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PERQUIMANS COUNTY LIBRARY
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HERTFORD NC 27944-1306
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Loftis earns scholarship, 4
"News from Next Door 11
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 3, 2018 JAN 0 3 REC'D JAN 1 6 20^50 cents
Library
to feature
high tech
(EDITOR’S NOTE: This
is the second of a two-part
series on the new Perqui
mans County Library.)
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Books still play a vital
role in a modern library, but
technology is also making a
big difference.
The new Perquimans
County library will have
both.
Judi Bugniazet serves
as regional director of the
Pettigrew Regional Library
system. Perquimans is one
of four in the system.
She started as the Perqui
mans librarian in 2010.
The foundation for the
new library was laid when
then librarian Jeri Oltman
got a grant to review the
library’s future needs, Bug
niazet said.
“When I was hired, they
were already working on
that,” Bugniazet said.
It was not a quick process.
At one point, Bugniazet was
asked about her thoughts of
just remodeling the old one.
Bugniazet and board
members were willing to
wait for a new one.
“I knew what the flooring
was like in the old library,”
she said.
It wasn’t built to be a li
brary. Instead it was built as
a lunchroom for a school.
And the sheer weight of tons
of books was causing the
concrete flooring to crack.
“You could hear the
crunching when you
See LIBRARY, 2
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
A car travels down U.S. 17 in Hertford last Wednesday morning through a flurry of snow. While the snow
fell, it wasn’t sticking to road surfaces.
Bitter weather coming
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The region was bracing
for even colder weather and
snow this week.
A coastal low is expected
to bring accumulating snow
and gusty winds this after
noon into Thursday.
As of Tuesday morning,
three to five inches of snow
was expected across the
lower Eastern Shore south
into Hampton Roads and
interior northeast North
Carolina from Wednesday
afternoon into Thursday
morning. Lesser amounts of
up to one inch are expected
along the 1-95 corridor, with
little to no accumulating
snow across the Piedmont.
So far area utilities have
been able to handle the de
mand for electricity.
Chris Powell, a spokes
man for Albemarle Electric
Membership Corporation,
said the utility has not suf
fered mqjor cold-related
outages during the past few
days. •
Hertford Town Manager
Brandon Shoaf said no
records have been set in
teins of demand. He said
last winter had equally nasty
weather.
“Just last year, roughly
See WEATHER, 2
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NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
Areas of eastern North Carolina and Virginia
can expect three to five inches of snow today
into Thursday.
Schools
to add golf
program
(EDITOR’S NOTE: This
is the first part of a two-
part series on sports in the
Perquimans school system.
Next week we take a closer
look at football.)
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Perquimans County High
School will add a co-ed golf
team this spring, a JV foot
ball team next fall and is
looking at looking at adding
an all-female soccer team.
The school has been field
ing co-ed soccer team.
Athletic Director Justin
Roberson made an informa
tional presentation to the
school board last month.
“We’re excited about it,”
Superintendent Matthew
Cheeseman said. “We’re
looking at increasing our
academic successes and
increasing our academic of
ferings and now we’re look
ing at increasing our athletic
offerings.”
The school system is
moving forward on having
a new football field in place
by August. It will be across
the street from the high
school on Edenton Road
Street. It will be fitted with
new bleachers, lights and
a field house. The football
field is only the first phase
in a larger plan to develop
the 32-acres of donated land
into a full athletic complex
complete with a running
track, soccer field, tennis
courts and practice fields
for both football and soc
cer.
“We’re also looking at the
SeeGOLF,2
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
Beverly Gregory (left) has been named the new
coordinator of the Perquimans County Senior Center.
Penny Trueblood, (right) has been named the new
assistant coordinator. Delphine Madre, the former
director, retired on Dec. 31 after 24 years of service.
Faye Myers also retired after 18 years.
Gregory, Trueblood to lead senior center
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The Perquimans County
Senior Center will have a
new face as director.
However for anybody
who has ever visited the
county’s tax office, it won’t
be an unfamiliar face.
Beverly Gregory has as
sumed the position left va
cant with the retirement of
Delplune Madre. Madre offi
cially stepped down on Dec.
