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4 4-H Week celebrated Pages School honors Page 6 Pirates bow to Camden Page? November 17, 2004 Vol. 72, No. 46 Hertford, North Carolina 27944 Pi The P11/C6 PERQUIMANS COUNTY LIBRARY 110 W ACADEMY ST HERTFORD, NC 27944-1^6 IANS % Weekly Honoring those who serve County Winfall Landing Commissioners Chair Mack Nixon, state Senator Robert L. Holioman, Hertford Mayor Sid Eley and Mayor Fred Yates place a wreath in honor and memory of U.S. military men and women in Winfall Park during a Veteran's Day program last Thursday. Schools get report cards PHOTO BY EfilN RICKERT Three county schools earn state ABCs recognition Report cards went home with children across North Carolina this week. But the grades don’t reflect students’ individual achievement, but rather rate the student’s school based on criteria estab lished by the state’s ABCs of Public Education. And Perquimans schools performed well, with Central and Hertford Grammar earning School of Distinctgion recogni tion, while the high school was named a School of Progress. While the middle school did not earn recogni tion under the ABCc crite ria, studen ts there met 100 percent of the target goals for the federal No Child Lewft Behind legislation. In addition, students at Perquimans Middle School demonstrated sustained student academic growth, demonstrating the highest student proficiency in the past five years. “The data reflected in the report card is for the 2003-04 school year,” said Perquimans County Schools Superintendent Dr. Kenneth W. Wells. “We encourage parents to study the school report cards to learn "more about our schools and how they can be more involved in strengthening the pro grams which exist.” Report cards went out to parents across the state on Tuesday. The report cards include data on a variety of subjects such as class size, student performance on end-of-grade tests, number of teachers, number of years of experience of cer tified staff and number of classrooms that have access to technology. Locally, students in grades 3-8 performed high er overall than students across the state, scoring 85.2 percent proficient in reading and 89.4 percent proficient in math. The average for students across the state was 84.3 percent proficient in reading and 88.5 percent proficient in math. At the high school, stu dents scored higher than the state average in some areas and lower than the Continued on page 7 Medical program started for needy ERIN RICKERT Health care for north eastern North Carolina’s indigent and uninsured may be easier to come by with a new assistance pro gram run through the Albemarle Hospital Foundation. The Community Care Clinic, created in June, pro vides medical and pharma cy services, five days a week, free of charge for individuals in need. Aiding Camden, Chowan, Currituck, Dare, Gates, Perquimans and Pasquotank counties, the clinic assists residents in the Albemarle Hospital’s seven county service area, an area populated by more than 123,000 people, nearly 25,000 of whom are indi gent or uninsured and require the clinic’s ser vices. Through the clinic, the Albemarle Hospital Foundation offers residents assistance with three pro grams: a primary care clin ic, dispensing pharmacy and a patient assistance program. To qualify for these ser vices, patients must meet certain financial guide lines before receiving care. Telecommunications upgrades improve emergency dispatch service PHOTO BY ERIN RICKERT Caring volunteers staff a clinic to help the area's indi gent and uninsured. Locally, the program runs at the RHEMA Ministries building on Don Juan Road every second Wednesday of the month from 9 a.m.-noon. “What I envision is to help those people that fall through the cracks,” said Phil Donahue, vice presi dent of fund development at Albemarle Hospital and director of the Albemarle Hospital Foundation. “Our mission and reason for existing is to provide health care for individuals in need.” Donahue helped start the original regional Community Care Clinic in Elizabeth City this sum mer, and in the short five months it has provided ser vice, two satellite clinics were opened in Gates and Perquimans counties. These satellite clinics, however, are only equipped to offer residents the patient assistance pro gram. This is a program that provides individuals with long-term medication by helping them apply for pre scription assistance through major pharmaceu tical companies. Perquimans, the county with the highest poverty rate out of the seven, just opened its clinic doors in September. Located in the RHEMA Ministries building in Hertford, it operates from 9 a.m.-noon the second Wednesday of every month. Hattie Sharpe, president of RHEMA Ministries Institute, said even though the clinic has only been open a short time, five peo ple came to set up a pre scription assistance plan last week and she expects more to come in the future. Donahue said the small er satellite clinics will be open longer and offer more once there is a higher demand. Continued on page 7 ERIN RICKERT As flashing lights on the Zetron Radio System alert telecommunicators to an incoming call, Homeria Jeanette adjusts her head set and prepares herself for the voice on the other end of the line. For 22-years she has brought the sick ambu lances, directed fire engines to five alarm blazes and assisted police in catching armed robbers. As the Director of Telecommunications for Perquimans County, Jeanette has been around for many of the changes the communication center has undergone. Since her work began in the 80s, Jeanette has not only aided thousands of residents, she has wit nessed several key equip ment upgrades in the department and seen a sig nificant growth in the county’s use of 911 commu nication. “We have had a tremen dous increase [in calls],” Jeanette said, “l^en I first started we were lucky to see 800 caUs a month. Now we have close to 3,000.” Jeanette said she remembers employees working the midnight shift only receiving about 20 calls a month — now there are nearly 500. Figures to date even cal culate an increase of 2,999 calls to 911 during this year alone. Yet, the increase in calls is not the only hurdle Jeanette and the eight other employees who work PHOTO BY ERIN RICKERT Homeria Jennette operates telecommunications equipment at the Perquimans County Telecommunications Center on Grubb Street. in the communication cen ter face. As new improve ments are made in the field, employees must work to upgrade and quickly understand new advances. Four years ago, Jeanette and her employees were using a pencil, paper and fold out maps to take down information and direct emergency services to dis tress calls. Now three stations fully equipped with touch screen telephones, Zetron radio systems and comput ers that aUow employees to pin point the exact location of callers while printing out a map they can fax to emergency services in route, fill their office. A more than $29,500 Dictaphone Freedom Recorder received last month through wireless funding now replaces the Dictaphone Guardian they purchased in 1994. Continued on page 7 Weekend Weather THURSDAY High: 66 Low: 49 Parry Cloudy Friday High: 68 Low: 48 Partly Cloudy Saturday High: 65 Low: 51 Mostly Cloudy
The Perquimans Weekly (Hertford, N.C.)
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Nov. 17, 2004, edition 1
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