P The
ERQUIMANS
Weekly
"News from Next Door" WEDNESDAY JULY 22, 2015
JUL 22 RED
Steamers Recap: The ‘General’ thought
is to beat Petersburg, 7
50 cents
Wind project to start on the ground
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The first visible signs of a $400 million
wind farm project won’t be the 300-foot
towers or the 50-ton turbines.
Paul Copleman said last week the first
thing residents may notice is that some ru
ral gravel roads will get upgrades and that
could happen starting in mid August.
Copleman is the communications man
ager for Iberdrola Renewables LLC, the
U.S. division of parent company Iberdrola,
SA., a Spanish energy company. Copleman
is based in Maine.
Iberdrola and Amazon Web Services
held a symbolic groundbreaking for the
project on July 14. The first phase involves
building 104 wind turbines spread out over
22,000 acres of rural Perquimans and Pas
quotank counties. Many of the Perquimans
County towers will be in an area north of
Swamp Road and Four Mile Desert Road
and south of Turnpike Road, according to
Perquimans County Commissioner Matt
Peeler. .
But to make that happen, Copleman said
the rural farm roads need to be upgraded.
“It will be some combination of road
improvements and new roads,” Copleman
said last week. “Horace Pritchard talked
about that at the press conference.”
Pritchard has a 1,300 acre farm on which
Ibderdrola is planning nine of the turbines.
Pritchard will be paid $54,000 a year and
will be able to continue farming. He’ll also
see his roads improved.
“Several farmers have said it’s the road
improvements they like,” Copleman said.
“It will give them better crop access year-
round.”
Access has to be improved in order to
truck in the huge components that make
up a wind turbine assembly.
The size of the turbine towers is larger
than what was originally proposed for
Desert Wind.
“If you go back to projects 10 years ago
SUBMITTED PHOTO
A photograph provided by Iberdrola Renewables shows a wind turbine farm in operation.
The company operates wind projects in more than than 15 states, but until now not in the
southeastern U.S.
See PROJECT, 2
KERI PAMPUCH/THE DAILY ADVANCE
Gov. Pat McCrory takes the stage July 14th for an
announcement that Iberdrola will move forward with a
wind project in Perquimans and Pasquotank counties.
Project brings some jobs
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
While a new wind power project won’t
bring many long-term jobs to the region, it
will generate a spike in hiring during the
construction phase.
Iberdrola Renewables estimates about
250 people will be needed during the con
struction phase of the project in the Des
ert straddling Perquimans and Pasquotank
counties..
Iberdrola has hired Wanzek as the gen
eral contractor. Iberdrola spokesman Paul
Copleman said Wanzek in turn will hire
subcontractors.
Wanzek has offices in Charlotte and
Houston but the main office is in North
Dakota.
“Some of these jobs are specialized as
they relate to turbine erection, but a lot
tends to be civil work,” said Copleman
said. “Our projects tend to have a lot of
local opportunities for local and regional
companies.”
He ticked off things like tool rental com-
See JOBS, 2
Search
is on for
‘super’
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The public is invited to
attend two meetings in
August to talk about what
traits they’d like to see in a
new school superintendent.
Dwayne Stallings is step
ping down at the end of
the year after more than 30
years in education, 22 of it
in Perquimans County.
The local school board
hired The Masonboro
Group, a Wilmington-based
consultant, to help in the
search.
The first meeting will be
Aug. 4 at 6:30 p.m. in the
media center at Perquimans
County High School. A sec
ond meeting is set for Aug.
5 at 6:30 p.m. in the gym at
Perquimans Central School.
“The sole purpose of
finding out what traits
are desired in a potential
candidate,” said Teresa
See SEARCH, 4
Sewage
spills in
Winfall
From Staff Reports
About 4,500 gallons of
raw sewage leaked into a
swamp next to the Perqui
mans River Monday when
a value failed at a lift station
in Winfall.
Melvin Jackson, who was
working on the repair, said
the leak was reported by a
resident next door. The lift
station is located near Creek
Drive at 374 Winfall Blvd.
The town notified the Di
vision of Water Resources
according to a press re
lease.
Jackson said no Winfall
customers lost service as a
result.
School enrollment should be higher this calendar year
BY PETER WILLIAMS
. News Editor
Perquimans County
School are preparing for an
other wave of mini growth
spurts when classes resume
August.
Student enrollment for
entire school system is pro
jected to be 1,749 in 2015-
16. That’s 32 more students
than what the system fin ¬
ished with in June, but 35
more than what the system
started with in 2014-16.
But the growth isn’t even
ly divided among the 13
grades from kindergarten
through 12th grade.
The Department of Pub
lic Instruction is projecting
there will be 156 students
in kindergarten and third
grade next year, while sev
enth grade is expected to
have just 118.
Some of the ripple in
class size goes back to a
change in the rule on how
old a child must be to start
school. In 2009 the Gen
eral Assembly said students
must be 5-years-old by Aug.
31 in order to enroll in kin
dergarten. The old date was
Oct. 16. That meant state
wide 13,000 students who
would have been able to en ¬
roll couldn’t and they’d have
to wait until 2010.
Some of the gaps are the
result of other factors.
The third grade class at
Hertford Grammar School
is projected to have 28 more
students than the fourth
grade class. The seventh
grade class at Perquimans
County Middle School is
has 20 fewer students than
the sixth grade.
Susan Cox, the chairman
of the Perquimans County
School Board, was at a loss
for the fluctuation, but they
appear to happen every
three or four years.
The kindergarten class is
estimated to hit 156. That
has implications beyond just
kindergarten. The school
system’s Pre-kindergarten
program is also housed at
Perquimans Central School.
While the school system
encourages parents to en
roll their child in Pre-K, the
school system isn’t man
dated by law to take them.
Thus the number of Pre-K
classrooms fluctuates each
year. Next year Cox figures
there will be two Pre-K
classes. The system has had
as many as four classes.
See ENROLLMENT, 2
Davenport will not
seek office again
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Veteran Hertford council
member Carlton Davenport
will not seek another term
on the town board.
The filing period ended
6 89076 47144
2
on Friday for November’s
election. The other two can
didates for Hertford seats
did file as well as the three
incumbents for the Winfall
election. There were no
challengers.
The Perquimans County
Board of Elections could
extend the filing period
another five days, but the
board is in the midst of
See ELECTION, 4
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Iberdrola Renewables, Chowan Hospital Foundation
(CHF) Community Benefits grants, and the Albemarle
Community Trust funded the 2015 Water Turtles
program for the Perquimans County School system.
Groups support
water safety
From Staff Reports
Financial support from
three groups this year made
it possible for 160 Perqui
mans County kindergarten
students to participate in
two-week program that
teaches water safety.
It’s the fourth year the
school system has held the
Water Turtles program.
Iberdrola Renewables,
Chowan Hospital Founda ¬
tion (CHF) Community
Benefits grants, and the Al
bemarle Community Trust
underwrote the $13,000
it cost to funded the 2015
Water Turtles program for
the Perquimans County
School system. That cov
ered the costs of lessons,
transportation to and
from the YMCA in Eliza
beth City, the purchase of
See SAFETY, 2
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