i
Senior Health Fair planned
Rage 3
A Walk Back In Time
Rage 4
Relay for Life set for this weekend
Page 4
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_UIMANS
May 10, 2006
Vol 74, No. 19 Hertford, North Carolina 27944
I'VFiC'.RIVED
MAY 1 0 2006
Schools lockdown after gunshots heard
CHRIS WHIPPLE
Staff Writer
Two Perquimans County
schools closed their
entrances and exits to all
visitors for about 30 min
utes Friday after students
and staff reported hearing
gunshots, a school official
said.
No one was hurt, but
Hertford Grammar and
Perquimans County High
schools went on lockdown
as part of the Safe Schools
Plan, said Brenda Lassiter,
a spokeswoman for the
school district.
During lockdowns, no
one but law enforcement
officials are allowed entry
or exit from a school.
The gunshots originated
in the vicinity of King
Street, said Hertford Police
Chief Dale Vanscoy.
“Shots were fired, staff
heard it, reported it, and,
for safety purposes, the
schools went on lockdown,”
Vanscoy said. “The shots
were in the area of King
Street and Railroad
Avenue, between the high
school and grammar
school.”
Vanscoy said officers
responded and talked to
witnesses in the area who
confirmed that there were
shots, and who saw a white
sport utility vehicle leav
ing the area.
Police were investigat
ing the incident but no sus
pects had been identified
by late Friday afternoon,
Vanscoy said.
“We had children out
side at Hertford Grammar
and the high school and
gunshots rang out,”
Lassiter Said. “Both princi
pals put their schools on
lock-down as part of the
Safe Schools Plan. We want
ed to keep intruders who
might be involved from
fleeing into our school
buildings.”
Lassiter used the schools
Connect-Ed communica
tion system to call parents
Friday afternoon to let
them know what happened.
The new communication
system can transmit a
recorded message to about
3,000 telephones in about
10 minutes, Lassiter said.
“This lockdown was for
precaution only and both
schools were able to secure
their buildings and stu
dents within four minutes,”
Continued on page 4
County water meters
to be read monthly
Gathering for prayer
MARGARET FISHER
Perquimans County resi
dents can expect to start
getting their water meters
read by a county contractor
beginning with their June
bills.
Nearly 30 years ago,
about 2,000 residents were
reading their own meters
and having it read annually
by the county. But with pop
ulation growth more than
doubled to about 4,700 cus
tomers and drinking water
supplies no longer unlimit
ed, that method has become
inefficient and costly.
Bellwether Management
Solutions, the same compa
ny that reads county elec
tric meters, will be reading
water meters on a monthly
basis. Customers may find
that they have a previous
charge or a credit on their
first bill to “catch up” to the
new billing system.
“(Charges) depend on
the diligence of reading or
guessing,” Darden said.
If, for some reason such
as dogs in the yard, the
meter cannot be read, an
average of the previous
three months will be used.
Customers’ bills are cur
rently being read to estab
lish a base read. June bUls
will be read between mid-
May and mid-June. The
new bills will accurately
show thousands of gallons
used and the charge,
Darden said.
The benefits of monthly
billing are that customers
won’t have to read their
meters, won’t have a large
“catch up” bill once a year
and will be able to detect
leaks sooner, said
Perquimans County
Manager Bobby Darden.
A new leak policy
replaces the former large
losses of water policy Now,
the burden of proof falls on
Continued on page 8
PHOTO BY SUSAN HARRIS
Over 80 people gathered on the courthouse lawn last Thursday at noon to observe National Day of Prayer. The
local event was sponsored by Communities in Schools and the Perquimans County Schools Minister's for
Education Council.
Inspection sticker
thief nabbed
Accident
MARGARET FISHER
A man’s clean record
enabled him to reduce his
felony theft charges to a
misdemeanor for stealing
state inspection stickers
from a local auto shop.
John “David” Love, 41, of
Elizabeth City was charged
with two counts of posses
sion of inspection stickers
unlawfully and four counts
of felony larceny in March.
“Most people don’t know
(unlawful possession of
state inspection stickers is)
a felony,” said H.H. Gillam,
inspector for N.C. Division
of Motor Vehicles.
