P The
ERQUIMANS
”Nevis from Next Dooi
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
Kaley Kiffner gets a hug from this year’s NC Teacher
of the Year Lisa Godwin last week when Kiffner was
named this year’s Regional Teacher of the Year.
Letters to Santa, A7, B1-8
DK 2 0 ®1)
50 cents
S&-1306
miiner wins regional honor
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
For the second year
in
a row, a teacher from Per
quimans County has been
named the region’s best.
Kaley Kiffher, a science
teacher at Perquimans
County Middle School,
found out she had been
named Regional Teacher
of the Year on Thursday.
Kiffner won the award over
teachers in 20 school dis
tricts in 17 counties in the
northeast region.
The event was a well-or
chestrated surprise. The as
sembly in the gym was billed
as a pep rally to the school’s
successful sports teams.
Kiffner admits she had
no clue. She had been told
the winner of the regional
award wouldn’t be an
nounced until Dec. 20.
Instead Kiffner was wor-
ried that the pep rally might
interrupt a classroom activ
ity she had already planned.
“The kids were having a
‘virtual field trip’ through
the 3M company.”
They got to see real scien
tists working in real labs.
The time for the pep rally
was moved back.
On hand for the assem
bly was Lisa Godwin from
Onslow County, this year’s
state Teacher of the Year. To
keep news of Kiffher’s selec
tion for the regional honor a
secret, Godwin was dressed
in the PCMS Tiger mascot
outfit, complete with the Ti
ger head.
As part of the surprise,
the event featured a game
where teachers had to pin a
carrot on a snowman while
wearing the blindfold. Once
the blindfold was on Kiffner,
See KIFFNER, A2
Bridge project to cost $56.9 million
Grant to fund
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Replacing Hertford’s
Bridge will cost nearly
S-
$57
million, $25 million more than
the most recent estimates and
some $39 million more than
the estimates of what the state
wanted to build.
The good news is the clo
sure time for traffic between
Winfall and Hertford may be
cut down to eight months from
two years. Also the new swing
bridge will look nearly identi
cal to what the old bridge looks
like except it will be wider and
there will be a bridge over the
causeway.
DOT wanted to build a fixed
33-foot-high bridge for an esti
mated $18 million to $20 mil
lion.
Many residents flatly said
“no” and after years of debate,
DOT agreed to build another
swing bridge.
The NC Department of
Transportation opened the
three bids on the project this
month and the $56.9 million
option offered by McLean
Contracting was consider the
best, if not cheapest option.
State DOT funds are paying for
Debate remains over merits of project
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The $57 million price tag
to replace Hertford’s S-Bridge
drew almost universal shock
from most residents.
The news that the closure
time for traffic might be cut
down to eight months drew
universal praise.
“That’s awesome,” said
Susan Cox about the eight
months. “They’d been talking
about two to three years at
some point.
“An eight-month closure is a
problem because you dramati
cally see differences in cars
when the bridge is closed. Any
closure is a problem.”
SUBMITTED PHOTO
A computer generated rendering shows what the new S-Bridge will look like.
the bridge.
A bid by PCL Constructors
was $1.6 million less, but the
closure of the road would have
been longer. The most expen
sive bid was $69.8 million by
the Archer Western, the same
company that did the bridge
replacement project in Eliza
beth City.
The Elizabeth City project,
which took about seven years,
"An eight-month closure is a problem because
you dramatically see differences in cars when the
bridge is closed. Any closure is a problem.”
Susan Cox
Owner, Carolina Trophy
Cox owns and operates
Carolina Trophy and said her
business doesn’t get hurt as
much as others when traffic is
cut off.
She said you could even
see it when the bridge was
closed recently for about three
months when repairs were
made.
“But heck, eight months is
ended up costing $62 million.
Until the bid opening, the
DOT public estimates on the
Hertford project were about
$32 million.
Awarding the Hertford can’t
be finalized until the consult
ing parties and state and feder
al agencies sign off on the deal.
David Hering, a DOT engineer
working on the project, said he
hopes that can happen before
a lot better. That’s a difference
between two or three years.
With eight months, you will
save some businesses.”
“The (higher) cost is not a
good thing. But it’s not just the
Hertford business district.”
She’s a former educator and
chairman of the Perquimans
County School Board. When
the S-Bridge is out of service,
the end of the year.
