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"News front Next Door"
FEBRUARY 20, 2013 - FEBRUARY 26, 2013 f£3 2 0 RECO 50 cents
Stallings proposal raises pay for teachers
By PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Perquimans County
leaders and school officials
sat down Monday night to
talk about increasing the
amount of money teach
ers get.
Superintendent Dwayne
Stallings unveiled a plan
that would raise the local
supple-
ment for
classroom
teachers.
The plan
would
eliminate
the supple
ment for
other staff Stallings
positions and instead give
those workers a pay hike.
The meeting was just the
first of what may be three
meetings where the coun
ty and the schools discuss
the 2013-14 budget.
The two boards also
talked of plans for a new
athletic complex, the for
mat for the new budget and
adding a second armed
deputy in the schools. For
now the school system is
planning to take $30,000
out of the reserve fund
to pay for the position
through the end of this
school year.
The school system has
known about the pay dis
crepancy since 2008 when
it had a salary study con
ducted. The solution of
fered Monday doesn’t
eliminate the problem, but
it does make it better one
school official said.
The plan raises the pay
roll cost by $51,875. As a
group, teachers would see
most of that — $17,314
— and teacher assistants
would get $14,011. The rest
would go to office support
staff, custodians, cafete
ria workers, maintenance
personnel and the trans
portation department.
The school system didn’t
try to fully implement the
salary recommendations
in 2008 because it couldn’t.
Stallings said at first the
economy tanked and then
the state put a freeze on
school salaries. The freeze
has since been lifted.
See SCHOOLS, 7
SUEMITTtD PHOTOS
Tyler Chappel, 14, participates in the sport of cow sorting at an event last year. The Woodville teen hopes to raise enough money to attend the sport's national
competition in Texas in June.
Family raising $5K for son to take trip
By PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
T yler ChappeU makes
a game out of cow
sorting, and now he
wants to test his skill in
a national competition in
Texas in June.
The 14-year-old Wood-
vfile resident has been
invited to the World Series
Ranch Sorting competi
tion on June 4-9 in Fort
Worth. His family is in
the process of raising the
$5,500 it will take to make
the trip possible.
To the novice, cow sort
ing involves putting 10
cows in a ring. Each cow
is numbered one through
10 and a pair of riders are
each assigned a number. If
the rider gets number four,
their job is to go out and
bring cow number four
into the stall and then go
back and get cow number
five and then six and then
seven if possible.
“1 got my first horse
when 1 was five and have
loved riding ever since,”
ChappeU said last week. “I
enjoy going to cow sorting
with my dad, Alton and
granddad, Earl Bateman.”
He recently won first
place for the year in nov
ice in sorting in Virginia.
He won second place in
the youth division at the
North Carolina state show.
“I have been partici
pating in ranch sorting
events since 1 was 10 and 
1 reaUy enjoy the sport,”
he said.
A child taking part in the Ver
ity Therapeutic Riding Center
program rubs his chinonTyier
Chappeil’s head. Chappeil got a
buzz cut because the chiid liked
the feel of his hair that way.
He also has a second
love — working with
disabled chUdren at the
Verity Therapeutic Riding
Center in Hertford. Verity
works to use horses to
help people with physi
cal, mental or epiotibnal
needs.
Gail Smith, who works
with the Verity program,
said at first ChappeU
focused on keeping the
horses in shape.
“Tyler has been a vol
unteer now for not quite
a year,” Smith said. “He’s
very, "very quiet but he
loves these chUdren with
special needs. He’s just
awesome with that. He’s a
great volunteer and good
with horses as weU as the
kids.
“This past summer
we had a chUd who was
autistic and Tyler figured
out he had texture issues.
So Tyler got a buzz cut
when he found out the
chUd liked the way it felt.
There is another chUd
with cerebral palsy and
he can’t walk so Tyler just
picks him up and carries
him to where he needs to
go. He’s a real unusual
young man.”
Tyler’s mother Beth is
excited about the prospect
of having her son compete
in Texas.
“To go to the World
Series would just be awe
some.”
To donate to the trip
contact Beth ChappeU at
bethchappeUsphotogra-
phy@hotmaU.com or caU
232-8567.
Hope
By PETER WILLIAMS
News Writer
The 21 dogs seized in
Perquimans County last
week were on the radar of
the Sheriff Eric TiUey, but
until they were linked to
a dog-fighting ring in Pas
quotank County he said
there was little he could to
intervene.
The dogs were being kept
behind a house on Camp
Perry Road in a fenced in
pen.
“We’ve known they’ve
been there for a while now,”
TiUey said last week.
“There was nothing at
any time that would indi
cate there was dog fighting
there and we don’t have
a law here that says how
many pit buUs you can
own, so there wasn’t much
1 could do about it,” TiUey
said.
TiUey said about once
a year the county animal
control department would
talk to the woman that was
taking care of the animals
and each time she was
able to show paperwork
that the dogs were up to
date on shots and had been
checked out by a veterinar
ian. There were no appar
ent problems.
However when Pasquo
tank County Sheriff Ran
dy Cartwright caUed TUley
last week and asked him if
he knew of a place where
large numbers of pit buUs
were being kept, Tilley said
he knew he had one. The 21
dogs in Perquimans were
just part , of the 80 dogs
seized by authorities. Most
of them came from areas
in Pasquotank County, but
See DOGFIGHTING, 7
Main Street champ
Bielski is optimistic
By PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Volunteering in a big
city like Baltimore might
leave you feeling that your
efforts don’t matter much.
But in Hertford, Joan
Bielski feels she is making
a contribution. So do the
folks with the North Caro
lina Main
Street pro
gram who
named
Bielski
as a Main
Street
C h a m -
pion at an
awards
Bielski
6 '"89076 47144 2
ceremony last month in
Salsibury
Joan and her husband
moved to Albemarle Plan
tation from the Baltimore
See BIELSKI, 7
Pirates Hold Try-Outs
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
KolbyWalker (center) pitches
for coaches John Lassiter (left)
and David Noble during try
outs for the Perquimans High
baseball team, Thursday. The
Pirates will host a jamboree Feb.
23. Participating teams include
Pasquotank, First Flight, Cur
rituck, Edenton, Camden, Gates
and Northeastern. On March 9 an
alumni steak dinner and auction
team fundraiser will be held at
6:30 p.m. at the Perquimans Rec
reation Center. Tickets are $15
each. Call coach Justin Robinson
at 339-5457 with questions.
. Forbes
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