Newspapers / The Perquimans Weekly (Hertford, … / Sept. 10, 2014, edition 1 / Page 1
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"News from Next Door” SEPTEMBER 10, 2014 - SEPTEMBER 16, 2014 50 cents Council stands behind support for Eley Board favors swing-span option BY PETER WILLIAMS News Editor Hertford leaders now say they want the N.C. Department of Transpor tation to give priority to plans for a new swing span to replace the S-Bridge. The action Monday night rescinded a resolu tion from October that threw town board’s sup port behind what is known as Alternative D-Mod, a fixed high-rise bridge similar to the U.S. Bypass bridge. Now the town board is backing a group known as Citizens For Preserva tion And Growth of Hert ford (CFGH). It’s calling for DOT to take a more serious look at the option known as Alternative B. Alternative B is another swing span that would fol low the path of the current S-Bridge and the cause- way. While it made the final list of three options, public opinion and the higher cost were cited by See SWING-SPAN, 2 PETER WILLIAMS News Editor. The Hertford Town Board swore in former mayor Sid Eley to fill a vacant seat on the board Monday night de spite a packed crowd that urged them not to. Gilbert Vaughn, the presi dent of the Perquimans County NAACP, tried to steer the debate to an is sue of qualifications — not race — but the race issue did come up. By appointing Eley, the only black member of the board is Mayor Hor ace Reid. More than 50 people packed the small meeting room at Hertford Town Hall for the meeting. Vaughn tried unsuccess fully to make the point that another contender for the seat — political newcomer Archie Aples — only nar rowly lost out in an elec tion in November. Despite 20 years on the town board, Eley lost by a much larger margin when he last ran in a race against Reid. “It appears like we’ve got the old gang back,” Vaughn said. “With this vote, we’re going back 20 years.” Vaughn pressed the three board members who favored Eley to give a reason for their vote. He said he reached out to Ed Lane,, Carlton Daven port and Lillian Holman by phone, e-mail and went to their homes to try and get an answer. Vaughn said only Daven port responded and told him See ELEY, 3 Survey: Some changes needed BY PETER WILLIAMS News Editor A majority of Perqui mans County residents seemed to agree that change will be needed in the next 20 years, but pro tecting the natural beauty of the area is a top prior ity? The findings were a re sult of a traffic survey con ducted by the Albemarle Rural Planning Organiza tion. It is part of an overall effort by state and local traffic officials to find out what problem areas exist and what people want. Angela Welch, the traf fic planner who worked with the study, said the results were in line with what the steering commit tee thought would hap pen. “It’s the community wants a balance between protecting the environ ment and our rural char- ■ acter with new roads and bike paths,” Welch said. The survey drew 220 re sponses. Both Perquimans County and the Town of I Hertford posted a link to the on-line version. The Town of Hertford also in cluded a written copy of . See SURVEY, 4 STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS Classic cars parade down Church Street at the start of the Indian Summer Festival Saturday in Hertford. Thousands attend festival BY PETER WILLIAMS News Editor A year of planning came down to a whirl wind of activity last weekend for the 33rd annual Indian Summer Festival. While fewer people might have attended than in previous years, the effort to pull off a two-day event was just as intense. In the span of just a few hours Friday, a mobile stage made the trip from Greensboro, portable toilets were brought in, tents were erected and food trucks were ready for business. And within hours Saturday, the process was placed in reverse and the town went back to normal. That doesn’t mean activity stopped. Susan Cox, who heads the entertainment for the See ISE, 2 PHOTO BY PAM HADDEN Steve Ambrose points to the crowd during a performance by The Original Rhondels Friday night in downtown Hertford. Agency gets new leader in Davison BY PETER WILLIAMS News Editor Cathy Davison is back in North Carolina, this time as the new executive director of the 10-county Albemarle Commission. The agency oversees state and federal programs based out of a head- quarters in Hertford. DAVISON Davison’s first day at the job was Sept. 2. She replaces Bert Banks who retired in July after seven years with the agency. The agency handles about $6 million a year and administers programs dealing with se niors and job training. The Area Agency on Aging gets about 46 percent of the to tal and another 38 percent goes toward workforce development. Economic development efforts and general government makes up the rest. Davison comes to the commission from a job as fiscal officer for a non- profit social service agency in Steubenville, Ohio. Pri- See DAVISON, 4 New PCHS AD brings different outlook to job BY PETER WILLIAMS News Editor Laura Moreland brings a somewhat unique perspec tive to her new job at Perqui mans County High School. At 32, she’s among the youngest to take the role of assistant principal and ath letic director. She also brings her ex perience in supporting the recovery just after the ter rorist’s attacks on the World Trade Center in New York on Sept. 11. Moreland spent six years serving in the Army Nation al Guard, including deploy ments in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Nobel Eagle. Noble Eagle began with the mobilization of thousands of National Guard and reserve personnel to perform secu rity missions on military in stallations, airports and oth er potential targets such as bridges, power plants, and port facilities after 9/11. The New Jersey National Guard got to the site of the World Trade Center just a couple of hours after the second tower fell. “A lot of what we did was putting up a perimeter and looking for survivors,” Mo reland said. When it became clear that few could have survived, the troops did other duties. “At some point there were so many people coming in to help, we were no longer needed.” ^Moreland spent two years in the New Jersey See MORELAND, 2 SUBMITTED PHOTO Laura Moreland, (left) then a member of the New Jersey National Guard, patrols the waters of New York Harbor in the wake of the attacks of Sept. 11th. She is now the assistant principal and athletic director at Perquimans County High School. Local unemployment rate remains high at 8.4 percent BY PETER WILLIAMS News Editor Despite some gains over the past year, the rate of un employment in Perquimans County remains among the highest in the state, accord ing to recent data. Perquimans County’s rate in July was 8.4 percent, a full point lower than the 9.4 percent rate in the same month the year before. The statewide rate was 6.9 percent in July, down from 8.4 percent last year. But on a month-to-month comparison between June and July, the Perquimans rate was up from 7.7 per cent to 8.4 percent. That was more a state wide trend. The N.C. De partment of Commerce reported unemployment was up in 95 counties in July compared with June. It decreased in four counties and remained unchanged in one. Despite the year-to-year improvement, Perquimans County’s statewide rank ing didn’t budge. Perqui mans ranked 83rd out of 100 counties in June and was still 83rd in July. The only area county that was worse off was Pasquotank, which ranked 86th with an unemployment rate of 8.9 percent. Not all of northeastern North Carolina was suffer ing. Currituck County had the lowest rate of any county in July — 3.9 percent. Dare County ranked as third low est at 4.9 percent. Camden fared better than many with ajobless rate of 7.0 percent and a ranking of 42nd. But Perquimans, Pasquo tank and Chowan all fell in the area between 81st and 86th. One potentially posi tive sign is the Perquimans labor force increased slight ly, from 5,200 to 5,229. A de clining labor force can be a sigh that some people have just given up looking for a job and are no longer con sidered in the labor force. On the negative side, the number of people listed as unemployed also increased between June and July from 401 to 438.
The Perquimans Weekly (Hertford, N.C.)
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Sept. 10, 2014, edition 1
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