Roberts to speak at library
Page 2
MLK impacts local youth
Pages
PCHS basketball update
Page?
January 18, 2006
Vol. 74, No. 3 Hertford, North Carolina 27944
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PERQUItmSS CDUBTT^ia^hmT
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HERTFORD, SC 27aW-*306
ie/2006
Weekly
SUSAN HARRIS
A breakfast, a motorcade
and a service were all held
in Perquimans on Monday
to honor the fallen civic
Tornado splits home
SUBMITTED PHOTO COURTESY PERQUIMANS COUNTY SCHOOLS
Observance of Martin Luther King Day began Monday
with a breakfast at Captain Bob's Restaurant. NAACP
President Fred Yates (standing) addressed the group,
while schools Assistant Superintendent Dwayne
Stallings (seated far left) served as guest speaker.
M.L. King legacy
is celebrated
rights leader, Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr.
Schools Assistant
Superintendent Dwayne
Stallings spoke at the first
Continued on page 11
No one in
home injured
MARGARET FISHER
A tornado apparently
whipped through New
Hope causing three pine
trees to fall on a house.
Though the damage was
extensive, no injuries
occurred to the family of
four.
The tornado might have
been the same wind forma
tion that tore through
Pasquotank County early
Saturday morning, or it
could have been straight
line winds, said Harry
Winslow, emergency man
agement coordinator for
Perquimans County
At about 3:10 a.m., the
trees fell across the middle
of the house located at 618
White Hat Road. The resi
dents, Jonnie and Tania
White, were at home with
their daughter. Hunter, 9,
and son. Trapper, 7.
Continued on page 8
SUBMITTED PHOTO COURTESY OF KEVIN JACOT
A tornado brushed the White Hat community early Sunday morning, sending three
trees crashing onto the home of Jonnie and Tania White. The couple and their two
children escaped injury as the trees crushed the center living areas of the home,
sparing the family asleep on both ends of the house.
Water line move
may delay Winfall
bridge project
MARGARET FISHER
After 10 years of
requests with the N.C.
Department of
Transportation, the town
of WinfaU may stiU not get
the bridge on Wiggins
Road widened for another
year if the water lines are
not moved before Feb. 15.
The Feb. 15 deadline is
also what DOT has to meet
in order to comply with a
government environmen
tal moratorium concern
ing fish spawning. Work
that takes place in the
water, including demolish
ing the concrete bulkhead
and slope protection, must
be done prior to Feb. 15 or
the bridge widening will
have to be postponed until
after Sept. 30, said David
Otts, assistant resident
engineer for DOT.
“If the town’s reloca
tion of the water line is
not completed in a timely
manner, the bridge will
have to be put off another
year due to the moratori
um,” Otts said.
Bridge construction
over MiU Creek could have
begun on Jan. 2, but work
cannot get underway imtil
the water lines are moved,
Otts said.
The water line project’s
cost, originally estimated
to be $19,600, has gone up
since last year to about
$29,000 because of materi
al cost increases and an
underestimate in the origi
nal breakdown, said
Sterling Baker, division
maintenance engineer for
DOT.
Rcom is to begin work
on the water lines this
week, said Winfall Mayor
Fred Yates. DOT wiU reim
burse the town of Winfall
for the water line work.
Construction of the
bridge wUl be done by the
Tara Group in Lumberton
and will cost about
$523,000. Once work
begins, the bridge will
have to be completed in 120
calendar days or the Tara
Group will have to pay
Continued on page 8
Fire destroys utility barn
MARGARET FISHER
A trash fire that got out
of hand because of heavy
winds destroyed a back
yard utility barn.
The family of Mrs. Joe
Louis Walker were burn
ing trash in a barrel on
Friday night when the
wind picked up and car
ried the flames out of the
barrel, said Fire Marshal
John Long.
The fire, at 237
Hurdletown Road, spread
about 100 feet across a
grassy field and the winds
sent it back towards the
shed. A call was made to
central communications
about 10 p.m. Winfall Fire
Department responded
and Hertford Fire
Department assisted with
a tanker. Long said.
Before fire crews
arrived, the family and
neighbor turned garden
hoses on and sprayed the
barn.
