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Pirates win pigskin opener
Page 5
Jesus works his first miracle
Rage 3
Somerset hosts final homecoming
Rage 6
August 30, 2001
Vol, 69, No. 35 Hertford, North Carolina 27944
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Local
SAT
scores
SUSAN R. HARRIS
Perquimans posted the
fifth highest SAT scores
among the 18 school dis
tricts in Region I last year.
The North Carolina
Department of Public
Instruction released last
year’s scores at noon on
Tuesday. Perquimans stu
dents scored an average of
475 in math and 466 in ver
bal, for a total score of 941.
The scores recorded were
for seniors scheduled to
graduate in 2001.
Last year, Perquimans
students scored an average
of 903, 443 in math and 460
in verbal.
Statewide, scores rose
four points to 992, while the
national average rose one
point to 1020.
Over the past seven
years, scores in
Perquimans have ranged
from 863 to 953. The aver
age in 1995 was 935; 1996,
952; 1997, 953; 1998, 912;
1999, 863; 2000, 903; and
2001, 941. In 1996 and 1997
when the county posted the
two highest average scores,
only 36 and 34.7 percent of
students scheduled to grad
uate took the test. In 2001,
54.9 percent took the SAT.
Perqumans
Superintendent Ken Wells
said it is noteworthy that
Perquimans’ participation
rate increased with the
SAT score 2000 over 2001,
which is often not the case.
He said students will con
tinue to be encouraged to
take the SAT.
With a qualified staff at
the high school and dis
tance learning opportuni
ties available, Wells said he
looks for improved scores
to become a trend in the
local school system. The
College Board reports that
students who take higher
level courses tend to score
higher on the SAT.
Hartleys renovate home
Couple
restoring
National
Register home
JULIE STAMPER
Correspondent
Another of Hertford’s
fine historic homes is on
its way to restoration. The
home known as the Arps-
White-Lattimore on the
corner of Dobbs Street
and Covent Garden has
been purchased through
Preservation North
Carolina by Gilbert and
Mary Hartley They plan
an extensive restoration
of the home.
The Hartleys come to
Hertford from Lancaster,
Penn. They were looking
for an older home to fix up
and were drawn to
Elizabeth City
“But we just feU in love
with Hertford. It’s so quiet
and peaceful,” according
to Mr. Hartley.
They soon found the
Arps-White-Lattimore
house. Mrs. Hartley said.
“At first I wouldn’t even
get out of the car, it was in
such bad shape. But once I
saw the inside, I loved it.”
The Hartleys were
encouraged by the
untouched interior.
“We,ve looked at other
houses and they had torn
out the old cabinets. It
was nice, but it wasn’t
what we wanted,” accord
ing to Mr. Hartley. The
Hartleys want to restore
the house without ruining
PHOTO BY SUSAN HARRIS
Years of neglect have taken a toll on the Arps-White-Lattimore House on the
corner of Dobbs Street and Covent Garden. But with a lot of hard work,
Gilbert and Mary Hartley plan to restore the National Register home to its for
mer glory.
its historic feel and plan
on doing much of the
work themselves.
The house is listed in
the National Register of
Historic Districts of the
Town of Hertford, and is
the third house in
Hertford to be sold
through PNC.
According to Claudia
Deviney, Director of PNC,
“The sale and ultimate
rehabilitation of the
Arps-White-Lattimer
House will have a positive
impact on the Town of
Hertford in its attempt to
attract heritage tourism
dollars. I am personally
excited about the ambi
tious plans Mary and GH
have for the house, and I
am especially grateful to
the Lattimores. Even
though they no longer
own the property, the fam
ily will always be part of
the community because
they insisted that the
house be preserved.”
The mission of PNC is
to acquire historic proper
ties and resell them with
protective covenants to
sympathetic buyers who
agree to rehabilitate and
maintain the structures.
The Hartleys had to agree
to complete the exterior
restoration within 2
years. Mr. Hartley has
very positive comments
about working with PNC.
“They’ve been very
easy to work with. Once
they got comfortable with
us, and understood what
we wanted to do, they’ve
been very helpful.
The Hartleys have
found Hertford to be a
very friendly place.
“People keep stopping
by, wishing us well. They
are glad someone’s doing
something with the-
house,” Mr. Hartley said.
They really appreciate
that Hertford has an
active downtown and com
munity activities.
“I go see Erie [Haste] at
the hardware store. He
gets me whatever I need.
Mary [White] at the
Wishing Well is great. The
fireworks were as good as
we’ve ever seen. The
street dance, everything,
it’s just great.”
For more information
about the Endangered
Properties Program and
the benefits of historic
preservation, call PNC’s
Northeast Regional Office
at 482-7455.
