^WEEKLY
MARCH"
"News from Next Door"
MARCH 7, 2012 -MARCH 13, 2012 MM 0 7 2012
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Commissioners name Heath manager
Board also unveils
strategic goals
By CATHY WILSON
Staff Writer
County commissioners
appointed Frank Heath as
the new county manager
Monday night.
Heath has served as
interim county manager
as well as tax administra
tor since former manager
Bobby Darden left the posi
tion Nov. 11.
Heath, 36, has worked
for the county for the past
eight years as tax adminis
trator and special projects
coordinator. He has assist
ed in the remodeling of the
former Albemarle Electric
building into a new home
for the county’s emergency
services,
the acqui
sition of
Winfall’s
water sys
tem, and
the rede
sign of the
county’s
website.
Heath
Commissioners set
Heath’s annual salary at
$77,776.
“I am excited and appre
ciative of the board’s deci
sion to appoint me as coun
ty manager,” said Heath.
“It is an honor to work and
live in Perquimans County,
because our citizens are
our biggest asset. I look
forward to carrying out the
decisions of the elected of
ficials, and to finding ways
to make the county more
efficient and responsive to
our residents.”
Commissioners also ap
pointed Debbie Stallings
as the county’s interim tax
administrator while the
county begins the process
to hire a new one. Stall
ings serves as assistant
tax administrator and
has worked for the county
since 1989.
As interim tax adminis
trator, Stallings will help
lead the assessing, listing
and collection of county
and municipal taxes as well
as managing the county’s
water department billing
office and county’s map
ping department.
Also Monday night, com
missioners presented a
summary of their two-day
retreat held last month to
See HEATH, 7
COAST Gin Visits Studeats
By PETER WILLIAMS
The Daily Advance
T I aylor Berman had a big
day Thursday. She won
third place in the school
art contest and her father
came to visit her at school
and had lunch.
Just how Mark Berman
got there was a bit unortho
dox. Berman is an aviation
maintenance technician
and a member of the flight
crew aboard a U.S. Coast
Guard helicopter that made
the trip to Hertford Gram
mar School from Elizabeth
City. Taylor, 10, knew a heli
copter was coming to visit.
Thursday morning her Dad
asked for permission to be
on that flight.
The $20 million aircraft
got a first-class welcome
by the 450 students. Some
of them painted a giant
American flag on the field
and others made banners to
welcome the five-member
crew.
For their part, Lt. Com.
Steve Bonn and the others
had the luxury of spending
hours with students, visit
ing classrooms, answering
questions, staying for lunch
and giving students an up-
close look at the aircraft.
“This is one of the cool
things about the job,” Bonn
said.
The visit was timed to co
incide with the end of a ses
sion on STEM courses. The
Jayhawk helicopter is the
embodiment of the science,
technology, engineering and
math that has to happen to
lift five people and 20,000
pounds of metal into the air
and get it to fly at speeds of
up to 210 mph.
For girls — a segment of
the population that isn’t
highly represented in avia
tion — Thursday was a day
to see first-hand that women
can fly too.
The co-pilot on the flight
was Lt. Amanda Denning.
She caught the aviation bug
late and was an English
major in college with ideas
on going to law school.
Denning joined the Coast
Guard after seeing what the
service did in the wake of
Hurricane Katrina.
One of her messages to
the students was “it’s never
too late to start.”
Women have flown in the
Coast Guard for 35 years.
According to the Federal
Aviation Administration,
of the nearly 600,000 pilots
in the United States, ap
proximately six percent
are women. The aviation
community in the Coast
Guard is no different. Of
STAFF PHOTOS BY PETER WILLIAMS
Fourth-grader Hinton McDonald (center) draws a picture of a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter, while Lt.
Amanda Denning (left) and aviation technician Brandon Hamlin speak to his class at Hertford Gram
mar School,Thursday.
Lt. Cmdr. Steve Bonn discusses the helicopter that he and his crew flew to Hertford Grammar, Thursday.
Hertford Grammar students hold a banner saying “HGS" as part of a larger banner that welcomes the
crew of a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter to the school.
the approximately 4,500
Coast Guard personnel as
signed to air stations, only
4.5 percent are female.
Additionally, women
account for less than four
percent of the more than
500,000 non-pilot aviation
related jobs in the United
States.
Students wanted to know
if flying a helicopter was
hard. Denning described it
by asking students if they
could rub their belly and
pat their head at the same
time.
“It takes that kind of con
centration,” she said.
They also wanted to know
if you had to be a great
swimmer to be in the Coast
Guard.
“You don’t have to be the
best swimmer, but you do
have to be comfortable in
water. If you ever did have
to go down in the water,
we’d expect somebody
would come out to get us.”
The idea of a crash was
See USCG VISITS, 2
Judge dismisses
6 complaints
against Parrish
By BILL WEST
The Daily Advance
A Superior Court judge has dismissed six of
the eight complaints filed by
citizens calling for the suspen
sion or removal of District At
torney Frank Parrish.
In a one-page order filed
with the Pasquotank County
Superior Court Clerk’s Office,
Judge Alma Hinton of Roanoke
Rapids said she reviewed six of
the complaints and concluded
Parrish did not break any state
laws governing district attor
neys’ conduct.
Hinton further said she
found Parrish “has conducted
himself within the bounds of
his prosecutorial discretion.”
Neither Parrish nor his at
torney, James Maxwell of Dur
ham, could be reached for com-
ment Friday
Kathryn Fagan,
a Manteo attor
ney representing
all eight of the
persons who filed
the complaints,
appeared stunned
Hinton
Parrish
More on
this story
DA accepted word
of DSS on case — 3
when reached for comment late Friday after ¬
noon.
“I have not seen the order or the dismissal as
yet because, as throughout the entire process,
my presence in it has been ignored,” Fagan
said.
Fagan called both the judge’s decision not to
hold a hearing on the complaints and the fact
she hadn’t been notified of the dismissal “ab-
See JUDGE, 2
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Antje Curphey, who was the former community tech
nology learning center coordinator for Perquimans
County Schools, died in a two-vehicle collision near
Camarillo, Calif., on Feb. 27
Former teacher
killed in Calif.
By CATHY WILSON
Staff Writer
Local residents are mourning the death of a
former high school teacher and community ac
tivist who was killed in a California car crash
just three weeks after moving to that area from
Hertford.
Antje Curphey, formerly the community
technology learning center coordinator for
Perquimans County Schools, was killed Feb.
27 in a two-vehicle collision in the Camarillo,
California area when the vehicle she was riding
in turned left onto a roadway and was struck
See TEACHER, 4
6
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