Hertford native honored
Rage 3
Ulman serves in Iraq
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JVs clinch conference crown
Rage?
P10/C5
PERQUIMASS CaVBTY LIBRARY
110 W ACADEMY ST ^
HEHTFCHD, HC 279'S'3-'305
March 1, 2006
Vol. 74, No. 9 Hertford, North Carolina 27944
Weekly
Fire blazes from vacant house Police
MARGARET FISHER
Using an abandoned
house for drug activity and
to keep warm may have
caused a fire that destroyed
a Hertford house.
The fire broke out at
about 8:15 a.m. on
Thursday at the back cor
ner of an abandoned house,
located at 323 Market St.,
said Hertford Fire Chief
Robert Reed.
“When we got here, the
house was fully engulfed
with fire,” Reed said.
Because of the intensity
. of the fire, firefighters
couldn’t enter the house to
get it under control. It took
about 40 minutes to put the
fire out, Reed said.
An excavator was called
in to pull the house down to
keep it from being a hazard
to residents and allow an
inspection to take place,
said Hertford Police Chief
Dale Vanscoy
No one was found in the
house. There was no elec
trical power to the house,
and neighbors said they
didn’t see any activity
around the house that
morning. Around noon,
police determined that the
fire likely started in a bath
tub.
“It appears they were
using an old bathtub,”
Vanscoy said. “They were
putting stuff in it and
burning stuff.”
Hay was found on the
PHOTO BY MARGARET FISHER
Firefighters worked to quell a blaze at 323 Market Street last Thursday. Fire and police official suspect that
vagrants using a bathtub as a heat source may have ignited the fire in the abandoned structure.
ground near the building.
On a number of occa
sions, officers had spotted
groups of people loitering
on the front porch. When
officers tried to question
them, they ran through the
house and out the back
door, Vanscoy said.
“We’ve had problems
with people going into
vacant houses this year.
(The house that burned
down was) in a drug area,”
he said.
Continued on page 10
Recycling saves money
A recycling system implemented last year allows resi
dents to put all materials for recycling except glass
products in one container, rather than having to sort
each type before delivering it to a convenience center.
Once collected from the convenience centers, the
materials are taken to a central warehouse for pro
cessing.
MARGARET FISHER
A $12,000 study of the
cost effectiveness of recy
cling in three counties
revealed that recycling
saves about $79 per ton.
The American Plastics
Council, a division of
Albemarle Regional Health
Services, appropriated the
funds for the study through
the Perquimans-Chowan-
Gates Landfill
Commission.
The initial part of the
study tracked the tonnage
collected from October
through December, &s well
as the cost of operating the
13 convenience sites.
Ron Perkins, a consul
tant with R.W Beck, Inc.,
sorted and weighed sam
ples of solid waste and
recyclables at selected sites
in January. The study
helped determine how
much material is actually
recyclable and assess the
savings of recycling.
In addition, APC now
collects all types of plastic
bottles and jugs. Prior to
July 2005, the company
restricted collection to two
types of plastic, numbers
one and two.
Also, residents who
bring their recyclables to
any of the convenience
sites do not have to sort
them into different contain
ers. Now, plastics, card
board, steel and aluminum
cans, newspapers, maga
zines, catalogs, mail, office
paper, phone books and
paperboard (cereal and
shoe boxes) can be placed
in one container. Only glass
is collected in a separate
container and taken to an
Elizabeth City company.
“They’re making it a
whole lot easier for resi
dents to recycle,” said Anne
Blindt, recycling coordina
tor with Albemarle
Regional Solid Waste
Management Authority,
which covers seven coun
ties.
The APC study found
that Perquimans County
receives about $20 from
Tidewater Fibre
Corporation in
Chesapeake, Va., for each
ton of recyclables collected
Continued on page 10
look
into
thefts
MARGARET FISHER
A rash of thefts over the
past two months has
Hertford Police Chief Dale
Vanscoy urging people to
lock their cars and keep
valuables out of sight.
Ninety-five percent of
the vehicles were not
locked, he said. Those that
were, displayed valuables
in plain view.
It only takes a moment to
run inside a shop or home
and return to find that your
purse is gone, said Vanscoy.
“We started looking at
the reports,” Vanscoy said,
“and what it all came down
to is what we caU crimes of
opportunity”
Items such as purses,
camera equipment, cell
phones and a laptop com
puter have been disappear
ing out of parked vehicles
from all areas of town,
Vanscoy said.
It’s happening at schools,
downtown and in front of
residences. As many as
seven incidents were
reported in the last two
months at ' Hertford
Grammar School where
parents run in briefly to
pick up their children.
Some unreported inci
dents have occurred at local
churches, particularly on
Wednesday evenings. Police
found, too late to apprehend
anyone, that persons were
seen checking doors on
vehicles in church parking
lots and on nearby streets.
Officers have stepped up
patrols in vehicles and on
foot to try to deter the per
petrators, but they hope
that residents will help
police do their job by
reporting suspicious activi
ty
“If you see somebody
that is looking funny, look
ing suspicious, please give
us a caU,” Vanscoy said.
Some suspicious behav
ior includes people walking
down streets or in parking
lots looking into car win
dows or pulling on door
Continued on page 10
Weekend
Weather
Thursday
High: 76, Low: 45
Partly Qoudy
Friday
High: 59, Low: 36
Mostly Sunny
Saturday
High: 54, Low: 37
Sunny
Brinn house sold, to be moved in April
MARGARET FISHER
The Brinn house at 1010
W. Grubb St. may finally be
moving so the town can use
the property as a spray irri
gation site for wastewater.
For about two years, the
town of Hertford has been
trying to get the house sold,
but the deal went sour with
in the last few months.
Now, a new bid has been
accepted by Dennis
Williams of Virginia
Beach, Va. Town officials
are anxious for the house to
be moved.
“We’d like to have the
house moved,” said Town
Manager John
Christensen. “It’s not doing
us any good sitting there.”
Williams gave the town a
deposit of about $750 after
his $15,000 bid was accept
ed. The sale price is $5,000
less than the previous
potential homeowner was
willing to pay.
The first accepted bid
came about a year ago from
Hattie McEwan of upstate
New York.
McEwan said that she
has property on Pender
Road where she planned to
have the house moved. She
had been in contact with
Worth H. Hare & Son House
Moving in Edenton, who
said that they couldn’t
move the house across one
of the bridges on the way to
her property. Hare could
not be reached for com
ment.
McEwan asked realtors
for help in finding a closer
I
piece of property, but she
wasn’t able to find any
thing suitable, she said.
Living out of state made
the process more difficult.
“I tried very hard to get
land, but I couldn’t get
any,” McEwan said. “...I
guess I didn’t know the
right person to caU. I never
could reach anyone. 1 was
told there was no property
available.”
The Perquimans County
native had planned to use
the house as a vacation
home.
Williams plans to move
the house to a canal-front
lot in Riverwood, which he
said that he purchased on
Sunday. The house, built in
the 1940s, was just the pro
ject he was searching for - a
Continued on page 10
Local candidates for May election
as of the end of the filing period Tuesday at noon
Clerk of Superior Court
Sheila H. Onley
Todd W. Tilley
County Commissioner
Ben Hobbs
Tammy Miller-White
Charles Ward
School Board
Wallace Nelson
Walter Leigh
Vivian Bean Winslow
Gary Saul
Gloria Mason
Sheriff
David Layne
Eric V. Tilley
N.C.House of Representatives
T. Kyle Jones (filed in Perquimans)