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PERQinMANS
February 20, 2002
Vol. 70, No. 8 Hertford, North Carolina 27944
Weekly
Main
Street
gets
tourism
grant
PAL Gallery show
The Hertford Main
Street Program is working
with a $3,500 grant to create
and develop a brochure to
market Historic Hertford as
a tourist destination.
The grant came from the
N.C. Department of
Commerce, the N.C.
Division of Tourism, Film
and Sports Development.
Thirty-three initiatives
received more than $129,000
in matching grants.
“Besides commitments
for the $1,166 match from
Perquimans County,
Historic Hertford Business
Association, Perquimans
County Chamber of
Commerce, Mr. and Mrs.
Charlie Lacefield and the
Phios Corporation,
Perquimans County
Restoration Association,
and the Antique Dealers
Association of Perquimans
County, we also have many
partners to implement a
creative, out-of-state
tourism campaign, and the
Main Street Program to
handle the project,” said
Belinda Washlesky,
Hertford Main Street
Program Director. “Our
goals is to design and print
a brochure, complete with
Continued on page 10
Daily Advance photos
The works of artist Janice Eure now hangs in the
Perquimans Arts League Gallery in Hall of Fame
Square, downtown Hertford. In addition to paintings,
the show also includes some of Eure's other work,
including painted mailboxes and accessories. The
show will be hung through March 9. Gallery hours are
Tuesday—Saturday, 10:30 a.m. —3:30 p.m. Also in the
Gallery are works by PAL members, including gift
items for all occasions, which are offered for sale.
a
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Students recall events of day jet crashed at PCHS
SUSAN R. HARRIS
Third in a series.
The navy fighter plane
crash at Perquimans
County High School on Feb.
21, 1957 burned memories
into the minds of about 500
students.
One of the students was
Pat Harrell, a senior in
1957. Harrell recalls that he
and fellow student Murray
Mac Elliott were sent on an
errand by a teacher. At that
time, there were partially
open porches on the north
and south ends of the main
high school building on
both the upper and lower
floors. Harrell and Elliott
were on the second floor
porch on the north end of
the building (the end near
the gym) when the plane
crashed.
“We had just gotten out
on that porch and we heard
a tremendous boom and the
building just shook,”
Harrell said. “We immedi
ately saw a huge column of
black smoke and ran down
into the ball park.
“I believe he and I were
the first two people out
there.”
Once inside the wooden
fence that surrounded the
park, Harrell said they saw
a huge object rolling
toward third base on the
baseball field. They would
later learn it was the
plane’s engine.
The pair saw someone
stumble from the bus
garage and fall near the
goal post on the cemetery
end of the football field.
They ran to see if they
could help. Once they
neared the person, whose
identity they did not know,
they realized that he was
seriously injured.
“We realized we needed
help,” Harrell said.
They started to get some
help when they heard the
fire alarm go off in the
building and saw others
come into the ball park.
Several students came over
to the goal post where
Harrell and Elliott were.
“Someone said there
were two men working in
the garage, so Murray Mac
and I walked toward the
garage to see if we could
find anyone else, but we
couldn’t see anybody”
Elliott and Harrell
looked around and saw
debris all over the ball
park. The fire, Harrell said,
had spread to the wooden
fence between the bus
garage and the baseball
grandstand. The buses
were backed up to that
fence. Fearing that the
buses would explode, the
twosome began to move the
buses to a safer location.
Harrell said a third person
came to help, but he doesn’t
know who that person was.
Harrell said once school
officials realized exactly
what had happened and the
danger to students and staff
in the ball park, everyone
was moved back into the
building.
While Harrell experi
enced the crash as a stu
dent, he can look back now
through the eyes of one
who would go on to become
a teacher, principal, assis
tant superintendent, and
finally, superintendent. In
fact, Harrell served as a
principal, assistant super
intendent and superintend
ent in Perquimans County.
Going back over the events
of Feb. 21, 1957, Harrell
said the administrators,
faculty and students han
dled the situation
admirably. The building
was evacuated in a quick,
orderly manner once prin
cipal E.C. Woodard was
alerted to danger, then stu
dents went back to class
when the threat of danger
was over.
Eighth grader Guy
McCracken was day-dream
ing, looking out the win
dow in a downstairs class
room on the back of the
high school building facing
the ball park when he saw
the plane coming toward
the building.
“I yelled ‘Everybody hit
the floor,’ “ McCracken
recalls.
McCracken said he saw
the silver coming down,
then a ball of fire and black
smoke.
“It was quite scary at the
time,” he said.
