February 22,
The Perquimans
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Vol. 64, No. 8
The only newspaper for and about Perquimans County people
Hertford, North Carolina 27944
PHOTO BY GINGER LIVINGSTON, THE DAILY ADVANCE
Perquimans County Sheriff David Lane (right) and chief deputy
Dean Cartwright display some of the items stolen from the
Durants Neck area since early December. The items were recov
ered last week from a Norfolk, Va. residence. Two Norfolk men
have been charged with the robberies.
State gets waivers
to implement
welfare reform
By SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
The federal government has
okayed waivers that allow
North Carolina to fully imple
ment the state’s welfare
reform program, tagged Work
First.
Work First, proposed by
Gov. Jim Hunt, focuses on
responsibility, not entitle
ment. Implementation of the
program will mean reduced
cash benefits and sanctions
against those who refuse to
take responsibility for them
selves.
“We have to send a strong
message that you’re responsi
ble for your family,’’ said Lynn
Garrison of the N.C.
Department of Human
Resources.
Perhaps the most sweeping
change in the program is the
contract recipients must sign
outlining requirements for
receiving Aid to Families with
Dependent Children, or AFDC.
Parents must make sure their
school-age children attend
school regularly, get regular
medical checkups for their
children, keep their children
properly immunized, look for
and accept work, get training
or attend classes that will help
them find and keep a job, carry
out their plan to move off wel
fare, and cooperate with child
support enforcement.
Any violation of the con
tract will result in immediate
sanctions. Monthly AFDC pay
ments will be reduced by $50
per month for three months
for the first violation. The
fourth violation reduces
monthly payments by $75 for
12 months.
Refusal to sign the contract
means AFDC will be denied.
Work First requires people
to get a job within 12 weeks of
receiving their first AFDC
check. They must be working -
paid or unpaid, in Short-term
training, or a combination of
both for at least 30 hours per
week.
Work First raises the family
asset limits to $3,000 and vehi
cle value limit to $5,000 for
AFDC and food stamps. Lack
of dependable transportation
is one of the major barriers to
work, and increased savings
will make.it easier for welfare
recipients to become and stay
self-sufficent.
AFDC benefits are capped.
No benefits will be provided
Stolen property recovered
Canoe, mower
among items
thieves took
By GINGER LIVINGSTON
The Dally Advance
A routine traffic stop in
Pasquotank County two weeks
ago led to last week’s recovery
of stolen property from bur
glaries in Perquimans County
and Norfolk, Va at a Norfolk
residence.
A Pasquotank County
deputy sheriff stopped
Jonathan Len Shanks, 22, of
8007 Carlton Street and
Michael Henry Dibella, 19, of
212 Newell Avenue, both of
Norfolk, Va., on Feb. 5 for a
traffic violation, Perquimans
Chief Deputy Dean Cartwright
said. The men were pulling a
trailer loaded with a canoe, air
compressor and riding lawn
mower. The deputy was suspi
cious and asked the men
where they were coming from,
Cartwright said. They said
they had left 501 Soundside
Drive in Perquimans County.
The deputy radioed the
Perquimans County dispatch
er to check the address, which
did not exist. However, since
none of the items were report
ed missing, the men were let
go, Cartwright said.
Several days later the
Perquimans County Sheriff’s
Department received a report
that the canoe, air compressor
and riding lawn mower had
indeed been stolen. The items
were taken during a string of
break-ins in the Durant’s Neck
community that started in
early December.
Using information collected
during the traffic stop,
Perquimans deputies tracked
the men to the Carlton Avenue
address where local police offi
cers found the canoe. The
canoe’s owner, who lived in
the area, was driven by the
house, where he confirmed the
canoe in the men’s possession
was his, Cartwright said.
Later, Norfolk officers got
permission to search the
house and found dozens of
missing items including the
canoe, lawn mower and air
compressor. Other items con
fiscated included televisions,
VCRs, microwaves, bicycles, a
go-cart, tools, liquor, blankets
and pillows. Many items were
from a string of Norfolk break-
ins.
Shanks and Dibella were
arrested on burglary warrants
from Perquimans County. The
Norfolk Police Department is
The white stuff AGAIN
for additional children born
after the mother has been in
Work First longer than 10
months. A first-born child of a
dependent minor in a family
already on welfare is exempt,
but the teenage mother must
live at home or under
approved supervision and
must stay in school to earn a
high school diploma or GED.
Families with both parents
living together will no longer
be penalized. They will be eli
gible for the same benefits as
single parents.
Mothers must cooperate in
getting child support from the
fathers of their children.
Adults who do not cooperate
must work in order to receive
AFDC for their children.
Families that receive AFDC
are automatically eligible for
food stamps. This saves time
for parents and caseworkers,
so that caseworkers can spend
more time helping parents
find jobs and less time on
paperwork.
Work First is being imple
mented in phases. In the first
phase, now in progress, the
work requirement for AFDC
qualification will apply to par
ents with school-age children,
two-parent families, and par
ents who already are working
at least 30 hours per week.
Other families will be phased
in as resources are available.
While the state has set a target
population, all those who
apply for AFDC actually fall
under Work First and must
comply with the other require
ments, Garrison said.
