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May 23,
The Perquimans Weekly
350
Vol. 64, No. 21
The only newspaper for and about Perquimans County people
Hertford, North Carolina 27944
Edenton board cans joint garbage plan
Garden party/PCRA fundraiser
Guests came from far and near to attend the annual Garden
Party, a fundraiser for the Perquimans County Restoration
Association. Hosted this year by Julian Winslow on the back
lawn of his Front Street home overlooking the Perquimans
River, the party drew hundreds of history patrons. Guests
PHOTO BY SUSAN HARRIS
enjoyed refreshments while listening to the music of Wayne
James. Monies raised from the event will fund local historic
preservation and renovation projects. Chairmen for the event
were Mary Alice Brinn, Sharman Haskett, Chris Lane and
Jeanne White.
Hertford Town Council seeking
updated bids on proposed garbage
collection, disposal privitization
By SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
A proposed garbage collec
tion partnership between the
towns of Hertford and Edenton
got canned last week when
Edenton residents trashed the
plan at a town council meet
ing.
The neighboring towns had
worked toward signing a joint
agreement with a private
garbage collection and dispos
al firm to serve both towns.
Privitizing would be cheaper
for taxpayers, the councils
believed, than, paying for labor
and buying and maintaining
equipment to continue offer
ing municipal garbage pick
up.
But a contingent of Edenton
residents balked at that
board’s May 14 meeting, caus
ing council to opt out of the
proposal. Councilmen there
said they were responding as
requested by those they were
elected to represent, and
warned that the decision not to
privitize could mean a tax
increase in Edenton.
Hertford councilmen
seemed poised to privitize at
that board’s May 13 meeting,
but hesitated to act pending
the outcome of Edenton’s
council meeting.
Now Hertford town manag
er John Christensen has gone
back to private bidders Waste
Industries and Reliable
Disposal to see what effect
Edenton’s back-out will have
on the companies’ bids.
Christensen has set a special
meeting on May 29 to discuss
the new figures, which he said
will be available for board
review before that date.
If council should decide not
to privitize garbage collection,
Christensen said he will rec
ommend the purchase of a new
trash truck in his 1996-97 bud
get.
The town manager said
garbage trucks cost $80,000-
$90,000. If a truck had to be
purchased, the town would
probably choose to finance it
over a 5-year period. Pajunents
would run about $19,000 per
year.
What privitizing would
mean to town residents is that
households would receive a 90-
gallon, rollable container
which would be placed near
the curb on the town’s once-
per-week pick-up day. Both
companies bidding on the
garbage collection have agreed
to continue to offer back-yard
pick-up to residents with dis
abilities.
Make bicycle helmets a riding rule in your household
By SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
Flynn Surratt sounds like a
medical professional when he
discusses the condition of his
12-year-old son, Daniel. While
it’s sometimes tough for a lay
person to understand exactly
what Surratt is talking about,
his most important message is
crystal clear: If you ride a bicy
cle, wear a helmet.
The nightmare that the
Surratt family has called life
for over two years all started
because once, just once, Daniel
broke his family’s must-wear
helmet rule.
“It started as simple plans
for our lO-year-old son,
Daniel,” Surratt recalls. “He
would leave on Friday
evening, February 18, (1994) to
spend the weekend in
Murfreesboro with his friend,
Brian, while my wife. Earline,
and I would make a run to
Newport to meet my mother
and pick up a car she was giv
ing us. No big deal.
Arrangements were made to
farm out the other kids, so
Earline and I were looking for
ward to a day trip on a nice
sunny Saturday.
^ “And so it was that on
Saturday, at roughly the same
time we were passing through
New Bern on route to
Newport, Daniel and Brian
were each riding bicycles to a
service station—a distance of
about three blocks. As Daniel
attempted to make a left turn,
an automobile behind him
moved out to pass. When they
collided, Daniel’s head impact
ed with the car’s windshield at
an estimated speed of 35-miles-
-per-hour.
“This particular morning,
he was not wearing his bike
helmet.
“One of our non-negotiable
house rules is our bike helmet
rule, and with few exceptions,
Daniel obeyed this (rule) with
little fuss. We later learned
that just minutes prior to the
accident, Daniel said, ‘I’m not
supposed to ride without my
helmet.’ But since it was a
beautiful day with one of his
best buddies, and since they
were only going to ride a short
distance, he took the
chance—just that one, single
time.”
After colliding with the
windshield, Daniel was
thrown about 40 feet to the
pavement, where the other
side of his head sustained a
blow.
The EastCare helicopter
was unavailable, so Daniel
was tranported by Hertford
County Rescue Squad first to
Roanoke-Chowan Hospital,
then on to the Pitt County
Memorial Hospital Trauma
Center. He suffered multiple
skull fractures and massive,
multiple brain contusions. CT
scans showed that Daniel’s
skull had been crushed.
