li’afflc
stop
yields
body
CATHY WILSON
Staff Writer
A Pasquotank sheriffs
deputy found a dead man
slumped over in the passen
ger seat of a vehicle driven
by a Hertford man last
Thursday night, triggering
an investigation into what
police are terming a suspi
cious death.
Sheriff Randy Cart
wright said the dead man
was found in a vehicle driv
en by Wayne Augsburger,
43, of the 100 block of Riv-
ershore Drive. The body
did not appear to have any
visible injuries. On Mon
day, Cartwright said he was
waiting for verbal results
of an autopsy performed
over the weekend.
The dead man, who po
lice declined to identify un
til out-of-town family mem
bers were notified, lived in
Elizabeth City and was said
to be in his 40s.
A deputy sheriff began
following Augsburger’s
vehicle traveling on U.S.
Highway 17 bypass after re
ceiving a report of a vehicle
swerving. The deputy even
tually stopped the vehicle
in the Wal-Mart parking lot
on Halstead Boulevard Ex
tended around 9 p.m.
Augsburger, who works
as a carpenter, said the man
whom he knew as Russell,
had been painting Augs
burger’s neighbor’s home
in New Hope.
“He’d been drinking all
day so I gave him a ride
home. I didn’t want to
spend my money in gas to
drive him home so I drove
my neighbor’s truck to give
him a ride. He just went out
in the truck. I don’t know
if it was a heart attack or a
aneurism, but I didn’t know
what to do,” he said.
Augsburger said he
swerved the truck several
times to try to wake, the
man up with no success.
“I pulled over in the
Walmart parking lot . to see
what was wrong with him
and the next thing I saw
were blue lights behind
me,” he said.
Augsburger was charged
with possession of drug
paraphernalia in connec
tion with the incident and
later released on bond.
HVImihbi
Thursday
High: 95 Low: 73
Mostly Sunny
4niopJiiiy
High: 92 Low: 73
Partly Cloudy
Saturday
High: 90 Low: 74
SCAHERED T'STORMS
Perquimans Weekly photos by CATHY WILSON
THE GRANDCHILDREN OF JOE and Mary White of Hertford
beat the heat by splashing around in their grandparents'
yard last week. Clayton White (top) slides across a wet sur
face, while Grayson Waters (left) lets the cool drops slash
her face. Chase White (right) squirts himself in the mouth
with the cool H^O. Wate.r play is a fun break from the heat.
Children should be closely supervised when playing in wa
ter, arid should be protected from burning rays with sun
screen applied every two hours.
Local
man
wanted
for
murder
Elliott indicted
for 2006
shooting death
A Hertford man is want
ed in connection with the
2006 murder of a Plymouth
man in Elizabeth City.
Darryl Torrey Elliott, 31,
was indicted in Pasquotank
County
Superior
Court re
cently on a
firstdegree
murder
charge.
Accord
ing to the
Elizabeth
City Po
lice De
partment, Thurston “Silk”
Pittman was shot multiple
times and killed on July
10, 2006 at the Brothers and
Sisters Club located at 702
West Cypress Street, Eliza
beth City.
An ongoing investigation
conducted by the Elizabeth
City Police Investigative Di
vision, the North Carolina
State Bureau of Investiga
tion, and the Federal Drug
Enforcement Administra
tion led to the indictment.
Elliott’s last known ad
dress was 138 Lowe Drive
in Hertford. He is described
as a black male; 5’10” tall
weighing 230 lbs with tat
toos on each forearm.
Anyone with informa
tion on the whereabouts of
Elliott should call the ECPD
at 335-4321 or the Crime
Line at 335-5555.
Darryl T. Elliott
Hertford, Winfall at odds over sewage
7143
CATHY WILSON
Staff Writer
The wastewater is about
to hit the fan.
The town of Hertford
says Winfall owes the town
nearly $8,000 in past due
sewer costs for March and
April. Payment for their
May biU is also past due.
Winfall officials say they
have overpaid Hertford
more than $8,000 in sewer
costs between May 2007 and
February 2008 and want
that amount applied to
their March and April bills
totaling $7,975.99. They
want Hertford to recalcu
late their May biU using fig
ures resulting from having
equipment calibrated by a
consulting engineer hired
by Winfall.
Hertford wants payment
immediately and has given
WinfaU notice that Hertford
can terminate its contract
with Winfall if pajrment
isn’t made. Winfall believes
it has a credit balance of
$125.38 based on WinfaU’s
figures.
