P The
ERQUIMANS
WE E K LY
See a picture of a local sunrise, 2
"News from Next Door" WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7,2016 _ 50 cents
SEPO7RECD
DOT Now Favors Different BRIDGE
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
After a decade of study,
the N.C. Department of
Transportation has reversed
adecision it made 18 months
ago on how best to replace
Hertford’s S-Bridge.
DOT now says another
swing bridge — not a fixed
bridge like the U.S. 17 By
pass over the river — is the
preferred option.
The swing bridge will
cost more — an estimated
$32 million vs. $19 million
— and it will shut down di
rect traffic between Winfall
and Hertford for up to three
years, vs. eight months. But
even those who opposed
any option that would stop
traffic that long say they’re
ready for the project to
move forward.
“It (the three year clo
sure) will create some
problems for businesses
downtown in my opinion,”
said Susan Cox who owns
a business on Church Street
and is president of the Per
quimans County Chamber
of Commerce.
But Cox went on to say
“this is the closest thing
to what a majority of the
people wanted. It’s time to
make a decision and move
on with this thing. We’ve
been dealing with it a long
time.”
The fact that the town
boards of Winfall and Hert
ford. and the Perquimans
County Commission en
dorsed the swing bridge op
tion was mentioned in DOT’s
announcement. It came out
Friday just before the long
Labor Day weekend.
The pressure against
DOT’s first preferred option
known as D-Mod got trac
tion when the State Historic
Preservation Office said it
would adversely impact the
historic nature of that area
of Hertford. Even though no
federal money is being used
on the replacement, the
federal government must is
sue the permit and agencies
dealing with historic issues
got involved.
Alternative B, the swing
bridge, also impacts the
nature of the historic dis
trict according to state and
See BRIDGE, 6
Veteran
recalls
Sept. 11
attack
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
When William Horton
saw the planes crash into
the World Trade Center tow
ers 15 years ago, he knew it
was no accident.
W h a t a
he didn’t
know was
his building 5 £
was next.
Hurion ^^^H||
is a retired
colonel in '
? 6 p US HORTON
Air Force
and a pilot. The Vero Beach,
Fla native moved to Per
quimans County in 2005
from northern Virginia.
He was working as a con
tractor in the Pentagon on
Sept. 11, 2001.
“I can vividly remember
everything just like as if it
was yesterday,” he said last
week. Horton hopes people
remember Sunday is Patriot
Day, and people will remem
ber the 2,977 people who
were killed on that day 15
years ago.
He arrived to work that
day at 6:30 a.m. and remem
bers a clear, blue sky. He
checked into his office and
then went to a meeting sev
eral floors below.
“As I was walking back
to my office about 9:30 a.m.
I passed my supervisor in
See PATRIOT DAY, 3
FILE PHOTO
Clear skies and warm temperatures should greet visitors to the 35th annual Indian Summer Festival
Friday and Saturday.
Festival weekend arrives
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
H istoric Hertford Inc. is still look
ing for a few good vendors as
the clock winds down to the
start of the 35th annual Indian Sum
mer Festival on Friday.
More than 30 businesses and
organizations have signed up for
booths as well as four food ven
dors.
But Susan Cox said that’s down
from last year and there is still
time. Cox is a member of HHI, the
group that puts on the event.
“We’re always excited about the
festival and it should be a good time
for everyone,” Cox said. “If anybody
is interested or knows somebody else
who may be interested they can call me,”
See ISF, 3
SUBMITTED PHOTO
The Periauger
will again be
offering the
opportunity
to sail from
the town
dock on
‘Miss P’
during
the Indian
Summer
Festival.
The sailings
will be at 10
a.m., noon,
and 2 p.m.
School
test
scores
improve
COMING NEXT WEEK:
Find out what schools did
to make the improvements
in test scores.
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Perquimans County
Schools has a report card
it won’t be ashamed to take
home.
The school system earned
a “B” and two “Cs’ last week
in a report released by the
N.C. Department of Public
Instruction. This time last
year it was “D” and two
“C’s.”
The “B” grade for the
Hertford Grammar School
is the first time a school in
Perquimans has earned that
grade. The improvement of
Perquimans County Middle
School to from a “D” to a“C”
is also cause for celebration,
according to Superinten
dent Matthew Cheeseman.
