V
SEP 0 6
•PERQUIMANS COUNTY U
IV LY
Lady Pirates fall, 6
"News from Next Door"
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2017
50 cents
Coast Guard family weathers the storm
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The U.S. Coast Guard didn't
have to send Lt. JG Andrew Jacot
to Houston after Hurricane Har
vey.
Jacot was already there in Tex
as.
The 25-year-old Perquimans
County native is stationed in Tex
as as part of a group that inspects
ships using the Houston/Galveston
Bay channel. He deals with safety,
environmental
and security is
sues. But after
Hurricane Har
vey closed the
shipping channel
Jacot was kept
busy acting as
something of a
911 dispatcher.
Andrew said
Harvey was unlike any storm he’s
ever seen. He remembers hurri
cane Isabel in 2003 when he was a
child in Perquimans County.
“This was a lot worse,” Jacot
said. “For Isabel the bad thing was
the storm surge. With this one it
was the rain. It just didn’t stop.”
Andrew Jacot didn’t suffer
property damage this time but co-
workers did.
“We had one with four feet of
water in the house. He lost every
thing.”
Jacot’s mother, Rose agrees
about the Isabel in Perquimans.
“Isabel was 2003 so he was
about 11 or 12,” she said Monday.
“He also went through Irene. But
Isabel hit us hard down here on
the river. We saw the river rise at
least 10 feet. Looked like a war
zone for sure.”
Coast Guard service is a family
tradition in the Jacot family.
Rose Jacot’s father, Julian
worked as a civilian at the Eliza
beth City Coast Guard base. He
and her Rose’s mother Carolyn
Harrell live next door to Rose and
her husband.
Rose graduated from Northeast
ern High School, but her parents,
father Julian and mother Carolyn
graduated from PCHS. So did the
three Jacot children. Rose is a dis
tance-learning teacher at PCHS.
“Brittany graduated in 2006,
Robert 2009 and Andrew 2010
from Perquimans. I met Kevin
when I worked at the Coast Guard
base, just as Brittany met her hus
band to be Matt there,” Rose Jacot
See FAMILY, 2
Business
seminar
planned
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Economic development
groups will be holding a
seminar on Sept. 14 to help
people who want to start a
small business or those who
already have one but face is
sues.
The event will be held
at the Perquimans County
Extension Center, 601-A S.
Edenton Road St. in Hert
ford. The session runs from
5:30 p.m. until 8 p.m.
Dave Goss, Perquimans
County’s economic devel
opment director, said the
“What’s your big idea” event
is designed to be more
pro-active to go out and at
tract future entrepreneurs
instead of just waiting for
them to ask for help.
Perquimans County
wants to grow tourism and
to do that, there are certain
businesses that would play
a role.
“We have resources out
there that can help them
get from A to B to start a
business,” Goss said. “Some
people don’t know what it
takes. If we can get enough
response to this initial one,
we can put on more pro
grams.”
Goss said the county has
things people would like to
see.
According to state data
released in August, domes
tic visitors to and within Per
quimans County spent more
than $10 million in 2016, and
increase of 6 percent from
2015. The increase in Dare
County was 4 percent.
“This just means we’re
See SEMINAR, 4
STAFF PHOTOS BY PETER
■ WILLIAMS
The Richard Pratt
House, 948 Pender
Road, is part of
the Jollification
Tour. Right, Ben
Hobbs looks over
the dining room of
the Richard Pratt
House. It is part
of the Jollification
tour.
Historic homes open for tour
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
• The Perquimans County Res
toration Association will hold
Jollification, an event celebrat
ing Bethel’s historic homes and
sites, on Sept. 30.
Jolification is a word describ
ing celebration with Others or
merrymaking. PCRA held Jollifi
cation in Belvidere last year.
PCRA operates the Newbold-
White House and another histor
ic property on the site on Harvey
Point Road. They and three oth
ers will be open to walk-in tours.
Another six sites will be part of
a drive-by tour.
The driving tour runs from
1:30 p.m. until 5 p.m. and then
dinner and music from 5:30 until
8 p.m. on the lawn of the New-
bold White House. Music will be
by the band “Uphill” and there
will be a silent auction and live
cake auction.
“Uphill” is the same band that
performed at the Jollification
event in Belvidere last year.
Tickets are $20 per person.
