who would be affected by the
proposed reorganization plan. Dur
ing the invocation preceding the
meeting he reminded people to
keep the needs of students above
their own desires or feelings.
Winslow’s concern at the begin
ning of the meeting may have been
unwarranted by some standards,
as parents and school personnel
overwhelmingly offered their sup
port for the reorganization.
Positive comments from parents
and educators outnumbered neg
ative ones by a wide margin. Many
people came to the meeting to ask
specific questions about what the
reorganization would mean to their
children.
Busing routes were a major con
cern of the parents, and was ad
dressed by the superintendent.
Martin explained that Tom Monti,
computer coordinator for the
school system, has been working
along with education employees in
Raleigh to complete detailed maps
of the county for bus routes. Monti
said bus routes could be finalized
when the board reaches a decision
concerning the reorganization.
Estelle Felton, school/commu
nity liason in Perquimans County,
spoke in favor of the reorganiza
tion. She said the plan was one of
the best things the school system
could approve.
“It is better for students, there
will be a better relationship be
tween teachers. I think the whole
program would be better,” Felton
said.
To an applauding audience, Ray
Wittman offered positive opinions
about the reorganization. He said
he was concerned about the eco
nomically disadvantaged students.
He added that the reorganization
could draw the county together and
adults would be providing positive
role models.
“We’re teaching children to be
leaders,” said Wittman.
Arrests reported in county last week
The Perquimans County Sheriff’s
Department reported the following
arrests:
Willie Ford, 31, of King Street,
Hertford, was arrested on June 20
and charged with a probation viola
tion. He was released on a $500 se
cured bond.
Timothy Edward Overton, 18,
was arrested on June 19 and
charged with possesion of stolen
goods on a Halifax County warrant
His bend was placed at $1,000 se
cured. Overton was turned over to
the Roanoke Rapids Police Depart
ment.
Henry Louis Burnham, 43, Rt. 2,
Box 239 Hertford, was arrrested on
June 22 and charged with attempt
to commit second degree rape, lar
ceny from the person, and larceny
in general. He was confined to Al
bemarle District Jail in lieu of a
16,000 secured bond.
Melissa Joyce Coldasure, 17, Rt.
1, Box 148, was arrested on
June 27 on a Pasquotank County
warrant and charged with larceny
and shoplifting concealment of
goods. She was confined to Albe
marle District Jail in lieu of a $400
secured bond.
The Hertford Police Department
reported the following arrests:
Margaret Ann Foreman, 24, Rt.
5, Box 367, Hertford, was arrested
on June 25 and charged with shop
lifting.
Larry Eugene Gilliam, 22, 208
Eden ton Road St., Hertford, was
arrested on June 27 and charged
with failure to appear. He was ar
rested again on June 29 and
Charged with disorderly conduct.
New district wildlife officer assigned here
Winbon James Twiford of Rocky
Mount, a 21-year veteran state
wildlife enforcement officer, re
cently has been named District
Captain for Wildlife District I.
As district captain, Twiford will
be responsible for all wildlife en
forcement and hunting-boating ed
ucation activities in the 13-county
district which covers: Bertie, Cam
den, Chowan, Currituck, Dare,
Gates, Hertford, Hyde, Martin,
Pasquotank, Perquimans, Tyrrell
and Washington counties.
“We’re pleased to make this ap
pointment,” said Colonel W- H.
Ragland of the Wildlife Commis
sion’s Division of Enforcement.
“Jim Twiford is an excellent wild
life officer, and we’re sure he will
do a fine job in this new role.’’
A native of Engelhard, N.C., Twi
ford graduated from Engelhard
High School in 1960 and attended
Chowan College where he received
an associate’s degree in graphic
arts. He joined the N C Wildlife
Resources Commission in 1968 and
has been stationed as a wildlife pro
tector in Cumberland and Hoke
counties and a wildlife sergeant in
Union County. Twiford has been as
signed to Rocky Mount for the past
three years where he has been
serving as Safety Lieutenant then
District Captain for Wildlife Dis
tricts.
Captain Twiford and his wife,
Frances, will live in Columbia.
A concept new to Perquimans
will be implemented at the middle
school. Henry Felton and Morris
Komegay will serve as co-princi
pals at the middle school. Felton,
who served as assistant principal
at Perquimans High School, will
handle administrative duties. In
structional responsibilities will be
performed by komegay, formerly
Hertford Grammar principal.
Principal William Bynrni will re
main at Perquimans High, along
with assistant principal Karen
Luszcz.
Also reassigned was Brenda Ter
ranova. She moved from the assis
tant principal slot at the middle
school to the administration build
ing where she will serve as Direc
tor of Exceptional Children, work
with middle school and high school
articulation, and serve as an ob
server-evaluator.
Martin said that before recom
mending the reassignments, she
considered the strengths and weak
nesses of administrative personnel,
professional growth potential, and
future opportunities for staff pro
motions.
Some parents and teachers ex
pressed concern over the changes,
Dut were assured by board mem
bers, Martin and assistant superin
tendent Jake Boyce that much
consideration had been given to the
reassignments before formal ac
tion was taken. They stressed that
the moves are a result of an effort
to provide the best education possi
ble for county students, and to ef
fectively utilize personnel and
funded positions.
