Sullivan wins library contest
f^2
PQ team third in state
Rage 4
PCHS band to be in concert
F^5
August 17, 2005
Vol. 73, No. 33 Hertford, North Carolina 27944
The
Perquimans
Weekiy
Few clues in shooting of Hertford man
ERIN RICKERT
Police have no strong
leads in the case involving
the shooting death of a
Hertford man on Market
Street early Thursday
morning.
No suspects have been
arrested and police have
yet to develop a solid lead
surroimding the motive for
the attack.
Hertford Police Chief
Dale Vanscoy said Friday
little is known about the
shooting of 43 year-old
WiUiam Stanley Johnson of
415 Dobbs St., an incident
reported to the police
department at 1:24 a.m.
Thursday.
“When we first arrived
we found a black male lay
ing on the steps of 329
Market Street suffering
from a gimshot wound to
the chest,” Vanscoy said.
At that time, Vanscoy
said Johnson was still
breathing. It was not until
the second officer arrived
later that
breathing
moments
Johnson’s
stopped.
“They
revive him with
Vanscoy said.
However, all attempts
attempted to
CPR,”
were unsuccessful and
Johnson was pronounced
dead on arrival at Chowan
Hospital.
That morning, Hertford
officers as well as members
of the State Bureau of
Investigation conducted an
inspection of the crime
scene.
Vanscoy said officers
also canvassed the neigh
borhood Thursday, knock
Monday blaze
New Hope
home
destroyed
by fire
ERIN RICKERT
Fire officials are unsure
what caused the blaze that
left an abandoned two-story
farmhouse in ruble
Monday.
No one was injured in
the fire and firefighters
worked to extinguish the
flames for close to an hour
after arrival.
Neighbors called to alert
fire officials around 1:40
p.m.
However, when firefight
ers arrived, the home, a
nearby shed and a garage
with two cars still inside
was already fuUy engulfed.
The fire burned with
such force and heat, vegeta
tion in at least a quarter-
mile radius surrounding
PHOTO BY ERIN RICKERT
Durants Neck and Intercounty volunteer firefighters battled a house fire in New
Hope Monday afternoon, the unoccupied house, a nearby shed and a garage with
two cars inside were completed destroyed.
the home was scorched.
Dominion Power was
also called to disconnect
the live power line torn
down as a result of the fire.
Dominion spokesperson
Chuck Penn reported no
other outages in the area
related to the down line.
Neighbors at the scene,
who refused to be identi
fied, said the New Hope
Road home had been vacant
for close to 10 years.
Durants Neck and Inter-
County volunteer fire
departments responded to
the blaze.
Football kicks off Friday night at Memorial Field
PQ assigned to
new athletic
conference
SUSAN R. HARRIS
Are you ready for some
football?
If so, be at Memorial
Field at PCHS Friday night
when the Pirates host the
Edenton Aces in the 2005
season gridiron opener
with kickoff at 7:30 p.m.
The non-conference out
ing wiU pit the rebuilding 1-
A Pirates against next-door
rivals, the 2-A Aces, coming
off a season they had hoped
would take them much fur
ther in the playoffs.
AU faU sports are about
to get underway, as the high
school volleyball team
scrimmages Thursday in
WUliamston before hosting
Edenton next Tuesday for
JV and varsity matches at 4
and 5.
Soccer opens Sept. 7 and
cross country is stUl up in
the air right now.
With the new season
comes a new athletic con
ference. Realignment takes
place every four years, and
Athletic Director Susan
Cox said Perquimans has
been assigned to the
Albemarle • Conference.
Other teams are Camden,
Manteo, Gates, Columbia,
Creswell and Cape
Hatteras.
PHOTO BY ERIN RICKERT
Perquimans football players prepare for Friday night's
season opener against Edenton in Hertford at 7:30.
The Atlantic 8 confer
ence is composed of other
northeastern North
Carolina teams, some of
which were formerly in the
same conference as
Perquimans. A-8 is made
up of
Williamston,
Jamesville,
Roanoke,
Bear Grass,
Northside,
Southside, Mattamuskeet
and Plymouth.
The teams in each con
ference will duke it out for
conference championships
and the chance to advance
to post-season play — at
least in most sports.
Cox said there is a twist
to the conference, which
was initially set up based
on school enrollment and
on geography. It is best not
to have to travel so far to
play, because of taking stu
dents out of class to travel
and travel expenses.
Because of the disparity
in size of the schools in the
two conferences, football
schedules and standings
will be calculated a little
differently.
Four Albemarle
Conference teams —
Perquimans, Camden,
Manteo and Gates — make
up the Albemarle Football
Conference. Five Atlantic 8
teams — Northside,
Southside, Plymouth,
Roanoke and Williamston
— make up the Atlantic
Football Conference.
