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"News from Next Door"
JANUARY 30, 2013 - FEBRUARY 5, 2013
50 cents
Charges against ex-Hertford cops dismissed
From staff reports
HERTFORD — Charges of
misdemeanor assault against
two former top Hertford police
officials have been dismissed, ap
parently as the result of a settle
ment agreement between the
town of Hertford and the family
of the man the former officers
were convicted in District Court
of assaulting.
The charges of misdemeanor
assault inflict
ing serious in
jury against
Joe Amos and
Shawn Swindell
were dismissed
in Perquimans
Superior Court
on Monday, of
ficials told The
Perquimans Weekly.
Both Amos, a former chief of
the Hertford Police Department,
Amos
Swindell
and SwindeU, a
former sergeant
with the depart
ment, were due
in court Monday
for the start of a
hearing on their
appeal of assault
convictions in
July 2011.
But an agreement struck by
the town of Hertford’s insurance
carrier and the family of Ken
neth Ferebee apparently prompt
ed prosecutors to dismiss the
charges. Ferebee is the Perqui
mans County man both former
officers are accused of assault
ing in May 2010.
According to a copy of a letter
from Ferebee’s sister, CoUette
Ferebee Lawrence, to District
Attorney Frank Parrish dated
Jan. 10, aU civU claims arising
from the incident that led to the
charges against Amos and Swin
deU have been “satisfactorily
resolved.” As a result, Ferebee’s
family “takes no position” on
how the case against the former
officers is resolved, Lawrence
said.
“Further, we wiU not oppose
or object to a dismissal with
prejudice of the pending crimi
nal charges,” Lawrence’s letter
states.
See CHARGES, 2
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SUBMITTED PHOTO
Hertford Grammar School's local Science Fair winners are John Masterson, Coiby Brown, Jackson Russell, Jewel Benton, Hunter Scott, Jaden
Sawyer, Sarah Jordan, Emma Nixon, Madison Byrd, Tiffany Mathis, Carly Elliot, Kaylin Russell, Selena Shuey, Nash Heath and Kaysie Mire. Jason
Griffin, instructional facilitator, and school principal Linda White are standing in back.
Grant helps love of science grow
By PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
ocal farmers have been
planting seeds at Hertford
1 Grammar School this
year, but not the soybeans and
corn many are used to.
They planted the seeds that
may grow into the next gen
eration of scientists.
Through a grant program
provided by Monsanto, the
school system got $10,000 to
provide more support for sci
ence fairs at the grammar
school, middle school and
high school.
Perquimans County got the
money because local farmers
gave their support and voted
for the Hertford-based school
district in the contest spon
sored by the seed company.
More than 1,000 applications
were made and just 176 school
systems won. Perquimans
County was one of just four in
the state.
The first sprouts were vis
ible last week when Hertford
Grammar School held its an
nual science fair. Teachers
say $10,000 helped students
take their projects to the next
level.
About $4,000 of the money
went to pay for teachers to
work extra hours to tutor
students on science. Another
$4,000 was used on technology,
like iPads. The rest went to
supplies and overhead.
See SCIENCE, 7
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SUBMITTED PHOTO
Hertford Grammar School’s top three fifth-grade science fair winners are Kaysie Mire (first place), Nash
Heath (second) and Selena Shuey (third). The three are will advance to a regional fair at East Carolina
University and are pictured with instructional facilitator Jason Griffin and principal Linda White.
School looks
at scaled-back
sports complex
By PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Eliminating showers in the locker
rooms may be one of the steps needed
in order to bring down the cost of a new
athletic complex at Perquimans County
, High School.
School leaders debated a scaled-back
plan for an athletic complex Monday
and hope to take the plan to the Perqui
mans County Commission in February
to consider it.
The original $6.2 million proposal
included a football field, track, tennis
courts, field house and a soccer field.
But county leaders asked the school
board to go back and come up with a
plan that would phase in the improve
ments instead of doing them aU at once.
In 2010 the board of education agreed
to a five-year option on 33 acres of farm
land across from the high school owned
by Dr. William Nixon of Wilmington, a
PCHS graduate.
The revised plan would cost $2.9 mil
lion and includes just the football field,
track and a smaller field house. The orig
inal 8,700-square-foot field house would
be pared down to 4,800 square feet. The
same building would also Ijouse bath
rooms for the spectators and the conces
sion stand. The original plan had stand
alone bathrooms totalling 3,500 square
feet and a separate concession stand.
The new plan was unveiled by John
Thomas Jr., of MBAJ Architecture in
Raleigh and Jay Overton, president of
Albemarle Associates.
“We’re going to need much more, but
we had to get us started,” Thomas said.
But it was the design of the new field
house that considered Susan Cox. She’s
a school board member and former ath
letic director. She said the school has to
provide a place for referees to change
clothes that is isolated from the players.
Under the new plan submitted Monday,
referees would have to use the coach’s of
fice and the only way to get there would
be by walking through the locker room
where players would gather.
The architects said if they could elim
inate the showers they could use that
space and redesign the building around
the new footprint and address that prob
lem.
“Are your students going to shower?”
asked Thomas.
“From my experience, they don’t take
showers,” Cox said.
Thomas said in his survey of 11
schools in the state the showers are typi
cally locked or used for storage.
Cox also questioned mixing athletes
See COMPLEX, 7
Towns narrow gap on electric rates
By PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The gap between the
electricity sold by small
towns like Hertford and
those of the big for-profit
state utilities is narrow
ing.
6 89076 4
7144
That’s the good news.
But the gap isn’t nar
rowing because Hert
ford power is cheaper so
much as it is that power
from Progress Energy
and Duke Power is get
ting more expensive, said
Brandon Shoaf, the town
manager in Hertford.
“There used to be a big
disparity, I can’t lie to you,
but it’s getting smaller.”
In 2011, the gap between
average wholesale power
cost for municipal utili
ties and the amount spent
by for-profit utilities
was about 3.8 cents per
kilowatt-hour. Today it’s
about 3.1 cents.
Hertford is among a
group of 32 utilities that
form the North Carolina
Eastern Municipal Power
Agency The group was
formed in 1965 at a time
when for-profit utilities.
See ELECTRIC, 7
Banquet honors local farmers
By PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
More than 150 Perquimans County
residents gathered last week to cel
ebrate a good harvest in 2012 and look
forward to the future.
The annual Farm-City Banquet has
been held in the county for decades.
Among the goals is to honor the top pro
ducers in three categories—corn, wheat
and soybeans. Combined they represent
about 65,000 acres of the crops planted
See BANQUET, 7
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Benny Suggs, a
former U.S. Hayy
rear admiral and
current leader
of the NC State
Vssocia-
Farm
iiuet.
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