EMC trust celebrates milestone
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County represented in Sr. Games
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Sunday school lesson
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July 5, 2006
Voi. 74, No. 27 Hertford, North Carolina 27944
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Perquimans
Weekly
BeMdere
man
kiUedin
wreck
CHRIS WHIPPLE
The Daily Advance
A Perquimans County
man died Monday, June 26
in a single-vehicle accident
on Beech Springs Road,
officials said last week.
Willie James Payne, 59, of
836 Gliden Road, Belvidere,
died about 4:50 p.m. after
losing control of his 1978
Ford pickup truck, accord
ing to Sgt. J. Cotton, of the
N.C. Highway Patrol.
Payne, an auto mechan
ic, had been driving south
east on Beech Springs
Road, which is a curvy sec
ondary road off Center Hill
Highway and about four
miles west of Hertford,
when he lost control of his
vehicle in a curve. Cotton
said. The truck slammed
into a ditch embankment
and flipped over, ejecting
Payne from the vehicle, he
said.
According to Cotton,
Payne was traveling faster
than the 55 mph posted
speed limit for Beech
Springs Road. He also was
not wearing a seat belt.
Cotton said.
Plane crashes near Winfall
CHRIS WHIPPLE
The Daily Advance
A biplane crash-landed at an
airstrip in Perquimans County
Sunday after its landing gear hit a
power line. The pilot and passen
ger were transported to Albemarle
Hospital, where they were treated
for what appeared to be minor
injuries, authorities said.
CIS gets
$96K in
The Acrosport II - a single-pro
peller biplane that enthusiasts
build from a kit - crashed just
before noon at Craft Air Services, a
grass landing strip on Swamp Road
near Winfall.
The passenger in the plane, and
its owner, was Eric Wright from
Newport News, Va. The man pilot
ing the aircraft was James
Tarkington, a flight instructor
from Chesapeake, Va., according to
School is in
Perquimans County Sheriff Eric
Tilley.
Tilley and Perquimans County
Emergency Manager Jarvis
Winslow responded to the crash,
along with the N.C. Highway Patrol
and the Belvidere and Winfall vol
unteer fire departments.
There was no fire and little dam
age associated with the crash,
Winslow said.
“There was not even the smell of
a fuel spiU,” Winslow said. “It was
almost just no damage. The plane
looked like it just sat down. It could
have been a lot worse.”
Winslow said on impact the
plane's landing gear splayed out on
either side, beneath the wings, and
the plane landed on its belly.
The owner of the landing strip,
Craig Craft, saw the plane come
down.
Continued on page 8
grants
MARGARET FISHER
Communities in Schools
of Perquimans County has
been awarded a $72,000
grant from the Governor’s
Crime Commission along
with a $24,000 match from
Communities in Schools of
North Carolina for
Families First.
The monies are to be
used for school-based
crime prevention pro
grams. CIS of Perquimans
has received half of the
total, or $48,000, while the
remaining half will be
awarded next year.
CIS will use the funds to
enhance the Judicial
Continued on page 6
Ward saves historic house
MARGARET FISHER
Some people save stray
dogs by bringing them
home. But Charles Ward
saved an old house from
being destroyed by pur
chasing it for $2,000.
The catch? He had to
move it. But the lot where
he planned to move the
house would have required
moving a number of large
power lines - a costly job.
So Ward purchased anoth
er lot in February on
Holiday Island Road that
required less expense in
moving utility lines.
In addition, he has to
restore it. It wasn’t that
Ward needed something to
do. As an auto parts and
hardware store owner,
county commissioner and
a doer of numerous proj
ects, he stays busy.
“I always like a chal
lenge,” he said. “I hated to
see (the house) torn down.”
The 1773 home, the Isaac
White House, was one
Ward had seen almost daily
when he drove a school bus
through his native Bethel
community in high school
back in the 1950s. Ward
knew the owner, Walter
White, and his family The
home, located at 687 Pender
Road, had been in the
White family since the
1800s, Ward said.
“I just thought it was a
beautiful place, and I want
to put it back like it was
then,” he said.
White left the home to
L.C. and Faye Proctor. The
couple donated it to
Preservation North
Carolina in 2005 because
they believed that it has
significance, however, they
intend to build another
home in the same location,
said Claudia Deviney,
regional director of PNC’s
Continued on page 6
PHOTO BY MARGARET FISHER
Chi'Mur Knight receives a certificate and keys to her
new home purchased through the assistance of the
USDA's Rural Development office in Winton. Pictured
(left to right) are Linda Barrett, Knight, Sharon
Cooper, Vickie Winslow, Lynetta Jordan, and Teresa
Winslow, broker/realtor at Taylor Mueller Realty.
SHI
7^. ..
