THE
ERQUIMANS
.Weekly
"News from Next Door" WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2016
Edenton
overpowers
Perquimans
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Wind hearings to continue next month
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The debate over a wind
power project in Perqui
mans and Chowan County
will continue next month.
The Perquimans County
Commission spent more
than nine hours over two
nights last week listening to
testimony from the develop
er of the proposed project.
That wasn’t enough to hear
all the witnesses for Apex
Clean Energy, nor was it
enough for the attorney for
opponents of the project to
present his witnesses.
Unlike a typical county
commission hearing, the
meetings last week were
considered “quasi-judicial
proceedings” and resem
bled more of a court trial
than a county meeting. In
all Apex presented seven
witnesses over the two-day
period.
The next hearings are
planned for Sept. 20-21.
Perquimans County Manag
er Frank Heath said a third
or four day might be added
to that schedule, but that it
hasn’t been decided yet.
At issue is if the plan to
erect 104 turbines, each up
wards of600-feet tall, meets
with the county’s zoning
See HEARINGS, 4
Chowan delays hearings
BY REGGIE PONDER
Chowan Herald
The Chowan County
Board of Commissioners
voted last week to delay
the second night of the
hearing on a conditional
use permit application
for the Timbermill Wind
Project for a month to
give Commissioner John
Mitchener an opportunity
to participate.
The hearing will resume
on Sept. 26 at Swain Au
ditorium, beginning at 5
p.m.
Mitchener was absent
from the Aug. 23 ses
sion because of a medi
cal emergency, County
Attorney John Morrison
announced at the meet
ing, which was held at the
♦
See DELAYS, 4
STAFF PHOTOS BY PETER WILLIAMS
Perquimans County Commissioners and Perquimans County Library board members break ground Monday on the new $3 million
library.
Library started, playground finished
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
I n the span of a week Perquimans County
broke ground on a new $3 million library
and held a ribbon cutting on a new $350,000
all-inclusive playground.
The library will be located next to the Albe
marle Commission building on Church Street.
Construction should be complete by this time
next year. The playground is located at the
Perquimans County Recreation Center.
The library event marked five years of work
for Bill Ross, the chairman of the Perquimans
County Library Board. He said the credit the
Perquimans County Commission for making the
library a reality.
“Our commissioners had the courage and
the vision,” Ross said. “This is something for
See PIAYGROUND, 7
Seven girls play on a four-seat teeter-totter last week during the ribbon cutting for a
new $350,000 playground at the Perquimans County Recreation Center.
Bridge
options
debated
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
State officials are taking
another look at an option to
replace the S-Bridge in Hert
ford with another swing
bridge.
The option, known as
Alternative B was one of
the three in final consider
ation, but it was rejected
in part because of the cost
($32 million) and because
it would leave downtown
Hertford without a link to
the Winfall side of the river
for upwards of three years.
Downtown merchants have
said that would be devastat
ing for business.
The option favored by the
N.C. Department of Trans
portation, known as D-Mod,
would cost $19.3 million
and it would keep traffic
flowing between Winfall
and Hertford except for a
nine-month period.
The argument over what
and where to build has last
ed for more than five years,
but the dispute with the
State Historic Preservation
Office (HPO) has been ac
tive for the past 18 months.
The dispute largely hinges
on the impact a new bridge
will have on the historic
See OPTIONS, 7
Hundreds go back to school on Monday morning
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
More than 1,600 students
returned to school Monday
morning in Perquimans
County.
Some showed up at the
wrong school.
Hertford Grammar
School Principal Jason Grif
fin was out front greeting
the returning students there
when his two-way radio
alerted him of a problem. A
young girl was dropped off
at HGS instead of Perqui
mans Central.
Griffin resolved the prob
lem quickly but radioing the
driver of a school bus that
was already headed to Cen
tral so the girl could get to
where she needed to be.
“We have that happen ev
ery year, it’s not a problem,”
Griffin said.
HGS will be home to an
expected 430 students this
year, an increase over last
year. Griffin said he’s seen
increases over the past few
years. Overall the school
system was expecting more
than 100 new students this
year. According to school
officials, the projected en
rollment is 1,890 and 1,618
students showed up the first
day.
Transporting hundreds of
students on buses - espe
cially on the first day - is al
ways prone to a few issues,
but Monday’s opening went
well according to Teresa
Beardsley, the spokeswom
an for the school system.
“Everything went smooth
this morning with transport
ing students to school,” she
said.
“By having parents update
information to the transpor
tation office by Aug. 4 and
hosting the Back to School
Bash where we were able
to see a lot of parents
See SCHOOL, 4
STAFF PHOTO BY
PETER WILLIAMS
Students
recite the
Pledge of
Allegiance
Monday
morning at
the start of
the school
day at
Hertford
Grammar
School.
Grant for $15K to
help teach etiquette
County schools honor top teachers
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Having the grades to get
into college is just part of it.
Having the ability to adapt
to new social surroundings
can be just as big an issue.
With that in mind, the Per
quimans County Education
Foundation and the school
system’s GEAR UP program
applied for and got a $15,000
grant to provide etiquette in
struction and cultural expe
riences to some high school
students.
The goal of the program
is to expose students to
proper etiquette such as
appropriate greetings, table
See GRANT, 7
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Holly Winslow, Amy Parker, Rhonda Meadows, Tina Mathis were honored as their
school’s Teacher of the Year earlier this month.
From Staff Reports
Four veteran Perqui
mans County teachers were
honored as their school’s
“Teacher of the Year” earlier
this month.
Amy Parker, a fifth grade
teacher at Hertford Gram-
mar School was named the
top teacher for the overall
school system. She will now
compete on a regional level,
then perhaps on the state
and national level.
The others honored were
See TEACHERS, 7