V P Thf ERQUIMANS —OVeekey "News from Next Door" WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2016 Pirate football falls to Pasquotank, beat Creswell, 8 50 cents CROWDS TURN out For Annual Festival BY PETER WILLIAMS News Editor T housands of people came out Friday and Saturday for the 35th annual Indian Summer Festival in Hert ford. The crowds and the number of vendors were down from last year, or ganizers say. The positive side is that gave people more room to dance on Church Street during Friday’s perform from “The Main Event Band” said Lynne Raymond, the president of Historic Hertford Inc., the orga nization that puts on the event. “The weather has been pretty good, we had some humidity Friday night but it’s turned out pretty nice.” The heat index Satur day climbed to more than 100 degrees, but a breeze made it bearable, specta tors said. Hertford Police Chief Douglas Freeman said he couldn’t offer an Official estimate on the crowd size, but said the event went well. One of the new things this year was the addition of Knockerball. Knock- erballOBX, an Elizabeth City based company sup plied the large inflatable balls that people climb into and bump into other players. Marcus Robbins, one of the owner operators, said the operation is still new, but it s already made appearances in Elizabeth City and will be at this year’s Chowan County Fair. “People have a lot of fim,” Robbins said. “In Elizabeth City we had a 6-foot-6,240 man against a 5-foot-l, 100 pound girl. STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS The Perquimans County High School Color Guard performs for a crowd Saturday at the start of the Indian Summer Festival. More photos coming in Sept. 21 edition. - PHOTO BY R WILLIAMS ik Jaklic Alton Lane g lights on tent at the ary Club r and wine den Friday ore the an Summer “He of course won, but she was safe and she had a great time.” Saturday’s events began with performances from bands from both Perquimans County High School and Perquimans Middle School. High school band director Ryan Minster was happy with the performance. “This year they’re more focused and that allows me to push them a little bit more,” Minster said. A car show drew a record crowd this year. It was sponsored by Biggs Cadillac GMC Truck. The Best In Show win ner was Jim Wise with a 1966 Pontiac GTO. Other first place win ners were: Best per-1940s, Syd Halstead 1939 Chevy Couple; Best 1940s, John Sampsell, 1948 Chevy convertible; Best 1950s, Leroy Vanhorn, 1957 Be lair; Best 1960s, Jim Wise, 1966 Pontiac GTO; Best 1980s-Plus, John Durko, 2014 Corvette; Best truck per-1960s, Lloyd Sholes, 1950 Chevy 3100; Best truck 1960s-plus, Cliff HoUand, 1966 Chevy See FESTIVAL, 3 Bridge changes possible BY PETER WILLIAMS News Editor Construction of a new bridge in Hertford may be a few years off, but trans portation officials hope to speed up the process once it does gets final approval. N.C. Department of Transportation leadership has committed to using “de sign-build” method when it comes to the replacement of Hertford’s S-Bridge. In some cases large proj ects are designed by DOT, bid out to contr actors and then built. The design-build method relies on a single point of responsibility. The contractor both designs and See BRIDGE, 3 Wind meetings resume BY PETER WILLIAMS News Editor Perquimans County is set to resume hearings next week on an applica tion to build a new wind power project. The six-member coun ty board met for two nights in August, but did not hear from all of the people scheduled to tes tify on the project. The hearings on the Condi tional Use Application (CUP) are considered See MEETINGS, 3 Town of Hertford purchases new fire truck BY PETER WILLIAMS News Editor The Town of Hertford took delivery of a new $636,000 fire truck Friday, the first new engine in about 14 years. The E-One ladder truck will serve both the role of a fire engine as well as a lad der truck. The town hasn’t had a ladder truck before and the new E-One model will serve both purposes and give the department the flexibility of a 75-foot-tall ladder. It will replace a 22-year- old engine, which will now be sold. Town officials said they knew eventually they’d have to replace the older engine, but earlier this year council members discussed putting off the purchase. The origi nal plan was to designate $100,000 of its reserves this year and then allocate an other $100,000 next fiscal year. But the availability of USDA loan funds and the availability of a demonstra tion model truck presented itself, the town moved quickly to close the deal now. “We started in August See FIRE TRUCK, 2 STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS Robbie Reed (right), the Hertford Fire Department’s assistant chief, and others inspect the town’s new ladder truck Friday at town hall. Health report shows areas of concern for county BY PETER WILLIAMS News Editor Perquimans County has an older population that is likely to get even older and has gaps when it comes to health care providers ac cording to a study unveiled recently. The numbers show men, especially black men are at risk of some health issues. Sheila Pfaender, a public health consultant presented the findings. She urged offi cials to watch levels of heart disease and lung diseases like asthma, especially among African Americans. The Perquimans County Community Health Assess ment is done every three years and provides a snap shot of economic and health data. The assessment is de signed to help health agen cies shape what they do for the clients they serve. Many of those attending the meet ing at the Perquimans Coun ty Recreation Department Were from Vidant Chowan Hospital or Albemarle Re gional Health Services. Pfaender said the study is based on secondary data - data that was already out there. She simply compiled it. There were also 11 small group meetings held in 2015. They ranged from as few as four people to as many as 15. The racial demographics roughly matched the popu lation. In the past the data on health would only list what people died from, not the health problems people who are alive are living with. With the inclusion of some hospital intake data from local hospital, the newer study fills in that gap. ‘With the advent of hospi tal data we are beginning to understand what people are living with,” she said. Some of the data dealt in the “incidences” of a disease vs. the “mortality” of the dis ease. Pfaender said numbers See REPORT, 5 Schools find recipe for success IWo Trucks Collide BY PETER WILLIAMS News Editor When the grades came this month, it was only ap propriate that teachers at Perquimans County Middle School celebrated with cake. For the past six months the staff have been remind ed “don’t forget the egg.” Principal Laura More land had been repeating that statement since she took over leadership at the school this year. Moreland explains. When making a chocolate cake there are certain ingredients that need to be added at a specific time. When educat ing children, the same thing applies. “If you don’t add the ingre dients at the right time, you don’t end up with a fluffy, moist chocolate cake,” she said. So to celebrate with cake seemed like the thing to do. ”We had a fluffy, moist choc olate cake,” Moreland said with a laugh. “We laughed, we cried and we celebrat ed.” There was reason to cel ebrate. For years PCMS has earned a “D” grade when it came to annual reports compiled by the N.C. Department of Public See SCORES, 2 STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS Hertford Fire Department Assistant Chief Robbie Reed checks a pickup truck that burned after a head-on wreck Saturday afternoon on Grubb Street. Three people were involved in the wreck and one of those was transported to Vidant Chowan Hospital. No other details were available.

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