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PERiVuIMANS COUNTV l-
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HERTFORD Nu -7.
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21, 2000
Vol. 68, No. 51 Hertford, North Carolina 27944
HERTFORD
Perquimans
Weekly
County
man
charged
with sex
abuse
CHIP ROMANOVICH
The Daily Advance
A Perquimans County man
was arrested Dec. 8 and
charged with 18 counts of sex
ual abuse alleged to have
occurred over four decades.
The charges resulted from
allegations involving four
minor females. The suspect
has admitted to sexual rela
tions with two of the victims,
investigators said.
Jack Hardy Bail, 60, of 329
Hunters Fork Road, Tyner,
turned himself in to the sher
iff’s department after indict
ments against him were hand
ed down by the grand jury, said
Perquimans County Sheriff’s
Investigator Nate Zachary.
“His lawyer called and they
made arrangements for him to
turn himself in,” Zachary
said. “I had already inter
viewed him, and he had con
fessed to two indictments.”
Bail was released after post
ing $50,000 secured and $50,000
unsecured bonds. He is report
edly represented by former
district attorney H.P. Williams
who is now in private practice
in Elizabeth City.
Zachary said the investiga
tion began in early September,
when ©ne of the alleged vic
tims contacted the sheriff’s
department. Zachary said Bail
knew the minors prior ro the
allegations.
Zachary said the alleged
incidents took place over a
period of 34 years. He was not
sure if more allegations would
be made.
“Cases date back as late as
1966, and the last known act
was 1994 on an 11-year-old (age
at that time) female,” Zachary
said. “He did not have (real-
tions) with that victim. All the
females he had relations with
were 12 or 13 (years old) at the
time (of the alleged abuse.)
“Right now we have four
confirmed victims.”
Bail, until recently a
Sunday school teacher with no
prior criminal history, admit
ted to Zachary that he knew
his actions were wrong.
“He told me, what he did, he
knew it was wrong. He said he
was young, he made mis
takes.”
Zachary said the alleged
abuses occurred well into the
victims’ teen-age years. “He
manipulated their minds,”
Zachary said.
One victim may have come
forward at one point, however,
Zachary said he searched sher
iff’s department records and
was unable to find any infor
mation regarding the case.
“We did have one victim
who tried to report it years ago
... nothing was ever done,” he
said. “It was many, many years
ago, way before our adminis
tration.”
Bail faces an initial court
hearing Feb. 5. He was charged
with one count of first degree
sex offense with a child, six
counts of indecent liberties
with a child, and four counts of
crime against nature.
A«
Sounds of the Season
Kindergarteners in Pam Lothian's and Carolyn Ward's Central School classes filled Hertford with holiday music as the
teachers made their annual field trip caroling through town. The students were donned in handmade holiday hats
and had bells around their necks for the occasion.
Plane crash in Nicanor kills Florida man
From staff reports
A Florida man died when
his twin-engine airplane
crashed in a field near
Turnpike Road last Thursday.
Gordon Montgomery, 76, a
resident of John’s Island, Fla.,
died when his plane went down
on what was apparently a
familiar flight from Florida to
the Edenton Municipal
Airport.
Investigators still have no
explanation for what caused
the accident, although law offi
cers and officials with the
Federal Aviation
Administration and National
Transportation Safety Board
spent at least two days last
week at the site.
Parts of the blue and white
Piper sank 5 feet in the ground
in the open field near the
Perquimans-Pasquotank bor
der near the mouth of the
Dismal Swamp. The crash site
is iri the county’s Nicanor
Township.
Perquimans County Sheriff
Eric Tilley said his depart
ment received a call at 2:30 p.m.
from a hunter reporting that
the plane was grounded and on
fire near a drainage ditch.
Firefighters from
Perquimans County and the
Newland Fire Department
extinguished the flames with
A Florida man died when his blue and white Piper went down in a field near Turnpike Road
last Thursday. The cause of the accident is still unknown.
lookout for a small blue and
white plane headed north from
Florida. The plane was report
edly scheduled to land at the
Chowan County airport, but
had been lost on radar.
