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OCTOBER 30, 2013 - NOVEMBER 5, 2013 OCT 3 0 RECD
Interest grows as election draws closer
STAFF PHOTO BY
PETER WILLIAMS
A sign
outside the
Perquimans
County Board
of Elections
office shows
support for a
mixed drink
referendum.
FOB
INCREASED
TOURISM
FOR MIXED BEVERAGE
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
As the muracipal elec
tions draws closer,, interest
is picking up in Perquimans
County.
A candidate forum was
held Tuesday at Finst Bap
tist Church in Hertford. The
event was organized too
late to appear in time to get
the information in
The Perquimans
Week in ad
vance.
Each candi
date was asked
questions per
taining to leadership
and how the future of the
town should be managed.
Topics included attracting
jobs, lowering utility costs,
reducing crime and the
education of youth.
Also this week a
group called Citizens
For Economic Prog
ress ramped up a cam
paign to get out the vote
in favor of a mixed drink ref
erendum in Hertford. Volim-
teers were out Monday put
ting on door signs across
the town.
How it translates at the
polls is unknown. As of
noon Monday, 75 people
had voted in the four-person
Hertford race for two town
council seats. Only one per
son had voted in the Winfall
election, which has two peo
ple running for three seats.
A week before just 30
See ELECTIONS, 4
Sftudent writes her own play
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
A handful of students
can say they played
the staring role in
their high school play.
Hannah Lane can say she
wrote hers.
Lane, 17, wrote and
will star in the upcom
ing Perquimans County
High School production
of “Constancio: Danger of
the West.” That makes her
a first for a PCHS student
according to Lynwood
Winslow. He’s been teach
ing there for 28 years and
teaching drama for 24
years.
“I’ve had students who
talked about doing it,”
Winslow said.
They didn’t follow
throu^.
The segments students
have produced in the past
can be compared to some
body telling a single joke.
They were just an isolated
part of a much larger per
formance. “Constancio” is a
seamless performance that
runs about two hours.
“This is the first time for
a full-length play,” Winslow
said. “This has a plot and a
couple of story lines.”
Lane actually did it over
the summer.
She admits it wasn’t easy.
She drew her inspiration
from the “spaghetti west
erns.” It’s a sub-genre of
films starting the 1960s that
involves a good guy coming
into town and defeating the
bad guys. The genre got its
name because Europeans,
not Americans, produced
the films.
Lane says she gets easily
distracted and writing the
play on a computer made
the lure of pausing and get
ting on the Internet hard.
See STUDENT PLAY, 8
a.
^ iij
STAFF PHOTOS BY PETER WILLIAMS
Kaitlyn Whitehead and Corey Eaddy wait in the jail during rehearsal for the play “Constancio; Danger of the
West” at Perquimans County High School. Hannah Lane (below, left) consoles Kelly Hoeitzel during rehearsal.
Hannah Lane (left) participates in a sword fight with other cast
members during rehearsal.
Finch
finds
new role
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Johnnie Finch Jr. earned
a college degree in criminal
justice in 2003 in order to
get a job.
It turns out he wanted a
whole lot more.
So in 2009 he went to law
school and last week he
was sworn in as an attorney
in the Perquimans County
Courthouse.
Finch, 32, is a native of
Eliz'abeth
City who
spent his
entire pub
lic school
career in
Perquimans
County
schools.
His mother
— Thelma Finch — was
a kindergarten teacher in
Perquimans for more than
30 years. From the start, she
drove her son to school un
til he became old enough to
drive himself.
After graduating from
Perquimans Cormty High
School in 1999, he enrolled
at Elizabeth City State Uni
versity.
“When I first went to
college, I thought criminal
justice was a field where I
could find a job quite hon
estly.”
Get a job he did. He land;
ed a position at the juvenile
detention center in WinfaU.
Still he wanted more and
went back to ECSU and in
2007 earned a degree in so
ciology.
“I was blessed to work at
the detention center in Wm-
See FINCH, 4
FINCH
Va. company proposes turbines
on Perquimans/Chowan line
Best of Belvidere
BY REGGIE PONDER
Chowan Herald
A Charlottesville, Va,-
based renewable energy
company has proposed an
amendment to the Chowan
County Wind Energy Or
dinance that would more
than double the permissible
height for wind turbines in
the county — paving the
way for construction of a
mjgor utility-scale wind en
ergy facility.
The heart of the pro
posed amendment is an
increase in the maximum
89076 47144
height allowed for wind
turbines in the county from
250 feet in the current ordi
nance to 600 feet.
The text amendment
proposed by Apex Clean
Energy Inc. is slated for
consideration by the
Chowan Coimty Planning
Board at the board’s Nov.
19 meeting.
Dahvi Wilson, a spokes
woman for Apex Clean
Energy, said few details are
available right now since
the company has only re
cently begun to assess the
feasibility of a wind energy
project in Perquimans and
Chowan counties.
“We are in the early stag
es of studying the wind en
ergy potential of an isolat
ed tract of timberland that
straddles the Perquimans
and Chowan County line,”
Wilson said. “Initial studies
show that this expansive
timberland may be ideal
for wind energy production
due to its wind resource,
remote location, and exist
ing electrical transmission
and railroad lines.”
Wilson said the proposed
amendment to the Chowan
ordinance would put the
county “on equal footing
with Perquimans County.”
The ordinance would al
low a wind farm to be con
structed only in the A-1 zon
ing district and only with a
conditional use permit.
The proposed amend
ment also would increase
See TURBINES, 4
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
Linda White makes an announcement while son Clayton holds a basket with entries
in a contest held Saturday at Layden’s Supermarket in Belvidere. Businesses in the
Belvidere area joined together for the twotiay event.
( /^United.
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