Bobbi Stevenson, the chair of
the event, said depending how
well this event goes, the PCRA
may hold another one some
where else in the county next
year, or maybe the year after.
Stevenson said PCRA is
reaching out to both the Barker
House in Edenton and the Mu-
See TOUR, 4
Glitch cancels
Friday classes
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Classes were canceled at Hertford
Grammar School" Friday because of an
electrical problem.
Jim Davison, the director of mainte
nance for the school system, said the
three-phase power going to the school
started acting up Thursday morning. It
was tripping off the air conditioning units
during the day.
Superintendent Matthew Cheeseman
said he made the call to alert parents of
the school closure about 5:30 p.m. Thurs
day At that point nobody could say for
sure if the electrical problem would be
fixed before classes started Friday.
“I wanted to give families an amount
of time to make child care arrangements.
We’re talking about 430 kids and staff and
I didn’t want to put them in a situation of
being in a very humid and very uncom
fortable environment.”
Classes went on as normal in the other
three schools in the district. Teachers are
HGS were allowed to use Friday as an
optional work day.
Hertford Town Manager Brandon
Shoaf said the problem was caused by
See GLITCH, 4
Lions to honor
Jimmy Hunter
From Staff Reports
Lions Club members in Hertford will
join members across the state as the
2018 North Carolina state lions Club
Lapel Pin honoring Jim “Catfish” Hunter
is unveiled. The ceremony is set for 1:30
p.m. on Thursday at the Perquimans
County Chamber of Commerce on Mar
ket Street.
Jimmy, as he’s known locally, signed
to professional baseball right out of Per
quimans County High School to play with
the Kansas City Athletics. He pitched a
See HUNTER, 4
Annual Hertford car show is coming on Saturday
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Cars from far and wide
are expected to be in Hert
ford Saturday for the annual
Historic Hertford Car Show.
The event is held to sup ¬
port Historic Hertford Inc.
Bron Prokuski, the orga
nizer of the event, said he
hopes for at least 30 cars
for the event. The issue that
is beyond his control is the
weather.
“Pray for no rain,” he
said.
The owners of fancy clas
sic and new vehicles don’t
like taking them out if the
weather is going to be bad,
he said.
The show will be held be
hind Hertford Town Hall at
the boat ramp and the Hert
ford Bay Marina The mu
nicipal parking lot and boat
dock will be closed from
midnight on Friday through
3:30 p.m. on Saturday. The
lot opens to participants at
7 am. Saturday and all cars
and expected to be on site
by 9 a .m. Judging will take
place at 2:30 p.m.
Admission is free to the
public, and the cost to enter
a vehicle is $20. Car owners
are the ones voting on who
wins awards.
As of last Thursday five
people had already regis
tered.
“I got a call this morning
from someone who is a long-
time friend and he knows of
See CAR, 2
Cook announces he will not run for state Senate again
From Staff Reports
Northeastern North Car
olina’s state senator since
2013 is stepping down, cit
ing redistricting and a desire
to spend more time with
family.
Sen. Bill Cook, R-Beau-
fort, announced he will not
inn for re-election in 2018.
He explained his reasoning
in a press release last week.
“I’ve tried to be a good ser
vant to the people of East
ern North Carolina. How
ever, the recent redistricting
changes have prompted me
to reevaluate my commit
ment to my family,” Cook
said. “And as much as I love
the folks of Eastern North
Carolina, I love my family
more. I have decided to not
seek another term in the
state Senate. I am blessed to
have a wonderful family and
I need to spend more of my
life with them - especially
my grandchildren.”
Cook, 72, currently serves
Senate District 1, which cov
ers eight counties including
Camden, Currituck, Pasquo
tank and Perquimans. That
is expected to change, how
ever, as the General Assem
bly approved new Senate
districts in compliance with
a federal court’s ruling.
The maps would make
Beaufort part of Democrat
ic-leaning Senate District 3,
rather than the reliably Re
publican district Cook has
served since 2013, when he
assumed office after the 2012
election.
According to a WRAL re
port, Cook told lawmakers
before voting against the new
maps that he opposed mov
ing Beaufort County into a
Democratic-leaning district.
The “conservative-leaning
county will be drowned in a
sea of liberalism,” he said in
the report.
Perquimans County Com
mission Chairman Kyle Jones
said serving as Cook has is a
“selfless act” and he wishes
See COOK, 4