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Page 6
February 19, 2003
Vol. 71, No. 8 Hertford, North Carolina 27944
/ NC 27944__i3Qg
Perqllvians
Weeklt
35 cents
honors
U.S. 17/Wynn Fork: another wr^
The Friends of
Perquimans County
Library named Sid Eley as
a “Special Friend of the
County” for 2003.
Eley, mayor of Hertford
and executive director of
the Perquimans County
Chamber of Commerce, is a
Itfelong county resident.
A reception will be held
in Iley’s honor on
Saturday, Feb. 22 at 2 pm. at
the library
In his dual roles as
mayor and chamber direc
tor, Eley greets visitors,
promotes the county and
works for economic
improvement.
According to the
Friends, Eley is tmeless in
his efforis to promote
Perquira.an.s County and is
known for Conning period
dress for community festi
vals and for modeling she
values he holds dear,
A retired educator, Eley
taught science in the
Perquimans County
Schools for o l years'.' He
holds a masters of science
education degree and a cer
tificate of advanced study
from East Carolina
University. He served as a
footbaE, basketball and
softball coach during his
education career.
Hertford’s Main Street
program has benefited
from Eley’s experience —
he served as the first Main
Street Board president,
2000-2002, and continues to
serve on the Board of
Directors. In 2002 Governor
Mike Easley appointed him
to the North Carolina
Community Development
Council
A volunteer firefighter
for 32 years, Eley was chief
of the Hertford Fire
Department from
1994—-1999. He retired from
the volunteer rescue squad
after contributing 20 years
of service. He has been a
member of the Hertford
Town Council for eight
years.
Eley and his wife Candy
have two sons, Ted and
Clint. They are active mem
bers of Hertford Baptist
Church, where Sid has
taught adult Sunday School
classes, served as a deacon,
and worked with young
people in the Emmaus pro
gram. He is a member of
Hertford Rotary and serves
on the Board of Directors of
both the Perquimans
County Restoration
Association and the
Museum of the Albemarle.
He serves on the
Perquimans County
Recreation Advisory Board,
The Friends of
Perquimans County
Library is a nonprofit orga
nization whose mission is
to support the library’s pro
grams and services. As part
of their outreach to the
community, the Friends
voted to accept nomina
tions for “Special Friend of
the County” from local citi
zens each December. In
December 2002, 11 nomina
tions were received.
SUSAN R. HARRIS
Just a week after
Hertford Town CouncE met
with DOT officials about
making the intersection at
Wynn Fork Road and US.
Highway 17 safer, a three-
car accident brought
Hertford Police to the
famEiar site of wrecks.
Don Conner, P.E.,
District I Engineer, and
Jerry Jennings, P.E.
Division Operations
Engineer, met with councE
at the board’s regular ses
sion last Monday night.
Conner told councE that
the state is “trying to deal
with short-term issues
working toward a more
long-term solution” at the
intersection.
Studies of traffic acci
dents occurring at the
intersection over the past
three years show that they
primarily occur with
northbound and eastbound
traffic, Conner said. From
reviewing accident reports,
A van, an SUV and a car were involved in an accident
at the intersection of U.S. Highway 17 and Wynn Fork
Road Monday morning. The number of accidents —
and how to stop them — has been the topic of much
discussion by Hertford and DOT officials.
the state has concluded that
many of the accidents
occur when traffic travel
ing east on Wynn Fork
Road attempts to cross U.S.
17. He said it appeared that
most of the vehicles
seemed to have attempted
to completely cross U.S. 17
without stopping at the
median.
A 16-hour traffic count
suggests that 160 vehicles
per day travel east on Wynn
Fork Road and attempt to
cross U.S. 17.
Conner said DOT had
several possible solutions
to the problem.
The first he outlined was
installing a restricted
movement-type intersec
tion like the one in place on
U.S. 17 at the turn to
Perquimans Centre near
McDonald’s.
“It’s probably the safest
of the things that we could
make a recommendation to
you to do,” Conner said.
That type of intersection
would probably cause
motorists to make a U-turn
later down the road, he
added.
If the intersection were
changed to restricted move
ment, Conner said the state
may upgrade nearby inter
sections with acceleration
lanes.
One of the problems
with the restricted move
ment intersection is that it
would hamper the move
ment of trucks, farm equip
ment and emergency vehi
cles across the intersection.
Taking out the intersec
tion completely was anoth
er alternative Conner
brought up.
“The most safe ... may be
to take the crossover out,”
he said.
