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Commerce Centre, part 2
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Students enjoy Farm day
Rage 4
Heide Trask defeats Lady Pirates
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The
November 2, 2005
Vol. 73, No. 44 Hertford, North Carolina 27944
Perquimans
Weekly
Suspeiiision
upheld in
alleged
PCHSgun
case
t
SUSAN HARRIS
A Perquimans County
High School student who
allegedly used a gun to try
to extort money from four
fellow students will spend a
full year on suspension.
The 15-year-old, whose
name can not be released
because he is a minor, faces
charges stemming from the
incident in juvenile court,
according to Sheriff Eric
Tilley.
The school system
announced last week
through Pulbic
Information Officer Brenda
Lassiter that the long-term
suspension had been
upheld by the school board
in closed session during
which the board was joined
by its attorney, John Leidy,
last Monday night. The
decision was hand-deliv
ered to the parent on
Tuesday, and the announce
ment came on Wednesday.
The suspension, recom
mended by Principal
Melvin Hawkins and
approved by
Superintendent Dr.
Kenneth Wells for the Sept.
12 incident, was appealed to
the school board by the stu
dent’s mother. Three mem
bers of the board met as the
appeals panel on Oct. 18 to
hear from the student, his
mother, Hawkins, Wells and
Continued on page 8
Officer
assaulted
maMiig
arrest
A Hertford police officer
was assaulted while
attempting to take a man
into custody for warrants
taken out a week earlier
from Elizabeth City.
At about 1:15 p.m. last
Thursday, Officer Kevin
Worster attempted to take
Kwane Ibin Everett, 31, into
custody at the Dollar
General for three felony
charges.
“While attempting to
take Everett into custod.y,”
Worster wrote in a police
report, “he assaulted me,
and he was found to be pos
sessing a concealed weapon
(handgun).”
Warrants on Everett,
who resides at 100 S.
Edenton Road St., include
felony charges of obtaining
property by false pretense,
forgery-using/uttering and
forgery/counterfeiting.
Everett was charged,
with simple physical
assault upon a police offi
cer, escape from custody or
resisting arrest, possess
ing/concealing a weapon
and first degree trespass.
He was placed in Albemarle
District Jail under a
secured bond of $3,500
Herford man killed in wreck
MARGARET FISHER
A one-vehicle wreck involving a
sports utility vehicle caused the
death of a Hertford man last Friday
night.
At about 11 p.m., Michael Erik
Veilleux, 34, was driving south on
Muddy Creek Road near Sueola
Beach Road when he lost control of
his 1989 Mitsubishi Montero, said
Sgt. C.T. Griffin of the N.C. Highway
Patrol.
According to Trooper J.E Bray’s
report, Veilleux was estimated to be
traveling at about 75 miles per hour.
VeiUeux apparently ran off the
road to the right and over-corrected
his steering a couple of times before
skidding and overturning in the
roadway, Griffin said.
“By the gauge marks and the way
the vehicle overturned,” Griffin
said, “it’s hard to determine how
many times the (SUV) overturned.”
Veilleux, who wasn’t wearing a
seat belt, was ejected at some point
as the vehicle was rolling. The vehi
cle rolled nearly 190 feet. The SUV
collided with a tree on the west
shoulder of the roadway.
Perquimans County Rescue
Trick or Treat
Squad, Durants Neck Volunteer Fire
Department and Perquimans
County Sheriffs Department also
responded. Veilleux was pro
nounced dead on the scene, Griffin
said.
“We suspect alcol^ol was involved
in the collision,” Griffin said.
Veilleux, a native of Lewiston,
Maine, resided at 105 N. Cherokee
Drive. He is survived by his wife,
Dana Wood-Veilleux of Hertford,
and two daughters of Salem, N.H.
Veilleux was employed as a bar
tender at Applebees Restaurant in
Elizabeth City.
PHOTOS BY SUSAN HARRIS
Downtown Hertford was filled with costumed charac
ters like ducks (left) and Scarecrow and Tin Man from
the Wizard of Oz Monday as businesses welcomed
trick-or-treaters.
Thick river
chained for
bus wreck
SUSAN HARRIS
The driver of a construc
tion truck that crashed into
a Perquimans County
school bus last Monday
morning has been charged
with causing the fatal acci
dent.
Ruben Fajardo, 25, of
Wilson, was charged last
week with four counts of
misdemeanor death by
vehicle and one count of
failure to reduce speed. He
was charged at Pitt
Memorial Hospital, where
he was admitted for treat
ment for what Highway
Patrol Trooper Ernest D.
