April 17,1997
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The Perquimans Weekly
350
Vol. 65, No. 16
The only newspaper for and about Perquimans County people
Hertford, North Carolina 27944
Inside
w.
First graders
grow nutty ideas
about p^nut
products
Page 6
Bert Hayes is
county’s newest
commissioner
What do you do?
Page 3
Parents are
a child’s
first and best
teacher
Page 5
Worship in
Perquimans
will return next
week on page 5
Perquimans County
h an
All of Us Care
Community
April’s theme;
Value and
enjoy our
environment
focusing on
Reduce, Reuse,Recyle
Conserve resources
t
• Incorporate these Healthy
.HABITS into your daily life and
: help make our community a
; better place to live!
J For All of Us Care
’ ^ information, contact
Dr. Randall L. Henion,
'Perquimans County Schools
426-5741
Diamonds are a girl’s best friend
DAILY ADVANCE PHOTO
Perquimans infielder April Owens runs to first base as pitcher Ingrid Higgins looks on from
the dugout during Friday’s game at Camden. Both the softball and baseball teams suffered
losses to the Bruins. For sports information, please turn to page 7.
Perquimans student wins
national poster contest
Bryan Nixon
gets trip for
three to Florida
a Central School student
earned a trip to Sea World in
Florida with his winning entry
in the American Zoo and
Aquarium Association’s
national “Save the Reef”
poster contest.
Bryan Daniel Nixon, a 9-
year-old third grader, created
the winning poster at the
kindergarten through third
grade level. His poster accu
rately depicted many animals
that depend on the coral reef
for food and lodging.
“This poster was visually
stunning and the text contains
important messages from the
animals’ perspective,” com
mended Martin Kratt, co-host
and co-creator of the award
winning PBS children’s
wildlife series “Kratts’
Creatures.” “It is their home
and we humans should be
careful to keep it safe.”
Nixon’s poster was submit
ted to the National Contest as
the regional winner from the
North Carolina Aquarium on
Roanoke Island.
When he’s not attending
school or doing homework,
Nixon enjoys reading,
“Goosebumps” books, drawing
and practicing his ventrilo
quist act.
Bryan Nixon, a third grader at Perquimans Central School,
recently won the grand prize in the American Zoo and
Aquarium Association’s national “Save the Reef” poster con
test. His poster was won of over 5,000 submitted nationally.
Nixon is the son of Dan and
Ann Nixon.
“We are so proud of him,”
Ann Nixon said last week.
The family is also excited
about the grand prize trip for
three to Sea World. They are
waiting for trip details.
Thirty-seven zoos and
aquariums in North America
from Hawaii to Bermuda spon
sored regional poster contests
to introduce elementary
school students to the plight of
coral reefs. Regionally, over
5,000 individuals posters were
entered; 2,000 of those were
from Hawaii. The regional
winners were submitted to the
Health agencies to vacate county buildings
By SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
The Perquimans County
commissioners approved a res
olution on April 7 that could
result in more space for coun
ty employees.
The board okayed a resolu
tion allowing Albemarle
Mental Health and P.P.C.C.
District Health Department to
own 3.5 acres of land behind
the Albemarle Commission
buUding. The resolution paved
the way for the entities to buy
the land and build offices.
With the mental health and
health departments in a new
facility, county departments
could move into county-owned
buildings presently occupied
by the two agencies, one on
Grubb Street and one on
Charles Street.
County manager Paul
Gregory said when the agen
cies move, he wiU recommend
that the Department of Social
Services move into the former
health department headquar
ters on Charles Street. This
would aUow aU DSS employees
to be back under one roof. It
would also aUow the county to
stop renting office space to
house some DSS employees in
WinfaU at a cost of about $800
per month.
Gregory will also recom
mend that the building inspec
tor and economic development
director move into the Dobbs
Street offices presently occu
pied by DSS.
Goose Nest
Lane primed
for water
National Contest and were
judged in early April by a
panel representing the envi
ronmental, media and conser
vation communities.
'The “Save the Reef’ contest
is just one of many activities
that have been designated to
create public awareness of the
plight of the coral reefs during
1997, the International Year of
the Reef.
