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The
ERQUIMANS
Weekly
Rotary Club funds scholarships
with concert. See page 2
"News from Next Door”
/
Holman
Hodges
Jackson
Lane
Candidates
address issues
By Cathy Wilson
Staff Writer
Four newcomers and one
incumbent are vying for two
seats on the Hertford Town
Council in the Nov. 3 munici
pal elections.
Newcomers LUlian Anne
Holman, Lloyd S. Hodges,
Quentin Jackson, and William
E. (Ed) Lane, will square off
against incumbent Horace C.
Reid Jr. for the two open seats.
Councilwoman JoAnn Morris
is not seeking re-election.
Since one-stop absentee vot
ing begins Thursday, the five
candidates were asked to com
ment on two issues facing the
town today Their responses
follow.
Q. How would you improve
Reid
economic de
velopment in
Hertford?
Lillian
Anne Hol
man; We have
the infra
structure in
place so we
are prepared
for at least
three subdivisions ready to go
when the economy gets better.
The North Carolina Seafood
Authority is planning a ma
rine park in the Commerce
Center and that should bring
other businesses to the area to
compliment the boat-building
industry 1 would love to see
our waterfront developed but
See CANDIDATES on Page 11
Chief justice to
swear-in Cole
By Cathy Wilson
Staff Writer
The sitting chief justice for
the N.C. Supreme Court wiU
swear in J.C. Cole of Hertford
as a superior court judge for
the First Judicial district Oct.
15.
Chief Justice Sarah Parker
will do the honors during a
noon ceremony on the lawn
of the historic Perquimans
County Courthouse.
Judge Cole, who serves as
a district court judge, was
appointed last month by Gov.
Beverly Perdue to finish the
unexpired term of Judge J.
Richard Parker who retired
Sept. 30.
Chief Justice, Parker began
her service as chief justice
of the state’s highest court in
2006 after joining the supreme
court in 1993. She also served
on the N.C. Court of Appeals
and was an attorney in pri
vate practice. A native of
Charlotte, she earned her un
dergraduate and law degrees
at the University of North
Carolina at Chapel HiU.
Judge Cole was appointed
as a district court judge in
1994. Prior to that, he was a
private attorney in Hertford
and a licensed private inves-
Parker
figator and
U.S. postal in
spector. As a
district judge,
he earned a
reputation as
a specialist in
juvenile jus
tice matters.
He attend
ed under
graduate school at Livingston
College and also received a
master’s degree in criminal
justice. He received his law
degree from North Carolina
Central University School of
Law.
Cole also serves on the Gov
ernor’s Crime Commission
and is active in the Perqui
mans County community. He
is married to Janice McKen
zie Cole, a former U.S. Attor
ney for the Eastern District
of N.C., and a former district
court judge.
The outdoor swearing-in
ceremony is a tradition for
the Cole family. Both Cole and
his wife chose outdoor cere
monies when taking the oaths
of office as district judges.
The first judicial district
covers Perquimans, Pasquo
tank, Camden, Chowan, Cur
rituck, Gates and Dare coun
ties.
OCTOBER 14, 2009 - OCTOBER 20, 2009
j j LiiuS
A story to tell
PERQUIMANS WEEKLY PHOTO BY CATHY WILSON
Ray Doyen, better known as Doc, writes his manuscripts in long hand while sitting at his desk-in his Holiday Island home. He recently
published a fictional book based on the true events surrounding the rape of his daughter years ago when she was a New York college
freshman.
Doyen relives a father’s anguish in book
Daughter
moves
forward
after rape
By Cathy Wilson
Staff Writer
T he father couldn’t believe his eyes
when he saw his precious daughter
standing before him, face badly
bruised and swoUen after being violently
beaten and raped during a leisurely walk
near the college campus. He gently put
his big strong arms arour'4 her to com
fort her, love her, protect her.
But inside, he was screaming.
How could this have happened to his
daughter? Who could have done the
unspeakable to her? Why couldn’t he
have been there to protect his child like
fathers are supposed to do?
For Ray Doyen of Holiday Island,
these questions and more consumed
every inch of his very being every single
day for weeks, months, even years after
the attack. Deep inside, he suffered a
unique form of torment that eventually
forced him to therapeutically express his
frustrations and feelings into the written
word.
His self-published book, “A Father’s
Anguish”, is fiction based on a true event
that impacted the Doyen family several
years ago.
