"¥"IW!|i|
Pediatric asthma workshop
Page 2
Student honor rolls
Rage 6
Is that stream clean?
Pages
January 22, 2003
Vol. 71, No. 4 Hertford, North Carolina 27944
The
P6/C5***********5-DIGIT 27944
PERQUIMANS COUNTY LIBRARY
110 W ACADEMY ST
HERTFORD, COOl 27944-1306
Perquimans
Weekly
deceived
JAN 2 2 2003
Lift Every Voice and Sing
Shannon
speaks
listinj
SUSAN R. HARRIS
" Most residents of
Perquimans County have
gone through the change
of address process over
the last’ two years with
the implementation of
mapping and the £-911
system.
But a majority of the
listings in the Sprint tele-
. phone book show the old
route addresses. Bills
come to the new address
es, but changing the
billing address did not
change the phone book
address.
Work is in progress on
the 2003 Sprint telephone
book, and unless cus-
.tbmers-request a listing-
change, the old address
wiU appear in the new
phone book scheduled to
be released in dune.
Eddie Lynch with the
public relations depart
ment at Sprint said
recently in a telephone
interview that telephone
subscribers can change
their addresses in the
. phone book with one
phone call. Instructions
: follow;
. Dial “0”
You will be connected
■to a voice system. It will
say, “Welcome to Sprint.
For service in English,
press 1.”
Press “1” if you want
service in English.
At the next prompt,
press. ‘*2’’ for business
office. The voice will tell
you you are being trans
ferred.
Press “1” for residen
tial at the next prompt,
and “1” for existing cus
tomer after that.
You wiU then be asked
to enter your telephone
number including the
area code. When you have
entered the number, the
voice will repeat the
number and ask you if it
is correct. If it is correct,
press “1.” You will again
be told you are being put
on hold while your
records are accessed.
' At the next prompt, -
press “2” for changing
your service, then “1” for
new or additional ser
vices.
At this point you will
•be transferred to a live
operator. You will be
asked for your social
security number as a ver
ification. The operator
will change and verify
your address.
(Editor’s note: As my
own listing address still
showed a route number, I
changed my listing using
this system. I had no prob
lems with the change.)
at King
service
SUSAN R. HARRIS
Rev. John Shannon
admonished the congrega
tion to be drum majors for
Jesus during the 17th annu
al Martin Luther King Day
Service at New Haven
Baptist Church Monday
“It’s aU right to have the
drum major instinct,”
Shannon said. “If the truth
be told, aU of us want to be
up front...You need to be a
drum major for Jesus. Just
be sure you are being a
drum major for the Lord
and not trying to be a drum
major for yourself.”
Shannon took his
remarks from King’s hav
ing been called a drum
major for justice.
“Martin Luther King Jr.
was a prophet of the people
to the people,” Shannon
said. “He challenged tjie
conscience of a nation.”
He said the King nation
al holiday wiU not be a real
ity to aU until everyone in
the nation catches King’s
dream of justice for aU.
“Everybody ought to
have a dream,” Shannon
Those who attended Monday's Martin Luther King Day service listen as a choir from Northeastern High School
brings a message in music. The service was hosted by New Haven Baptist Church.
said. “There was a time
when some of us couldn’t
have a dream. Your dream
can become a reality
because of the dream of a
dreamer.”
He also warned that
sometimes people do not
appreciate your dream and
do not like you because of
your dream.
“Just because you have a
dream doesn’t mean folks
are going to love you,”
Shannon said. “Martin
Luther King was hated by
some.
King came to grips with
his dream, even thought he
knew he would be hated.
Shannon added.
Shannon compared King
to the biblical Joseph,
whose brothers hated him
so much for his dream that
they sold him into slavery
He also said that their fel
low disciples, turned
against James and John
because they had a dream
to sit on either side of
Jesus.
He said every pastor
needs those in the congre
gation who want to be on
the left or right hand of the
pastor, to lead the flock.
“I’m so glad that Jesus
Christ didn’t lay down His
dream,” Shannon summed
up his remarks.
He said Christians
should hope to be a drum
major for Jesus, but to
remember that to be a
drum major for Jesus
means being the most hum
ble, the least in the king
dom. He said there is a need
for people to put their
hands together and walk
together.
■ Shannon is the pastor at
New Haven Baptist Church
and a deam at Roanoke
Collegiate Institute.Rev.
Landon Mason served as
master of ceremonies for
the service, which was
organized by the
Perquimans County
Chapter NAACP. Fred Yates
is chapter president.
Firefighters recall incidents, feelings day of fire
SUSAN R. HARRIS
For Charles Skinner, fire
chief at the time of the
Winslow Oil Company fire
25 years ago, not knowing
what caused the raging
inferno has always both
ered him.
“The thing that’s always
disturbed me is the fact
that I’ve never been able to
get an official report ...
from any agency,” Skinner
said.
Skinner said officials
from a number of state and
federal oversight agencies
visited the scene, but none
could determine what
sparked the fire that
destroyed two businesses,
damaged a third business,
damaged two homes and
demolished several vehi
cles.
