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"News from Next Door”
APRIL 9, 2014 - APRIL 15, 2014
50 cents
State reports large decrease in dropouts
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The Perquimans County
High School dropout rate
fell 45 percent last year ac
cording to a state report is
sued last week.
There were 20 students
considered as dropouts in
the 2011-12 school year. The
number fell to 11 last year.
In the Edenton-Chowan
school system, the number
of dropouts actually rose
from 26 to 27. The Perqui
mans dropout rate works
out to be 2.08. The state av
erage is 2.45.
The same report shows
the number of short-term
suspensions remain low
compared with other school
systems. The number in
cluded students from ninth
grade through the senior
year in high school and in
cluded students who didn’t
graduate after the tradition
al four years but remained
in school a fifth year to fin
ish.
Dwayne Stallings, the
Superintendent of Schools
in Perquimans, said the sus
pensions and the dropout
rate can be linked. Students
who were expelled were
taken out of the school en
vironment and could feel
discouraged about the idea
of coming back.
“Over the years the
school system has made a
real effort to keep students
in school and helping them
realize that giving up is not
the answer, you have to
stay.”
North Carolina law
doesn’t require mandatory
. attendance once a student
See DROPOUTS, 2
Spring GARDEN SHOW
Low-scoring US 17
project funds possible
STAFF PHOTOS BY PETER WILLIAMS
Maycee Hughes (center) puts stickers on a pencil pinwheel held by Ginny Van Donger while
Tammy Young (left) looks on during last Saturday's annual Garden Show at the Perquimans
County Recreation Center. Hundreds of visitors browsed plants, crafts and food vendors. There
were also seminars on a variety of topics. The program was hosted by the Master Gardener
programs in Perquimans, Chowan and Gates counties.
A visitor (left) looks over plants available from Hertford's Sunshine Nursery, Saturday. A faded wooden
door provides the perfect place to hang butterfly art, as seen at Saturday’s annual garden show.
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Two intersection improvements
on U.S. Highway 17 in Perquimans
have a chance of being funded
— not because they scored high on
state rankings — but because they
are relatively cheap and part of a
much larger project.
Turning the intersections at New
Hope Road and Harvey Point Road
into interchanges scored 13 and 12
points respectively on the state’s
new Strategic Mobility Formula
The highest score possible is 100
points.
The Mid-Currituck Bridge proj
ect had 22 points and was the high
est ranking one in the Albemarle
area. The bridge also carries a pri
cetag of $410 million. DOT’s share
of that is $173 million. The rest
would come from tolls and outside
financing and maintenance.
The cost of the Perquimans
County projects is about $29 million
for both interchanges, according to
Rep. Bob Steinburg (R-Chowan).
“Overall I wouldn’t call it chump
change, but in the big scheme of
the DOT budget it’s a very small
amount of money.”
What may give the projects an
edge despite the low scores are
they’re part of an overall program
to create Interstate-44. That’s the
name used for a posted Interstate
that stretches from Raleigh to Nor
folk. No official designation of an
1-44 has been made.
Instead of starting from scratch,
the highway would use existing
parts of U.S. Route 64 and U.S.
Highway 17.
U.S. 64 already links Raleigh with
Williamston and U.S. 17 already
connects with Norfolk. To upgrade
parts of it to U.S. Interstate stan
dards or at least improve them is
the goal right now.
Steinburg said it’s unlikely that
U.S. 17 in Hertford would ever be
considered a true Interstate. Those
carry the logo of a shield in blue
and red and are restricted access
superhighways.
“Eliminating those stoplights
will allow a free traffic flow all the
way to Norfolk,” Steinburg said.
“It’s not easy recruiting busi
nesses to come to northeastern
North Carolina. The first question
See PROJECTS, 2
Some feel other
projects more
important
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Plans to upgrade two inter
sections on U.S. 17 in Perqui
mans County have long been
on state list of improvements,
but County Manager Frank
Heath said there are far bigger
priorities out there.
DOT is considering upgrad
ing both Harvey Point Road
and New Hope Road inter
sections to eliminate the stop
lights.
“Those have been in the
plan a long, long time, but
right now I think we have
some secondary road needs
that should outrank them,”
Heath said.
j. Eliminating the lights could
shave a few minutes off a
three-hour trip from Raleigh
to Norfolk, but it could re
quire the elimination of sev
eral businesses. Creating an
interstate highway from the
two cities is a goal of Gov. Pat
McCrory and others who see
it as a way to spur develop
ment in northeastern North
Carolina.
Intersections, like U.S. 17-
Harvey Point Road, are junc
tions that do not use grade
separation and roads cross
directly. Interchanges are
junctions where roads pass
above or below one another.
There are perhaps dozens of
different ways to design in
terchanges including some
called cloverleaf, stack, wind-
mill, diamond and divided vol
leyball.
But interchanges can re
quire a lot of land to build. In
the Chicago area, the Project
For Transportation Reform
cites one involving 1-355 and
1-55 that needed 150 acres.
Another one in downtown
used 13 acres. Those involve
See IMPORTANT, 2
Baseball fan surprised in Hertford
Prom Night 2014
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
When Norman Sperling
set out from California on
his latest adventure in his
recreational vehicle, Hert
ford wasn’t on the itiner
ary.
The 67-year-old part-time
college astronomy profes
sor had no idea Hertford
was home to a museum
honoring its own Jim “Cat
fish” Hunter.
89076
47144
2
6
Baseball muse
ums and science
centers are the fo
cus of Sperling’s
life right now. But it
wasn’t until he was
browsing a AAA
tour book in Geor
gia that he saw
something about
SPERLING
the Hertford museum. He
simply had to check it out.
So on Tuesday, he drove
his RV to the parking lot
between Hertford Baptist
Church and the Perqui
mans County Chamber of
Commerce.
He said what he saw was
impressive given the space
Hertford has to devote to
it.
“Every time I
go through it (the
guide) I always find
two or three things
I wanted to see.
Some are big and
some are a very
pleasant surprise.
I’ve seen some mu
seums that are holes in the
wall with one picture on
the wall.”
Sperling has a love for
baseball in general and for
the Oakland Athletics in
particular. His home was
in Berkeley, Calif., just 12
miles from the stadium
See BASEBALL, 2
SUBMITTED PHOTO
It’s all on the,dance, floor at the Perquimans Gounty High School Prom
Saturday night at the. school. For more, photos, please see page 7.
FRIDAY, APRIL 25" 1 , 7:30PM
Tickets _
ae.A. SWAIN
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