National 4-H Week observed
Rage 3
Schools celebrate after-hours
Page 7
Lady Pirates take down Camden
Rage 8
October 4 2006
Vol. 74, No. 44 Hertford, North Carolina 27944
Man dies
in wreck
Saturday
MARGARET FISHER
J
Alcohol is believed to have con
tributed to a man’s death and the
injury of two others in a one-vehi
cle wreck on Saturday, states a
report from the N.C. Highway
Patrol.
At about 3 a.m., 21-year-old
Rigoberto Toledo of 212 Meads
Circle was killed after he lost con
trol of his 1996 Mercury. Toledo
was traveling east on Harvey
Point Road when he crossed over
the center line, then swerved off
to the right after he tried to pull
the car back into the lane. The car
ran into a ditch, went airborne
and struck a utility pole. It landed
upside-down in the front yard at
1860 Harvey Point Road.
Trooper E.D. Goodwin
responded to the accident. Two
passengers, Julio Hernandez, 24,
and Victor Montejo, 23, were seri
ously injured and taken to
Chowan Hospital. Hernandez
lives at the same address as
Toledo. Montejo resides at 213
Meads Circle.
A Chowan Hospital spokesper
son said Tuesday that Hernandez
was treated and released and
there was no record of Montejo
having been brought in.
Man fakes
hit and run
MARGARET FISHER
A man who called 9-1-1 on his
cell phone claiming he was hit by
a van, now faces charges after
police discovered he made the
story up.
On Sept. 26 at about 4:30 p.m.,
Travis Reeves, 24, of 204 King St.
was standing in the roadway of
the 200 block when a van with two
females in it drove by. Police later
found out that Reeves pushed on
the van as it passed him.
But that’s not the story Reeves
told authorities after calling
Central Communications. Reeves
told police he had been hit by a
red van with two females that he
only knew by their nicknames.
Neither the van nor witnesses
were at the scene when Emer-
Continued on page 4
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PERQOIMAffS COU5TT LIBRAHT
110 W ACADEMY ST
HERTFORD, HC 27944-1306
The
10/2/2006
Weekly
Walk on
PHOTO BY MARGARET FISHER
About 250 people raised more than $37,000 for the 7th annual Walk to D'Feet ALS on Saturday.
The event benefits the Jim "Catfish" Hunter ALS Foundation. Hunter, a baseball Hall of Famer,
died on Sept. 9,1999, from the disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, more commonly known as
Lou Gehrig's disease. The ALS Foundation is still accepting donations sent to Jim "Catfish"
Hunter ALS Foundation, P.O. Box 47, Hertford, N.C. 27944.
Sharpe honored as unsung hero
MARGARET FISHER
It was a black pearl affair last
Saturday when nine women,
including one Perquimans, resi
dent, were honored as unsung
heroes at the K.E. White Cpnter
in Elizabeth City
The first of what’s hoped to be
an annual event. The Black
Pearls awards banquet was spon
sored by the Northeastern North
Carolina section of the National
Council of Negro Women. About
400 people attended the banquet,
including former
Congresswoman Eva M. Clayton
who spoke at the event.
Hattie Sharpe, president of the
local Rhema Ministry Institute, a
nonprofit agency located on Don
Juan Road, is the first
Perquimans resident to be hon
ored.
“Some people do a lot of things
for their community that never
are awarded or recognized,” said
event chairwoman Glenda
Griffin, an English professor at
Elizabeth City State University.
“So the idea is to recognize
unsung or unrecognized heroes.”
Nominations were accepted for
a variety of categories and a com
mittee selected th.(^ final recipi
ents. Each of the honored women
received a black pearl necklace
for their contribution to their
communities.
Another resident of
Perquimans, Delores Battle, nom
inated Sharpe as an unsung hero
in the category of reli
gion for her commu
nity work at Rhema.
Battle said she met
Sharpe sometime
after moving to the
area in 1994. As an
involved communi
ty member herself.
Battle found out
that Sharpe had
founded the
Christian-based
organization
Rhema, which helps
both at-risk youth and adults in
education, ministry, health edu
cation and community service.
“(Sharpe is) just one of the
unsung heroes,” Battle said. “She
doesn’t brag about what she does.
She doesn’t just say ‘let’s do it,’
she gets out there and does it.”
