4
Run/Walk set for October
Rage 2
School fund raising scams
Rage 4
Festivals 30 days away
Rage 4
August 10, 2005
Vol. 73, No. 32 Hertford, North Caroiina 27944
P12/C6
PERQUIMANS COUNTY LIBRARY
110 W ACADEMY ST
HERTFORD, NC 27944-1306
Weekly
35 cents
Accident claims life of county man
ERIN RICKERT
Clifton Robinson Jr. was
an individual with a real
talent for taking things
apart and putting them
back together.
As a youth he was
always constructing model
cars, and later he would
spend hours fine tuning a
1984 Oldsmobile — his
other baby.
“People could not believe
the stuff he could do,” said
Cherie Robinson Monday
as she remembered her 25
year-old son, who died after
he was involved in a colli
sion last week. “He was a
good, fun person with a
great heart.”
A longtime Perquimans
County resident, Robinson
was driving a 2003 Dodge
pickup truck, delivering
furniture while at his job
with Furniture Lion
Discount Warehouse, when
the accident occurred in
Dare County last Tuesday.
Sgt. C.D. Gould with the
North Carolina Highway
Patrol said Robinson and
his boss, 53 year-old
Micheal Edmundson of
Edenton, were traveling
south on N.C. 12, 20 miles
south of Nags Head, just
shortly after noon when
the Dodge pickup crossed
the center lane.
Gould said the two were
only traveling about 35
m.p.h., the speed limit on
the road, when the front of
the pickup struck a 2005
GMC truck driven by Joel
Kent Cutchin, 41, of
Virginia Beach, almost
head on.
Gould said Cutchin, who
was also traveling 35
m.p.h., swerved and braked
to miss the two, but
Robinson and Edmundson
ended up hitting the left
side of the GMC with the
front of their Dodge pickup
— sending both vehicles
into the left shoulder of
N.C. 12.
Cutchin was not injured
in the accident and
Edmundson sustained
minor injuries.
Gould said Robinson was
airlifted to Sentara Norfolk
General Hospital where he
remained in a coma for two
days before he died
Thursday.
The vehicle Robinson
was driving showed no
signs of skid marks before
impact, Gould said, but
highway patrol is still
investigating the cause of
the accident.
No citations are expect
ed to be given, Gould said.
A Perquimans County
High School graduate,
Robinson had played foot
ball for Perquimans and
later went on to pursue a
criminal justice degree at
the College of the
Albemarle.
After years spent putting
his mechanical know-how
to use at Auto Zone, Cherie
Continued on page 7
One of the delights of Clif Robinson's life was his son,
16-month-old Clifton Robinson III. Robinson died of
injuries sustained in a car accident last week.
mifaU
short on
filers
ERIN RICKERT
Though the filing dead
line for Hertford and
Winfall municipal elections
has passed, there is still no
candidate for one seat in
Winfall and all candidates
are running unopposed in
November.
Mayor Fred Yates and
Donna Hassell Mummert
both filed on Aug. 3 to keep
their respective offices,
mayor and council person,
respectively.
Eula Forbes,
Perquimans County Board
of Elections director, said
now the Winfall must sub
mit a write-in candidate to
Continued on page 7
For the love of music
m
PHOTO BY SUSAN HARRIS
The PCHS Marching Pirates began a long, hot week of intense learning Monday
when band camp got underway. The students will share the show with the public
for the first time Friday at 2 p.m. on the band practice field to end band camp.
Smoke-free
campaign begun
ERIN RICKERT
The unveiling of a cam
paign designed to make res
idents visibly aware of
businesses and public
places declared “smoke-
free” began in Perquimans
County Thursday.
The fine jewelry and gift
store, Belinda’s of
Hertford, was the first to
participate, as onlookers
watched owner Belinda
Washlesky affix a yellow
sticker to her store window.
”It is with a sense of
pride that Belinda’s of
Hertford offers to our
patrons clean, healthy,
smoke-free air while shop
ping our store for fine jew
elry and gifts,” Washlesky
said Thursday morning
during a press conference
introducing the campaign.
