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ERQUIMANS
WEEKLY
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"Ncm's from Next Door"
OCTOBER 23, 2013 - OCTOBER 29, 2013
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Tenure PmL HARBOR: ‘A TlE W) REMEMBER’ Jobs big
topic for
hopefuls
swap
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
About 40 Perquimans
County teachers and coun
selors will be offered a deal
next summer to trade their
job security in exchange for
up to $5,000 under a four-
year contract.
MORE INSIDE
■ Top employers in
Perquimans County - 5
The General Assembly
has mandated the end of all
teacher tenure by 2018. For
now school systems have
been told to offer the $500
deal to 25 percent of their
teaching staff this year in
exchange for them turning
in their tenure.
The second year, the
teachers would get $1,000
and the third year it would
be $1,500 up to a total of
$5,000.
What is unclear is the fate
of the other 119 Perquimans
County teachers who either
have tenure or are ehgible
for it and won’t be offered
the tenure-for-cash swap at
the end of this school year, j
Clerical and maintenance 1
workers aren’t eligible for '
tenure and won’t be offered j
anything. i
“We know what is going !
to happen at the end of this |
school year, and that’s all
we know,” Superintendent
Dwayne Stallings said last
week. “It’s so complex the l
way they have legislated it.” (
In Perquimans County ;
the fate of educators is sig- j
nificant because teachers
make up the single largest
Job category and the sala
ries are among the highest
in the county.
The county government
in Perquimans ranks num
ber two in terms of employ
ment. After that, the Brian
Center, Albemarle Planta
tion and Food lion are con
sidered the top employers.
Stallings said he likes
to believe the $500 offer in
See TENURE, 5
STAFF PHOTOS BY PETER WILLIAMS
Actors hold hands and pray
(above) after hearing a radio
news report of the Japanese
attack on Pearl Harbor, during
Sunday’s performance of “A
Time To Remember.” The
Carolina Moon Theater Group
production sold out all three-
day performances and was
performed at American Legion
Post 126. Pictured are Ann
Taylor (left) Linda Farnsworth
Gregory, Tom Loughlin and
Lydia Sutton. The original play
written by Ray Sawyer and
covered a period in Hertford
from 1939 through 1945.
Sid Eley (left, left photo), playing
the barber, prepares to cut
the hair of Dave Goss during
Sunday’s performance.
Gail Hill,
playing a
shooting
suspect,
responds to
Judge Henry
Walker (also
performed
by Sid Eley)
during
Sunday’s
performance
of “A
Time To
Remember.”
1
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Encouraging business
development and increas
ing job creation are two
issues candidates for Hert
ford Town Council seem to
agree on.
The vote will be held Nov.
5, but one-stop absentee
voting began Oct. 17 and
ends Nov. 2. 'The deadline to
eqjply for a mail-in ballot is
'Riesday.
CANDIDATE
PRDFILES,Q&A
■ Candidate profiles,
response to Q&A - 2
There are four people
running for two open seats
in Hertford. Incumbents
Lillian Holman and Wil
liam Lane face challengers ,
Quentin Jackson and Archie
Aples ni. Jackson did not
respond to a request for in-
fomTation.
As of noon Monday, just
30 of the 1,445 registered
voters in Hertford had vot
ed. None of the 416 in Wm-
faU had cast a ballot.
In Winfall Debbie Jean
Whedbee is running for one
of two foiu'-year seats on the
boar d. Preston White is run
ning to fiU tire two years of
an unexpired term. 'There
is one seat that isn’t being
challenged and will likely be
filled with a write-in candi
date. Neither Whedbee nor
White provided the informa
tion requested by The Per
quimans Weekly.
Candidates were asked
to respond to three ques
tions. One asked them to
name issues that need to be
addressed in the town. 'The
second asked about their
qualifications and the third
asked about what makes
a successful local govern
ment.
Aples beheves the econo
my needs to addressed.
“Economic Growth is pri
ority one,” Aples said.
“Our town is lacking in
the area of job opportunity
which means many of our
citizens live here but have to
See ELECTIONS, 5 ■
Requests for Golden LEAF funds mixed i Tales of ghosts linger
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
If the Albemarle area is any indi
cation, Perquimans Coimty will be
competing against both infiustruc-
ture projects and educational proj
ects like computers and biuldhTg a
new STEM school.
Last week was the deadline for
21 counties to submit applications
for $10 million available through
the Golden LEAF program. 'The
Daily Advance compiled the wish
list of the five in the Albemarle re
gion.
Each county could submit three
projects worth a maximum of $1.5
million. Camden, Currituck, Pas-
89076 47144
quotank and Chowan counties all
sought the maximum. Perquimans
County’s three projects were just
shy of $1.4 nuUion.
Perquimans is seeking $860,000
to provide tablet computers to ev
ery child from third through 12th
gr^e. There is also $360,000 to
build an industrial-sized boat ramp
on coimty-owned land near the
Perquimans County Recreation
Center and $150,000 for an indus
trial recruitment project designed
to attract boat builders.
Chowan was the only area
county to submit just one project
— a $1.5 million plan to redesign
and repurpose the old D.F. Walker
School for use by College of 'The
Albemarle.
Pasquotankisaskingfor$900,000
to create a new STEM school to fo
cus on the aerospace industry plus
$6(X),(XX) for an emergency genera
tor for COAs main campus in Eliza
beth City. Elizabeth City Mayor Joe
Peel had asked all five counties
to include $2(X),0(X) for the STEM
school in their Golden LEAF pro
posals. Camden, Chowan, Curri
tuck and Perquimans instead came
up with Golden LEAF proposals of
their own.
As planned the S'TEM school
would serve 420 students across
the five-county region.
Currituck and Camden’s propos
als focus on water and sewer infra
structure!' Currituck is asking for $ 1
million for waterline improvements
and $500,000 for computers for the
classroom.
Camden wants $400,000 to im
prove its wastewater plant and $1.1
million to extend wastewater lines.
Golden LEAF staff will narrow
the applicants to between six and
10 counties in November. Each
county will then submit a “letter of
inquiry” to LEAFs board of direc
tors by Dec. 1. The board will make
a fiiml funding decision on June 5.
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Older mem
bers of All Saints
Episcopal have
told Ray Winslow
about a ghost
that haunts the
church.
You can talk
history and cem
eteries at length
with Winslow but
he doesn’t put
much weight into
tales of ghosts.
“I’ve never seen
it and I’ve been
hanging around
(the church) for
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
A Confederate cross lies half buried at one
grave in the Episcopal Cemetery in Hertford.
50 years,” Winslow said earlier this month. “I’ve been there once a
week sometimes hours at a time. I’ve never paid much attention to
such. I’m into gathering facts.”
See GHOSTS, 4
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