The only newspaper for and about Perquimans County and its people
Whedbee earns state honor
page 2
Lady Pirates defeat Northeastern
page 6
Diocese helps floyd victims
page 5
January 6, 2000
Voi. 68, No. 1 Hertford, North Carolina 27944
The
PERQUIMANS
110 W ACADEMY Sf,
HERTFORD NC 21':
T ^ »i ;•>
2794|4'i
Weekly
J
Albemarle,
Tideland
EMCs may
merge
SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
Albemarle EMC and Tideland
EMC have entered into a shared
management contract that may be
the first step in a merger between
the two cooperatives.
Albemarle EMC General Manager
Jeff Edwards issued a news release
announcing the new relationship
between the entities. He said that the
cooperatives have jointly hired the
National Rural Electric Cooperative
Association National Consulting
Group to perform an in-depth study
of the potential merger process. The
study will include extensive finan
cial analysis, reorganization of
existing staff and the coordination
of technical issues. A final report to
the combined boards of directors of
the cooperatives is expected late this
month.
The study is the second autho
rized by the two electric providers.
The Cooperative Finance
Corporation in Herndon, Va., per
formed a preliminary analysis that
projects substantial savings should
the two utilities merge. Member-
owners of each utility may reap such
benefits as short-term rate stabiliza
tion with the potential for long-term
rate decreases, a broader base of
retail services and improved disas
ter response.
Edwards said the merger discus
sion is in response to operational
efficiency issues and new state law.
House BiU 476, that broadens the
base of business for electric coopera
tives. House BUI 476 aUows the coop
eratives to add energy- or telecom
munication-related services to their
business. At present, Tideland EMC
is the parent company of Tideland
Energy Resources, which offers gas
appliance sales and service and com
mercial fleet vehicle maintenance.
Albemarle EMC plans to offer surge
suppressing soon. More services
could be offered in the future.
Edwards said a merger would not
involve closing any of the offices
presently operated by the two enti
ties.
The shared services agreement
aUows each EMC to more fully uti
lize its own specialized services and
staff in areas such as engineering,
accounting and marketing.
Edwards is serving as interim
general manager of Tideland whUe
continuing to serve as general man
ager at Albemarle EMC during the
study phase. If either of the coopera
tives’ boards of directors reject a
merger proposal, Tideland EMC wUl
resume its executive search process
to fUl the position of general manag
er. If both boards approve the merg
er proposal, the memberships of
both cooperatives wUl vote to make
the final decision.
Tideland EMC is the resiUt of the
merger of three electric coopera
tives and one privately owned power
company. It serves more than 20,000
electric accounts in Hyde, Beaufort,
Dare, Pamlico, Washington and
Craven counties. The utUity main
tains full service offices in
Engelhard, Pantego, Grantsboro and
Ocracoke.
Albemarle EMC serves over 9,600
electric accounts in Chowan,
Perquimans Pasquotank, Camden
and Currituck counties. Corporate
headquarters are in Hertford.
Both EMCs are members of the
Touchstone Energy national net
work of electric cooperatives.
Reward offered in nail incidents
Hunt club members
put up $500 for info
on person throwing
nails in driveways
SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
The victims hope the perpetraitors
get nailed.
Perquimans and Chowan residents
are flocking to tire centers and ser
vice stations to have tired repaired or
replaced after running over roofing
nails that are showing up by the hand
fuls in driveways, farm paths, and
even roadways. The areas hit so far
are between Sandy Cross and County
Line roads. Great Hope Church and
Beech Springs roads, and the 4-mLle
Desert. The highest concentration has
been in the Belvidere area.
Perquimans Sheriff Eric Tilley
said his department received over 20
calls between the first reported inci
dent around Dec. 17 and Dec. 28. Tilley
added that he had heard of many
unreported incidents and that the
Chowan County Sheirff’s Department
is also investigating complaints in
that county.
From what Tilley can piece togeth
er, it appears the nail-throwing may
be hunt club related. Lots of fingers
are being pointed, espeically in the
Belvidere area, TUley said. Many of
those fingers are being pointed at the
Chappell HUl Hunt Club.
According to club president
Lucious Roy Chappell and vice presi
dent Ken Banks, the nail incidents
began after some property owners
posted their land, closing it to hunt
ing. That action came becasue people
said the hunt club was hunting in
unauthorized areas, the hunt club
officers said. It’s also why the hunt
club is getting blamed for the nails.
But Chappell and Banks said the
hunt club, to their knowledge, is not
responsible for the tire-puncturing
escapades. In fact, some club mem
bers have had nails scattered on their
property twice.
To help find those responsible for
the naUs, ChappeU and Banks collect
ed $500 to be used as a reward for any
one with information leading to the
arrest and conviction of the guilty
party or parties. If the person con
victed is a hunt club members,
Chappell and Banks said the mem
ber’s membership will be revoked.
