Subscriber of the Week:
John Sams
August 27, 2008
Vol. 76, No, 35 Hertford, North Carolina 27944
^*News from Next Door*'
Blood
shortage
serious
CATHY WILSON
Staff Writer
While the amount of
blood being donated in
Perquimans County is up
from last year, there stiU
remains a serious shortage
regionwide in most blood
types.
According to informa
tion provided by the Ameri
can Red Cross, 564 pints of
blood were donated here
last fiscal year, up 32 per
cent from the previous
fiscal year. There were 19
blood drives in the county.
Last month’s blood collec
tion locally was also tre
mendously successful, offi
cials noted.
However, there stfil re
mains critical and low
blood supplies in the Mid-
Atlantic Region which in
cludes northeastern North
Carolina and parts of Vir
ginia including the Tidewa
ter area.
0-1- blood remains criti
cally low while A-I-, B-i-, 0-,
A-, and B- all are listed as
low, meaning more dona
tions are needed quickly to
prevent a blood emergency.
“There is a critical need
for blood,” Georgia Don
aldson, Red Cross .senior
account manager for donor
resources development,
said. “I’ve never seen it
quite like this before.”
As of Aug. 18, out of the
eight blood types, only AB-i-
and AiB- were classified as
meeting safe levels, mean
ing blood donations in those
types are strong enough to
meet patient needs now.
But Donaldson cautions
that hurricane season is
here, and one bad storm
could cause numerous inju
ries requiring blood.
Every blood drive is es
pecially important to help
boost those figures. Next-
month’s blood drives will be
held Thursday, Sept. 4 at the
Perquimans County Recre
ation Center from 2—7 p.m.
and Sept. 8 at New, Hope
United Methodist Church
3—7 p.m. The Bloodmobile
wiU be at Albemarle Planta
tion Sept. 18 from 11 a.m.—4
p.m.
Donaldson stresses to
drink plenty of fluids be
fore donating, bring a valid
ID, and eat lots of iron rich
foods.
Those who donate re
gion-wide will be registered
to win a 2008 Pontiac Sol
stice or $500 in free gas.
JMtAnmt
Thursday
High: 81 Low: 70
Thunder Showers
Friday
High: 82 Low: 68
SCAHERED TsTORMS
Saturday
High: 84 Low: 68
Scattered Tstorms
6"'"89076 47143
Perquimans
welcomes
1,742 students
Monday
SUSAN HARRIS
School beUs rang Mon
day across Perquimans,
as some children returned
joyfully, others tearfully,
and still others fearfully.
Teachers welcomed
1,742 students for a new
year of learning.
Schools Public Infor
mation Officer Brenda
Lassiter said things went
relatively smoothly.
“Everything went fine
except for the bus consoli
dation and some sched
uling issues at the high
school,” Lassiter said.
Many students at Cen
tral and Hertford Gram
mar schools didn’t know
. which bus to ride when it
came time to go home.
“Parentsbringchfidren
to school the first day of
school, consequently chil
dren don’t know which
bus to ride to get home,”
Lassiter said. “Also, a lot
of parents enrolled their
children yesterday, rath
er than during the sum
mer, so students had to be
assigned to buses.”
To make sure students got on
the right buses, personnel at the
schools had to double-check bus
manifests. Making sure students
got on the right buses delayed
them an hour leaving school.
Because of the delay, Lassiter
said a Connect-Ed call went out to
parents of Central and Hertford
Grammar students around 3:45 to
let them know what was happen
ing.
Throughout the evening, Las
siter said parents called, and
school personnel would radio the
buses to find out exact locations,
then get back with parents.
Perquimans Weekly photo by CATHY WILSON
SOME STUDENTS, ESPECIALLY THE youngest, had a
hard time saying good-bye to Mom and Dad and
the carefree days of summer Monday, the first day
of school in Perquimans. Others, marched in happily
with friends, brothers, sisters, and cousins, greet
ing classmates and teachers with broad smiles.
Perquimans welcomed 1.742 students Monday.
“I expect today will be a lot
better, and in fact, this morning
was already a lot better,” Lassiter
continued. “This week, (drop-off)
times will fluctuate until students
get used to what bus they’re on.”
The renovations and personnel
changes at the high school result
ed in some schedule snafus. There
was only one counselor at the site
most of the summer, and the vet
eran employee who handled com
puter input and many scheduling
duties resigned at the end of the
school year.
In addition, with the renova
tions taking place, Lassiter said
computers and equipment had to
be dismantled and moved, along
“I think it helped that we were ■ wifh files. There was a period just
here to answer the phones and we
could teU parents exactly where
their children were,” Lassiter
said.
“The transportation depart
ment worked diligently through
the evening to try to make sure
things go more smoothly from
now on,” Lassiter said.
before school started when sched
ule information could not be ac
cessed.
Student schedules were ready
in mid-August, and students were
notified that they could be picked
up at the school on two dates.
Those who did not pick up the
schedules did not know if there
was a concern about their sched
ule until the first day of school.
“Our staff has done a tremen
dous job in our schools, especially
at the high school with the renova
tions there, this summer,” Lassit
er said. “Unfortunately, the situ
ation meant that some paperowk
was slower getting done than we
would have liked.”
School personnel worked until
Sunday evening at about 7 o’clock
getting ready for the opening of
school on Monday morning, Las
siter said.
“We just can’t say enough about
the tremendous amount of work
our maintenance staff, adminis
trators and some of our teachers
did this summer helping to move
and reorganize during the renova
tions,” Lassiter said.
At the board meeting Monday
night. Superintendent Dr. Dwayne
Stallings searched for words to
describe how much work was ac
complished in a relatively short
period of time to complete the ren
ovations.
“Miracles do happen,” he
smiled and said.
Fire forces evacuation of Albemarle Village residents
CATHY WILSON
Staff Writer
Residents at Albemarle
Village were displaced for
several hours Thursday
when fire broke out in a
kitchen of one of the apart
ments. Local firefighters
extinguished the blaze,
but heavy smoke filled one
haU, forcing evacuation of
the independent apartment
complex for the elderly,
handicapped and disabled.
Firefighters were called
to the scene around 10 a.m.
when fire broke out in an
apartment occupied by
Charles Barco. Site Manag
er Imogene Penfound said
Barco was frying chicken
on the stove and left the
apartment for a few min
utes. The grease ignited
and fire spread from the
stove to nearby cabinets
and to the ceiling area.
Jarvis Winslow,
Perquimans County Emer-
Perquimans Weekly photo by CATHY WILSON
A COOKING FIRE FORCED the evacuation of Albemarle Village in Hertford last week. Site Man
ager Imogene Penfound made sure all residents were out and safe after the blaze was found.
gency Management Coor
dinator, said the heat in
that apartment was hot
enough to melt plastic figu
rines hanging on the waU.^
Firefighters were able to*
contain the fire to that
one apartment, but heavy
smoke filled the hallway
which impacted seven oth
er apartments. Fire walls
in the building kept the
dense smoke from spread
ing to other areas.
Penfound said she and
others immediately start
ed evacuating everyone
in the wing near the fire.
After firefighters arrived,
firefighters instructed Pen-
found to evacuate the rest
of the building’s occupants
because of the smoke in
side the building which
houses 38 residents in 36
individual apartments.
There is also a hair salon
in the complex.
“The smoke in the haU
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