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MANS
AprM1l72007
Voi. 75, No. IS Hertford, North Carolina 27944
Weekly
causes
injuries
MARGARET FISHER
Speed was a likely factor
in a wreck that sent a driv
er to the hospital and left
three others .with injuries.
The one-car accident
occurred on Swamp Road
near Sandy Cross Road on
March 31.
At about 7:30 p.m.,
Heather Sandefur, 19, of
Suffolk, Va., was traveling
southeast into a curve at an
excessive rate of speed,
'said trooper K.R. Briggs of
the N.C. Highway Patrol.
When she came out of
the curve, the 2000 Pontiac
she was driving veered onto
the right shoulder, collided
with a driveway culvert
and went airborne. It then
hit a palm tree in the yard
at 987 Swamp Road.
After hitting the tree, the
car flipped over and landed
on top of the downed tree.
Although alcohol, some
opened, was found in the
back seat of the car, alcohol
did not appear to be a factor
in the accident, Briggs said.
Sandefur was airlifted to
Sentara Norfolk General
Hospital and later released.
A female passenger, 24,
suffered. cuts and abra
sions. A male passenger, 25,
told the trooper he was in
pain, but he had no visible
injuries. A second male
passenger, 23, told the
trooper he was not injured,
but he admitted himself to
the hospital later, Briggs
said.
Sandefur, who was
undergoing out-patient sur
gery on Friday, will likely
be charged with exceeding
a safe speed, Briggs said.
Fire
closes
eatery
MARGARET FISHER
A fire last Thursday
temporarily closed the
doors of Hertford
Restaurant and Bakery
until no sooner than this
weekend, according to
Hertford Fire Department.
At about 2:50 p.m., an
employee smelled smoke
and noticed a fire burning
near a back door. Another
employee call for emer
gency help.
Within four minutes, the
fire department was on the
scene, said Assistant Fire
Chief Todd Tilley. By then,
a stack of boxes placed out
side the door was reduced
to thick smoke. However,
electrical boxes and wires
were directly above the
boxes and some of the wire
insulation had melted.
By 3 p.m., firefighters
had the smoldering area
under control and the
Continued on page 12
roof
PHOTO BY MARGARET FISHER
The roof of the 80-year-old theater adjacent to Hertford Hardware was being
replaced last week after years of leaking and patching, said Erie Haste, who owns
the building. The new flat roof is made of a rubberized material covering insula
tion board. Haste says he hopes a restoration group will buy and renovate the his
toric theater.
Former Navy
analyst says no
OLF needed
MARGARET FISHER
Few people are asking whether the U.S. Navy real
ly needs an outlying land field to allow fighter pilots
to practice carrier touch-and-goes.
Matt Peeler, a former Navy technician, has been
asking that question since the whole issue about
building an OLF in North Carolina came up.
Peeler’s military job involved analyzing mounds of
technical data, such as is found in the Final
Environmental Impact Study and the Supplemental
EIS the Navy has produced.
Peeler has found a number of discrepancies
between what the Navy says and what the Base
Realignment and Closure commission has concluded.
“WTien you look at the FEIS and the SEIS, there are
a lot of inconsistencies,” Peeler said.
The 1993 and 1995 BRAC analyzed the capacity of
Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach, Va., and
Naval Auxiliary Landing Field Fentress in
Chesapeake, Va. At that time, they found Oceana to
have excess capacity, so they transplanted F-18 air
craft from Marine Corp air stations Beaufort, S.C.
and Cherry Point.
At that time, Oceana and Fentress were capable of
providing the necessary touch-and-go training.
According to the 2005 BRAC commission findings,
encroachment is the only reason that Oceana’s capa
bilities dropped. BRAC findings recommended that
Virginia Beach and Chesapeake roll back the
encroachment around the two bases, and it blamed
state and local governments for “ignoring the Navy’s
repeated objections.”
“The longstanding and steadily worsening
encroachment problem around NAS Oceana, without
strong support from state and city governments to
eliminate current and arrest future encroachment,
will in the long term create a situation where the mil
itary value of NAS Oceana will be unacceptably
degraded,” states the 2005 BRAC findings.
It was recommended that the Navy consider mov
ing Oceana to Jacksonville, Fla., where local govern
ment there had taken steps to restrict encroachment
around Naval Air Station Cecil Field.
However, the residents of Jacksonville recently
voted not to take Oceana’s squadrons.
Continued on page 12
New Hertford shop offers bargains galore
MARGARET FISHER
Chowan Bargain has been so suc
cessful in Tyner that its owners have
opened a second store in Hertford
and are in the process of opening a
third store in Edenton.
The Hertford location, at the for
mer Lady and Mr. Goodstuff at 403
Grubb Street, opened March 17.
Owners Mike and Nina Lubicich
and Charlotte Balistreri celebrated a
grand opening with a ribbon cutting
last Thursday.
“This is not a thrift store,” Mike
Lubicich said. “It’s new, antique and
gently used upscale furniture and
accessories, and appliances, too.”
There is a large selection of used
electronics, videos, DVDs and games.
The shop has a stylish, home decor look and
is filled with a variety of furniture, crystal.
PHOTO BY MARGARET FISHER
glass, pictures and collectables such as Precious
Moments figurines.
“We like to think that we can help decorate a
Owners and friends at Chowan Bargain cel
ebrate a ribbon cutting for the opening of
its second location. The shop, which special
izes in new and gently used furniture and
accessories, is owned by Mike and Nina
Lubicich and Charlotte Balistreri.
house at a very reasonable price,” Balistreri
said.
Any of the owners can help customers create
the look they are after by helping them select
pieces that will fit in with their decor. If they
don’t have it, they will check their other store,
which they have owned for about three years, as
well as other sources.
Currently, the store is carrying a limited edi
tion print and antique original oil painting.
New stock is added weekly
Chowan Bargain is open on Monday, Tuesday,
Thursday and Friday from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. and
Saturday from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
County updates junk car, junkyard ordinances
MARGARET FISHER
County commissioners okayed
changes to the junk car ordinance and
an amendment to the junkyard ordi
nance.
Changes include expanding the def
inition of junk vehicles to include
boats and recreational vehicles. Also,
enforcement is now provided solely
by the code enforcement officer,
rather than the Sheriff’s Office.
“Now with this amendment,
enforcement falls back on the code
enforcement officer and office,” said
Perquimans County Manager Bobby
Darden. The action is expected to
speed up the enforcement process.
The junk car problems took center
stage when Pasquotank resident Dan
Wendell began a crusade against
Pasquotank, Currituck and
Perquimans counties to get them to
clean up the eyesores.
Wendell was recently convicted of
trespassing after he brought a televi
sion crew in from Virginia to film
properties overrun with unsightly
vehicles.
His efforts were not in vain,
though. Wendell managed to get state
environmentalists into the three
counties to look at a number of sites.
Four property owners, two each in
Pasquotank and Currituck counties,
have received notices of violations
from the N.C. Department of
Environment and Natural Resources
giving them 60 days to clean up
observable spills that were found to
be potential threats to underground
water supplies, said Scott Bullock,
regional underground storage super
visor. '
Eight additional sites, including in
Perquimans, will require a follow-up
to determine if they are in violation,
Bullock said.
Junk vehicles located throughout
the towns and county are not a new
Continued on page 12
Weather
Thursday
High: 76, Low: 50
Partly Qoudy
Friday
High: 70, Low: 54
Mostly Sunny
Saturday
High: 76, Low: 61
Isolated T'storms