Mold, mildew problem at Central better
Superintendent Ken
Wells told school board
members Monday night
that most of the mold and
mildew problems at
Central School have been
eliminated.
“We think we have pret
ty much systematically
improved the conditions
causing our mold and
mUdew problems,” he said.
The advice given by all
the architects, construction
management firm, and
HVAC contractor that built
the school was taken. Wells
said. The group gathered at
the school with Wells and
Transportation/ Maintena
nee Director Richard
O’Neal to look for solutions
to the problem which
showed up with a
vengeance on Memorial
Day weekend.
The carpets were
cleaned and dried with
fans, and the air condition
ing system has been run
ning at its optimal level
since the meeting per the
advice given the school sys
tem.
“It’s paid off for us in the
long run,” Wells said.
The price tag, howver,
may show the pay-out for
the payoff to be high. Wells
said it is expensive to oper
ate the air conditioning
system as if the building is
occupied when it is not.
However, he said the tight
construction of the build
ing and the fact that the
system was meant to run
Continued on page 8
Dragway livens up weekends in Chapanoke community
SUSAN R. HARRIS
Talk about a field of
dreams.
When the Suffolk, Va.
dragway closed down about
10 years ago, area dragsters
were forced to either park
their cars or drive to
Petersburg, Va. or Rocky
Mount to race. Curtis
Trueblood and his drag
racing son, Tony, thought
then about turning some of
their land into a drag strip.
Last summer, their dis
cussions and plans became
reality when fields became
the Northeast Dragway in
the Chapanoke community
of Perquimans County.
These days, race cars com
pete with farm equipment
to travel Lake Road on
Friday and Saturday
evenings from April
through October.
Tony Trueblood was
described as the workhorse
of the dragway at a ribbon
cutting sponsored by the
PHOTO BY SUSAN HARRIS
The Trueblood family, owners of Northeast Dragway, celebrate the grand opening
of the drag strip with friends and representatives of the county and Chamber of
Commerce, sponsors of the ribbon cutting, last week.
Chamber of Commerce last grand opening of the drag- “I’m everywhere,” said
week to mark the official way. the track manager.
Dad Curtis can usually
he found on his golf court,
sort of the PR man of the
operation. Mom Annette
works the pit/gate sign-up
area. Tony’s wife, Jenneal,
keeps the tower running
smoothly, keeping the rims
straight and even announc
ing Friday night’s test and
tune rims. Jenneal’s sister,
Brianne Perry, is the com
puter operator. Jenneal’s
mother, Margaret Bass,
often sells T-shirts and
keeps watch over Tony and
Jenneal’s children, Cariss
and Caden, who themselves
like to rev up Caden’s bag of
toy race cars to see whose
is the fastest on the track.
Annette’s sister, Betty
Byrum, also works at the
track.
In addition to this week
end family reunion of
sorts, Tony said there are
several others employed
part-time such as a down
track official and pit
Continued on page 8
exam
policy
SUSAN R. HARRIS
If high school students
could vote, there’s little
doubt every school board
member would be re-elect
ed by a landslide.
The board approved a
proposal for midterm exeim
exemptions in regular ses
sion Monday night. Now
students who make good
grades and attend school
will be rewarded at
Christmas when they don’t
have to take midterms.
There was already a
board policy on file for
final exam exemptions, but
high school faculty felt that
there were good reasons to
expand the policy.
Principal Dwayne
Stallings said attendance
has climbed 2 percentage
points over the last 6 years
as officials have worked
hard to improve atten
dance. He credited requir
ing students to make up
time missed after school
and taking legal steps
against parents when nec
essary with helping to
improve attendance.
Expanding the exam
exemption policy, he said,
would be another reason
for students to go to school.
Janet Cartwright, a
member of the faculty
Exam Exemption
Committee, said the
request came after faculty
brain-stormed at a sum
mer retreat. Teachers were
looking for way to reduce
test “burnout” due to the
large number of standard
ized tests students must
take in addition to regular
classroom work and to
improve attendance and
performance.
Cartwright said the poli
cy will improve atten
dance, motivate students
to achieve at a higher level
earlier during the school
year instead of waiting
until the end of the year,
and provide students who
have trouble with long
term goals with shorter,
more attainable ones.
To be exempt from
midterms, students must
maintain and 82-84 average
with no more than two
absences during the semes
ter or an 85-92 average with
no more than three
absences or a 93-100 aver
age with no more than four
absences.
Weather
Thursday
High: 85
Low: 68
Dry
Friday
High: 88
Low: 72
Poss.Evening Rain
Saturday
High: 86
Low: 73
Poss. Rain