August 22,
The Perquimans Weekly
350
Vol. 64. No. 34
The only newspaper for and about Perquimans County people
Hertford, North Carolina 27944
Perquimans Weekly sold to Cox Newspapers
Thomson Newspapers and Cox
Newspapers, Inc., have reached
an agreement in principle where
by Thomson would acquire six
Cox newspapers in Arizona and
transfer to Cox ownership of two
Thomson dailies and a weekly in
North Carolina, along with cash
and other consideration. Closing
is subject to signing of a defini
tive agreement and regulatory
approvals. The joint announce
ment was made by Dick
Harrington, president and chief
executive officer of Thomson
Newspapers, and Jay Smith, pres
ident of Cox Newspapers, Inc.
Cox newspapers included in the
agreement are in Yuma, Arizona
and suburban Phoenix. The sub
urban Phoenix Tribune
Newspapers include five daily
newspapers that serve the East
Valley (Mesa, Tempe, Chandler
and Gilbert) and Scottsdale.
Thomson newspapers included in
the agreement are in Rocky
Mount and Elizabeth City, N.C.
County
may land
detention
center
By GINGER LIVINGSTON
The Daily Advance
The Perquimans County
Board of Commissioners is
considering a state offer to
locate a juvenile detention
facility near the county soft-
ball fields in Winfall.
The facility would house 24
youth and employ 25 people,
Perquimans County Manager
Paul Gregory said. It would be
a self-contained unit with
kitchen facilities and a fenced-
in recreation area.
No final decision about
locating' the facility in
Perquimans has been made,
Gregory said. The county com
missioners will hold a joint
meeting with the Winfall
Town Council on Sept. 3 at 7:30
p.m. in the Winfall Town Hall
to discuss the proposal with
county residents.
“We want to make sure all
the questions people have are
answered,” Gregory said. “If it
goes very good, as we antici
pate it will, we anticipate the
commissioners will finalize
the documentation.”
County officials have been
negotiating with the state for
approximately one year about
locating the facility in
Perquimans. If they agree to
accept the facility, construc
tion could begin in January.
“It’s a temporary holding
area for youth 16 years old and
younger who have become
involved with law enforce
ment, but who haven’t been to
juvenile court yet,” Gregory
said. The average stay for
youth at the facility will be 8-
30 days.
The state Division of Youth
Services, an agency within the
Department of Human
Resources, will operate the
facility.
The nearest one of its kind
is in Pitt County. However,
that facility is often full, mean
ing local youth who must be
held in detention are often
shipped to other facilities
miles from home.
No site for the facility — if
Perquimans decides to accept
it —has been located. The
county is negotiating with an
unnamed landowner over an
as yet undisclosed site.
Officials are also considering
locating the facility on county-
owned land.
Harrington said, “The Arizona
acquisition will allow us to
extend our strategy of building
regional marketing and commu
nications companies by entering
new and thriving markets. Cox’s
six Arizona dailies provide solid
foundations for the development
of businesses that wiU eventually
offer broadly based marketing
and communications products
and services, in addition to the
currently published daily news
papers.”
Harrington explained that
Thomson Newspapers’ long-term
strategy for growth involves
building regional marketing busi
nesses around its newspaper
operations, many of which have
been organized into strategic
marketing groups (SMGs). In an
SMG, the daily newspapers con
tinue to focus on serving their
local markets, while the SMG
management team identifies,
evaluates and develops products
and services for the regional mar
ketplace encompassing the news
papers. Depending on the market,
these could include weekly news
papers, specialized advertising
publications and such marketing
services as distribution, direct
marketing and database market
ing.
“The newspapers we will trans
fer to Cox are solid businesses
that should perform well for their
new owners,” Harrington said,
“But they are not located in mar
kets that afford us the opportuni
ty to pursue our regional market
ing strategy. Those newspapers
are staffed by outstanding people
whose contributions to Thomson
Newspapers and their local com
munities are greatly appreciated.
I’m confident that they will con
tinue to provide the readers and
advertisers in these commimities
with quality publications and ser
vice.”
Speaking for Cox, Smith said,
“We established a presence in
Arizona in 1977 and have added
and grown newspaper businesses
in the East Valley, Scottsdale and
Yuma since that time. We’re
proud of the fine service Cox
employees have provided readers
and advertisers, beginning nearly
20 years ago.
“Our transaction with
Thomson gives us the opportimi-
ty to expand our presence in
North Carolina, which we
entered late last year. We look
forward to extending our service
to new readers and advertisers in
North Carolina.”
The six Arizona newspapers
Thomson plans to acquire have a
combined circulation of more
than 100,000, with the largest
reaching almost 44,000 house
holds. The Mesa Tribune, Tempe
Daily News Tribune, Chandler
Arizona Tribime, Gilbert Tribime
and Scottsdale Progress Tribune
are in one of the fastest growing
areas of the country. The Yuma
Daily Sun is located in the third
largest metropolitan area in
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Preschoolers at Perquimans Learning
Center do>ined caps and gowns last
Thursday for their graduation program. The
tykes ran through a sampling of what
they’ve learned in preschool, including the
PHOTO BY SUSAN HARRIS
aiphabet, days of the week, months of the
year, songs and verses. Others at the
Learning Center aiso took part in the pro
gram that brought a fuli house to the Winfaii
facility.
New school sex education
policy based on abstinence
By SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
Parents of Perquimans
County Schools students
should be aware that health
education, sometimes called
healthful living, includes sex
education.
School board members
approved the system’s health
education program policy in
regular session Monday night.
