Volume 61, No.34
i
Hertford, Perqulmane County, N.C., Thursday, August 20,1992
35 Cents
Feature:
All Over the Map: s
Prepare for school by
looking ahead: pag«4
Government^*®
Taxpayer group still
hounding commissioners
'about budget Pages
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Lane receives
prestigious veterans
scholarship pages
Team hunts
up wins
Shooters perform
well at nationals
By SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
The Perquimans Middle
School Hunter Safety Team
taught folks from across the
country who gathered in New
Mexico for national competition
how to spell "Perquimans.”
A.J. Miller won first place in
the hunter responsibility exami
nation. The seven-member team
earned third place in the shot
gun category, and captured an
impressive ninth place overall.
Coach Roger Morgan was
full of praise for the young men
who made the trip when he re
ported to the Board of Education
Monday night.
"The kids did a wonderful
Job both behavior-wise and com
petition-wise,” Morgan said. “It
was a very successful week.”
“Educational” was another
adjective Morgan used to de
scribe the trip. The team, Mor
gan, four parent coaches and a
parent spectator took up resi
dence in a tent positioned on a
hillside - complete with rain. The
necessity to work together to dig
trenches to re-route water head
ing for their temporary home
and co-exist in close quarters for
a week was a good learning ex
perience, Morgan said.
“It was probably one of the
most educational trips I’ve ever
been on,” Morgan said. "The
children we took out there
learned a lot about teamwork
that first day.”
In addition to the life skills
learned, several of the youth
traveled by airplane for the first
time.
Summing up his report,
Morgan said, “It was a very en
joyable week. The whole week
was just flawless.”
Board chairman Wayne
Howell said the board is always
proud of students who represent
the school well, but this trip
brought special pride.
“We can be extremely proud
of our children when they are
competing nationwide and they
can do this well,” Howell said.
Perhaps the local delegation
performed so well in national
competition because the local
race for a place on the New Mex
ico-bound team was so fierce.
The PCMS team fielded to
compete in regional and state
competition was 16-strong.
Team members vyed for the op
portunity to participate in one or
more of the four events - shot
gun, rifle, archery and hunter
safety. The top four local team
members in each category were
eligible to compete.
But only seven team mem
bers could make the trip to the
nationals, and each qualifying
member had to enter each event.
Hours of practicing and scoring
led to the designation of the top
seven all-around athletes on the
team. They were Miller, Leaiy
Winslow, Curtis Whitehurst,
Brad Owens, David Brickhouse
and alternates Marty Winslow
and Brock Nixon.
J In addition to Morgan,
coaches who made the trip were
Bay Winslow, Archie Miller, G.C,
Jennings and Billy Owens. Rich
ard Winslow also made the trip.
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PAGE 2
FOR
COMMUNITY
HAPPENINGS
The great flood?
Residents in Perquimans
County and the sur
rounding area have had
about all the water they
can take - rainwater, that
is. Recent rains have
closed roads, overrun
ditches and given most
residents a swimming
pool somewhere in their
yards. At top, an uniden
tified Bear Swamp resi
dent erected a sign
reading “CR 1102 and
1103 Your Tax Dollar At
Work. Try Them.” fol
lowed by an arrow point
ing to the nearly
impassable dirt and rock
road. Below, as late as
Monday evening, several
inches of water contin
ued to cover the Two
Mile Desert Road for ap
proximately one mile.
The question now is,
when will it end?
Residents to receive federal assistance
By TRACY E. GERLACH
The Dally Advance
A total of eight homes in Perquimans County
will receive weatherizatlon repairs this summer as
part of the federal Weatherizatlon Assistance Pro
gram.
The program, administered through the N.C.
Department of Economic and Community Devel
opment. will use $100,050 on energy-saving tech
nology to keep elderly, handicapped and low
income residents of Camden, Chowar), Currituck,
Dare, Hyde, Gates, Pasquotank, Perquimans,
Washington and Tyrrell counties warm this winter.
State Energy Division officials are providing
Economic Improvement Council Inc. the funds to
weatherize the homes of elderly, disabled and
needy residents. They expect to weatherize 56
homes with the money.
Of the $100,050, Perquimans County families
meeting the requirements will receive a total of
$13,500, a spokesperson for the Energy Division
said.
Eligibility requirements are set according to in
come. A family of two must earn no more than
$13,785 a year to qualify for the weatherization
program and a single occupant can make no more
than $10,215 a year.
improvements, which include insulating attics,
floors and other sections of the home, as well as
installation of weather stripping, caulking and hot
water heater insulation, can reduce a family’s en
ergy bill by 12 percent to 20 percent
Chamber gears up for Indian Summer Festival
Plans are underway for the
1992 edition of the Indian Sum
mer Festival, scheduled for Sept
18 and 19 in
Hertford. A vari
ety of Interesting
activities is jtZSSSfo* t
planned for all
ages, according
to Perquimans
C h a mb e r of
Commerce orga- » , • —
nlzers.
U'
Merchants
will again participate Friday In
sidewalk sales. Perquimans
County merchants may come in
and set i|p a booth downtown on
Friday at no charge to promote
their businesses. Entertainment
i« being planned beginning at l2
noon. The sidewalk cafe will re
turn with hamburgers and hot
dogs. :f
Arts, crafts, food and display
booths are available for Saturday
at Missing Mill Park for a foe of
$25 for each 12’ X 12’ space.
Each additional 12’ X 12’ space
will be $15. Those having Looths
for raffles must have the drawing
and announce winners before the
festival booths close at 6 p.m.
