Mary Chappell White turns 100
Pages
Church helps Katrina victims
Pages
Sea Tow plans benefit boat show
Rage 8
March 8, 2006
Voi. 74, No. 10 Hertford, North Carolina 27944
EERTFr.
--1336
The
.j
Perquimans
Weekly
Woman backs into RBC bank
MARGARET FISHER
It looked like a drive-in
cash heist when a woman
backed her car through the
front doors into the RBC
Centura last Friday.
It was a near-perfect
parking job if it had been
planned, except that Doris
Spellman Felton, 70, didn’t
plan to park her car in the
bank’s foyer.
Instead, the resident of
353 Chinquapin Road in
Tyner was attempting to
parallel park in front of the
bank. As she was backing
into a parking space, her
accelerator pedal seemed to
have stuck, she said. The
engine revved and the
brakes wouldn’t stop her
four-door 2005 Toyota
Camry
“She backed around and
hit the corner (of the curb)
with enough force that it
knocked the car straight,”
said Hertford Police Chief
Dale Vanscoy
When the car hit the
curb, it jolted the vehicle
perpendicular to the side
walk. Tire marks on the
sidewalk at the right side of
the bank’s doorway appear
to show that the right side'
took most of the impact and
the tires were spinning
Continued on page 8
^ ''UV. V-CIUUK,
PHOTO BY SUSAN HARRIS
Doris Spellman Felton of Tyner said her accelerator stuck, sending her car backing through the front doors of
RBC Centura Bank Friday afternoon and into the lobby. No one wa^ hurt in the accident.
Town
seeks
bigger
sewer
MARGARET FISHER
The Hertford town
council approved a revi
sion to the new waste-
water treatment plant
which will increase
capacity by 300,000 gal
lons per day. It will also
make the town better pre
pared to handle increas
ing development
requests.
The present waste-
water plant can treat
400,000 gallons per day.
The new plant would
treat 700,000 gallons of
which 100,000 gallons
have been requested by
the town of Winfall.
The town is seeking an
additional 1-foot width to
the aeration basins,
which would increase the
capacity to 1 million gal
lons per day, said
Continued on page 8
Hertford
looks to
save
money
MARGARET FISHER
Most everyone is looking
for ways to save money, and
the town of Hertford is no
different. The town has
hired a consultant to search
for purchase overpayments.
If he finds any, the town
will save money.
Robert S. Segal, a certi
fied public accountant from
High Point, has been hired
to study the expense
reports to find ways for the
town to reduce costs.
Some of those expenses
include long distance and
ceU phone services, heating
fuel and chemicals for
water treatment.
Continued on page 8
f i:
s 1
\
\'
Fire threatens five homes
MARGARET FISHER
An put of control fire
that came close to destroy
ing five houses last
Thursday underscores the
need for residents to be
careful when burning trash
and yard debris.
The fire got out of con
trol when Raleigh Felton of
200 Bethany Church Road
in Belvidere was burning
limbs on his property.
Armed with a bucket of
water, Felton couldn’t con
tain the fire as weather con
ditions proved ideal for
spreading it.
This time of year is par
ticularly windy and, cou
pled with low humidity and
warmth, causes dry air and
vegetation, said
Perquimans County Fire
Marshal John Long.
While there is currently
no ban on burning trash
and debris, state residents
are cautioned to be careful
when burning this spring.
“Right now. North
Carolina officials are ask
ing to please not burn any
thing as long as the wind is
blowing and things are
dry,” Long said. “Dry is the
key word.”
Just like the clothes on a
line dry faster on warm and
windy days, fire burns
faster, too. Long said.
Spring frosts kill the tops
of grass, making them
Continued on page 8
PHOTO BY MARGARET FISHER
A four-vehicle accident on U.S. Highway 17 and Church
Street temporarily disrupted traffic, but resulted in no
major injuries.
