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Pledge part of school day
Rage 3
Prepare lawns for hurricanes
Pages
Hall of Fame to induct 06 class
Page?
August 30, 2006
Vol. 74, No. 40 Hertford, North Carolina 27944
HERTFORD
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Weekly
Big girls don t cry
Schools
enrollment
swells to 1800
If the first day of school
is an indicator of how well
the 2006-07 school year will
be, children attending
Perquimans County
Schools are in for a produc
tive year, school officials
said Friday.
Children toting hefty
backpacks, yellow buses
cruising the streets and
highways, and mothers
holding back tears were
familiar sights in
Perquimans County as the
school year got underway
Friday As always, the first
day was filled with enthu
siastic children, eagerly
awaited reunions, and
emotional goodbyes.
School doors were
opened to nearly 1,800 stu
dents, the highest student
enrollment in more than
seven years.
With the exception of a
few transportation woes,
the first day was trouble-
free.
"Anxious parents felt
the need to transport their
children on the first day of
school, causing traffic to
bottleneck at each of the
schools," said
Superintendent Dr.
Kenneth W. Wells. "With
the support of administra
tors and local law enforce
ment partners, the delay to
Continued on page 8
Coiinly, DOT
OKroad paving
Jo and Stuart White take their daughter Breanna to her first day of kindergarten
last Friday. Mom said she tried hard to control her emotions as her youngest child
began school.
MARGARET FISHER
County commissioners
approved a list of priority
roads to be paved presented
by the N.C. Department of
Transportation. . Public
comments regarding a 56-
acre parcel were also heard
at a special called meeting
held Monday night.
DOT has more than
$550,000 allocated to pave
eight roads in the county
during 2006. But after com
missioners’ request to add
Harris Landing Road to the
list, DOT revised it, adding
the request and removing
two other roads.
The revised list,
approved by commission
ers on Monday, includes
paving West Island Road,
Sprindrift, Flyway Drive,
Moonlight Drive, Wildwood
Drive and Poor Hill Road.
Bob Bastek, who lives off
of Poor Hill Road in
Heritage Shores, hopes the
long-awaited paving will be
a reality before the expect
ed Dec. 31 deadline.
Nearly $124,000 of the
total costs will go for sur
veys, maintenance, unfore
seen extra costs and bring
ing Harris Landing Road, a
dirt road, up to minimum
standards.
Two homeowners, who
live on Lazy “W” Road off
of Harris Landing Road in
Woodville, brought pic
tures taken of the sole road
that leads to their homes.
The pictures showed a
muddy trail where resi
dents with cars often park
and walk to their homes,
said Thomas Fleck of 131
Lazy “W” Road.
“I had to get rid of my
car and get a 4-wheel drive
that has ground clear
ance,” he said.
The road currently can
not accommodate ambu
lances, school buses or
even a hearse for its resi
dents, including two handi
capped individuals and a
student, said Carol Dillon,
who owns a rental home
there.
Dillon wrote three state
representatives and two
county commissioners in
April about the problems
with the road.
“I have not received one
response,” she said.
Fleck said he used to
level the road with a trac
tor and, in 1999, he spent
nearly $2,200 to grade and
lay down rock on a portion
of the road. Water stays on
the clay road all the time,
and loggers and the devel
opment of Bay Landing
have made the condition of
the road worse. Fleck said.
Priority roads that did
Continued on page 8
17th century traders to
market wares at festival
County seeks bids for architect
MARGARET FISHER
A 3-day added attrac
tion is planned during the
weekend of Sept. 9 at the
Hearth and Harvest
Festival at the Newbold-
White House.
Colonial Market Days,
originally scheduled for
April, will premiere from
Friday, Sept. 8 to Sunday,
Sept. 10 on the historic
Quaker home site.
The market fair will fea
ture traders, farmers, sol
diers and games for visi
tors, said Miki Nelson, a
reenactor from
Pennsylvania and coordi
nator for the event.
“What we hope the visi
tor comes away with is a
better understanding of
colonial life in the 18th
century and a greater
appreciation of the way of
life of the 18th century
and historic sites that are
left,” Nelson said.
Traders, or sutlers,
would have traded their
wares in the spring and
fall. Reenactors will be dis-
Look
Inside
A-
FOR The 2006
Indian Summer
Oak Leaf
Hearth & Harvest
FESTIVALS
guide!
playing and selling crafts
and other items on blan
kets during the market
fair. Members of Eastern
Colonial Trading
Company, as well as the
Coalition of Historical
Trekkers, will be on hand
to answer questions about
the 1700s.
