September 25,1997
12 013165 10/09/1997 *C20
PER aUIVANS COUNTY LIBRARY
110 ACADEMY ST
HERTFORD NC 27944
The Perquimans Weekly
350
Vol. 65, No. 38
The only newspaper for and about Perquimans County people
Hertford, North Carolina 27944
Inside
Gail Godwin,
What DO you
do? by
Sean Jackson
Page 2
Pirate sports
highlights
Page 6
Happenings
Page 2
Students
prepare for
elections
Milestones
Page 7
PHOTO BY BRIAN VANDERVUET, THE DAILY ADVANCE
The streets of Hertford took on the air of a county fair Saturday with Indian Summer Festival 1997. Booths featuring crafts, food
and information lined Church and Market streets. On the courthouse lawn and at the waterfront park behind the Hertford town
offices, entertainers sang and danced for appreciative audiences. The festival is organized and promoted by the Perquimans
County Chamber of Commerce.
Festival 1997 is successful
Perquimans County
an
All of Us
Community
September’s theme;
Do
Your
Best
By SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
Hundreds of people spilled
into Hertford Saturday for the
16th annual Perquimans
County Indian Summer
Festival.
The day-long gala featured a
kids Olympics, pony rides,
craft vendors, food and live
entertainment in a street fair
atmosphere.
Opening the event was the
Perquimans County High
School Marching Pirates
Band, a perennial festival
favorite. The group performed
its 1997 competition show, “A
20-Year Celebration,” along
with the national anthem and
other favorites of the students.
Entertainment downtown
continued with vocalist Jeanie
Truesdale, the Dazzlin’ Image
doggers, soloist Eric Midgett,
the Harbor Lites Square
Dancers, the Rockin’ Willie
Band, Denim & Diamonds
Dancers, and Margie Beals and
the Dimestore Lovers.
'This year’s festival featured
the PAL Alley Art Show and
Sale. Members of the
Perquimans Arts League
reported having a good day
displaying and selling their
variety of fine arts.
Meanwhile, over at water
front park, an area designed
with children and youth in
mind, the day kicked off with a
kids Olympics sponsored by
the Family Support
Parnership. The contest fea
tured beauty, crawling, slo-
pitch, bowling, sounds and
dance contests.
Joy Untold was also back
with costumed characters, a
petting zoo, balloon sculpture
and a magic show.
Disc Jockey Mickey Phelps,
the Inspirational Voices from
Perquimans High School,
Midgett, Spastik and Spacers
also performed at the water
front.
The event ended with a
street dance in Missing MUl
Park with music by BUI Deal
and Ammon Tharpe, the origi
nal Rhondels. About 500 people
filled the venue.
“I think that by aU mea
sures, it was a great success,”
said festival chairman Robert
Baker.
Baker said the event drew
not only county residents, but
many from outside the area
who enjoyed their day.
The chairman credited vol
unteers for the festival’s suc
cess.
Indian Summer Festival
was begun in 1982 by the
chamber. Although there have
been changes in format over
the years, the festival has con
tinued to be an effort to show
case Perquimans County,
bringing together both locals
and visitors.
Harvest comes early for
Chapanoke area pot farmer
By SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
An early harvest came for an
unidentified Perquimans farmer
on Sept. 10 when law officers
pulled up 78 marijuana plants
on a Chapanoke farm.
Sheriff David Lane,
Pasquotank County-Elizabeth
City Task Force Agent Max
Robeson, and Pasquotank
County Deputy Keb Burgess
drove four miles down a dirt
and rock farm road to a secluded
spot where they yanked up the
immature plants. Robeson said
the street value of the marijuana
at maturity would have been
$124,800.
The next day, the N.C.
Highway Patrol flew over the
area, but found no more plants.
Lane said.
The sheriff said an informant
notified the Elizabeth City
Police Department of the plants’
existence. The task force was
notified because it was initially
thought the marijuana was in
Pasquotank County. When it
was found to be in Perquimans,
Lane was called.
Robeson said ho arrests were
made in the case because offi
cers did not see anyone tending
the plants. The law requires that
a person he observed watering,
planting, harvesting or other
wise tending the plants before
an arrest can be made. The
landowner cannot automatically
be held liable, Robeson said.
Lane said the case is part of
his department’s ongoir^ efforts
to deal with drugs in the area.