The incidents have kept tire shops
busy. Walter Matthews of Ned’s BP
said last Friday that he has fixed at
least 35 tires, and possibly 50, dam
aged by nails. Norman Young Tire
Center reported about 55 tires
brought to their shops, some of which
had to be replaced due to extensive
damage.
Tilley said if the guilty party is
caught, he wUl see that the perpetrai-
tor is charged with every possible
offense, including injury to personal
property and vandalism. He also said
the guUty party could be forced to pay
restitution to victims.
Victims who have not reported a
naU incident should file a report with
the sheriff’s department in the coun
ty in which the incident occurred.
Anyone with information about the
incidents should also call the
Perquimans County Sheriff’s office at
426-5615 or the Chowan County
department at 482-8484.
Repeat champs
Pirates
pull off
tourney
win in
overtime
SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
It was everything a
championship game
should be when host
Currituck took on reign
ing Daily Advance
Classic champs
Perquimans last
Wednesday in the 1999
final. When the final
buzzer sounded for the
second time, the Pirates
had retained title to the
tournament trophy
Tournament MVP
Jarrod Cooper capped a
Perquimans come-back
when he drove the lane
through a minefield of
Knights with 6 seconds
left in regulation to tie
the game. Cooper hus
tled back on defense to
help keep Currituck
from putting up a Hail
Mary at the buzzer.
VV^en the next buzzer
sounded, Perquimans
owned a 53-50 lead and
the championship.
Michael Everett got
the night started off on
the right foot for the
Pirates with back-to-
back threes. Currituck
responded with two
threes to go up by three,
then Cooper tied it with
a tres of his own. At the
end of the first quarter,
Currituck was up 17-13.
The homestanders
maintained a slight lead
throughout the second
period, but Cooper
wouldn’t let them get too
far ahead. With the
Knights up 28-22, Cooper
hit a three with 5 sec
onds left in the quarter.
Currituck went up 36-
29 in the third before
Pirate coach Luther
Overton called a time
out with 3:42 left. The
Pirates scored eight
unanswered points to
Daily Advance photos
Pirate Jarrod Cooper was named MVP of The Daily Advance Holiday Basketball Classic last
Wednesday after executing some key plays for the champion Perquimans team. The Lady
Pirates (below) didn't perform so well, falling to Edenton in the title game. (See page 6)
regain the lead for the first
time since the beginning of the
opening quarter.
Cooper opened the final
stanza with a three, but
Currituck scored the next
eight to go up 44-40 courtesy of
Perquimans’ poor execution.
At 1:23, the Knights were up 48-
46. The team called two time
outs before Cooper put the
game on his shoulders and
drove in for the tying bucket.
Neither team could get
much going offensively during
the overtime due to excellent
defense by both squads.
Perquimans was up by three
when Currituck put up a long
shot at the buzzer that hit the
rim and bounced off.
For his leadership at crucial
points in the contest. Cooper
was named MVP. Clifton
Jenkins also had some big
plays for the Pirates.
Cooper finished with 14
points; Bevon Miller, 12;
Everett and Jenkins, 10 each;
Monte Tunnell, four; and
Anthony Winslow, three.
Perquimans got into the
final by spanking Edenton, 67-
53.
Edenton sliced through
Perquimans’ first quarter
Property
revaluation
notices to
go out soon
SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
How much is your property
worth?
Perquimans residents will
soon find out how much their
property is worth for ad val
orem tax purposes.
Revaluation notices are
expected to go out to property
owners at mid-month.
Bob Pearson of Pearson’s
Appraisal Service, the compa
ny performing the revalua
tion, told commissioners in
December that values have
risen sharply in some areas in
the county, while actually
falling in others.
“Some of these changes (in
property values) are pretty
extreme and we wanted to let
you know what’s happening,”
Pearson told commissioners.
To make his point, Pearson
gave commissioners prelimi
nary values on their own prop
erties. The values of the six
properties rose 12-112 percent.
Waterfront properties and
areas of high growth will find
values up considerably, while
Pearson said lot values in
Holiday Island have actually
dropped since the last revalua
tion eight years ago.
The objective of the state-
mandated revaluation is to
have all properties appraised
at market value. Property own
ers will have an opportunity to
dispute the values at hearings
which will be advertised in
this newspaper.
man-to-man defense, so
Overton employed three zones
the rest of the way that aced
the opponents’ offense. Then
the Pirates put on a scoring
show.
Everett and Jenkins led the
way with 17 points apiece,
while Cooper added 13. Bevon
Miller contributed six;
Winslow and Tunnell, five
each; and Justin Roberson and
Derek Hurdle, two apiece.
Last year was the first tour
nament victory for the Pirates,
who played a couple of then-
best games of the season in
Barco last week.
Weekend
Weather
Thursday
High: 58
Low: 30
Partly Cloudy
Friday
High: 64
Low: 45
Scattered Showers
Saturday
High: 56
Low: 38
Partly Cloudy