Games for ladies
include a vegetable hunt
and whiskey run.
Participants hunt for veg
etables in a haystack and
fill their aprons with as
many as they can. Women
often used their aprons
while harvesting because
baskets weren’t readily
available to , everyone.
Nelson said.
“A lot of things we deem
as commonplace actually
weren’t then,” she said.
The whiskey run is an
agility game where ladies
carry a glass on a stick
through an obstacle
course.. Originally, a broad
sword was used, rather
than a stick. Nelson said.
Men can participate in
a fire-starting activity or a
gentleman’s shoot, if they
have a muzzleloader, or
primitive black powder
rifle.
There will also be chil
dren’s activities and
demonstrations. Visitors
can tour the historic home
and see the periauger, a
period reproduction boat
once plentiful on the
Perquimans River.
Coordinators for the
event hope that the market
fair will be held annually.
All profits from the fair
will support the Newbold-
White House.
New EMS
building in
works
MARGARET FISHER
Perquimans County
Emergency Medical
Services has upgraded its
medical support level this
month and is now making
plans for a new building.
While EMS was one of
the first in the state to
obtain EMT certification, it
is nearly the last (there are
three remaining) that has
upgraded from EMT-Basic
to EMT-Intermediate. The
higher certification level
allows EMT-I staff to
administer pain, diabetic
and other medications and
use a tube to get air into the
lungs of a patient who is
not breathing.
The upgrade will elimi
nate much of the transfer
ring of patients from
Perquimans to
Pasquotank’s ambulances
near the border, said Larry
Chappell, EMS director.
Requirements include addi
tional supplies and an
EMT-I employee on duty at
all times.
In addition, about 17 of
the 45 employees and volun
teers have personally
reached the intermediate
level, Chappell said.
The new building, esti
mated to cost less than $1
million, is to be built at the
Commerce Centre. The
exact parcel has not been
decided upon until an
architect can make a rec
ommendation. The bidding
PHOTO BY MARGARET FISHER
The EMS building work room is also a passageway
from the front door and opens directly to offices and
the one bathroom/shower room.
period, opened on Aug. 8,
will close on Sept. 21.
The current 6,000-
square-foot building houses
six bays for four ambu
lances, an EMS car and two
water rescue boats, truck
and personal watercraft.
The portion with four bays
has leaked water on the
floor when it rains ever
since Hurricane Isabel tore
off part of the gutter,
Chappell said.
The nondescript
entrance leads into a large
meeting and work room
which also acts as a pas
sageway leading to two
offices, a kitchen, lounge
and the one unisex rest
room/shower. The only
windows are on the two
exterior doors. A bed is
located in an office, but
night crews usually sleep
on the couches in the
lounge, Chappell said.
“They’re really just kind
of making do in the build
ing,” Perquimans County
Manager Bobby Darden
said.
Darden said that about
$2 million has accumulated
in the general fund balance,
but a partial loan may need
to be obtained so as not to
deplete the funds. The
county expects to pay about
$150,000 more per year for
pay increases and addition
al hiring because of the
changes. Also, there will be
increased costs for equip
ment and medications.
Because the county is
not replacing an ambu
lance this year, there is at
least $85,000 available to
partially cover those costs,
Darden said. Revenues,
taxes and fees will also help
defray costs, particularly
next year when an ambu
lance will need to be pur
chased.
The Commerce Centre
was chosen because it is a
central location in the
county.
“I don’t think we’re out
of keeping with what is
going to be out there (at the
Centre),” Darden said.
“...It’s critical to be in the
central part of the county,
but also close to Highway
17 and the (high rise)
bridge.”
Officials hope the new
building will have about
10,000 square feet with up
to 10 bays.
Accommodations for at
least three night employ
ees, at least four restrooms,
showers and additional
office and storage spaces
are planned. They also
hope to have a garage for a
washer, a dryer and biohaz
ard waste.
Additional space may
house ‘ Central
Communications, Darden
said.
Weekend
Weather
Thursday
High: 80, Low: 74
Tshowers
Friday
High: 81, Low: 71
Rain/Thunder/Wind
Saturday
High: 87, Low: 72
Isolated T'Storms
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