Newspapers / The Perquimans Weekly (Hertford, … / Feb. 4, 1999, edition 1 / Page 1
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The February 4, 12 013165 10/09/1999 *C20 PER-UI'^ANS COUNTY LIBRARY 110 « ACADEMY ST nERTFORD MC 27944 P' 350 Vol. 67, No. 5 The only newspaper for and about Perquimans County people Hertford, North Carolina 27944 TT Hunter to be honored iff May Kick-off of Hunter ALS Foundation planned for Old Timer’s Day By SUSAN R. HARRIS Editor He’s always been there when the community needed him. And now, Jim “Catfish” Hunter’s community is rally ing around Perquimans County’s favorite son. The annual Old Timer’s Day activities this year will serve as a kick-off for the Jim “Catfish” Hunter ALS Foundation. Former major league baseball players and associates of Hunter will be invited to participate in a trib ute to Hunter’s personal and professional life. The creation of the founda tion is being spearheaded by the Bear Swamp-Beech Springs Puritans, the commu nity service organization that operates in the community in which Hunter lives. The Puritan Club has enlisted the support of the Perquimans Holiday Island may become town By SUSAN R. HARRIS Editor It’s not really an island, but it may become a town. A petition signed by 68 reg istered voters who reside in the Holiday Island subdivision has been submitted to the North Carolina General Assembly. The petitioners want to incorporate the resi dential sections of the Holiday Island Subdivision as the Town of Holiday Island. Final submission of the petition will be made to the Assembly’s Joint Commission on Municipal Incorporations on Feb. 18. Under state law, a town may be incorporated only by act of the General Assembly, accord ing to information from the Institute of Government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The General Assembly may make an incor poration effective immediate ly, or it may require the approval of the area’s resi dents. According to Institute literature, the General Assembly may decide whether a referendum will be held. "Local voters have no inherent consitutional right to approve an incorporation,” states the Institute’s incorporation book let. - Should the General Assembly require a referen dum, only voters registered in Perquimans County who reside in the subdivision would be eligible to vote. Property owners not living in Holiday Island full time would not get to vote. That fact caused immediate opposition to incorporation after a group of Holiday Island residents formed a task force last spring to study the conse quences of incorporation. Stan Busteed said at that time that not being eligible to vote on the issue would mean for some property owners taxation without representation. This would hold true not only for any required incorporation referendum, hut also for elec tions for town council repre sentatives who would set tax rates for all property owners. Proponents of incorporation told The Perquimans Weekly earlier in the process that there are concerns in the sub division they feel could best be handled through a municipal government. Pat Phillips said the main advantage of incorporating would be that Holiday Island could qualify for state and pos sibly federal grants to help improve the community. Powell Bill funds, monies set aside by the state for munici palities to use for road repair, could help Holiday Island, Phillips said. Task force mem bers estimate the town would receive about $80,000 from the PoweU BiU if incorporated. Ken Ries, another leader in the task force, said this sum- County Athletic Boosters, sponsors of the Old Timer’s Day events, the Chamber of Commerce, the Hertford Downtown Merchants Association, county Ruritan Clubs and fire departments, the North East Partnership and local governments. Monday, the Perquimans County Commissioners agreed to proclaim May 8 Jim “Catfish” Hunter Day in the county in preparation of the event. Bear Swamp-Beech Spring Ruritan spokesperson Ed Nixon told the commission ers that a request will also be made of Gov. Jim Hunt to pro claim the day in North Carolina. The towns of Hertford and Winfall wtU also be asked to join in the procla mation. Hunter was diagnosed with ALS in late 1998 after having medical tests run at Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore. The New York Post broke the story Nov. 8. ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, is a degenerative meurological condition of the nerve cells that control muscu lar movement. It usually leads to paralysis and death. “Jimmy’s always done so much for this community and people here want to do some thing for him,” Nixon told the county commissioners. “This is our way of giving to him for all he’s done for us.” A steering committee put together by the Ruritans and Athletic Boosters anticipates having details of the event out lined by mid-February. The Chamber has agreed to put the information on its website at Perquimans.com. The commit tee anticipates entering the initial information by the third week in February. mer there are several advan tages to incorporation. Ries said because HIPOA lacks the power to raise money, the only funds HIPOA can legally collect is the $36 per year per lot assessment to maintain common property in Holiday Island as stipulated in the property deeds. In addition to the difficulty HIPOA has in collecting assessments from some property owners, Ries said the assessments are insuf ficient to maintain common property in the community, which includes a clubhouse, pool, marina, tennis courts, park, pier, bulkhead and pub lic safety building. Both Phillips and Ries said some of these facilities are in dire need of improvement. HIPOA would continue to own the subdivision’s common property even if Holiday Island becomes a municipali ty; however, Ries said perhaps the town and HIPOA could work out a lease agreement that would allow improve ments to be made with tax money collected by the town. Ries also said a municipal government could fund such services as garbage collection and law enforcement. In addi tion, ordinances could be passed to help with problems in the community such as junk vehicles. Now, Ries said, the only way to enforce covenants dealing with issues such as junk vehicles is for one resi dent to take another to court. Ries admitted that there are disadvantages to incorporat ing such as adding an addi tional lawyer of government and more taxes. But he argued that the benefits would out weigh the additional