Helping the working poor
Rage 6
Ag program gets grant
Pages
Lady Pirates are champs
Page?
October 22, 2003
VoL 71, No. 43 Hertford, North Carolina 27944
P14/C5
PERQUIMANS COUNTY LIBRARY
110 W ACADEMY ST
HERTFORD, NC 27944-1306
? ■ m3
Perquimans
Weekly
Christmas
parade
planned
It’s Indian Summer now,
but the holidays are just
around the corner.
The Chamber of
Commerce is planning the
annual Christmas parade at
its traditional time and
date, the first Saturday in
December at 2 p.m.
The theme of Dec. 6
parade is “Christmas Is...!’’
Cash prizes will be
awarded to floats in several
categories, including a $100
Perquimans Weekly Best in
Parade Award.
The parade whl line up
at Perquimans County
High School and make its
way downtown before end
ing back at the school.
Entry forms for the
parade and parade guide
lines are available at the
Chamber office. Completed
entry forms should be
returned to the Chamber by
Nov. 15.
For information, caU the
Chamber at 426-5657.
Helping hands
On Oct. 13, the Circuit Riders of the United Methodist in Mission from the South
Indian United Methodist Conference arrived at New Hope United Methodist
Church to help church members and community residents with clean-up after
Isabel. The 11-members team was composed of folks from45 to 80 and from all
walks of life. The group provided its own meals and transportation, with each
member having donated $100 for those expenses before leaving home. The crew
was a welcome site in Perquimans County.
(Editor's note: Please call 426-5728 to tell us about out-of-town volunteer work
crews so that we can try to recognize them all.)
Gregory named local Teacher of the Year
SUSAN R. HARRIS
Second grade teacher
Tracy Gregory was recent
ly named the Perquimans
County Schools Teacher of
the Year.
Gregory was selected
Teacher of the Year at
Central School.
1- The exuberant elemen
tary educator was influ-
encd to become a teacher
by her fourth grade teacher,
a teacher who encouraged
Gregory with beaming eyes
a winsome smile, encourag
ing words, genuine concern
for her students, praise and
attentive listening.
Now, Gregory tries every
day to use those same traits
to make a difference in the
life of the children in her
classroom.
“I, too wanted to impact
students and make a differ
ence in the life of a chUd,’’
Gregory wrote in her port
folio. “I wanted to give back
what was given to me. I
wanted to reach those chil
dren noted as unreachable
and teach those children
written off as unteach-
able.’’
Gregory uses a variety of
activities and teaching
strategies in her classroom
to try to meet all learning
styles.
She is especially strong
at using technology to dif
ferentiate instruction and
heighten student achieve
ment.
She believes that aU stu
dents are capable of learn
ing and have a thirst for
knowledge. Her job is to
recognize each student’s
learning style and to find
ways to teach to allow all
her students to succeed.
Visitors to her classroom
may at first think that stu
dents are just playing
around because a student
who works well alone may
be working on a project at
the computer, while one
group is playing a game to
enforce a specific objective.
Another group may be
writing songs to convey
concepts, while another
Tracy Gregory
couple of students may be
playing a board game to
help them learn skills.
While not a traditional
classroom, students learn
and are taught using those
activities that best suit
their learning styles when
possible.
The graduate of
Elizabeth City State
University earned her
Masters in Elementary
Education from East
Carolina University and is
a National Board Certified
Teacher.
Gregory wUl now repre
sent the county at the
regional competition.
Each school chose a
Teacher of the Year, and aU
four were interviewed by a
local panel to choose a can
didate to represent the dis- •'**
trict at the next level.
Judges were quite
impressed with the repre
sentative from every
school.
Heather Webb, music
teacher at Hertford
Grammar School, was cho
sen by her colleagues to
represent HGS.
Webb always loved to
sing, and made up songs
and staged plays and musi
cals for family and friends
as a child.
As she grew, she found
music was a wonderful out
let for her excess energy.
Supportive teachers
encouraged her to further
pursue her music.
Webb doesn’t just teach
children to sing, clap and
play simple instruments.
Her approach to music edu
cation allows students to
explore instruments, move
ment, games, singing,
speech and drama. She
involves every child in
every class for the duration
of their time with her.
She works with core
teachers to come up with
ways to allow music to rein
force lessons learned in
other subject areas.
Her Panther Percussion
Team has entertained at
numerous events through
out the community and
even on television.
One of her most recent
Special pi’ojects was a din
ner theater.
Webb earned her bache
lor’s degree from Furman
University.
