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; *Volume 61, No. 4
Hertford, Perquimans County, N.C., Thuredey, January 23,1992
WEEKLY
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Opinion:
Pulse of Perquimans:
Reader poll reirlstituted
each week: Page 4
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Briefs Crime is on rise in Hertford
Benefit meal planned
The American Cancer Society
; will host an All-You- Can-Eat
-Pancake and Sausage Day on
~ Saturday, Jan. 25, at Perqul
1 mans County High SchooK
• Breakfast will be served from 7
.- .10 a.m., lunch from 11 a.m. - 1
'.‘■p.m., and supper from 5-7 p.m.
> Entertainment will be provided
during the evening meal. The
,.cost is $3.50.per person.
Fresh Start begins
Albemarle Hospital will be
. sponsoring the American Cancer
Society’s “Fresh Start” smoking
cessation program will be pre
sented on four consecutive
. Tuesday evenings Feb. 4-25.
The registrations fee is $10
payable to the American Cancer
- -Society. The fee will be refunded
:to participants who attend all
- four sessions.
f Pre-registration Is required.
.Call 335-0531 ext. 5239 for
- more Information or to sign up.
: library Board moats
.1 The Pettigrew Regional Li
brary Board will meet on Mon
I day, Jan. 27 at 8 p.m. at the
Jyrrell County Public Library.
Hearing rescheduled
J The Utilities Commission
Hearing for Holiday Island has
been rescheduled for Thursday,
Feb. 6 from 2-5 p.m. at the
county courthouse. This hearing
is to determine whether or not
the Holiday Island water system.
.. now presently exempt from
Commission regulation, should
be again subject to the Jurisdlc
rtlon of the Commission. At the
request of the president of the
Holiday Island Owner’s Property
Association, the Commission
{ will also consider the submeter
• tag of electricity and water serv
ice for the Holiday Island
Campground.
^AARPtomest
J The Perquimans Chapter
, #4118 of AARP Inc. will meet on
•: Monday. Jan. 27 at 2 p.m. at
i*the Senior Citizens Center In
j! Hertford. There will be a board
•^meeting at 1 p.m.
X Come and join our Chapter
••tfbr the latest Information on
X people over 50. We are here “to
J«Serve and not be served.”
«; For more Information call
XMona Sadler at 426-7044.
^Notary class offered
». College of the Albemarle will
goffer a one-night Notary Public
^.-Training class on Feb. 6 In EllZ
>*aheth City.
'C»1- The class will be held from
'.*17^10 p.m. In room 229 of the A
*'Building. Jeanne C. White, with
'*-lhe Perquimans County Register
>tef Deeds office, will teach the
Xcpurse.
The cost of the course Is
:>t3Q plus $6.36 for a required
} 7 manual. A social security num
{s needed to register. For
* more Information, call COA’s
■ > Continuing Education office at
* < 335-0821. ext. 250.
•? '* Drivers course sat ,
t 1 ;• A Commercial Drivers Li
| “cense course will be offered In
VFdaruary through College of the
j .«Albemarle's Continuing. Educa
(ion Department
If :> V For more informabon, tater
* tested persons may call CQA’s
Continuing Education office In
! Elizabeth City at 335- 0821, ext
A ‘250.
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PRIOR T
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Photo by Gary Cosby Jr.
Supporting the Pirates
Perquimans varsity cheerleaders and their mascots keep up Pirate morale and cheer
basketball teams to victory. Here, Nick! Whitehurst, Tamara Robinson, Carol Lmyis
Tara Thach wait for the varsity team to take the floor._ ••
Complaints lead to drug bust
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i - Complaints about possible
drug dealing led to the arrest of
a Hertford man on four drug
charges.
Ahmed Lateef, formerly Gary
Welch, of 311 Dobbs St., was
arrested by the Perquimans
County Sheriffs Department on
Friday, Jan. 10. Lateef was
charged with possession of a
Schedule VI controlled sub
stance (marijuana) with Intent to
sell and deliver; maintaining a
dwelling for the manufacture,
sale and delivery of a controlled
substance; selling and delivering
of a Schedule VI controlled sub
stance within 1000 feet of a
school; and possession of drug
paraphernalia.
Lateef was confined to Albe
marle District Jail under a
$20,500 secured bond. Judge J.
Richard Parker reduced the
bond to $1,000 secured at the
recommendation of the state in
Perquimans County District
Criminal Court on Jan. 15 at a
bond reduction hearing.
According to sheriff Joe Lo
thian, his office received com
plaints about heavy traffic at
Lateef s residence. The sheriffs
office was also told that visitors
to the Lateef residence some
times went to a nearby vacant
lot after they left, allegedly to
smoke marijuana. Lothian said
surveillance of the Lateef dwell
ing, which also houses the busi
ness Lateef Imports, and a
marijuana purchase by tyw en
forcement officials led to obtain
ing a search warrant and the
resulting arrest.
No other arrests were? made
during the raid.
U S. 17 bypass contract is awarded
The North Carolina Board of
Transportation awarded a $3.6
million contract to a Tarboro
firm to widen 3.2 miles of U.S.
17 in Perquimans County.
The contract was awarded to
Barnhill Contracting Co. by the
board at its Jan. 10 meeting in
Raleigh. It calls for adding two
lanes on the south side of U.S.
17 to form a four-lane highway
bypassing Hertford.
Philip P. Godwin of Gates
ville, who represents Perquimans
County on the board, said the
widening will begin in February.