AFDC is limited to two
years for those in targeted
Work First groups. Families
can reapply for AFDC after
three years. Families can con
tinue to get Medicaid and food
stamps at the end of the two-
year period if they qualify.
At the end of two years,
adults who have complied
with their personal responsi
bility contract and ,through no
fault of their own, cannot find
a job may apply for an exten
sion of AFDC. A local review
board will consider requests.
The state Department of
Human Resources will have
final sign-off.
Former recipients may
apply to their local review
board if they lost their job dur
ing the three-year waiting
period through no fault of
their own.
Just before 3 p.m. Friday, it happened
again: Perquimans got its third shot of ice
and show in 1996. About 1-2 inches fell
before the precipitation stopped Friday
evening. Once again, foiks, like Adam
PHOTO BY SUSAN HARRIS
Swindeii, got out the shovels to clear wide-
walks. The Farmers’ Almanac says not to
put away those snow boots, we’ve got the
biggest storm of the season coming on
March 1.
Vaughan oversees local Work First
Over 60 AFDC
recipients now
targeted
By SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
Stephanie Vaughan is a
young, energetic social worker
with the Perquimans County
Department of Social Services.
She’ll need that energy,
because Vaughan is the
department’s Work First coor
dinator.
Right now, Vaughan is
working with about 70 parents
targeted in the first phase of
Work First.
One of the largest obstacles
facing most AFDC recipients
who must look for work is a
lack of education and training
and little or no work experi
ence, Vaughan said. Add to
that a lack of transportation,
and placing individuals within
12 weeks can become a major
headache.
Her first task when
assigned a case is to determine
her client’s level of education
and job skills. She then refers
the client to appropriate agen
cies for education and training
if necessary. She works closely
with Employment Security,
the Perquimans Learning
Center, COA and ECSU, and
vocational rehabilitation cen
ters. Vaughan tells her clients
what they need to do to enroll
in school or find work, but she
doesn’t make the contacts for
them. 'That’s up to the clients.
“We’re pushing responsibil
ity,” Vaughan said.
Some of those targeted in
the first phase of Work First
are already upgrading their
job skiUs with volunteer work
at nonprofit agencies such as
the Albemarle Commission.
Some are getting teacher assis
tant experience through the
Head Start program or after
school tutorial programs.
Work-study at COA and ECSU
are also Work First client
options.
Social services pays for
child care and offers trans
portation through the
Intercounty Transit System to
those clients in Work First and
other programs.
Lack of jobs in the county
will hinder AFDC recipients’
efforts to find jobs. According
to a release issued by the
Edenton Employment Security
office earlier this month, the
January unemployment rate
for Perquimans County was
almost 6 percent.
The biggest change
Vaughan sees in the reform
program is that AFDC recipi
ents no longer have choices.
There were many opportuni
ties for education and job
skills development before
Work First, but no real incen
tive for clients to take advan
tage of them.
It was also difficult to
reduce benefits for failure to
comply with the policies
because of the waiting periods
and notification schedule
required. Now sanctions will
be swift and sure.
According to Perquimans’
AFDC supervisor Kitty
Pippen, there are over 360 fam
ilies, almost 1,000 people, in
Perquimans County receiving
AFDC benefits.
charging each with four
counts of grand larceny. The
Perquimans sheriffs depart
ment plans to serve each man
with seven warrants charging
each with second-degree bur
glary.
The arrests of Shanks and
Dibella illustrate the impor
tance of promptly reporting
stolen items, Perquimans
Sheriff David Lane said.
“There are some people who
say, ‘It’s probably gone for
good, no need to report it,’ but
then when they hear we’ve
made a large recovery they’ll
say, ‘Maybe it’s been found,’ “
Lane said. “There could have
been other items we stepped
over (when we searched the
residence for stolen items)
because we didn’t have the
report.”
Lane said robberies should
be reported immediately.
The welfare
price tag
By SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
'The price tag for welfare pro
grams is high, even in a county as
small as Perquimans.
According to the audit
report published by the county
last week in this newspaper,
the amount spent on human
services was over $1.66 million
during the 1994-95 fiscal year.
The figure represents about 29
percent of the total county
expenditures for the year.
The budget print-out detail
ing expenditures in specific
line items for the 1994-95 year
shows that Perquimans
County spent $169,473 in
AFDC; $244,073 in Medicaid
and $263,662 in day care.
Salaries and benefits for
employees took another
$477,662 budget bite. Other
costs, such as renting office
space in Winfall, telephone,
postage^ supplies and travel,
amounted to $57,467.
Not all of the budget funds
come from local ad valorem
tax collections. The county
does receive reimbursements
from state and federal alloca
tions. However, the entire
$1.66 million budget does come
from public sources.
How much money the Work
First program will save the
county can not be determined.
Numbers in each welfare pro
gram change from month to
month as people find jobs, lose
jobs, or have children who
qualify for assistance.
Work First was implement
ed without its waivers in July.
In its first five months, the
governor’s office said over
9,200 welfare recipients found
jobs. Work First also helped
move more than 11,200 parents
into jobs and off of welfare
roUs.
The state expects to save
over $25 million this year.
Outside
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