Flynn and Earline arrived
in Newport to what they
thought was a warm welcome
from friends and neighbors.
But the look on his mother’s
face told Flynn that something
was terribly wrong.
Hearing the news was not
nearly the blow walking into
pediatric ICU at Pitt Memorial
and not recognizing Daniel as
their son would be.
The next few days were a
blur for the Surratts. They
stayed at the Ronald
McDonald House while trying
to absorb the extent of Daniel’s
injuries and the outlook.
The blur became clear focus
for Flynn on Friday, February
25 at 11 a.m. when he got ready
to go into ICU only to see a
group of doctors and nurses at
the end of Daniel’s bed. The
boy had taken a turn for the
worse. It appeared he might be
brain dead. The doctors decid
ed to wean Daniel from
pentabarbitol, one of his many
medications, to try to deter
mine if indeed Daniel was
brain dead.
Flynn and Earline returned
to Edenton that day to rumors
Daniel Surratt was in a vegetative state for months after a bicy
cle-vehicle traffic accident. Surratt broke his family’s must-wear
helmet rule to ride a bike only three blocks.
that Daniel had died.
The couple had not planned
to return to Greenville so
soon, but Flynn said he felt he
had to go back on Sunday
morning. He arrived to better
news. Daniel was fairly stable,
his color had returned and he
took a couple of breaths on his
own.
The worst part of brain
injuries, the Surratts would
find out, is that there are no
clear answers.
“You ask questions with
brain injuries and you get no
answers,” Flynn said. “You
ask specific questions about
the prognosis and they can’t
predict the outcome. It was the
not knowing that was killing
me. Will he come back? Will he
be normal, vegetative? What
does the future hold?”
After five months of ups and
downs and very few absolute
answers, the Surratts took
Daniel home in July. He con
tinued to be in a vegetative
state. In September, he spent
time in Cumberland Hospital
for Children and Adolescents
in New Kent, Va. He seemed
unhappy there, and the
Surratts took him back home.
He later spent 10 days in
Lenox-Baker Children’s
Hospital in Durham, a rehabil
itation center that is part of
the Duke University Medical
Center.
Over two years after the
accident, Daniel is at home. He
requires 24-hour care, and his
father said that’s not likely to
change. Ever.
He is unable to speak,
although he can make sounds.
At times, he is able to under
stand what is being said to
him, but his attention span is
limited. He responds to people,
animals, sounds and the televi
sion.
It has been determined that
he is cortically blind, which
means that while his eyes
actually see things, his brain
is unable to process the infor
mation to tell him what he’s
looking at He does appear to
recognize his family.
It seems he is able to grasp
cause and effect. He sometimes
shakes his head appropriately
when asked yes and no ques
tions.
He has made a couple of
attempts to feed himself with
the help of a hand brace. He
can swallow thin liquids. His
feeding tube is still in place to
make sure he gets the nutri
tion that is vital to keep his
brain functioning. He cannot
walk or move himself,
although through theraputic
games with a ball, he is mov
ing his arms.
He has been in school half
days since March 1995. Flynn
said the socialization and stim
ulation of being around other
youth is extremely important.
The Surratts are realistic
about Daniel’s life. Through
research and information pro
vided by Daniel’s doctors, they
know that about 90 percent of
what is recovered after brain
injuries is spontaneous.
“He has recovered (physi
cally),” Flynn said. “All we can
hope for is that he does contin
ue to improve. There is very
little you can cause to get
back. 'I^e damage that is done
is done forever.”
The real problem is that the
neurons in Daniel’s brain are
tom. 'That means that the com
plicated information process
ing system in his brain is dam
aged. 'The damage to his brain
can be compared to a major
storm hitting a city and
destroying virtually all the
roads. While some traffic can
be detoured, there is only one
way to reach other areas.
Some families of brain
injury victims choose to seek
long-term care facilities
because of the vast amount of
time and energy required to
care for them. But that is not
an option the Surratts are pre
pared to explore.
“We never considered a
nursing home as an option,
nor will we,” Flynn said.
“Daniel is our son and we love
him. We are willing to do
whatever it takes to care for
him at home.”
Daniel will always have pro
found deficits, but his parents
say that does not mean he
can’t have a meaningful life
and be happy. That’s what
they keep in mind with every
passing day.
And while they will not
dwell on it because it is not
productive or conducive to
Daniel’s improvement, they
are well aware that one sim
ple, relatively inexpensive
item could have stood between
Daniel’s head and the devastat
ing injuries he sustained: a
bicycle helmet.
The Surratts don’t want
sympathy. They don’t want
philosophical explanations for
Daniel’s accident. What they
do want is to see bicycle riders
wearing helmets. Always.
(Editor’s note: Please read
The Perquimans Weekly next
week for more information on
bicycle safety.)
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