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May 10, 2001
Vol. 69, No. 19 Hertford, North Carolina 27944
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Wrapping the May pole
Sixth graders at Perquimans Middle School weave the bright colored strips that wrap the May pole at the
school's annual May Day celebration Saturday. The day featured entertainment, food, games and bargains,
all to benefit the school's extended programs to enhance student performance. The event was organized
by the school's exploratory teachers.
Bio-security key
in foot-and-mouth
fig^t, experts say
Volunteers
clean up
Food lion
parking lot
After four months of try
ing various avenues to get
the litter problem around
the Hertford Food Lion
shopping center solved,
Albemarle Plantation resi
dents Mr. and Mrs. Reg
Criffield decided that they
would just organize a
cleanup campaign them
selves. Proper permission
was obtained, Hertford
Main Street Program
Manager was contacted for
support, and a date was set.
In the spirit of commu
nity improvement and
pride 30 volunteers from
Albemarle Plantation and
the Hertford Main Street
Program gathered on
Saturday, April 28 to pick
up trash around the shop
ping center on Highway 17.
After 2 back-aching hours
and lots of good laughs,
they had gathered enough
debris to fiU 64, 55-gallon
bags. The outcome was
over three full size pick-up
truckloads of trash. The
group hopes that their
efforts set an example and
Volunteers picked up 64 55-gallon bags of trash from the Perquimans Centre park
ing lot on a recent Saturday morning.
wUl encourage more trash
receptacles and their use in
their area.
To everyone's delight.
Tommy’s Pizza treated the
volunteer workers to a slice
of cheese pizza and a soda
when the job was done.
Anyone interested in
future Litter Sweep
Cleanup Days, please call
Reg Criffield at 426-5727 or
Belinda Washlesky, Main
Street Program Manger, at
426-1425.
State taking
no chances
with livestock
disease
CHIP ROMANOVICH
Staff Writer
Although North
Carolina may never suffer
an outbreak of foot-and-
mouth disease, state and
local officials feel
America’s familiarity with
the problem wUl serve live
stock farmers weU.
“If we don’t get this dis
ease, it’s taught us one
thing,” said Dr. Fred
Kirkland, director of field
forces with the N.C,
Department of Agriculture
and Consumer Services.
“Bio-security is the word.”
Kirkland was one of four
panelists who spoke at a
meeting on foot-and-mouth
and Bovine Spongiform
Encephalopathy (“mad cow
disease”) Tuesday night at
the Chowan Agricultural
Center.
The discussion included
information about the dis
eases and bio-security
measures livestock produc
ers can take. However, most
of the 30 people who
attended wanted to know
how officials would
respond if foot-and-mouth
disease reached the area.
Kirkland said the state
would take no chances with
the highly-contagious dis
ease. “We would close the
border,” he said. “There
would be a two-mile radius.
Movement of people within
the quarantine area would
be restricted. This disease
would cripple the animal
industry in the country
and the state of North
Carolina... We’re not trying
to work hardships on any
one. We’re just trying to
control this disease.”
State legislators recently
passed a bill giving the
state veterinarian, as weU
as those in the NCDA and
law enforcement, nearly
total authority to shut
down an affected area.
Kirkland outlined sever
al steps authorities might
take in case of an outbreak,
including stringent restric
tions on travel and animal
Cole steps down as Eastern District US attorney
History-
maker now
candidate for
chair of 3rd
District Dems
From staff reports
Hertford resident Janie
McKenzie Cole has
resigned as U.S. attorney
for the Eastern District of
North Carolina.
Cole, who was appointed
U.S. attorney by former
President Clinton in
February 1994, announced
her resignation April 27.
Before her tenure as U.S.
attorney. Cole had been the
first African-American
woman to serve as a dis
trict court judge in the 1st
Judicial District.
During her years as U.S
attorney. Cole served on the
Attorney General’s
Advisory Committee, was a
member of the Health Care
Fraud Subcommittee, and
chaired the Subcommittee
on Juvenile Justice.
Under her leadership,
cooperation and communi
cation among federal, state
and local law enforcement
agencies in the Eastern
District - which includes 44
counties - was strength
ened through use of the
Law Enforcement
Coordinating Committee.
Cooperation among agen
cies, Cole believes, is cru
cial to the successful inves
tigation and prosecution of
cases.
Among her accomplish
ments, Cole is credited for
five sites in eastern North
Carolina being recognized
as Weed and Seed commu
nities by the U.S.
Department of Justice.
Weed and Seed initia
tives help local commimi-
ties develop strategies to
reduce crime and develop
opportunities and invest
ments.
Weed and Seed sites are
found in Raleigh,
GreenvUle, New Bern and
Lumberton. These sites
have received a total of
approximately $2.7 million
in grants from the
Department of Justice’s
Office of Justice Programs.
No one has yet been
named to fill Cole’s posi
tion as U.S. Attorney, her
husband. District Judge
J.C. Cole said when her res
ignation was announced.
John Bruce, who has
movement in an area
where foot-and-mouth was
discovered.
Machinery would be dis
infected and animals euth
anized and buried. Then
the contaminated areas
would have to be cleaned
and disinfected before sen
tinel, or test, animals could
be introduced to the farm..
“Foot-and-mouth, does
not affect one animal,”
Kirkland said. “Our goal is
if there is an infected area,
to have the animal
destroyed and in the
ground within 24 hours.”
Dr. Richard
Lichtenwalner, a beef cat
tle specialist at North
Carolina State University,
said the disease’s spread in
Europe is slowing.
“It's hard to control, but
there is some control
occurring,’ he said. “There
are some countries where
it is not occurring that are
side-by-side to those that
have it. It can be con
trolled.”
There were 1,600 cases of
foot-and-mouth in the
United Kingdom and
Ireland as of Monday,
Lichtenwalner said.
Because the disease falters
in warmer temperatures,
and there have been tighter
restrictions in Europe, he
said the outbreak should
slow.
Dr. Morgan Morrow, a
specialists on swine at
NCSU, believes cattle and
other livestock farmers are
beginning to take bio-secu
rity measures, a staple of
the swine industry, more
seriously.
“Bio-security is the
keys,” he said. “The pig
industry is petty good
about bio-security. The cat
tle and the sheep
people...need to look at the
swine people. They don’t
have (aU the bio-security
measures).”
Lichtenwalner encour
aged farmers to examine
their own areas and search
out possible points of secu
rity weaknesses in their
operation.
“I teU people, you have to
have a before and after
plan,” he said. “Before -
you have to look for the
holes on your far. Where
am I vulnerable?”
served under Cole as chief
of the Eastern District’s
Criminal Division will
serve as interim U.S.
Attorney until a perma
nent replacement is named.
Judge Cole added.
In announcing her resig
nation, Cole made no men
tion of what she plans to do
in the future. Recently, how
ever, she attended coimty
Democratic conventions in
Currituck, Pasquotank
and Perquimans counties,
and announced she will
seek the Democratic
Party’s 3rd District chair
manship. The 3rd District
is made up of 18 counties.
Weekend
Weather
Thursday
High: 83
Low: 60
Partly Cloudy
Friday
High: 87
Low: 61
Partly Cloudy
Saturday
High: 82
Low: 59
Mostly Cloudy