ERQUIMANS
J Weekly
Pirates hold on to beat South Creek, 8
"News from Next Door ' ^ 2 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24,2016 50 cents
Counties to debate new wind power project
BY PETER WILLIAMS
AND REGGIE PONDER
News Editors
The Perquimans County
Board of County Commis
sioners is scheduled to hold
quasi-judicial hearings to
day and Thursday to consid
er the Apex Clean Energy
project.
Both meetings start at
5:30 p.m. and will be held in
the second floor courtroom
at the Perquimans Court
house Annex.
The Perquimans meet
ings will come on the heels
of identical hearings being
held in Chowan County. The
Apex wind project spans
some 16,000 acres on both
sides of the county line.
Both representatives for
the Perquimans County and
those for the opponents say
privately they think the issue
will ultimately be settled in
court, not in a counaty com
mission meeting. At stake is
a project expected to cost
$300 million to $400 million.
Perquimans County offi
cials have already tentative
ly set aside Sept. 20-21 for
more debate on the issue if
needed.
Chowan officials met un
til 11 am. Monday on the
first night of discussions.
The Chowan County
Board of Commissioners
heard testimony from Don
Giecek, a senior develop
ment manager with Apex,
on the proposed project’s
harmony with the area and
general conformity with the
county’s land use plan.
In response to questions
from Henry Campen, an at
torney representing Apex in
the matter, Giecek testified
that most of the land leased
for the project is agricultural
land or Weyerhauser-owned
timberland.
The property is zoned
See WIND, 2
Concrete project wraps up
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The massive job of pour
ing the concrete founda
tions for the Amazon Wind
Farms East wind project
wrapped up this month.
In a span from March
7 through Aug. 13, Com
mercial Ready Mix Prod
ucts (CRMP) mixed and
hauled some 66,560 cubic
yards of concrete. To put
that into perspective, the
four-lane Chowan River
Bridge required 77,000
cubic yards and took two
years to complete in 1997.
Jimmy McPherson
worked on both projects.
He’s the plant manager of
the Edenton CRMP facil
ity.
“I just want to say it too
great teamwork from ev-
eiybody, the rock haulers,
chemical guys, water haul
ers, the sand haulers, the
fuel haulers, everybody,”
McPherson said. “It wasn’t
any one group that made it
possible.
“I’ve done bridges in
Chowan and Perquimans
and the Elizabeth City
bypass,” McPherson. “For
this it’s not so much a job,
it’s an adventure.”
On the final day, the
plant produced 1,154 yards
of concrete in less than
nine hours. Each load was
See CONCRETE, 2
This sight hasn’t been as common for motorists this summer because high heat has limited the amount of time Hertford’s S-Bridge
has opened for boat traffic.
Heat causes problems with Bridge
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
(COMING NEXT
WEEK: State agencies
remain at odds over
how best to replace the S-
Bridge.)
While the debate drags
on over how to best to
replace Hertford’s swing
bridge, the S-Bridge itself
has been virtually closed
to boat traffic during the
heat of the day for much
of the summer because of
fears it could get stuck.
Officials of the N.C.
Department of Transpor
tation said it’s not really
a new situation, but it’s
not been quite this bad
before.
As temperatures climb
more boaters head to the
water for relief but heat
causes metal to expand
and the S-Bridge sits on
a giant turntable and is
powered by motors and
gears.
John Abel, who handles
bridge issues with the lo
cal district DOT office,
said it’s been an issue
throughout his six years
with the department. But
he admits it’s a little worse
this year.
When the temperature
gets above 90 degrees,
things swell to the point
we can’t open the bridge.
“From a safety stand
point it could damage the
gears inside if we tried to
get it unstuck. If we sheer
off a gear inside, that’s go
ing to be a major repair.”
While motorists haven’t
been bothered by the is
sue, boaters have. The
clearance under the S-
Bridge is about five feet
so during the day no larg
er boats could get in or
out of Hertford. Coupled
with that is the fact that
the only public boat ramp
in the Hertford area is up
river from the S-Bridge.
The bridge issue not
only keeps larger boats
See S-BRIDGE, 2
Youth
to face
‘Real
World’
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
COMING NEXT WEEK:
Learn more about how Per
quimans County school of
ficials will, be using a grant
to teach students about eti
quette and social skills.
A program to expose
young adults to what it’s like
in the real world will be held
Sept. 28 at Camp Cale.
“Northeastern REAL
WORLD” is geared toward
people age 16 to 24 in the
10-county region covered by
the Northeastern Workforce
Development Board’s youth
program.