Confidential information has
played a vital role in drug cases,
he said.
“If we don’t have some infor
mation coming to us, it’s really
hard for us,” Lane said. The
sheriff added that secluded
areas are difficult to patrol. He
said many arrests and confisca
tions begin with information
called in by concerned commu
nity residents. All calls are held
in strict confidence, he said.
To report suspected drug-
related or any criminal activity,
call the sheriffs department at
426-5615.
Perquimans and Pasquotank law officers confiscated 78
marijuana plants from a Chapanoke farm recently. The
estimated street value of the plants at harvest is $124,800,
or $1,600 per plant
2-county
chase
leads to
arrest
By SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
A Hertford man was arrest
ed last 'Thursday night after a
chase through Perquimans
and Chowan counties involv
ing Hertford police officers
and the N.C. Highway Patrol.
William Edward
Armstrong, 43, of 221 Dobbs
Street, was arrested and
charged with resist, obstruct
and delay, assault on a handi
capped person, carryii^ a con
cealed weapon, speeding in an
attempt to elude arrest, failure
to stop for blue light and siren,
speeding 87 in a 55, and care
less and reckless driving. His
bond was set at $1,000 secured.
According to Hertford’s
interim police chief Dale
Vanscoy, the Hertford officers
responded to an unknown type
of disturbance call in the area
of 209 King Street around 10:50
p.m. Thursday. They arrived
to find a large male assaultir^
a small female. When officers
attempted to apprehend the
man, he resisted and fled in
his vehicle.
Officers pursued the car
down King Street onto
Edenton Road Street and
through the Bethel area into
Chowan County, where the
highway patrol took over the
pursuit, Vanscoy said.
The chase continued until
the car pulled into a residence
in Chowan County, where
Armstrong was charged with
traffic violations by NCHP. He
was brought to Hertford where
he was arrested and charged.
A late August incident also
led to the arrest of two
Hertford men. George Lorsey
Moore, 19, of 319 Market Street
and Scott Sylvester White, 22
of 123A Harvey Point Road,
were arrested and charged
with robbery with a dangerous
weapon.
Vanscoy said Moore had
allegedly gotten a ride to
COA’s Chowan County Center
with another student on Aug.
27. When the unidentified stu
dent stopped on Market Street
to drop Moore off after class,
Vanscoy said White allegedly
approached the vehicle with a
handgun and forced the driver
and a second passenger behind
a house. 'The two were alleged
ly told to put their hands on
the wall and threatened with
the gun in response to some
type of family incident.
The pair were allowed to
return to the vehicle. They got
back in, at which point Moore
allegedly took the keys out of
the car, took the gun from
White and robbed the victims.
Moore then reportedly gave
the keys back and the two left
the scene.
Please see ROBBED, page 8
JobReady Parnership plans business expo for students
By ANGELA FOREST
'The Daily Advance
What wUl the workforce of
the 21st century look like?
No one knows for sure, but
members of the COA-Chowan-
Gates-Perquimans JobReady
Partnership are doing their
best to ensure it will be highly
skilled.
The partnership, which is
made up of the school systems
in each of the counties and the
community college campus in
Edenton, is designed to pre
pare students for emplosnment
while offering employers a
capable, well-trained work
force. To those ends, the part
nership will sponsor its first
business expo Oct. 15-16 at the
Edenton Cotton Mill.
Partnership officials
announced the upcoming
event during a Thursday
morning press conference at
the COA campus in Edenton.
Nearly 20 businesses have
signed up for the expo so far,
said Edenton-Chowan
Chamber of Commerce
Membership Director Lisa
Faulkenberry.
At the expo, ninth-grade stu
dents from all three counties
will meet with area business
people to talk about job oppor
tunities. They’ll also attend
seminars designed to help
them form career goals and
learn what job skills employ
ers are seeking.
“The educational piece of
the expo begins on Thursday
(Oct. 16),” said Lynn Hurdle-
Winslow, dean of the COA
Chowan Center.
“When students arrive they
will be welcomed in a profes
sional manner by chamber
organizers. We want to make
sure students visit at least
three businesses. We want this
to be a structured event.”
Student activities will be
followed by an evening pro
gram for parents of eighth
through 12th graders designed
to show them what the job
market can offer their chil
dren, said Hurdle-Winslow.
Please see EXPO, page 8
Outside
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