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HERTFORD, KC27SM-1306 JAN 0 9 m
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January 9, 2008
Vol. 76, No. 2 Hertford, North Carolina 27944
^^News from Next Door
m
Blaze destroys Holiday Island home
• Mother, son lose
everything in fire;
friends of son
skipping school at
the home escaped
without injury
CATHY WILSON
Staff Writer
Fire destroyed the Holiday
Island home of a single mom
and her teenage son last Thurs
day afternoon. Despite investi
gations by two law enforcement
agencies, the origin of the fire
still remains undetermined.
Perquimans Sheriff Eric Til
ley said the home of Amy Wild
er, located at 121 Ventura Lane,
was completely destroyed by
fire. A neighbor spotted smoke
coming out of the back of the
house and notified authorities
around 3:25 p.m.
Neither Wilder nor her 14-
year-old son were at home at the
time of the blaze, but two young
friends of her son were inside
the house at the time of the fire.
The brothers, ages 13 and 15,
apparently skipped school that
day and stayed in the Wilder
home playing video games. The
boys had permission from the
Wilder son to be in the house
that day, Tilley added.
Police said the boys said they were in
the living room when they saw smoke
coming out of the utility room located in
the back of the house. They then ran out
the front door. A neighbor saw the boys
running out of the house and confronted
them, Tilley said.
Wilder said the gas-powered hot water
heater and her washer and dryer were in
the utility room. The house was also heat
ed by gas, she added.
Both the Perquimans County Sheriffs
Department and a fire investigator with
the State Bureau of Investigation are in
vestigating the fire.
“At this point, the origin of the fire is
stfil undetermined,” Tilley, said.
Wilder, who works in Suffolk, said her
one story three bedroom house was not in
sured. However, the community has ral
lied behind her, donating clothes, linens,
towels, pots and pans, dishes, silverware,
cleaning supplies and other household
items. Her employer has donated grocer
ies as weU.
The American Red Cross assisted the
DAILY ADVANCE PHOTO
FIREFIGHTERS FROM BETHEL, HERTFORD and Winfall responded to a house fire at Holiday Island lastThursday. Amy Wilder
and her son lost everything in the blaze. Two friends of the son managed to get out after seeing fire.
family by placing them in a hotel for
three nights before Wilder found a fur
nished rental trailer just one street over
from her home.
“We moved in Sunday,” said Wilder.
“I was so glad to find something so close
to home so that my son could keep his
same friends, and go to the same school.
I just don’t have the words to express
how grateful we are for everything that
has been donated to us. I just can’t thank
people enough.”
Wilder said the two boys who were in
side her home at the time of the fire came
to visit her Saturday night at the hotel.
“Their dad brought them and they took
my son out to dinner,” she said. “I just
hugged them and told them I was so glad
they got out without being hurt. I’m just
so glad they are OK. I asked them if they
had learned their lesson about skipping
school, and they said they had.”
Firefighters from Bethel, Hertford and
Winfall battled the blaze. By the time the
fire was called in and departments re
sponded, it was too late to save the house
or its contents.
t- s
DAILY ADVANCE PHOTO
FIREFIGHTERS STAND NEAR A gas tank as they work to extin
guish the flames that completely consumed a home at Holiday
Island last Thursday. The Salvation Army helped victims Amy
Wilder and her son, and friends and neighbors have helped her
outfit a rental just one street over from her former home.
Schools are super safe
Three Perquimans County Schools
have earned the N.C. Department of
Public Instruction’s top safety award,
the Super Safe School (Triple S) des
ignation, for the 2007-08 year.
The Triple “S” School Award was
established by the Department of
Public Instruction’s School Improve
ment Division to recognize public
schools’ exemplary efforts to en
sure the safety of students and staff.
Schools that are safe for students
and staff are a top priority of the
State Board of Education. Statistics
prove children can’t learn and teach
ers can’t teach if they are concerned
about their weU-being.
Staff and principals from
Perquimans Central School, Hertford
Grammar School, and Perquimans
Middle School will collect the awards
on Feb. 7 at the annual Safe Schools
Conference to be held at the Koury
Convention Center in Greensboro,
North Carolina.
The award is given to schools that
participate in a voluntary process
of assessing safety procedures, inci
dents of disruption and violence, and
school response to safety concerns.
“It is a tremendous amount of
work to complete the application pro
cess. We are fortunate to have three
schools selected. I am proud of each
school and each staff member,” said
Superintendent Dwayne K. Stallings.
Stallings says providing a safe
learning environment for children
and educators is a priority because
he believes high student achievement
goes hand-in-hand with a safe learn
ing environment.
To qualify for the Super Safe
School Award, schools must show
they follow safety procedures above
and beyond those that the state re
quires. Schools must also report data
on student performance, provide cop
ies of student and parent handbooks,
and analyze safe schools and crisis
management plans.
At the conference, school employ
ees will attend workshops on best
practices of schools throughout the
state, which can be used to further
improve local safety plans.
