inr*.
August 13,
AUG 1E m
10/09/1998 *C20
'pERauiMANS co^f/
110 w acaoemy si
HERTFORD NC 27944
Perquimans Weekly
350
Vol. 66, No. 33
The only newspaper for and about Perquimans County people
Hertford, North Carolina 27944
School bus changes overturned Friday
By SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
Planned changes in school
bus transportation for the
upcoming school year were
overturned by administrators
during a school board retreat
Friday.
Letters went out to parents
from schools superintendent
Gregory Todd on Aug. 3 stat
ing that for the 1998-99 school
year, students in pre-kinder
garten through second grade
at Central School and students
in grades 6-8 at Perquimans
Middle School would be
assigned to ride the buses
together. The plan also called
for Hertford Grammar School
students, grades 3-5, and
Perquimans County High
School students to ride the
same buses.
But that plan was nixed on
Friday during the school
board retreat when adminis
trators decided not to make
the changes during this school
year. Board chairman Wallace
Nelson issued a statement fol
lowing Friday’s meeting that
the board would spend addi
tional time investigating the
pros and cons of any changes,
and would seek parental
involvement in the planning
process for any changes.
As in the past, middle
school and high school stu
dents will ride together, and
students from Central and
Hertford Grammar schools
will ride together.
In his letter to parents, Todd
outlined the reasons for imple
menting a new transportation
plan.
“This transportation change
will produce the following ben
efits:
“• will decrease ‘wait’ time
for students after boarding
buses (Last year some elemen
tary students waited in excess
of thirty minutes on the bus
before departing for home.)
“• only one-half of the bus
fleet wnll have to travel over S-
shaped bridge, which will
decrease town traffic and traf
fic back-up due to buses
“• will allow all schools to
dismiss by 3:00 p.rn. (last year
PCMS dismissed at 3:20 p.m.)
“• will decrease transporta
tion cost for our school sys
tem.”
Todd stated in the letter that
the administration realized
there might have been some
concerns about elementary
and high school students rid
ing buses together, but that
student safety would be the
school system’s primary con
cern. Administrators at both
the middle and high schools
had planned to meet with
those students to discuss the
older students’ responsibility
as role models and caring for
younger students.
Under the new plan, the
time between drop-offs and
pick-ups at each school would
have been reduced to 10 min
utes. Todd said Tuesday that
transportation and adminis
trative staff are in the process
of realigning the schedules to
accommodate the reversion to
the old bus plan.
Strike up the band!
' ’►'si j'*’' *•
; .i i: * . mci * . .J
= -rj .s
The Marching Pirates are
enduring the dog days of
August to prepare the 1998-99
band show. This year’s band
features the talents of over
120 students. As is the tradi
tion, the band will allow the
public a sneak preview of this
year’s show at the end of
band camp week this Friday at
2 p.m. on the band practice
field. The band is directed by
David Ziemba. Kim Stallings is
this year’s drum major.
'-Mm
-mr
fhimney Masters celebrates expansion
Friday ribbon
cutting held for
grand opening
By SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
It's sweltering in
Perquimans now, but Roy and
Gay Murray know that soon,
the crisp, cool air of fall will
arrive and air conditioning
will be replaced with heat.
And that's when people call
on the Murrays, who do busi
ness as Chimney Masters, Inc,
to service chimneys or stoves,
or even install a new one.
So many people are calling
on Chimney Masters these
days that the Murrays opened
a new shop. Chimney Masters
Hearth and Home Shop, on
U.S. Highway 17 South of
Hertford, last week.
A ribbon cutting was held
Friday by the Perquimans and
Elizabeth City xArea chambers
of commerce to. mark the occa
sion.
According to Roy Murray,
the couple got into the chim
ney sweep business seven
years ago when he was in the
U.S. Coast Guard stationed in
Al,aska. They were looking
ahead to what career path Roy
i^yould take .when he retired
from the Coast Guard when
G.a.y saw an advertisement for
getting into the chimney
sweep business.
'“We figured we could proba
bly do that,” Roy said. “We
ordered the equipment.’'
While Roy said the adver
tisement somewhat overstated
the amount of equipment need
ed to operate the business and
the expected income, the part-
time business in Alaska did
prove to be successful.
About a year and a half
PHOTO BY SUSAN HARRIS
Christopher Murray cuts the riODon signifying the grand open
ing of his parents’ business, Chimney Masters Hearth and
Home Shop, Friday. The business is located on U.S. Highway
17 Bypass south of Hertford. The ribbon cutting was sponsored
jointly by the Perquimans and Elizabeth City Area chambers of
commerce.
later when the couple moved
back to Gay’s nativd county,
they looked through the yellow
pages and saw very few ads for
chimney sweeps.
