The only newspaper for and about Perquimans County and its people
Spruce up for spring
F^ges 6 and 7
Harrell at home at PCHS
Page 9
Sports
Rage 10
The
_ A0101 01 **cooi
perou'imans county library
iiO W ACADEiiv' Si
HERTFORD NC £7944
April 12, 2001
Vol. 69, No. 15 Hertford, North Carolina 27944
“MANS
KLY
HHBA hosts
Easter events
Those who hop on to
downtown Hertford
Saturday can enjoy food,
contests and lots of bar
gains from merchants and
flea market vendors.
The Historic Hertford
Business Association is
again sponsoring an Easter
event, and this year has
combined it with the
group’s annual flea market
on the courthouse lawn.
The Easter bunny will
arrive Saturday at 9 a.m.
for a breakfast hour. A con
test to determine the best
decorated Eastern bonnet
is set for 11 a.m. An Easter
egg hunt for children 8 and
under will take place at
noon.
From 8 a.m.—2 p.m., the
flea market will operate on
the courthouse lawn. Space
are available for $10. To
reserve a space, call The
Wishing Well at 426-2021.
Attorney blames
race for Coston
weapons arrest
CHIP ROMANOVICH
The Daily Advance
The attorney for a
Perquimans High School
student charged with
bringing a rifle to school
says the entire matter is
race-related, and her client
is being unfairly prosecut
ed.
“Fm sure race plays a
role here,” said Teresa
Smallwood, a Windsor
lawyer retained by 16-year-
old Emanual Coston. “Fm
sure of it.”
Police and school offi
cials both say the charge
against Coston has nothing
to do with race, but is a
matter of school safety
Coston, who is African
American, was charged
March 8 after several stu
dents said they saw a rifle
in his pants while he was
on the school bus that
morning.
After a through search,
police did not find a
weapon on Coston or in his
locker. He has, however,
been suspended from
school until the outcome of
his trial.
Smallwood says police
didn’t find a gun on Coston
because there wasn’t one.
The only reason her client
has been charged and sus
pended from school, she
said, is his race.
“He’s certainly not been
treated the same as other
individuals who have actu
ally been caught with
weapons,” Smallwood said.
“1 think you take it serious
ly and investigate it, but I
think you give him the ben
efit of the doubt - same as
you do other, who are of a
different hue, obviously”
Interim Perquimans
Schools Superintendent
Pat Harrell denied
Smallwood’s allegations.
“This was not a race-
related issue. This is a safe
school issue,” he said. “We
feel we have a good school
and a good school system
and we feel we don’t have a
feeling among our people
that there is a race issue.”
Hertford Police Chief
Dale Vanscoy also said race
had played no role in his
department’s investigation
of Coston.
“We’re investigating a
weapons on campus
charge,” he said. “The
weapon is our main priori
ty, and that’s the only way
we look at it.”
Vanscoy said he spoke
with two witnesses, one
white and one black, and
both were specific in their
recollections of what they
saw.
“They were very explicit
on what they
described...Based on that,
we went forward with
charges,” he said. “The
school staff said they’ve
had quite a few (witnesses),
but I’ve talked to two that
were very explicit. Once it
gets ready for court, if the
district attorney wants to
call more witnesses on
behalf of the state, they
can do that.”
Like school officials,
Vanscoy said his depart
ment’s primary concern is
school safety.
“That’s all we’re looking
at,” Vanscoy said. “We
want the students to feel
safe going to school; we
want parents to feel safe
sending them to school,
and we want the staff to
feel safe going tow work.”
Smallwood said she
thinks the investigation
has gone too far, however.
“He was in the campus a
very short period of
time...and they never did
find a weapon,” she said.
“He didn’t have a weapon,
and I think I can show that
once we get in court.”
Some of the witnesses
may have had a 'conflict
with Coston in the past, she
added.
“Fm speaking of at least
one teacher and one stu
dent in particular,” she
said.
Perquimans High School
Principal Dwayne Stallings
said he was disappointed to
hear Smallwood’s claim
that racism is behind
Coston’s prosecution.
“We did our investiga
tion and turned it over to
the police,” he said. “Fm
sorry it’s looked at from
that angle. It’s a safe school
matter.”
Coston made his first
court appearance in
Perquimans County
District Court Wednesday
morning. The appearance
was only to determine his
legal representation. He
did not enter a plea, court
officials said.
He is scheduled to
appear in court again April
18 for a probable cause
hearing.
Another hit
PHOTO BY SUSAN HARRIS
The Perquimans High School Drama and Music Departments presented a hit last week with the musical
comedy "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum." Audiences were treated to yet another stel
lar performance by PCHS thespians and vocalists. For a review of the play, please turn to page 6.
County hopes redistricting will end split
ROBERT SHILES
The Daily Advance
Perquimans County
commissioners have
passed a resolution
requesting the N.C.
General Assembly to place
aU of Perquimans County
into one state House dis
trict when legislative redis
tricting takes place later
this year.
As it is now, Perquimans
County is part of two
House districts — the 1st
House District represented
by Bill Owens, D-
Pasquotank, and the 86th
House Districtr represent
ed by William Culpepper, D-
C howan. Owens repre
sents one precinct — con
sisting of 1,624 of the coun
ty’s 7,755 registered voters
— while Culpepper repre
sents the remaining six
precincts, totalling 6,131
registered voters.
“We support both our
representatives, and both
have done an excellent job
for us,” said County
Manager Paul Gregory.
“But the chance of
Perquimans County having
its own candidate elected to
the House when the county
is split in two is negated ...
We’ve had no problems
with our legislators, but
politically its not feasible to
have the county split the
way it is now.”
As stated in the resolu
tion passed last Monday, “A
citizen has no realistic
chance of being elected to
the N.C. General Assembly
as evidenced by the fact
that no one from
Perquimans County has
served in the General
Assembly (since House dis
tricts were lat redrawn in
1991), either Republican or
Democrat ... Perquimans
County is one of a small
minority of North Carolina
counties that does not have
a representative as every
other citizen in the state of
North Carolina.”
Ed Regan, deputy direc
tor of the North Carolina
Association of County
Commissioners, said it is
not unusual that counties
Outstanding athlete
'5,"T
Perquimans' Kindra Lee was named The Daily Advance Athlete of the Year for
Winter Sports.
located in more than one
district seek to be pout into
one legislative district.
Having districts drawn
along county lines used to
be the norm, and Regan
said this year, there is a
movement to use county
lines as boundaries once
more.
As do all other states.
North Carolina must
redraw its state legislative
and congressional districts
every 10 years based on
new census data.
According to law, the state’s
50 Senate seats and 120
House seats must be drawn
to represent as closely as
possible the same number
of citizens.
Slow growth in the east
will probably cause legisla
tors to drawn larger dis
tricts based on the 2001 cen
sus figures.
Currently both districts
have less than the ideal
number of 67,078 residents.
The 1st district —
Currituck, Camden,
Pasquotank and one
Perquimans precinct —has
62,488, while the 86th —
Chowan, Dare, Tyrrell and
parts of Washington and
Perquimans — has 63,762.
mi
yupATiipn
Thursday
High: 83
Low: 63
Partly Cloudy
Friday
High: 87
Low: 58
Isolated T'storms
Saturday
High: 78
Low: 51
Partly Cloudy