Those two conferences
have cross-scheduled to cre
ate one league for play-off
purposes.
The smaller schools in
the two conferences —
Creswell, Columbia,
Jamesville, Mattamuskeet
and Cape Hatteras (Bear
Grass does not field a foot
ball team), will play foot
ball as the Atlantic 5 con
ference.
Each conference will
have its own conference
champion and All-
Conference team, Cox said.
The disparity in school
size has been a problem in
negotiating 1-A confer
ences in the northeast for
several years. At least dur
ing the last three realign
ment processes, the smaller
schools have balked at
being placed in the same
conference with the schools
with larger student popula
tions because of the
inequity they felt it would
create in football.
Several alternatives
have been tried, including a
1-, 2- 3-A split conference,
and creating longer travel
distances to group the larg
er schools and the smaller
schools. The special foot
ball concession is the
latetst method f choice.
Cox said the arrange
ment win be tried for two
years, and if the schools in
the conferences do not like
it, they can take their con
cerns to the North Carolina
Continued on page 4
ing on neighbors’ doors
and conducting interviews,
but in the end few details
were revealed.
“There are no witnesses
at this time,” Vanscoy said.
While no descriptions of
a possible suspect or sus
pects are available,
Vanscoy said, officers have
determined no vehicle was
involved in the shooting.
“From what we gathered
at this point, everyone
involved would have been
on foot,” Vanscoy said.
Johnson’s body, Vanscoy
said, has since been trans
ported to the medical exam
iners office in Greenville
for an autopsy.
Anyone with informa
tion about the shooting is
urged to contact the
Hertford Police
Department at 426-5587.
Bus service no
longer available
Greyhound
cuts service
schedule
ERIN RICKERT
A plan to increase
Greyhound Lines’ profits
will leave Hertford bus
travelers in the dust when
the company cuts 83 cities
from their service schedule
Wednesday.
Greyhound, which pro
vides bus transportation to
more than 3,100 destina
tions. ir North America,
announced the plan to dis
continue service in
Hertford and other cities as
part of an effort to reduce
the number of stops on sev
eral of the line’s “longer”
routes.
“We are changing to bet
ter suit our customers,”
said Anna Folmnsbee,
spokeswomen for the
Dallas-based Company.
“Surveys show our cus
tomers want faster service
with fewer stops in
between.”
Folmnesbee said the line
is trying to do away with
“longer hauls” — cutting
routes to 450 mUes or less
or those three-quarters of
customers already take.
“We are just trying to
eliminate locations with
low and sometime non-exis
tent customer demand,”
Folmnsbee said. “Those
areas of weaker participa
tion.”
Folmnsbee said records
indicate last year alone
only 130 travelers left
Hertford on either a
Greyhound or their sister
line Carolina Trailways,
and only a few more, 281
passengers, chose Hertford
as a destination.
“That’s less than 1 per
cent traveling [from that
location] a day,” Folmnsbee
said of the low ridership.
Up until Wednesday
Hertford was considered a
“flag stop.” A more limited
service offered by the line
requiring, Folmnsbee said,
“bus travelers stand and
wave down drivers before
they can board.”
Folmnsbee said this is
similar to what it was like
to catch a bus in the “old
days” when the line was
first founded in 1914.
“It [flag service] is not
something our customers
use anymore,” Folmnsbee
said.
Unlike larger stations,
no tickets or specific times
have been available for
those interested in catching
a bus in Hertford.
Travelers would have to
wait near where the bus
passed through twice a day
between morning trips
from Elizabeth City to
Edenton and evening travel
between Edenton and
Elizabeth City.
Since Hertford was the
only bus stop in
Perquimans County, those
StUl interested in catching
the line must do so in either
Chowan or Pasquotank
counties.
The two closest locations
are in Edenton at Joe Lee
Company on Virginia Road
or at the Elizabeth City
Exxon Station on South
Hughes Boulevard. Both
are full service stations
that offer ticket and bag
gage services.
“They’re [Perquimans
County residents] are still
within reach of the
Greyhound network at
these locations,”
Folmnsbee said.
Greyhound started
aggressive cost cutting
measures in 2001 and has
already eliminated close to
750 cities from its service.
“Plans to reorganize the
network are 62 percent
complete,” Folmnsbee said.
“Everything on the 1-94
travel corridor, from
Delaware to Florida and
points in between is being
restructured.”
Weekend Weather
Thursday
High: 88, Low: 73
Morning Showers
Friday
High: 88, Low: 74
Scahered T'storms
Saturday
High: 89, Low: 75
Scattered T'storms
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