Bethlehem Church turns 125
Page 4
Young pianists recognized
Pages
PQ sweeps softball tourney
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July 13, 2005
Vol. 73, No, 28 Hertford, North Carolina 27944
t>1 O
PERQUIMANS COUNTY LIBRARY
110 W ACADEMY ST
HERTFORD, NC 27944-1306
rjtyulMANS
Weekly
Stolen
canoe
unites
Mends
ERIN RICKERT
Eldon Winslow has
logged thousands of
hours paddling
Perquimans County
waters using the same
aluminum canoe he pur
chased 59 years ago, that
was until recently when
his precious canoe was
stolen.
“I bought it [the canoe]
in 1946 and it came down
in a first class coach on a
passenger train,” the 85
year-old Winslow said.
Ever since, the canoe
has sat tied up in the
yard near the water of
Winslow’s Phelps Street
home, awaiting the
almost daily trips he
makes in the boat — first
during his years as an
N.C. Wildlife Resource
officer and later for
recreation.
Yet this all changed on
June 11 when the canoe
was taken from his back
yard.
“I was hurt,” Winslow
said about the loss of his
canoe. “I felt like some
one had taken a part of
me.”
While local authori
ties were searching for
the boat, Zeb Daneker,
along with several other
longtime friends and
neighbors of Winslow,
had heard about
Winslow’s misfortune
and devised a plan to out
fit Winslow with a new
boat.
“All my life I had seen
Mr. Winslow paddling
that canoe down the
Continued on page 10
Wreck claims farmer's life
ERIN RICKERT
Long days spent along
side his only son on the
family’s farm in Durant’s
Neck was work it seemed
Perquimans County resi
dent Ray Godfrey never
wanted to give up.
“He started farming
years ago with nothing,”
said Sharon G. Meiggs
Monday as she remem
bered her father, who died
Thursday after the grain
truck he was driving collid
ed with a tractor-trailer on
U.S. Highway 17.
i Though the family had
urged the 78 year-old to
scale back duties on the
farm — fearing his . age
could prove dangerous in
certain situations —
Meiggs said Godfrey’s work
was too much a hobby for
him to quit.
“He worked all the time
and for every single penny,”
Meiggs said. “He loved
what he did and he was
happy when he died.”
Godfrey, who co-owned
Sunray Farms with his son
Earl Ray “Sonny” Godfrey,
died in Albemarle Hospital
just hours after arrival
Thursday afternoon from
injuries sustained in the
accident.
The driver of the tractor-
trailer, Teddy Ray
McMillan of Ruffin, S.C.,
suffered only minor
injuries, said Trooper K.R.
Briggs of the N.C. Highway
Patrol.
Godfrey was headed to
Chapanoke Grain Storage
with a load of freshly
picked wheat, his family
said, when the accident
occurred about 11:30 a.m.
Briggs said Godfrey was
driving on Woodland
Church Road when he
failed to yield for a stop
sign at the intersection
with U.S. 17. Instead, he
proceeded into the intersec
tion and was trying to cross
the highway’s paved medi
an when his truck was
struck by McMiUan's trac-
V '’^1
PHOTO BY ERIN RICKERT
Highway patrol and fire
fighters were among
those who responded to
the scene at Woodviile
Road and U.S. Highway
17 last Thursday when a
tractor-trailer and a farm
truck collided (above),
resulting in the death of
Perquimans County
farmer, Ray Godfrey.
Godfrey's companion.
Double Dip, seen with
Godfrey at right, was rid
ing with Godfrey and has
been spotted in the vicin
ity of the accident, but
the Godfrey family has
not been able to find him
and bring him home. The
Godfreys hope to get
Double Dip returned
home to them soon.
tor-trailer.
Briggs said McMillan,
who was traveling south.
Continued on page 10
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Hertford
resident
arrested
on drug
Police find
maryuana plants
ERIN RICKERT
Police arrested a
Hertford man Saturday
for allegedly attempting
to grow several illegal
plants in his backyard.
Marvin Sutton, 39, of
319 King Street was
arrested and is now fac
ing a felony manufactur
ing marijuana charge for
growing as many as four
plants at his residence.
Hertford Police Chief
Dale Vanscoy said an
officer on routine patrol
spotted the plants in
Sutton’s backyard
Saturday afternoon.
The officer later
approached the resi
dence, and after talking
with Sutton walked
around to the backyard
where he found four mar
ijuana plants growing
next to a small building.
The plants, which are
close to two feet in
height, could have a
value of close to $10,000 a
piece sources have told
police.
While Vanscoy said he
is unsure whether Sutton
planned to keep . the
plants for personal use or
sell them on the street,
police are hopeful fur
ther investigation will
lead them to the answers.
Vanscoy said Sutton
has been released on a
$2,500 unsecured bond
and is expected to appear
in court Wednesday.
Officials
probe recent
HI blaze
ERIN RICKERT
A vacant mobile home,
destroyed by fire last
Tuesday, is the sixth fire to
consume property in
Holiday Island this year,
Perquimans County Fire
Marshal John Long said.
The fire swept through
the unoccupied mobile
home, owned by Anne
Rogers, around 10 p.m.
Tuesday. Firefighters later
declared the home a total
loss.
Fire officials. Long said,
still have yet to determine
how the fire was started,
but they have ruled out any
possibility it was an electri
cal fire.
Similarly, on April 27 two
other vacant mobile homes
in Holiday Island were set
ablaze and nearly two
months later two others
burned June 16 around the
same time a vehicle was set
on fire.
Long said Monday the
details surrounding the
cause of last Tuesday’s fire
were still under investiga-
Final phase of streetlight project set
‘MiM
tion, but felt none of the
recent string of fires was
set accidentally.
Much like the four other
mobile home fires, last
Tuesday’s blaze started in a
vacant home, only this time
it was in a different area of
the HI community.
Long said the recent fire
Town officials say begin
ning work to install street
lights on Church Street
matching those already
present in downtown
Hertford and along the
town’s S-bridge could com
mence as early as next
week.
Monday night Hertford
Town Council voted unani-
PHOTO BY ERIN RICKERT
This mobile home at 142 Explorer Arch was the scene
of the most recent of six fires being investigated in
the Holiday Island community.
occurred in the H camping
section, and the other five
had taken place in the P
camping section — one
detail of several causing
him to believe that at this
time the incidents were
unrelated.
Continued on page 10
mously to retain Lee
Electrical Construction
with a bid nearly $23,000
less than the $250,000 bud
geted for the final phase of
the TEA-21 project the town
began almost two years
ago.
Originally, Lee complet
ed the first phase of the
TEA-21 project in
PHOTO BY ERIN RICKERT
Crewmen from RPC Contracting, Inc. out of Kitty Hawk
shatter sidewalk at a downtown intersection
Wednesday. Construction is expected to help install
curbs and make the sidewalks handicap accessible at
the all of the intersections along Church Street.
December 2003, installing
more than 10 streetlights in
Hertford’s downtown and
along the S-bridge.
Final plans, Hertford
Town Manager John
Christensen said, now call
for the addition of more
than 15 streetlights run
ning along the section of
Continued on page 10
Weekend
Weather
Thursday
High: 89
Low: 75
Scahered T'storms
Friday
High: 89
Low: 75
Scahered T'storms
Saturday
High: 91
Low: 75
ScAHERED T'storms