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