Montgomery had a second
home in South Dartmouth,
Mass., where he was headed
when his plane went down.
Continued on page 8A
foam. Little red flags littered
the area, marking the remains
of the victim.
“We know there was one
person (on board),” TiUey said
shortly after the crash. “Every
red flag you see is a body part.”
Larry Swindell of Swindell
Funeral Home assisted with
identifying the remains, and
two ambulances were on the
scene.
Tilley said Tuesday that
Montgomery’s remains were
released for shipment to his
family Monday afternoon. The
remains were first autopsied at
the medical examiner’s office
in Greenville.
Tilley said he received
notice around 3 p.m. from the
Edenton airport to be on the
Hunter is Steamers’ general manager
SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
Todd Hunter wiU make his
living on his baseball roots.
The son of the late Hall of
Fame pitcher Jim “Catfish”
Hunter and former college
player was named general
manager of the Edenton
Steamers Tuesday. The
Hertford resident will have
overall management responsi
bilities for the Steamers, a
unique community-owned
team.
Established for three sea
sons, the Steamers have drawn
record crowds for the size of
the community playing at his
toric Hicks Field. The
Steamers play in the Coasted
Plain League, the summer col
lege league named the second
best wooden bat league in the
nation by “Baseball America
Magazine.” The league is sanc
tioned by major league base
ball and the NCAA.
“We’re extremely pleased to
have someone of Todd’a base
ball credits running the
Edenton team,” said Pete Bock,
league president. “We certain
ly look forward to working
with him and expect even
greater results by the
Steamers.”
The Steamers are owned by
the Edenton-Chowan
Community Foimdation Inc., a
non-profit corporation formed
in 1999 to keep the team in
Eenton and have it locally
owned.
The community-owned sta
tus of the Steamers is unique
in baseball. Only two other
teams share the distinction:
the Kansas City Royals and the
Memphis Redbirds. The Royals
were owned by the Kansas City
Community Foundation. The
Redbirds, the St. Louis
Cardinals’ triple-A team, are
owned by the Redbirds
Foundation, the first non-profit in
Continued on page 8A
Citizens
fight
Winfall
zoning
measure
SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
A standing-room only
crowd made it quite clear last
Wednesday that they do not
want Winfall to extend its
extra-jurisdictional bound
aries.
At a public hearing to dis
cuss Winfall’s consideration of
extending its boundaries for
zoning purposes, several
speakers, among them the
chairman of the county com
missioners, spoke against the
move. Most cited fears that the
boundary extension would
lead to later annexation and
that family farms would effec
tively be outlawed for the next
generations.
Mayor Fred Yates tried to
allay those concerns in his
opening statements.
“The land is not being
annexed nor is there any plan
to do so in the future,” he said.
“This land will not be taxed by
the Town of winfall.”
Later he added,’’This is not
a preliminary step to annexa
tion.” He said the move would
allow the town to extend its
planning area and have moire
control over growth which
could affect its citizens.
The town is considering
extending its jurisdiction from
about 500 feet in some areas up
to one mile in others. Its
boundaries would extend
across U.S. Highway 17 Bypass
into the Old Neck Historic
District and would include
some waterfront develop
ments. Yates said town offi
cials are especially concerned
about development on U.S.
Highway 17.
Steve Perry and his son,
Scott, both signed up to speak
at the hearing. Steve Perry,
who lives and farms in the pro
posed extension, said he had
spoken with an attorney who
told him that this type of zon
ing leads to annexation about
90 percent of the time.
Continued on page 8A
Todd Hunter was named
general manager of the
Edenton Steamers Tuesday.
Weekend
Weather
Thursday
High: 50
Low: 37
Partly Cloudy
Friday
High: 50
Low: 38
Partly Cloudy
Saturday
High: 42
Low: 28
Partly Cloudy