Goodwin Jr. termed non
life-threatening injuries,
including a broken leg.
Fajardo was driving a
construction truck regis
tered to Byrd Brothers, Inc.
of Greensboro last Monday
just after 7 a.m. when he
rear-ended bus 102, running
the bus off the road, then
his vehicle veered and hit
the front of the bus. The
impact caused the truck to
burst into flame, also ignit
ing the bus.
Forty middle school stu
dents and the bus driver
escaped from the bus, a
credit said Schools
Superintendent Dr.
Kenneth Wells, to the driver
remaining calm and using
her emergency training
throughout the incident.
WeUs also credited the stu
dents with listening to the
driver and working togeth
er to exit the bus, as well as
motorists who helped at the
scene.
Continued on page 3
%
Navy to meet with
commissioners on OLF
PHOTO BY MARGARET FISHER
Construction work has begun on Ginny's Gut at
Perquimans County High School to create a wetland
area for students to study ecology. The work has also
corrected drainage problems.
Eyesore to become
outdoor education center
Margaret Fisher
Work is underway at
Perquimans County High
School to create an outdoor
educational wetland labo
ratory and repair a long
standing drainage problem
at the same time.
The deteriorated wet
land is part of Jenny’s Gut,
which includes about two
acres extejiding from the
student parking area by
Edenton Road Street to the
cemetery. Construction is
currently taking place
between the student park
ing area and the school.
Jenny’s Gut, referred to
as Gum Pond Run in county
deeds, was originally creat
ed to provide drainage for
farmlands, homes and
roads. It begins across the
street from the high school
and empties into Skinners
Creek near the Church
Street bridge and then into
the Perquimans River, said
town historian Raymond
Winslow.
The once thriving wet
land has been a problem for
the high school and Town of
Hertford for a number of
years, especially after
Continued on page 8
MARGARET FISHER
Concerned residents
plan to pack the commis
sioners’ meeting in
November when US. Navy
officials will be addressing
their consideration of
locating an airstrip in
Perquimans County.
The Navy prefers to
locate an outlying landing
field in Washington County,
but is still considering
northern Perquimans
County, as well as Bertie,
Craven and Hyde counties,
said Stan Winslow, organiz
er for the Perquimans
County Chapter of North
Carolinians Opposed to the
OLF.
“We don’t want (an OLF)
in Perquimans County,”
Winslow said, “and we
don’t want it in northeast
ern North Carolina.”
Officials from the chap
ter met at Belvidere-
Chappell Hill Volunteer
Fire Department to discuss
how farmers who may be
affected by the OLF and
other concerned citizens
can address their concerns.
Navy attorneys will be
talking to the public at the
Nov. 7 commissioners meet
ing at 7 p.m. upstairs in the
Courthouse Annex
Building. The public will
not be allowed to voice
their concerns during the
meeting. However, the com
missioners will be able to
ask Navy representatives
questions.
The meeting in
Belvidere provided an
opportunity to bring aware
ness to residents of the
Navy’s current position
and formulate a set of ques
tions for commissioners to
ask.
Coounty Manager Bobby
Darden, Commissioner Ben
Hobbs and No OLF chapter
members from Washington
County were some of the
approximately 70 persons
present at the meeting.
“The purpose is to make
everyone in the communi
ty aware that the Navy is
making a revision in the
impact study they did two
years ago,” said
In July 2003, the Navy
completed an environmen
tal impact study of the use
of F/A-18 Super Hornet
aircraft for touch-and-go
practice on an OLF
between .Naval Air Station
Oceana, Va., and Marine
Corps Air Station Cherry
Point.
On Feb. 18, the US.
District Court for the
Eastern District of North
Carolina held that the
Final EIS was deficient.
The Navy was prohibited
from taking further steps
towards locating an OLF in
Washington County until
they complied with the
National Environmental
Policy Act. Recently, the
Navy appealed the deci
sion, but was turned down
again.
Now, the Navy plans to
conduct a supplemental
environmental impact
study and is visiting each
county with a prepared 30-
minute presentation. A
study in Perquimans is
Continued on page 3
Weekend
Weather
Thursday
High: 70, Low: 51
Mostly Sunny
Friday
High: 73, Low: 55
Partly Cloudy
Saturday
High:75, Low: 55
Partly Cloudy