The only newspaper for and about Perquimans County and its people
PCHS athletes sign with colleges
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PCMS students honored
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Senior Center calendar
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June 8, 2000
Vol. 68, No. 23 Hertford, North Carolina 27944
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Hertford cop implicated in K-Mart theft
JULIAN EURE
DAILY ADVANCE NEWS EDITOR
A Hertford police sergeant
has resigned after being impli-^
cated in the theft of thousands
of dollars in merchandise from
an Elizabeth City department
store.
Anthony Webster, 28, a mem
ber of the Hertford police
department since July 1994,
resigned Friday, several days
after acknowledging to ECPD
investigators that he had
received merchandise from
Kmart without paying for it.
Webster, who lives on Buddy
Drive in Elizabeth City, hasn’t
been charged with a crime yet.
Gregory
proposes
budget
ANNA GOODWIN MCCARTHY
and SUSAN R HARRIS
Perquimans County
Manager Paul Gregory pro
posed what he said is a tax
decrease for most Perquimans
County property owners
Monday afternoon.
Gregory’s proposed 2000-
2001 budget calls for a tax rate
of 62 cents per $100 of assessed
property value. The solid
waste fee would remain $75
per dwelling. Gregory said
almost all property owners
would experience a decrease
in property taxes with his pro
posed budget.
But Commissioner Charles
Ward wants even more of a tax
cut. He said he would not vote
for a budget with a tax rate of
over 60 cents.
The 62 cents tax rate takes
into account new property val
ues set by the revaluation com
pleted earlier this year.
Gregory said in his budget
message to commissioners
that it appears the net growth
in property values is 18.8 per
cent, taking into account
allowances for vehicles, senior
citizens exemptions and utili
ties. His proposed tax rate is a
20.5 percent decrease from last
year’s 78 cents.
He said the county needs to
be progressive and futuristic
when considering its plans for
a new budget.
Gregory said the proposed
budget would allow for no
prominent increase in tax
rates for the next four to six
years.
Please see BUDGET, page 8
but will face misdemeanor lar
ceny charges, probably within
the next week, ECPD Lt. Joe
Tade said Friday.
Webster allegedly was one of
about a dozen Kmart cus
tomers who over the past year
were caught on a store surveil
lance camera going through
check-out lines without paying
for high-priced electronic mer
chandise like hand-held com
puters, game systems and
phones.
“Some people working (at
Kmart) were letting people
come through their line and
either weren’t ringing (their
purchases) up or ringing them
up for a lot less than they were
worth,” investigating officer
Sgt. Rick Pureza said.
Kmart store security offi
cials, who suspected several
employees of stealing, alerted
police at the end of April,
Pureza said.
After viewing hours of
video tape and interviewing
several of the suspected
employees, police learned that
one of the customers receiving
stolen merchandise was
Webster, the Hertford police
sergeant.
Elizabeth City police inter
viewed Webster at the Hertford
Police Department Tuesday,
and he came in on Friday and
voluntarily resigned, Hertford
Police Chief Dale Vanscoy
said.
“He didn’t say why, but I
think it had something to do
with (the theft allegations),”
Vanscoy said.
“I was very shocked. He’s
not the type of person who
would do something like this.
He’s been an excellent employ
ee and as loyal as anybody to
this department for six years.”
Prior to his current situa
tion, Webster had never even
been disciplined, Vanscoy said.
He also had had several oppor
tunities to leave the Hertford
department and take a higher
paying job elsewhere, but
never did, Vanscoy said.
At least three Kmart
employees have been implicat
ed in the probe and will proba
bly be arrested next week,
Pureza said. He declined to
give their names since none
officially has been charged. All
three will likely face felony lar
ceny charges, he said.
AU three of the employees
have left Kmart’s employ,
Pureza said. Two resigned, the
other was fired. Citing his com
pany’s strict policy about not
commenting to the media, a
Kmart spokesman declined to
confirm those details Friday.
As for the dozen or so cus
tomers who, like Webster, •
removed merchandise from the
store without paying for it,
police are in the process of
identifying them from hours of
videotape, Pureza said. Most
will be charged with misde
meanor larceny. However sev^
eral who took significantly
larger amounts of merchan
dise will face felony charges.
About $8,000 in merchandise
was taken over a period of a
year, Pureza said. Most of it
was used by those who stole ii
However, there is evidence that
some merchandise was stolen
and later sold, Pureza said.
Some of the stolen merchan
dise has been recovered, he
added.
CultureScope 2000
County gets $250K
recreation grant
%
PHOTOS BY SUSAN HARRIS
Kids of all ages enjoyed
CultureScope, a multi-cul
tural festival sponsored by
the Perquimans Arts League
Saturday at Missing Mill
Park. Children enjoyed
painting paper mache balls
and bracelets, and making
dream catchers, masks and
framed artwork. Several
pinatas were broken
throughout the afternoon,
and children scampered to
pick up the brightly-
wrapped candy. Information
about other countries and
cultures was on display.
