P , THE
ERQUIMANS
O^EEKLY
Interact Club pitches in to help, 3
"Vens from Next Door"
Plantation
to host
May pro
tourney
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Professional golf is
scheduled to return to Albe
marle Plantation in May for
what should be a far larger
tournament with a $200,000
purse.
The Plantation teamed
up with the NGA tour for
the first pro event in June.
Volunteer turnout and cor
porate sponsorship was
strong, but the field of golf
ers fell far short of expecta
tion. Instead of 100 golfers,
just 13 showed up. By the
weekend, golf pro Kenny
Saunders had rustled by a
field of 50 players.
For the event May 25-31,
another tour—eGolf—will
be providing the talent.
“We decided not to go
with them (NGA) again
because we weren’t sure if
they could recover so quick
ly,” Saunders said. “They
didn’t do anything wrong,
it’s just that they didn’t guar
antee purses and everybody
bailed and jumped ship to
other tours.
“In our view it was a total
success other than the num
ber of golfers,” Saunders
said. “The sponsors were all
happy and there was a buzz
around the Plantation and
the Food Bank was happy
because they got $7,500 and
it was fun.”
Once again Biggs Cadil
lac Buick GMC will be the
big corporate sponsor.
Both the NGA and eGolf
are considered third tier
tours. The top level is the
Professional Golf Associa
tion (PGA) and Web.Com
is considered as the sec
ond level. One thing that
may play in the Plantation’s
See TOURNAMENT, 2
Town: Expert to look at Duke power deal
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The Hertford Town Board
agreed this month to hire an
expert to look over a deal
that would allow the town
to sell its share in Duke En
ergy-Progress power plants
to get out from some of the
debt.
Hertford and 31 other
cities and towns in eastern
North Carolina own shares
in five Duke Power generat
ing assets.
The combined debt of
about $1.9 billion forces the
DECEMBER 31, 2014 - JANUARY 6, 2015
Taylor PERFORMS AT CAROLINA Moon
PHOTO BY CHUCK PAGELS
Joel Taylor performs a song in December at the Carolina Moon Theater in Hertford. In the background is a
video screen which was added this year to add to performances at the theater. See full story on page 2.
municipalities to
charge a rate higher
than what custom
ers of Duke and
Dominion Power
pay.
Duke is willing to
pay $1.2 billion for
the shares owned
by the North Caro
SHOAF
lina Eastern Municipal
Power Agency (NCEMPA).
Hertford, Elizabeth City and
Edenton are all members of
the agency.
Hertford Town Manager
Brandon Shoaf said he
looked at some industry
experts who could
study the offer. In
the end he found
that one of them,
Bob Pender, was
looking to study the
package for a num
ber of other small
towns. Pender of
fered a price not to
exceed $5,000.
“It comes down for mon
ey for us,” Shoaf said of
Pender’s fee.
Pender, a Florida resi
dent, has 35 years of experi
ence in dealing with utilities
as both a consultant and in
a management role. For 19
of those years he was a prin
cipal and senior director for
R.W. Beck. Edenton has
also hired Pender.
Shoaf said the town
hopes to wrap up Pender’s
study by the first of March,
but he said it could be 2016
before customers start see
ing some rate relief.
The deal cleared one ma
jor hurdle when the Federal
Energy Regulatory Com
mission (FERC) approved
the plan.
The towns and cities orig
inally got into the agreement
because they saw it as a way
to lock in cheap power. It
didn’t work out that way.
Instead with the 1979 nu
clear accident of Three Mile
Island and a changing atti
tude toward nuclear power,
costs soared as did munici
pal power bills.
The $1.2 billion deal with
Duke Power is designed to
ease the debt burden and
bring rate relief to electric
customers. To make sure
that’s actually going to be
the case, Hertford is hiring
See DEAL, 2
50 cents
County
makes
solid
progress
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Perquimans County was
able to complete or at least
start some long-awaited
projects in the past year.
The New Year holds the
promise for even more.
The school system was
able to put tablet computers
into the hands of hundreds
of students in 2014 thanks
to a $864,000 grant from
Golden LEAF.
The county got $308,000
from the Golden LEAF as
well and is in the process
of securing the permits to
build an industrial-sized
boat ramp near the Per
quimans Marine Industrial
Park. That project should
be completed by the end of
2015. The ramp will benefit
both recreational boaters as
well as smaller marine in
dustries that need a way to
get larger boats in and out of
the water.
The Town of Hertford is
wrapping up construction
on a new nine-slip marina
behind town hall with mon
ey from the STEP Program.
The project should be com
plete in January.
Potentially the biggest
news of 2014 was the award
of a $1.5 million grant to
the county to start phase
one of the marine industrial
park. The county hopes to
use that money as leverage
to raise the remaining $4.5
million needed for the first
phase.
The industrial park is
designed to bring hundreds
of jobs and millions of dol
lars of investments to the
county.
On the local political
front, there was some mu
sical chairs. A Hertford
town board member left
that board to take a seat
on the local school board
and a school board member
opted not to seek another
term there and instead ran
for and won a seat on the
county commission.
Anne White opted to give
up her seat on the Hertford
town board in favor of seat
on the school board. Sid
Eley, a former Hertford
council member and mayor,
was appointed to fill White’s
seat.
White took her seat in July
along with Amy Spaugh, a
former school board mem
ber who opted to return af
ter taking some time off and
Ralph Hollowell who sought
a second term.
The Perquimans County
See COUNTY, 2
Developer sees bright future
for more solar projects in area
Stallings receives TDA honor
BY PETER WILLIAMS *
News Editor
Solar power projects like
the two being developed in
Perquimans County may
be become imore and more
common in the not so distant
future, predicts a spokesman
for the company building the
projects.
Frank Marshall believes
that as the -U.S. electrical
energy network becomes
decentralized and better
battery technology comes
on line, larger power plants
will be phased out in favor
of smaller, greener power
sources that are closer to the
customers they serve.
That’s a stark change from
the past 100 years where the
model has been to build large
coal or nuclear power plants
and then transmit power to
the customers that may be
hundreds of miles of way.
“We can’t afford to have
centralized power distribu
tion anymore,” Marshall
said. “It has served us well
up until this point, but it’s go
ing away.”
The U.S. Energy Infor
mation Administration es
timates about 6 percent of
all power that’s generated
is loss during transmission.
The further it goes, the more
energy is lost in the process.
And Marshall thinks solar
can play a role in the future
energy system, especially
once battery technology ma
tures.
“We have great relations
with Duke, not that we
haven’t had disputes. I have
to say that utilities have
done an exceptional job
See SOLAR, 2
FILE PHOTO
Amber Stallings hammers a shot over the net in a match this year against
Northeastern High School. Stallings has been named The Daily Advance’s 2014
Volleyball Player of the Year. See full story on page 7.