Under the terms of Martin’s con
tract, she has the right to reassign
personnel, but asked the board’s
approval to show total support for
the staffing plan.
Property revaluation
underway in county
The groundwork for the 1992 re
valuation of real estate in Perqui
mans County is now being laid.
Pearson’s Appraisal Service, to
whom the county commissioners
awarded the revaluation bid, is
presently setting up computer pro
grams to facilitate the revaluation
process.
The county purchased computer
software which Bob Pearson,
owner of Pearson’s Appraisal Serv
ice, says will not only make the pre
sent revaluation process easier, but
will expedite future updates and in
formation retrieval.
The first step in determining pre
sent property values is gathering
information on recent land trans
fers and sales, Pearson said. The
sales prices of these properties will
be noted along with their location,
age, condition and other pertinent
information.
“We don’t have any real precon
ceived ideas about land values
here,” Pearson said. He added that
values are best determined by col
lecting a broad list of recent sales
information and comparing that to
similar properties.
Pete Juvelis, a Holiday Island
resident who is employed full-time
by Pearson’s, will perform the first
step in the physical evaluation
process.
Juvelis will visit properties re
cently sold, establish a value using
accepted appraisal practices, then
compare the values to the actual
sales prices to test his results. This
process helps to establish values in
different communities throughout
the county.
The company personnel will also
interview building contractors and
subcontractors in an effort to col
lect the most recent costs of con
struction, which they will use in the
cost analysis portion of the apprais
als.
“We try to be as reasonable as
possible,” Pearson said. ‘‘The
main objective is to appraise all
property in the county at a fair and
accurate value.”
Each parcel of real estate in the
county will then be visited and
measurements taken. If the owner
of the property is not on the prem
ises at the time of inspection, a door
hanger will be left which lists ques
tions pertinent to establishing a va
lue of the property. These hangers
can be mailed to the tax depart
ment.
As this information is gathered,
Rebecca Cahoon, a local resident
hired by Pearson to perform cleri
cal duties associated with the reval
uation, will enter it into the
computer system. This will include
a diagram and measurements of all
buildings on the property.
At present, this information is
drawn on a property card in the tax
office.
After these processes have taken
place and values are established
for all real estate, Pearson said
they will review the results.
Pearson will also prepare a re
valuation manual which will con
tain a schedule of values and
detailed procedures concerning the
revaluation process.
Notices of revaluation will be
mailed out to property owners
around September of 1991. They
will become effective January 1,
1992.
Property owners who feel that
their property has been improperly
assessed will then be able to speak
with county representatives and
Pearson at informal hearings
which will be scheduled.
County Tax Supervisor Keith
Haskett said he believes that water
front property values will increase
substantially from those values es
tablished at the last evaluation per
formed in 1984 due to the rising
sales prices of those properties.
Haskett also stated that he ex
pects the values of residences and
business property to increase,
while there may be a decrease in
the value of farmland.
Historically, Haskett said, when
real estate values increase, the ad
valorem tax rate decreases. This
does not mean, Haskett said, that
property owners’ actual tax
amount will stay the same. What is
does mean is that property values
on the county tax books will be
more in line with recent sales fig
ures.
Pearson is familiar with prop
erties in northeastern North Caro
lina. He revaluated Perquimans
County in 1984, and has also per
formed revaluations for Chowan,
Camden, Hyde, Tyrrell and Hert
ford counties.
The appraisal service will oper
ate from an office at the Peraui
mans Extension Building and at the
Perquimans Tax Office.
Town electric rates to rise
By NANCY ROYDEN-CLARK
Stiff Writer
Residents in Hertford will soon
be paying five percent more than
usual for electric service.
For example, if a customer has a
$100 electric bill, they will be pay
ing five percent more beginning
with August bills.
Monday night, Town of Hertford
Council members voted in favor of
the tax increase. However, coun
cilman Jesse Harris was the only
councilman to vote against the in
crease, saying he strongly dis
agreed with the measure as he
voted against it
Councilman John Beers ex
pressed his opinions to other coun
cil members saying he would
rather see an increase in electric
rates instead of a large tax hike
later down the road.
“The cost of doing business is
high,” said Been. “Its got to come
from somewhere.”
Beers wait on to say that electric
bill are something customers have
the power to somewhat control.
Harris argued that he would
rather wait until a later time before
imposing an increase in electric
rates because he feels many small
businesses in Hertford are over
byrdened with bills.
“I believe this is the wrong time
(for the increase), people in the
town of Hertford are suffering. We
haven’t been collecting the proper
demand charges, in truth it is a ter
rific discrimination” Harris said.
Increases in electric rates were
implemented in 1884 and 1988, prior
to the newest increase.
Mayor Cox explained to council
members that electric bilb are gen
erally higher in Hertford than they
are in Edenton and Windsor while
Elizabeth City bill are sometimes
less costly. This is due to a higher
tax base in the other counties, be
said.
Cox mentioned that the installa
tion of electrical saving switches by
100 customers could help reduce
electric usage little by little. Hope
fully, he said, about 300 customers
will take advantage of the pro