MAR 1 2
P Tue
ERQUIMANS
^WEEKLY
"News from Next Door" MARCH 12, 2014 - MARCH 18, 2014
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Church
hosting
Civil War
event
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
One hundred and fifty
years ago, Oak Grove United
Methodist Church was used
as a place of rest and heal
ing for Confederate troops
heading south.
In May, it will host a
Civil War event as part of
the a 200th anniversary of
the church on Chapanoke
Road. The event is free and
open to the public.
Dave Lindsey, a histo
rian living in Edenton, is
organizing the spring event.
He’s been a member of Oak
Grove for several years. The
event runs from 10 a.m. un-
til 5 p.m. on May 17.
The church was created
in 1814. In 1861, it became
part of the Methodist Epis
copal Church, South, as
fighting erupted between
the North and the South.
Lindsley said a major
ity of people in Perquimans
County and the Albemarle
region as a whole didn’t
want war. As many as 40
percent considered them
selves pro-union and a lot
of the rest didn’t support ei
ther side and simply wanted
to be left alone.
But war did come.
In February 1862, Union
gunboats overwhelmed a
smaller Confederate na
val force' in the Battle of
Elizabeth City. Edenton and
Hertford fell to union con
trol the same month.
Perquimans County didn’t
have any large scale ground
engagements like Bull Run
in Virginia or Shiloh in
Tennessee. Instead armed
conflicts usually involved
smaller groups of local
See CIVIL WAR, 7
STAFF PHOTOS BY PETER WILLIAMS
Cynthia Cox listens to Caroline Farmer discuss fraud during a Scam-Jam session at the Perquimans County
Senior Center, Friday. Farmer (below) gestures while speaking at Friday’s session.
Speakers warn seniors of scams
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
T hieves aren’t going to stop trying and seniors are
the biggest targets according to speakers Friday
at a Scam-Jam at the Perquimans County Senior
Center. .
“If you have a steady source of income coming into
the household... you are the number one target for
most of these scammers,” said Barbara Bennett, a
speaker from the N.C. Department of State. “Believe it
or not, but you folks have the money.”
Seniors do have the steady source of income, be it
pensions or Social Security, that younger Americans
don’t, Bennett said. She is one of two people in her
office who cover the state to educate people about
investment issues. The Albemarle Commission’s Area
Agency on Aging was another one of the sponsors of
Friday’s Scam-Jam event.
Bennett said some thieves also target seniors be
cause they are sometimes too nice to say no.
“You were raised to be very polite. They’ll call you
See SCAM-JAM, 7
Recycling
efforts
showing
benefits
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Perquimans County is
playing a role in keeping
more and more recyclable
goods out of the landfill and
saving money at the same
time.
Even if you don’t care
about saving the planet,
residents should care about
recycling, said Scott Mouw,
the state’s recycling pro
gram director.
Mouw said for every ton
of waste that heads south to
the landfill in Bertie, Perqui
mans County pays $50. For
every ton of recyclables that
heads north toward Tidewa
ter Fiber recycling center in
Virginia, the county is paid
$7.
“It used to be about sav
ing the trees,” Mouw said.
“Now you do it to save the
money.”
Mouw said Perquimans
County may not rank as
high on the statewide list as
others to terms of recycling,
but that doesn’t mean it’s
not making an effort.
In 2012-13, Perquimans
County recycled about 61
pounds of household goods
for every man, woman and
child. It ranks 50th out of
100 counties.
Dare County was in the
number one position with
an average of 279 pounds
per person.
Perquimans County
ranked 55th in terms of total
public recycling per capita
with 79.5 pounds. Catawba
County topped that list at
638 pounds.
The counties that have
very large recycling totals
also have special programs
See RECYCLING, 7
Rotary Club honors four as teachers of the year
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Two veteran educators
and two who are still rela
tively new were picked as
the Hertford Rotary Club’s
Teachers of the Year for
2014.
High school teacher Ce
leste Maus represents the
most experienced with 29
years in the classroom, nine
years of it in Perquimans
County.
On the other end of the
spectrum is Kerry Shimfes-
sel from Perquimans Coun
ty Middle School with three
years in the classroom. An
other relative newcomer is
Corrie Kemp from Hertford
Grainmar School with seven
years.
Rounding out the four is
Stacey Pierce from Perqui
mans Central School. She’s
a 15-year-veteran who has
spent her entire career in
the county schools.
Teachers will be recog
nized at a Rotary breakfast
meeting at Captain Bob’s in
April where an overall win
ner will be selected as the
2014 Rotary teacher of the
year for Perquimans Coun
ty.
The educators were se
lected based on their dedi
cation, commitment and
service to young people and
their conununities. Some of
the ways they incorporate
community service projects
and activities for their stu
dents is shared in a written
essay each wrote on they
chose education as their
career.
Maus said she started
young, teaching her “baby
dolls.”
“While others were pur
suing occupational hand
books for possible job titles,
I knew the world of educa
tion was fathomless and
would open more doors of
opportunity than any other
job title,” Maus wrote. “I
was a believer that teaching
others to love learning cre
ates carbon footprints that
go beyond one’s legacy.”
Slumfessel admits teach
ing wasn’t his first choice.
“My original college
plans were to go to medical
school and become a physi
cian so that I could make a
good living. A wise friend of
mine explained to me that
money would not be able to
sustain happiness. Making a
change in just one person’s
life could sustain happiness
for many. The next week, I
applied to the UNC-Greens-
boro School of Music and
haven’t turned back since. “
For Kemp, the decision
was easy.
“I love to see my students
become passionate about a
topic, book, or project that
we are working on,” she
said. “It thrills me to meet
See TEACHERS, 7
Perquimans native Hoffler publishes book on racism
From staff reports
A Perquimans County man who
grew up up in Hertford in the 1940s
through the 1960s has self-published
a book about his experiences being
denied a promotion by the U.S. Air
Force.
“As a product of the segregated
South, I was not a stranger to rac
ism,” said Joseph Hoffler. “ However,
I did not expect to see ‘in-your-face-
racism’ on a U.S. military instal-
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6
lation. Up until this point, the
military had treated me impar
tially,” says Hoffler. “I bled Air
Force blue and still do. It wasn’t until
my operations officer and first ser
geant, both white, came to me and
said this was racially motivated that
I considered the possibility of racism
playing a factor.”
Hoffler is the son of a self-
employed auto mechanic and
school teacher from Perquimans
Comity Hoffler was the youngest of
six children. To improve their stan
dard of living, his father moved the
family to Brooklyn, NY, where Hoffler
was born, in 1940. His family returned
See HOFFLER, 7
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Joseph Hoffler (left)
poses with Kenneth
Saunders at a Barnes
& Noble in Colorado
Springs. Colo.,
recently. Hoffler grew
up in Perquimans
County and recently
self-published the
book “Promotion:
Denied”, which is
about his experience
in the U.S. Air Force.
Saunders is a retired
Navy commander
and director of the
Center on Fathering in
Colorado Springs.