The high school retained its
“C” grade.
“We no longer have any
school that is low perform
ing,” Cheeseman said. He
points to the state report
that 65 percent of school
districts have at least one
school rated “D” or lower.
“I can’t tell you how excit
ed we are for our students,
our community and all the
professionals that work for
us,” Cheeseman said.
See SCORES, 6
Couple makes large donation to schools foundation
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Harvey and Elizabeth
Alter leaving Perquimans
County for a new home in
Florida, but they’re leaving
something behind for stu
dents.
The couple has donated
property worth $76,000 to
the Perquimans Comity
Schools Foundation as a
parting gesture.
“I don’t know of any mag
ical words to say ‘thank you’
to the Alters for their gener
osity to the
Founda
tion,” said
Brenda
Lassiter,
the director
of the foun
dation.
With a land
transfer gift
H. ALTER
valued at $76,000 and schol
arships for PCHS students
ranging back to 2011 valued
at $18,000, it is the second
largest donation by any con
tributors.”
Harvey Alter, who is from
E. ALTER
started giving
New Jer
sey, and
his wife
moved to
Albemarle
Plantation
seven years
ago. Six
years ago
the couple
two annual
scholarships to Perquimans
County High School stu
dents. One male and one
female student got $1,500 a
year each for college. The
gifts were aimed at students
interested in applied sci
ence fields like medicine
and nursing.
While the scholarship
will end, the foundation will
have proceeds from selling
the land to do with what it
wants. The funds are unre
stricted.
“We’re moving and de
cided since we’re not going
to continue that scholarship
we’d donate the property to
continue to help the youth
of Perquimans County,”
Harvey Alter said last week.
The couple saw a need
to help local students long
before he was named to the
foundation board in 2014.
“It (the foundation) is an
extremely worthy organiza
tion and not enough people
realize it and not enough
people support it,” Harvey
Alter said. “We just felt we
wanted to do something for
the county since the school
has no money and the state
is treating us like second
hand citizens.”
Alter is in his 70s and his
wife is in her late 50s. They
don’t have children in the
local school system, yet he
said, “these are our kids.
They are the future of the
country and we have to en
courage these kids to come
back after college and the
only way they’re going to do
that is if they can earn a de
cent living.”
He was specifically criti
cal of Gov. Pat McCrory.
“We have a stupid gov
ernor who says we (in the
northeast) should be align
ing ourselves with another
See DONATION, 4
Hermine brings
wind, rain, outages
Early voting to start on October 20
From Staff Reports
Tropical Storm Hermine
left its mark on the area late
Friday and Saturday, down
ing trees and utility lines,
leaving several thousand
people in the region with
out power and forced
some motorists to deal
with flooded streets and
highways.
Perquimans County
Emergency Management
Director reported no inju
ries or mqjor damage.
Albemarle Electric
See STORM, 3
From Staff Reports
Perquimans County will
be able to start voting for
the presidential election on
Oct. 20.
The county, and other
counties in the state, held
off setting early voting hours
because the issue of voting
rules was being debated in
the courts.
On July 29, a panel of the
U.S. Court of Appeals for
the Fourth Circuit struck
down photo ID require-
Decision
2016
ments and associated laws
pass by the N.C. General
Assembly. The provisions
“target African-Americans
with almost surgical preci
sion” and “impose cures for
problems that did not exist,”
the judges wrote.
On Wednesday The Su
preme Court denied a re
quest from North Carolina
to allow provisions of its
controversial voting rights
law to go back into effect.
In the 4-4 split, high court
justices left undisturbed the
lower court opinion that
struck down the law.
Last week Perquimans
County issued its schedule
for voters who want to cast
a ballot before the Nov. 8
election. In releasing the
list, officials said it would
stand “barring a different
outcome on appeal.”
Early voting will be of
fered from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m.
on Oct. 20-21, Oct. 24-28 and
Oct. 31-Nov. 2. On Nov. 3-4
the hours will be from 8 a.m.
until 7 p.m. and Saturday
voting will be offered Nov.
5 from 8 a.m. until 1 p.m.
All early voting takes place
at the elections office on
Edenton Road Street.
The state sets down rules
on how many hours each
county must provide for
See VOTING, 3