The road construction will
begin in Wlnfall, where U.S. 17
Highway presently narrows from
four ianes to two. according to
Hertford city manager W.D.
"Bill” Cox, who has worked for
many years lobbying for the up
grade of U.S. 17 throughout
North Carolina. The four-lane
will stop at the north end of the
bypass bridge and will begin
again at the south end of me
bridge. Cox said information re
ceived by the town from the
transportation department indi
cates that the new four- lane
section will stop near the south
ern border of the Hertford city
limits.
The two new lanes to be
constructed will lie to the east of
the present roadway. Stakes
have been set out by the state.
Cox said, to indicate where '{he
new road will come through.
Godwin said the contract is
one of several to widen 11.3
miles of U.S. 17 from Edenton
to Wlnfall to foyr lanes. *
lane bridge to carry traffic
northbound on U.S. 1/ over the
Perquimans River Is expected to
be awarded by the board in
April. The bridge will be 2,900
feet long, Godwin said.
During construction, safe
guards will be taken to protect
small streams and wetlands
from contamination by soil or
construction materials. Grass
will be planted to cover bare
ground caused by construction,
Godwin said.
The widening of the Hertford
bypass is scheduled to be com
pleted In May 1993. The bridge
will be completed in August
1994, Godwin said.
A contract to build a two
inf - r ifiTiiim—ii
Honoring the dream
>
Photo by Susan Hants
p.V ■
The Perquimans Chapter of the NAACP obeerved Martin Luther King Jr. Day with • motor
cade through Hertford and a service at Riddick Grove Church. About go cars participated In
the parade.
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Arrests in Hertford are on
the rise according to the 1991
annual report completed by the
town’s police department re
cently. Tne document reflects an
overall 2.9 percent increase in
arrests over the previous year,
and a 2.5 percent increase in re
ported incidents and investiga
tions.
Chief Aubrey Sample is not
Surmised With thp inrreasp “It’s
violent crimes, witnesses are of
ten afraid to come toward. Lack
of evidence means that criminals
stay on the street, committing
other crimes, because law en
forcement officers cannot make
a case that will stand up in
court.
“Without the help of citizens
and their information, it’s diffi
cult for us to pursue a case.”
fiamnle
(the Increase)
basically In
dicative of ev
erywhere
else,” Sample
said. “We’re
short on po
lice man
“It’s going to get
worse.”
Aubrey Sample
Hertford Police Chief
Sample said
examples of fear
to come forward
are seen In
murder and
other violent
crimes where of
ficers are certain
power to handle the rise In the
crime rate. It (the increase)
might surprise people living
here, but if you talk to the aver
age (police) officer out here on
the street, it won't surprise
them. We knew it was coming.”
Sample said national statis
tics point to a continued in
crease in crime.
“It’s going to get worse.” the
chief said.
Topping the list of crimes for
which arrests were made in
Hertford was drug violations.
Suspects were apprehended and
charged with a total of 94 drug
violations in 1991, compared to
seven violations in 1990.
Charges ranged from possession
of drug paraphernalia to traf
ficking cocaine.
Arrests were made on 26
charges of possession with in
tent to sell and deliver cocaine
and 25 charges of selling and
delivering cocaine. In 1990, one
arrest was made for possession
with intent to sell and deliver
cocaine and two were made for
selling and delivering cocaine.
No arrests were made in 1990
for trafficking cocaine. A dozen
trafficking arrests were made in
1991.
"We knew the drugs were
here,” Sample said. “We just
had to depend on some outside
help to get those arrests.”
Many of the drug arrests in
1991 were made with the assis
tance of the Edenton-Chowan
Task Force. An undercover oper
ation begun last spring resulted
in file apprehension of at least
eight Individuals charged with a
variety of drug violations in the
fall of 1991.
Fear is one of the biggest
obstacles law enforcement offi
cers have to overcome in making
cases now. Sample said. Be
cause of the chance of retalia
tion by those arrested and
charged with drug violations and
there were witnesses, but those
witnesses refuse to supply Infor
mation. There Is even a problem
(letting people to admit they wit
nessed a wreck on occasion.
Sample said.
There are no cut and dried
answers to problems in theludi
cial system. Sample said. Tnere
must be changes on all levels in
order to curb the rising tide of
crime.
“We’ve got a problem in the
correctional system, a problem
in the court system, a problem
in the bond system, at our level,
and there’s a big problem at the
citizens’ level,’’ Sample said.
“The judicial system all the way
around is in trouble. You can't
point the finger and put the
blame on any one agency. It’s a
combination.
The Judicial system guar
antees those accused of a crime
certains rights. Sample said,
such as the right to have a bond
set and the right to have a case
continued. When these rights
are added to federal prison caps
and an overload in court cases,
the result is chaos.
Judges often send those
convicted tof>rison, only to have
them turned back onto the
streets early because of prison
caps. Some people are arrested
three or four times and released
on bond before ever having one
case heard in court. There are
cases where arrests are made
and the alleged perpetraitor is
out on bond before the law en
forcement officers can complete
the paperwork.
“There’s got to be a change,”
Sample said of the entire justice
system.
If not. it appears that the ar
rest report for next year will be
even grimmer.
n
File photo tjf Susan Hants
Drugs, drug paraphernalia, money and weapons are regularly
confiscated by law enforcement officials during drug raids and
routine arraeta. The photograph’ shows contraband confiscated
by the Perquimans County Sheriff’s Department, however, aim*
Bar (tame hove been recovered by the Hertford Police also.
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