Saturday's entertainment will
Include children’s activities,
i bands, doggers, a street dance, a
pig picking and much more.
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. ’ New to the festival this yesl
will be a talent show on Friday.
The show ts set for downtown
and wffl be open to all ages. En
try forms may be picked up at
the Chamber office. Home can
ning and baked goods judging
has also been added. Entry is
open for youth and adults. En
try forms and listing of entry di
visions may be picked up at the
Chamber office or from Juanita
Bailey, Home Economics Exten
sion Agent, at the Perquimans
Cooperative Extension Center,
no later than Sept 15.
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For more festival *02 infor
mation, contact the Chamber of
Commerce at 426-5657..
Barricade bill frees
up law officers
By TRACY E. GERLACH
The Dally Advance
A new bill making it a felony
for drug dealers to construct bar
riers around a structure where a
controlled substance is being
manufactured, sold, delivered or
possessed will strengthen local
law enforcement efforts. Sheriff
Joe Lothian said.
“It will give us one more tool
to use to help fight this problem
that we have," Lothian said.
The bill, passed by the Gen
eral Assembly recently, toughens
criminal penalties for drug deal
ers who fortify a home in order to
keep law enforcement officials
out. Officers throughout the
state have run into anything
from six-foot chain-link fences
with barbed wire to double steel
doors, barricaded windows and
attack dogs.
“The main problem for police
was it took too long to gain entry
into a fortified home, giving drug
dealers inside plenty of time to
destroy any evidence of drugs
and making arrests almost im
possible,” said Lieutenant Gover
nor Jim Gardner, who chairs the
North Carolina Drug Cabinet.
“Law officers told me they
needed this type of bill in order
to strengthen the laws against
fortified homes.”
Lothian agreed, citing a
“It will give us one more
tool to use to help fight
this problem that we
have.”
Joe Lothian
Sheriff, Perquimans County
two-inch bar with electronic sen
sors which was confiscated and
Is being held In the department.
Behind such barriers, sheriffs
deputies often find five-gallon
buckets of acid, ledgers, par
aphernalia. large quantities of
baking soda, and pipes, he said.
The bill was recommended by
the North Carolina Drug Cabinet
and sponsored by state Rep
resentative Doris Huffman.
School starts Monday
By SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
Students enrolled in the Per
quimans County School System
will find a few changes when
school starts Monday.
Those who ride buses to
school will see a difference first.
Director/Administration Indus
trial Technology Tom Monti told
school board members Monday
night that students will be as
signed to buses differently for the
1992-93 school year. Students
from the middle school and high
school will ride together, while
those from Central and Hertford
Grammar schools will share
transportation.
Monti said the change will
eliminate some of the stops and
scheduling conflicts of past
years. Before, high school stu
dents rode one set of buses. The
other three schools shared trans
portation, resulting in drop-off
and pick-up at three locations
each day. Each bus will now
have only two schools to which
to deliver students in the morn
ing and pick them up in the af
ternoon.
Another plus for the new
alignment, Monti said, is elimi
nating overcrowding. Middle
/high school buses will transport
a maximum of 36 students, the
elementary buses a maximum of
54. While the system has not vio
lated state regulations regarding
the number of students assigned
to buses in the past, the three
school buses have seemed more
crowded due to the size of the
students. Monti said.
The altered transportation
schedule should not increase ex
penses, Monti stated.
“It looks like we will be able
to run with the same number of
buses we had last year.” he told
the board.
Monti said bus drivers have
been instructed to contact stu
dents assigned to their buses to
introduce themselves and give
approximate pick-up and drop
off times.
Another change students
can expect is a system-wide
discipline policy. Traditionally,
each school has implemented
its own policy. But this year,
the principals are working to
gether to compose a uniform
code for all students, according
to superintendent Randall L.
Henion. Students will receive a
copy of the policy Monday when
school opens. It was not avail
able at press time.
Some new faces will be in
place in classrooms, thanks to
resignations, reassignments
and appointments. As of Mon
day, Personnel Director Paul
Ward said the system had three
teaching positions left to fill.
Maintenance personnel
have been kept busy all sum
mer refurbishing and renovat
ing at all four schools. At the
high school, the department
has been working to complete
renovations to allow for moving
all classes formerly housed at
the King Street Annex into the
main building.
Henion told the board that
as faculty and staff began re
turning from the summer break
on Monday, he sensed an excit
ement among them, and high
expectations for a productive
school year.
Sizzling heat sparks blazes
By SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor _
The summer’s sizzling heat
and blanketing humidity have
translated into calls - lots of calls
- for local volunteer firefighters.
According to Hertford Fire
Department Captain Larry Chap
pell, overloading circuits with air
conditioners has been the source
of trouble for several residents.
He warned that care should be
used when operating window air
conditioning units.
Licensed electrician Phil Har
ris advises consumers who own
110-volt units to make sure the
branch circuit feeding the outlet
into which the unit is plugged
has the capacity to handle the
unit Plugging an air conditioner
Into a circuit already being
-.y* < ' • *
tapped for several other electrical
devices could result in overload.
Harris said that a 220-volt
unit should generally be wired di
rectly into the electrical panel on
a separate circuit with the capac
ity to handle the load.
Under no circumstances
should a fuse or circuit breaker
larger than the rating of the wire
in the circuit be installed. He said
fuses and circuit breakers are
there to protect the wire. Inserting
a fuse or breaker larger than the
wire can cause the wire to bum
before burning out a fuse or trip
ping the breaker, possibly result
ing in fire.
When in doubt about whether
a circuit or electrical service can
handle a load, Harris recom
mends contacting a license elec
trician.
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