i
AUG 2 1 litC'il
P The
ERQUIMANS
M^EEKLY
"JVetvs front Next Door"
AUGUST 21, 2013 - AUGUST 27, 2013
50 cents
County sees jump in tourism spending
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Tourism brought in $9.5 mil
lion last year to Perquimans
County, according to a state
report.
The local figure was up 5.4
percent over the year before.
That mirrors the statewide in
crease in 2012.
Sid Eley, the director of the
Perquimans County Chamber
of Commerce, hailed the $2.8
million increase in spending
and a jump in sales tax receipts
as great news.
“The state and local tax rev
enues from travel and tourism
amounted to $1.44 million. This
represents a tax savings of over
$105.42 for ever resident of Per
quimans County.”
There are 40 people employed
in the county in tourism-related
businesses. They draw a payroll
of $1.1 million, according to the
state report.
Ely is in charge of the Jim
“Catfish” Hunter Museum locat
ed inside the chamber building
on Market Street. The chamber,
Eley says, draws 500 visitors a
month.
See SPENDING, 4
Tourism
Expenditures
Percentage change
Payroll
TAX
RECEIPTS
(MILLIONS)
Impact
(MILLIONS)
2011/12
(millions)
Camden
1.86.
2.1
0.20
0.15
Chowan
18.13
5.5
2.58
1.117
Currituck
131.15
8.1
23.61
6.05
Pasquotank
54.71
2.9
8.02
1.19
Perquimans
9.52
5.4
1.10
1.05
State
19,409.81
5.4
4,391.25
579.38
ALL FIVE AREA COUNTIES SAW INCREASES IN TOURISM REVENUES IN 2012
SOURCE: NC DIVISION OF TOURISM. FILM AND SPORTS DEVELOPMENT
Simmer school aims to get kids prepared
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
M ore than 100 Per
quimans County
students got
two weeks of additional
help this summer thanks
to a summer program
at Hertford Grammar
School.
Next year, failing
third graders will get six
weeks of summer school
even if they don’t want
it. The program this year
was voluntary, and open
to a wider group than
just struggling students.
The state now says
students who can’t pass
the end of grade test at
the end of third grade
cannot move to fourth
grade until they can past
the exam.
Perquimans Central
School educates chil
dren from kindergarten
through second grade.
Then they transfer to
Hertford Grammar
School for grades three,
four and five. Third
grade is the first grade
where testing plays a
critical role.
“They’re at Central
for three years, then
come here and we test
them,” said HGS Prin
cipal Linda White. “The
accountability falls
on HGS.”
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
Teacher Carole Purser works with students during a speciai two-week summer program at Hertford Grammar.
The summer school
program is held at the
grammar school.
Coordinating teach
ers within the walls of a
traditional school is one
thing. Doing it with two
separate campuses three
miles away is another.
But principals at both
schools say they’ve been
doing it and now will
have to do it even better.
It was an issue before,
but starting next year,
it’s a bigger one.
White used to be the
principal at Perquimans
Central and says she’s
got a strong relationship
with Melissa Fields, the
principal there now.
Each school system
has some freedom to
run schools the way it
wants. In Pasquotank
County, students can
stay at the same school
from kindergarten
through fifth grade. The
Edenton-Chowan system
is similar to the one in
Perquimans. In Camden,
students attend the same
school up through third
grade so they’ll take the
same third grade ex^
in the environment
they’ve spent their
early years.
Plantation
golf work
finished
From staff reports
After operating on a re
duced basis with tempo
rary greens since June 10,
The Sound Golf Links will
officially reopen with all
new greens on Thursday.
The renovated course
will be formally unveiled
at a members-only tour^
nament starting at 9 a.m.
In addition, to mark the
occasion special rates ard
■ being offered to all golf
ers who book tee times
between Aug. 23 and Aug.
31. The course is open to
- the public year-round and
offers membership oppor
tunities upon request.
“We are thrilled to re^
open The Sound Golf
Links after limiting our
operations over the pa4t
few months as we haviB
If
worked diligently to o^
timize golfing conditions
for our patrons, said KeiJr
ny Saunders, the coursed
PGA professional.
“While the wet weather
conditions certainly as
sisted with the replanting
process, the bulk of the
credit goes to Mike Hor-
See COURSE, 4
Local trucker puts safety first Group wants to help with
area Obamacare education
BY REGGIE PONDER
Chowan Herald
Life on the road isn’t for
everyone, but it suits Stacy
Boyce just fine.
The Rocky Hock resident
has answered the call of the
open road — and it has paid
off with a recent recognition
as Driver of the Year for Daily
Express Inc. of Carlisle, Pa.
Boyce acknowledges mat-
ter-of-factly that he’s on the
road all the time.
He was only home four
times last year, he said. When
he was home it was for about
a week, he added.
But what he eqjoys most
about being a long-haul truck
er is “being somewhere differ
ent every day,” he said.
As a long-haul tractor-trail
er operator, Boyce has hauled
cargo in all 48 contiguous
states, and also has driven
into Canada and Mexico.
Typical of some of his lon
ger routes is one firom Penn
sylvania to Texas.
89076
47144
REGGIE PONDER/CHOWAN HERALD
Stacy Boyce has been recognized as Driver of the Year for
Daily Express Inc. of Carlisle, Pa.
Among his favorite places
to go - because of the scenery
and wide-open vistas - are
Wyoming and Montana
When he does make it home
to Rocky Hock, he’s glad to be
home, he said.
“But I’m constantly won
dering ‘What am I missing out
there?”’ he said. “What am I
not seeing today?”’
The 47-year-old driver
hasn’t missed too much,
though, since he logged 75,000
miles in 2012. That mileage,
coupled with a clean safety
See TRUCKER, 4
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Between Medicare and the new Af
fordable Care Act, people are going to
be seeing changes in the way they get
health care assistance.
Jewel Winslow wants to be able to
help them navigate that journey.
Winslow is an agent with the Perqui
mans County office of the N.C. Coop
erative Extension service.
With new health plans come a flood
of toll-free phone lines and Internet web
sites. Winslow says they have a place,
but they don’t work for everybody.
“There is the premise that we’re get
ting a 1-800 hotline and that’s not going
to cut it. Or we’re going to have some
body who presents on a Website, but
that’s not going to do it.”
When faced with the choices offered
under Medicare and the new Affordable
Care Act — known by some as Obam
acare — some folks are going to want
to sit down and talk to another human
being face to face, she said.
Wmslow believes she and others
in Perquimans County would do that.
She’s put in bid to help be a part of the
implementation of the new healthcare
law.
“I’m getting the same feeling as when
Medicaid Part D just came in in 2005.”
The law provided for the first time a
nationwide system for people to make
See EDUCATION, 4
Medicare changes is meeting focus
From staff reports
A meeting will be held next month
for area residents who would like to
learn more about the Medicare.
The Medicare: 101 Health Insurance
Workshop is scheduled for Sept. 28 at
Woodland United Methodist Church.
It is co-sponsored by the North Caro
lina Cooperative Extension Service’s
Seniors Health Insurance Information
Program (SHIIP) and the Forestburg
Rurtain Club.
There will be a 10 am. session to dis
cuss basic Medicare updates and dem
onstrate how to navigate the Medicare
website. A lunch will be provided fol
lowed by a 1 p.m. session to introduce
See MEDICARE, 4
-CSiary S
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