24% of local children qualify for
free or discounted school meals.
HELP US
WITO
11^
END SUMMER HUNGER
SENIORNIGHT
PERQUIMANS HIGH
BLVD.
ONORS ATHLE
Please donate NOW through June 30, 2017 to feed
our community’s
hungry children this summer!
(See enclosed envelope or donate at www.afoodbank.org)
Food Bank
THE MAY 17 RECD
ERQUIMANS
.Weekly
of the Albemarle
Chappell
pinned at
COA cer
emony, 4
"News from Next Door"
WEDNESDAY, MAY 17, 2017
50 cents
Senate OKs funding for marine park
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The budget bill passed by the
N.C. Senate last week includes
$2.8 million for the Perquimans
Marine Industrial Park.
If the funding remains in the
budget and other matching
funds can be secured, Perqui
mans County Manager Frank
Heath said the county could be
poised to put the project out to
bid immediately, perhaps this
summer. Projections have been
that if fully developed, the park
could bring hundreds of new
jobs to the area.
The county is trying to devel
op the park, which is located
on 71 acres of state owned land
inside the 400-acre Perquimans
industrial park off Harvey
Point Road. The original cost
estimates to fully develop the
park, including a boat basin,
was $20 million.
But several years ago state
and local officials put forth a
plan to dig the basin in phases.
The first phase is expended to
cost about $5.3 million.
Sen. Bill Cook, (R-Beaut-
fort), who represents the re
gion, helped push to get $2.8
million in the budget. Golden
LEAF might also provide some
funding and a separate state
grant is an option.
Jordan Hennessy, a spokes
man for Cook, said officials ap
proached the Senator about a
year ago seeking help with the
See PARK, 2
Davison makes pitch for jobs, investment
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Perquimans County missed out on
$35 million in investments that could
have brought upwards of 640 jobs be
cause the county’s marine industrial
park hasn’t been developed.
Cathy Davison, the executive di
rector of the Albemarle Commission,
said that’s just one of the arguments
she uses to get lawmakers to fund the
development of a boat basin at the site
off Harvey Point Road near the Per
quimans Recreation Center.
“People have wondered why I’ve
been working so hard on the marine
park,” Davison said. “It’s because it’s
a regional project. The impact it could
have on our economy regionally is
substantial, so I’ve spent a lot of time
in Raleigh knocking on doors.”
See DAVISON, 2
Schools get
solar grant
BY PETER WILLIAMS
-. News Editor
»-
; Nancy Rountree, a teacher at
Hertford Grammar School, hugs
her daughter Savannah last week as
graduates toured area schools.
While Perquimans County com
missioners debate the local role of
renewable energy, two groups are
offering cash to set up a small scale
solar power project at Perquimans
County Middle School to teach stu
dents about it.
NC GreenPower picked PCMS as
one of five schools to fund a solar
project this year.
The group launched the program
in 2015 to provide matching grants
for the installation of solar arrays
that convert sunlight into electricity
at schools so students could use and
learn about renewable energy.
The grants won’t come even close
to providing all the power the mid
dle school’s requires, but that’s not
the point said Perquimans Superin
tendent Matthew Cheeseman.
“It has nothing to do with anything
else then having kids learning. It’s
solely related to education,” Chee
seman said. “It’s not about policy.”
But it could be about teaching
students about a growing field of
jobs.
According a story published by
Forbes, the U.S. solar industry em
ployed 260,077 workers last year, a
See SOLAR, 2
Flag program for veterans continues to grow
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Volunteers will set out later this
month to make sure the grave
of every veteran in Perquimans
County has an American flag on it
for Memorial Day.
Ken Rominger, a member of
American Legion Post 126, said
the program was started by the
late Charlie Skinner in 1987 and
grown larger.
Last year with Ed Madre chair
ing the committee, more than
700 flags were placed at veteran’s
Senior Walk
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
Mikayla McCall (right) hugs a
student at Perquimans Central
School last week during a “Senior
Walk” by upcoming graduates of
Perquimans County High School.
Right, Nancy Rountree, a teacher
at Hertford Grammar School,
hugs her daughter Savannah last
week as graduates toured area
schools.
graves in 26 cemeteries through
out the county.
About 400 of the of the flags are
placed in Cedarwood Cemetery in
Hertford. But Rominger said as the
Legion has reached out and been
able to add some small church and
family cemeteries to the list.
Griffin
named top
principal
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
When Hertford Grammar
School principal Jason Grif
fin went home from work
last week he had plenty to be
happy about. His school was
awarded a “B” grade on the
state’s A,B,C,D,F grading scale
last year. He was also a region
al finalist for the state Princi
pal of the Year award.
When he
went back to
work Mon
day and met
with teach
ers and staff,
Griffin had
one more
thing to be
happy about.
He’s now
The task of cataloging all the in
formation is hampered by the fact
that some gravestones don’t indi
cate a veteran is buried there.
Rominger said in the past in
dividuals who knew the history
See FLAG, 3
GRIFFIN
North Carolina’s Wells Fargo
Principal of the Year winner
for 2017. The awards ceremo
ny was in Cary on Friday.
“The past 72 hours has been
crazy,” told his staff in a meet
ing in the school library Mon
day afternoon.
He said he’s see “unreal”
amount of attention from re
quests for interviews and so
cial media
“It’s been a very interesting
ride considering where we
were before.”
When Griffin started at HGS
as a teacher in 2011, Hertford
Grammar was on the state’s
list of troubled schools. Unless
something positive happened,
the state could fire the staff
and replace them and take the
school over.
Now it’s one of only six el
ementary schools in the north-
See GRIFFIN, 3
Caleb Richardson named national Presidential Scholar
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
A Perquimans County
High School senior and one
6 89076 47144
2
of his teachers will be hon
ored by the U.S. Presidential
Scholars program.
Caleb Richardson was
among 161 students selected
this year out of about 4,000
nominees nationally. He will
attend an event in Washing
ton D.C. next month.
The Presidential Scholars
program was established in
RICHARDSON
1964 by a
Presiden
tial execu
tive order.
It is admin
istered by
the Depart
ment of
Education
and is meant to honor the
nation’s most distinguished
graduating high school se
niors.
In 2015 the program was
extended to recognized stu
dents who have excelled in
Career and Technical Edu
cation (CTE) fields. It is in
that field that Richardson
was nominated and is be
ing recognized. Only 20 stu
dents nationally are being
honored for their CTE part
of the Scholars award.
Also being recognized
is Angel White, the agricul
ture teacher at Perquimans
County High School. Rich
ardson nominated her.
Richardson started rais
ing and showing animals at
age 9 with 4-H. Now at age
17, he owns 30 head of cattle
and is part owner of Whis
tlin’ Pines Farms. He main
tains day-to-day operations
of the cattle farm along with
being an honor student at
Perquimans High and help
ing his father, a commercial
fisherman.
Richardson admits dur-
See SCHOLAR, 2