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"News from Next Door" MARCH 18, 2015 - MARCH 24, 2015
Black history event held, 2
50 cents
Little River cleanup plan proposed
SUBMITTED PHOTO
A truck hauls
away some of
the tires that
were recently
removed from
a portion of
the Little River
near Five
Bridges Road.
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Agencies have developed
a nine-point plan to address
water quality issues along
the Little River.
The river stretches from
the Great Dismal Swamp to
the Albemarle Sound and
forms a boundary between
Perquimans and Pasquo
tank counties.
Over the years, the quality
of the water has declined as
well as the variety of animal
life. The watershed mea
sures about 86,000 acres and
includes eight miles of river
that is listed as “impaired”
by the Environmental Pro
tection Agency (EPA).
Scott Alons, a soil and
water technician for Perqui
mans and Chowan Counties,
Dwane Hinson, his counter
part in Pasquotank County
and consultant Mark Powell
worked on the plan to ad
dress the problem.
“What we’re trying to do
is keep the Little River from
becoming like the Chowan
(River),” Alons said last
week. “It took 30 years to
clean that up.”
The first step was clean
ing out the fallen trees that
were clogging the river and
preventing the water from
flowing freely. The snags
also prevented recreational
use. . In the process Pow
ell said 400 tires were re
moved, mostly from areas
of the river north of the U.S.
See CLEANUP, 2
Schools
face
financial
pinch
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
For the better part of an
hour this month students
and teachers showcased
just how they’re incorporat
ing new technology in the
Perquimans school system.
The occasion was a joint
meeting between the Per
quimans County Commis
sion and the Perquimans
School Board.
But in die end, the mes
sage wasn’t quite as upbeat.
The school system’s re
serve fund is low, expenses
are up and the school sys
tem had to return $119,000
it got from the state because
enrollment wasn’t as high as
the state projected it to be.
The state estimated 1,800
students would be enrolled
this year but the actual fig
ure was 1,718.
As of the last audit, the
school system’s capital out
lay reserve fund stood at
$402,000. But $173,000 of
that is restricted. The school
board set that aside as the
local match to the $864,000
in Golden LEAF money that
provided the iPad technol
ogy the school system pur
chased. The iPads students
are using now will eventu
ally have to be replaced, and
the school system is setting
money aside to pay for it.
Another $70,000 was set
aside to complete a parking
lot improvement project at
Perquimans Central. There
was another $10,000 that
had to be used for an emer
gency repair to an electrical
panel at Central.
That leaves the capital
outlay fund at $149,000.
Aubrey Tynch, the school
system’s interim director of
maintenance also highlight
ed some unexpected repairs
the school system had to
See SCHOOLS, 3
Virginia Tech University student Brian Everett (left) passes a board to Leonidas Parker last week while working on a shed at Parker’s new
home in Chapanoke.
Volunteers pour into region, more to come
BY PETER WILLIAMS
. News Editor
M ore than 100 volunteers,
including 48 from Virginia
Tech University, were
working on disaster recovery in a
three-county area last week and
more help is on the way.
“It’s really wild right now,” said
Stephanie Hunt, the disaster coor
dinator for the United Methodist
Church’s Disaster Recovery Minis
tries who is helping coordinate the
efforts.
During the winter there were
weeks that went by with few or
no volunteers. With the arrival
of spring break, both adults and
students are streaming to the
Albemarle area to help out.
“We’ve got them on Simpson
Ditch Road, on Wildcat Road in
Edenton, Chowan Beach, Burnt
Mill Road and in Chapanoke,”
Hunt said last week.
If the volunteers weren’t do
ing actual construction they are
cleaning up debris, she said. Some
of that debris is leftover from
tornadoes that came through the
area nearly a year ago.
The Virginia Tech students were
part of Wesley, a UMC campus
ministry. A Baptist church in
Edenton provided them a place to
sleep and last Thursday some of
them were working on the home
of Leonidas Parker, a Chapanoke
resident. For the students, it was
spending their spring break to
help others.
For some, it’s not the first time-
See VOLUNTEERS, 2
STAFF PHOTOS BY PETER WILLIAMS
Brian Everett, (above) a student at Virginia
Tech University, works on framing a shed
Thursday at the home of Leondias Parker.
Parker’s home was destroyed in a tornado
in April, and more than 40 Tech students
agreed to spend their spring break to help
out the Perquimans County resident.
Danielle Maleski, (left photo) a junior at
Virginia Tech, chisels away at a board last
week. She and more than 40 volunteers
from the school were working in the three-
county area.
Spring programs planned
Chowan rejects call for moratorium
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
If the wanner weather
isn’t enough, the official
arrival of spring on Friday
may have residents ready to
venture outside again to the
garden.
The N.C. Cooperative Ex
tension Service is ready.
The Perquimans County
extension service has pro
grams scheduled in March
and May to offer gardeners
some tips.
Katy Shook and Master
Gardeners from Perqui
mans County will present
a program on gardening
March 26 at 2 p.m. at the
Perquimans County Li
brary.
Then on May 2, the
Chowan-Gates-Perqui
mans Master Gardener
program will' hold a spring
garden show at the Perqui
mans County Recreation
Center. It runs from 9 a.m.
until 3 p.m.
The Pasquotank Coop
erative Extension Center
in Elizabeth City will also
be offering programs for
the general public. The
center is located at 1209
McPherson Street. Each
of the programs run from 5
p.m. until 7 p.m.
A program March 23 is
on designing and main
taining functional low-
maintenance lawns and
landscaping. On March
26 the program will focus
on growing vegetables ef
ficiently in small spaces.
See PROGRAMS, 2
BY REGGIE PONDER
Chowan Herald
A Chowan County resi
dent has requested that the
county impose amorato-
rium on wind turbine activ
ity, but county officials are
not considering a morato-
rium at this time.
The county has been ad
vised by its attorney, John
Morrison, that there is a
very high threshold for im
posing a local moratorium
under a 2006 state law. The
current situation in Chow
an County regarding wind
turbines does not meet that
threshold for a moratorium,
according to Morrison.
A wind turbine project
has been proposed that
would straddle the Perqui
mans-Chowan line.
The moratorium has
been requested by Peter
Lolkema. Lolkema sent the
request by email to county
commissioners and plan
ning board members, and
also made the request in
person at Thursday’s plan
ning board meeting.
“Please accept, by re
ceipt of this communica
tion, a formal request to
have a moratorium be
placed on all wind turbine
activity in Chowan County
until a comprehensive en
gineering study can be con
ducted,”-
Lolkema said in his state
ment. “This study should
include the impact such
turbine installations would
have on the safety, health ;
and welfare of me and ;
other residents of Chowan *
County.”
Lou Sarratt, chairman of
the Chowan County Plan- :
ning Board, said this week
that based on Morrison’s
See MORATORIUM, 4