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THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
Volume 59, No.33 USPS 428-080 Hertford, Perquimans County, N.C. Thursday, August 16,1990 30 CENTS
Sports: Pirates
scrimmage Hurricanes
in gridiron play: page •
Briefs
Playhouse cats tryout dates
Perquimans Playhouse, Inc. will
be holding tryouts Aug. 20 and 23 at
7:30 at the Perquimans County
Courthouse for parts in the upcom
ing play “Shame of Tombstones”.
This will be presented Oct. 19,20,21
and Nov. 2,3, and 4 at the Angler’s
Cove Restaurant.
8pocial program begun
Perquimans County Schools is
beginning a preschool handicapped
class for 3, 4, and 5 year olds at
Hertford Grammar School for the
1990-91 school year. Eligible stu
dents must meet N.C. Guidelines
Governing Programs and Services
for Children with Special Needs,
1990 edition. Anyone interested
should contact Brenda S. Terra
nova, Director of Programs for Ex
ceptional Children, 426-5741.
teaching workshop set
, An Effective Teaching Training
Workshop will be held for all per
sons wishing to be substitute teach
ers in the county school system.
The dates for the workshop are Au
gust 15-21.
' Please call the Perquimans
County Schools central office at
;426-5741 to register for the
workshop. You are required to reg
ister and submit a substitute tea
cher application prior to the
workshop.
Day Care to open Aug. 27
The After SchtoT Day Care Pro
gram will be available beginning
on Monday, Aug. 27, the first day
that the students return to school.
Hie program will be in the Media
Center at Hertford Grammar
School. Students who will need
transportation to the day care site
should bring a note.
In order to help with the trans
portation plans, pleae call the Per
quimans County Board of Eduction
find let Bonnie Stroud or Jeanie
Umphlett know if your child will
need transportation. Prior notices
will assist us in transporting all stu
dents successfully.
Sheriff makes arrests
Blossom Yoland Everett, 23, 329
Market St., was arrested and
charged with failure to appear and
larceny in a chose action on a Cho
wan County warrant on Aug. 7. She
was confined to Albemarle District
Jail in lieu of a $2,000 secured bond.
Lindsey Franklin Wacaster II,
Rt. 2, Box 302, was arrested and
charged with one count each of pos
session of stolen goods and larceny
on a Dare County warrant. He was
confined to Dare County Jail in lien
of a $5,000 secured bond.
School board to mset
The Perquimans County Board of
Education will meet in regular ses
sion on Monday, Aug. 20 at 8 p.m. at
the schools administration build
ing
Commissioners mooting sot
The Perquimans County Board of
Commissionerswili meet on Mon
day, Aug. 20 at 7:30 p.m. in the
commissioner’s room at the court
house.
DEADIMES FOB THE
PEBmmOS WEEKLY
ABE MS FOLLOWS:
RELEASES . ...3:00 PM
ADVERTISING 3:00 PM
CLASSIFIED
A LEGALS .
3:00 PM
MONDAY PRIOR TO
THURSDAY PUBLICATION
PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
119 W. Grubb St.
426-57211
IMtSPH.IIOil.-nL
File photo by Susan Harris
The Chowan Optimist Club train is always a highlight of the annual Indian Summer Festival scheduled
for Sept. 14 and 15 in Hertford.
Annual festival plans underway
me streets ot Herttord will once again come alive
when the 9th annual Indian Summer Festival is staged
here on Sept. 14-15.
Friday’s portion of the end-of-summer gala will be
headquartered in downtown Hertford, and will high
light Perquimans County and its businesses. Chil
dren’s activities and entertainment have been
scheduled throughout the day. One of the day’s musi
cal highlights will be a performance by the Perqui
mans High School Marching Pirate Band. Offering a
change of pace musically will be a bluegrass band.
Perquimans growers will have the opportunity to
display and sell their harvests at the farmers’ market
to be set up downtown. Becky Winslow at Peoples
Bank is still reserving spaces for the market.
.. Each year, downtown merchants move some of their
wares onto the sidewalk and offer “old-fashioned”
bargains. The Chamber of Commerce, organizers of
the festival, have asked merchants throughout the
county to run festival specials to celebrate the occa
sion.
Saturday will find Missing Mill Park filled with en
tertainers, crafts, food, and fun. The children will de
light in riding through the park in a train.
Members of the Perquimans Playhouses, Inc. will
perform skits. Past festival crowd pleasers, the Flat
land Cloggers from Chesapeake, Va., will return. Also
dancing will be the Cornfield Cloggers from neighbor
ing Gates County.
According to the Chamber’s executive director,
Mary Harrell, booths have been reserved on Saturday
by vendors offering shrubbery, seafood, crafts, ban
ners, a dunking booth, furniture, sweets and sausage.
Friday is reserved solely for merchants from Per
quimans County. However, any group or club may
rent a booth at the park on Saturday.
For more information, contact Mary Harrell at the
Chamber of Commerce.
Food disbursement cancelled
for August due to participation
For the first time in many years,
there will be no commodities distri
bution in Perquimans County in Au
gust, according to program
director Carlyn Brown with the
county’s department of social serv
ices.
