Higgins honored
F^e2
State budget woes
F^e4
Lady Pirates 2nd in tourney
Pages
The
P4/C3***********5-DIGIT 27944
PERQUIMANS COUNTY LIBRARY
110 W ACADEMY ST
HERTFORD, NC 27944-1306
February 27, 2002
Vol. 70, No. 9 Hertford, North Carolina 27944
Weekly
FEB 2 7 2052 \\'
Boosters; Facilities needed
Athletic
facilities not
safe, in good
repair
ANNA GOODWIN
MCCARTHY
Correspondent
Track athletes know
they have a good chance of
winning if they jump over
all the hurdles. However,
the hurdles that all
Perquimans County ath
letes face are not that easy
to overcome.
The condition of the
School System’s athletic
facilities was the topic of a
presentation by
Perquimans County
Athletic Booster President
Kim Perry and Coach
Harrell Thach at the
Perquimans County Board
of Education meeting
Monday night.
Listeners winced as pic
tures were displayed of
worn-out equipment, over
flowing toilets, nonfunc
tioning bacteria filled
showers and rusted lock
ers.
“Warping of floors is a
major problem,” said
Thach.
Thach said he was con
cerned for the students’
safety, and that the floors in
the gymnasium needed to
be repaired.
Perry said they “desper
ately need” facilities for the
track team.
Track is the only sport
without a home facility,
said Thach.
Athletes practice jump
ing over hurdles in the
street, said Thach. When
track team members arrive
at meets they have to
become accustomed to the
tracks very quickly,
because they are not famil
iar with the lanes.
“We work hard with
what we got,” said Thach.
Perry and Thach listed
the multitude of achieve
ments won by Perquimans
County athletes in recent
years.
Thach said athletes
would probably excel to
even greater levels of com
petition if they had ade
quate facilities.
The average GPA, atten
dance and graduation rates
of athletes are higher than
non-athletes, said Perry.
Perry said many of the
student athletes have sug
gested the need for ade
quate facilities and equip
ment.
They want their families
to be able to see them play,
said Perry.
The Perquimans County
Board of Education took
the presentation under rec
ommendation, and no
action was taken during
the meeting.
jT
A costumed student enjoys a nutritious breakfast at
school to prepare for a successful morning.
Firefighters recall day of crash School Breakfast
approaches
smoke, flames
met firemen at
scene
SUSAN R. HARRIS
Fourth and final install
ment in a series
A big fire.
That’s what two fire
fighters on the scene of the
jet crash at the high school
bus garage remember
about the incident.
Billy White recalls hear
ing a boom followed by the
fire whistle going off.
Firefighters were told to
respond to the high school.
“We didn’t know it was a
plane crash until we got
there,” White said. “We just
thought it was an explosion
in the school bus garage.”
Once on the scene, fire
fighters began to lay hose
from fire hydrants to fight
the blaze.
“The whole school bus
garage was in a big ball of
fire.”
Fire personnel were told
that there could be magne
sium in the plane and that
no water should be put on
the magnesium because it
would cause it to flare up.
White said.
“We were putting water
everywhere we could to
knock the fire down,”
White said. “Our main
thing was to knock this fire
down to keep it from trying
to spread. ... We were run
ning wild trying to do what
Studies show
breakfast one
key to student
success
Sandy Divers took this photograph of the smoke billowing from the navy fight
er plane that crashed on the Perquimans County High School campus 45 years
ago this month. This is what firefighters saw as they arrived on the scene.
Emergency and military personnel and volunteers comb through the remains of
the bus garage (below).
Weekend
Weather
Thursday
High: 46
Low: 27
Sunny
Friday
High: 51
Low: 35
Sunny
Saturday
High: 57
Low: 40
Cloudy
we could do.”
Although not well
equipped by today’s stan
dards, White said the fire
crew got the job done.
“I have to praise the fire
men,” White said, “the fire
men did a fantastic job. ”
In addition to the possi
bility of the fire spreading,
another concern was the
number of people on the
scene. White said many
people rushed to the scene
when word got out that a
plane had crashed at the
high' school, fearing that
their children had been
injured.
“It was a busy cotton
picking time,” White
summed up his memories
of the day.
Charlie Skinner was also
a firefighter on the scene.
Skinner was working with
the State Employment
Security Commission on
the day of the fire. He was
taking unemployment
claims in the courthouse
when he heard the crash
and responded to the fire
call.
“The main thing that I
remember about it was that
I was in downtown
Hertford and I heard this
rumble and then I heard
this fire whistle,” Skinner
said. “I had my gear in the
car and I went right on out
to the high school.”
