'TT!
Poignant senior project
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Native named Maryland Assistant Secretary
of Planning, Academic Affairs Page 3
Sports
Page 8
Subscriber of the Week:
Steve Dail
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January 16, 2008
. VoL 76, No. 3 Hertford, North Carolina 27944
”News from Next Door
35 cents
Freshmen lead recycle project Town
notes
CATHY WILSON
Staff Writer
Ninth grade science
students at Perquimans
County High School have
recycled over 1,000'pounds
of tearable paper in the
school.
Students in Celeste
Maus’s earth and environ
mental science classes have
recycled 1,173.5 pounds
of newspaper, magazines,
copier paper, notebook pa
per, sticky notes, and other
miscellaneous tearable
paper products since Dec.
1. All of the paper came
from classrooms within the
school and 88 percent of it
was newspapers. No paper
was brought in from out
side the school.
Maus said the project
not only helps reduce the
amount of waste in the
school, but reduces the
amount that ends up in the
landfill as well. Students
also see just how much they
are throwing away daily
and how it impacts the hu
man environment.
“We have seen many
more students start recy
cling paper here at school,”
Maus said. “When we first
stared, we collected 200
pounds of paper from the
classrooms. The second
time we collected over 500
pounds.”
The science classes have
a partnership with the
school system’s mainte
nance department as well
as the Albemarle Regional
Solid Waste Management
Authority. Custodians at
the school pick up the pa
pers from the classrooms
twice a week and bring it
to the science class where
students weigh it and then
RON PETERSON, A NINTH grader at Perquimans County High School, piles the papers onto a scale as part of the earth and en
vironmental science class recycling project. The students have recycled over 1,000 pounds of tearable paper within the school
since Dec. 1.
record the data. Custodians
then take the papers to the
recycle dumpster which is
picked up by the solid waste
authority.
Actually seeing how
much paper is wasted daily
has impacted several of the
students, including Theresa
Monnseratt who has since
started a recycling project
at home. In addition to re
cycling paper, Monnseratt
also recycles plastic and
aluminum.
Maus encourages the
public to recycle as weU.
While the current students
have been successful re
cycling for less than two
months, Maus is anxious
to see what next semester’s
students can do with a fruU
semester of work.
PCHS renovations 60 days behind schedule
CATHY WILSON
Staff Writer
While construction of
the high school’s new gjmi-
nasium is 60 days behind
schedule, school officials
are still optimistic that the
entire four-phase renova
tion project at the school
can stiU be completed on
time.
The $11 million four-
phase project is scheduled
to be completed by August.
Phase I of the project,
the construction of the new
gym, had an original com
pletion date of Dec. 21, but
has consistently run behind
due to design changes and
delays in materials. Brenda
Lassiter, pubic information
officer for the school sys
tem, said the design chang
es came about because state
building codes changed be-
WbM
Thursday
High: 54 Low: 46
Showers
Friday
High: 55 Low: 36
Partly Cloudy
Saturday
High: 47 Low: 21
Qoudy,Wwdy
tween the time the project
was first approved and the
time construction actually
began.
“It is anticipated that
we wiU have an occupancy
permit for the new gymna
sium mid February,” said
Lassiter. “It is the hope of
the administration that oc
cupancy will take place be
fore this year’s basketball
season is complete so that
the seniors will have an op
portunity to play in the gym
before they graduate. The
PCHS basketball teams wtU
begin conference tourna
ment play the week of Feb.
18. The success of the teams
will determine if playoffs
are at home or on the road.
We wUl have to wait and
see how this year’s season
plays out, but it would be
an awesome experience for
our seniors if the season
could culminate in the new
gymnasium.”
According to Jonathan
Nixon, the system’s mainte
nance director, the overall
Chunks of history
for sale
The Perquimans Ath
letic Boosters are selling
small sections of the old
gym floor with a small
plaque of inscription
identifying it as such.
The floor sections wUl be
sold as keepsakes to for
mer athletes or students
at a pre-order price of
$10 each. Anyone inter
ested in purchasing a sec
tion of the old gym floor
should contact any Ath
letic Booster member or
call Carolina Trophy at
426-4644 or contact Bren
da Lassiter at blassiter®
pcs.kl2.nc.us.
project is still within bud
get. Last month, however,
county commissioners
voiced their unhappiness
to the school’s architect
who appeared before them
requesting funding for and
explaining the reasons
for several change orders.
Funding for each change
order comes from the coun
ty’s $427,492 contingency
fund set aside for the proj
ect. The contingency fund
was set up to handle unex
pected expenses that might
occur.
Commissioners were
concerned that the reasons
for the change orders, rang
ing from replacing win
dows to drainage problems
to adding more steel in the
boiler room, should have
been discovered or correct
ed during the planning and
design phase and included
in the original cost esti
mate rather than after con
struction had already been
started.
Because of change or
ders, the contingency fund
has since dwindled down to
$169,207 in December.
Once the new gym is com
pleted, the old gym will be
renovated into the school’s
media center .(Phase II).
While some exterior work
has been done, most of the
work can’t be done until the
new gym is opened.
Plans call for the old
gym’s floor to be torn out
and the area eventually
transformed into a state-of-
the-art technology/media
center.
Phase III of the project
was the renovation of the
school’s auditorium which
has already been completed
and is being used. Phase III
also includes replacing the
HVAC units in the science
wing.
Phase IV of the project is
renovating the existing me
dia center into administra
tive offices.
Lassiter said the board
of education members will
hold an open house and
ribbon cutting for the new
gymnasium once occu
pancy has been approved.
While the date and time has
not been finalized, Lassiter
anticipates it will be held
mid to late March.
Water
WORKS
HERTFORD TOWN EMPLOYEES
WORKED Monday afternoon
to dismantle the water foun
tain located on the court
house green. Members of the
Hertford Rotary Club will re
store the fountain to its origi
nal working condition.
250th
b-day
Hertford seeks
to hire events
planner to head
anniversary
celebration
activities
CATHY WILSON
Staff Writer
Happy Birthday,
Hertford!
The town will celebrate
250 years in existence this
year. Statelegislators signed
the town charter on May 4,
1758 and town officials plan
to commemorate that event
throughout the year.
John Christensen, town
manager, said the anniver
sary’s kick-off will occur
on Sunday, May 4, with a
host of state legislators at
tending. Special events will
be planned in town on a
monthly basis, some to pig
gyback on annual events al
ready planned in the area.
A committee has been
formed to help plan the an
niversary events. The com
mittee is composed of rep
resentatives from schools,
churches, historians, the
county library, the Cham
ber of Commerce, the New-
bold White-House, Historic
Hertford, and the Heritage
Tourism Committee. In ad
dition, the town plans to uti
lize the post office and The
Perquimans Weekly to help
make the anniversary year
special in unique ways.
While the committee is
in its planning stages now,
the town is seeking to hire
an events coordinator to
organize and spearhead the
anniversary celebrations.
Town officials hope to fill
the position as soon as pos
sible.
Christensen encourages
any interested citizen who
has ideas for anniversary
events to contact the town
office.
“There is no such thing
as a dumb idea,” he said.
Lake
Road
bridge
to close
The bridge on Lake Road
(SR-1221) will be closed next
week for repairs.
Lee Bundy with the North
Carolina Department of
Transportation said Lake
Road will be closed from
Lowe’s Lane (SR 1222) to SR
1214 from 8 a.m. Tuesday,
Jan. 22 to 4 p.m. on Friday,
Jan 25 for maintenance.
Officials plan to replace
timbers underneath the
bridge.
A detour wUl reroute
traffic around the block, he
said.