P The ERQUIMANS Weekly "News from Next Door” diifecaib&ip basketball JANUARY 9, 2013 - JANUARY 15, 2013 50 cents Board considers alcohol sales issue By PETER WILLIAMS News Editor The Perquimans County Com mission left the door open Mon day night to the idea of allowing the sale of alcohol at the county’s recreation center during ban quets and wedding receptions. The issue boils down to liabil ity Michael Hurdle brought up the request on behalf of Ducks Unlimited and the National Wild Turkey Federation. “Our recreation building is as nice as any buildings in the Tidewater and northeast North Carolina area for any sportsman events,” Hurdle told the commis sion. A rule that bans the sale of al cohol at the center means groups have to go out of the county to host events or settle for less at tractive locations. “The turkey federation has been going out of the county for their banquet and Ducks Un limited has been using a 40x80- square-foot farm shop for our banquet and we have outgrown the current ,, building,” Hur- Muzzulin die said. The DU banquet draws about 150 people. “We have no other facilities that are open to us in the coun ty.” . Ducks Unlimited has already planned its annual banquet in March, so Hurdle was asking the board to reconsider the issue for next year. Commissioner Edward Muz- zulin asked Hurdle if the request for was just for beer and wine or if it would include liquor too. Hurdle replied that they wanted the ability to seU aU three. A large part of the Ducks Un limited banquet is an auction. which raises money to pay for restoration efforts. Since 1936, DU has managed to protect 12.6 million acres of wildlife habitat in the United States, Mexico and Canada. Adding alcohol to the mix tends to improve how much money is raised in the auction. Hurdle said. “A little bit of alcohol and people start to feel real good,” he joked. “It’s not like we’re turn- See ALCOHOL, 4 A Great Place To Sit And Read rr STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS Teachers Julie Roberts (left) and Teresa Beardsley cut the ribbon on a reading bench dedicated at Hertford Grammar School Monday. The bench honors former teacher Leslie Bell, who died suddenly in 2010 at age 34. She’d taught at the school since 1998. Bell’s husband James said the school was important to his late wife. “People always say how important she was to the school. What they don’t probably know is how important the school was to her,” he said. The bench carries Bell’s name and the motto “because nice matters." Conference center opens at Camp Cale By PETER WILLIAMS News Editor Perquimans County is now home to a 9,200- square-foot confer ence center and more improvements may be coming. A ribbon cutting was held Friday for the $800,000 building at Camp Cale. The camp near New Hope also now has more land to expand. Matt Thomas, the l-f director of the camp, said the center rep resents the first of three phases. The next step will be a modern bunkhouse to replace open-air cabins built 50 years ago. A third phase would include a STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS Officials cut the ribbon dedicating the new con ference center at Camp Cale, Friday. gym and a swimming pool. Thomas said the future development hinges on money. It took about 10 years from the time the con ference center was See CAMP CALE, 4 PHOTO COURTESY OF ELIZABETH CITY STATE UNIVERSITY Celvin Webster is shown in this photo taken in 1965 when he was named rookie of the year at Elizabeth City State University. He’s standing outside Williams Hall. Former coach C. Webster remembered By PETER WILLIAMS News Editor As a coach, Celvin Webster liked to win. But former players from Perquimans County High School are remembering him more for the bigger things he taught them. Webster, 67, died Dec. 1. He started work ing for the Perquimans County Schools in 1972 and over the years coached football, track and basketball and taught health and physical fitness. James Bunch, now the assistant super intendent of the school system, remem bers when he played for Webster. “One of his philosophies was participa tion in football could instill discipline and a work ethic that would serve you well af ter football was over,” Bunch said. “A lot of the student athletes he coached went on not necessarily to play athletics in college, some did, but all of them were more suc cessful as a result of him. “1 played baseball in college. I certainly wasn’t an all-American, but I had some skills and the work ethic. He always taught us the most important thing is to prepare properly And he was a local legend as far as track and field. But it took a lot of hard See WEBSTER, 4 Woman, 85, assaulted again From staff reports The Hertford Police De partment has called in the State Bureau of investiga tion to help solve the assault of an 85-year-old woman on New Years Day It’s the second time the woman has been assaulted in her home on Simset Drive in three weeks. Police say Beatrice Rid- 89076 4 7144 dick managed to get to the home of a neighbor after the assault. Police de scribed Riddick as “bloody and beaten” but her injuries were considered minor but she was taken to Chowan Hospital to be checked out. No suspects were found in her residence, but Police Chief Douglas Freeman said the department does have two suspects they be lieve were involved in both incides. The incident was re ported at 6 a.m. In the early morning hours, police also responded to people shoot ing guns in the air. While trying to break up a fight on King Street, officer Gilbert Sullivan re ported he saw a man in a dark coat kneeling down near a bush near the Brad ford Apartments. The man pulled out a gun and fired four times, twice in the air. Nobody was struck with the bullets but a vehicle was hit. The officers ap proached the man, but he fled. Nobody was injured and two .45 caliber bullet casings were recovered. The police officers did not fire their weapons. King celebration set for Feb. From staff reports A celebration of the life of Martin Luther King Jr is being moved to Febru ary to make room for an other celebration — the inauguration of Barrack Obama. Perquimans County usually holds the King celebration on the same day of the King holiday in January. This year that falls on the same day as the swearing in ceremony in Washington D.C. “I think a lot of people will be wanting to go to inauguration so we de cided to combine the cel ebration with Black His tory Month,” said Connie Brothers, one of the orga nizers of the event. The Feb. 23 event wUl start with a motorcade from Perquimans Middle School and end at Per quimans County High School. “We’re asking all the local churches who have a church van to ride with us,” Brothers said. The theme of the event is “from a dream into a reality.” The Perquimans Coun ty Chapter of the NAACP win be holding a member ship drive for youth as part of the event. Brothers is the youth director for the NAACP Participating in the event will be local African Americans who broke the mold and became the first black person in their pro fession. “People know who Mar tin Luther King is and they know about Rosa Parks, we just wanted to make sure they know the locals who made a differ ence,” Brothers said. . . 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