“I feel that I made the right
decision by not allowing
smoking.”
Citing her choice was
the result of concerns over
the health issues related to
smoking — a habit respon
sible for one out of five
deaths or 450,000 American
deaths each year.
Continued on page 7
\
rs
its:
PHOTO BY ERIN RICKERT
Belinda Washlesky, owner of Belinda's of Hertford,
places a sticker in her store window letting people
know she offers a smoke-fre^ environment.
Satellite viewers here to get UNC public TV soon
ERIN RICKERT
Satellite viewers in
Perquimans County as well
as eight other northeastern
North Carolina counties
will soon have access to
local public television, a
report released last week
indicated.
This would offer
Perquimans, Pasquotank,
Northampton, Hertford,
Gates, Chowan, Camden,
Currituck and Dare coun
ties access to “PBS” style
programming and emer
gency information for the
area available through the
N.C.-based television ser
vice UNC-TV
The change was made
possible, Steve Volstad,
director of marketing and
communications for UNC-
TV, said when the Federal
Communications
Commission approved
UNC-TV’s request to trans
fer the community of
license for the digital and
analog transmitters for the
current public access sta
tion, WUND-TV, from
Columbia to Edenton.
“Nothing goes away,”
Volstad said. “It [UNC-TV]
is just added to the mix. It’s
paper shuffling, that’s it.”
Satellite viewers would
continue to he able to view
the Virginia-based public
television station WUND-
TV Volstad said, once the
change is effective Sept. 6;
however, this is subject to
adjustment.
Volstad said because
both WHRO, a television
station in Hampton Roads,
Va., and the satellite
provider EchoStar oppose
the recent request to
change the community of
license, there is a possibili
ty they could appeal the
ruling.
“It’s probable,” Volstad
said of the appeal. “It
Continued on page 7
State releases
ABC scores
Three of the
four county
schools meet
goals
ERIN RICKERT
For the second year in a
row, Perquimans County
Middle School failed to
meet ABC goals hy only a
fraction of a point, even
after the State Board of
Education opted to omit
sixth grade reading results
on the day before the scores
were released Thursday.
The state’s decision to
remove the reading scores
from composite calcula
tions came after a flaw was
discovered and 2004 results
indicated only two of the
300 middle schools in the
state achieved minimal
gains, Perquimans County
Schools Superintendent Dr.
Kenneth W. Wells said.
“They [the state] recog
nized there was a problem,”
Wells said. “The hoard
voted to drop reading
scores from the total com
posite.”
However, even after the
omission and the recalcula
tion of composite scores
the middle school still
missed this year’s goal by
.07 percent, Perquimans
County Schools Public
Information Officer Brenda
Lassiter said.
Continued on page 7
Hertford denied
housing grant
ERIN RICKERT
Hertford Town Council
voted unanimously
Monday evening to start
the condemnation process
on four properties after
council was denied a
Community Development
Block Grant they applied
for late last year.
Owners of the properties
at 319 Dobbs Street, 411 W.
Market Street, 324 King
Street and 501 S. Church
Street, as weU as the town’s
building inspector, are
expected to be notified in
the next few weeks of each
property’s selection —
beginning the first step in
the condemnation process.
Hertford Town Manager
John Christensen said
council chose the fom: after
being notified the town did
not receive a $700,000
CDBG grant that would
have allowed the repair of
10-15 unsafe homes in
Hertford.
Monday the four homes
were selected from a list of
nearly 18 properties
believed not to meet the
town’s minimum housing
ordinance.
“It [the minimum hous
ing ordinance] says the
property must meet a mini
mum standard for occupan
cy or it must be removed,”
Christensen said. “It must
be a functional, livable
structure.”
The four properties cho
sen Monday were some of
the worst, afflicted with
everjdhing from collapsing
Continued on page 4
Weekend
Weather
Thursday
High: 93
Low: 76
Isolated T'storms
Friday
High: 92
Low: 75
Isolated T'storms
Saturday
High: 93
Low: 76
Mostly Sunny