FEB 0 6 2014
WEEKLY -
"News from Next Door"
JANUARY 22, 2014 - JANUARY 28, 2014 JAN 2 - REED 50 cents
Schools seeking more money for safety work
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The cost of securing Hert
ford Grammar School from
an armed intruder will be
nearly twice the original es
timate, but school officials
have agreed to move for
ward.
School officials expect
to pay $338,559 to move the
entry point to the school
and relocate offices. The
new figure is $163,000 more
than the original estimate
of $175,000 and almost five
times the combined cost of
the safety improvements at
the other three schools.
Still the school board
agreed last week to move
forward on the request.
“The board recognizes
that the amount is a high
amount, but if we don’t do
everything we can to pro
tect our children and staff
we could be liable,” said
Brenda Lassiter, a spokes
man for the school system.
“There is no price tag we
can put on a child’s head.”
The need to better se
cure the schools was driven
home by the December 2012
shooting at Sandy Hook El
ementary School. Twenty
students and six staff mem
bers were killed.
The money will come
from the N.C. Education
Lottery. Each county has a
portion of the lottery pro
ceeds deposited into an ac
count specifically for brick-
and-mortar improvements.
The money can’t be used to
pay teachers or buy technol
ogy.
The Perquimans County
School Board used $70,800
in lottery money last year to
make similar improvements
at the other three schools.
The county hasn’t made
a mqjor withdrawal since
2011. At that time Perqui
mans County Manager Bob
by Darden recommended
withdrawing $400,000 from
the lottery account and us
ing the money to make part
of a debt payment on work
See SAFETY, 7
Rain puts
damper on
activities
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Farmers are having troubles and
even avid golfers are finding it hard
to practice their sport because of
unusually wet weather.
Typically December brings about
three inches of rain. Last month the
Town of Hertford water treatment
plant reported getting 5.37 inches.
A normal January gets about 4.16
inches. Just two weeks into this
month, the water plant reported 2.3
inches.
The State Climate Office, an op
eration of N.C. State University,
has data that shows some areas of
Perquimans County have received
between 25 to 50 percent of normal
rainfall over the past 60 days. The
rest of the county falls to within 5 to
25 percent.
Some areas of western North Car
olina are even wetter. A few moun
tain areas have had up to 12 more
inches of rain in the same 60-day
period.
It’s more than a mere nuisance to
farmers and livestock producers, ac
cording to Jared Harrell, an agricul
ture extension agent in Hertford.
Winter wheat has already been
planted, but the wet weather is tak
ing a toll.
“With the amount of rainfall we’ve
had, wheat is not doing well,” Har
rell said. “The rain is keeping it in
undated which is keeping it stunted
and can cause some disease in the
plant if it just sits there.”
Where you are in Perquimans
County has a lot to do with how wet
you are.
“There is sandy soil in some areas
but in a lot of the eastern part of the
county it’s a clay base and once it
gets really wet, it takes a long time
to dry out.”
Unless things begin to dry out,
the soggy ground could delay some
fanners.
“In a couple of weeks or a
month, they’re going to be spraying
See RAIN, 7
MLK AUDIENCE URGED
TO LOOK FORWARD
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
Members of the Melton Grove Missionary Baptist Mass Choir perform Monday at the church.
Iraq war veteran speaks
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
eople can and should look back on the
1 legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. but they
need to spend more time looking at the
future, the keynote speaker told an audience
Monday.
A Winfall church hosted a program to cel
ebrate the man who helped shaped civil rights
in the 1950s and 1960s and beyond.
Lora Aples compared a story she heard
during her Air Force career. The Perquimans
County native served for 26 years and did
three tours in Iraq. She used the analogy of a
car windshield, which is large and a rear view
mirror which is tiny.
“Keep your eyes focused on what’s ahead,”
she urged. “That rear view mirror is just a
reference to where you came from.”
She used a similar reference to people’s lives.
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
Lora Aples speaks to the crowd Monday at
Melton Grove Missionary Baptist in Winfall.
See MLK DAY, 7
Plantation
to host pro
tour in June
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The Sound Links at Albemarle
Plantation is scheduled to host
a weeklong pro golf tournament
June 23-29.
The NGA pro tour, formerly the
NGA Hooters Tour, features the
future stars of the PGA. Alumni
of the NGA include 2012 Masters
champion Bubba Watson, 2011
PGA Champion Keegan Bradley,
2010 PGA Player of the Year and
2003 U.S. Open champion and
Jim Furyk and 2009 British Open
champion Stewart Cink.
The Perquimans County event
will raise money for the Food Bank
of the Albemarle.
