110 W ACADEMY ST
HERTFORD, NC 27944-1
Christmas greetings
and
letters to Santa
pages 1-6B
Happy Holidays!
DEC 1 9 2001
December 19, 2001
Vol. 69, No. 52 Hertford, North Carolina 27944
KLY
Decking the halls
SUBMITTED PHOTOS
Fourth graders from Hertford Grammar School strung
popcorn and cranberries and helped decorate the
Christmas Tree at the Newbold-White Visitor Center-
Tiffany Upton (above) worked on cranberries, while
Colby Brooks (below) spent his time stringing pop
corn. The students were helping to prepare the site for
its annual open house Friday night, 6-8:30 p.m. Music,
candelight tours of the house, story-telling, refresh
ments, caroling and the lighting of the yule log will be
a part of the celebration. The event is free and open
to the public. Call 426-7567 for more information
onthe open house or the historic site.
PCHS unveils
tech center
plan to board
Fourth graders helped decorate the Newbold-White
House Visitor Center Christmas tree under the direc
tion of Site Manager David Webb (on ladder) and
other volunteers. After donning the tree with decora
tions made of natural materials including dried
oranges, corn husk dolls and spice balls, the 23-mem-
ber group took a commemorative photo in front of
the tree (below).
Center will be
open evenings,
some
Saturdays to
serve county.
SEAN JACKSON
Correspondent
Seeking to expand its
interaction with the com
munity, and continue its
aid to its students,
Perquimans County High
School unveiled its plans
for a Community
Technology Learning
Center Monday night.
During a presentation to
the Perquimans County
Board of Education, Victor
Eure, the school system’s
technology coordinator,
said the center will expand
the high school’s current
technology assistance for
students as well as adults.
“The new technology
learning center will allow
all (PCHS) students to have
computer and Internet
access,” Eure said.
Eure also introduced
Antje L. Yacono, site coor
dinator for the center.
Yacono said she is looking
forward to moving the
school system, and the com
munity, further into the
computer age.
“I’m excited to be a part
of putting Perquiihans
County, with this learning
center, on the map,” Yacono
said.
Beginning in January,
the center will have
Long orders 13 percent rate reduction in auto insurance
RoU-back could
save citizens
$650 million
RALEIGH - Insurance
Commissioner Jim Long
recently ordered an auto
insurance rate reduction of
13 percent for North
Carolina drivers.
On May 1, on behalf of
the insurance industry, the
North Carolina Rate
Bureau (NCRB) requested a
statewide increase of 10.6
percent in rates for private
passenger auto and 2.4 per
cent decrease for motorcy
cle insurance coverages. In
addition to the 13 percent
reduction for auto rates.
Long told the NCRB to
lower motorcycle rates 15.9
percent. The difference
between the industry's
request and Long's rate
reduction represents poten
tial savings of $650 million
in premiums for North
Carolina drivers. The roll
back is a $350 million
decrease from current
rates.
“I've carefully reviewed
this filing and listened to
testimony over four weeks.
The proposed increase by
the industry is just not jus
tified,” Long said. “North
Carolina law requires me to
set rates that are not exces
sive, inadequate or discrim
inatory. If I approved the
rates as proposed, they
would clearly be excessive
for the state's drivers.”
The order comes after
months of rate review by
the Department of
Insurance. Under state law.
Long can either approve
the rate change requests or
call a public hearing if he
is unconvinced that the
request is substantiated. In
June, Long opted for public
hearings, citing the filing
had “a noticeable pattern of
bias in the selection and
use of data” and that it
“appears to produce rates
that are excessive and
unfairly discriminatory.”
Hearings began Sept. 25
and concluded Oct. 31.
Long and the NCRB
arrive at such different rate
level recommendations due
to disagreements in several
areas including how to
determine reasonable prof
it for the insurance indus
try Long also disputes the
way dividends and “devia
tions” (premium discounts
offered to some drivers) are
treated by the industry as a
business expense in its rate
calculations.
The department has for
some years insisted that
dividends and deviations
represent a distribution of
profit and should be treated
as such in setting auto
rates. The N.C. Supreme
Court supported this
methodology in 1999. Long
contends that dividends
and deviations are intend
ed to represent a savings to
some consumers; however,
NCRB builds the cost of
these savings back into the
rates which must be paid
by all consumers regard
less of whether they bene
fit from the savings.
“Dividends and devia
tions represent a distribu
tion of profit and should be
treated as such in setting
auto insurance rates,” said
Commissioner Long. “The
auto insurance industry,
however, claims these pay
outs are a cost of doing
business - a cost they want
to recover by driving insur
ance rates higher.”
Under North Carolina
law, the NCRB can appeal
the order to state appellate
courts and, despite Long's
ruling, raise rates while the
case is being heard.
However, any difference
between Long's order and
their implemented rates
must be kept in escrow
pending the court's deci
sion. If courts favor the
NCRB, insurers keep these
funds; if not, the escrowed
funds - plus interest - are
refunded to consumers.
In March 2000, Long
reached a settlement with
the NCRB that refunded
more than $250 million
from premiums paid in
1994, plus interest at 11.5
percent totaling $125 mil
lion. Long also ordered an
average statewide rate
reduction of 9.25 percent,
representing additional
savings of $240 million in
premiums. The total value
of these settlements is $600
million.
Excluding this year's fil
ing, the difference between
the rates initially request
ed by insurers and those
ultimately paid by drivers
represent a savings of
more than $2.2 billion.
When Commissioner
Long took office in 1985,
North Carolina had the
34th-highest auto insur
ance rates in the nation.
North Carolina drivers
now enjoy the llth-lowest
auto insurance premiums
in the country, based on
1999 data compiled by the
National Association of
Insurance Commissioners.
While Long is ordering a
large overall decrease in
rates, drivers in some local
ities could still see rate
increases, though they
would be considerably
lower that those proposed
by the insurance industry.
expanded hours. The center
will be open until 8 p.m.
Monday through Thursday,
and until 5 p.m. on Fridays.
Eure said the center will
also be oppn some
Saturdays. Plpns are to
offer summer programs at
the center, too, Eure added.
There will be no charge
for using the center for stu
dents and adults who are
taking part in basic tech
nology training.
Eure said the center will
provide benefits to students
who do not have access to
computers or the Internet
at their homes.
Eure said those persons
who enroll in continuing
education courses that will
be offered at the center
through College of The
Albemarle will have to pay
tuition costs.
Students will have
access to explore college-
level programs, Eure
added.
Yacono said students
will be assisted by peer
tutors for one-on-one train
ing.
Computer classes will be
offered to senior citizens in
January and February.
School board member
Charles C. Cheezum
praised the project, which
will be funded mainly
through grant dollars.
“These are the kinds of
things I think we can be
doing,” more of, Cheezum
said, adding that he is
aware of six families he
feels will take immediate
advantage of the center.
Schools public informa
tion official Brenda
Lassiter said the program
will be widely advertised
throughout the community.
School board chairman
Walter Leigh said he will
ask local church leaders to
“spread the word” about
the center through their
community contacts.
For more information
about the center, contact
Yacono at 426-5778, ext. 286.
Weekend
Weather
Thursday
High: 58
Low: 33
Sunny
Friday
High: 58
Low: 33
Sunny
Saturday
High: 57
Low: 38
Party Cloudy