%-
^Ol
Parr addresses DAR
fege3
Honor rolls
F^ge7
PCRD all-stars take second place
F^e8
’j>
November 23, 2005
Vol. 73, No. 47 Hertford, North Carolina 27944
Weekly
Council orders Harris to act on building
Property owner
must repair or
tear down Grubb
Street structure
MARGARET FISHER
A prominent landowner has
been ordered to repair or tear
down one of his properties locat
ed on Grubb Street.
Clark Harris of Elizabeth City
was told by Hertford Town
Council members that he has
until Feb. 28 to substantially
improve or demolish the old Don
Juan shirt factory and surround
ing buildings he owns at 600 and
602-604 Grubb Street.
Councilors held a quasi-judi
cial public appeals hearing on
Nov. 14 prior to the regular coun
cil meeting to hear testimony,
look at evidence and deliberate
concerning the property.
The order was based on the
town building inspector’s report
made in early 2003.
“We are, of course, disappoint
ed with the town’s decision,” said
Harris’ attorney, Kenneth
Haywood of Raleigh. “We contin
ue to believe that the amount of
time is an unreasonable amount
of time (to repair or demolish the
building).”
Izell Jackson, the county’s
building code administrator,
made an initial inspection of the
exterior of the property and what
he could see of the interior on
Nov. 14, 2001. Doors wouldn’t
operate properly, windows were
broken, plumbing and electrical
didn’t meet minimum building
standards and a large crack in the
cinderblock gave evidence of
instability in the building’s struc
ture, Jackson stated during testi
mony.
Jackson said he revisited the
site on Feb. 26, 2003.
“1 observed the same condition
as before,” Jackson said. “There
were no improvements at that
time.”
On Aug. 7, 2003, Jackson
returned to take photos, which he
submitted as evidence to the
Continued on page 9
Skills, Inc. opens
new facility
Bus ACCIDENT
MARGARET FISHER
An Elizabeth City job
rehabilitation center for
the disabled opened a new
computer lab in October to
provide better training and
employment services to six
counties, including
Perquimans.
SkUls, Inc., a nonprofit
Community Rehabilitation
Facility located in
Pasquotank County’s
Commerce Park, opened a
new building to house the
computer lab. They also
partnered with the
Northeastern Workforce
Development Board to pro
vide basic computer train
ing and have become a Job
Link Career Center.
The new handicap-acces
sible facility is providing
vocational evaluations,
employee and community
employment development
services and job develop
ment and coaching.
Skills receives referrals
from Vocational
Rehabilitation Division in
Elizabeth City, said James
Reel, Skills’ executive
director.
“If you want to work, we
spend as much time as it
takes,” Reel said.
From July to September,
Skills helped six clients
from Perquimans County,
Reel said. “That’s pretty
normal,” he said.
Transportation, at a cost
of about $40,000 a year, to
the Skills facility is avail
able through the Inter-
County Public
Transportation Authority.
Out of the 36 people that
were hired to do custodial
work, three come from
Perquimans County, he
said. In-house custodial
contracts pay $9.16 an hour.
SkiUs, founded in 1982,
finds jobs for about 80 to 100
disabled people a year. Reel
said. There is only limited
transportation provided at
a reasonable cost to the cus
todial job sites, he said.
Trainees are taught
basic job skills, and are
paid $6.50 to $7.50 an hour
to produce specialized
items. They produce up to
6,000 speci^ty pallets, 5,000
heavy duty overseas ship
ping crates and 2 million
Continued on page 4
Daily Advance photo by JUSTIN FALLS
There were no major injuries when a vehicle side-swiped bus 74 Monday afternoon on Harvey Point Road,
according to school officials. There were 12 Central School students and driver Diane Kirby aboard at about
3:40 p.m. when the accident occurred. Administrators quickly arrived at the scene, along with emergency per-
sonnel, who checked out all students before they were picked up by their parents.
Chamber celebrates grand openings, expansions
MARGARET FISHER
Chamber of Commerce
officials have been busy
recently, celebrating ribbon
cuttings for new programs
and businesses, as weU as
business expansion.
RCDEI
A grand opening took
place at Harris Shopping
Center for two new pro
grams - a merchandise dis
tribution center for the dis
advantaged and job train
ing center.
The programs are avail
able at the Restoration
Community Development
and Empowerment
Initiative, where about 100
people received free cloth
ing and personal care and
paper products on Nov. 5.
Area churches had pre
screened the applicants to
ensure they qualified, said
Pearlie F. Smith, executive
director of RCDEI and pas
tor of New Testament
Church.
The distribution pro
gram is modeled after a
program in Greensboro
called Welfare Liason,
Smith said. The donated
goods are trucked from the
Greensboro church to
Hertford. Only the freight
charge is paid by RCDEI.
Expenses are paid by com
munity donations, church
members and out of
Smith’s pocket, she said.
The job training pro
gram includes employabili
ty skills such as self
esteem, how to apply for
and maintain a job, and
what to do during a job
interview.
“The two programs work
together,” Smith said. “We
don’t want to give them
things for a day. We teach
them.”
Up to 15 students can uti
lize the computer classes at
the center.
“it’s a way to just help
our community,” Smith
said. “The way our pro
gram works is to collabo
rate with the churches.”
RCDEI, a nonprofit orga
nization, was founded in
2002 after the death of
Smith’s five-year-old son.
Her loss sparked a desire in
her to reach out to the com
munity and help others to
empower themselves to be
economically self-suffi
cient.
Dozier's
Dozier’s Florist celebrated
the grand opening of its
permanent floral arrange
ments shop featuring sea
sonal decorative acces
sories on Nov. 11.
The new shop is located
next to their floral business
in the former BJ’s hair
styling salon.
“It’s more focused on
artificial or permanent
things for decorating your
Continued on page 9
PHOTO BY MARGARET FISHER
Southern Belles celebrated its grand opening of an
antique mall and flea market with more than ipo ven
dors.
PHOTO COURTESY ARTHUR MITCHELL
About 100 people received free personal needs mer
chandise at Restoration Community Development and
Empowerment Initiative on Nov. 5. A ribbon cutting
took place that day to celebrate RCDEI's two new pro
grams, a distribution center for the needy and job
training center.
PHOTO BY MARGARET FISHER
Dozier's Florist opened a seasonal decorative acces
sories showroom on Nov. 11.
Weekend
Weather
Thursday
High: 62, Low: 28
Partly Cloudy/wind
Friday
High: 46, Low: 28
Partly Cloudy
Saturday
High:50, Low: 30
Mostly Sunny