V
received
P I The 2 8 ’"I
ERQUIMANS
\.^¥eekly
s
Surgery to remove tumor successful, 2
Parkers win East Division points, 6
"News from Next Door"
JULY 28, 2010 - AUGUST 3, 2010
cent^
Tanner wants Yates’ suit dismissed
Mayor: Citizen
defamed him
By CATHY WILSON
Staff Writer
Fred Tanner has asked
the Perquimans Superior
Court to dismiss the defa
mation lawsuit filed against
him by Winfall Mayor Fred
Yates.
In a response filed Mon-
Power
outage;
food lost
By CATHY WILSON
Staff Writer
A power outage on July
9 apparently caused the
school system to lose near
ly $24,000 in food stored in
coolers located in the main
tenance shop.
Perquimans Schools Su
perintendent Dwayne Stall
ings told
Stallings
Weekend
Weather
Friday
High: 89 Low: 71
Isolated T-Storms
Saturday
High: 89 Low: 73
Isolated T-Storms
Sunday
High: 91 Low: 75
Partly Sunny
mini
day by his attorney, John
G. Trimpi, Tanner said
the lawsuit should be dis
missed for a number of
reasons. For one, Tanner’s
opinions about Yates are
protected free speech, the
response states. For an
other, Tanner’s allegations
were made against Yates
in his capacity as a public
official.
In addition. Tanner has
a “truthful and good faith
belief in the factual basis
for ... the statements made
about Yates/’ Tanner’s
response states. Finally,
Tanner has apologized and
retracted his statements
about Yates and the one-
year statute of limitations
on some of the lawsuit’s
claims has expired.
Yates filed the lawsuit last
month against Tanner, a
Winfall resident who alert
ed state authorities five
years ago that Yates was
being reimbursed twice for
travel expenses. The law
suit claims Tanner alleg
edly defamed Yates in two
letters to Erskine Bowles,
president of the University
of North Carolina.
Tanner’s response ad
mits that he did write the
letters and that the con
tents of the letters speak
for themselves.
According to Tanner’s
response. Tanner, a former
member of the WinfaU
Planning Board, "... has
been and remains con
cerned about corrupt poli
ticians. Notwithstanding
threats to his person and
intimidation by Yates, Tan
ner investigated the finan
cial relationship Yates had
with the Town of Winfall
and imcovered what Tan
ner and others believed
were examples of embez
zlement and perjury”
Tanner alleges that he
obtained town records
showing that Yates re
ceived travel expenses for
the same trip from Winfall
as well as from two state
.agencies whose boards
Yates served on at the time.
Tanner also alleges Yates
was reimbursed for travel
expenses even for trips “for
See LAWSUIT, 2
board of
education
members
Monday
night that
a “brown
out” oc-
c ur r e d,
causing
electricity
to be off to the school build
ings.
“In an effort to be energy
efficient, we had moved the
food from all four school
coolers to the maintenance
shop when the electric
ity went out,” Stallings ex
plained.
The total amount of food
that can’t be used now is
$23,608.
The school system will
seek reimbursement from
insurance, he added.
Director of Maintenance
Jonathan Nixon said elec
tricity went out that Friday
afternoon and was back on
Saturday
“During that 24-hour pe
riod, however, the food got
too hot,” he added.
A web-based monitor
ing system through which
school officials can track
problems with the coolers
was also knocked offline
when computer servers lost
electricity as well.
Chris Wharton, the
town’s director of public
utilities, said he was noti
fied of the outage by Nixon
that Saturday afternoon
aroimd 3 p.m. and power
was restored within an
hour and a half.
Lightning apparently
caused a fuse to “cut out”
on the pole in front of the
high school, he explained.
Taking a stand
■ ..f
STAFF PHOTOS BY CATHY WILSON
Robin Foreman (above) of Elizabeth City performs an interpretive dance to the song “Walk Around Heaven during Saturday’s
Stop the Violence event on King Street. Children (below) enjoy a variety of activities during the Community Field Day.
Residents support ‘stop the violence’
By CATHY WILSON
Staff Writer
T he T-shirts said it all.
