Merry Christmas!
December 24,
12 013165 10/09/1999 *C20
PERGiUlflANS COUNTY
110 W ACADEMY ST
.HERTFORD NC 27944
DEC 2 3 1998
JillLbOLbU U isfi'
The Perquimans Weekly
350
Vol. 66, No. 52
The only newspaper for and about Perquimans County people
Hertford, North Carolina 27944
Christmas wish of a iifetime comes true
M. B. Taylor
celebrates with
open dinner
By SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
M.B. Taylor finally got what
she’s wanted for Christmas
since her childhood on Dec. 12:
She invited everyone she saw
to dinner at her home.
“I’d never been so happy
before in my life,” the retired
extension home economist
said. “That’s when I get my
joy, when I’m helping other
people.”
Taylor grew up Minnie Bess
Eason, one of 10 children.
Everyone in the community
struggled to make a living, but
they shared a great love for
each other and a willingness to
share what few material pos
session they had with their
neighbors of all races.
Board
okays
second
music
position
But members
warn that if
state funds cut,
position will be
cut next year
By SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
A second, part-time instru
mental music teacher will be
hired in Perquimans County
Schools, but school board
members drummed it in that
the position is only temporary.
Superintendent Gregory
Todd said the system received
an additional one-half teach
ing position from the state this
school year based on the sys
tem’s average daily member
ship. Todd said the board
should consider the request
for additional personnel for
music instruction made by the
Perquimans Band Boosters in
November. He recommended
that the position be used for a
second music position.
Board member Marjorie
Rayburn asked what will hap
pen to the position if it is not
funded by the state next year.
Todd said that funds for next
year will be allotted on overall
average daily membership,
and that there is no guarantee
the position will be funded
again. In fact, Todd said, the
system’s average daily mem
bership is down for 1998-99.
Rayburn said once the posi
tion is established, it will be
hard not to fund it next year
even without state funds. She
said there will be an expecta
tion from parents, students
and the community that the
second instructor will remain.
In the motion to approve,
Charles Cheezum added that
the position is temporary and
should be advertised as such.
As a chUd, Taylor said it
was her dream to be financial
ly able to hold a huge dinner
and invite anyone who would
to dine with her.
“I just kept that in my heart
that I wanted to do it and so
Saturday I did it,” Taylor said
last week.
Taylor began her cooking
on Thursday when she put a
28-pound turkey in the oven. A
30-pound ham followed before
11 sweet potato pies made
their way into the oven. Before
her cooking frenzy was over,
Taylor had also fixed a can
ning pot fuU of chicken pot pie,
a roasting pan of concealed
salad, a huge pot of coUards,
candied yams, potato salad,
cornbread and hot roUs. To
this she added 11 cakes she
had made and had bought and
four pies that someone else
made for her. She was ready
on Saturday at 3 o’clock when
she had told everyone she saw
they could begin to arrive.
“They came
in groves,” she
said. “They
came so fast I
forgot to
count. I had
bought 200 dis
posable plates
and I had some
already. I
looked around
one time and
they were
washing the
plates! I can’t
teU you how
many I had. I
had a crowd.”
Taylor said
some of her
guests ate at
her home, but most took plates
home. And almost aU who
came to get a plate took one to
someone else. Taylor tried to
make sure those who were
homebound were sent a meal.
So many folks were coming
and going from her Dobbs
M.B. Taylor
Street home,
Taylor said
she received
phone calls
asking if she
was selling
dinners. She
told them
she wasn’t
selling any
thing, she
was sending
out an open
invitation.
Taylor
said she
spread the
word
through
ministers,
youth she
saw on the streets and by word
of mouth to everyone she saw
just before her dinner.
“Just teU whoever you see
(to come). Just teU everybody,”
she told everyone.
Her siblings and in-laws
came for the occasion.
Although Taylor said she usu
ally doesn’t decorate much,
her brother and brother-in-law
pitched in for the occasion and
decorated her home and lawn.
She said their handiwork was
beautiful and warmed her
heart.
Even a sister in poor health
pitched in. Taylor said she
worked in the kitchen for
hours and told Taylor she felt
better than she had in a long
time.
Taylor was tired, but happy,
when the serving was over
around 9 p.m., after 6 hours of
fixing plates.
“I had my Christmas,” she
said. “I had a good Christmas.
I had a great time and I can’t
get over it.”
It was a much difterent
Christmas than Taylor experi
enced as a chUd. She said there
were smaU gifts, perhaps a doU
or candy. Her mother always
tried to have something a little
special for Christmas dinner.
Holiday decor
A « ' / ,1 *:
• I
PHOTOS BY SUSAN HARRIS
Hundreds of people rambled through Perquimans County earlier this month for the annual
Perquimans County Extension Homemakers Christmas Ramble. The tour included three
homes, two businesses and Hertford United Methodist Church, where people got a history
lesson on the stained glass windows (right) and enjoyed refreshments prepared by the
homemakers. For more on the Ramble, see our Holiday Greetings Section.
