P The
ERQUIMANS
.Weekly
"News from Next Door"
MAY 21, 2014 - MAY 27, 2014
^ 21 MM
50 cents
STAFF PHOTO
BY PETER WILLIAMS
Nita Jackson (left)
and her husband
John wait
Monday during
a hearing at
the Perquimans
County
Courthouse. The
two face charges
that they knew
six of their sons
were sexually
abusing their
sister and did
nothing to stop
it. They were
released on bond.
PARENTS FACE SEX CHARGES
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Six brothers appeared in court
Monday in Perquimans County
and asked the judge to appoint
an attorney to represent them
on charges they sexually abused
their sister.
The Jackson brothers and
their parents, John and Nita
Jackson, appeared before Supe
rior Court Judge Walter Godwin.
The family lived in the 700 block
of Chapanoke Road and the
brothers and two sisters were
home schooled there.
The parents each face charg
es of felony child abuse, a crime
punishable by more than eight
years in prison. Four brothers
could be sent to prison for life.
District Attorney Andrew
Womble appeared in court Mon
day. He said additional charges
are always a possibility. Judge
Godwin said he would withhold
asking the defendants for a plea
of guilty or not guilty until after
they’ve had a chance to meet
with attorney.
Womble said the next sched
uled hearing of is July 14.
The abuse of the sister, who
is now 16 years old, apparently
stopped four years ago, accord
ing to the Perquimans County
Sheriffs Office.
Womble said having a delay
between the abuse and the time
See CHARGES, 8
Computer
program
will need
support
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The suggestion that par
ents should be responsible
for providing their child
with a computer was met
with a cool reception last
week.
Perquimans County lead
ers were reminded recently
that putting a tablet com
puter into the hands of 1,400
Perquimans County stu
dents — and keeping them
there — will require extra
help from taxpayers. School
officials held ajoint meeting
with the Perquimans Coun
ty Commission to go over
financial issues, update the
county on progress and an
swer questions.
One of the projects is
a one-to-one inititive that
would provide a tablet com
puter to every child in third
grade through high school.
The computers would re
main the property of the
school system, but. they
would be issued to each stu
dent for use during and after
school.
To make the program
possible, the school system
is seeking a $860,000 grant
from Golden LEAF. That
application and another
one that would allow Per
quimans County to build an
industrial-sized boat ramp
have made it through three
rounds of a competition and
the final decision is expect
ed in June. But that’s only
the start according to Victor
Eure, the school system’s di
rector of technology. Com
puters have a finite life and
the first tablets will have to
be replaced in the future.
“I can tell you from work
ing with Golden LEAF
before, they’ll want to see
See PROGRAM, 9
Iki Gm UNG Celebrates 201) years, Civil Wit Dole
STAFF PHOTOS BY PETER WILLIAMS
Garry Riggs, a Civil War re-enactor from Vanceboro, explains the drugs that were available to field
doctors during the Civil War, in Chapanoke, Saturday. Riggs and others were on hand for a program
on the war and the role Oak Grove United Methodist Church played as a makeshift hospital. The
church is celebrating its bicentennial Sunday from 9 a.m. to noon with Bishop Hope Morgan Ward.
Civil War re
enactors Bill
Ward (left)
from Elizabeth
City and Hugh
Tarkington
of Hertford
talk about
the advances
of the rifled
musket
to visitors
Saturday at
the Civil War
program at
Oak Grove
United
Methodist
Church.
Churches reach
out to storm victims
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
On Sundays they worship
in different churches to the
same God, but during the
week members of differ
ent religious organizations
are working in Perquimans
County to help people suf
fering from loses from a pair
of tornadoes.
“We’re still offering help
finding long-term housing or
a place to rent,” said Megan
McDonald of the local chap
ter of the Red Cross. “We
MORE INSIDE
■ Red Cross sees storm
donations drop off - 4
have some partner agen
cies, the N.C. Baptist Men,
United Methodist Church
and Catholic Charities who
are helping.”
Leeanne Thornton, a
spokesperson for the N.C.
Conference of the United
Methodist Church, said
their group is in for the long
haul.
“We still have some peo
ple down there working on
Hurricane Irene (damage
in 2011),” Thornton said
See VICTIMS, 4
Winfall
stands
against
executions
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The organizer of a campaign to
end the death penalty in North Caro
lina didn’t come to Perquimans County
seeking an endorsement from the Town
of Winfall, but that’s what he got.
Stephen Dear, the
executive director of
the Carrboro-based
People of Faith Against
the Death Penalty, vis
ited the area because
the group is trying to
get at least five busi
nesses in each county
DEAR to sign the pledge.
At the time, he only had one busi
ness in Perquimans County. Since that
visit, the group has gotten at least five
pledges from virtually all North Caro
lina counties and six businesses in Per
quimans. Twenty businesses in Pasquo
tank County have signed on.
Six local governments have also ad
opted resolutions. Winfall is the only
one in eastern North Carolina.
Dear said the group isn’t lobbying
hard to get local governments to sign
up. Instead it’s focused on businesses.
How Winfall became the first to adopt
the measure in eastern North Carolina
came to pass is a mix of history, fate
and timing.
Dear was born in Elizabeth City
when his father, the late David Dear
lived there as owner and publisher of
The Daily Advance and The Perqui
mans Weekly. They were part of the
family-owned Dear Publications in Ra
dio at the time.
The family moved away in the 1960s
when he was three. David Dear’s broth
er, who had run the overall company
from an office in Washington D.C. died
and David Dear took over.
“I would have grown up in Elizabeth
City, instead I grew up in Maryland,”
Dear said.
Stephen’s been back in the area al
most every summer since then on his
way to the beach.
Dear became very familiar with Win
fall in the 1990s when he served as
See DEATH PENALTY, 8
Dozens seek assistance from SBA
From staff reports
Nearly 50 residents have sought help since the
Small Business Administration (SBA) opened a di
saster center in Hertford.
Ten of those, including two from Chowan
County, came by the center in the first six hours
of it opening Friday in the Albemarle Commission
building on Church Street.
As of Tuesday morning, a total 47 people had
gone through the process, including seven from
Chowan County.
“We know there are still people out there who
had serious damage and we urge them to come
out,” said one worker from North Carolina Depart
ment of Emergency Management.
Jarvis Winslow, Perquimans County’s director of
emergency management said part of that could be
people simply didn’t know. The announcement that
the center was opening didn’t come until Thursday.
The center at 512 S. Church St. is scheduled to be
open from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. through this Thurs
day. Representatives of the state and non-profit
groups like the Red Cross are also on hand.
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
Small Business Administration staff members Nigel Commock
(left) and Martin McKinley work with a client Friday at the
Albemarle Commission. Thrpugh the first six hours, the
organizations there saw 10 residents seeking help with storm
damage. The center will be open again today from 9 a.m. to 6
p.m. and then again on Monday through Thursday.