P The
ERQUIMANS
^.bWEEKLY
PROGRESS EDITION B1-B6
a Salmon
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''News front Next Door"
March 25 - April 1, 2009
mar 2 ^
faces serious financial concerns
By CATHY WILSON
Staff Writer
The town of Winfall ended
the 2007-08 fiscal year June 30
with a negative general fund
balance with no reserve fund
for emergencies or unexpect
ed expenditures. But, thanks
to a real estate tax hike, town
officials say the general fund
is now healthy.
Sharon G. Edmundson, di
rector of the Fiscal Manage
ment Section of the Local
Government Commission
(LGD), notified Mayor Fred
Yates on Feb. 5 that, as of June
30, the town’s overall finan
cial condition had ’’continued
to decline to what is now an
unacceptable level.”
The town’s financial prob
lems require immediate cor
rective action, she added.
“Because of the serious fi
nancial and budgetary prob
lems that exist, the governing
board should develop a finan
cial plan outlining how it in
tends to control expenditures
and operate within its avail
able resources,” Edmundson
wrote.
Yates said council has
amended the tbwn’s budget
ordinance, readjusting ex
pected revenues that have
not materialized, and making
cuts where necessary
“Do we have a surplus like
Hertford and the county has?
No,” said Yates. “We don’t
have much commercial tax
base. We have no other funds
to draw from other than taxes.
It’s the residential taxes that
drives the town of WinfaU. It’s
hard times for everybody and
we’re going through tough
times here. But, we’re watch
ing it (budget) day to day, and
any expense that’s not neces
sary, we’re not doing it.”
Members of the LGC met
with town staff Feb. 24 and
are confident in the steps that
have been taken by the town
in addressing the state’s con
cerns.
General Fund
According to the LGC, Win
faU ended the last fiscal year
$8,545 in the hole, giving the
town a negative 1.95 percent
reserve fund avaUable for
emergencies.
The LGC, part of the state’s
treasurer’s office, requires lo
cal governments and munici
palities to keep at least 8 per
cent of their general fund in
reserves (about one month’s
expenditures) in order to
stay fiscaUy responsible and
local artisan still practicing her crafts at the century mark
By CATHY WILSON
Staff Writer
T he old saying goes
that quilters never
grow old, .they just
go to pieces. Emily HarreU
defies both.
At the age of 100, she is
stiU quite together and stiU
quilting, sewing and creat
ing needle lace with nimble,
skiUed hands that crafted
her first quUt 92 years ago.
Each day, HarreU can be
found stitching and quUting
five to six hours a day in the
work room located in her
daughter’s home in Eliza
beth City
Her bobbin’s always fuU
as she stitches the colorful
pieces of fabric into various
projects including lap quilts
for children needing com
fort in times of trouble.
oooo
“She has one speed on
her sewing machine — wide
open,” jokes her daugh
ter Peggy Anderson with
whom HarreU has lived
since HarreU’s Perquimans
County home was destroyed
by Hurricane Isabel in 2003.
“My husband says she’s
always in here sewing
and strowing,” Anderson
laughed, referring to the
strings of fabric strewn
around HarreU’s busy sew
ing machine.
“I’d quUt aU day or make
lace, if I could,” HarreU
said. “But I don’t make as
much lace these days. My
hands are getting so now,
they don’t work too good.”
You’d never know it to
look at the work she turns
out. QuUts of various de
signs, colors, and sizes
were on display last month
during her 100th birthday
party and she is preparing
for her own personal ex
hibit included in this year’s
quilt show by the Colonial
QuUt Lovers GuUd sched
uled AprU 18—19 at Knobbs
Creek Recreational Center.
Anderson says her mother
is known throughout north-
PERQUIMANS WEEKLY PHOTO BY CATHY WILSON
Emily Harrell celebrated her 100th birthday last month. She is a former Hertford seamstress who made wedding gowns, bridfemaids and
prom dresses. She is an avid quilter and crafts Armenian needle lace five or six hours a day.
eastern North Carolina and
in Tidewater Virginia for her
skiUs with any needle.
oooo
“She’s been teaching and
demonstrating crafts for
many years,” Anderson
pointed out. “Her abUity to
inspire others to try new
crafts is weU known across
tl;ie state.”
HarreU has received nu
merous awards for her Ar
menian needle lace in local,
district and regional com
petitions as weU as two first
place awards in national nee
dlework competition.
The Armenian needle lace
is created by HarreU using
a smaU sewing needle tying
knots into delicate string.
She adds it to doilies, pU-
lowcases, or uses it wherever
lace is appropriate.
She also has the distinction
of having a piece of her lace
in the Archives of the Smith
sonian in Washington, DC.
oox>
HarreU said she learned
how to make the lace from
the maid of a friend back in
1927. She watched the Syrian
girl tie knots using a sew
ing needle whUe on break
one day Curious, HarreU
watched and learned from
the housekeeper, and finaUy
mastered the craft after stay
ing up aU night practicing.
The next day Charles Lind
bergh crossed the ocean in
his historic solo airplane
Uight, she remembered.
