THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
Volume 61, No.45
Hertford, Perquimans County, N.C., Thursday, November 5,1992
35 Cents
II
Newby, named Perquimans
Schools Teacher ot the £
Year, 1992: Page s
’s Halloween family
Two Perquimans women are murdered
Husband, stepfather charged with slayings
By SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
An ongoing domestic feud
erupted into violence Halloween
night, leaving a Holiday Island
woman and her 16-year-old
daughter dead.
The bodies of Beverly Irene
Pulley. 48, and her daughter.
Tracy Lynn Franco, were found
Sunday around 10 a.m. by Mrs.
Pulley’s son, 17-year-old Duffy
Franco, according to Perquimans
County Sheriff's Deputy Eric
Tilley.
Tilley was the first law en
forcement officer to enter the
doublewide mobile home at 48N
Flyway Drive, where the women
resided. He found both in the
kitchen, each with a single gun
shot wound in the chest. He esti
mated that the two had been
dead around 10 hours when he
arrived.
In the bathroom of the home
was Edwin Eugene Pulley. 63.
Tilley said Pulley was incoherent,
apparently the result of mixing
chugs and alcohol. He was trans
ported by ambulance to Chowan
Hospital, where he was later
charged with the murders of his
wife and stepdaughter.
The investigation by the Per
quimans County Sheriffs De
partment and State Bureau of
Investigation, assisted by the
Hertford Police Department, un
folded a tragic set of circum
stances officials believe led to the
murders.
Tilley said domestic distur
bance rails to the Pulley home
were not unusual. Deputies had
responded to two calls the week
of die deaths, he said.
From Interviews with family
and friends, authorities believe
Mrs. Pulley told her husband
Saturday evening she planned to
move out of their home. Pulley
did not want her to leave and al
legedly shot Mrs. Pulley and
Miss Franco in the chest with a
12-gauge shotgun. Preliminary
investigation suggests that the
women were shot prior to mid
night on Saturday, and that both
died instantly. Tilley said Pulley
had apparently been drinking al
cohol prior to the slayings.
The crime scene investiga
tion was completed around 10
p.m. Sunday. Deputies served
warrants on Pulley at the hospi
tal around midnight, Tilley said.
He has been charged with two
Ttacy and Duffy FYanco left first period class
Friday along with other drama students at Per
quimans High School after putting the finishing
touches on the three one-act plays scheduled to;
be performed Monday evening. Monday was to
bring the final run-through and the excitement
of a season-opening production.
Instead, Monday found the drama students
sitting in their class mourning the loss of Tracy,
shot and killed over the weekend, and worrying
about her brother Duffy.
Tracy was set to play her first role on stage
as a spinster sister in the comedy Not My Cup of
Tea. Last year she preferred to work behind the
\scenes, said drama instructor Lynwood
Winslow, but had agreed to take an acting spot
this year. Duffy, who had performed in numer
o^s productions, was also cast for a role. ^
■ The mood in the drama room Monday was:'
grim, Winslow said. In the past, students have <
felt a need to talk about tragedies, said the tea-1;
cher. But Monday the students did not want to
verbalize the emotions they were forced to deal
with. Instead, each student seemed to drift into
a private world to deal with the harsh reality
Tracy’s death.
The school system provided assistance
students through Tidewater Psychiatric Instil
tute, local ministers and school counselors. |
" ‘ * 1
The productions set for Monday were post
poned until Nov. 17. ' . -
counts of murder. He is currently
being held without bond at Albe
marle District Jail awaiting a
Nov. 18 probable cause hearing.
Miss Franco was a junior at
Perquimans High School. Both
she and Duffy Franco, a senior,
were scheduled to appear in the
school drama club’s season
opener Monday evening.
Pulley was retired from the
military and had previously
worked for a brief time with the
U.S. Postal Service.
Three hurt
in collision
Three people were sent to the
hospital as a result of a two-car
collision in the Bethel commu
nity early Sunday morning.
Regina P. Bivens of Route 1.
Hertford and two jueveniles re
ceived Class A injuries and were
transported by Perquimans
County Rescue Squad to Chowan
Hospital. Bivens was admitted,
and was released Monday morn
ing. according to Chowan Hospi
tal Public Relations Director Pete
Rogers. No information was
available on the two youths. Rog
ers said.
