The
P “^ 11 “““ CAR - RT LOT**C 001 A0027
"Ini l, ll l i l l l iiTil'ili|i'i||||||i,| ) | 1| ii 1 i| | Il li - Ip
PERQUIMANS COUNTY LIBRARY
110 WACADEMY ST
HERTFORD NC 27944-1306
YNS
^ ^VV IL IT K LY
Church dedication, 6
"News from Next Door 1 WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 6,2017 50 cents
DEC O6Kni
Program HOLIDAY CHEER Cole
targets gun
violence
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Perquimans students in the seventh
and ninth grade will be offered a pro
gram early next year on guns and how
the wrong choices can have tragic re
sults.
Perquimans
County High School
Resource Officer
David Murray will
be among the three
deputies that teach
the class. Last sum
mer he attended a
program along with
members of the
Elizabeth City Po
lice Department and
deputies from both
Pasquotank and
Camden counties.
The Educating
Kids About Gun Vio
lence program was
originally developed
in Fayetteville.
Part of the pro
gram includes a 29-
minute video called
Decision Points that
focuses on a young
man and bad deci
sions.
“The whole pro
gram shows deci
sion by decision how
he strays down the
wrong path,” Murray
WATSON
MURRAY
SAWYER
said.
In the video the teen goes to a house
party and is confronted by a man who
has bullied him in the past. In a split
decision, he shoots the bully but in the
process also kills his own sister.
In the show the young man finds
himself in prison and asks, “where did
I go wrong?” Then the video shows
different points in his life where a dif
ferent decision would have had a bet
ter outcome.
“One of the things he (the shooter)
could have done was to start com
municating with his mother instead
of internalizing. He bottled up those
frustrations,” Murray said. “The whole
point of the video is about choices.”
Murray made a presentation about
the program to the county school
board in September. Superintendent
Matthew Cheeseman said parents
would be sent a notification before
any instruction and given the chance
to opt out.
While Perquimans County remains
a mostly rural quiet place, gun vio-
See GUN, 2
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
Top, members of the PQ Pep Squad
wave Saturday during the annual
Christmas parade in Winfall. For more
parade photos, see the Dec. 13 issue of
The Perquimans Weekly. Right, Hertford
Grammar School Principal Jason Griffin
and his daughter Ainsley wave to the
crowds Saturday during the Perquimans
County Christmas Parade in Hertford.
Griffin, North Carolina’s Principal of the
Year, was the Grand Marshal.
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Below, a band performs before a crowd
at Hertford's Grand Illumination on
Friday on Church Street.
named to
authority
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Gov. Roy Cooper named
Janice Cole as chairman of
the 11-member board that
manages the N.C. Marine In
dustrial Park Authority last
week.
The
authority
I owns the
i 72-acre site
in the Per
quimans
County
Marine
Industrial
Park near COLE
the Perqui ¬
mans Recreation Center. The
authority also oversees the
marine parks in Wanchese
and Engelhard.
If fully developed, officials
hope the Perquimans site will
attract marine-related indus
tries and employ upwards of
400 to 500 people.
Cole previously served as
the United States Attorney
for the Eastern District of
North Carolina Cole was
also the first African-Ameri
can and woman elected to
serve as a district court judge
in the 1st District of North
Carolina
Most recently she served
as a member of the Perqui
mans County Commission, a
number of years as chair.
Cole said her new role as
chair of the authority means
she’ll be looking at the bigger
picture.
“When I was on the (coun
ty) board, we were always
looking to get the money to
develop it (the Perquimans
park),” Cole said Friday.
In her new position as
chair of the authority, her job
will be to guide the larger au
thority.
“I’ll not just be looking
at just the Perquimans site,
but all the marine industrial
parks.
Cole said her first goal is
to put the authority on a solid
financial footing and build a
reserve account Until about
three years ago, the authority
was funded by the state. Now
it is expected to be self suffi-
See COLE, 2
Sheriff White announces plan to run in 2018
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Less than a year after he was ap
pointed to the job, Sheriff Shelby
White has announced he will run
for it in the 2018 election.
White made the announcement
last week.
“I spent my whole life here in
Perquimans and I’m dedicated to
the county and I love to be able to
WHITE
give back to the
county that gave
so much to me.
I’ve thoroughly
eqjoyed my job
and I’m deter
mined to provide
the best services
I can.”
White, 39, has
been a member of the Perquimans
County Sheriff’s Office for almost
18 years. When then Sheriff Eric
Tilley announced he was retiring
in late 2016, Tilley recommended
White to replace him. The Per
quimans County Commission
ultimately confirmed the appoint
ment.
If re-elected, White hopes to en
large the staff of the department.
There are some things he’s already
been able to accomplish, like up
grading the evidence system.
“We’d like more positions so we
can do more things,” he said.
White points to the sheer size of
the county.
“If you drive from Joppa Road
on the north to Webb Street in
New Hope, its 45 minutes,” White
said. At night the department only
has two deputies doing road pa
trol.
The sheriff oversees a depart
ment with 15 sworn officer and
three other employees and three
bailiffs.
Under Sheriff Tilley, the depart
ment had no official person desig
nated as “chief deputy” but for all
intents and purposes, White filled
that role when Tilley was unavail
able. Officially White’s title was
chief investigator before being
named sheriff.
See WHITE, 2
Foreman Bundy bridge closed
ATHLETIC Complex
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The bridge on Foreman
Bundy Road at the Pasquo-
tank/Perquimans county
line is closed to traffic until
sometime in late March.
The N.C. Department of
Transportation approved
a $727,000 contract with
Wilson-based S.T. Wooten
Corporation to replace the
bridge.
The old bridge was built
in 1960 and has wooden pil
ings according to Jeff Bal
lance, the assistant resident
engineer for DOT’s Division
I. It was closed on Monday.
The new pilings will be
concrete and measure 70
feet long.
“It will be a much stron
ger bridge by far,” Ballance
said.
The old bridge wasn’t un
safe, but it had been posted
with a lower weight limit
because of its age and con
dition. Ballance said bridges
are regularly inspected and
based on that, fisted on a
priority basis for replace
ment or repair.
One reason DOT is do
ing the work right now is
to avoid a statewide mora
torium on work in the wa
ter during the period when
some fish spawn.
The moratorium runs
from Feb. 15 through the
end of June each year.
Anadromous fish are born
in freshwater then migrate
to the ocean as juveniles
where they grow into adults
before migrating back into
freshwater to spawn. Ex
amples are salmon, smelt,
See BRIDGE, 2
STAFF PHOTO
BY PETER WILLIAMS -
Crews took test
borings at the
site of the new
Perquimans
County High
School athletic
complex last
week. School
officials hope
to start actual
construction early
next year and
complete the
football field by
August.