The only newspaper for and about Perquimans County and its people
See our
Indian Summer
and
Hearth and Harvest
Festivals insert
September 9,1999
Vol. 67, No. 35 Hertford, North Carolina 27944
Perqu
IWeekly
0131 65 10/09/1999 *C20
eriuiwans county library
' MO „ academy st
HERTFORD NC 27944
Festival
Dennis storms back
nears
SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
Saturday will bring two
treats to Perquimans — the
18th annual Indian Summer
Festival and the 3rd annual
Hearth and Harvest Festival.
The day will kick off with a
performance by crowd-
pleasers, the PCHS Marching
Pirates at 9 a.m. downtown.
Entertainment and vendors
follow at that venue until 5
p.m., then get. a second wind
with a street dance at 8 p.m.
The Newbold-White House
will be the site of the Heart
and Harvest Festival, begin
ning with a program on the
evolution of the American flag
at 11 a.m. Entertainment,
demonstrations and interac
tive 18th century activities are
scheduled until 4 p.m.
Admission to Indian
Summer is free. Hearth-and
Harvest is $5 per carload or $1
per person. Shuttles will run
between the two venues.
For schedules, information
and festival specials by local
businesses, see the festival
book in today’s issue of The
Perquimans Weekly.
Public
meetings
From Staff Reports
An update on the
Perquimans County Heritage
Tourism Project will be given
at a town meeting set for
Thursday, Sept. 23 at 7 p.m. at
the county courthouse.
Hertford was selected by the
North Carolina Division of
Tourism, Film, and Sports
Development last November as
one of two heritage tourism
pilot communities. Since then,
the Perquimans County
Heritage Tourism
Development Council, a group
of committed local citizens
chaired by Chris Lane, has
met regularly to strategize on
how to best develop and imple
ment a heritage tourism plan
for the community.
Tourism professionals from
across the country are hearing
about Hertford’s efforts. That’s
because Daniel Kidd, heritage
tourism manager with the
N.C. Division of Tourism,
Film and Sports Development,
is spreading the word about
Hertford’s efforts to expand its
tourism industry
Kidd described Hertford as
a quentessentially all-
American town with a
Southern accent at the
National Conference on
Tourism Development in
Philadelphia in July. He said
that development in Hertford
should take into consideration
anything likely to compromise
the town’s small-town atmos
phere and Perquimans
County’s largely agricultural
makeup.
“After all, that’s what’s
going to continue drawing her
itage tourists there in the first
place,” Kidd said. He added
that heritage tourists , will
shun a place that has “lost its
soul.”
Please see TOURISM, page 8
Hurricane blows
through, leaves,
then comes back
SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
The county’s famed
Southern hospitality grew less
hospitable over the last week
as Hurricane Dennis over
stayed his welcome.
The storm took a northeast
track last Monday, breezing
through with drenching rains
and some winds, but not
enough to cause any evacua
tions or reportable damage,
according to Emergency
Management Coordinator Ray
CuUipher.
The clouds hadn’t blown by
when Dennis reversed his path
and came back, with little let
up in the typical tropical
storm weather he brought.
The downpours stopped
long enough Friday evening to
allow Perquimans and
Edenton to play football at
Memorial Stadium, but
Saturday was blustery and
wet. Weather forecasters
warned that conditions were
right for tornadoes and sug
gested that people stay in their
homes rather than venture-
out.
Sunday brought more rain,
but the winds died down.
Again on Monday, it was wet,
but relatively calm. Both days
saw intermittent sunshine.
The wind and rain played
havoc with the river, alternate
ly blowing it away from its
banks to the sound, then back
in to flood low-lying areas.
CuUipher was out of town
on Tuesday and could not be
reached at press time for infor
mation on any damages that
may have been reported over
the weekend.
-m
*r^ I 1,11
II
PHOTO BY SUSAN HARRIS
Indecisive Hurricane Dennis couldn't decide whether to leave the North Carolina coast or stay a while. For
about a week, Dennis moved up then back down the coast bringing wind and rain, alternating between blow
ing the river away from its banks toward the Albemarle Sound (above) and flooding the area with pouring
rains on already saturated land (below). It appears as if Dennis has finally gone away for good, but hurricane
season doesn't end until November, so another storm could come along to take its place.
