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PERQUIMANS COUNTY LIBRARY
110 WACADEMY ST
HERTFORD NO 27944-1306
VIANS
Perquimans falls to Northside, 6
’Weirs from Next Door"
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2017
50 cents
Wind project pulls out of Perquimans
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Apex Clean Energy has
shelved plans to build a
multi-million dollar wind
power project in Perqui
mans County but will pur
sue building the Timbermill
Wind project in Chowan
County where it did win ap
proval.
The company made the
announcement last Wednes
day.
In November 2016 the Per
quimans County Commis
sion rejected Apex’s appli
cation to build more than 50
turbines in the Bear Swamp
area. Apex appealed the de
cision but in June Superior
Court Judge Walter Godwin
sided with the county. The
deadline to appeal that rul
ing was Wednesday.
“After reviewing our op
tions, we’ve decided to
move forward with Timber-
mill Wind in Chowan Coun
ty only,” said Don Giecek,
the senior development
manager for Apex.
“The spacious timber
and agricultural lands in
Chowan County present an
ideal location to build upon
North Carolina’s clean en
ergy leadership role. Repre
senting over 150 megawatts
of clean, safe, renewable
energy, Timbermill will
provide several decades of
substantial tax payments to
Chowan County and will di
versify revenue streams for
local farmers and landown
ers.” .
Perquimans County is
already home to industrial-
sized wind turbines. About
half of the 104 turbines in
the Amazon Wind Farms
East project are in Perqui
mans County. Perquimans is
also home to the operations
and maintenance facility for
the project.
This year Avangrid, the
builder of the Amazon proj
ect, paid Perquimans Coun
ty about $300,000 in prop
erty taxes. That was based
on an economic develop-
See WIND, 2
Schools
reopen
Aug. 28
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The Perquimans Coun
ty Schools are expecting
nearly 1,667 students for the
start of the new school year
on Aug. 28.
The es
timate is
higherthan
the 1,597
projected
by the N.C.
Depart
ment of
Public In
struction
and slight-
CHEESEMAN
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
Hannah McClenny, 6, gets her first look at a solar eclipse in Hertford on Monday.
ly higher than the figure last
year, said Superintendent
Matthew Cheeseman.
“It’s a great time of year,”
Cheeseman said. “Refreshed
people coming back and
some new people joining
the team.”
Students will see a few
new faces at Perquimans
County High School. There
is a new principal — Wayne
Price — as well as some
new teachers. Price is re
placing Melissa Fields, who
left the position at the high
school to return to be prin
cipal at Perquimans Central
School.
Cheeseman said the high
school had six teachers
leave, and three have been
replaced.
Among those leaving was
Angel White, the long-time
head of the agriculture pro
gram. White took a position
at the county’s solid waste
and recycling operation on
Perry’s Bridge Road.
Groups view sky show
See SCHOOLS, 2
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
It wasn’t the first so
lar eclipse experience for
James Rodgers.
But Rodgers, 68, came to
the parking lot next to the
Perquimans County Library
on Monday to experience it
again.
Rodgers said it was 1970
when he had his first taste.
“It wasn’t totally dark, but
it got darker and after the
roosters started crowing,”
Rodgers said of the experi
ence 47 years ago on King
Street.
“I never thought I’d see it
again,” he said.
Jenna Burge, 19, was
there to view Monday’s
event as well.
“I think the eclipse was
awesome. I really didn’t
know what to expect. I had
See ECLIPSE, 2
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
People use protective glasses to view Monday’s solar eclipse at
the Perquimans County Library.
Monument
draws little
protest
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Elected leaders from across Perqui
mans County say they won’t push for
the removal of Civil War monuments.
There are efforts to do just that in
Chowan and Pasquotank counties.
Perquimans County Commission
Chairman Kyle Jones said hate is
what is driving American’s problems,
not monuments, and removing them
could only make the problem worse.