Brown said last week that mainly
due to a reduction in participation,
the department of social services
decided not to distribute the com
modities during the summer quar
ter. The program will resume in
November, she added.
The commodities distribution
program was introduced in the
county about 10 years ago, stated
social services director Crystal
Towe. During that time, food pur
chased by the federal government
programs has been distributed0to
qualifying families.
Over the past three fiscal years,
there has been a dramatic decrease
in the number of people served by
the program. In FY1967-88, a total
of 1756 households received food va
lued at $37,700.08, according to fig
ures compiled by Brown. By FY
1969-90, the number of households
picking up commodities had
dropped to 1348, a 23 percent de
crease. The value of the food dis
tributed fell to $18,858.22, one-half
that of FY 1987-88.
Brown said that while commodi
ties distribution participation has
decreased, food stamp rolls have
remained stable. During her 7-year
tenure with social services, Brown
reported that the number of food
stamp recipients has hovered near
500.
Only 196, or 39 percent, of the 495
food stamp households on record as
of the May 1990 distribution picked
ig> food, even though they are auto
matically eligible to be served by
the program. Each food stamp cli
ent served by the department of so
cial services was notified by mail of
the time and date of the distribu
tion. *
One hundred thirty-seven non
food stamp recipients were served
at the May distribution. Social ,
service employees were forced to
send back to government ware
houses about half of the commodi
ties ordered to be doled out locally.
k “I fed like we’ve made it as easy
Graphics by Shelly Richards
This graph shows the steady decline in the numbers of households
who have participated in the UDSA commodities distribution pro
gram in Perquimans County over the past three years.
as we can for people,” Brown com
mented. “We want to give the food
away. The government’s got the
food.”
Towe echoed Brown’s apparent
frustration over the low partici
pation. She noted that the depart
ment routinely sees that news
articles appear in The Perquimans
Weekly twice just prior to distribu
tions, and that applications are
made available at several county
agencies.
The time it takes to pick food up
has also been cut. In May, it took
approximately one and a half hours
to distribute the food.
Those with handicaps or who for
medical reasons cannot stand for
long periods of time are allowed to
go through a special line, provided
that they present a doctor’s written
notice. „
Also, those residents who qualify
to receive food who are served by
the Home Health program can ar
range to have their food delivered
by home health employees.
The amount of food received by
households depends upon the num
ber of people in the family. In May,
each household received two 2
pound jars of peanut butter, a
pound of butter per family mem
ber, five pounds of meal, a 24-oz.
jar of honey, five pounds of flour, 2
cans of green beans, 2 cans of pork
and beans, two 29-oz. cans of pork,
and a one pound box of raisins.
Brawn priced the food items in a
* '«* 1 ■’ 'T< ■1
V". •' :■
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grocery store, and found that a
family of four receives food valued
at about $30
That value has dropped consider
ably since the federal government
no longer has cheese, rice and pow
dered milk available. Both Brown
and Towe attributed the decreasing
participation in the commodities
program in part to the inavailabil
ity of cheese.
Other counties across the state
are also experiencing a decrease in
commodities participation. Some,
Towe said, have completely shut
down the program because it is not
cost effective.
Social services receives 7 percent
of the value of the food distributed
to operate the program. This must
pay those who man the site and
other expenses involved with the
program. Some counties have not
been able to meet their expenses on
the dwindling funds received due to
participation decreases.
Towe does not want to see that
happen here. She said that the de
partment, the social services board
and the board of county commis
: sioners all feel that the program is
needed because there are residents
in the county who can benefit from
it.
Brown and Towe said they hope
participation will pick up in No
vember.
Hertford Council
passes new dog
noise ordinance
An updated ordinance dealing
with habitual barking, howling and
whining dogs enacted by the Hert
ford Town Council Monday night
should make it easier for some
Hertford residents to get a good
night’s sleep.
After receiving repeated com
plaints from residents about dogs
that bark late into the night, the
town council authorized town attor
ney Walter Edwards Jr. to draft a
updated ordinance that would bet
ter allow law enforcement officials
to deal with the problem. Edwards
patterned the document after a
similar ordinance prepared by the
North Carolina League of Munici
palities.
The ordinance states that any
person who keeps one or more dogs
in the city limits which cause se
rious annoyance to neighbors by
their habitual barking, howling or
whining is guilty of maintaining a
nuisance. Citizens bothered Dy
noisy dogs must file a written,
signed complaint with the police
department.
A law enforcement officer will
then inform the person against
whom the complaint has been filed
that the offending noice should
cease within 24 hours. If the dog
owner fails to quiet the animal, the
person shall be considered guilty of
a misdemeanor and upon convic
tion, subject to a fine not to exceed
$50 or imprisoned for up to 30 days.
Carl and Catherine Mumm of 214
S. Church St. thanked the coun
cilmen for passing the ordinance.
They told the council that they had
experienced numerous problems
with neighborhood dogs barking
past midnight.
In a prepared statement, Mrs.