She worked for many years
as a seamstress, learning
her sewing skiUs from her
mother. HarreU ran her own
sewing shop in Hertford,
creating memories for many
young women with her hand
made wedding gowns, brides
maids and prom dresses.
oooo
“I guess the most unique
thing that occurred whUe I
was making wedding dresses
was the dress I made for the
bride who found the dress
she wanted in Norfolk,” Har
reU said. “But, she couldn’t
afford it, so I went to Nor
folk to look at the dress, then
sketched it on paper, embel
lishing it. I hand-sewed over
2,000 heads on that dress.
Every night after dinner. I’d
sit down with that dress on
my lap, sewing beads. My
husband was so happy when
I finished it.”
Her complete dedication to
the brides she helped dress
over the years is evident in
her memory of the night
when fire destroyed her
house in 1976.
“When we realized the
house was on fire, we jumped
up and ran out the house,”
HarreU said.
See HARRELL on Page 3
in compliance with the Lo
cal Budget and Fiscal Control
Act.
. The previous year, WinfaU
ended the year with a gen
eral fund balance of $58,888,
providing the town a reserve
fund totaling 14Yl percent of
its general fund.
“In the general fimd, the
percentage of fund balance
avaUable for appropriation
relative to expenditures ap-
See WINFALL on Page 2
County
seeks
I
funding
forjobs
By CATHY WILSON
Staff Writer
Senator Ed Jones and Rep
resentative Annie Mobley
don’t need to be sold on the
fact that local jobs need to be
created.
But county officials aren’t
taking any chances. They
brought state elected offi
cials in Friday and made the
county’s pitch for economic
stimulus funds to help create
jobs for Perquimans County
residents, 60 percent of whom
have to find work outside the
county.
During a luncheon meet
ing in the county’s recre
ation/community center, the
two state politicians listened
intently as County Manager
Bobby Darden and others
highlighted a proposed ma
rine park in the county’s com
merce centre, school improve
ment projects, water projects,
and community facUity proj
ects.
In addition, county officials
relayed residents’ feelings on
such issues as the S-bridge/
causeway, the impact of the
state holding local lottery and
public school funds, and oppo
sition to proposed increases
for insurance premiums and
deductibles in coastal coun
ties.
While neither politician,
could say the county would
receive the fimds requested,
both voiced support of the
county’s economic develop
ment efforts.
“I met with the governor
last Friday and I left your
proposal in her hands,'’ said
Mobldy, who represents Per
quimans and the rest of the
Fifth District in the House of
Representatives.
“It’s very important that
See JOBS on Page 3
Weekend
Weather
Thursday
High: 62 Low: 49
Isolated T-Storms
Friday
High: 68 Low: 51
Mostly Cloudy
Saturday
High: 66 Low: 49
SCAHERED T-
Storms
Hertford Town Council says no to
consumers using credit cards
II
iA.
Start-up costs
$8,000 too high now;
maybe next year
By CATHY WILSON
Staff Writer
You won’t be able to pay
your utility bills by credit
card in Hertford.
At least not this fiscal year.
Last Monday night, mem
bers of Hertford Council
tabled the idea of allowing
credit card payments because
of the start-up cost involved.
Town Manager John Chris
tensen explained that the
town would face a start-up
cost of $5,600 to establish
credit card pa3Tnents in the
town office for an estimated
$100,000 worth of credit card
business in a year.
In addition, the town would
also have to pay about $2,000
in fee's when customers paid
by credit card the first year,
making the total first year
costs for the town around
$7,800.
“It would increase the
means for payment,” Chris
tensen said, but noted the
large amount of money it
would take to get the ball
rolling.
Council members agreed,
saying the town couldn’t af
ford to spend that money
now.
But the group did say they
may look at the issue of tak
ing credit card payments
again when preparing next
year’s budget.
In other matters last week,
council followed the recom
mendation of the town’s
planning and zoning board
by approving a zoning change
that will allow funeral homes
in the C-4 zoning district.
Planner Brandon Shoaf
said the zoning change was
requested by Perquimans
County because a funeral
home is interested in siting
in the Commerce Centre.
Cole earns Liberty Bell
A local attorney wiU re
ceive a prestigious award on
behalf of the North Carolina
Bar Association (NCBA).
According to “North Caro
lina Lawyer,” a publication
of the NCBA, Janice McKen
zie Cole will receive the 2009
Liberty BeU Award presented
annually by the Young Law
yers Division of the NCBA
for her part in strengthening
the American system of free
dom under law.
Cole will be the first Af
rican-American woman to
receive the award that will
be presented May 1 in con
junction’ with the NCBA’s
annual Law Day festivities
in Raleigh.
In 1990, Cole became the
first woman and the first Af
rican American to serve as
a district court judge in the
First Judicial District, and
four years later, was the first
black woman in the state to
be named a U.S. Attorney for
the Eastern District.
She returned to private
practice in 2001. She recently
served as a member of the
U.S. Electoral College.
Cole previously served
on the Governor’s Crime
Commission, the domestic
Violence Commission, the Z.
Smith Reynolds Foundation
Advisory Panel, the Eliza
beth City State University
Foundation Board of Direc
tors, the North Carolina
Child Care Commission, and
the North Carolina Progress
Board.
She also served on the NC
BA’s Board of Governors.
She is married to District
Court Judge James C. Cole.
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