“We decided to start again
here,” Roy said. “We started
out just cleaning and we grad
ually got into repairs and
relining. Then customers
started switching from wood
to other things.”
The Murrays continued to
purchase additional equip
ment and expand their service.
The demand for their services
continued to grow.
"It’s progressively built
over the years," Roy said.
“We’ve got a customer base
right now that’s over a thou
sand. And we get new cus
tomers every year.”
The demand for service was
so strong that Roy retired last
year to operate the business
fulltime.
"We couldn’t keep up with it
any more (on a parttime
basis),” he said.
With homeowners interest
ed in installing alternative,
auxiliary or more modern
heating, the Murrays expand
ed their business to include
the sale of stoves.
“We started off with just a
few stoves in the garage,
turned the garage into a show
room,” Roys said. “We were
there for a couple of years and
we needed to expand."
Now the Murrays have the
space to display 18 units in a
home-like setting. Roy said
Gay had worked hard to set up
the showroom so that cus
tomers could get a feel for
what a stove would look like
installed in their homes.
Chimney Masters carries
gas, pellet and wood stoves. In
addition to selling the units,
the Murrays also provide ser
vice.
A licensed fueld plumbing
contractor and certified chim
ney sweep, Roy said when cus
tomers buy stoves from
Chimney Masters, all they
need to do is call a gas compa
ny and ask for service.
Everything else is included
with the sale.
Roy said Gay is already
booking service calls for the
last w'eek in August. By mid-
September, Chimney Masters
will be booked through
Thanksgiving, and by the first
of October, service calls are set
through Christmas.
“We.’ve got a pretty good
reputation,” Roy said of the
early service bookings. "1
think w'e provide a little better
service than what most folks
have gotten around here.
We’re not the cheapest one'
around but we don’t apologize
for our prices But we’ve got
good service. I’d put my ser
vice up against anybody’s!”
Roy especially likes to work
in historic homes to allow
homeowners to use fireplaces
that were once unsafe due to
lack of service over the years.
Regular maintenance can save
money and is much safer in
the longrun, Roy said.
Once in a while, Roy and
Gay’s son, Christopher, 9, likes
to work with his dad on chim
ney calls—“especially if some
body’s got birds in the chim
ney. He loves doing those,”
Roy said.
David, 13, joined
Christopher in helping the
Murrays prepare for the grand
opening of their new show
room.
In addition to Heat’N Glo,
Superior, Quadra-Fire, Dober
and Hearth Stone stoves.
Chimney Masters Hearth and
Home Shop carries Hatteras
hammocks, swings and acces
sories; gas grills and fireplace
accessories.
The store is open
Monday—Friday, 9 a.m.—6
p.m. and on Saturday from 9
a.m.—2 p.m.
irian
Hertford
PHOTO BY SUSAN HARRIS
Brian Center Health and Rehabilitative Services/Hertford admin
istrator Joe France accepts a check from Hertford Town
Manager John Christensen representing Brian Center’s electric
savings through the peak generation program.
Brian Center helps keep
to’wn electric bills down
By SUSAN R. HARRIS
This summer’s heat has
sent many electric bills sky
rocketing. but Brian Center
has actually saved over previ
ous years’ utility bills.
Through the peak shav
ing/generation program
offered by Electricities
through the town of Hertford,
Brian Center has been able to
upgrade its generation capaci
ty while holding down its elec
tric bills.
The health care facility is
required to operate its own
generator in order to serve its
patients during power outages.
Brian Center administrator
Joe France said that the state
encouraged health care facili
ties to upgrade on-site genera
tors to allow facilities to pro
duce enough electricity to
operate at full capacity during
outages.
In order to help with this
upgrade at Brian
Center/Hertf'oi'd, Franco
worked with Hertford Towi'
Manager John Christensen to
sign up for the town's peak
shaving electric program.
During periods of peak con
sumption, Brian Center's gen
erator is signaled b,\
Electricities in Raleigh. Brian
Center then operates on its
generator, thereby reducing
the town’s overall demand
Reducing the town's demand
during periods of peak usage
keeps the town’s electric bills
down.
Because Brian Center was
willing to participate in the
shaving plan, the company
earns $10 per kilowatt hour
credit. France said the savings
should be enough to cover the
cost of the much larger genera
tor they installed in about 8
years. In addition, the larger
generator means nothing at
Brian Center is not opera
tional during power outages.
For information, call
Christensen at 426-1969.
Outside
High; Low:
80s 70s
PARTLY CLOUDY
High: Low:
90s 70s
PARTLY CLOUDY
High: Low;
90s 70s
PARTLY CLOUDY