“Their efforts were very
small due to the fact the
wind was blowing so
hard,” Long said. “They
did a great job of holding
it as good as they did.”
The barn was totally
destroyed by the fire, but
no damage occurred to the
home, he said.
Voters^
election
board sold
on DRE
MARGARET FISHER
Now that the public has
had a chance to try out the
new voting machines, it
seems that the vast majori
ty prefers the touch-screen
model to the optical scan.
Both machines are made
by Elections Systems &
Software, the only company
that has been authorized by
the state to supply voting
machines.
Perquimans County is
one of 94 counties that is
having to purchase voting
machines in compliance
with new regulations
requiring paper records.
The iVotronic touch
screen or direct record elec
tronic voting machines are
an update to what
Perquimans residents are
PHOTO BY MARGARET FISHER
Winfall resident Lewis Smith uses the touch-screen
voting machine the Board of Elections hopes to
replace its current out-dated equipment with assis
tance from E.S. & S. representative Tammy Gaskins
(right) and Elections Director Eula Forbes .
currently using. The cost
for 35 machines, training
and supplies is nearly
$175,000.
The optical scan
machines are more expen
sive per unit, but less are
required. The county
would need nine units with
AutoMark marking devices
that are designed for blind
voters and those who have
trouble marking the bal
lots. The cost would be less
than $116,000 for equip
ment, training and sup
plies.
The cost to the county is
nearly $62,000 for the DRE
and less than $7,000 for the
optical scan. The cost dif
ference between the two,
after deducting the $106,000
Continued on page 8
Program restoring quail population
MARGARET FISHER
A local farmer has set
aside 60 acres of his farm
land in the northern end of
the county to increase the
numbers of dwindling
wildlife species.
Doug Temple, 55, is par
ticipating in the Upland
Bird Habitat Buffers initia
tive, a part of the U.S.
Department of
Agriculture’s Conservation
Reserve Program. This pro
gram compensates farmers
for setting aside a portion
of their farms as grassy
borders to promote the bob-
white quail, as weU as other
wUdltfe.
The bobwhite quail, once
prolific throughout the
Southeast, have declined
over the past decades, most
ly because of loss of habi
tat.
Temple, a native of
Pasquotank County, has
hunted most of his life with
his father on the property
located on Turnpike Road.
Eventually, he purchased
the 600 acres to grow corn,
soybeans, wheat and trees
for logging. His son, Wade
Temple, still likes to hunt
there, but hunting is not
like it used to be.
“We hunted this land
years ago,” Temple said,
“and there was right many
quail and right many rab
bits on it. And we noticed,
over the years, the popula
tion has gone down.”
Temple, who co-owns the
logging company Swain &
Street to
be closed
MARGARET FISHER
Residents walking on
Church Street Extended
wiU soon not have to walk
in the street when they get
to the bridge over Skinner’s
Creek. Construction of a
pedestrian bridge will
begin on Monday.
A sidewalk was con
structed last year by the
N.C. Department of
Transportation. But, the
sidewalk ends at both sides
of the bridge, causing walk
ers to have to go out onto
the street to cross the creek.
The new 6-foot walkway
bridge wiU be constructed
next to the current bridge.
Work will take place
between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.
Church Street will be
closed from the closest dri
veways in both directions
for the week of Jan. 23, or
sooner if the bridge is com
pleted before Friday, said
Lee Bundy, transportation
supervisor for DOT.
Drivers can use Edenton
Road Street or the S-Bridge
on Church Street as a
detour in or out of town to
U.S. Highway 17.
Temple in Pasquotank
County, found out about the
buffer program from Quail
Unlimited, a national orga
nization for quail hunters.
“What’s good for quail is
also good for rabbit and
other species,” Temple
said.
Temple, and other par
ticipating farmers, are
compensated with a one
time sign-on bonus of
about $100 per acre and a
maintenance payment of $5
per acre and management
payment of up to $100 per
acre each year for 10 years.
The payments are an
incentive, but not as much
money as Temple could get
if he rented the land for
farming, he said.
Continued on page 8
Weekend
Weather
Thursday
High: 59, Low; 40
Partly Cloudy
Friday
High: 66, Low:52
Partly Cloudy
Saturday
High: 70, Low: 48
Scattered T'storms
'W