AZA was founded in 1924
and currently represents 180
zoos and aquariums in North
America. Its mission is to sup
port membership excellence in
conservation, education, sci
ence and recreation.
These are the only changes
in department locations
Gregory said he could foresee
recommending to the county
commissioners for their
approval in the immediate
future.
The county manager said
the two health agencies have
already gained the approval of
their hoards to build new
offices. Both have recently
constructed new headquarters
in Camden County, and
Gregory said officials with
both agencies told him they
will probably build similar
offices in Perquimans.
The county had at one time
anticipated building offices at
the Church Street Extended
location to ease overcrowding.
By SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
One year after Goose Nest
Lane property owners kicked
off a concentrated effort to get
county water in the subdivi
sion, a spokesman told county
commissioners the group is
primed to accept the county’s
financing offer.
“The bottom line is we are
ready to do the water line....
We are committed to the pro
ject and we are reay to accept
your 50 percent
offer that’s on the
table to us,” said
Goose Nest Lane
property owners
spokesman Vern
Hammons during
April’s county
commissioner’s
meeting.
Hammons said
11 of the commu
nity’s 29 property
owners attended a
meeting recently and each
committed $1,000 to help pay
for water line installation. He
said four more have indicated
they will pay $1,000 each.
Property owners out of the
area have been sent certified
letters asking for $1,000 each
by the end of April, Hammons
said.
The funds are being request
ed so that the group can accept
an offer issued by the county
in September regarding
extending county water lines
down Goose Nest Lane. In a
September letter sent to Goose
Nest Lane property owner
William Beck, the county
offered to pay one-half the cost
of installing water lines to the
community. Engineer Bill
Diehl estimated the cost of
installing water lines in April
1996 at $35,000, which includes
engineering services of $3,500.
Hammons said one of the
Goose Nest property owners is
a certified engineer and has
offered to perform site work at
no charge to help contain the
cost of the project.
Commissioner Mack Nixon
expressed concern that the
cost of the project may have
risen since September, based
on development projects with
which he has been involved
over the past few months. A
building contractor and devel
oper, Nixon said he has seen
the cost of installing water
lines rise by 20-25 percent in
some areas recently.
“We want to give you the
water at 50 percent just like we
offered,” Nixon said, adding
that he wanted to make sure
the property owners under
stood that material costs may
have risen since the
September estimate.
The commissioners voted to
Subdivision
residents have
until May 5 to
submit their
half of the
$37,500 water
project to
the county.
move ahead with the project if
Goose Nest property owners
present the county with a
check representing half the
projected cost of the project by
the commissioners’ May 5
meeting. The commissioners
also asked county manager
Paul Gregory to review the
project cost estimate with
Diehl immediately after the
April meeting to see if Diehl
projected any significant price
increases. 'The subdivision res
idents were told
they would be
responsible for
raising half of
Diehl’s new pro
jection.
Gregory said
this week that
Diehl recommend
ed raising the esti
mate to $37,500 to
accommodate any
price increases.
In addition to
paying 50 percent
of the cost of installing the
water lines, each property
owner will be responsible for a
tap fee, which is presently
$450.
Later in the meeting, the
commissioners approved a
new policy regarding the
extension of county water
lines. In the future, if funds
are available, the county will
pay 50 percent of the total
costs of extending water lines
to established subdivisions
platted and recorded prior to
Oct. 2, 1978, not including tap
fees, but will not pay for any
lines on private property. The
policy will go into effect on
May 6 and will invalidate “all
previous offers, options,
quotes, etc.” on that date.
The October 1978 date was
placed in the policy because it
was the effective date of the
revised subdivision regula
tions adopted by the commis
sioners. The regulations
address the installation of
water lines to residential
developments.
'The new policy could make
it significantly more expensive
for Goose Nest Lane residents
to get county water should
they not be able to raise the
$18,750 they must deliver to
the county by May 5 because
4,245 feet of the 10,755 feet of
water line required to service
the community must be laid
on private property. If the
deadline passes and the match
ing funds are not presented to
the county, the residents
would be responsible for pay
ing 100 percent of the costs of
installing the 4,245 feet of
water line and related require
ments such as hydrants, if
deemed necessary by the coun
ty’s engineer, on private prop
erty.
Outside
THURSDAY
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SATURDAY
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