2 THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15,2014
COMMUNIIY
FATE OF HOME
Continued from 1
' envisioned that DOT would
simply rehab the current
bridge or replace it with
another one that looks the
same and was at the same
location.
And for some Hertford
residents, that was their
dream too. That proved im
practical from DOT’s stand
point. If another swing span
was built it would be costly
and required DOT to keep
paying for a bridge tender.
When they bought the
Hertford home, the idea
was to sell the house in Ar
lington, Va. But it because
■ apparent that the Hertford
lot may be needed for a
: bridge, they held onto the
Virginia property.
“We can’t sell the house
' in Arlington because we
don’t know if we’ll have a
house here to live in.”
There is work she’d like
to do on the Phelps Street
Town of Hertford
Board Vacancy Notice
The Hertford Town Council is
seeking residents of the Town of
Hertford interested in serving on
the Hertford Planning and Zoning
Board of Adjustments. This Board
acts as an advisory board for land use planning
issues, decides on conditional use permits and
variances, and hears appeals of the Town’s Zoning
Ordinance. Interested parties must be legal resi
dents of the Town of Hertford. Interested parties
are asked to send in a letter of interest to Brandon
Shoaf, the Town Manager at RO Box 32, Hertford,
NC 27944. For further information, please call
(252) 426-1969. Letter of interest will be accepted
post marked no later than January 17, 2014.
PERQUIMANS COUNTY
PUBLIC NOTICE
Exceptforthe Sheriff’s Department, Dispatch
Office and Emergency Medical Services, all
County Offices in the Perquimans County
Courthouse, Courthouse Annex, Social
Services, Agricultural Extension Service,
Perquimans County Library and the
Perquimans County Recreation Department
will be closed on Monday, January 20, 2014,
for observation of Martin Luther King’s
Birthday. The Water Department will be
closed but emergencies may be reported to
the Dispatch Office by calling 426-5751.
Frank Heath, County Manager
1015 US 17 SOUTH • ELIZABETH CITY • 252-338-3901
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P The
ERQUIMANS
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home. They want to have
it raised out of the flood
plain, but they won’t do it
if it’s just going to be torn
down in a few years.
“We were also planning
to expand the house,” The
odore said. “ We hoped to
enjoy the house for years
to come with our friends
and family. We dreamed of
celebrating holidays there
with our family, especially
the grandchildren we hope
to have.”
Theodore is also frustrat
ed that DOT didn’t tell her
when they decided then-
preferred option for a new
bridge would require tear
ing down her house. Theo
dore had to read about it
in Perquimans Weekly.
The newspaper received
a report on the November
meeting two days before
New Years Day.
DOT officials now say
the release of that Novem
ber document was prema
ture and called it in internal
memo.
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“The recommendation
made at the post-hear
ing meeting is an inter
nal, interim decision and
may not reflect the final
decision regarding the
selected alternative,” said
Joseph Miller, a planning
engineer in an e-mail to
Theodore that was cop
ied to The Perquimans
Weekly. “NCDOT does
not normally announce
alternative selections un
til after DOT’s preferred
alternative is presented to
the agencies I mentioned
earlier.”
Theodore, who worked
in the federal government
for 31 years said she un
derstands that sometimes
information can’t be re
leased.
“I understand it’s a pre
liminary decision and not
something that should be
made public,” she said.
But in this case, DOT
only had to really notify
one person — her — that
they were leaning in the
direction of Alternative
D-Mod.
There remains an
other option on the table
— Alternative E — that
would bypass her home
altogether. Alternative E
runs down Edenton Road
Street then across the
river and finks up with
Winfall Boulevard on the
Winfall side of the river
near Larry’s Drive in. The
owner of a Grubb Street
shopping center that
would have to be demol
ished to make room for
Alternative E said he was
at peace with it in com
ments made to DOT.
DOT officials have told
her that the entire pro
cess of finding a solution
for the aging S-Bridge has
been long.
“They said it’s been
much longer than what
' normally happens. There
was a controversy about
saving the bridge. I under
stand. It’s a symbol for the
whole town.”