On Monday, Hertford
Town Manager John Chris
tensen said he just received
a letter from WinfaU and
wUl analyze WinfaU’s fig
ures and their claim.
According to Chris
tensen, Hertford and Win
faU entered into a contract
in May 2001 detaUing Hert
ford’s treatment of waste-
water for WinfaU’s sewage
customers. Winfall was
paying per the agreement
untU February 2008, when
they paid on the 25th rather
than on the 20th as required
by contract. The same thing
happened in March. Winfall
hasn’t paid anything since
then, Christensen said.
“This contract was
formed in an environment
of cooperation and un
derstanding,” said a letter
Christensen wrote to Win
faU dated June 20. “At this
time, I do not sense that
same spirit of working to
gether...
Christensen presented a
memorandum to Hertford
Town CouncU on June 23,
outlining the situation.
“On June 12, we caUed
WinfaU’s town haU and re
quested May’sflows,” stated
Christensen’s memo. “On
June 17, WinfaU caUed us to
resend March and AprU’s
bUls, but did not give us
May’s, flow numbers. On
June 18, I caUed Mayor
Yates and asked why we had
not been paid, and his re
sponse was that their attor
ney would be sending us a
letter. I asked if that meant
he was refusing to pay their
bUl and the response was
that it would be explained
in the letter. I asked why
they felt that they didn’t
owe Hertford something for
those months and again the
response was I would have
to wait on the letter.”
Christensen said the
towns’ contract states in
the event of a dispute, Win
faU stUl needs to pay the
undisputed portion of the
charge, as weU as send writ
ten notice within 45 days of
receiving a questionable
charge.
“If the dispute cannot
be resolved within 30 days
then USDA-RD (United
States Department of Agri-
cultLure-RuralDevelopment)
wUl be caUed upon to assist
in resolving this dispute,”
Christensen’s memo states.
“FaUing this, the dispute
can be settled in court.”
As of June 20, Chris
tensen wrote, “To date, we
have not received anything
in writing regarding a dis
puted charge. Mayor Yates
complains about the tempo
rary metering but offers no
basis for a reduction in their
cost. Every time they have
performed pump calibra
tions, we have aUowed the
pump rates to be changed
and in the last calibration
amended the prior two bUls
to reduce their costs.”
When asked about the
overdue bUls by this news
paper, Yates provided cop
ies of a June 18 letter to
Christensen saying WinfaU
had overpaid Hertford for
10 months based on the fig
ures provided fiy WUliam
Diehl of Diehl and PhUlips,
consulting engineers out of
Cary. According to Yates,
Dieiu ran draw-down tests
to determine the actual
pumping rates for the two
pumps at station six.
According to a May 19
letter from Diehl to Yates,
each of the two pumps was
tested twice to eliminate
inflow variables and mea
surement inaccuracies.
“I feel comfortable with
the results of the tests that
we ran on May 19, 2008,”
Diehl states in the letter.
“There was good correla
tion with the two tests we
ran on each pump, and the
inflow rate did not appear
to change significantly dur
ing the tests. As you know,
sewage pumps are subject
to reduced capacity due to
clogs or partial clogs; this
could be the reason for the
low pumping rates that we
measured this time. You
indicated the contract with
Hertford states that an er
ror in metering could be
applied to the last three
months; if one were to go
back and recalciUate the
sewer pumpage for Febru
ary, March and AprU 2008...
the revised pumpage would
be...2,106,600 (gallons) for
February; 2,366,160(gallons)
for March, and 2,787,240
(gallons) for April.”
May’s figures, based on
the new calibration, totals
2,175,660 gallons.
This is not the first waste-
water dispute between the
two towns.
In May 2007, Hertford
discovered that Winfall had
modified their pump rating
in May 2006 without notify
ing Hertford of the change.
That modification lowered
WinfaU’s wastewater cost
to Hertford significantly.
Hertford didn’t accept the
change without an engi
neer’s certification. Diehl
also performed pump tests
that did lower WinfaU’s vol
ume, but not as low as what
WinfaU had changed it to
the year before. Hertford
also discovered that WinfaU
was not using the correct
starting number in their
calculations, causing Win
faU to owe Hertford $4,463.13
in back charges.
Hertford aUowed WinfaU
to pay back the money in 12
monthly instaUments with
out interest at $371.93 per
month.
CONTINUED on page 10