bureau cracy. True White and Margaret Meekins are also against incorporation. The two women said that the present HIPOA Board of Governors is split down the middle on^the incor poration issue. If six residents elected to a board by fellow residents cannot agree on issues as HIPOA representa tives, they will not be able to agree as town council repre sentatives, White and Meekins argue. The two. are not just voicing their opposition. They are presently canvassing Holiday Island and have the signatures of 278 property owners — 134 of them registered voters — against incorporation. There are 385 registered voters in Holiday Island. The women said they want to educate all residents to the realities of incorporation consequences. “People need to make their voices heard, to take a stand (against incorporation),” White said. “It’s not going to solve our problems.” White said she does not believe a municipal govern ment can operate as cheaply as proponents claim — on about $139,500 per year. n H;. Daily Advance photo Perquimans Cooperative Extension Agent Juanita Baiiey (ieft) hands out samples of her home made soyprise bread during the 18th annual Soybean Festival at the K.E. White Center Thursday night. More than 400 farmers and businesspeople attended the event, an annual celebration of the soybean. Beans in spotlight at festival Farmers praised for faith, stewardship and acceptance of life changes By JANET HILL SPENCER Currituck Advance Editor The tiny soybean, processed and milled for the first time in Pasquotank County, drew the spotlight Thursday night at the 18th Annual Soybean Festival. “The Beauty of Soybeans,” theme for this year’s festival, saluted the heritage and the economic impact of soybeans. The festival was sponsored by the Albemarle Area Agribusiness Council and the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service of Camden, Currituck, Pasquotank and Perquimans counties. A crowd of over 400 farmers. officials and area residents crowded into the K.E. White Center for the event which included a catered barbecue dinner and other festivities. “Faith of the Farmers” was the topic of guest speaker Rev. Mack McMillan, former pastor of Riverside United Methodist Church. Quoting from a Greek philosopher, McMillan said that nothing is permanent except change. A farmer is used to change being constant and a challenge each day. But, their faith in God keeps them going. “As a group, farmers are an extremely faithful group,” McMillan said. “...We grow in our faith when it is tested,” McMillan said, “adding that a farmer’s faith is constantly being test ed. But, everyone can be assured that God’s love is con stant - it never changes,” he said. Other events included awards and recognitions. Michael Twiddy of the Albemarle Area Agribusiness Council, presented awards to the soybean yield contest win ners for 1998. Winners includ ed: JoAnn Smith, Currtituck County, 61.5 bushels per acre; Paul Smith Jr., Perquimans County 54.9 bushels per acre; Glen Pendleton, Pasquotank County, 58.7 bushels per acre; and J.C. Rountree, Camden County 59.9 bushels per acre. Marjorie Rayburn area spe cialized agent of integrated pest management (IPM), talked briefly about the mean ing of IPM and how farmers are involved in pest control. Rayburn presented a special award to Lenon Madre of Pasquotank County for his work in pest management. The event also included exhibits and food demonstra tions by the local extension clubs and entries from the fourth-graders youth poster contest emphasizing “The Beauty of Soybeans.” 911 system improved Enhanced 911 should be here by year end By SUSAN R. HARRIS Editor Emergency response improved in Perquimans last month when aU 911 calls from telephones in the county were directed to the Perquimans Communications office. Homeria Jennette, head of the county’s communications department, gave that infor mation to county commission ers Monday in an update of departmental activities. Jennette said that when Perquimans first went on the 911 system, only those 911 calls dialed from a telephone num ber with a 426 prefix automati cally went to Perquimans Communications. As Chowan and Pasquotank went to selec tive routing and Perquimans prepares for the enhanced 911 system, improvements were made through the telephone company that now route all 911 calls placed from inside Perquimans County to this county’s communications sys tem. Jennette said Tuesday that the improvements could save a life. Before the enhancements, callers from telephones with 264 prefixes were dispatched to Pasquotank County, rather than Perquimans. The calls were answered and routed to Perquimans, but time was lost in the transfer. With selective routing, contact wUl be direct and therefore, faster. And emergency responders say that every minutes counts in an emergency situation. The system will improve even more with the implemen tation of the enhanced or E-911 system. Once fuUy implement ed, a 911 operator wUl be able to tell the physical address from which an emergency phone call is placed. County Manager Paul Gregory said this information is critical if someone can dial 911 but is unable to communicate fur ther with dispatch personnel. Simply placing the call can send help with E-911. Implementation of E-911 is a step closer to reality thanks to a vote by the commissioners Monday. The board opted to retaU ASI Landmark, the com pany hired to map the coimty, to address the county at a cost of about $50,000. Gregory said last month it could take up to 18 months for county employ ees to have time to complete the addressing. He said Monday that ASI should be able to finish addressing with- int 6 months of signing a con tract with the county. Mapping equipment will also be purchased. Funds for the equipment have been set aside each year for the map- ping/addressing/E-911 project. Part of the funds are coUected through a 50 cents surcharge on telephone biUs in the coun ty each month. Those funds wUl be used to help defray the cost of equipment that must be purchased in order for E-911 to work. County residents who live on rural routes will get a change of address when the project is complete. Every resi dence will have a street address. If all goes according to the present schedule, the address ing and E-911 could be com plete by year end.
The Perquimans Weekly (Hertford, N.C.)
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Feb. 4, 1999, edition 1
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