P The
ERQUIMANS
Weekly
''News front Next Door"
AUGUST 7, 2013 - AUGUST 13, 2013
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AU6 0 7 KCO
STEP FUNDING IS IN LIMBO
BY PETER WILLIAMS
I News Editor
i
1 Hertford should get an exten
sion to finish out a $75,000 grant by
the state, but it’s unclear if the state
i will unfreeze the money.
On Sunday, Gov. Pat McCrory
announced that the state was going
to free up 14 grants to groups that
were ehgible for money toough
the N.C. Rural Economic Center.
The money for Hertford wasn’t on
the hst, but Person County will get
$500,000 of the $734,344 that was
released.
Hertford was eligible for up to
$75,000 remaining in a STEP Grant
that was offered through the Rural
Center, but the money was frozen
because of a critical audit of the
center.
The town has been working for
three years on the STEP (Small
Towns Economic Prosperity) pro
gram. Using the remaining $75,000
in STEP fupds, the town planned to
build a nine-slip boat marina, pro
vide incentives to improve the ap
pearance of downtown businesses
See STEP FUNDING, 7
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The way Frank Jakhc
views it, if it has wheels and
you think it’s cool it belongs
in the vehicle show at the
Indian Summer Festival this
year.
Jaklic is coordinating the
Wheeled Vehicle Show at
the festival on Sept. 7.
“There have been car
shows in the past,” Jak
lic said. “I’ve been coming
to the festival since 2005,
but we were looking to ex
pand it to motorcycle and
trucks.”
He especially wants to
see older vehicles that are
in original condition.
Vehicles entered before
Aug. 20 pay a $20 entry fee.
'Those entered after that
point are $25. The money
goes to Historic Herford
Inc., the group that puts on
the festival.
'The show will be held be
hind the Hertford Town Hall
building.
Jaklic said many car
shows are just that — car
shows. 'They attract car lov
ers, but they might not en
tertain the whole family.
See CAR SHOW, 2
A Touch of Faith
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
Worshippers touch a shawl and offer prayers outside the Perquimans County Courthouse on Thursday. The
event involved the Gii Wise, district superintendent of the Beacon District, who is visiting area counties. Wise
will be in Currituck County on Aug. 1 and Chowan County on Aug. 5. See story on page 7.
Schools foundation looking to hire director
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
A foundation designed to sup
port public schools in Perquimans
County is looking at hiring an ex
ecutive director.
The Perquimans County Schools
Foundation, Inc. board consists of
14 commimity and school mem
bers and serve for free. Four of the
members sit on the committee due
to their jobs with the Perquimans
County Schools and the other 10
are members of the pubhc.
“We all have our plates full,” said
Antoine Moore, the newly elected
president of foundation. “We’re all
willing to do what we can do, but
we need a person in charge who
can answer to the board and do a
lot of the legwork.”
Moore works as a loan officer
for Ag Farm Credit and farms.
As a volunteer he’s a firefighter
and captain of the Inter-County
Fire Department, helps put on the
Farm-City Banquet in Pasquotank
County and works with 4-H.
One reason for the push to hire a
MORE ON THIS STORY
■ Perquimans grad to head
foundation board - 2
director is the pending retirement
of Brenda Lassiter. She works as
the spokesman for the school sys
tem and sits on the foundation
board as its secretary. She esti
mates about 10 hours of her Week
are spent on foxmdation business.
She has plans to retire sometime
in 2014.
'The foundation administers
an endowment from Walter and
Marjorie Rayburn, raises money
through fundraisers and acts as
a conduit for groups that want to
help students. Donations to the
foundation are tax deductible, but
a direct donation to a student or a
school is not. That’s the reason the
foundation was created in 2002.
“People were giving money to
the high school for scholarships
and then when it came tax time,
■ See FOUNDATION, 2
Teachers
maybe
left in
the cold
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Holly Weeks is ready to
enter her third year working
on her master’s degree. VWth
the degree came the prom
ise of a 10 percent salary
increase.
The
first grade
teacher at
Perquimans
Central
School will
stUl get the
degree and
the $8,500
tuition bill
that it took to earn it
What she may not get is
the salary increase thanks
to a rule by the N.C. Gen
eral Assembly and a bureau
cratic deadline within the
N.C. Department of Pubhc
Instruction.
Weeks is just one of at
least a dozen Perquimans
County educators who
could or win feel the pinch
because of the General As
sembly’s decision to end the
advanced degree benefit
Weeks is set to graduate
from East Carolina Univer
sity in May 2014. DPI had a
deadline of April for teach
ers who seek the higher
pay scale. 'The DPI board is
being asked to change the
deadline this year to June 30.
so the last group of teachers
who have been working on
WEEKS
See TEACHERS, 6
Reed retires, Frierson
named to fill out term
1^1$ IS JUST A DRILL
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
'The Perquimans Coimty
Commissioner approved a re
quest Monday ni^t to name
Jacqueline S. Frierson to re
place long-time Register of
Deeds Deborah Reed.
Reed announced she will
retire Sept 1 after 36 years
of coimty service. The last 19
has been register of deeds.
In her resignation, she rec
ommended that Frierson be
named to fill out her remain
ing term. Frierson has been
working for Reed for the past
19 years.
Reed only had to run op
posed for office one time,
the first time she sought the
office. In her last election in
2012, Reed won by a landsUde
in unopposed bid for office
with 4,785
votes. Frier
son will fill
out the three
and a half
years remain
ing in Reed’s
term.
“I’U miss
the people
I’ve been working
such a long time,
comes a time in
REED
6 89076 47144
with for
but there
your life
when you know it’s time to re
tire,” Reed said Tuesday. “I’ve
loved the job and I just hke
helping people.”
“My experiences as Reg
ister of Deeds- and working
for Perquimans County have
been most rewarding. I have
eiqoyed working with past
and present boards of com
missioners and county man
agers. With everybody’s help
we have been able to keep
this office running with the
updated technology needed
for good record keeping and
See REED RETIRES, 2
LiMniA'''.
i
SUBMITTED PHOTO
N.C. Highway Patrol Trooper Tremayne Mebane and Perquimans County Sheriff’s Department Sgt.
Kendall Harrell lead officers down a hall at Perquimans County High School during a drill last week.
See story on page 6.
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