Laura Schroeder, science
and math teacher at
Perquimans Middle School,
did start out to be a teacher.
The lover of science
earned a degree in marine
biology from UNC-
Wilmington.
During her college years,
volunteer work at a state
aquarium allowed her to
share her love of science
with visitors. She found she
was good at communicat
ing with youth. She even
worked with an education
consultant to develop
lessons integrating science
and math.
As she continued to work
with science and children,
she was pulled into educa
tion. She wanted to share
with students the curiosity
and desire to understand
the natural world that has
held her enthralled for so
many years.
She is constantly access
ing what works and what
doesn’t with her students,
borrowing from other
teachers and changing her
lesson plans to meet the
needs of the students in her
classes.
Schroeder teaches her
Continued on page 8
storm may
cost Hertford
$500,000
Heather Webb
Jeff Holland
Laura Schroeder
SUSAN R. HARRIS
It’s been over a month
since Isabel wreaked havoc
in Perquimans County on
Sept. 18, and the town of
Hertford continues to deal
with the debris left by the
storm.
Hundreds of trees were
downed by Isabel’s 100-
mile-per-hour sustained
winds, and roofs and out
buildings were also dam
aged in large numbers.
Immediately after the
storm, Hertford employees
and firefighters hit the
streets to remove fallen
trees and try to clear a path
out of town.
Next, the town contract
ed with local businessmen
to remove debris to make
streets passable.
The City of Goldsboro
also sent crews and equip
ment to help with the
effort.
“They were just being a
great neighbor,’’ said Town
Manager John
Christensen, who said
Goldsboro charged the
town only for its manpower,
not for its equipment.
The first wave of work
men picked up over 12,000
cubic yards of debris,
Christensen said.
At that point, in order to
get FEMA to reimburse the
town for debris removal, a
bid process was required.
Storm Reconstruction
Services of Alabama was
awarded that bid on Oct. 10,
and began work on Oct. 14.
SRS wUl make two pass
es through town within 30
days. They have two crews
in town, Christensen said.
The town manager said
the cojpany should com
plete its first pass by mid
week next week.
“The crews from SRS
started out slow,’’
Christensen said. “They
picked up the pace this
week.”
Christensen said
Hertford residents should
get storm-related debris
put on the right-of-way in
their yards so that SRS can
pick it up when they make
their passes.
The company wiU pick
up anything storm-related
such as trees, stumps, out
buildings, insulation,
white goods and roofing.
They will not, however,
pick up anything deemed
by law hazardous waste.
The contractor is taking
debris to the town’s site on
Grubb Street. Christensen
,said under the town’s con
tract with SRS, no one else
is allowed to take waste to
the dump site. Private
haulers and residents
should take debris to the
county dump site behind
the NCDOT facility in
WinfaU.
After 30 days, SRS will
grind up wood materials,
haul off the other debris
and clean the site.
The town wiU begin its
normal collection routes at
that time.
Christensen cautioned
that the town is not
equipped to pick up large
items, so residents may be
charged if they leave logs,
stumps or other large
debris after SRS has fin
ished its work. The town
has an ordinance dealing
with large debris left on its
streets.
The estimated cost of the
work SRS wUl do is $82,000.
Christensen estimated
the total costs for the town
for Isabel clean-up will
exceed $300,000, and may
even approach $500,000.
He said invoices from
initial work are stUl arriv
ing, and town maintenance
officials continue to find
damage and make lists of
things that need to be done.
For example, Hertford
and visiting Electricities
crews took care of those
repairs necessary to safely
restore power to aU resi
dents in the two weeks after
the storm.
Now, items such as dam
aged hardware, leaning
poles and slack guy wires
are being catalogued so
they can be permanently
fixed. Christensen said
there are numerous securi
ty lights and street lights
that must be repaired.
Christensen said the
town’s two-man electric
crew worked aU weekend
on some repairs, but that
with only two people, the
town wUl have to contract
out some of the work.
In addition, the town is
getting estimates on dam
ages to its buddings and
parks.
Also underway is a
review to see if and how
extensively the town’s
wastewater system was
damaged during the hurri
cane. Crews are having to
manually start and stop
water pumps.
In order for FEMA to
help with repairs, the town
must look at every pipe,
determine problems, figure
the linear feet damaged and
then let contracts.
“That’s why it takes so
long to get back on your
feet,” Christensen said.
For questions about
debris coUection, caU the
town offices.
Weekend
Weather
THURSDAY
High: 64
Low: 41
Mostly Sunny
Friday
High:66
Low: 45
Sunny
Saturday
High: 70
Low: 52
Sunny