Kenny Saunders, the golf pro at
the course, said they started look
ing into bring the tournament here
when he heard that Scotch Hall,
a course in Merry Hill in Bertie
County, was looking at dropping
the event.
Saunders said he quickly found
support from within Albemarle
Plantation and from the NGA or
ganization. The 23-year-old course
has hosted charity events before,
but nothing on this scale.
“We’ve got housing for the kids
(golfers) and we’ve already got
nine committees formed,” Saun
ders said. “We want to make it an
event, not just a golf tournament.”
Saunders was concerned that
NGA officials might think the
6,400-yard course was too short for
a pro event. Turns out that wasn’t a
problem.
“If you look at it on paper, it
looks short but when you get out
there it’s tight. You hit a bad shot
and you’re off the course and in a
swamp.”
The course should be in good
condition. The greens were re
placed last year and there has been
plenty of rainfall.
Liz Reasoner, the director of the
See PRO TOUR, 7
DOT to seek input on road work at Thursday meeting
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The state road funding
formula has changed and
the amount of money avail
able for secondary road
projects is expected to be
just a fraction of previous
spending
On Thursday N.C. De
partment of Transportation
officials will meet in Wash
ington County to talk about
the change and listen to
county officials to find out
what projects are important
to them.
The open house is set for
4 to 7 p.m. at the Vernon G.
James Research and Exten
sion Center, located at 207
Research Station Road in
Plymouth.
In 2013, DOT spent $2.2
million on projects in Per-
Corps wants another look at bridge option
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The final decision on the
location for a replacement
to the S-Bridge in Hertford
is coming but it may be a
few more weeks.
State and federal officials
met last week to discuss
the selection of a route that
would run off Church Street
across the Perquimans Riv
er and link up with existing
roads near Larry’s Drive In.
That remains the favored
route, but officials of the
quimans County. Of that
about $191,000 went to on
going spot improvements
and countywide surveys.
One project to upgrade
and provide a base to SR
1313 cost just $106. The big
gest chunk—$1.4 million—
went for a project to widen,
U.S. Army Corps of Engi
neers want to look once
more at navigational is
sues.
The favored route —
known as Alternative D-
Mod — is the least expen
sive' of the three finalists
and the shortest in length.
Joseph Miller, the proj
ect planning engineer for
the project also said it’s
the least environmentally
damaging. He said the DOT
webpage on the project will
be soon be updated and a
newsletter will be mailed
strengthen New Hope Road
and improve drainage.
This year, the figure will
be less — a lot less — ac
cording to Gretchen Byrum,
a planning engineer for the
DOT office in Edenton.
The New Hope work
was just phase one of four
out
Jay McInnis, the project
engineer, said he doesn’t
believe the decision will be
delayed much longer.
“We don’t believe any
dredging will be required,
but the agencies were
wanting assurances that
is the case,” McInnis said
Tuesday. “The Corps of
Engineers rep was also
wanting to confirm that the
Corps doesn’t have a dredg
ing project in the area.”
Nancy Theodore, the ho
meowner who will lose her
phases. At this point there is
no money to fund the next
three.
“Unfortunately with the
new formula that funding
went away,” Byrum said.
“We don’t have that sepa
rate pot of money to do sec
ondary road improvements.
house if D-Mod is selected,
said Miller is confident that
option will be the one se
lected.
“Joe didn’t think that it
will change the decision,”
Theodore said Monday. “It’s
just something that needs
to be resolved before sign-
off.”
There is no firm estimate
on when right of way pur
chases will start or when
construction might com
mence.
The D-Mod option will
cost about $22 million.
We’re going to get very little.
I don’t know if it’s going to
be in thousands (of dollars)
or tens of thousands.”
County Manager Frank
Heath believes if Perqui
mans wants a specific proj
ect funded, it will have to
throw its full weight behind
it.
Local officials have some
say on certain projects
through their local planning
organization. The Albemar
le Rural Planning Organiza
tion (ARPO) serves Cam
den, Chowan, Currituck,
Dare, Gates, Hyde, Pasquo
tank, Perquimans, Tyrrell
and Washington counties.
State officials worked
with local officials and the
existing network of regional
development organizations
to create 19 RPOs that serve
all counties outside of the
existing 17
metropolitan planning or
ganizations (MPOs).
RPOs serve nearly four
million North Carolinians,
or almost half the popula
tion of the state.
And Byrum doesn’t have
an answer to how the re
placement for Hertford’s
S-Bridge will be handled.
It’s not because she hasn’t
asked the question.
“I can’t get a clear an
swer,” she said.