“The safety plans for each school
are constantly being developed and
becoming more detailed,” says Di
rector of Special Projects Jeanie
Umphlett.
The application process for the
Triple S Award allows principals
and staff to perform an ongoing self-
study of the school by voluntarily
submitting a portfolio documenting
the safety processes in place.
According to PCHS Principal
James Bunch, Perquimans High com
pleted the same process as the three
other schools in the district. Records
indicate that PCHS earned the safety
award in 2004,2005 and 2006.
“The layout of the school and the
openness of facility due to ongo
ing construction certainly present
safety concerns which are out of the
norm,” said Bunch. “As principal, I
wfil continue to be vigilant in the ef
forts of safety for students and staff
regardless of the conditions in which
I am faced.”
Bunch said, “As I tell students,
parents and teachers, ‘Pardon the
dust as we grow into a state-of-the-art
educational facility.”’
State lifts bum ban
The statewide open burning
ban enacted back in October
has been temporarily lifted.
State officials lifted the ban
last week after recent rains
across the state. The rains, how
ever, are not enough to end the
drought being felt by most of
the state’s 100 counties.
According to the North Caro
lina Drought Management Ad
visory Council, Perquimans
County was elevated from mod
erate to severe drought condi
tions this past fall. That condi
tion remains as of Jan. 2.
Officials believe carefully
tended open burning is safe now'
in order to reduce the amount of
dry forest debris and cut the po
tential for larger, more intense
and harder-to-control fires later
in the year.
The Department of Environ
ment and Natural Resources
and its Division of Forest Re
sources will continue weekly
monitoring of conditions to de
termine if the burn ban needs to
be reinstated. The ban on open
burning could be reinstated if
the potential for wildfire activ
ity increases because the state
continues to receive below nor
mal rainfall coupled with above
average temperatures and in
creased wildfire activity.
The ban on open burning
was imposed Oct. 15 because of
dry weather and depleted water
resources across the state. The
decision to life the ban comes at
the recommendation of the N.C.
Division of Forest Resources,
which fights wildfires and regu
larly measures the factors such
as weather and available fuels
that play an important role in
the likelihood of experiencing
dangerous wUdfires.
State forestry officials say
that if people burn leaves and
other vegetative materials, they
should take the same precau-*
tions they would have if it had
not rained because fires can
easily escape. Some rules to fol
low if you burn include:
1) Open burning may include
burning leaves, branches and
other plant material. It is ille
gal to burn trash, lumber, tires,
newspaper, plastic or other non-
vegetative materials.
2) Make sure you have a valid
burning permit. You can obtain
a burning permit at any NCDFR
office or permitting agent or on
line at www.dfr.state.nc.us.
3) Follow local laws on de
bris burning. Some communi
ties allow burning only during
specified hours; others forbid it
entirely.
4) Check the weather. Don’t
burn on dry, windy days.
5) Be prepared before burn
ing. Keep fire tools available.
You will need a garden hose, a
bucket, a steel rake and a shovel
for tossing dirt on the fire. Nev
er use kerosene, gasoline, diesel
fuel or other flammable liquids
to speed burning.
6) Always stay with the fire
until it has been extinguished.
Santa
sales
mixed
• Some local
merchants did
well during
Christmas, others
were down
CATHY WILSON
Staff Writer
The holiday retail sea
son brought a mixture of
results for area merchants."
While some reported excel
lent sales, others didn’t fare
as well. -
The Pink Turtle, a new
shop that offers everything
from fine jewelry to mono-
grammed handbags, re
ported a good holiday sea
son, especially last minute
sales.
“I think people really,
discovered our shop this
season,” said Anita Garrett,
associate manager. “Things
went pretty well. I think we ■
did most of our Christmas
sales at the last minute.
We’re excited about 2008
when we will introduce a
couple more new vendors
in the shop.”
Planters Ridge reported
an excellent season, much
better than last year’s.
“Sales went very well,”
said Lindsey Ferrell, gar
den shop manager. “The
Christmas trees looked bet
ter than the ones we had
last year. We only had five
trees left over. I made so
many bows, my hands are
sore. It was a great Christ
mas season for us.”
Douglas Layden with
Layden’s Supermarket in
Belvidere said this year was
a big season for them.
“We sold 500 gift baskets,
over 400 hams, and made
over 4,000 pounds of coun
try sausage. That’s pretty
good for an old country
business,” he said.
Wfilie Cofield, owner
of Hertford Variety, said
overall, this year’s (Christ
mas retail season was “all
right,” but not quite as good
as last season.
Gay Murray with Tar
heel Fireplace agreed.
“As far as the shop is
concerned, we stayed busy
with construction and re
modeling, but sales in the
retail store were less than
last year’s,” she said.
Erie Haste with Hertford
Hardware said the Christ
mas retail season doesn’t
impact his business simply
because of the nature of
the hardware business.
HMmimm
Thursday
High: 63 Low: 55
Showers
Friday
High: 69 Low: 42
Scattered Showers
Saturday
High: 58 Low: 34
AM CLOUDS, PM SUN