The program drives home
how education — or the
lack of it — can dictate the
future of someone’s life.
Students will go through
some workshops in the
morning and then get a
glimpse of what life may be
like when they grow up.
Lora Aples is helping
put on the event. She’s the
youth program manager for
the Northeastern Workforce
See YOUTH, 4
Perquimans students heading back to class Monday
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
More than 100 more Per
quimans County students
are scheduled to go back
to school when classes re
sume on Aug. 29.
The projected enrollment
—1,890—is 107 more than
at this time last year.
Unlike last year when
school officials had to
shuffle top staff positions
at the last minute, all four
principals remain the same
as last year.
There have been some
changes. Tammy Miller
White, who took the job as
assistant principal at Per
quimans County Middle
School to fill a void last fall,
has returned to her old job
as head of the school sys
tem’s Accelerated Learning
Center. Miller-White was
replaced by Dexter Jack
son-Heard who is moving
over from a similar position
at the high school. Jack
son-Heard will serve as as
sistant principal and Julie
Roberts will move from
Hertford Grammar School
to take the new role as
Dean of Students.
The Dean of Students job
incorporates some of the
duties done by curriculum
specialists in the past.
School nutrition prices
will remain the same this
year. Breakfast remains
$1.35 and lunches cost
$2.60 for paying customers
and 40 cents for those who
qualify for a reduced price.
The school system does
have a new nutrition di
rector — Shirley Pelletier
— who plans to revamp
the menu and the way food
is delivered to try and win
back students who haven’t
been eating school-pre
pared food.
Parents will also have
the opportunity this year to
see what their children are
eating. The school system
is rolling out an on-line sys
tem that allows parents to
deposit money directly into
their child’s food account.
The system also tracks
what students spend it on,
so parents can know.
The school system is
also rolling out a new web
site HYPERLINK “http://
www.pqschools.org”
www.pqschools.org. Te
resa Beardsley, the school
system’s director of com
munications, said the new
address is easier to remem
ber.
See SCHOOLS, 4
Nutrition program
gets upgrade
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Shirley Pelletier has a
mission to win back Perqui
mans County students who
aren’t eating school-pre
pared food.
About 70 percent of coun
ty students qualify to get a
free or reduced price meal,
but sometimes only half of
them take it.
That’s an issue for stu
dents, the school system
and ultimately for taxpayers
who could end up paying
for food that is wasted.
“If you’re not feeding the
free and reduced students,
you have a problem,” she
said. “You can’t get that
money back.”
Adding the occasional
See NUTRITION, 4
Camp Cale holding fundraiser Sept. 17
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Camp Cale — fresh off
a record setting summer
camping program — is plan
ning a fundraiser in Sep
tember to help raise money
to build new year-round
housing for those why stay
6 89076 47144 2
there.
The camp hosted 424
campers this summer, the
most ever in its 55 years of
operation.
Matt Thomas, the direc
tor of the camp said about
two dozen campers had to
be turned away because
there wasn’t space for them.
The camp hosted 376 camp
ers for the 2015 season,
“An Evening At Cale”
on Sept. 17 is designed to
raise money so two new
bunkhouses can be built.
Combined they could house
96 people and unlike the
current bunkhouses, they
would be heated and cooled
so they could be used year-
round.
Tickets for the Sept. 17
event are $25 and will in
clude music, entertainment
and heavy hors d’oeuvres.
The event will run from 6-
9 p.m. and will be more of
a “floating event” vs. a sit
down meal, Thomas said. It
will be catered by Montero’s.
For more information call
Camp Cale at 264-2513 or
Kelsey Gray at 339-6274 or
e-mail HYPERLINK “mailto:
kelseybgray@yahoo.com”
.kelseybgray@yahoo.com.
The two new bunkhous
es are expected to cost
about $1 million, and about
$170,000 has been raised
thus far. The camp owns
about 10 acres adjacent to
the camp that it is trying
to sell. That’s expected to
fetch about $240,000 which
See FUNDRAISER, 5
Health study set
to be released
From Staff Reports
Albemarle Regional
Health Services along
with five hospitals and
other community part
ners has completed com
munity health assess
ments for a seven county
area, including Perqui
mans.
The Perquimans Coun
ty data will be released
Thursday at 10 am. at
the Perquimans County
Recreation Department.
Not-for-profithospitals
are required to conduct a
community health needs
assessment at least once
every three years.
Involved in the study
See STUDY, 4