THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
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Volume 60, No.1
USPS 428-080
Hertford, Perquimans County, N.C., Thursday, January 3,1991
30 Cents
Sports:
Hunter
named fall
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Athlete of Year
Page 6
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Feature:
Making good resolutions
for the New Year,
Bits’N Pieces
Page 4
Garden:
Preserving
and caring for
holiday plants
Page 7
Briefs
Farm/City Program aet
The annual Farm-City Week Pro
gram sponsored by the Perqui
mans Extension Service will be
held on Thursday, Jan. 10 at 7 p.m.
at the Perquimans High School caf
eteria. Dr. Dave Lineback, special
ist in charge of food science at N.C
State University, will speak on food
safety. Tickets are available on a
first come, first-served basis at the
extension office.
Farm tax seminar slated
There will be a seminar on 1990
farm taxes at the Gates County Ex
tension Office on Thursday, Jan. 3
at 7 p.m. The extension newsletter
indicated that the meeting will be
held in Perquimans; however, the
meeting is in Gates County. Exten
sion Tax Specialist Bill Eickhoff
will conduct the seminar.
Chapter 1 meeting planned
On Thursday, Jan. 10, Chapter 1
parents and guardians are invited
to a special meeting to review the
proposed revision of the Chapter 1
Parent Involvement Policy. The
meeting will begin at 1 p.m. in the
Board of Education office. Refresh
ments will be served. Door prizes
>ill be given.
Hall to speak her*
• On Monday, Jan. 14, at 1:30 p.m.
'Wendell Hall of the Northeast Re
gional Education Center in
Williamston will present a
workshop on building self-confi
dence and helping your child learn.
This session will be offered at the
Board of Education office. Refresh
ments will be served. Door prizes
will be given. The session should
last approximately one hour.
Harris olaeted to board
Hertford Town Commissioner
Jesse Harris was re-elected as an
at-large member of the Executive
Committee of the North Carolina
Eastern Municipal Power Agency
Dec. 20 at the monthly meeting of
the agency’s Board of Commission
ers.
Rocky Mount Mayor Fredrick E.
Turnage was re-elected chairman.
Laurinburg City Manager Peter G.
Vandenberg was re-elected vice
.chairman, and Kinston City Man
ager Stephen W. Raper was elected
secretary-treasurer.
Other at-large Executive Com
mittee members elected were.*
Hugh T. Howard, Pikeville town
commissioner; Jerry A. Walters,
Wake Forest town administrator;
and Charles W. Whitley Jr., Wilson
director of public utilities.
Howard and Whitley are new
members of the executive board.
Raper replaces N.O. McDowell Jr.,
Scotland Neck town commissioner,
as secretary-treasurer.
The North Carolina Eastern Mu
nicipal Power Agency is composed
of 32 municipalities that own and
operate their electric distribution
systems. Participating cities and
towns receive their power supply
from the agency, which owns inter
ests in several generating plants.
[ Hertford is one of more than 2,200
“public power” communities na
tionwide.
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County teams bring home trophies
The Perquimans County
mens and womens basketball v
teams earned second place tro
phies in the first annua] Four
County Holiday Basketball
Qassic held last Thursday and
Friday in the Camden High
School gym.
“It was good for both of our
teams to make it to the
championship games,” said
mens coach Harrell Thach.
Perquimans was the only par
ticipating school to have both
teams compete for the tro
phies.
Both the Pirates and the
Lady Pirates played what were
probably their best games of
the season during the Classic.
The ladies moved to the
championship game with a de
cisive 56-34 win over hosts
Camden. The men staged an
incredible 26-point fourth quar
ter come-from-behind win over
Camden (57-53) to move into
the championship round.
Although neither team*
earned the top trophies, both
played outstanding
championship games. The
Lady Pirates put together a 9
point scoring run with about a
minute and a half left in their
game to put it into overtime be
fore falling to Edenton, 37-32.
The varsity team was defeated
59-53 after threatening Curri
tuck’s lead late in the fourth
period.
The Classic was co-spon
sored by WGA1 radio and The
Daily Advance. Mens and
womens teams from Camden, >
Currituck, Edenton and Per
quimans participated in the
two-day event. The annual
Classic will be hosted by each
school represented in alphabet
ical order.
If the quality of play in this
year’s tournament is any indi
cation of years to come, the
Classic is sure to become one of
the foremost basketball events ,
in the Albemarle Area.
For a complete re-cap of
Perquimans' games, please
turn to pages.
Photo by Gary Cosby Jr.
Ronald Coston shoots two in the Pirates’ come-from-behind victory over Camden in the Four-County
Holiday Basketball Classic last week in Camden. Both Perquimans teams earned second place
trophies during the tournament.
County dwells
on positive
By NANCY ROYDEN—CLARK
Staff writer
Despite Perquimans County’s
loss of a Hertford office building,
changing mandates for solid waste
management and a lack of funding
for school transportation costs, N.
Paul Gregory Jr., Perquimans
County manager, is quick to talk
about positive issues.
After several years of planning,
the county completed constuction
of the Perquimans County Athletic
Fields in Winfall. The complex in
cludes two softball fields, restroom
facilities and spectator seating. A
special ceremony was held last
spring to mark the opening of the
fields. The project was completed
with approximately $77,000.
‘ ‘When you think about the year, I
look at the positive things. The
Parkville Ruritan Club is building
the bleachers. The county is only
paying for the costs of materials/’
Gregory said.
This year, the Perquimans
County Library was enlarged, the
entire roof was replaced and an
open house may be held in January
for the public to see the results.
“The library looks good. There
will be a lot of room for kids and
adults. The additions and renova
tions cost about $125,000,” the man
ager said.
