P The
ERQUIMANS
Weekly
"News from Next Door" JANUARY 15, 2014 - JANUARY 21, 2014
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50 cents
Homeowner may get answer on fate of home
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
In September, Nancy
Theodore stood in the Per
quimans County Recreation
Center and pleaded with the
N.C. Department of Trans
portation for an answer.
Was she going to lose her
home or not?
She didn’t get the answer
then, but she might get one
after Thursday.
The N.C. Department of
Transportation plans to sit
down with other state and
federal agencies on Jan. 16
to present its recommenda
tion for a replacement for
the S-Bridge. DOT is leaning
towards a new fixed bridge
that extends through what
is now Theodore’s house.
The home was built in 1952.
“We love the house, we
love the town and we want
to stay, but this is what town
officials want,” Theodore
said last week.
Town officials and the
Perquimans Comity Cham
ber of Commerce did go on
record as favoring an option
that would keep traffic flow
ing down Church Street.
Unlike some road proj
ects that require the mas
sive relocation of dozens or
even hundreds of residents,
the options for replacing
the S-Bridge in downtown
Hertford would require the
relocation of just one hom
eowner — Nancy Theodore
and her husband.
She’s frustrated by the
entire process. When they
bought the house in 2009
she didn’t have a clue that
she could be losing it less
than 10 years later.
“The real estate agency
said they were talking about
replacing the bridge, but that
they’d been talking about it
for 15 years and there was
nothing definite.”
Even though she said
she knew there was talk of
replacing the bridge, Theo
dore said in her mind she
thought that meant just that
— replacing the bridge. She
See FATE OF HOME, 2
Winter brings bitter cold, wind
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The savage artic cold
front that blew though last
week had electric meters
spinning and may have
heads spinning too when
the next power bill arrives.
The temperature started
falling Jan. 6 and by early
the next day temperatures
were in single digits in some
places. The wind chill made
it feel like it was below
zero.
That sent energy use
soaring. Albemarle Electric
Members Cooperative re
ported a new record peak
demand of 77 megawatts
early the morning of Jan. 7.
The previous peak was 68.5
megawatts set in December
2010. The day before the
new record, the peak de
mand was 50 megawatts.
Individual figures for
Hertford were not available,
but the agency that provides
power to the town also re
ported record demand.
Between Duke Power
and the N.C. Eastern Munic
ipal Power Agency reached
a peak load of 13,918 mega
watts Tuesday. That shat
tered a previous record of
12,738 megawatts set on
July 2012.
See COLD, 2
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
High winds flattened a barn owned by David Riddick at 438 Turnpike Road Saturday but left a new
metal building intact. Riddick, 57, said the barn had been there as long as he's been alive. The
winds also destroyed a car port.
High winds destroy barn in Belvidere
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
High winds Saturday destroyed a barn in Belvi
dere but caused no apparent injuries.
Northeastern North Carolina and much of the
central part of the state was under a tornado watch
late Saturday afternoon. A 50-year-old woman in
Raleigh was killed when wind blew the top of a
tree off and it fell on her. A 30-year-old Charlotte
man was also killed in an accident there that was
blamed on the storm.
According to Duke Energy Progress, over
46,000 customers statewide were without power
at the height of the storm. As of 5:30 p.m. Sunday,
fewer than 150 homes were still in the dark. Most
See WINDS, 2
Man robs
gas station
From staff reports
A Hertford gas station was robbed
Saturday morning by a man who then
sexually assaulted the store clerk.
Hertford Police Chief Doug Freeman
said the same man might have robbed
the Andy’s restaurant in Winfall the
week before.
The clerk at the Wilco Hess station
on Church Street told police that the
man walked into the convenience store
about 6 am. with either a shotgun or a
rifle. He was wearing a gray hat with a
black hooded sweatshirt turned inside
out.
The clerk said the man told her not'
to move or he would shoot her. He in
cident report said he then got her into a
back room where he told her to take her
pants off and the assault took place.
Surveillance cameras in the store
captured the robbery. The suspect, de
scribed as a black male about 5-foot-9
weighing about 230 to 240 pounds. He
was wearing jeans with a white design
on the back pockets and white Nike
tennis shoes. A police officer was able
to get a print of a Nike-brand shoe and
other evidence was collected.
Anyone with information about the
crime is asked to call the Hertford Po
lice Department at 426-5587. If no one
answers, the answering service will have
an option to leave a message. Contact
can also be made through Perquimans
County Dispatch by calling 426-5751.
