Holocaust study
Page 2
Sports
Page 6
Landing strip letters
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February 13, 2002
Vol. 70, No. 7 Hertford. North Carolina 27944
P4/C3***********5-DIGIT 27944
PERQUIMANS COUNTY LIBRARY
110 W ACADEMY ST
HERTFORD, NC 27944-1306
PERQtJlIVL(a^>S
Weekc
Schools earn state safety award
Three PQ schools
noted for safety,
caring environment
SUSAN R. HARRIS
Three Perquimans County
Schools were among 30 statewide
named 2001-02 Super Safe Schools.
The sites were noted for providing
a safe learning environment for
children and educators. The
schools received awards this week
during the fourth annual Safe,
Orderly and Caring Schools
Conference in Greensboro.
The Triple “S” School Award
was established by the Department
of Public Instruction’s School
Improvement Division to recognize
public schools that go above and
beyond in their efforts to ensure
the safety of students and staff
“High student achievement goes
hand-in-hand with a safe learning
environment,” said State
Superintendent of Public
Instruction Mike Ward. “We
applaud the efforts of these schools
for going beyond the minimum to
ensure that their students and
teachers have the optimum atmos
phere to learn and work.”
Perquimans County High,
Perquimans Central and
Perquimans County Middle
schools earned the honor. The
Perquimans district was the only
one in this region to have schools
earn the honor.
To receive recognition as a
Super Safe School, schools volun
tarily submit a portfolio document
ing the safety processes they have
in place. On-site visits also are con
ducted prior to final recommenda
tions.
“It is a competitive application
process and it is voluntary,” said
Marguerite Peebles, Section Chief
Alternative and Safe Schools
Instructional Support, Department
of Public Instruction. “Some
school system didn’t participate. It
doesn’t mean that some of the
other sites are not safe as well.”
The application and submission
process is rigorous. Each school
must submit a notebook filled with
information on safety and instruc
tional issues, including numbers of
violent incidents reported, how
those incidents were handled, poli
cies and procedures in place to deal
with possible threats to student
welfare, academic and social
opportunities available to those
students who need additional sup
port beyond the classroom, parent
and community involvement and
formal School Improvement Plans.
“We allow each one of the appli
cations to be read by a team of peo
ple who have been accustomed to
going out and looking at schools,
performing safety audits,” Peebles
said. “The books are graded based
on content, thoroughness, trends,
school improvement plans, and
ability to communicate and collab*
orate with communities.”
At that point, some sites are
selected for a visit. After the visits,
the sites are discussed and ranked
to see if they are deemed worthy of
the Triple “S” Award.
Continued on page 8
Jet crash still
fresh for Morgan
Computing for free
Bus mechanic
still wears scars
of burns
SUSAN R. HARRIS
Preston Morgan will
never forget where he was
the day the Navy plane
crashed into the bus garage
at Perquimans County
High School. For the rest of
his life, scars on his body
will remind him that he
was burned over 60 percent
of his body when the plane
hit.
Morgan, then 26, was a
mechanic’s helper with
Perquimans County
Schools, a job he’d had for a
couple of years, on Feb. 21,
1957. He and his wife, Lina
Ruth, lived in the Two-Mile
Dessert with their toddler
son, Glenn.
While Morgan’s memo
ries of that day remain
sketchy, he does recall see
ing the plane hit the tree
tops as it headed for the bus
garage.
“I saw it coming, but you
don’t get out of the way of
anything coming at you
like a bullet,” Morgan said.
Navy personnel told him
that the plane was coming
at him at about 700 miles
per hour.
After seeing the plane,
Morgan remembers being
in the ball park, where he
was thrown by the explo
sion. He remembers seeing
people, but details of the
day are fuzzy. He knows
that his hair, skin and
clothes were burned off.
“I was hurting so bad,”
he said.
He was told that some
one put a sheet around him
and carried him to a gym.
From there an ambulance
picked him up. He thinks
Pete Thompson drove the
ambulance, but he’s not
sure. He’s been told that
Van Roach, the chief
mechanic who would die
about 9 hours after the
crash from injuries sus
tained, rode in the back
while he was propped in the
front seat with Thompson.
He does remember being
moved from the examining
table at Chowan Hospital.
He said it was as black as
smut.
Chowan Hospital would
become his home for the
next 13 weeks. For the first
eight weeks, he had to lie
flat on his stomach and
could not wear any cloth
ing.
After the first 13 weeks,
he went to Chapel Hill,
where they attached his
hand to his stomach for
about three weeks to graft
skin. He stayed in UNC
Hospitals for about five
weeks.
When it was finally time
to go home, he remembers
telling his wife not to drive
so fast.
Healing physically was
just a part of the process of
getting on with life for
Morgan.
“When I first came home
I’d run outside when I
heard an airplane,” he said.
