June 22,1995
The Perquimans Weekly
350
Vol. 63, No. 25
The only newspaper for and about Perquimans County people
Hertford, North Carolina 27944
Perquimans AD
may soon be
non-eoaehing
sebool position
By GINGER LIVINGSTON
The Daily Advance
The Perquimans County Board
of Education is one step closer to
separating the athletic director’s
position from the school system’s
coaching jobs.
Monday, the board of education
had a first reading on its new ath
letic director policy. The board
wUl take action on the policy dur
ing their July 31 meeting. The
meeting date is being changed
because of scheduling conflicts.
The policy states it is the board
of education’s goal to make the
athletic director’s position sepa
rate from coaching positions.
‘^The Board of Education
believes that the duties, time
requirements and responsibili
ties of coaches and athletic direc
tors are very demanding and that
a coach or athletic director can be
a more effective employee if he is
not serving in both capacities at
the same time,” the policy states.
However, the policy recognizes
the school system’s size and will
make allowances for one person
to hold the position. The policy
put on the table Monday evening
wni allow the school’s principal
to decide if one person should fill
both roles.
The principal wfil make a rec
ommendation to the superinten
dent who will grant the excep
tion.
This is a change from the first
policy statement which said the
superintendent would recom
mend to the board of education
that one person fill both roles.
Board Chairman Ben Hobbs
said the change takes politics out
of the decision making process.
“The policy of the board of edu
cation getting into hiring and fir
ing worries me,” he said. “If
someone get elected with 180
votes and their mission to getting
rid of the AD (athletic director),
wen... that’s aU rU say.”
Board Member Wallace Nelson
agreed, but said the board should
not limit itself.
“I think first we should say we
prefer them separate but recog
nize we are small and might not
be able to have them separate,”
he said.
The status of the current athlet
ic director and football coach,
Harrell Thach, remains unclear.
The first draft stated, “This poli
cy does not prohibit the contin
ued dual role of any athletic
director currently serving in the
school system prior to the adop
tion of this policy.” The state
ment was removed in the second
draft.
“If we want to change a rule
you change a rule with no grand
fathering,” Hobbs said after the
meeting.
Thach’s current status will be
decided by Perquimans County
High School Principal Elaine
Pritchard.
“We’U sit down look at it and
come up with a decision,” she
said.
The board also reviewed new
procedures for adding, expanding
and/or deleting sports program
ming in the school.
FLAG DAY/A grateful nation remembers
PHOTO BY SUSAN HARRIS
Some of the 50 World War II veterans from Perquimans
County carried 50 American flags onto the field during last
Wednesday’s Flag Day program sponsored by the Veterans
of Underage Military Service and the Perquimans County
World War II Commemoration Committee. About 500 people
filled Veterans Memorial Stadium for the observance.
Flag Day is observance of freedom
By SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
It was a day that made
folks proud to be Americans,
and especially proud to be
Americans from Perquimans
County.
From the posting of the
colors by 50 Perquimans
County World War II veter
ans to the retirement of the
armed forces colors, the Flag
Day program at Perquimans
High School last Wednesday
was a moving tribute to vet
erans of all eras - those who
lived to tell the story and
those who gave their lives in
the fight for worldwide free
dom.
The observance was the
largest of the events spon
sored to date in the county,
which has been designated a
World War II
Commemorative
Community. Estimators put
the number in attendance at
around 500. Flag Day was a
joint effort of the Veterans of
Underage Military Service,
Inc. and the Perquimans
County World War II
Commemoration Committee.
The first spaker of the day
was Rodolfo “Rudy” P.
Hernandez, a congressional
medal of honor recipient
from Fayetteville.
“Is it possible to wave the
flag too much?” Hernandez
queried. “I believe we are not
waving the flag enough. Isn’t
the flag a symbol of the
United States of America?
Does it not represent man’s
greatest, noblest and most
supreme dream?”
Hernandez said it is time
for 20th century man to
rekindle patriotism, and for
every home to own and dis
play the American flag, espe
cially on national holidays.
“The great events of our
past and present are all
wrapped up in our flag,” he
said. It represents hope and
is “a shining beacon of light
for the noble and glorious.”
James J. Nemer, Cmdr.
USN (Ret.) and Director of
the U.S. Navy Memorial in
Washington, D.C., presented
an American flag to Aaron
Hoffler, a Navy Memorial
Cadet, who in turn presented
the flag to Mack Nixon,
chairman of the Perquimans
County Commissioners.
“This flag is well over
due,” Nixon said as he
accepted the flag on behalf of
the county.
Nixon, a Viet Nam veter
an, said the state motto, “To
be rather than to seem,” is
appropriate when remember
ing veterans.
“God bless each and every
one of you,” Nixon said.
The program also included
the rededication of the athlet
ic field at Perquimans High
School, which was built in
1946 as a memorial to World
War II veterans with dona
tions received from people
and businesses in
Perquimans County. The
field was never officially ded
icated nor was the name
Veterans Memorial Field
ever recorded in the board of
education’s minutes. That
oversight has been corrected,
said school board chairman
Ben Hobbs.
“When you come out to a
ball game, don’t just say
you’re going to the field, say
you are going to Memorial
Field,” he urged.
