Lady Pirates open 3-0
Rage6
PCHS football starts Friday
Rage 6
Youth win 4-H awards
Pages
August 24, 2000
Vol. 68, No. 34 Hertford, North Carolina 27944
The only newspaper for and about Perquimans County and its pet 0i3l65 liOZOO 01 *-!«-C001
—— PERQUIMANS COUNTY LIBRARY
__ 0 W ACADEMY ST
^|^|n| HERTFORD NC Z7944
Perquimans
ifc^JWEEKLY
35 cents
planning Board reviews
development plan
SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
A development containing
both business and residential
features was reviewed by the
Hertford Planning and board
jDf. Adjustments Board Monday
night.
. Michael Zarpass proposes to
develop 110 acres of land on
the northeast corner of
Highway 17 Bypass and
Harvey Point Road. The site
plan the developer presented
tile board includes several out-
Carolina
^ f •'
Beach
Club
returns
'•The southern sounds of
Carolina Beach Club will fill
-'Missing Mill Park to end the
Indian Summer Festival.
The street dance, which tra
ditionally signals the end of
the celebration of life in his
toric Perquimans County, has
been moved back to the water
front park this year.
The county festival day,
which this year is Saturday,
Sept. 9, has expanded to
include not only Indian
Summer Festival in downtown
Hertford, but the Hearth &
Harvest Festival at the historic
Newbold-White House as well.
Arts, crafts, food, entertain
ment, learning about life in
early Perquimans, and the
Street dance highlight festival
day.
A shuttle will be available to
take festival-goers between
venues.
parcels, a shopping center in
which Zarpass plans to house
an unnamed grocery store,
townhouses, a pond, and river
access.
Zarpass said he plans to put
a bank on one of the out-
parcels in the development.
East Carolina Bank has
announced plans to open a
branch on that corner. East
Carolina Bank representative
Becky Winslow, who will be the
local manager of the Hertford
branch, attended the July 17
meeting of the Planning and
Board of Adjustments when
Zarpass first submitted his
plan to the board.
Concerns over wetlands,
building heights, zoning, ser
vices roads and general traffic
flow in the area were voiced
during the first meeting.
Zarpass was asked to return
with a more detailed sketch of
the proposed development.
In order to get approval for
the development, Zarpass must
submit full, detailed plans for
the area, including zoning
requests and buffer zones. He
did not indicate when he will
return for approval.
. ,
C-2 !
-4
/TR/O /
CO
• •‘--i
-1»f
■asr*
C-2
■j'
i T' T*
i \
i
-W-'
yj.
0
wi|gyi
ij
iilil
The proposed development on U.S. 17 Bypass and Harvey Point Road
Check mate
f-
»
4
X
* ’k'
t ?
Students at Hertford Grammar School acquaint themselves with the game of chess.
Through a grant funded by The North Carolina Power Partnership, teachers at the
school are using chess to help students master math skills outlined in the North
Carolina Standard Course of Study. Specific targeted skills include problem solving
using multi-step problems and a variety of strategies; probability; data
gathering/analysis; and specific thinking skills including knowledge, organizing, apply
ing, analyzing, generating, integrating and evaluating. Community volunteers interest
ed in the game should contact Hertford Grammar School at 426-7166.
Voter education
group combats
voter apathy
The North Carolina Center
for Voter Education has
launched the first two compo
nents of its fall initiative, Go
Vote, a campaign intended to
combat voter apathy and to
increase public awareness of
the November election.
Chris Heagarty, the Center’s
Executive Director, said North
Carolina ranks in the bottom
10 states for voter turnout. He
noted that there has been a
steady decline in primary elec
tion turnout, with only 17 per
cent of registered voters hav
ing voted in this May’s prima
ry
Go Vote serves two purpos
es. First, it reminds everyone
of the importance of voting,
and it also provides citizens
with a website where many
voted-related questions are
answered.
Because the Center for
Voter Education is non-parti
san, no information on candi
dates is provided. However, the
on-line guide provides compre
hensive voting information,
such as how and when to regis
ter to vote, and how to vote
using an absentee ballot.
The website also features
background on the state offices
that are up for election this
fEill, as well as a job description
for each office. Data is also pro
vided on salaries and recent
campaign costs.
“North Carolina has one of
the longest ballots in the coun
try,” Heagarty continued. “The
on-line voter guide will hoeful-
ly assist people in understand
ing what aU of these offices
actually do.”
The web address is
www.ncvotered.com.
The deadline to register to:
vote in the Nov. 7 general elec-'
tion is Oct. 13. For information:
on where to go to register to
vote in Perquimans, call the
Board of Elections, 426-5598.