A vehicle operated by a jueve
nile was travelling north on Jor
dan Drive when it pulled into the
path of a 1976 Ford passenger
vehicle operated by Bivens. Bi
vens was travelling east on Snug
Harbor Road. The Ford struck
the juevenile’s vehicle in the left
passenger area, according to the
report of N.C. Highway Patrol
Trooper T.M. Lassiter.
The Ford sustained damages
estimated at $3,200. The other
vehicle received approximately
$4,000 in damages.
Bivens was charged with
driving while impaired. Several
charges are pending against the
juevenile. No other information
could be released due to the age
of the driver.
Happy being SADD
Members of the PCHS SADD Club encour
age fellow students to sign contracts
agreeing not to drink and drive. Jamie Hud
son and Dena White manned the sign-up
station during first lunch period, where (left
to right) Hope Stallings, Shannon Long, JJ.
Weise, Amber Bass and Wes Woodell all
signed contracts. The sign-ups were held in
conjunction with the National Red Ribbon
Campaign against drunk driving. (Photo by
Susan Harris.)
County officials agree on a new voting system
By TRACY E. 6ERLACH
The Dafly Mtanoe'
Perquimans County commis
sioners and school board mem
bers voted on a new election plan
Monday that will erase alt district
lines and make sure a black can
didate is elected to both boards
in future elections.
After five years of studying
different ways to restructure the
county's election system to make
-It more equitable to the minority
population, the two boards
agreed on a plan.
An at large, limited voting
system was chosen which would
increase the number of members
on the school board and board of
commissioners from five to six.
Under the system developed by
the Perquimans County Electoral
Study Committee, three seats
would become vacant every two
years and voters would be al
lowed to vote for only one candi
date. The top three vote getters
would be elected to (Ace.
CONTEST
SEE PAGE
i ■ " -v •,* ‘1 *
At large, limited voting is new
to North Carolina, although It
has been used in other parts of
the country for some time.
"The reason we felt like we
did about the at large plan is it
was the most equitable way to
County." said school board mem
ber CUfford Towe who was also
chairme n of the electoral study
committee.
Now that both boards have
agreed, the plan will be for
warded to the state legislature
for its approval and then the U.S.
Justice Department. If approved,
the plan would apply to tne 1994
election.
-Some concerns were raised
that the system made it possible
for a candidate to be elected
without a majority vote.
"Nobody will have a majority
of the citizens of anybody, said
school board member Benjamin
Hobbs, the only one to vote
against the plan. "I think it’s a
horrible assumption that blacks
are only going to vote for blacks
and whites are only going to vote
for whites. That's a racist as
sumption to begin with."
- County Manager N. Paul Gre
gory. also a member of the com?
mittee. said under the plan,
voters, black or white, will vote
for the best candidate instead of
along racial lines.
Once implemented, the plan
would be reviewed again by the
boards after four years. •*:
Fred Yates, president of the’
local chapter of the NAACP. said
his organization endorsed the at
elected in Perquimans
Clifford P. Towe
large {dan although originally the
group favored its own five district
plan with two majority black dis
tricts. Yates said the two districts
restricted blades living in other
areas from becoming involved in
the political system.
“Do all the best black or mi
nority people live in those dis
tricts? I don’t think so." he said.
“As a compromise we would offer
tihe at large, limited vote provid
ing the NAACP would have a part
in appointing those (first two)
members to the board.”
Once the system is in place,
tiie plan calls for a black member
to be appointed to fill the sixth
seat on both boards.
Perquimans County’s electo
ral system was first questioned
in 1988 by the NAACP after the
board of commissioners over
looked two black candidates vy
ing for a vacant position on the
board and voted for a white.
The electoral study commit
tee submitted a seven district
plan in 1990 that was rejected by
the justice department.
According to a letter from Ra
leigh attorney Michael Crowell,
attorney for the electoral study
committee, the at large, limited
voting system allows voters to
choose two candidates over a
four year period rather than just
one. It also ensures that minority
candidates don't have to live in a
specific district to be elected and
all county residents get the same
ballot.
Some disadvantages to the
plan are contusion created tty
only being allowed to vote for one
candidate, the possibility that a
candidate can be elected with
few votes and more than one
candidate could be elected from
the same neighborhood, Crowell
said.
