The
MAR 0 6 RECO
Pets
I of the
Week, 3
jta-
"News from Next Door"
MARCH 6, 2013 - MARCH 12, 2013
Ex-Perquimans manager Keaton to retire, 7
50 cents
Deputy responds to gun threat at school
By PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
When the call went out
last week that a 13-year-
old student at Perquimans
County Middle School had
a gun, it didn’t take long for
a deputy to respond.
The gun turned out to be
a toy, but the response from
Perquimans County Depu
ty David Murray was real.
Murray was just a mile
away — at Perquimans
Central School — when the
call came. That probably
wouldn’t have happened if
the incident happened just
a week before.
Murray was a Central
because the Perquimans
County School Board
agreed last month to spend
up to $30,000 from its re
serve fund to hire the sec
ond school resource officer.
Murray works fulltime for
the sheriffs department.
But since last week he and
other deputies have been
moonlighting in their off
hours covering both of the
schools on the WinfaU side
of the river.
The sheriffs department
already has a full-time SRO
stationed at Perquimans
County High School — a
10-minute drive from the
middle school. The new
deputy splits his time be
tween Central and the mid
dle school. The high school
SRO serves that school and
Hertford Grammar School.
Murray, who has worked
for the sheriffs department
since
July
2009,
expressed
an interest in
the school re
source officer posi
tion, according to
Sheriff Eric TiUey
Murray is going to be
See GUN THREAT, 2
Pictured is an
example of the
type of airsoft
toy pistol that
was confiscated
from a student at
Perquimans Middle
School last week.
Give So Others My Live
./
/
lV:
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
Red Cross worker Laura Wynne tends to Quinton Brickhouse while he donates blood at the Perquimans County Recreation Center on Thursday.
Twenty-five units of blood were collected, which was shy of the Red Cross’ goal. Some donors couldn’t give because their iron levels were low.
Another drive is set for Monday in the fellowship hall of New Hope United Methodist Church. The event is from 2 p.m. until 7 p.m.
Program that feeds elderly needs volunteers
By PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
A weaker economy and
higher gas prices are putting
a pinch on the agency that
provides meals to homebound
elderly residents in Perqui
mans County
Audrey Holland, volunteer
administration for the Albe
marle Commission’s senior
nutrition program, said the
issue is putting a strain on
volunteers.
The federal government
provides the meals, but vol
unteers are needed to deliver
them. In Perquimans County
there are 19 people who get
fed Monday through Friday
through the program.
But in the last year, the
number of volunteers has
dropped by about 20 percent,
Holland said last week.
Typically volunteers are
only asked to work one day a
month, but in a shortage some
have doubled up and agreed
to do it more often. Holland
fears that may burn some
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Nellie Sawyer delivers a meal to
Odessa Harrell, who herself delivered
meals for 20 years in Winfall and
Hertford. More volunteers are needed.
dedicated volunteers out.
A typical volunteer is an
older adult who has retired
and has the time and desire
to help.
“The problem is some peo
ple who would have normally
retired by now are still work
ing because they’ve lost their
retirement and savings,” Hol
land said. “And some of the
younger people don’t feel as
compelled to give back to the
community.”
Rising gasoline prices
See VOLUNTEERS, 2
Gardening help is now one phone call away
By PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Blotch on your buckeye?
Fire ants in your fescue?
Heather Gillespie and other
Master Gardeners are there to
help starting this week. They
wiU be manning a helpline for
residents of Chowan, Gates
and Perquimans County every
Tuesday and Thursday from
89076 47144
L'-'V?
10 a.m. until noon. The num
ber is 482-6585.
Gillespie has heard a lot
of landscaping lament when
PHOTO COURTESY
NC COOPERATIVE EXTENSION SERVICE
Controlling fire ants is just one
of the questions posed to Master
Gardeners using the hotline.
she’s manned the phones in
the past. She got involved in
the Master Gardeners pro
gram in 2001 when she lived
in Virginia and continued on
when she moved to Perqui
mans County in 2004.
Extension Master Gardener
volunteers work with NC State
University’s Cooperative Ex
tension office. They are trained
to provide unbiased, research-
based educational assistance
and programs in horticulture
and environmental issues to
the gardening public.
One common question in
early spring deals with how to
control fire ants. One popular
— but ineffective and danger
ous solution — is to pour gaso
line on the mound and set it on
fire.
Gillespie says don’t do it.
“The number one thing is
don’t disturb the mound,” she
said last week. “If you do that
See GARDENING, 4
Schools may *
be forced to
trim teachers
Sequester will cost district
2 teachers, more cuts loom
By PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The federal sequester wiU cost the
Perquimans County Schools two teach
ers and the fate of four more positions
also hinge on funding to pay for them.
Because, of the automatic federal
spending cuts imposed last week. Su
perintendent Dwayne StaUings expects
to lose one Title I read
ing teacher and one
teacher that deals with
the handicapped. The
sequester doesn’t im
mediately cut funding
for the jobs. Money is
avaUable for the re
mainder of this school
year, but unless a deal is Stallings
reached those positions won’t be avail
able when school resTunes in August.
To put it in perspective, since the
economic dowmturn started, the local
school system has lost 17 positions. It
stiU has about 330 employees and 170 of
those are teachers.
The school system is already using
reserve funds to pay for four other po
sitions. Two teachers and two teacher
assistants are being paid this year with
about $150,000 out of the fund balance.
But that may not be sustainable if
the schools expect to keep three months
worth of local cash on hand for emer
gencies.
The school system is already using
$244,000 of the $1 million it had in re
serve as of the start of this school year.
The teaching salaries made up a bulk
of the $244,000, but it also includes
See SEQUESTER, 2
Reading Hour
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
Superintendent Dwayne Stallings prepares
to read the Dr. Seuss book “One fish, two
fish, red fish, blue fish” to kindergarten stu
dents at Perquimans Central on Thursday.
The schools were celebrating Read Across
America week. About 75 volunteers work with
reading in the school district.
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