The former chief also
said that reports that the
town of Hertford was in
danger of being burned to
the ground were complete
ly overblown.
“No, absolutely, not as
long as we had water in the
river,” Skinner said when
asked if large portions of
the town were threatened.
“We had talked about this
thing and we had planned.
We had it contained.”
In fact, the notebook that
Skinner has kept outlining
details of pre-planning for
a fire at the site where
three oil companies once
stood just feet apart bears
out the department’s pre
planning. As early as 1963,
firefighters had mapped
out plans to fight a poten
tial fire at the site. Another
training session was set for
July 1978, a training ses
sion that would not be held
because the event had
already occurred by that
time.
Skinner said the
Hertford fire crew had
fought fire at a house on
King Street at 1:15 the
morning of Jan. 10, 1978,
returning to the station
and getting gear back in
place until around 4.
The dispatch radio log
shows that the department
was called back into ser
vice at 7:55 a.m., this time
to an explosion at Winslow
Oil Company. It was 15
degrees outside with the
wind blowing from the
northwest between 10 and
20 miles per hour. The bit
ter cold temperature
caused water to freeze upon
contact with surfaces,
which was instrumental in
allowing firefighters to
save Erie Haste’s house,
which stood less than 10
feet from some of the
Winslow OU storage tanks.
The wind direction also
helped keep other struc
tures out of danger.
Skinner said while his
name and face were in
many news reports at the
time of the fire, it was the
firefighters on the scene
from all departments who
deserve the credit for their
valiant efforts to fight fire.
He said while he remem
bers many incidents, it is
almost impossible to
remember exactly which
firefighters were in each
smaller crew throughout
the day.
He said that Durwood
Reed, co-owner of Reed Oil
Company, was out of the
office when the fire started.
Upon his return, he went
into his office, removed the
county financial records
(Reed was the county
finance officer at the time)
and closed the door to the
company warehouse.
Closing that door, a “gutsy”
move in Skinner’s estima
tion, kept the fire from
sweeping through the ware
house and possibly igniting
Hollowell Oil, which
backed up to Reed Oil.
Skinner also remembers
that Hollowell Oil
Company employees
Sidney Copeland and
Wayne Layden put them
selves in the line of fire by
volunteering to drive gas
trucks to the fire trucks
when the fire trucks were
running out of gas.
Hertford’s assistant
chief Pete Riddick and the
Winfall Fire Department
hand-puUed lines from the
boat ramp to Reed’s pier, a
difficult job that saved the
Reed pier.
Overall, Skinner said the
crews on the scene worked
together like a well-oiled
machine, doing whatever it
took to control the blaze
and protect nearby proper
ty
Unlike Skinner, Edward
Leicester had less than a
year’s experience as a fire
fighter at the time of the
Winslow Oil Company dis
aster. In bed sixffering from
the flu, Leicester none-the-
less answered the caU, leav
ing his Hdand Park home
and being met with a fright
ening sight when he neared
the fire station.
“I was not prepared
when I came across the
railroad tracks (on Grubb
Street) for the thick, black
smoke that I saw,” Leicester
said.
And while he at first felt
fear, like the more seasoned
firefighters on the scene,
when he arrived at
Winslow Oil Company, his
training and instinct took
over.
“We were very well
trained, which was a credit
to (chief) Charlie Skinner
and (assistant chieD Pete
Riddick,” Leicester said.
“We did what we had to do
and what we were trained
to do.”
Leicester was in one of
the first two trucks -to
arrive on the scene. The
tanker driven by Lloyd
Lane had taken its position
behind Farmer’s Feed and
Seed and Leicester’s crew
stopped by the Haste
house. He remembers
fighting fire with John
Beers, Francis “Panky”
Nixon and Thomas Hurdle.
He spent an hour or so
on Covent Garden and
Grubb streets, only moving
around to see the tanks
around 10 o’clock.
“It began to sink in what
were were up against,”
Leicester said when he saw
what was actually on fire.
“I realized the fuU extent of
the circumstances.”
Leicester said he cannot
give enough credit to the
department officers, who
in addition to Skinner and
Riddick were Thomas
Hurdle, Edgar Roberson,
Parker Newbern and Sid
Eley for their work and for
the foresight of fire offi
cials to pre-plan and train
for a possible fire.
“The whole thing
worked out so much better
than you probably could
have ever planned,” he
said.
Because they had
planned and trained so
weU, Leicester said, actual
ly fighting the fire was
almost instinct.
About 5 p.m., the young
firefighter returned to his
bed, where he would stay
untU the end of the week,
still fighting the flu — but
fortunately not having to
fight any more fire.
(Next week, read how vol
unteers sprang into action
to provide comfort and food
for emergency personnel.)
Weekend
Weather
THURSDAY
High: 36
Low: 26
Snow Shower/Wind
Friday
High:33
Low: 20
Partly Cloudy
Saturday
High: 37
Low: 21
Partly Cloudy/Wind