He remembers evacuat
ing the school and going
onto the ball field, which
was covered with debris.
He also remembers seeing
Preston Morgan, the
mechanics helper who sus
tained burns over 60 per
cent of his body.
The Hertford County res
ident said he remembers
numbers of military and
law enforcement officials
arriving on the scene as
well as news crews from tel
evision and newspaper. In
fact, McCracken said he
was quoted in a story that
appeared in The Virginian
Pilot newspaper.
He even kept a piece of
the plane as a reminder of
one of the most unforget
table days of his high
school career.
“Oh, how I remember
February 21, 1957!” Glenn
White wrote in an email to
The Perquimans Weekly.
“As a ninth grader, sitting
in Mrs. Jessup's Algebra I
class upstairs on the front
of the building, our life at
the time changed.”
His teacher was explain
ing a problem on the chalk
board when the class felt a
little rumble followed by a
huge explosion.
“We all got up and ran
down the hall, down the
stairs and out the building
as fast as we could, think
ing that the boiler to the
heater under the building
had exploded,” White
wrote. “Tommy Matthews,
the star athlete in school at
the time, said that he was
running as fast as he could,
when he looked around and
Dr. Harold White, who was
teaching English, came
running right past him!”
Once in the parking lot,
which at that time where
the present cafeteria sits,
the students could see fire
all across the athletic field.
“We came upon Preston
Morgan, standing there, all
black and yellow,” White
remembered. “All clothing
he had had on except his
belt and shoes had been
burned off. I can remember
him telling us that he didn’t
want to be seen by the girls
coming out. Coach (Ike)
Perry got a coat and took
him to the gym. The athlet
ic field was still blazing,
and all the students were
out there watching, oblivi
ous of the fact that the
plane possibly could have
had ammunition on
board.”
The CBS Evening News
also sticks in White’s mind.
He remembers that
Douglas Edwards began his
broadcast with the words,
“from Hertford, NC, where
the song ‘Carolina Moon’
was written...”
For the rest of his high
tenure at PCHS, White said
pieces of the plane were
found.
A native of Belvidere
who now lives in
Fayetteville, White said he
hopes the Navy won’t locate
an outlying air strip in his
home community.
“We live only a few miles
from Pope AFB, Fort Bragg,
and Simmons Air Field,”
White said. “Helicopters,
and all types of planes fly
over all the time, but they
are at least supporting the
military located on the
bases here, and we chose to
live here.”
White, who emailed his
memories of the crash,
ended his correspondence
this way, “It's said that
when certain incidences
happen one can remember
when and what you were
doing at the time, and that
certainly was a vivid mem
ory. “
(There will be another
story about the Navy fight-
ger plane crash at the high
school next week.)
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ABC head
concerned
about
state study
ANNA GOODWIN
MCCARTHY
Correspondent
An area Alcoholic
Beverage Control official i^-
concerned about the future
of liquor sales. ^
Alcoholic Beverage*
Control may become priva
tized, said Cecil Winslowc
chairman of the Hertford
ABC Board. ■
Winslow said the privati
zation of ABC would not
benefit the community;
because there would be less
“control” of alcoholic bev
erage sales. ;
The General Assembly of
North Carolina ratified
Senate Bill 166 known as
“The Studies Act of 2001.’t
This act appointed a com
mission that would study
among other issues, the
“benefits and costs of cori-
trol and license systems, as
implemented in other
states, or privatization of
alcoholic beverage control,
with particular focus on
which type of system is
more efficient.”
Winslow said the current
system is more efficient.
The ABC’s goal is “tq
provide uniform control
over the sale, purchase,
transportation, manufac
ture, consumption and pos
session of alcoholic bever
ages in the state.”
The Alcoholic Beverage
Control Bill was enacted by
the North Carolina General
Assembly in 1937, and it
allowed voters in each
county to determine
whether or not liquor
should be sold at retail."
“If approved by the local
voters, the Act provided for
the establishment of a local
ABC board that has the
authority and duty to oper^
ate one retail ABC store,’£
according to the Nortlf
Carolina ABC Commission,*
Today, 153 local ABC sys-:
terns in the state operate.
400 retail stores,"according
to the Commission.
“The current sales fig
ures are the best we have
ever had,” said Winslow in
his ABC Quarterly Report
for the fourth quarter of
2001.
“We were well pleased
with what we did last year,”
said Winslow.
Weekend
Weather
Thursday
High: 68
Low: 39
Mostly Sunny
Friday
High: 57
Low: 29
Partly Cloudy
Saturday
High: 55
Low: 34
Partly Sunny
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