Gregory said the county has also
contracted to renovate the Blan
chard Building. The building is lo
cated next to the county
courthouse.
“The building has been sitting
there for 15 years. The county is
taking a positive stand to do some
thing witn the building,” Gregory ,
said.
The four-laning of U.S. Highway
17 has been an asset for Perqui
mans County. Soon, construction
will begin on the by-pass section of
the thoroughfare.
Leo Higgins, a newly installed
county commissioner, said officials
from all levels of government will
have to work together to solve solid
waste removal problems.
A county commissioners meeting
is being planned specifically to dis
cuss illegal dumping in the county.
No date nas been set for the meet
ingyet.
Publisher says added value
supports price increase
increased local news coverage,
special sections, and improved
overall presentation have added
significant value to The Perqui
mans Weekly, supporting a pnce
increase to mail customers, pub
lisher Richard D. Brown said this
Effective January 3, the one-year
subscription price of The Perqui
mans weekly will be $13 for sub
scribers in Perquimans County and
$14 for subscribers outside the
county. The new prices represent
an increase of less than 17 cents per
month, Brown said.
Of course, the cost of producing
the publication has risen over the
past year, but Brown said the qual
ity of the publication is the main
reason for the price increase. He
added that improvements made
over the past year make The Per
quimans Weekly one of the best
community newspapers published
in northeastern North Carolina.
The Perquimans Weekly re
ceived a Media Award in May 1990
from the North Carolina Jaycees
for outstanding support and service
to the organization. Nominated by
the local Jaycee chapter, the news
paper was one of only three publi
cations in the state to receive the
honor. The paper also received
commendation from the American
Heart Association and the Perqui
mans Playhouse, Inc.
Brown said that additional im
provements planned for 1991 will
make The Perquimans Weekly
even better.
Chapter 1 sets priority
Muaenu ana parents together
are a priority tor Perquimans
County School’s Chapter 1 pro
gram, according to Chapter 1 pro
gram director Chris Barber. This
school year, an attempt has been
made to promote greater parent
understanding of Chapter 1 so stu
dents will get better services at
school and even greater support of
their Chapter 1 work at home.
To many, Chapter 1 means only
the special instruction students re
ceive as participantajn the pro
gram. Most do not realize that in
Chapter 1, parents have an impor
tant role. This year, personnel
working with the Chapter 1 pro
gram have been working to build
better understanding about the pro
gram, what it means for children,
and what it means for parents.
Two of the simplest tasks set for
the program are to increase atten
dance of parents and guardians at
Chapter l meetings ana workshops,
and to reduce student absences,
Barber said. If parents have the op
portunity to learn about the pro
gram, she feels they will be m a
better postion to understand why
their children should attend school.
Children who miss school unneces
sarily often get kit in trying to
“catch up’ on what they have
missed.
These two simple tasks depend
on participation and involvement.
Promoting the kind of working
relationship that is needed to cre
ate an even more effective pro
gram and includes more parent
involvement has been stressed this
year.
This year, the process of revising
the policy cm Chapter 1 Parent In
volvement has begun. At meetings
this past fall, several parents were
willing to come, listen, and share
their ideas about what they would
like to see take place for the pro
gram in this county. All interested
parents or guardians are invited to
come and review the policy written
as a result of those meetings. Since
the policy has not yet been fi
nalized, there is time for addi tonal
discussion and revision.
One thing the policy does provide
for is parent training and
workshops. A survey circulated in
the fall asked parents to marie
those items for which they would
like some training or information.
The number one topic requested
was building self-confidence. Par
ents also indicated an interest in
how they can help their children
learn.
Photo by Nancy Royden-Clark
Giving a final gift
Hertford’s William G. Barclift donated blood Thursday, during a blood drive held at the Perquimans
County Senior Center. With Barclift is Sonia Woifrey, of the American Red Cross. The drive netted
almost 45 pints of blood and was sponsored by the Perquimans County Jaycees.
One injured in automobile-train collision
By KEVIN KNIGHT and
SUSAN HARRIS
A Perquimans County woman
was injured Friday when the car in
which she was riding was struck by
a train at a railroad crossing in
Chapanoke.
Dorothy Whidbee, 35, was treated
at Albemarle Hospital for minor in
juries.
The accident took place at ap
proximately 2:20 p.m. at a railroad
crossing on state road 1224. Doro
thy Wmdbee’s son, Jeffrey Whid
bee, was driving a 1977 Chrysler
when the passenger side was struck
by a locomotive. Passenger Antoi
nette Whidbee, 15, was not injured.
state tugnway ratroi irooper
W.F. Whitley investigated the acci
dent. He said that traveling south
on SR 1224, there is an abandoned
store just before you reach the rail
road track which impairs vision.
“You can’t see anything coming
from that direction until you’re
about 15 or 20 feet from the track,’’
Whitley said.
Whitley said Jeffrey Whidbee
said he did not see the train. By the
time Whidbee realized the train
was coming, he braked, stopping
the car right in the middle of the
tracks. The train pushed the car
about 50 feet before coming to a
stop.
The locomotivfjfrad dropped off a
grain car ai a inapanose grain el
evator just prior to the collision. It
was making its way back to Elisa
beth City when the accident oc*
cured. The estimated speed of the
train was about 10 miles per hour,
and Whitley said the car was going
about 34 miles per hour.
The locomotive was owned by
Railtex of San Antonio, Texas and
leased by Chesapeake & Albemarle
Railroad Company of Elizabeth
City. The train received approxi
mately $1,000 in damages, Whitley
said. The estimated damage to the
Chrysler was $1,200 and was a total
loss.
No charges we^e filed.,,