Mumm said that numerous calls to
the dog warden had gone un
answered, and that although the po
lice did ask their neighbors to
quieten the dogs on two occasions,
an officer told them not to call the
department again.
Under the old ordinance, citizens
had to go through the magistrate,
not the police department, to take
legal action against dog owners.
The Mumms also told the com
missioners that they are concerned
with the junk cars still sitting on
private property. Police chief Au
brey Sample said that his depart
ment has removed those cars on
public property, but that the ordi
nance passed earlier this year by
council designated the building in
spector as die person responsible
for initiating action against those
with junk or nuisance cars on pri
vate property. He added that his
department is asking residents to
remove the vehicles in accordance
with the town ordinance as a mat
ter of courtesy.
Mayor ana city manager W.D.
“Bill” Cox said that some residents
have cooperated with the town and
removed junk cars from their prop
erty.
The council directed Edwards to
contact the building inspector to
implement the junk car ordinance.
Mr. Mumm also questioned the
town about cars with no city stick
ers. Sample told the council that
they are checking every car
stopped for valid stickers. He said
that the ordinance states that the
car must be operating in order to
take action against someone who
has no valid sticker.
Curtailing truck traffic
The council authorized Cox to
contact NCDOT and ask that all
tractor-trailers be banned from the
historic S-shaped bridge connecting
Winfall and Hertford.
Cox told the council that after
asking DOT to curtail all truck traf
fic on the bridge in 1986, the state
department instead reduced the
weight limit on the bridge to 10,000
pounds per axle. In his recent dis
cussions with a district engineer
and a division engineer, Cox said
that he was told that the DOT has
never closed a route only to tractor
trailers. They have instead re
routed all trucks.
We should certainly protect that
piece of road as much as we can,”
councilman Billy Winslow stated.
Selling town property
Cox read a letter he received
from Ellis Lawrence, who operates
J & L Convenience Store on Market
Street, offering $3,000 for the lot
next to the store. Lawrence indi
cated that he planned to build
apartments on the site. He asked
the town to consider selling the
property partly to reduce the
town’s maintenance costs. The lot
has been cleaned up by the town
several times, only to be littered
again in a matter of days.
The council tabled the request
pending an appraisal.
Other business
In other business, the town,
adopted a resolution from DOT
stating that the town will be respon
sible for moving all utilities except
water and sewer lines when U.S.
Highway 17 is 4-laned within the
town limits.
decided to invite a representative
of MultiVision Cable Service to be
at the next town meeting to discuss
problems with cable service.
Man arrested and
charged with shootings
An Elizabeth City man was ar
rested Monday and charged with
shooting two Hertford men on July
1 near the Rainbow Lounge on
Edenton Road Street.
Gervis Rondel! Armstrong, 17, of
Pasquotank County was arrested
and charged with two counts of as
sault with a deadly weapon with in
tent to kill inflicting serious injury
and one count of injury to personal
property. Armstrong allegedly shot
George Steven Everett, 33, and
Claymond Gallop, 21, and also al
legedly shot out the left rear tail
light of a pickup truck owned by
Robert Harvey of Dobbs Street.
The shooting took place after some
type of argument, but Hertford Po
lice Chief Aubrey Sample said Ev
erett and Gallop were not involved
in the argument. The two men were
both treated and released at Cho
wan Hospital following the inci
dent.
Armstrong was released on a
$6,500 secured bond and a $500 un
secured bond.
On Aug. 9, the Hertford Police re
ceived a call that a vehicle had
been stolen from the parking lot in
front of Family Dollar Store. The
car was stopped by the Windsor Po
lice when the alleged thieves
stopped and tried to steal gas there.
Sample secured arrest warrants
which led to the arrest of James
Thomas, 20, and Tyrone Gay, 32, of
Miami, Fla. The two men were
charged with larceny of a motor ve
hicle, possession of stolen property
and larceny of gas. Thomas was
also charged with driving while in
toxicated.
Richard Lee Spruill, 30, 319
Stokes Dr. was arrested on Aug. 4
and charged with injury to real
property.
Andrew Blanchard, 31, 204 King
St., was arrested on Aug. 3 and
charged with failure to appear.
Grandy White Jr., 39, Lt. 26
Meads Trailer Park, was arrested
on Aug. 4 and charged with failure
to appear.
James Allen Foster, 44, 322
Stokes Dr., was arrested on Aug. 4
and charged with one count each of
communicating threats and carry
ing a concealed weapon.
Wilbur Lee Banks, 31, Lt. tl
Meads Trailer Park was arrested
on Aug. 4 and charged with two
counts of communicating threats.
On' Aug. 11, Louis Franklin Lane,
62, Rt. 1, was charged with break- _
ing and entering and larceny of a
home in the 100 Mock of Covent
Garden.
The department investigated re
ported breaking and entering and
larceny crimes in the 100 block of
Edenton Road Street on Aug. 1 and
in the 500 block of Pennsylvania
Avenue on Aug. 6. They also inves
tigated the attempted breaking and
entering of a coin operated ma
chine owned by Mid-Atlantic Coca
Cola Bottling Company in the 900
block ofDobbs Street on Aug. 1.