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"News from Next Door"
MARCH 4, 2015 - MARCH 10, 2015
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Weather forces schedule changes
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
School maintenance crews clear slush from a storm drain in the parking lot of Perquimans County High
School Thursday morning. School was canceled for the day.
Sports plans scrambled
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
A second week of snow
closed schools for most of
last week and forced orga
nizations and civic groups
to cancel or postpone activi
ties.
The Perquimans County
Schools resorted to a rare
Saturday session to try and
make up some of the work.
In two weeks students had
class just three days, includ
ing last Saturday’s session.
Even Saturday wasn’t the
same.
Typically students are in
school for seven hours. The
Saturday session lasted four
and a half hours, and more
than a third of students
didn’t attend.
In the case of Perquimans
Central and Hertford Gram
mar School, just 508 of 867
students — 58 percent—at
tended class on Saturday.
Tire turnout for the entire
district, including the mid
dle and high school, was 61
percent.
Other groups were also
grappling with the weather.
On paper, it was supposed
to be a busy month at the
Perquimans County Library.
It wasn’t
Severe weather forced
the library to postpone or
cancel some programs,
including some involving
Black History Month.
“We had a ton of pro
grams and thought our (at
tendance) statistics were
going to be way up for the
month, but that didn’t hap
pen,” said Librarian Anita
Bennett.
“We were going to attend
a Central School program at
Louise’s Meeting Place, that
got canceled,” Bennett said.
“A black history program on
Feb. 24 got canceled as well.
It’s just been crazy. It was
supposed to have been a
wildly busy week, but none
of that stuff happened.”
The Hertford Grammar
School chorus was sched
uled to perform on Feb. 17.
That got canceled, but will
be rescheduled at some
point.
See AFTERMATH, 2
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
In a perfect world, a coach
would get weeks and weeks
to practice with their team to
hone their skills and develop
strategies before the first
game.
David Nobles doesn’t live in
that world.
Nobles is not only taking
over as head coach of the Per
quimans County High School
girl’s softball team, he’s had
little time to get them prepared
for the start of the season this
week.
“Practice? What practice?”
By state rules, students
can’t practice sports if they
don’t attend school that day
See SPRING, 2
Tornado drill planned statewide today
From staff reports
While snow may be on the
mind of many, Perquimans County
Emergency Management officials
are urging residents to think about
tornados and severe thunder-
storms this week.
As part of Severe Weather Pre
paredness Week in North Carolina,
Perquimans County will partici
pate in a statewide tornado drill to ¬
day at 9:30 am. Test messages will
be broadcast on National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration
weather radio and the Emergency
Alert system.
“While the spring is the peak
tornado season, severe thunder-
storms can strike quickly through
out the year,” said Jonathan Nixon,
Perquimans County’s emergency
services director. “The best way to
be ready is to plan and prepare. It’s
Brooke Wheeler practices bunting Saturday at Perquimans County High
School. While spring may be a few weeks away, spring sports are scheduled
to start this week.
critical to have emergency plans in
place, put together an emergency
supplies kit and listen for weather
alerts.”
Last' April, nine tornadoes
touched down in one day in Beau
fort, Bertie, Chowan, Currituck,
Greene, Halifax, Pasquotank, Per
quimans and Pitt counties, killing
an 11-month old child in Chowan
County and injuring 28 others.
More than 300 homes were dam ¬
aged or destroyed.
In 2014, the National Weather
Service issued 81 tornado warn
ings for North Carolina and re
corded 36 tornadoes that killed
one and injured 34 people.
Emergency management offi
cials recommend having a weather
radio that broadcasts alerts from
the National Weather Service
See TORNADO, 2
Habitat
gains
SECU
support
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
A non-profit foundation
wants to team up with Habi
tat for Humanity to expand
affordable housing across
the state.
Officials of the State Em
ployees Credit Union Foun
dation and the state Habitat
organization have signed
an agreement creating the
SECU Habitat Challenge.
Tiie challenge will pro
vide an investment of $10
million over a three-year pe
riod for HIINC to build one
new or renovated Habitat
home in each of the state’s
100 counties.
Habitat can provide low
cost housing because vol
unteers and the new home-
owner do much of the labor.
The homeowner still has a.
mortgage, but the money
typically goes back to the
Habitat group that provided
the money for materials.
That can take 20 to 25 year
to recoup the investment.
Under the challenge once
the home is built and the
deal is closed, the SECU
would acquire the mortgage
interest free and immedi
ately reimburse the local
Habitat group for the up-
front cost.
There is one Habitat or
ganization that covers both
Perquimans and Chowan
counties. Typically it’s been
able to build one home pei-
year in either Chowan or
Perquimans. Last year a
home was completed on
Dobbs Street in Hertford.
The next is scheduled for
Chowan County.
Under the terms of the
SECU agreement, Habitat
is to develop a plan for im
plementation by the end of
May.
Regan Westra, a Hertford
resident and president of
the Chowan-Perquimans
County Habitat group, said
local officials are still trying
to determine how the SECU
Foundation offer will work.
“The Habitat affiliates
only received a notice to
give us a ‘heads up’ that
negotiations had been tak
ing place between the state
Habitat and the SECU and
that a notice would be going
out to the press. The affili
ates haven’t been asked to
take any action at this time.
When we have more spe
cific information and an ac
tual request for action or a
See HABITAT, 2
Weekly wins 3 awards
From staff reports
Church kicks off soup
CHAPEL HILL — The Per
quimans Weekly captured three
awards Thursday at the 2015
North Carolina Press Associa
tion Winter Institute and Awards
Banquet in Chapel Hill.
The newspaper won first-
place award in the non-daily
division for newspapers with a
circulation under 3,500. The Per
quimans Weekly also won two
second-place awards in advertis
ing.
The news award was for cov ¬
ALEXANDER WILLIAMS
erage of tornados that struck
Perquimans County in April.
89076
47144
The judges said the coverage
included “good use of photogra
phy and solid reporting.” Peter
Williams is news editor of the
paper.
Advertising representative
Beverly Alexander won second
place for the best black and
white restaurant/entertainment
ad. Alexander also won sec
ond place for best community
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
Marjorie Rayburn hands a bowl of soup to Claudia Brothers Wednesday at a
soup kitchen set up by Hertford United Methodist Church. Rayburn is a member
of the church and Brothers is an area resident who volunteered to help out. The
kitchen will be operated every Wednesday from 11:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m.
6
2
See PW AWARDS, 2
kitchen
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Hertford United Meth
odist Church kicked off
a weekly soup kitchen
last week with more food
than customers.
Snow the day before
mean downtown traffic,
both vehicle and pedes
trian, was far less than
a normal Wednesday. In
all, about a dozen diners
took part in the inaugural
free meal.
“We thought about can
celing, but we figured we
could use the practice,”
said organizer Marjorie
Rayburn.
See SOUP KITCHEN, 2