The policy states that before
students may participate in a
portion of the health program
that includes the topics of
abstinence until marriage,
avoidance of out-of-wedlock
pregnancy, and the prevention
of sexually transmitted dis
eases, parents will be notified
by the school system, and will
be given the opportunity to
review the material and the
right to withhold consent for
the child to participate. Any
parent wishing to withhold
consent must do so in writing
to the principal. Otherwise,
consent to the program is pre
sumed.
The school health education
program encompasses all
major aspects of healthful liv
ing for students from kinder
garten through ninth grade.
The program promotes behav
iors that contribute to a
healthful lifestyle and
improved quality of life.
Students will be provided with
accurate information regard
ing healthful living and wil be
encouraged to be responsible
for their behavior, according
to information provided by
school administrators.
There is no health program
for grades 10-12.
Beginning in the middle
school grades, the curriculum
will include sex education.
One of the goals of the curricu
lum is to “establish abstinence
from sexual intercourse out
side of marriage as the expect
ed standard for all school-age
children.”
Other items mentioned in
Arizona.
The North Carolina newspa
pers Cox will gain include the
Rocky Mount Telegram, The
Daily Advance in Elizabeth City
and The Perquimans Weekly in
Hertford.. The combined circula
tion is about 30,000.
Smith said, “Publishers of the
North Carolina newspapers will
report to Jordy Whichard, pub
lisher of our Greenville Daily
Reflector and nine weeklies in
that state. We’re pleased we can
continue the proud tradition of
serving each of these local com
munities within eastern North
Carolina.”
Whichard commented, “Cox’s
expansion in eastern North
Carolina demonstrates the com
pany’s confidence in the growth
potential of our newspaper com
munities. Our combined circula
tion has grown to 49,000 daily and
over 45,000 weekly. I look forward
to working with the staffs in
Rocky Mount and Elizabeth City
to serve readers and advertisers
in those areas.”
Thomson Newspapers publish
es 103 dailies and numerous non
dailies, advertising and specialty
publications in the United States
and Canada. It is one of the main
operating units of Thomson
Corporation. The principal activi
ties of The Thomson Corporation
are specialized information/pub
lishing worldwide, newspaper
publishing in North America and
leisure travel in the United
Kingdom. The corporation had
sales of $7.2 billion (U.S.) in 1995
and has 50,000 staff members.
Cox Newspapers, Inc. includes
19 daily newspapers, 15 weeklies,
direct mail marketing, book pub
lishing and online services. It is a
subsidiary of Cox Enterprises,
Inc. a major media organization,
which is also a leader in broad
band commimications/cable and
television/radio broadcasting.
Through Manheim Auctions, Cox
also is the world’s largest opera
tor of automobile auctions.
Meads gets $156K
in settlement
the Healthful Living
Education Framework 1996
booklet that may be taught in
the middle/high school grades
are:
• Inform students of the cur
rent legal status of those
homosexual acts that are a sig
nificant means of transmitting
diseases, including HIV/AIDS.
• Assure that students
understand that a mutually
faithful, monogamous, hetero
sexual relationship in the con
text of marriage is the best life
long means of avoiding dis
eases transmitted by sexual
contact, including HIV/AIDS.
• For any instruction con
cerning contraceptives, pro
vide accurate statistical infor
mation on their effectiveness
and failure rates for prevent
ing pregnancy and sexually
transmitted diseases, includ
ing HIV/AIDS, in actual use
among adolescent populations.
• Assure that students are
Please see Abstinence, page 6
Lawsuit against
former police
officer settled
out of court
By SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
A Hertford businessman
who was injured in an August
1993 altercation with a former
Hertford police officer
received $156,000 in compensa
tion earlier this summer.
Joseph I. Meads said last
week that he agreed to settle a
lawsuit filed against former
Hertford police officer Andre
Alfred on May 30. The case
was scheduled for trial on
June 3.
Meads’ attorney. Branch W.
Vincent III of Elizabeth City,
declined to name the monetary
compensation Meads was ini
tially seeking.
The lawsuit charged Alfred
with using excessive force,
assault and violating Meads’
civil rights. Meads filed suit
against Alfred and the town of
Hertford as Alfred’s employer.
Alfred left the police depart
ment several weeks after the
incident, but town officials
would not comment at that
time on why Alfred left the
department.
According to Meads, he was
having a conversation with
former Hertford police officer
Ray Jedele outside one of his
businesses, Joe’s Place, on
Aug. 24, 1993 when Alfred
approached the two. Meads
said Alfred made a remark
that Meads considered an
attempt to engage he and
Alfred in an argument.
Meads said he held up his
hands, took two steps back
ward and told Alfred, “Look, 1
just can’t talk to you.” Meads
maintains that Alfred began
punching Meads in the fore
head with his finger and
threatened to assault him.
When Meads reached up
and pushed Alfred’s finger out
of his face. Meads said Alfred
pushed him with both hands,
knocking him 6-8 feet back
ward and slamming him onto
the pavement on his back.
Meads said Alfred got in his
patrol car and left the scene
before Meads could get up off
the pavement. The business
man said Jedele admonished
Alfred for his actions.
Later that day. Meads said
he contacted Hertford officials
and asked that the incident be
investigated and some type of
action be taken by noon the
next day. Meads said when he
got no responseffrom town or
police officials, he met with
magistrate Broughton T. Dail
Sr. to swear out a warrant for
simple assault against Alfred.
Dail issued the warrant, but
the charges were dropped by
former District Attorney H.P.
Williams Jr., Meads said.
At the time the incident was
made known to The
Perquimans Weekly newspa
per in April 1994, Williams
was interviewed and said the
charges against Alfred were
dropped pending an investiga
tion by his office. After the
D.A.’s investigation, Williams
said Meads was notified that
he could swear out a second
warrant against Alfred and
that Williams’ office would
prosecute the case. Meads said
he did not obtain a second war-
. rant.
Please see settle, page 6
Outside
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