“It was just nerve-racking.
My experience with jets is
not good. I do not want to
fly. I’ve never flown. I was
flown by one (an airplane),
I guess you might say
(when I was thrown into
the ball park. It’s bad to go
through an experience like
that.”
Morgan didn’t go back to
bus shop. In fact, to this day
he still has a problem with
the site of the crash.
“I think I’ve been in
there (bus garage) tiwce
since they’ve built the new
one,” he said. “The first
time (I went in there) after
they built the new one, I
walsked one in there and
said T can’t stay in here’
and I walked right on back
out.”
It took Morgan two or
three years to heal physi
cally and begin to put his
life back to normal. He
started farming some, and
had to wear long sleeved
shirts during his entire
career.
“I still can’t stand much
sun, but I have got so I’ll
wear short-sleeved shirts. I
don’t stay out in the sun
much. My skin is just like
tissue paper. When I skin
my hand, it takes a long
time to heal.”
While in today’s litigious
“I didn’t get nothing out of
it, good as nothing,” he
said. “They paid the hospi
tal biU and they sent corps-
man from the base in
Edenton to help me when I
was in the hospital. I went
climate, Morgan would
probably have received a
multi-million dollar settle
ment from the Navy, times
were much different then.
Continued on page 8
Charlie Skinner is one of the many citizens of Perquimans County taking advan
tage of the new technology center. The Perquimans County High School
Community Technology Learning Center is helping to eliminate the digital divide
for students and adults. The technology-rich center is open daily where both dig
ital and human resources are available for all citizens of Perquimans County. The
center serves students and adults who lack computer and Internet access at home,
using staff and high school students to coordinate online curriculum and
resources, software tools, hands-on experiences and one-on-one tutoring. The
center is_ppen Monday — Thursday 3:30 — 8 p.m. and on Friday 3:30 — 5 p.m.To
find out more about learning opportunities, call Antje Yacono at 426-5778 or
Brenda Lassiter at 426-5741.
Miller to be
a Spartan
SUSAN R. HARRIS
High school football
players come and go, but
Devon Miller wants to be
different. He doesn’t want
his academic or athletic
career to end when he grad
uates from Perquimans
County High School this
spring.
That’s why the player
head PCHS football coach
Harrell Thach refers to as
the ultimate Pirate thought
long and hard about where
he would spend the next
four years. And he drew on
the resources that he’s
always been able to count
on — his parents and his
coach — to help guide his
decision.
“The decision came
down to Norfolk State and
(North Carolina) A&T,”
Miller said. “Norfolk State
was closer to home and
they offered a better finan
PCHS senior football and track stand-out Bevon Miller
signs his letter of intent with Norfolk State University
as his parents, Shelma and Diane Miller, principal
Dwayne Stallings, assistant principal Elonza Joyner,
head football coach Harrell Thach and athletic direc
tory Bob Turner look on.
defensive back as a
Spartan. He said he’ll
count on the senior All-
Conference defensive back
presently at Norfolk State
to teach him the ropes. The
next year, he hopes to get
his starting spot.
He knows he’ll have to
Continued on page 8
cial deal.”
Miller said being closer
to home will allow his fami
ly and friends to continue
to support his gridiron
endeavors.
An All-Conference and
All-Albemarle linebacker
at Perquimans, Miller will
make the transition to
Council
considers
90-niinute
parking
downtown
County employees,
business owners
taking spaces on
Church Street
ANNA GOODWIN
MCCARTHY
They drive around once
looking, they drive around
twice searching and after
three times they might just
give up.
People miss or are late
for scheduled appoint
ments, and the loss of
potential shoppers down
town is evident.
Hertford Town Council
member JoAnn Morris said
that something needs to be
done about the parking sit
uation on Church Street
during Council’s regular
monthly meeting Monday
night.
Residents have com
plained that they are not
able to find parking spaces
on Church Street, said
Morris. Morris said it is
even more difficult to find a
parking space when court
is in session.
Council discussed ways
to alleviate the congestion.
Town Council members
said Perquimans County
personnel and people who
work in the stores down
town are using the parking
spaces on Church Street.
The Council considered
imposing 90 minute park
ing to help the situation.
There was 90 minute
parking on Church Street
years ago until downtown
business owners persuaded
the Town Council to lift the
parking time limit, said
Morris.
Morris said before any
action is taken, the Town
Council should meet with
the Historic Hertford
Business Association to
exchange views on other
ways to remedy the prob
lem.
Councilman Carlton
Davenport also suggested
writing a letter to the coun
ty, discouraging its person
nel from parking on Church
Street while they are at
work.
Weekend
Weather
Thursday
High: 55
Low: 37
Rain
Friday
High: 55
Low: 37
Partly Cloudy
Saturday
High: 61
Low: 40
Mostly Sunny