Crowell said a districting
plan would have assured mi
nority representation and pro
vided representation for every
area, but lines could be confus
ing to voters and people who
were minorities in their district
would have little chance of being
elected.
Perquimans voters
support Democrats
Perquimans County voters
overwhelmingly supported Demo
cratic candidates in Tuesday s
general election. From the man
who will serve in the White
House to the man vrho will serve
in the courthouse, the Demo
crats took every race in the
county.
On the national level, presi
dential candidate Bill Clinton
carried Perquimans by an 1816
1429 margin. Ross Perot col
lected 624 votes. The county also
chose Terry Sanford over Lauch
Faircloth, 1945-1666, for a seat
in the U.S. Senate. Eva Clayton,
a candidate for the U.S. House,
won over Ted Tyler 1966-1544.
Clayton also defeated Tyler in
her bid to fill the unexpired term
of Walter B. Jones Sr. in old
house district 1.
Perquimians continued the
Democratic voting trend on the
state level, supporting James B.
Hunt in his bid to once again oc
cupy the governor's mansion.
Hunt defeated Jim Gardner
2371-1358. Joining Hunt as lieu
tenant governor will be Dennis
Wicker, who took Art Pope,
2215-1254.
Other Democrats elected to
state office included Rufus Ed
misten - secretary of state; Har
lan Boyles - treasurer; Ralph
Campbell - auditor; Mike Easley
- attorney general; Jim Graham -
agriculture commissioner; Jim
Long - insurance commissioner:
Harry Payne - labor commis
sioner; and Bob Etheridge - su
perintendent of public
instruction.
County voters also chose
Democrats to serve as judges.
Sarah Parker was elected to the
supreme court; John Martin, An
thony Brannon, and Joseph
John to the court of appeals; and
Richard Parker to the District 1
superior court judgeship.
Closer to home, Charles T.
Skinner Jr. defeated Charles E.
Woodard for the available seat on
the county board of commission
ers representing the first district.
Skinner took 2,331 votes, Wood
ard 1,395. There was no local
race for two seats in the second
vs
:'v£
Voter tum-outi
disappointing
to officials %
a Early traffic In the^..,
county's polling stations,
lifted the expectations of
election officials. When"
over 50 percent of the
county’s 5.966 registered ^
voters had visited the polls i
before 5 p.m., officials ex- ’"™
peeted a banner turn-out.
" " But obviously most vot-|
ers decided to cast their
ballots early. Only 62 per
cent of those registered ^
voted in the election, 145 of
those voting by absentee !:
ballot Local officials antic- %
ipated 65-70 percent turn- ^
out for the election. The ;
state board of elections ||
forecasted a 72 percent
voter tum-out prior to the*
election.
Tm very disappototedS
in East Hertford,” saidqr
board of elections chair-% I
man Irvin R. Bibb. “That's
| probably our lowest voter
j turn-out.” - ■
- Bibb was right. Only t
"!593 of the 1,100 registered s
' voters in East Hertford, 54#
percent cast a ballot The
precinct with the highest.
;J;yoter turn-out was the?
smallest precinct, Nicanor.f
All but 40 of the 186 regia
;tered voters in Nicanor |
went to the polls. ParksvIHe'
also enjoyed higher than
average voter turn-out,
with 68 percent of the. a
ft ,064 registered vote***
checking In Tuesday- '
‘ v’-..
■■ ■ ■■■
district, the register of deeds or
Albemarle Soil and Water super
visor.
Regional health department may
administer landfill authority
By TRACY E.QERLACH
The Dally Advance'
The PPCC District Health De
partment may be used to admin
ister the newly formed Albemarle
Area Solid Waste Management
Authority rather than creating
another layer of bureaucracy, an
official involved with the author
ity said Friday.
Following a meeting of the
Administrative Committee — a
subcommittee of the authority
—officials agreed to look into us
ing the health department staff,
including Jerry Parks, manager
of the Perquimans. Chowan and
Gates county landfill to run the
authority Instead of hiring staff.
The PPCC District Health De
partment already serves four
counties — Perquimans, Pasquo
tank, Chowan and Camden and
has been the administrative
icy for the three-county land
“It's a potential way of stat
ing the program with the small
est staff possible with the same
benefit We feel we can do that,”
Parks said. "We see this as a way
of helping everyone get the serv
ice for just a few dollars.”
Under the proposal, psyroU.
1
Please See Landfill;