His now “40-ish” daughter, a high
school graduate who also served in the
military, was a New York college fresh
man at the time the attack occurred. She
went for a walk off-campus when she was
grabbed from behind, knocked uncon
scious, and carried to a house where the
violent sexual attack continued. When
the rapist was finished with her, he drove
her back to where he first accosted her
and dumped her on the sidewalk.
Like many rape victims, she never
reported the attack to police. Instead, she
sought help from the local Rape Crisis
Center, and then went home to the safety
and comfort of her parents in Pennsyl-
R,W.Ooycr»
vania.
They never
• found out who
attacked her. But
they tried to find
the house where it
occurred.
“She remem-
^bered some
characteristics of ’’
the house,” Doyen
said. “For weeks, 1
would pick her up
after school and
we’d drive aroimd town trying to find the
house, but we never found it. It almost
drove me nuts!”
While his daughter eventually picked
up the pieces of her life and moved
forward. Doyen, a podiatrist at the time,
stfil harbored an unresolved anguish
deep inside his gut.
“It was an anguish I’d never felt before,
a silent rage,” he added.
For five years, he picked up a pen
and note pad and wrote in long-hand
his frustrations and feelings about the
attack and attacker. He let his imagina-
tlfin be the guiding thrust of his ink pen
with each stroke that eventually created
a fascinating and intriguing read. His
imagination deals with the rapist in a
most unusual way The book’s startling
climax is so smoothly written that it
leaves the reader wondering where real
ity ends and fiction begins.
“Once 1 started writing, 1 let the story
carry me,” he said. “The book portrays
the emotional aspect of rape as much as
the circumstances surrounding it. No, 1
couldn’t do to the attacker what 1 wanted
to do, so I let my alter ego in the book
take care of him.”
His writing was therapy for him.
See FATHER on Page 10
By Cathy Wilson
Staff Writer
The day after she was vio
lently raped, Stacey McGoni-
gle made a conscious decision
that she was going to be OK.
“I made up my mind that
this was not going to con
sume my life,” she said, even
though the then New York col
lege freshman, just 24 hours
earlier, was grabbed from be
hind, beaten, taken to a house
and raped.
Time, determination, and
counseling over the years
since the attack has helped
her grow into the strong
“40ish” woman, wife, and
mother she is today.
She talks about the attack
now with a strength and con
viction that comes with heal
ing and growth in moving
forward.
“1 don’t consider myself a
victim now,” she said slowly,
emphasizing the word now.
See DAUGHTER on Page 11
Weekend
Weather
Thursday
High: 68 Low: 57
Partly cloudy
Friday
High: 76 Low: 59
Showers
Saturday
High: 76 Low: 56
SCAHERED SHOWERS
Meiggs is head of the class puck hunter dies
in Chapel Creek
6 "89076 47143 5
By Cathy Wilson
Staff Writer
Dianne Meiggs hangs out
with a lot of short people, but
the impact she makes in then-
everyday lives stands taU when
it comes to future success.
The principal of Hertford
Grammar School (HGS) was
recently chosen as the 2009
Principal of the Year for Per
quimans County Schools
(PCS). The 26-year veteran
educator has served as prin
cipal at HGS for the past three
years.
The portfolio of her accom
plishments wUl advance to
the Northeast Regional com
petition as part of the 2010
PERQUIMANS WEEKLY PHOTO BY CATHY WILSON
Dianne Meiggs communicates with students on their level at Hertford
See MEIGGS on Page 10 Grammar School. She is the school system’s principal of the year.
By Cathy Wilson
Staff Writer
A duck hunter apparent
ly drowned in Chapel Creek
near Winfall last 'Thursday
while trying to retrieve his
shotgun after the canoe he
was in overturned.
Perquimans County
Sheriff Eric Tilley said
the body of Thomas Brock,
65, of Eli|;abeth City, was
recovered around 1 p.m.
by members of the Perqui
mans County Water Res
cue (PCWR). Brock’s body
has been sent to the state
medical examiner’s office
in Greenville to determine
cause of death.
Tilley said Brock and
Belvidere resident Ernest
Berry were sitting in fold-
up chairs on the bank hunt
ing ducks Thursday morn
ing when they climbed
into a canoe and paddled
into the water to retrieve
a downed duck. The canoe
tipped over, spiUing both
men and their gear into the
See HUNTER on Page 10