P The
ERQUIMANS
,X WE E K LY
Parker earns London scholarship, 7
"News from Next Door" WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29, 2015 APR g 9 ^$) certs
Last year’s storm scars are slow to heal
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
A year later, some Perqui
mans County residents still
don’t have a place they can
call home.
Tornadoes tore through
areas of Burnt Mill Road
and Chapanoke Road on
April 25, 2014. In all 11
homes were destroyed and
18 sustained major damage.
The total damage exceeded
$1 million.
About a third of those hurt
by the storm had insurance
to cover the damage but the
majority — like Leondias
Parker — did not.
“I didn’t have a drop of
insurance,” Parker said last
week. “I knew I needed in
surance, I kept saying I was
going to get insurance but
I never did. If you ain’t got
DONATE TO HELP
■ Donations can be mailed
to United Methodist Disaster
Response Ministries, 139
Main Street, Swan Quarter,
N.C. 27885.
money to do it, you can’t do
it.”
Within a day of the storm
volunteers started pouring
into Perquimans County.
Among the first to arrive
was a crew of Baptists from
Virginia.
In August, Stephanie Hunt
arrived. She works with
United Methodist Disaster
Response Ministries. The
group tries to coordinate the
efforts of a number of faiths
to help with recovery.
The process, Hunt admits,
has been painfully slow for
many.
“There were 59 homes on
the list then. I think it’s 22
now.”
Leondias Parker is one of
the 22, but he’s at least close
to the finish line. Once dry-
wall goes in, cabinets and
flooring can be installed and
appliances.
His nephew and next-
door neighbor, David Park ¬
er, isn’t as lucky.
David Parker is holding
out hope he will be a new
home soon.
He had lived in his home
for 42 years before the tor
nado flattened it to ground
with him inside. Miraculous
ly the 67-year-old wasn’t in
jured. None of the residents
of on Chapanoke Road and
See TORNADO, 2
Class
of 95
to hold
reunion
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
A technology that didn’t
exist 20 years ago has
played a big role in getting
members of a Perquimans
County High School class
back together for the first
time.
The Internet wasn’t a
mqjor player when the 130
members class of 1995 grad
uated. Facebook wouldn’t
come along for another nine
years.
But Billy McGuiness, a
member of the class, said
Facebook and the Internet
made getting in touch with
the class a whole lot easier.
The group plans to get to
gether June 27 at the Craw
fish .Shack, a meeting place
at 335 Swing Gate Road.
McGuiness said his class-
mates “scattered like the
wind” geographically.
“But with the modern
miracle of the Internet, it
See REUNION, 3
Annual Children’s Event held
left) helps guide Kadence
Dougherty through a bicycle
obstacle course Saturday
during the annual Week
of the Young Child event
at the Perquimans County
Recreation Center. The focus
of the activity is to teach
safety.
Hertford
firefighter Rob
Hollmier shows
a girl how to
operate a fire
hose Saturday at
the Perquimans
County Recreation
Center.
Nelson
to head
funding
effort
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Wallace Nelson isn’t sure
what it will take to raise
money to build a new ath
letic complex at Perqui
mans County High School,
but he’s sure it will involve
thinking outside the box.
In 2010 Dr. William Nixon,
a former county resident, of
fered to donate 32 acres for
the project under the condi
tion that significant process
was made in five years. The
land is across the street from
the high school on Edenton
Road Street. The deadline
came and went. County of
ficials sought and received a
five-year extension.
“Dr. Nixon has been un
derstanding,” Nelson said:
“This would be a wonderful
opportunity for the county.”
The hitch is the cost. As
originally proposed it would
take $6.1 million to com-,
plete the project.
See COMPLEX, 2
Bittner accepted to study at The Juiliard School
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Chris Bittner plays the saxophone on stage at an event last
year. The 2011 graduate of Perquimans County High School
has been accepted to The Julliard School in New York.
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Chris Bittner, a standout
during his time in Perqui
mans County Schools, has
done something most musi
cians only dream about.
He got accepted to The
Julliard School.
Bittner, 21, will be among
about 672 music students
studying at the New York
City-based school over the
next two years. About 200
other students attend for
dance or drama.
Gloria Gottschalk, a me
dia relations specialist at
Julliard, said thousands of
people apply for the musical
program every year. Fewer
than 7 percent get accepted
Bittner admits he’s a little
surprised he was one of
them.
“I didn’t think it would ac
tually happen,”
Bittner’s father wasn’t
that surprised.
“He always shortchanges
himself,” Richard Bittner
said. “He beats himself up
for not being good enough,
but he is good enough.”
His family and his teach
ers saw Bittner’s potential
early on.
Bittner’s mother, Patty,
said her son’s interest mu
sic really goes back to his
days at Hertford Grammar
School.
“Heather Webb intro
duced the kids to the re
corder. I think that really lit
a fire under a lot of those
children.”
Band director Lynn Dale
stoked that fire at Per
quimans County Middle
School. In high school band
director Chris Whitehu
rst saw the boy’s potential
when he started at the high
school. Whitehurst now
teaches at Camden County
High School.
“Chris was a diamond in
the rough,” Whitehurst re
members. “He always had a
very natural musical sense
about him so I just looked
for opportunities and ways
I could help him expand
that.”
For about two and a half
years, Whitehurst would
turn the band room at the
high school into something
like a nightclub once a
month. High school jazz mu
sicians from area schools
were invited to come and
See BITTNER, 4
Rotary honors top teachers
Bird Visit
From staff reports
The Rotary Club of Hert
ford honors a teacher of the
year from each school in
Perquimans County along
with an overall District
Teacher of the Year. The
teachers of the year are rec
ognized for their dedication
to their students, school and
community.
Chiquita Sutton was
named as the Perquimans
Central School Rotary
Teacher of the Year as well
as the District Rotary Teach
er of the Year.
Sutton is currently the
exceptional children’s Pre-K
itinerant teacher at Perqui
mans Central School. She
also serves as the Individual
Education Plan (IEP) chair,
the Perquimans County
Special Olympics coordina
tor, serves on the District
Autism Team, the School
Improvement team and
Closing the Gap team.
“Ms. Sutton goes well be
yond her day-to-day class-
room responsibilities and
it is evident that she makes
a difference at Perquimans
Central School and in our
conununity each day,” said
Melissa Fields, the principal
at Central.
Marshall Pugh, the music
Reacher at Hertford Gram
mar School, was recognized
for HGS. He has been serv
ing students in grades three
through five since 2012.
Pugh has directed a variety
of school musical perfor
mances and also started the
Hertford Grammar School
Panther Chorus. The Pan
ther Chorus has performed
STAFF PHOTO BY
PETER WILLIAMS
Sonny
Donahue gets
a close look at
Macaroni last
week during
a pre-school
program
at Hertford
Baptist
Church.
Macaroni
is a Goffin
cockatoo that
is a fixture
at Intelliport,
a downtown
Hertford
business.
See ROTARY, 2
&ta (GW^ Skew Vears of E* 16 ? 5 ' 0 ":**
Saturday, May 2, 2015 • 9am to 3pm
Perquimans County Recreation Center * 310 Granby St., Hertford