Town vs. Harris
ends in draw
PHOTO BY MARGARET FISHER
Mustafa Holley, 6, is getting ready to begin his read
ing session with student tutor Kierra Shields, 12, using
his homemade notebook during one of Rhema
Ministry Institute's summer tutoring sessions last
week. Other student tutors (not pictured) include
JaQuasia Griffin, 11, Destinee Thatch, 10, and Shavona
Costen, 12.
Rhema offers summer
tutoring program
MARGARET FISHER
Four students are giving
up their free time this sum
mer to provide learning
experiences for their
younger peers. They are
tutors at Rhema Ministry
Institute, a nonprofit
agency.
The students include
JaQuasia Griffin, 11,
Kierra Shields, 12, Destinee
Thatch, 10, and Shavona
Costen, 12.
“We found that some
times students receive bet
Continued on page 6
MARGARET FISHER
After 10 years of the
town of Hertford dealing
with the removal of two
mobile homes, the case is
called even - thousands of
dollars after litigation
began.
The mobile homes,
owned by the defendants
Jesse L. Harris and
Elizabeth Clark Harris,
were demolished under the
town’s minimum housing
ordinance in Nov. 1999.
Beginning in 2001, the town
sought compensation for
the demolition of the
homes, formerly located at
603 and 605 Pennsylvania
Ave.
In an appeals suit in May
2005, the N.C. Court of
Appeals reversed and
remanded an earlier ver
dict back to Perquimans
Civil District Court.
In a jury trial heard
before Edgar Barnes,
District Court Judge for
the First District, the town
was awarded $2,250 for the
cost of removal and demo
lition of the homes. At the
same time, the value of the
homes and their contents
was determined to be
$2,250, eliminating it from
a lien.
“I’m very satisfied with
that (verdict),” said Town
Manager John
Christensen.
Back in April 1996, the
town had followed standard
procedures for attempting
to clean up and remove
uninhabitable homes. The
building inspector filed a
complaint and the Harrises
received a notice of hear
ing. Neither Harris attend
ed the hearing on May 10,
1999.
The building inspector
entered ah order on June 2,
Knight gets home through USDA
MARGARET FISHER
President George W.
Bush designated June as
National Homeownship
Month - a time to reflect on
the important role home-
ownership plays. And
Perquimans County resi
dent Chi’Mur Knight is
doing just that as a first
time buyer of a newly con
structed home.
Like numerous other
Americans, Knight didn’t
qualify for a conventional
loan. But with the assis
tance of Vickie Winslow,
mortgage loan underwriter
at the U.S. Department of
Agriculture’s Rural
Development office in
Winton, she was able to
realize her dream of own
ing her own home.
“It’s actually a multi
faceted blessing because
there are so many benefits
to owning your own home,”
Knight said.
The house she bought on
June 30 is located at 810
Grubb Street. The 3-bed
room, 2-bath home was sold
to Knight by Sharon
Cooper, general contractor
for First Class
Homebuilders &
Development, for $128,600.
Knight was renting a
home in Elizabeth City and
works at the Albemarle
Commission in Hertford.
At the age of 30, Knight,
who has two children, was
looking for a secure invest
ment, rather than to con
tinue renting.
“Sometimes rent is high
er than what a new loan
payment will be,” Winslow
said.
Knight’s first step in the
buying process was to visit
Northeastern Community
Development Corporation
in Camden. There, she was
referred to other agencies,
including Rural
Development, and busi
nesses that could help her
Continued on page 6
1999 stating that the homes
were not repairable and
must be removed or demol
ished. The Harrises had
until July 23, 1999 to com
ply with the order. They did
not appeal it or comply.
The town’s board of
commissioners adopted an
ordinance in September
1999 declaring the property
unfit for human habitation.
The Harrises made no
attempt to comply or
remove any property they
deemed valuable from the
premises. In November, the
mobile homes were demol
ished.
In January 2001, the
town filed suit seeking
compensation to satisfy a
lien on the property for the
cost of demolition. In
October 2003, Perquimans
Civil District Court ruled
in favor of the plaintiff and
the Harrises filed a coun
terclaim denying that a
lien was lawful. In
February 2004, the town
filed a summary judge
ment, which was granted.
That’s when the
Harrises appealed. The
appellate court, heard by
Robin Hudson in Raleigh,
found that the district
court had erred in granting
the summary judgement.
The court decided that con
sideration should have
been given as to whether or
not the property had any
value because the town did
not attempt to sell the
mobUe homes or their con
tents, as stated in the
statutes.
Because of health rea
sons, the Harrises were
represented last week by
their son, Clark Harris,
who said that the homes
and their contents had a
“ballpark value” of more
than $5,000.
Continued on page 6
Weekend
Weather
Thursday
High: 79, Low: 69
Scattered Tstorms
Friday
High: 84, Low: 68
Partly Cloudy
Saturday
High: 86, Low: 70
Sunny