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P , THE
ERQUIMANS
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Toy drive to benefit hundreds, 8
"News from Next Door"
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2016 DEC 0 7 REC'D
50 cents
Cole honored as board makes changes
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Perquimans County Com
missioners said farewell to
two members Monday night,
and elected a new chair and
vice chair.
Stepping down were
Chair Janice Cole and Com
missioner Matt Peeler. Nei
ther sought re-election. Re
placing them will be Joseph
Hoffler and Charles Wood
ard. Woodard did not at
tend Monday’s meeting, but
Hoffler and Commissioner
Kyle Jones were sworn in.
Jones, who served as vice
chair under Cole, was elect
ed to the position of chair.
Serving as
vice chair
for the next
year will be
Fondella
Leigh.
Thenight
belonged to
Cole how
ever and
HOFFLER
the surprise of the night was
the announcement that an
annual scholarship has been
created in Cole’s name for a
female Perquimans County
High School student.
Jones created the scholar
ship with input from Cole’s
husband, Judge J.C. Cole to
honor a woman he called
his “mentor”
Jones
called Cole
“the wis
est person
I know”
and “while
everybody
else was
playing
checkers,
Janice was playing chess.”
Cole who has been a com
missioner for six years and
held the position as chair
for the past four.
The scholarship will be
administered through the
Perquimans County Schools
Foundation and will be
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
Perquimans County Commissioner Kyle Jones (left) shakes the hand of Todd Tilley,
Clerk of Superior Court Monday night after being sworn in. Holding the Bible for
Jones during the ceremony was Janice Cole, the outgoing chair of the board.
See BOARD, 4
Holiday Events held in County
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
PHOTO BY JULIE PHELPS.
Santa waves to the crowd from the top of the new Hertford Fire Department ladder
truck Saturday during the annual Perquimans County Christmas Parade in Hertford.
STAFF PHOTO BY
PETER WILLIAMS
Children ride
a 4-H float
Saturday during
the Christmas
parade in
Hertford.
A Christmas tree on the lawn in front of the
Perquimans County Courthouse is illuminated
Friday night during an event sponsored by
Historic Hertford,, Inc.
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
A parade of classic cars head down Edenton Road Street on Saturday.
Members of the Perquimans County High
School band perform during the annual
Christmas parade in Winfall Saturday.
PHOTO BY JULIE PHELPS
Dance students perform Friday night during
Grand Illumination in Hertford.
Boat
ramp
funded
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the
first part of a two-part series.
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
After months of delays, the fed
eral government has released funds
needed to build an extra large new
boat ramp in Hertford.
Construction should start, this
month and should be complete by
spring, perhaps as early as April 8.
“I’m very happy that we are fi
nally able to move forward,” said
Perquimans County Manager Frank
Heath.
The project has been in the
works for more than five years. It
started with plans to build a regu
lar boat ramp next to the Perqui
mans County Recreation Center.
That proved to be too shallow said
Perquimans County Economic De
velopment Director Dave Goss. So
See RAMP, 2
Future
unclear for
wind project
BY PETER WILLIAMS
AND REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writers
The company developing the
proposed Timbermill Wind Project
has not yet decided how to proceed
in the wake of Perquimans County
officials’ denial of the conditional
use permit for the portion of the
project slated for Perquimans.
Chowan County officials ap
proved the conditional use permit
for the part of the project proposed
to be built in Chowan. The project
as proposed was a 300-megawatt
See WIND, 2
Help sought for needy kids
Jobless rate inches higher
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
An effort to make sure
needy children get some
thing at Christmas is wind
ing down.
Since the mid 1990s, the
Parksville Ruritan Club has
erected “Santa Trees” in
Hertford. On the branches
there are notes listing a
child’s name, age, and a sug
gestion of things they need
or want for Christmas.
Michael Hurdle, a mem
ber of the Ruritan Club, said
109 children were repre
sented this year, down from
about 125 last year. As of
earlier this week, only about
a dozen unfilled requests
remained on the trees at
Woodard’s Pharmacy and
Family Care Pharmacy.
“Some of them list
clothes, like underwear,
jackets or socks,” Hurdle
said. “The child is also able
to list a toy.”
Some of the toy wishes
include Barbies, race cars,
Legos, Batman, dinosaurs,
footballs, basket balls, choc
olate pins, “Frozen” toys,
Hatchimals and bicycles.
The families have been
screened through the Per
quimans County Depart
ment of Social Services and
cards have been created for
See SANTA TREES, 2
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
While the national un
employment rate fell to the
lowest level since 2007 in
October, the Perquimans
County number inched
higher.
According to the N.C.
Department of Commerce,
the local rate rose from 5.8
percent in September to 6.0
percent in October. State
wide the rate rose from 4.8
percent to 4.9 percent.
Nationally the Bureau of
Labor Statistics reported
the U.S. rate in October was
4.6 percent, down from 4.9
percent the month before.
David Rhodes, a spokes
man for the N.C. Depart
ment of Commerce, the
agency that released the
state figures, cautioned
about reading too much
into month-to-month
fluctuations. Instead be
suggested looking at Per
quimans County’s Octo
ber figure as a snapshot.
“What you really need to
look for is trends over a
longer period,” Rhodes
said.
In that case Perquimans
County 2016 rate in Octo
ber was seven tenths of
a percentage point lower
than the year before.
There are other reasons
not to look too closely at an
individual month. Perqui
mans is a relatively small
county and even some
small numbers can reflect
in a big way. The October
jobless rate was based on
See JOBLESS RATE, 2