Skinner said the black
smoke billowing from the
crash told him where the
fire was.
“We didn’t have much to
fight fire with at that time,”
Skinner, who later served
as chief, said.
sisfti;
There were only two fire
trucks, and firefighters
wore raincoats as turnout
gear. There was also no
foam to put on the burning
wreckage.
Firefighters concentrat
ed on the burning building
and fence, and also orches
trated a search and rescue
type operation. Those at
the scene thought that C.P.
Morris, a clerical worker at
the bus garage, was in the
building. They later discov
ered that he had gone to the
bank at the time of the
crash. They were also look
ing for the plane’s pilot.
A Marine crash crew
from Edenton and Navy
helicopters from
Weeksville responded also.
Skinner said he was on
the scene until about 3 p.m.,
when he returned to work.
He came back that night as
firefighters watched for
flare-ups in the smoldering
wreckage.
Both firefighters said
there were many events of
the day about which they
were unaware because
their main focus was on
fire control.
Skinner said in addition
to he and White, John
Beers, Bobby Elliott,
George Fields and Henry
Stokqs also fought fire that
day.
A support person on the
scene was Mary Harrell.
Harrell was one of the
Hertford women who set up
a comfort station near the
scene for emergency and
military personnel. From
newspaper accounts, volun
teers included Harrell,
Jessie Cox, Lizzie Lee Cox
and Polly Hollowell.
Harrell said she remem
bers the fear that swept
through the town when the
word first went out that a
plane had crashed at the
high school. Although she
did not have a child at
school, she was concerned
about those on the scene
and also the emergency
personnel called to
respond.
Although she doesn’t
remember exactly how it
came about that she volun
teered that day, she remem
bers serving coffee and
doughnuts to cold, tired
personnel.
“I just remember aU the
commotion,” she said. “It
was a terrible time.”
The child nutrition
department of Perquimans
County Schools has
planned celebrations
around this year’s national
School Breakfast Week
theme, “School Breakfast:
Join the Club,” March 4-8.
Special events being
planned during the 13th
Annual National School
Breakfast Week include
student selections on
favorite breakfast items in
the cafeteria; teachers,
administrators and mem
bers of the community
serving breakfast; and give
aways for students who eat
breakfast in the cafeteria.
“Busy parents need to
know that their children
can receive healthy, good
tasting meals at school each
morning, said Donna
Harris, Perquimans
County Child Nutrition
Director.
The National School
Breakfast Program ensures
that kids who either don’t
have time to eat breakfast
or who don’t want to eat
first thing in the morning
will have a nutritious meal
to start their day, added
Harris. Every day, 7 million
children across the U.S. eat
breakfast at school.
Recent studies have con
firmed the important link
between eating a healthy
breakfast and performance
in school. A State of
Minnesota Breakfast Study
found that students who ate
breakfast before starting
school had a general
increase in math grades
and reading scores,
increased student atten
tion, reduced nurse visits
and improved student
behaviors. Researchers at
Harvard Medical Center in
Boston found that hungry
children are more likely to
have behavioral and aca
demic problems than chil
dren who get enough to eat.
At school, hungry children
had more problems with
irritability, anxiety and
aggression, as well as more
absences and tardiness.
Marcia Smith, president
of the American School
Food Service Association
said, “Schools that take
advantage of the School
Breakfast Program can pro
vide essential nourishment
to children who don’t eat
breakfast at home. School
meal programs are regulat
ed by the United States
Department of Agriculture
and must meet the Dietary
Guidelines for Americans.
These guidelines require
that school breakfasts pro
vide children with one-
fourth or more of the
Recommended Daily
Allowance for calories, pro
tein, vitamins A and C, iron
and calcium. They must
also be low in fat.”
Perquimans County
Schools has been serving
breakfast to all students,
free of charge, since the
1997-98 school year. The per
centage of participation to
enrollment was 31 percent
in the 1995-96 school year,
increased to 39 percent in
the 1996-97 school year
when a grant was received
to provide free breakfast to
high school students and
increased to 58 percent in
the 1997-98 school year
when all students were pro
vided free breakfast. The
current percentage of stu
dents participating in the
free breakfast program is
49 percent.
ASFSA (www.asfa.org).
sponsor of National School
Breakfast Week, is a nation
al non-profit professional
organization representing
more than 55,000 members
who provide high-quality,
low-cost meals to students
across the country. The
association and its mem
bers are dedicated to feed
ing children safe and nutri
tious meals. Founded in
1946, ASFSA is the only
association devoted exclu
sively to protecting and
enhancing children’s
health and well being
through school meals and
sound nutrition eduction.