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"Neivs front Next Door”
JULY 21, 2010 - JULY 27, 2010
Summer session at PCS, 4
King SUeet; stop
the violence now, 4
Yates sues Tanner for letters to UNC
Mayor claiming
libel, defamation
By CATHY WILSON
Sta/jf Writer
Winfall Mayor Fred
Yates has filed a defama
tion/libel lawsuit in Per
quimans Superior Court
against Fred Tanner, a
town resident who alerted
Stay cool
during
heat wave
By CATHY WILSON
Staff Writer
With temperatures ex
pected to climb into the up
per 90s the rest of the week,
officials urge caution while
working outside and to
make extra efforts to keep
cool.
The National Weather
Service has issued heat ad
visories warning that a pe
riod of hot temperatures is
expected until Monday The
hottest times usually oc
cur in the afternoons when
temperatures climb to then-
highest. The combination
of hot temperatures and
high humidity is expected
to combine each day this
week to create a situation
in which heat illnesses are
possible.
.Officials urge resident
to drink plenty of fluids,
stay m an air-conditioning
if possible, and stay in the
shade if you need to be out
doors.
Chris Wharton, direc
tor of public works for
the town of Hertford, said
breaks and plenty of liq
uids are provided to town
employees working outside
in the heat.
“When it’s hot, we start
with 15 minute breaks
each hour,” Wharton said.
“Based on the temperature
and the job we’re doing,
that can go up to 30 minutes
work, 30 minutes break. If
it gets too miserable, we’U
just pull them in. So far,
we haven’t had a problem.
We’ve got five-gallon cool
ers filled with water and/
or Gatorade available for
them.”
According to the Centers
for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC), people
suffer heat-related illness
when their bodies are un
able to compensate and
properly cool themselves.
Usually, the body cools it
self by sweating, but under
some conditions, sweating
just isn’t enough. Allowing
the body’s temperature to
rise rapidly may damage
See HEAT, 2
Weekend
Weather
Friday
High: 93 Low: 78
Partly Cloudy
Saturday
High: 93 Low: 77
Sunny
Sunday
High: 90 Low: 77
Sunny
state authorities to Yates’
double dipping travel-re
imbursement activities
five years ago.
Filed dime 21, the law
suit claims Tanner alleg
edly defamed Yates in two
letters written to Erskine
Bowles, president of the
University of North Caro
lina.
The lawsuit cites Tan
ner for “publishing” two
letters to
Bowles, us
ing phras
es that
“knowing
ly and ma
liciously”
defamed
Yates.
In the
first letter
written March 13,2007, the
lawsuit’s complaint states
Yates
that Tanner wrote that
Yates “was embezzling
travel and expense money
from the State of North
Carolina and the Town of
Winfall...” and that “the
State Auditor found Yates
in violation of four felony
statutes relating to embez
zlement.”
In a second letter dated
Jan. 21, 2010, Tanner al
legedly stated that Yates
“...is well known in our
community for his unethi
cal behavior and that Yates
“had committed a larceny
by writing ‘the (tax) money
ended up in his pocket.’”
“The letter goes on to
say that Yates’ known fel
ony crimes of perjury and
embezzlement...are also
defamatory in nature,” the
lawsuit states.
The lawsuit claims that
A Heartfelt Harvest
Yates was also defamed
by Tanner’s written state
ments in the 2010 letter,
with no regard for the
truth, stating that Yates
“has sired illegitimates
and is weU known for his
desire for young women
outside of marriage.... He
(Yates) does not deserve
to be working near young
See LAWSUIT, 8
received
JUL 2 1 Ziiij
STAFF PHOTO BY THOMAS J. TURNEY
Church volunteer Julia Webb-Bowden picks corn Saturday, July 17, for the Food Bank of the Albemarle.
Church members glean corn to feed the hungry
By KRISTIN PITTS
The Daily Advance
I ore than 1,700 pounds of corn were
picked fresh from the corn field and
delivered to the local food bank Sat
urday by members of Perquimans County
Methodist churches.
Standing in the middle of a cornfield,
Julia Webb-Bowden shook her head and let
out a belabored moan.
She’d just found a perfectly good ear of
corn — one that probably would have gone
to waste if she hadn’t spotted it.
, It’s moments like those that kept corn
gleaners like Webb-Bowden and a dozen
other church members out in the hot morn
ing sun.
“This. This is why,” Webb-Bowden said,
gesturing to the corn. “Imagine letting that
rot in a field.”
With that, she tossed it into a sack full of
corn. The bag was later taken just outside
the field, where it joined several others
sacks of organic vegetables.
At the end of the work session, the bags
were taken from Parker Farms of Pasquo
tank to the Food Bank of the Albemarle.
Standing at the edge of the field, Richard
Parker said that the decision to open his
land up to the Hertford, Woodland, and
Edenton United Methodist church groups
was an easy one.
Parker grows a few acres worth of veg
etables specifically for the community Like
the workers making their way through the
rows of corn, Parker said he did so because
of his faith in God.
He said he’d recently heard someone
speak about the importance of being an
active Christian. That sentiment resonated
with him Saturday morning, as sack after
sack of vegetables was brought out of the
fields.
“A lot of Christians are Christians in
their head, but you’ve got to move from
your head to heart. And all this comes from
the heart. There are a lot of people out of
work now, and they’re not necessarily poor,
but they appreciate any help they can get,”
Parker said.
This specific type of help — the kind that
puts healthy food on the tables of those
in need — is what drew people like Webb-
Bowden out of bed and onto the field.
“I know that there is a profound.need for
nutiitious food among the poor and that
there are wonderful farmers like Mr. Parker
who are willing to donate their surplus or
their gleanings for this,” Webb-Bowden said.
Walker Rayburn, of Hertford, a volun
teer field supervisor for the Society of St.
Andrew, said that although this marked his
first local corn gleaning, he hoped that the
biblicaUy-based concept would catch on in a
big way.
“Just because there’s Methodists out here
today doesn’t mean that Baptists can’t come
or Presbyterians can’t come or Catholics .
can’t come,” Rayburn said, adding that he
See GLEAN, 3
Cole puts focus on Perquimans County
By CATHY WILSON
Staff Writer
Three identical clocks tick in
perfect harmony on the wall of
Janice McKenzie Cole’s office.
One clock shows the time in
Mexico City, another depicts time
in Bucharest, and the third tells
the time in Beijing.
Below the international time
zones is a world map dotted by nu
merous pushpins denoting coun
tries as close as Canada and as far
away as Vietnam, Eastern Europe,
and Japan.
Each pin represents someone
helped by Janice Cole, the coun
ty’s newest commissioner.
As an immigration attorney.
Cole deals with international is
sues and laws every day through
her work at Cole Immigration Law
Center located in Hertford and
Manteo.
As a commissioner, however.
Cole’s focus is here at home. She
was appointed back in June to
fill the unexpired term of former
commissioner Shirley Wiggins
who died in April.
“It’s really not something I as
pired to do,” said Cole, reflecting
back on her appointment. “When
the vacancy came open, I, like oth
ers, tried to think of who could fill
it. A few people suggested that I
consider it, but I said, no, no, let’s
think harder. They eventually con
vinced me that I have something
See COLE, 2
STAFF PHOTO BY
CATHY WILSON
Janice Cole is
already taking
an active role in
meetings after
being sworn in
as new county
commissioner
last month.