Continued on page 8
Schools prepare for No Child Left Behind
SUSAN R. HARRIS
Across North Carolina,
local- schools districts are
composing plans to imple
ment requirements of No
ChEd Left Behind, federal
legislation which will
change many aspects of
education.
In January, the state
asked each school district
to put together a five-mem
ber No Child Left Behind
Committee. Committee
members attended an infor
mation session on the legis
lation. The state then
charged the committees
with devising plans to
share information about
the legislation and its
impact on local school dis
tricts throughout its
respective school system
and community.
It was suggested that
local committees be com
posed of the superinten
dent, schools public infor
mation officer, a principal,
a school board representa-
Schools Superintendent Ken Wells discusses provision
of No Child Left Behind, the federal legislation that
will change education across the country.
tive and a business/com
munity representative.
Members of the
Perquimans County
Committee are Ken WeEs,
Brenda Lassiter, Billy
Stallings, William Byrum
and Susan Harris.
The committee met soon
after the January informa
tion session to begin to
compose its local plan. A
proposed timeline for pre
senting information to
school faculty and staff,
parents and the public was
put in place, as well as
ideas on how best to reach
aE segments of the commu
nity.
WeEs began presenting
information when he met
with teacher assistants ear
lier this month.
The overarching goal of
both North Carolina’s
ABCs of Public Education
and the federal No ChEd
Left Behind law is improv
ing student achievement.
As with ABCs, the federal
plan also has an account
ability component. Both
also give priority to provid
ing quality teachers and
more involvement and
choices for parents.
However, the methods of
measurement of success
for ABCs and No ChEd Left
Behind are markedly dif
ferent. A school designated
as high performing under
the ABCs could actually
receive a low mark for aver
age yearly progress, the
measure of student
achievement established by
the federal law.
Administrators and edu
cators all agreed during
discussion at the January
information session that
implementing No Child
Left Behind wEl be chal
lenging. And some of the
greatest challenges will
include understanding and
interpreting exactly what
each component of the fed
eral legislation means for
local students.
Even now, when parts of
the legislation have not
been fully explained to
state and local administra
tors, the federal law is in
force, meaning school sys
tems will be accountable
for complying with factors
not yet completely under
stood.
Information on No ChEd
Left Behind and its impact
on the local school system,
its employees and its stu
dents wEl be presented first
to school employees, then
to elected officials, parents
and the community.
Written information, open
meetings, presentations to
church and civic groups
and other means of coni-
munication wiE be used as
early as this summer t.o
begin getting information
to the public.
Viking Silver makes its home in Winfall
SUSAN R. HARRIS
Don and Barbara
Gustafson didn’t know
when they took a silver jew
elry making class through
the local Extension Service
that it would turn into a
part-time enterprise for
them.
“We just got kind of
wrapped up in it,” said Don
Gustafson recently. “We
just kept it going. I think it
took us over rather than us
taking it over.”
For about five years, the
Gustafsons have been mak
ing jewelry — watches,
rings, bracelets, necklaces
— both from sEverplated
tableware and raw sheets of
sterling silver. Recently,
they have made Victorian
bracelets and spoon and
nickel rings. They also
make bud vases.
“We try to keep it origi
nal,” Don Gustafson said.
“We try to come up with
something new all the
time.”
Earlier this month, the
Chamber of Commerce
sponsored a ribbon cutting
for the Gustafsons to mark
the opening of their shop
in their newly-renovated
home in Winfall. Those
interested in seeing what
the Gustafsons, whose busi
ness is known as Viking
SEver, have in stock may
make an appointment by
caEing 426-9698.
The couple started out
displaying and seEing their
jewelry at festivals and
craft shows. The quality
and unique designs made
their offerings popular.
“AE our stuff is local and
it’s all guaranteed,” Don
Gustafson said. “It holds up
weE.”
In addition to seEing out
of their home and at shows,
the Gustafsons have items
on consignment in an
J,"
Please note:
Our email addresses:
have changed. See
, page 4 for our new >
addresses.
Don and Barbara Gustafson were surrounded by fam
ily and well-wishers at the Chamber of Commerce-
sponsored ribbon cutting for their business. Viking sil
ver, recently.
antique shop in
Murfreesboro. They will
also do shows for churches
and charities as fund rais
ers.
The Gustafsons hope to
teach classes on sEver jew
elry making in the future,
to share their love of the
craft with others.
Weekend
Weather
THURSDAY
High: 49
Low: 40
Mostly Cloudy
Friday
High:59
Low: 53
Cloudy
Saturday
High: 63
Low: 39
Rain