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"News from Next Door"
APRIL 2, 2014 - APRIL 8, 2014
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Fire damaged apartments will be repaired
STAFF PHOTO
BY PETER WILLIAMS
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
See GROWTH, 4
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Plywood covers
a window and
blue tarps still
cover holes in the
roof of a four-unit
apartment that
was damaged by
fire in February.
The interior of the
unit off Wynne Fork
Road will be gutted
and restored in the
coming months.
County
Slow,
steady
growth
The Albemarle region as
a whole grew in population
between 2010 and 2013 de
spite losses in two of the five
counties.
Perquimans County add
ed 148 more people during
the period, according to the
U.S. Census Bureau. While
that amounts to a jump of
1.1 percent — a third of the
statewide average — the
growth along with more
people in Camden and Cur
rituck counties more than
made up for the 747 people
that were no longer counted
in Pasquotank and Chowan
counties.
Slow and steady growth
is a good thing according to
Perquimans County Manger
Frank Heath.
“I think good, steady
growth is the kind we like to
see. Explosive growth can
overwealm you,” Heath said.
The county manager said
new homes are being built in
Albemarle Plantation as well
as elsewhere in the county.
“We’re not to where we
need to be for residential,
but growth has been starting
to trickle in,” he said.
Too much growth too
quickly can overwealm the
infrastructure. The growth
Perquimans County has
been seeing can easily be ac
commodated with the exist
ing water utility.
The agency used a base
figure from the April 1, 2010
Census to start with. Popula
tion was then estimated ev
ery July 1 for the 2010, 2011,
A four-unit apartment complex heavily dam
aged by fire in February will be repaired and
the 18 people who were displaced have been or
soon will be resettled elsewhere.
The actual cause of the blaze was never deter
mined. Repairs are expected to cost upwards of
$200,000 and will be covered by insurance.
At least 30 firefighters from departments in
Hertford , Winfall and Bethel responded to the
blaze at the Hertford Housing Authority com
plex on Wynne Fork Road.
Barry Overman, the fire marshal for Elizabeth
IN A RELATED STORY
■ Cause of King Street fires unknown - Page 2
City and Camden County was called in to inves
tigate.
“We had people go in and do some work,”
Overman said last week.
They were able to determine that the fire
started in a bedroom of a unit at 222 Wynne Fork
Drive.
“Unfortunately we didn’t have enough left in
See DAMAGED, 4
Schools
pitch
traffic
solution
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Officials propose spend
ing $81,000 to ease a traffic
problem that is impacting
Perquimans Central School
and anybody who is pass
ing through on the road
that connects downtown
Winfall with Hertford at the
wrong time of day.
The plan is in two phases
and calls for asking the Per
quimans County Commis
sion for $31,000 in capital
money in the 2014-15 bud
get to pay for the second
phase.
“We want parents to
know we really are try
ing,” said Brenda Lassiter,
a spokesperson for the
school system.
Traffic snarls in the early
morning and mid-afternoon
are typical on Winfall Bou
levard — a link between
Creek Road and Winfall’s
Main Street.
The school is home to
488 students, and typically
315 ride a bus. The rest
— more than 170 of them
— are picked up by fam
ily members in cars. When
the weather is bad — as it’s
been a lot this winter — car
ridership increases.
The current traffic pat
tern routes the cars through
a traffic circle in front of
the school. The new pattern
will take the cars around
to the back of the school
and move the school buses
from the back to the north
side of the site.
The school system
has been working on the
See SOLUTION, 4
Some road projects threatened
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The failure to pass a federal
highway funding bill would
impact 108 road and bridge
projects in North Carolina, but
replacement of the S-Bridge in
Hertford is not one of them.
Last week Gov. Pat McCrory
and his transportation secretary
told members of the North Caro
lina Chamber of Commerce that
the state is at risk of stall
ing $1.1 billion worth of
highway and bridge proj
ects next fiscal year.
McCrory called on
Congress to renew a
2012 law that provides
federal money to trans
portation projects across
MCCRORY
the country.
The $20 million to replace means
right-of-way acquisition
is scheduled to happen
in the 2015-16 fiscal year
that starts October 2015.
Construction is expected
to start in the 2017-18 fis
cal year.
Nicole Meister, a
spokeswoman for the
N.C. DOT, said that
the S-Bridge project
Program urges more
grads to attend college
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the S-Bridge with a fixed-span
bridge will require federal mon
ey. On federal projects, the state
pays 20 percent of the cost and
the rest is covered by the federal
falls after the 2014-15 federal
highway bill. Projects that are
scheduled to start in 2014-15 will
be impacted, but those that are
already underway — like the
2
budget.
The Hertford project falls
bridge replacement project in
downtown Elizabeth City, would
beyond the scope of the 2014-
15 federal budget. At this point,
See PROJECTS, 4
From staff reports
College of The Albemarle’s Eden
ton campus will host a program on
Sunday aimed at getting local teens
in Perquimans and Chowan coun
ties to start thinking about pursu
ing an education after high school.
More importantly, the event will
get local seventh-, eighth- and 12th
grade students, and their parents,
thinking about how to pay for col
lege.
“It’s a program about college
savings and ways to pay for it,”
said Lynn Hurdle-Wmslow, dean
of COA’s Edenton-Chowan cam ¬
pus, referring to the Gaining Early
Awareness and Readiness for Un
dergraduate Programs, or GEAR
UP event, set for 6 p.m. April 10 in
COA’s Culinary Arts building.
The GEAR UP event is supported
by the GEAR UP North Carolina ini
tiative and is funded by a $28.6 mil
lion grant from the Department of
Education. Perquimans and Chow
an County public schools are part
of the 46 middle and high schools
included as part of the GEAR UP
North Carolina initiative and they
are two of 11 school districts served
See MORE GRADS, 4
Albemarle Master Gardeners
April
Perquirr
Sth, 2014 9 am - 3 pm
ns County Recreation Center Granby St., Hertford, NC
Show Admission . Fun & Educational Children's
Programs. Gardening Demos & Lectures
Vendors, Plant Sale, Bake Sale . Ask a Master Gardner Booth.
Call 252-482-6585 for more information Raffles-50/50 Breakfast/Lunch available
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