The Veterans of Underage
Military Service held a
wreath laying ceremony. One
wreath was in honor of all
veterans, the other in memo
ry of those veterans listed as
M.I.A. or P.O.W. The wreaths
were accepted by Jack
Hoffler of Woodville, State
Commander of the Veterans
of Underage Military Service,
Richard Hartman and Harry
Myer, the only living sur
vivors aboard the US LST 512
on June 6, 1944 when
Normandy was invaded. The
wreaths were presented by
Harrell Johnson and Paul
Nelson of Elizabeth City,
both Veterans of Underage
Military Service.
The wreath laying ceremo
ny was followed by two
buglers with the U.S. Marine
Corps 2nd Division Band
echoing taps.
The 82nd Airborne
Division Chorus stationed at
Fort Bragg presented a pro
gram of patriotic songs.
During a medley of the theme
songs of all branches of ser
vice, veterans on the field
and in the stands rose when
they heard the familiar
refrains of the branches in
which they served.
On hand for the occasion
was Dewey C. Spencer,
Assistant Deputy Secretary,
Department of Veterans
Affairs.
“We must always take
time to honor veterans’ ser
vice,” Spencer said.
He emphasized President
Bill Clinton’s support of the
protection of veterans’ bene
fits.
Spencer said the day was a
time to “pause and reflect on
how great it is to be an
American.”
The program also included
a military aircraft fly over
courtesy of the U.S. Coast
Guard Station in Elizabeth
City, a performance by the
Northeastern High School
Air Force Jr. ROTC Drill
Team, and a concert by the
U.S. Marine Corps 2nd
Division Band.
Jack Overman, president
of the First Flight Chapter of
the Retired Officers
Association on the Outer
Banks, said he was glad he
had taken the time to attend
the ceremony.
“It was great,” Overman
said. “I was very impressed
with it. I felt that Hertford
did itself proud in the way it
was put on. I enjoyed it
immensely.”
$600,000 ;
r
grant aids |
Winfall
sewer plan
By GINGER LIVINGSTON
The Daily Advance |
WINFALL — The dream o2
sewer service for residents here'
is one step closer to becoming a
reality.
The Town of Winfall received
$600,000 from the N.C.
Department of Commerce’s
Division of Community
Assistance to install sewer lines
in the community. The money
comes from a $32 million'
Community Development Block
Grant.
“It’s a piece of the pie,” WinfeU
Mayor Fred Yates said.
Winfall officials have spent two
years trying to secure $4.2 million
in funding to install a sewer sys
tem. Winfall’s approximately 600
citizens currently use septic sys-.
terns. If a sewer system is built it'
will serve at least 315 houses plus
Perquimans County Middle'
School and Central Grammar
School.
Town officials want to secure a
$3.15 million loan from Rural
Economic and Community
Development Services (formerly
the Farmers Home
Administration) to pay for the
construction of a wastewater
treatment plant. The $600,000
grant, plus a $100,000 grant from
the N.C. Rural Center, will pay
for sewer line construction, Yates
said.
Yates, other town ofiicials and
Wooten Company engineers will
meet this week to work on a sys
tem design to present to the
Winfall Town Council June 26.
The council must develop a fee
schedule that wfil pay back the.
loan but not be too expensive forj
the users. *
“Sixty percent of our town is
elderly people with fixed incomes
so we’re not out to give them
something they can’t pay for,”
Yates said.
If the loan cannot be secured,
Winfall win petition the state for
permission to use the money on
other projects, Yates said.
Inside
Middle School
honors achievers
Page 6
Sign up now
for wetlands
program
Page 3
Men’s softball
Page?
Classified
Pages
Outside
Boy, 9, slightly injured when car hits bicycle
THURSDAY
t f /' /
( / w ( (
C t
III \l
High:
80s
CHANCE
Low:
60s
OF RAIN
High: Low:
80s 60s
CHANCE OF RAIN
High: Low:
80s 60s
PARTLY CLOUDY
By GINGER LIVINGSTON
The Daily Advance
A 9-year-old boy suffered only
minor abrasions and a bump to
the head when his bicycle was hit
by a car Monday morning on
West Grubb Street.
The boy, who’s name is not
being released, was riding east on
a sidewalk with another child
when he jumped the curb and
starting riding in the street.
However, the child moved into
the path of a car driven by Rachel
Jordan of Route 3, Hertford,
Hertford Police' Chief Bennie
Murphy said. Jordan was also
traveling east.
“Jordan immedidately slowed
down, blew her horn and swerved
left,” Murphy said. “The child,
hearing the horn, looked back,
saw the car and moved to the
curb. However, the car caught his
back tire.” The child was thrown
from the bicycle into the street.
The child was not wearing a bicy
cle helmet.
The rescue squad transferred
the child to Albemarle Hospital
were he was treated and released,
Murphy said. No charges are
being filed against Jordan.
The accident illustrates the
extra care motorists need to take
in the summer months, Murphy
said.
“A child that age should be rid
ing with supervision but it’s sum
mertime and kids are going to be
on their bicycles and sometimes
they don’t pay attention,” he said.
AU bike riders should wear a hel
met.
“If they are on the sidewalk
they need to stop and look both
ways before crossing a street or
puUing onto a street,” he said.
Murphy also reminds parents
that bicycle riding on Church
Street sidewalks between Grubb
and Market Streets is Ulegal.
“We’ve been stopping a lot of
kids and teUing them not to ride,
their bikes on the sidewalk,”
Murphy said. “We have a lot of
senior citizens and we don’t want
anyone knocked down.”