31 after 34 years of service.
Also new. will be Penny
Trueblood. She will serve as
assistant coordinator. That
position was held by Faye
Myers, who also retired last
month.
Gregory is making the
move over from the county’s
tax office. She’s been work
ing there since 2005.
Perquimans County Man
ager Frank Heath said Greg
ory will be a perfect fit in the
senior center job.
Heath said Gregory has
an “excellent personality”
when it comes to dealing
with the public.
“She’s also got a great
worth ethic and she is so
friendly and caring about
people.”
Gregory said she was en
couraged to apply for the se
nior center job by friends.
“They knew how much I
care about other people.”
Any Perquimans resident
age 55 and older can join
the senior center. There is
no fee. To participate in the
senior nutrition program
you have to age 60 and over.
The. center is located at 1072
Harvey Point Road.
Gregory is 58-years-old.
“There are so many op
portunities here and a lot
of people don’t even know
about us,” Gregoiy said. “It’s
such a great place. Every
body takes care of every
body else.”
“I have so much to learn,”
she said and then joked, “but
people say I’m ‘trainable.’”
After graduating Perqui
mans County High School in
1977 Gregory went through
a period when she worked
with the Elizabeth City-
Pasquotank Public Schools
doing data and finance. She
also worked for attorney El
vin Small.
Before working at the
senior center, Trueblood
worked for the Perquimans
County School nutrition
program.
Watson named honor
graduate from BLE
County again ranked Tier 1
From Staff Reports
Brian Watson was named
the honor graduate among
the 12 people graduating
from the Basic Law Enforce
ment class at College of The
Albemarle in December.
Watson is joining the Per
quimans County Sheriff’s
Office as a school resource
officer.
“He’s done a good job,”
said Sheriff Shelby White.
Watson started with the
Perquimans office as a part-
time animal control officer.
At the graduation, Dr.
Robert Wynegar, president
of COA, welcomed gradu
ates, family, local- law en-
6 89076 47144
2
WATSON
forcement
instructors
and spon
sors, and
friends to
the cer
emony.
Captain
H. Travis
Jackson
from the
Pasquotank Sheriff’s Office
provided the keynote ad
dress for the event.
During the 16 weeks of
training, the students fin
ished 641 contact hours, 36
distinct blocks of instruc
tion with 36 topical tests
and multiple practical ex
ams to include firearms,
driving, traffic crash, patrol
techniques, domestic vio
lence, criminal investiga
tion, CPR/first responders,
rapid deployment, explo-
See WATSON, 2
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Perquimans County is
once again considered Tier
1, one of the most economi
cally distressed counties in
North Carolina.
In years past, a Tier 1 des
ignation meant there were
plenty of economic incen
tives available to bring in
new jobs and investment.
That was then and this is
now.
The only reason Per
quimans was. upgraded to
Tier 2 status in 2017 was
because of a tiny drop in
the county’s poverty rate.
Counties with fewer than
50,000 people with a pov
erty rate of 19 percent can
automatically qualify as a
Tier 1.
Last year Perquimans
County’s rate was .015 of
a percentage point lower
than 19 percent.
Perquimans County man-
Perquimans is again in a cluster of Tier 1 counties that
includes Gates, Pasquotank and Camden.
ager Frank Heath said the
county has thus far missed
out on the economic incen
tives that Tier 1 is supposed
to attract.
“I don’t know how much
it really matters unless we
did happen to land a big
company,” Heath said.
Among the 10 economic
development announce
ments made in the final
days of 2017, many of them
were for counties that were
considered the least eco
nomically distressed. The
Dec. 22 announcement was
for 140 jobs, a $40 million
investment in Cumberland
County, a Tier 2 county. The
day before the announce
ment was for projects in
Gaston (Tier 2), Iredell
(Tier 3), and Burke, (Tier
2). Those projects involved
639 jobs and a $72 million
investment.
The way the system
works, counties get a check
mark if they have a popula
tion under 50,000. They
get another check mark
if the population is under
12,000 people. The second
one means Camden will
automatically be consid-
See TIER, 2