Hering is assigned to the de
sign-build part of NC DOT. The
division awards points to de
signs that may cost more, but
will have other benefits. It lets
the contractor’s design team
find a way to “think outside
the box.”
In the case of Perquimans a
See BRIDGE, A2
the schools have to divert bus
es over a longer distance every
school day. And Cox said the
business lost because of a clo
sure would impact what the
county gets in sale tax.
“The closure is a big thing.
It affects the economy of the
whole county.”
Charles Woodard, the owner
of Woodard’s Pharmacy, said
eight months is an improve
ment. He also feared if the
traffic is shut down for years,
many businesses would also
shut down.
The $57 million price tag
doesn’t bother Chris Lane.
“Absolutely I think it’s worth
See DEBATE, A2
sewer repairs
■ The sewer grant from Golden LEAF
will allow the town to make repairs to
sewer collection lines.
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The Town of Hertford is getting a
$637,000 grant to make sewer system re
pairs.
It’s also getting three pickup trucks for
the price of one thanks to a separate grant
by USDA.
The sewer grant from Golden LEAF will
allow the town to make repairs to sewer
collection lines.
The grant was part of
$14.3 million the founda
tion provided recently to
help towns recover from
Hurricane Matthew. The
General Assembly made
the money available to
Golden LEAF because it
had systems in place to
quickly distribute disas
ter funds.
SHOAF
Hertford Town Manager Brandon Shoaf
said the town’s sewer collection system is
aging, but the massive rains from Matthew
made it worse. In a 24-hour period, the
town was hit with 16 inches of rain.
“We had issues with the system, and
Matthew found all the weaknesses and de
stroyed them,” Shoaf said.
“Some of them date to the 1920s, and
with Covent Garden, I am not sure if there
has ever been any upgrades in places.”
Pipes separated which caused erosion
and groundwater was able to enter the
wastewater system. That caused sinkholes
which damaged roads.
The grant will fund the replacement of
2,200 linier feet of sewer line, including
nine manholes and replacing 52 service
lines.
Some 2,700 square yards of asphalt will
be milled up and replaced.
The town has to provide a $50,000
matching grant as a contingency fund.
The work will take place on Dobbs
Street, Market Street, Covenant Garden
and Grubb Street.
Residents might start seeing some work
in January. Shoaf hopes the project can be
wrapped up by April.
See REPAIRS, A2
Hunter to run for House seat
Fire Vets Retiring
BY JON HAWLEY
The Daily Advance
A second Republican has
announced plans to seek
election to the N.C. Legis
lature next year in the new
six-county House District 1.
Candice “CV” Hunter, 45,
of Hertford said Friday she
plans to file for the GOP
primary in the district that
now includes Chowan, Per
quimans, Tyrrell, Bertie,
Washington and Camden
counties
Hunter, a marketing com
pany owner and former TV
anchor, joins former state
ferry director Eddy Good
win as the only announced
candidates so far for the
89076
7144
HUNTER
House Dis
trict 1 seat.
The cur
rent repre
sentative
in District
1, state
Rep. Bob
Steinburg,
R-Chow-
an, has an
nounced he’s seeking elec
tion next year in the newly
drawn Senate District 1.
Also seeking the Senate Dis
trict 1 seat is Clark Twiddy,
a Republican from Dare
Comity.
Hunter, a former Miss
Currituck who spent her lat
er high school years in Cam
den and Currituck counties,
explained Friday that she
returned to northeastern
North Carolina earlier this
year to care for her father.
Prior to then, she worked in
both Norfolk, Virginia, and
Cincinnati, Ohio, as a tele
vision news anchor before
launching her own market
ing company.
As she reconnected with
the area and learned about
its problems, including the
loss of population due to
lack of economic opportu
nity, Hunter said she decid
ed to run for public office.
“I came home because
this is where I want my
family to be and it’s where I
know I can make the biggest
difference,” Hunter said in a
press release. “I’m going to
work tirelessly to earn each
and every vote across the
district, and I’ll work just
as hard in Raleigh to help
create opportunities for my
constituents next year.”
Hunter declined to en
gage in a detailed discus
sion about her platform and
At the end of the year, 150 Years of experience will retire from the Hertford
Volunteer Fire Department. From left to right- Greg Benton with 28 years, Billy
Layden with 38 years, Bob Reed with 41 years and Parker Newbern with 43
years. They were honored for the bravery and dedication to the fire service and
town citizens on Saturday night.
See HUNTER, A2