.aM-g : * *
^ i
S
PHOTO BY SUSAN HARRIS
Dennis made Friday's grand reopening of R.P.'s Auto Sales soggy. Owners R.P. and Diane White welcomed cus
tomers and well-wishers with free hot dogs following a ribbon cutting (above) sponsored by the Perquimans
Chamber of Commerce.
R.P.’s Auto holds grand reopening Friday
SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
The menace that was
Dennis didn’t stop R.P. and
Diane White from celebrating
the grand reopening of R.P.’s
Auto Sales Friday
The used car dealership
moved from its spot on Church
Street Extended to a new budd
ing on U.S. Highway 17 Bypass.
The move gave the Whites
more room on the lot and extra
office space, as weU as greater
visibUity.
In addition to offering used
cars and trucks for sale, R.P.’s
operates a 24-hour wrecker/
towing service and a paint and
body shop in Belvidere. When
he opened his auto sales busi
ness, R.P. White said he wanted
to offer used vehicles that
working people could afford to
buy.
The couple marked the
grand reopening with a ribbon
cutting sponsored by the
Perquimans Chamber of
Commerce and free hot dogs
for lunch.
Stop by the lot or call 426-
1609 or 297-2633 to talk to the
Whites or their staff.
Grant funds
Welfare-to-
Work program
From Staff Reports
Perquimans County has
received a $61,529 grant to pro
vide employment training to
welfare recipients.
With the funds. The
Perquimans County
Department of Social Services
has added a new program,
Welfare-to Work. Welfare-to-
Work will offer support and
assistance to those who have
not yet succeeded in obtaining
or keeping a job to support
their families. In conjunction
with Work First Family
Asistance, these funds will
provide intensive assistance
leading to employment oppor
tunities for those not yet mak
ing it in the work force. Joan
Harrell, Human Resource
Placement
Specialist /Retention
Placement Specialist, will be
working with the new pro
gram.
The Welfare-to-Work grant
came through the Mid East
Workforce Development Board
as part of a $3 billion 1997
Congressional allotment
administered through the
Department of Labor.
For information or to enroU
in the program, call Harrell at
426-7373.
Boone
cleared
on assault
charge
Prosecutor:
Judge didn’t feel
assault intentional
JEREMY DESPOSITO
The Daily Advance
A district court judge found
a Hertford police officer on
trial in Perquimans County for
misdemeanor simple assault
Wednesday not guHty of the
charge.
Richard Williams Jr. had
filed a complaint against
patrolman Charles Nathan
Boone Jr. alleging that Boone
attacked him on Jan. 19.
WUliams 22, had alleged that
Boone grabbed him and
rammed his head into a car
window, slammed him to the
ground, and then rammed his
back to the street.
Boone, 25, was the second
officer to respond to a domestic
violence call on the day of the
incident. At that time, the
woman, Boone’s sister, had to
be transported to Albemarle
Hospital. A court record stated
that Williams assaulted and
struck the woman by pushing
and tossing her around inside
Hertford’s Food Lion super
market.
Presiding Judge Claude W.
Allen Jr., of Franklin County,
entered a verdict of not guilty.
The trial in Perquimans
County District Court took
three hours.
“My client was very pleased
that the judge acquitted him on
the assault charge. The judge
felt that my client’s actions did
not warrant a charge of an
assault,” said Boone’s attorney,
D. Keith Teague of Elizabeth
City
Prosecuting attorney Sonia
Privette said Judge AUen did
not believe Boone’s fight with
WUliams had been intentional.
“The judge made some com
ments after the trial that he did
not find beyond a reasonable
doubt, that the defendant
intentionally assaulted Mr.
WUliams.”
The assault charge was
Boone’s second brush with the
law.
In August 1998, a complaint
was fUed against Boone, then
an Elizabeth City police officer,
for pointing a gun at another
person with criminal intent.
Those charges were dismissed.
WFFKFNn
Weather
Thursday
High: 70$
Low: $0$
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Friday
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Low: 70s
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Saturday
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Low: 70s
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