The police department in coopera
tion with Wilco/Hess is offering a $5,500
reward to anyone leading to the arrest
and conviction of those involved.
Food pantry reaching those who can’t get to them
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
A Winfall-based food pan
try that has been serving
Perquimans County resi
dents since 1980 will start
reaching out to those who
can’t reach them.
Open Door Food Pantry
will partner with the ICPTA
bus system starting Feb. 3.
Clients who have trouble
getting to the pantry in the
Appletree Mall shopping
center can call the Thursday
before and schedule to have
the bus pick them up. There
will be no charge.
For now, the service will
only be offered on the first
Monday and Wednesday of
each month. Some of the de
tails are still being worked
out.
Rosemary Smith, who
operates the pantry, said the
plan is to service areas north
of U.S. 17 one of those days
and serve the area south of
U.S. 17 on the other day.
People in need can only
use the Winfall pantry once
a month. They receive what
amounts to three days
of food for those in their
household.
Smith doesn’t expect a
large number of people will
use the service, but hopes
that it will serve a seg
ment of the population that
doesn’t have transportation.
“Our goal is to reach peo
ple we haven’t been able to
reach before,” Smith said.
A lot of the clients are
senior citizens on fixed in
comes.
“This way we can bring
them to open door for free,”
she said. “A majority of the
people who come are on
food stamps. They get by,
and some get by better than
others.”
The pantry serves about
250 households a month.
The number has been ris
ing since late summer when
government started tighten
ing down on the SNAP food
program.
The number to call to
schedule an appointment
with ICPTA is 338-4477.
Smith said she was ap
proached by Herbert Mul
len of ICPTA after a similar
pilot program in Elizabeth
City was considered a suc
cess.
Given the size of the bus
es and the frequency, Smith
knows the program won’t
create a huge influx of new
clients.
“The number won’t be
huge, but we have some
people who have to pay oth
er people $5 or $10 to bring
them here. Maybe it will
help them. I know we have
one client who may visit us
every three or four months,
and we know she needs the
help more often than that
but she can’t find anybody
to give her a ride.”
Not only is driving from
places like New Hope or ar
eas of northern Perquimans
County difficult, once at the
shelter clients have to wait
to get their food. For some,
that may take 30 minutes. If
however new clients come
in, they have to be pro
cessed and that takes man
power away from food dis
tribution and the wait could
be an hour.
For the trial run with
the buses, Smith will know
which clients will be on the
bus and can have the food
packed and waiting for
them.
“We’ll have a whole new
team recruited to get the
food packed and the files
pulled and we’ll actually be
able to bring it out to the
bus. They won’t even have
to come inside. The only
thing that would slow us up
is if we had somebody who
is brand new. In that case
we could get the baseline
information over the phone
and when the person arrives
we could have somebody go
out to the bus and complete
the application.”
For February service
ICPTA must be contacted
by Jan. 30.
The pantry obtains food
from the regional food pan
try in Elizabeth City. It’s
funded by donations, includ
ing a number of churches.
Schools rolling out Parent Portal website
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Since the dawn of time
when schools started hand
ing out assignments for stu
dents to complete at home,
parents have been asking
their kids the age-old ques
tion — “do you have any
homework?”
Sometimes a child’s an
swer may have been, well,
less that 100 percent hon
est.
Now parents will have
See WEBSITE, 2
89076 47144
SCREEN CAPTURE FROM ACTUAL WEBSITE
Perquimans parents soon will have online access to their child’s classroom progress.
King to be
honored Monday
From staff reports
Organizations from
throughout Perquimans
County are invited to partic
ipate in a motorcade Mon
day as part of a program
to honor the late Dr. Rev.
Martin Luther King on his
birthday.
The event starts at 11 a.m.
at the Perquimans County
Recreation Center. At noon
the motorcade will proceed
down Harvey Point Road
through downtown Hert
ford, across the S-Bridge to
Melton Grove Missionary
Baptist Church in Winfall.
Laura Aples of Emmanuel
Church will be the keynote
speaker.
The executive board of
the local NAACP branch
includes Gilbert Vaughn,
president, Fred Yates, vice
president, Peggy Moldin,
secretary, Mae McGee, as
sistant secretary, Vera Mur-
rill treasurer and Shirley
Skinner, assistant treasurer.
The NAACP is asking
every organization in Per
quimans County to be rep
resented with at least one
car or float with the orga
nization’s name or logo dis
played.