1 P I THE ERQUIMANS 5 . W E E K LY V^^=^-_—LLLLJ^C "News from Next Door" JANUARY 1, 2014 - JANUARY 7, 2014 50 cents PHOTOS BY CHUCK PAGELS Congregation members (above) hold candles during a special Christmas service at Bagley Swamp Wesleyan Church. The Rev. James Spaugh (right) lights a candle for a congregation member during a Christmas Eve candlelight service at Bagley Swamp Wesleyan Church. DOT issues opinion on new bridge BY PETER WILLIAMS News Editor Based on public comments and years of study, the N.C. Department of Transportation will recom mend a fixed span bridge extending off Church Street as its preferred alternative to replace the ag ing S-Bridge. The decision was made after a public hearing in September and a follow-up meeting in November. The results were released on Monday. The next step will be a second meeting in early 2014 to look at the environmental impacts. There are no immedi ate plans for construction and funding hasn’t been set aside. A majority of Perquimans County residents ap pear split between two of the three alternatives to replace the downtown bridge. The 15-page DOT report includes the comments — written and oral — received during and after the September hearing and responses to those com ments. Alternate E — a fixed span that would extend off Edenton Road Street — got the most number of preferred public comments with 18. It also was the only one listed as having a negative vote. Alternative D-Mod, another fixed span that fol lows Church Street to the same spot on the Winfall side of the river had 17 votes in favor. It is the op tion DOT now favors. Alternative B, a 15-foot-tall swing span bridge had the fewest supporters with seven. Alternative B was also the most expensive of the three options at $55.6 million. Because it would still require a bridge keeper to staff it, it also likely would have the high est life-cycle cost. The estimated cost of Alterna tive E is a $29.7 million while Alternative D-Mod is $21.6 million. The 44 written comments represent less than half of the number people who attended the September meeting. The Town of Hertford made the case to keep traf fic flowing through downtown. “The council believes that any long-term change in the flow of traffic through the Historic Down town along Church Street would be detrimental to the retail, restaurant, service and professional busi nesses located there now.” The town also warned the any long-term closure of the bridge and causeway will mean the loss of business and jobs in the downtown area. That in turn would DOT responded by saying that any of the three options will require some disruption of traffic be tween Hertford and Winfall. Town Manager Brandon Shoaf told DOT the town doesn’t support any alternative that shifts traf- See BRIDGE, 2 High school teens create emergency response team BY PETER WILLIAMS News Editor Students from Perqui mans County High School have created the teen driven Medical Reserve Corps unit in the state. MRCs were created after the attacks of Sept. 11. The corps is made up of volun teers who have been trained in advance to handle emer gencies. The individuals can be called on to assist fed eral, state and local officials in a natural or man-made disaster according to Ash ley Stoop, a spokesman for Albemarle Regional Health Systems. The Perquimans group is made of up students in the Health Occupations Students of America class. HOSA is a national group that works to develop lead ership and technical skills. “They have been en couraging MRC and HOSA groups across the country to partner up and some have elsewhere, but it’s my understanding this is the only one in North Carolina,” Stoop said. With one exception, all of the PCHS group that went through the program this year were seniors. There was one junior. In the future, Lisa Gard ner, the head of the high school HOSA program, said involving younger students might be possible. “That was the challenge,” she said. “Do we want to train students, and then send them off (to college?)” The answer was “yes.” “Some of the training they’re getting will prepare them for jobs,” Gardner said. See EMERGENCY, 2 STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS Jarvis Winlsow, the Perquimans County emergency management director, shows off a new mobile command center to students from Perquimans County High School recently. Griffin named as ‘principal elect’ at Hertford Grammar BY PETER WILLIAMS News Editor An award-winning teacher has been named as the future principal of Hertford Grammar School. For now, Jason Griffin 89076 47144 2 holds the title of “principal elect” and will be assum ing full duties as principal on May 1. Griffin, 34, has been at HGS since 2011 and worked in the Perquimans GRIFFIN School system since the fall of 2008. He will be filling the role of Linda White who left HGS this fall to take a position in the central office of the Edenton- Chowan Schools. Tim Aydlett, a for mer principal at HGS was named to fill the imme diate void left by White’s departure and will remain as inter im principal until May 1. One reason Aydlett is sticking around for a few more months is because HGS is at an important juncture because of the Read To . Achieve initia tive, according to Super intendent Dwayne Stall ings. Under the new state law, students who can’t read at grade level in third grade won’t be pro moted to fourth grade. “In essence, it is impor tant that ‘all hands are on deck’ as we complete this school year,” Stall ings said in a letter sent home to parents. He expressed his sup port for Griffin. Griffin started his teaching career as a third grade teacher at E.J. Hayes Elementary School in Martin County in 2002. In 2008, he moved to Per quimans. Central school where he was a second grade teacher. In 2011 he was named Central’s teacher of the year and the overall teacher of the year for the school system. It wasn’t the first time he’d received such an honor. In 2003-04, he was named the teacher of the year at E.J. Haynes El ementary. Melissa Fields, the principal at Perquimans Central where Griffin was honored, said he should excel in the new role. See GRIFFIN, 2