Designed with a theme uniting Stokes Drive,
King Street, and Wynne Fork Court, the shirts
spoke the words “Stop the Violence” quietly on the
back. The words were punctuated with pictures of
Shakim Warren and Jamar Fletcher, two young men
who died from violence on King Street over the last
five years.
The shirts made their way on the backs of young
sters and adults who attended the Community Field
Day held in the scorching heat Saturday. Youngsters
competed in 3-on-3 basketball tournaments, played
badminton, ran relay races, and passed footballs
while the older adults threw horseshoes, tossed
corn-hole bags, and cooked barbecue chicken on
steaming hot grills.
For Barbara Warren, it was a day of mixed
emotions. She lost her 17-year-old son, Shakim, to
violence over five years ago when he was shot and
killed during an apparent drive-by shooting in front
of his King Street home.
“It means a lot to me to see everyone gathered
here today,” she said. “But, it brings back happy and
sad memories for me. A lot of things have
See COMMUNITY, 7
BOE
By CATHY WILSON
Staff Writer
Amy Spaugh is the new
chairman of the Perqui
mans Board of Education.
Monday night, board
members elected Spaugh
as their leader with Ar
lene Yates serving as vice
chair.
“Thank you,” Spaugh
told the board following
the vote. “I appreciate your
confidence.”
Both Spaugh and Yates
are beginning the third
year of their first four-year
term on the board. Yates
served as vice chairman
last year.
Former chairman Wal
lace Nelson, who served
three consecutive years as
chairman, was not eligible
to serve again as chairman
per board policy
In addition to elect
ing new leadership, three
board members were also
sworn into office including
Nelson, Walter Leigh, and
board newcomer Ralph
Hollowell. Superior Court
Clerk Todd Tilley admin
istered the oath of office to
the three men.
Just minutes after tak
ing his seat on the board,
Hollowell surprised board
members by asking that
the board discuss in open
session previously ap
proved contracts for both
the school superintendent
and assistant superinten
dent.
In June, contracts for
both were approved by the
board adding an addition
al year to the contract for
Superintendent Dwayne
Stallings and giving new
Assistant Superintendent
See BOE, 4
BATMOBILE assists at DWI checkpoint
By CATHY WILSON
Staff Writer
Ken Rhodes bent over
slightly at the waist as he
gave final words of instruc
tion Saturday night before
law enforcement officers
hit the street in a concerted
effort to prevent crashes by
pulling impaired drivers
off the roads.
“Safety is paramount, but
get in there, bend down and
engage the driver in conver
sation,” he said. “Smell the
alcohol, look at their faces.
Drimks like to tell you they
are messed up. We’ve been
seeing a lot of impaired
drivers due to prescription
drugs right now. They’re
mixing Valium with beer,
and they are more messed
up than a cricket in a hub
cap.”
Rhodes drove the state-
owned BATMOBILE to
Hertford Saturday to assist
local law enforcement agen
cies conduct a six-hour traf
fic checkpoint to find drunk
or drugged drivers. Before
heading out to begin the
checkpoint in the high heat
and hmnidity, officers lis
tened as Sgt. Shawn Swind
ell with the Hertford Police
Department briefed them
on the checkpoint’s plan of
action.
With that, eight officers
with the Hertford Police
Department, six state high
way patrolmen, and two
officers with the Edenton
Police Department left
the Hertford Fire Depart
ment and travelled to U.S.
Highway 17 southbound
just south of the high rise
bridge where they staged a
six-hour traffic checkpoint
to find drunken or drugged
drivers. Accompanying
them was Rhodes and the
STAFF PHOTO BY CATHY WILSON
Officer Bruce Miller stops a vehicle during the Booze-lt and Lose It traffic check conducted Sat
urday evening by area law enforcement agencies.
BATMOBILE, a large color
ful mobile breath-alcohol
testing forensic lab. ■
Parked in the medium be
tween the north and soufh-
boimd lanes of U.S. 17, the
BATMOBILE provided air
conditioning and a brief
respite from the heat when
officers brought in suspects
to magistrates who waited
inside to do the legal paper
work.
In aU, 31 charges were
written for the evening in
cluding two driving while
See BATMOBILE