Be careful on highways while taking Labor Day vacations
' Celebrating the end of sum-
imr is a rite of passage for
Americans. As you take to the
road this Labor Day weekend,
celebrating the end of a very
wet or very dry summer, bear
in. mind the findings of a
recent survey by
pifogressive.com:
: •.* Fifty-seven percent of
respondents said they were
tt^re likely to drive when over
tired or fatigued while driving
home from a weekend getaway.
• Fifty-nine percent were
more likely to drive when they
shouldn't have because they
wanted to get to a summer get
away in one night.
• Twenty-six percent of
Ceapondents reported driving
witen they shouldn't due to
^ohol consumption at sum-
nier barbecues.
Twenty-three percent of
respondents said they would
be more likely to drive after
drinking at a summer barbe
cue if they didn't have very far
lb drive to get home.
- • People are stressed out
working too many hours each
week and traveling for busi
ness. So when it comes time for
vacation, people's attitudes are
different.
Interesting survey findings:
When asked what was most likely to take their attention off the
road while driving in the summer, the top five answers were:
1. fatigue: 34 percent
2. talking on the cell phone: 17 percent *
3. singing along with the radio: 16 percent
• 4. getting angry at other drivers while in heavy traffic: 12 percent
5. having children in the car: 10 percent
Surprisingly, consumers ages 55 to 64 were twice as likely to speed
on a Sunday evening after a weekend getaway during the summer than
consumers ages 18 to 24.
Respondents ages 55 to 64 were six times more likely to drive after
drinking while attending a summer sporting event that respondents ages
18 to 24.
Men were twice as likely as women to drive in the summertime with
their child out of their car seat if they were driving only a short distance.
Divorced respondents were twice as likely as married respondent to
take their child out of their car seat so that they can sleep better/longer
on a long car trip during the summer.
Forty-nine percent said the most aggravating time to drive during the
summer was on Friday evenings on their way to a weekend getaway,
followed by: returning from a trip on Sunday evening (27 percent) and
returning from a weekend getaway on Monday morning (19 percent).
“They want to enjoy the Business Leader, Progressive,
outdoors, relax and de-stress,” “But what we found was that
said Alan Bauer, Internet while people go to great
lengths to enjoy the summer,
they may be pushing the limits
of safety and letting their busy
lives affect their driving
habits. It's extremely impor
tant that consumers are aware
of the risks that they and their
friends and neighbors create
when traveling this holiday
weekend.” =
Further, the
progressive.com study of
more than 400 consumers
found that more than one-fifth
of consumers reported having
taken their kids out of their
car seats while driving on a
summer trip. And it looks like
women are more likely to take
chances — women were four
times more likely than men to
break a traffic law (i.e. speed,
run a red light, drive on the
shoulder) whUe stuck in sum
mer traffic with kids in the
car. Also, families with chil
dren were six times more like
ly to drive home from a long
day trip while fatigued during
the summer than those people
without children.
Progressive offers the fol
lowing tips on safe summer
highway travel. Follow them
this Labor Day weekend:
1. Wear a seat belt/restrain
children. It is estimated by the
NHTSA that safety belts save
9,500 lives a year. If every pas
senger over the age of four was
strapped in, an additional 9,000
lives could be saved annually.
An estimated 312 children
under age five are saved annu
ally in the U.S. by being
strapped into a car seat
2. Allow extra time to reach
a destination. Speeding causes
30 percent of all fatal crashes
and over 13,000 lives are lost
each year due to speed-related
accidents.
3. Keep children under age
12 buckled up in the back seat
to avoid injury from airbag
impact.
4. If you're on a long drive,
stop for a walk or meal at dusk
- the most dangerous driving
period of the day - and avoid
city travel during rush hours.
5. Take frequent breaks.
Stop, get out of the car and
stretch tired muscles. Exercise
increases the oxygen flow to
the brain and boosts wakeful
ness. Avoid sugary snacks and
caffeine that give drivers a
surge of quick energy but
leave them feeling more tired
later.
6. Stop to read maps or dis
cipline children. The rule of
thumb is both eyes on the road
and both hands on the wheel at
all times.
Progressive (NYSE: PGR),
headquartered in Mayfield
Village, Ohio, is one of the
nation's largest auto insur
ance companies and the lead
ing provider of insurance ser
vices and products via the
Internet.
Weekend
Weather
Thursday
High: 87
Low: 68
Isouted Tstorms
Friday
High: 86
Low: 66
Partly Cloudy
Saturday
High: 85
Low: 67
Partly Cloudy