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P I The
ERQUIMANS
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Page 4
''News from Next Door"
SEPTEMBER 9, 2009 - SEPTEMBER 15, 2009
Insurance chief fields questions on rates
Nixon: homeowners should get discount for safeguards in new dwellings
By Reggie Ponder
Staff Writer
Area officials peppered
North Carolina’s insurance
chief with hard questions last
week about the fairness of
homeowner insurance rates
in other parts of the state at
a time when coastal property
owners are facing what one
official called an “affordabil
ity crisis” in insurance.
The Pasquotank County
Board of Commissioners
hosted the meeting with
Insurance Commissioner
Wayne Goodwin, which also
drew commissioners and
other county officials from
Perquimans, Camden, Curri
tuck, Chowan, Dare and Hyde
counties. Two city councilors
from Elizabeth City also at
tended.-
Particularly troubling to
many of the officials is the
fact that residents in area
counties are paying more
than $2,000 a year for the same
homeowner’s policy that
costs a Charlotte homeowner
about $500 a year — despite
documentation that shows
hard-hitting hurricanes like
Fran and Hugo have caused
more damage in the Raleigh
and Charlotte areas than in
coastal regions of the state.
“Where is the fairness?”
asked Pasquotank Commis
sioner Lloyd Griffin, who pre
sided over the session.
Dare County Manager
Bobby Outten said Dare ho
meowners are paying four or
See INSURANCE on Page 13
Pitching fpr a cure
Indian Summer
Festival set for
this Saturday
PERQUIMANS WEEKLY PHOTO BY CATHY WILSON
Helen Hunter, wife of the late baseball Hall of Earner Jimmy “Catfish” Hunter, is busy working to raise funds to find a cure for ALS. She
is preparing for the annual Walk to D’Feet ALS event scheduled for Sept. 26 at Perquimans County High School.
Hunter walks to raise funds for ALS
Games, entertainment,
crafters, food galore
By Cathy Wilson
Staff Writer
This year’s Indian Summer
‘Festival has something for ev
eryone!
Crafters, vendors, games
and activities for children, a
car show, an array of -talented
entertainment, and a variety
of food and drinks wHl keep
visitors busy Saturday from 9
a.m. until 5 p.m. This marks
the 28th anniversary of the
festival sponsored by Historic
Hertford, Inc.
This year’s festival will of
fer a free shuttle service pro
vided by Inter-County Public
Transportation Authority
(ICPTA). Watch for “Shuttle”
signs and catch a ride into
town at Coastal Carolina
Family Practice parking lot,
corner of Dobbs and Church
streets, corner of Market and
Covent Garden streets. Miss
ing MHl Park parking lot on
Grubb Street, and the corner
of Church and Grubb streets.
The route is subject to change
based on attendance.
Bring the children and let
them enjoy the array , of ac
tivities lined up for them on
the parking lot of Hertford
Baptist Church. Among the
fun things to do will be scaling
See FESTIVAL on Page 12
By Cathy Wilson
Staff Writer
T o meet Helen Hunter is as
reassuring as seeing a long-lost
friend again.
She’s warm, caring, loving, dedi
cated and excited about life and those
who surround her. She cares about
people, and the community as weU.
If there is anything going on in or
around Hertford, chances are she’s
somewhere working in the back
ground.
She tools around town in an extend
ed cab pick-up truck, cuts grass in the
hot afternoon sun in shorts and tee-
shirt, babysits for the grandchildren,
and cooks a homemade dinner for
her three children and their offspring
every Tuesday night.
She’s a down home, easy-going,
country-loving woman whose strong
faith in God has helped sustain her
and her family through difficult times
in the past.
To meet Helen Hunter today, one
would never know she was the wife
of a national baseball legend, a man
whose contractual arbitration caused
him to become baseball’s first big-
money free agent and blaze a payment
trail for baseball players in the Mure.
In Hertford, she’s just Helen. Her
late husband, the legendary pitcher
Jimmy Catfish Hunter, was just
Jimmy when he was home in his
beloved Perquimans County Today
(Wednesday) marks the 10th anniver
sary of the death of Catfish Hunter, a
Baseball HaU of Famer who died Sept.
9,1999 at the age of 53 from complica
tions of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
(ALS) following a fall at his home.
Sitting at her kitchen table in her
Hertford home, Helen is surrounded
by photos and memorabilia of her
husband’s 15 years in the big leagues,
her children, his himting trophies,
and the cause that takes up a lot of her
time and dedication these days. She
works diligently to help raise funds
for the Jim “Catfish” Hunter ALS
Foundation to hopefully one day find a
cure for the disease that changed their
lives back in 1998.
“He first noticed something was
wrong one day when he couldn’t push
a shell into his«hotgun,” remembered
Helen. Many tests and trips to various
hospitals later, they received word
See HUNTER on Page 13
Local schools receive
$1.5M IMPACT grant
By Cathy Wilson
Staff Writer
Lightning does strike
twice. In fact, when it comes
to million dollar IMPACT
grants, lightening has struck
three times in Perquimans.
For the third year since
'2003, Perquimans County
Schools will receive a feder
ally funded IMPACT grant to
help provide technology for
the classrooms and enhance
staff development.
School officials say part of
the grant will put a laptop
computer in the hands of
every student at Perquimans
High School.
The Northeast Impact Con
sortium, comprised of three
schools in Perquimans and
one in Chowan, will receive
a total of $1,499,220. Perqui
mans County High School
is slated to receive $640,400,
Perquimans Middle School,
$242,520, Hertford Grammar
School, $277,995, and D.F.
Walker Elementary School
in Chowan County will ben
efit from $328,305.
At Perquimans County
High School, each student
will be issued a laptop com
puter much like students
are issued text books at the
See GRANT on Page 11
Weekend
Weather
Thursday
High: 80 Low: 69
Sg^ttered
Thunderstorms
Friday
High: 82 Low: 68
Scattered
Thunderstorms
Saturday
High: 82 Low: 69
Mostly Cloudy
Jackson-Heard named Teacher of the Year
89076
47143 5
By Cathy Wilson
Staff Writer
Dexter Jackson-Heard, a
young man who was greatly
influenced by a special life
long teacher, is the Teacher
of the Year for Perquimans
County Schools.
He teaches business educa
tion to about 114 students at
Perquimans Middle School.
Mso honored recently were
the system’s other Top Teach
ers for the year including Con
nie Ashley, Deborah Bonner
and JUl Cohen.
“You know, administration
can do aU they can do to sup
port the schools, but when it
comes right down to it, it’s all
about what’s going on in the
classroom,” said Perquimans
Board of Education Chairman
Wallace Nelson in making the
announcement recently “We
are so excited that we have
teachers who care. Maybe it
wfil make a difference in a
child’s life.”
Originally from Washing
ton, D.C., Jackson-Heard grad
uated from the Virginia State
University and has taught in
Perquimans for the past three
years. Prior to that, he taught
in public schools located in
Elizabeth City, Portsmouth,
and Suffolk. He teaches Ex
ploring Business Technology,
Business Technology and Key
boarding for sixth, seventh
and eighth-grade students.
While there were many fac
tors that helped him decide to
become a teacher, the greatest
See TEACHER on Page 13
PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
PHOTO BY CATHY WILSON
Dexter Jackson-
Heard, a business
education teacher
at Perquimans
Middle School,
recently received
the Teacher of the
Year award from
the Perquimans
County Schools. ‘
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