COLD
Continued from 1
The biggest outage in
volved about 25 or 30
customers in Albemarle
Plantation. Chris Powell, a
spokesman for Albemarle
Electric Membership Co-
operative said the 7 a.m.
incident Jan. 7 was caused
by a blow fuse. Power was
restored in about an hour.
The bitter blast meant
heat pumps had to work
overtime to provide warm
air. The devices normally
can capture relatively
warmer outside air and use
it to warm a house, but in
severe situations there isn’t
any warmer air to be had.
“Anything below 40 de-
WINDS
Continued from 1
of the outages reported
were in Chatham, Wake and
Lee Counties.
Jarvis Winslow, the Per
quimans County’s emergen-
Even if DOT and the
state and federal agencies
all agree that Alternative
D-Mod is the right choice,
Theodore’s journey won’t
be over. At this point there
is no funding for right-of-
way acquisition. That has
to happen in order to get
the money to pay Theo
dore for her house. Time-
tables could change, but
the right of way money
may not be available until
sometime in 2015 or 2016.
“What’s going to hap
pen?” Theodore said.
“They’re on hold for fund-*
ing.”
Jay McInnis, the project
engineer, said DOT is try
ing to work with Theodore
as much as possible. He
said there are emergen
cy measures that would
speed up payment of right
of way purchase in a hard
ship situation. He said he’s
not sure if that applies in
Theodore’s case.
Theodore doesn’t want
to speed up the process.
“We want to stay here
as long as possible so we
don’t want to be bought
out early. We’re hoping
that the funding is delayed
and the projected 5/2016
right of way purchase
date is extended. We love
our little piece of paradise
and want to spend every
possible minute right here
in Hertford. So we plan
to be here until the bitter
end.”
As for Theodore’s origi
nal question, McInnis said
she should know soon.
“I think in a week or so
she’ll know.”
And when the construc
tion does start, Theodore
predicts there are people
who won’t like it.
“From where we are
you can see fishermen out
there a lot. They won’t be
able to do that. It will take
a while for the fishing to
come back. People aren’t
going to like what’s going
to happen, but that’s pret
ty much where we are.”
grees and heat pumps al
most entirely rely on heat
strips to work,” Powell
said. “Heating that way can
double the daily kilowatt
hour useage very quickly.”
The Hertford area was
at 40 degrees or less for
the period from late Mon
day until the afternoon on
Thursday. Thursday’s high
only hit 51 degrees.
Albemarle EMC has
about 12,000 customers
spread between Chowan,
Perquimans, Pasquotank,
Camden and a small part of
Currituck.
The cold weather did not
cause any serious problems
for the Perquimans County
Schools, but it did force a
two-horn - delay both Tues
day and Wednesday. The
cy management director,
said he’s unsure if a tornado
touched down in the Nica
nor area, but high winds did
destroy the barn of David
Riddick in the 400 block of
Turnpike Road.
“I talked with the Nation
al Weather Service and they
told me there was no sign of
any (tornado) rotations in
Tadlock
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338-2222
WEBSITE
Continued from 1
a way to find out for them
selves if homework has
been assigned without going
to the school and tracking
down the teacher.
The Perquimans County
Schools is rolling out a pro
gram called Parent Portal on
Jan. 27.
Power School’s Parent Por
tal is an online resource that
gives parents access to their
children’s homework assign
ments, grades and more.
In some school systems, it
replaces Parent Assistant, a
program that has been used
in the past elsewhere.
The local school system
is planning three workshops
in the next week to let local
parents learn more about the
system. The first is Thursday
at Perquimans County High
School. That’s followed by
one Tuesday at Perquimans
County Middle School and
Wednesday at Hertford
Grammar School. All of the
sessions start at 6 p.m.
Perquimans Central
School is not part of the pro
gram children in grades kin
dergarten through second
don’t get graded the same
way.
School officials hope the
system will get more par
ents involved in their child’s
education. At best, students
spend 35 hours of the week
in a classroom. The other
133 hours are spent at home
or doing other things.
“As a parent, they should
appreciate it,” said Brenda
Lassiter, the spokeswoman
for the school system. “I
don’t have kids in school
anymore, but I would have
appreciated it.”