Faulty brakes may have
caused 4-vehicle wreck
Schools earn national recognition
Weekend
Weather
Thursday
High: 71, Low: 58
Parry Cloudy
Friday
High: 76, Low: 57
Thunderstorms
Saturday
High: 73, Low: 59
Partly Cloudy
89076 47143
MARGARET FISHER
A Virginia man who ran
a red light caused a four-
vehicle wreck on U.S.
Highway 17 and Church
Street last week.
At about 12:45 p.m.,
David Johnathan Janes, 21,
of 517 Shakespeare Dr. in
Virginia Beach, was driv
ing south on the highway
when he drove his green
1998 Ford F450 company
truck through a red light.
At the same time,
Thomas Harry Winslow, 62,
of No. 2 Marina Village No.
14-B in Hertford, was driv
ing his silver 2006 Ford F-
150 pickup from Harvey-
Point Road straight across
to Church Street.
When Winslow got in the
middle of the intersection,
Janes’ truck hit the passen
ger side doors of his truck
and spun Winslow’s vehicle
around 180 degrees, said
Hertford Police Chief Dale
Vanscoy.
Winslow’s truck then
backed into two other vehi
cles that were stopped and
waiting to turn right from
Church Street onto the
highway. The two vehicles
were driven by Jessica Jay
Johnson and Anna Maria
Mallory, both of Elizabeth
City.
Mallory was transported
to Albemarle Hospital, and
later released. Janes suf
fered an injury to his head
when the airbags in his
truck deployed, Vanscoy
said. No additional injuries
were available.
Janes was charged with
failure to stop at a red light
and is to appear in
Perquimans County
District Court on April 26.
Janes said that he was
heading to a job at Harvey
Point Bombing for his
employer, Virginia
Restaurant Service, when
the brakes stopped work
ing.
Continued on page 8
SUSAN HARRIS
Perquimans County
Schools’ use of technology
and its integration of the
community in the process
earned the system a nation
al award.
Superintendent Dr.
Kenneth Wells and 13 other
employees who have played
significant roles in the inte
gration of technology into
the schools and community
traveled to Washington,
D.C. earlier this week to
accept the honor.
The TEAM Award recog
nizes a team in a school dis
trict or consortium of
school districts and educa
tion agencies whose impact
on technology’s role in
transforming learning has
been significant. While any
team could apply, those
applicants with teams con
sisting of key leadership,
such as the superintendent,
chief technologist, chief
curriculum leader, teach
ers, parents, students and
others were considered the
ideal team. Perquimans’
team did consist of all
those resource people.
School systems from
across the country submit
ted documentation of their
system’s use of technology
to their respective state
education agencies.
Perquimans was chosen by
the North Carolina State
Department of Public
Instruction as the state
winner, and the submission
was forwarded to the
national committee.
Perquimans was chosen
.the school system in the
United States best meeting
the parameters of the tech
nology award.
Award criteria included:
Leadership: Providing
leadership in the applica
tion of information tech
nologies to increase oppor
tunities and accessibility
for student learning.
Building community:
Creating communication
vehicles that help parents,
teachers and educational
leaders form a partnership
to engage students in the
learning process.
Innovation: Using tech
nology to provide solutions
that are based on best prac
tices and can be replicated
to meet challenges such as
using data to improve deci
sion-making, providing
increased access to educa
tion through such media as
online learning, linking
homes to schools and to the
broader community, and
providing access and solu
tions for all segments of
learners in order to bridge
the digital divide that sepa
rates the affluent from the
poor.
Impact: Making a differ
ence by creating major
change in the district or
agencies.
Public/private partner
ships: Developing impor
tant effective public and/or
private sector partnerships
and policies that provide
connectivity to learners in
schools.
The local school system
has placed a high priority
on using technology to
overcome the barriers of
isolation and poverty,
according- to school offi
cials. Because the system
operates in an economical
ly depressed county, the dis
trict has obtained grants,
donations ' and state and
federal funding to provide
computers in classrooms
and media centers in all
county schools.
Local funds have provid
ed technology facilitators
to work with teachers and
students and ensure that
Continued on page 8