Love told District Court
Judge C. Christopher Bean
that he had a lapse of think
ing when he took four
inspection stickers from
Wayne’s Auto on Snug
Harbor Road.
Because of his clean
record and cooperative atti
tude, his charges were
reduced, Gillam said. In
addition. Love won’t lose
his job, he said.
Love, who has worked at
Coast Guard Base
Elizabeth City for about a
year and a half and as an
air traffic controller for 17
years, made an appoint
ment at Wayne’s to get one
of his four vehicles inspect
ed. Owner Wayne Ward was
out purchasing an extra
supply of inspection stick
ers when Love arrived at
Continued on page 8
Bnisko fire ruled
arson by SBI lab
PHOTO BY MARGARET FISHER
Steve Tresider of Just Truckin' in Florence, S.C., lands
the back end of a tracker-trailer in a ditch in front of
White Hat Seed in New Hope after picking up a load
of seed. Tresider used the narrower of two driveways
to exit during his first visit to the plant. It took a trac
tor pulling from the front and a tow truck using a
cable on the side to upright the trailer. In the mean
time, the eighteen-wheeler's landing gear had kept it
from toppling.
■ CHRIS WHIPPLE
The Daily Advance
The Hertford Police
Department has received
confirmation that a fire
that destroyed a home-
building and design firm's
offices in the county com
merce park last month was
deliberately set.
The State Bureau of
Investigation's crime lab
determined last week that
gasoline was present in soil
samples taken from the
rear of the building,
according to Hertford
Police Chief Dale Vanscoy.
The single-story brick
building at 1124 Harvey
Point Road in the
Commerce Center burned
Sunday, April 16.
The building, owned by
Michael Brusko, was the
Commerce Center's first,
built in 2001, Vanscoy said.
Since the fire, the home-
building and design firm
has set up temporary
offices in a trailer at the
site.
Brusko said he received
many offers of assistance
from the community after
the fire.
“There has just been an
overwhelming amount of
Continued on page 8
Canvass affirms election results
SUSAN HARRIS
Tuesday’s canvass affirmed the
May 2 primary election results.
According to Eula Forbes,
Board of Elections Director, final
vote totals for local offices were:
Sheriff
Eric Tilley 1,494
David Layne 735
Clerk of Superior Court
Todd Tilley 1,133
Sheila Onley 1,093
Board of Education
Wallace Nelson 1,127
Walter Leigh 488
Gloria Mason 357
Vivian Winslow 356
Gary Saul 166
Records show that 2,621 of
Perquimans’ 8,485 registered vot
ers cast ballots in the primary,
with 499 of those voters using
either absentee or One Stop bal
lots prior to May 2.
It was the first election during
which the new voting machines
were used, and elections officials
reported that there were no prob
lems with the equipment. Final
totals were called in from all
seven precincts just over an hour
after the polls closed at 7:30 p.m.
There were also no delays or
problems at the polling places on
election day
There will be no local races in
the November general election.
Local birding trails approved
MARGARET FISHER
Two local paddle trails in
Perquimans County have been
approved to be a part of the North
Carolina Birding Trail.
The Upper Perquimans River
Trail begins at The Teachers Park,
a canoe docking facility and small
boat ramp in Belvidere, and contin
ues for at least five miles. The Mill
Creek Paddle Trail begins at
Larry’s Drive-In and is about two
and a half miles. Another trail.
Raccoon Creek Paddle Trail, was
not approved but can be accessed at
the same location.
“(Having trails approved) is a
pretty big deal,” said Wendy Jewett
of Historic Hertford Inc. “It’s a
huge thing for birders.”
Salinda Daley is the N.C. Birding
Trail coordinator with the N.C.
Wildlife Resources Commission. A
three-panel nomination committee
visits sites that are submitted for
review of whether they are suitable
as bird watching trails, she said.
The site must have public access,
be able to withstand a potential
increase in public use of the site
and be a quality habitat where
birds can be seen along the trail.
Public access shouldn’t disrupt
the habitats of wUdlife - particular
ly those of rare birds, Daley said.
Continued on page 8
Weekend
Weather
Thursday
High: 84, Low: 62
Sunny
Friday
High: 79, Low: 62
Scahered T'storms
Saturday
High: 78, Low: 59
Thunder Showers
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