Sharpe said that she doesn’t
think she’s done any ftiore than
anyone else has.
^ “I’m just trying to do what
everyone else did for me - (pro
vide) an extra chance and an
opportunity,” she said.
She offers that chance through
a number of services provided by
Rhema. In 1997, she founded a
prayer bible study group. Later,
she formed a simi
lar group for
teenage girls. In
1999, she formed a
homework-career
assistance pro
gram after an
encounter with a
teenage boy who
was failing math
and English
because he could
n’t understand
how to do his
homework and had no
one to help him.
Sharpe also offers a summer
student tutor program. Also, she
helps young people assist resi
dents of nursing homes,
Albemarle Food Bank deliveries
and adults with chronic health
problems.
This, Sharpe has accomplished
on a shoestring, said Battle in her
speech at the banquet.
"...She doesn't
just say, let's do
it,' she gets out
there and does
it."
Delores Battle
Friend and
nominator
Lansing Building Products opens here
MARGARET FISHER
Lansing Building Products
opened its doors to contractors in
April and celebrated its grand
opening on Sept. 26.
The company, founded in 1955
in Richmond, Va., sells wholesale
products, such as siding, win
dows, doors and guttering.
“Exterior building products
are our main focus,” said opera
tions manager Travis Phelps.
They do not sell lumber, but they
do carry items such as composite
decking boards and vinyl
handrail systems for porches.
The decking, which comes in
various colors, doesn’t rot or
splinter and is maintenance-free.
It doesn’t expand and crack from
moisture and is cool on the feet in
the summer, Phelps said.
Windows and doors come with
a lifetime warranty. Windows
have grids and low Ergon gas.
There are also windows that can
withstand high winds.
They also carry vinyl siding or
Hardi plank siding, which comes
primed or in colors. It looks like
wood-grain, but is made of con
crete.
Lansing provides catalogs of
styles and carries tools of the
trade for contractors.
The company brought in three
employees. Chuck Apperson,
branch manager; Chris Smith,
outside sales representative; and
Phelps. It also hired four local
employees. They hope to expand
their personnel by up to two more
employees by the end of the year,
Phelps said.
Business has been successful
since they opened - even outdo
ing other branches in places such
as Minneapolis, Minn., and
Chicago, Ill.
4^ ^ .
H#
PHOTO BY MARGARET FISHER
Lansing Building Products celebrated its grand opening last week
with a ribbon cutting. The company houses more than 20,000
square feet of wholesale exterior building products, such as sid
ing, windows, doors and guttering.
“For the past five or six percent past our quota,” Phelps
months, we’ve been at least 20 said.
Human
bones
found in
church
basement
Skull, leg bones
taken to medical
examiner’s office
MARGARET FISHER
What happened in a local
church may have looked like a
familiar scene of a mystery
movie. But when Charles Eason,
pastor of First Baptist Church,
discovered human bones in the
church basement, he opened up a
real mystery case.
Eason said that he was return
ing a ladder he had removed from
under the stairs of the basement
on Saturday. He was involved in
renovations that have been going
on at the church, located at King
and Hyde Park streets. At about 1
p.m., he found that some items
had fallen over after he had
removed the ladder. As he began
putting the items back, he noticed
a bucket covered with a deterio
rating piece of cloth on top.
Under the cloth was what looked
like an old human skull. Two old
femur bones were found near the
bucket.
When he first arrived, Hertford
Police Officer Eric Priebe thought
that it was a Halloween prank,
said Police Chief Dale Vanscoy.
“After an examination, it was
determined that it was actually
real,” Vanscoy said of the bones.
The State Bureau of
Investigation is involved in the
case. The three bones were placed
in plastic bags and will be taken
to the medical examiner’s office
in Greenville to determine infor
mation such as age, gender and
race,- Vanscoy said. He wasn’t
sure how long it will take to
obtain any information about the
bones. The bones do appear to be
those of an adult, he said.
In addition, the basement was
checked for signs of a possible
shallow grave, but the three bones
were all that was found.
Eason said that he wasn’t
aware of anyone having entered
the basement during the approxi
mately six months he has been
pastor of the church.
Weather
Thursday
High: 83, Low: 60
Isolated Tstorms
Friday
High: 71, Low: 55
Showers
Saturday
High: 68, Low: 57
Showers