P The
ERQUIMANS
Weekly
Dallas walks a mile at age 90,5
Five arrested as police "
raid 2 apartments, P.2
"Neivs front Next Door”
DECEMBER 29, 2010 - JANUARY 4, 2010
Town waterline leak disrupts traffic
Grubb Street was
closed for repairs
By CATHY WILSON
Staff" Writer
A simple one day water
line break repair job turned
into a week-long road clo
sure that lasted through the
Christmas holiday when a
water leak was discovered
underneath railroad tracks
on Grubb Street.
Town manager John
Christensen said the water
leak was first discovered
Dec. 20 when water was
Fire
victim
dies at
hospital
By CATHY WILSON
Perquimans Weekly
A Hertford man puUed
from his burning home
by firefighters Tuesday
morning has died.
Hertford Police Chief
Joe Amos said Burrel
Roary, Jr., 64, died in Sen-
tara Norfolk General Hos
pital’s burn trauma unit
Wednesday morning.
Amos said the medical
examiner believes Roary
died from a combination
of smoke inhalation and
super-heated gasses burn
ing the lungs.
Firefighters responded
to the house fire at 325
N. Market Street around
midnight early Tuesday
morning and heard Roary
screaming from inside the
home. Through an open
door, they saw him lying
on a floor surrounded by
flames.
Three Hertford fire
fighters rushed into the
burning house and pulled
Roary to safety. He was
treated by Perquimans
EMS, and transported to
Albemarle Hospital where
he was flown by Nightin
gale helicopter to the Nor
folk hospital.
The blaze was brought
under control within 20
minutes.
Amosj who investigated
the blaze, said the fire was
caused by an overturned
space heater in the bath
room.
The heater’s exposed
wires were lying against a
section of PVC pipe lead
ing to the bathroom sink,
Amos said.
Weekend
Weather
Friday
High; 56 Low; 40
Mostly Sunny
Saturday
High: 63 Low; 48
Partly Sunny
Sunday
High; 54 Low; 33
Showers
seen bubbling up between
train rails at the railroad
crossing on Grubb Street.
Several pipes are under
neath the tracks including
pipes that carry water, sew
er and even natural gas.
“Through the process of
elimination (cutting the
utility off to see if the pipe
stfil leaked) we were able
to determine that it was in
fact a six inch water main
leaking,” Christensen said.
Crews dug pits in the
roadway to install valves
on both sides of the leak
thereby isolating the area
to be repaired so that water
customers on either side of
the tracks would have wa
ter while the repair job was
being completed.
Luckily, the raUroad al
ready had large cranes in
the area working to install
electrical poles alongside
the track for Dominion
Power.
“The cranes were able to
remove the rails so that we
could excavate to the wa
ter main and pull it out,”
Christensen said.
On Thursday, crews were
busy in the cold tempera
tures filling trenches and
repairing the roadway with
STAFF PHOTO BY CATHY WILSON
Grubb Street was closed for
about a week to repair a
waterline leak underneath the
railroad tracks. The tracks were
taken up, waterline repaired, and
the tracks relaid before the street
could be reopened.
rock. The raUroad crew,
however, was not available
to relay the raUroad tracks
untU Monday
Traffic was rerouted
around Dobbs Street dur
ing the road closure.
Let it snow, let it snow
wm
"■>7
* V
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Jacob and Emma Nixon, children of Lee Ann and Jonathan Nixon, enjoy the snow that fell last weekend during the Christmas holiday. Officials estimate
around 10 inches of snow fell in Perquimans County over the weekend.
Storm drops 8-10 inches on county
By CATHY WILSON
Staff Writer
L ocal officials estimate up
to 10 inches of snow feU in
Perquimans County over
the weekend, making efforts to
get around the county difficult.
Jarvis Winslow, the county’s
emergency management direc
tor, said he estimates between
8-10 inches feU in the county
from Saturday untU Monday.
Unconfirmed reports indicate
as much as 12 inches fell in
areas of the county closer to
Gates County.
“But, all in all, for a snow
storm, it was pretty quiet,”
Winslow added.
Local and state police worked
numerous accidents around the
county, but no serious wrecks
were reported, Winslow said.
Members of the Perquimans
Sheriffs Department not only
worked emergency caUs, but
also transported dispatchers to
and from work at the county’s
emergency communications
office.
Sheriff Eric Tilley said both
he and officers driving 4-wheel
drive SUVs manned the county
during the storm Sunday and
Monday.
“We picked up dispatchers
and took them to work, took
them to get food, and took them
home after work,” Tilley said.
“It was a mess out there.”
In addition to working
numerous traffic accidents,
sheriffs deputies also aided
STAFF PHOTO BY CATHY WILSON
See SNOW, 5 The snowfall made a pcetty backdrop for the birds.
Residents can now recycle electronics
From staff reports
County residents will
now have a place to recy
cle electronics and televi
sion sets, thanks to a state
grant.
Beginning after Jan. 1, a
16-foot recycling trailer for
electronics and TV’s will
be located at the Highway
17 North Convenience Site
located in Perquimans
County.
Trailers will also be
located in neighboring
Chowan and Gates coun
ties: the Soundside Drive
Convenience (Recycling)
Sunbury Convenience
Site on Highway 32 North
in Gates.
A fourth trailer will be
available to collect recy-
clables at local events and
in the towns.
The new trailers are the
result of a 2010 Commu
nity Waste Reduction and
Recycling Grant from the
North Carolina Division
of Pollution Prevention
and Environmental Assis
tance received by the Per-
quimans-Chowan-Gates
(PCG) Landfill Commis
sion.
The grant covers 80 per-
ments associated with this
recycling program.
The trailers should be
in place just in time to col
lect old electronics from
residents who received
new ones for Christmas.
“We are encouraging
people to clean out their
attics and closets and
bring us their old elec
tronics and TV’s,” said
Brad Gardner, PCG Land
fill manager.
“We wiU take a wide va
riety of electronic equip
ment - everything from
computers to game
STAFF PHOTO BY CATHY WILSON
Brad Gardner, PCG Landfill manager, and Ann Blind!, Albemarle
Regional Solid Waste Recycling Coordinator, eagerly start dispos
ing of electronics and televisions in the new recycling container at
the U.S. 17 North Convenience Center in Perquimans County.