Hot-off-the-grill hot dogs
were one All-American com
ponent of the festival
■*3 ■
pa
SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
Expanded recreation offer
ings may be in store for
Perquimans residents with the
receipt of a state Parks and
Recreation Trust Fund grant.
Recreation Director Tim
White said he has received
confirmation from trust fund
officials that Perquimans
County wiU receive $250,000 to
expand its recreation facilities.
The county agreed to match
the grant. The county has
applied for a $100,000 grant
from the Rural Center to help
offset the county share of the
project.
Plans call for the construc
tion of a gymnasium complete
with offices, restrooms and
storage. Recreation basketball
will move to the new facility
upon its completion, relieving
the scheduling bottleneck on
the middle school court in the
winter. In addition. White said
the offices of the Recreation
Department will be housed in
the gym.
The project will also allow
for the construction of a light
ed baseball field and a separate
lighted soccer Held. The 13-to-
15 and 16-to-18 Babe Ruth base
ball teams will play on the new
field upon its completion.
Soccer and midget football will
be played on the soccer field.
These sports are presently
played on school fields, and
scheduling, especially during
periods of inclement weather,
has sometimes been difficult.
This summer. Babe Ruth base
ball is being played on the
county softball fields due to a
maintenance project sched
uled on the high school field
this summer. While some sum
mer baseball can be played at
the middle school field, that
field is not lighted, so only
afternoon games can be sched
uled there.
A restroom/concessions
building will complete the pro
ject.
The new facility will be
buUt near the present county
softball fields in Winfall, but
the exact location has yet to be
determined. White said once
the actual site is chosen, offi
cials wUl determine how to sit
uate each component of the
project on the property, then
the bid process can begin.
Under the terms of the grant,
the project must be completed
by June 2002.
“We happy to expand and
have the facilities to serve
more children,” White said. “It
is also going to be better from a
staff perspective to have our
facilities and offices together.”
Final paperwork is being
submitted for the last trust
fund grant received for recre
ation, White said. The last pro
ject was funded in June 1998,
and included the construction
of the lighted tennis courts,
refurbishing the old tennis
courts into a basketball facili
ty, and adding playground
equipment and horsehoe pits.
The project is located on
Grubb Street on Academy
Square.
In addition to the recreation
facility upgrades on the site.
White said the town of
Hertford’s beautification pro
ject in the adjacent park has
made the area much more
attractive.
In addition to White, the
Recreation staff includes
Athletic Director Guy Webb
and part-time clerical support.
County tax collections average
SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
Tax collection rates impact
ad valorem tax rates. How
does Perquimans measure up
when it comes to collecting
taxes?
The county is average,
according to information pro
vided by the N.C. Department
of the Treasury. Perquimans’
collection rate is 94.4 percent,
compared to a statewide rate
of 94.07 percent for counties
with a population of 25,000
and below.
The statewide tax collec
tion rate is 97.9 percent, but
that number is high due to the
high collection rates in the
state’s largest counties like
Mecklenburg and Wake, said
a spokesperson for the
Treasury Department. Larger
counties generally have more
employees and are better
equipped to go after delin
quents from a personnel
standpoint, he added.
The spokesman also said
motor vehicle tax collection
rates pull down overall tax
rates. He said without motor
vehicle taxes, collection rates
for small counties is 95.3 per
cent.
Perquimans County Tax
Supervisor Cheryl Phillips
said using her calculations,
the county’s collection rate
rises to almost 96 percent
without the motor vehicle
taxes.
Phillips said the county has
five full-time people in the tax
department, plus a clerk split
between the water and tax
departments. In addition, a
tax lister is employed to list
personal property during tax
listing season beginning in
January of each year. Two
employees are responsible for
most of the collection work,
in addition to their other
duties.
Phillips outlined the tax
collection process. Bills go out
by the first week in
September, with pajonent due
in full by Jan. 1. Taxes become
delinquent if not paid by Jan.
5, she said.
After the first week in
January, delinquent notices
are sent out letting property
owners know that the depart
ment begins enforcement pro
cedures in February. If those
who owe delinquent taxes do
not respond, collection action
is taken in February or
March.
Please see COLLECT, page 12
'Gifted' students no
longer labeled
ANNA GOODWIN MCCARTHY
Correspondent
Approximately 41 high
school students, 10 middle
school students and one ele
mentary school student are
classified as gifted in the
Perquimans County School
System.
In a recent meeting, school
board members discussed the
decreasing number of gifted
students and the school sys
tem’s responsibility to chal
lenge gifted students.
Superintendent Gregory
Todd said the decrease in num
bers is the result of a program
started in 1995, which ended
the labeling of students as aca
demically gifted in the school
system.
“We are not in the business
of identifying students,” said
Todd.
In 1995, the school system
replaced the academically gift
ed program with a program
sponsored by the Frank Porter
Graham Center at the
University of North Carolina
at Chapel HiU. Todd said the
program is advantageous
because it challenges aU stu
dents.
The Integrated Able
Learners Program applies in
class and across class flexible
groups, computer based
Please see GIFTED, page 8
Weekend
Weather
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