Schools say the new sys
tem should be more user-
friendly than the NCWI8E
system that has been used in
the past.
Through it, parents can
check up on grades and at
tendance, test results, grade
history; attendance history,
schools wanted the extra
time so drivers could get
the buses warm for chil
dren.
“Thanks to all parents
in regards to flexibil
ity in schedule for the two
days,” said Brenda Las
siter, a spokesperson for
the school system. “ It was
imperative we allowed ad
equate time for buses to be
warmed and for bus driv
ers to begin routes during
daylight. The two-hour de
lay allowed bus drivers to
wait until 7:30 a.m. to begin
routes.”
There was extra work
required to prevent pipes
from bursting from the cold
and to make the schools
safe for when kids did ar
rive.
the area but they also told
me that doesn’t mean there
wasn’t any,” Winslow said.
Winslow said an investi
gator from the NWS visited
the Turnpike Road loca
tion Tuesday and blamed
straight-line wind.
Riddick, 57, said the
wooden barn was built by
his grandfather and had been
there for as long as he’s been
alive. A nearby metal build
ing that was completed just
a few months ago was still
standing, but Winslow said
it was damaged. Riddick’s
brick home was left stand
ing, but the wind destroyed
teacher comments, calen
dars, school bulletins and get
e-mail notifications that can
include their child’s grades.
Parents who attend one
of the three programs this
month will be given pass
word. To get it parents will
need to have a valid picture
ID at training (NC driver’s
license, DMV picture ID,
credit union picture ID or
passport). In addition to
proper identification, par
ents wishing to set up an ac
count through Parent Portal
must have an active and ac
cessible email account upon
arrival to the training.
Attendance at one of the
informational programs
is not mandatory. Parents
who are already computer
literate can opt out and wait
until after Jan. 23 and get the
password information from
their child’s school. Parents
can link multiple children to
the same account.
The quality and quantity
of the information available
on-line depends on the indi
vidual teacher. They are the
ones who will have to input
the data into the system.
“A lot of these things
were done by office staff in
the past, but this is falling on
the teachers,” Lassiter said.
“They are the ones respon
sible for doing it. If a par
ent goes on-line to see the
grades for their child and
they find that nothing has
been updated for a week,
that’s an issue, but that’s our
issue” she said of the school
system.
Tire school system has
been sending home prog
ress reports already. The
Parent Portal system will
give guardians even more
access, she said.
“They should be able to
see information daily. They’ll
be able to log-in from work
or home to see it.”
For those who don’t have
a computer or Internet ac
cess, parents can still visit
their school and get any
information they want, Las
siter said.
“Maintenance did have
to clear or drain standing
water areas following the
rain on Monday to ensure
Tuesday and Wednesday it
was not a sheet of ice for
our students and staff,”
Lassiter said. “Also, main
tenance was out early mak
ing sure things were salted
and there was no areas of
concern for staff as they
arrived. Transportation
employees ensured buses
were serviced and ready
for the extreme weather.”
More cooler weather
is coming in the next few
days, but nothing compared
to last week. For the next
week daily high tempera
tures should be in the 40s
starting Thursday with the
exception of 56 on Friday.
a carport.
“He (Riddick) told me
he was outside under the
carport and he noticed his
vehicle was wavering a little
bit so he decided he better
get inside.
“He said the wind was so
strong it blew the door out
of his hands and it was all
done in a snap of a finger.”
Metal debris from the
barn could be seen for up
to a mile away in a field to
the northwest of where the
barn stood. Some trees to
the southeast of the prop
erty were snapped in two
halfway up, indicating the
storm took a fairly direct
line, Winslow said. Some
other older out buildings
were also damaged.
Winslow said he was in
his workshop at home at
4:20 p.m. when the storm
hit.
“It was blowing water
in from under the metal
building and blowing water
through the door.”
A power outage at Albe
marle Plantation was not re
lated to the storm. A feeder
line from Dominion North
Carolina to the Albemarle
EMC Burgess substation
failed about 1:30 p.m.
According Chris Powell,
a spokesman for Albemarle
EMC about 2,000 customers
were without power until
about 5:30 p.m.
“Right now we’re not sure
what happened,” Powell
said.