“At that time, people didn’t
have nothing,” Taylor said.
Through hard work and the
help from those in her neigh
borhood, Taylor was able to
obtain her coUege education
and enter her long-time career
as an extension agent. She said
people helped her along the
way when she needed help,
and she tries to return that
helping hand to others when
she can.
Taylor said people told her
she should share her holiday
celebration with the newspa
per. She did, she said, to
encourage others to open their
homes and hearts and share
their gifts during the holidays.
WhUe visions of sug
arplums dance in the heads of
chUdren on Christmas Eve,
Taylor wUl no doubt be smU-
ing as she dreams of the
Christmas gift she received
that she’s wanted for so many
years — the gift of giving, the
real gift of Christmas.
Band to
get new
uniforms
By SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
The Marching Pirates will
sport uniforms next year,
thanks to a coUaborative effort
by the school board and Band
Boosters.
The board voted Monday to
allocate half of the $20,000 it
wiU get from the sale of tempo
rary classrooms at Central
School for band uniforms. An
additional $10,000 will be set
aside in the 1999-2000 budget.
The boosters will pay the
remainder of the $32,000-plus
bUl. '
Board members said the
board and boosters should
work closely together to set up
a long-range plan for uniform
replacement.
Two bids were obtained on
the uniforms, both for just
over $32,000.
First grader left alone on county school bus
Family members
share concerns
with school board
By SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
The mother and grandmoth
er of a Perquimans Central
School child left unattended on
a bus asked the school board to
make sure policies are imple
mented to alleviate bus prob
lems in the schools.
Katy McGuiness, grand
mother of first grader Keegan
Lane, said she was “shocked
and disturbed” by the Dec. 8
incident.
According to an earlier
account by the boy’s mother,
Mary Lane, her son feU asleep
on the bus after being picked
up at Central School at the end
of the day. He was supposed to
get off the bus at a daycare
center in Hertford. When he
did not arrive, the care
provider called Keegan’s
father, Tony Lane. Mr. Lane
went to Hertford Grammar
School, where the buses had
gone to pick up more passen
gers after leaving. Mr. Lane
spotted Keegan’s red hair
through the bus window, got
the chUd off the bus, and took
him to daycare, Mrs. Lane
said. The bus driver was not
on the bus, nor did anyone
stop and question Mr. Lane
when he took the child off of
the unattended bus.
“There must be something
done immediately to stop this
before a serious tragedy
occurs,” McGuiness said.
“Anyone could have gone
on that bus and taken him just
as his father did,” she added
later in her concerns.
The grandmother told board
members that by this time of
year, bus drivers should be
familiar with children on their
routes and where children are
dropped off each day.
“Leaving a child on a bus
should be criminal neglect,”
McGuiness said, adding that
people can be charged for leav
ing children unattended in a
motor vehicle.
Another thing about which
McGuiness was upset was that
no one from the school system
contacted the Lanes immedi
ately after the incident.
McGuiness said the principal
should have been aware of the
incident and that superinten
dent Gregory Todd should
have been notified prior to
Wednesday afternoon.
“This lack of communica
tion must end,” McGuiness
said. She added that there
should be a notification policy
implemented.
Ultimately, McGuiness said,
this incident and the two inci
dents of children being left on
school buses last school year
cause mistrust not only of bus
drivers, but other school per
sonnel.
“If school bus drivers are
not doing their job, who else is
not doing their job?” she
asked.
McGuiness said because
this is the third incident of its
kind in a one-year period, per
haps the drivers’ supervisor
should be disciplined as weU.
“People must be held
accountable for their actions
or non-actions,” she said,
adding that she does not know
any of the school system
employees involved.
Mrs. Lane went a step fur
ther in her presentation, giv
ing board members handouts
on her suggestions for
improvements in the system
and offering to help write and
implement policies to protect
children.
“I do not prefer to be part of
a problem, I prefer to be a part
of the solution,” Mrs. Lane
said.
She said she had reviewed
draft policies for bus drivers,
but found that there is no over
all strategic plan for driver or
student rider training. She
also questioned the disposition
and review of reports complet
ed by drivers, as well as the
disposition of many docu
ments she reviewed marked
“draft copy.”
She said children should
have bus safety drills just like
they have fire drills so that
they know what to do in case
of emergency.
“The children learn by
doing,” she said.
Mrs. Lane also suggested
that perhaps present policies
are not specific enough and
address fault. She said poli
cies should include specific
actions that are not allowed as
well as steps to take in an
emergency, and be more
behavioraUy based.
While Mrs. Lane said she is
upset over the incident and the
way it was handled by school
officials, she believes that the
system generally has good bus
drivers who want to do a good
job.
Both women suggested
video monitoring on all buses.
Mrs. Lane said she found that
it had been discussed in the
past and asked whether dis
cussions continued.
“ I want this to be addressed
and corrected as soon as possi
ble,” she said.
According to school offi
cials, the driver was disci
plined per policy.
School board chairman
Wallace Nelson said the board
is looking into the incident
and reviewing bus policies.