“Personally, it’s my belief that this
particular monument’s presence fur
thers racism no more than its removal
would eliminate the same. But, I think
in times like these of tense racial divi
sion, it’s incumbent upon all of us to
consider our neighbor’s point of view,
and have a healthy skepticism of our
own opinions, whatever race we may
be. If we allow ourselves to be bogged
down by the minutia of these sorts of
issues, we’ll never be able to progress
on a grand scale. I think we all have to
be aware of the people on both sides
of the issue who seek to divide us for
their own personal or political gain.”
Perquimans County is home to two
Civil War monuments - one honoring
Black Union soldiers and another one
honoring white Confederate soldiers.
There have been no apparent efforts
to have either one removed according
to county officials.
Both monuments are in Hertford.
The monument to Black Union sol
diers was erected in 1910 at the comer
of King and Hyde Park streets. It was
the location of the county’s first black
school, library and church.
The second one was erected in 1912
on the courthouse lawn by the Perqui
mans County Chapter of the United
Daughters of the Confederacy.
The fact that Hertford has two mon
uments makes the town unique, said
County Commissioner Joe Hoffler.
See MONUMENT, 2
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
Dave Johnson (left) presents a Bible to Mike and Rebecca
Lyens at a dedication for their Habitat for Humanity
house on Dobbs Street in Hertford on Wednesday.
Crowd dedicates new Habitat home
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Mike and Rebecca Lyens
will live at the new house at
608 Dobbs St., and a host of
organizations met last week
to celebrate.
The couple are the new
est Habitat for Humanity
residents in Hertford. The
organization uses volun
teers to help lower the cost
of building a modest home.
The residents have to pay
off the mortgage.
“Thank you for coming
out and I’d like to thank the
people who are not here,”
Mike Lyens said.
He served in the Navy and
had a job in the concrete
industry, but a disease has
mostly robbed him of his
almost all his vision. Still he
visited the site across from
Hertford Grammar School
as much as possible during
construction.
“It took a whole lot of
people in the community to
make this come together,”
said Ron Cummings.
One speaker quoted
Psalm 127:1 “Unless the
Lord builds the house, the
builder’s labor in vain.”
And the home was a la
bor of love said the builders
who worked on it for almost
five months.
Perquimans and Chowan
counties share the same
Habitat for Humanity local
affiliate. The Rocky Hock
Lions Club in Chowan
was one of the groups that
helped make the home pos
sible.
Dave Johnson of the
Rocky Hock Club presented
the couple with a Bible.
The State Employees
Credit Union helped with
the financing.
Bill Ross, a Hertford
SECU board member, of
fered his thanks. The state
SECU earmarked $10 mil
lion to build a new Habitat
house in every county in
North Carolina. By doing so,
See HOME, 2
Police: Second shooting suspect arrested
Bill targets human trafficking
From Staff Reports
A second suspect has
been arrested in a shoot
ing that left three people
iryured in the Wynne Fork
Court housing development
last month.
6 89076 47144
2
Hertford
Police Chief
Douglas
Freeman
said Quin-
tral Lashaun
Porter was
arrested in
the Raleigh WILLIAMS
area by the
State Bureau
of Investigation on Aug. 16.
Porter, 25, lived in the 200
block of Hogs Neck Road.
PORTER JONES
Both Porter and Tyrell
Shawndell Williams, 30, are
charged with six counts of
felony discharging a weap
on into an occupied dwell
ing. Williams, a resident of
Hollowell Drive in Winfall,
remains at large. The shoot
ing happened July 19.
Hertford police picked
Porter up transported him
to Albemarle District Jail
where he remains under
$800,000 bond.
A third suspect, Ervin Jo
van Jones, 26 has also been
See SHOOTING, 2
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
A bill that regulates
North Carolina’s massage
parlors to crack down
on human trafficking is
an important first step to
tackling the problem, said
Dianne Layden.
Layden, a Belvidere
resident, is a member
North Carolina Board of
Massage and Bodywork
Therapy, which helped
write the bill. She’s also
a member of a board that
targets human traffick
ing.
She said the problem is
real and it’s all around the
state, calling it modern
day slavery.
“People don’t believe
how big it is,” Layden said
earlier this month.
See BILL, 2