4
The
TIMANS
11 Ililli , '||i|..| l | 1 u n |11 , 1 !| 1 ,i lll(
PERQUIMANS COUNTYL BRARY' "
110 WACADEMY ST
HER FFORD NC 27944-1306
"News from Next Door"
JAN 1
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2018
Pets of the Week, 3
7 RICO
50 cents
Area recovering as more snow coming
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Even as another smaller
storm is looming for this
week, state and local of
ficials are still dealing with
the effects of Winter Storm
Grayson.
In Perquimans County
alone, the N.C. Department
of Transportation used 510
tons of salt and 48,000 gal
lons of brine to treat roads,
said Tim Hass, a communi
cations officer with DOT.
Across all of DOT Division I,
4,600 tons of salt and 530,000
gallons of brine were used.
Hass said DOT has al
ready started to restock
supplies. Division I covers
14 counties in northeastern
North Carolina from Hyde
County to the south up to
Northampton County on
the north and west. It even
includes parts of Interstate
95.
In addition to personnel
from Division I, crews from
the Asheville and Greens
boro area were brought it for
Grayson. He admits that’s
unusual to draw resources
from Asheville, since it tra
ditionally is hit harder by
winter weather.
“The amount of snow was
not unusual but the circum
stances afterwards after 72
horns of ungodly conditions
is unusual,” he said.
In all 380 DOT staff mem
bers and 170 pieces of equip
ment were used, along with
contractors.
The equipment included
tandem trucks, spreaders
and plows, graders, support
crews, supervisors and me
chanics.
The brine works to pre
vent ice from freezing to the
road, but in Dare County,
where Hass lives, it rained
for hours before the snow
came. That washed the
brine off.
Hass is also the spokes
man for the NC Ferry sys
tem and said as of last week,
the Currituck Ferry wasn’t
operating because the water
was still frozen.
The Perquimans County
Schools changed the calen
dar to make up for the lost
days.
This month, Friday, and
See SNOW, 2
‘Trust God, but keep fighting’
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
People were asked Monday to
put their trust in God and keep
fighting for what is right during
a Martin Luther King Jr. event in
Hertford.
Debbie Whedbee pointed out
“somebody fought for us to be
here on this day.” The event was
sponsored by the Perquimans
NAACP and held at First Baptist
Missionary Church.
Hertford
Town Coun
cilman Quen
tin Jackson
was the guest
speaker.
Jackson was
elected last
November
after multi-
FRANKLIN ple attempts
and failures.
But Jackson said he didn’t quit
and others can’t either. Often, he
said, people have to do it on then-
own terms.
Her talked of the Bible and the
story of David and Goliath. Da
vid was but a boy, but insisted he
could slay Goliath. Army officials
argued he would need heavy ar
mor and a sword, but Jackson
said with all that weight, David
couldn’t even walk.
“He said he’d have to do it his
way,” Jackson said.
So instead armed with only a
slingshot he killed Goliath, even
if it took three shots to do it.
Host Pastor Jonathan Franklin
offered words of unity when he
looked out into the crowd and
pointed out the racial breakdown
was mixed.
“You can see we are not all
African American, but we are all
human. If we’re going to make it,
we have to make it together.”
He also pointed out everybody
See MLK, 2
STAFF PHOTOS
BY PETER WILLIAMS
Top, Hertford
Councilman Quentin
Jackson speaks
at a Martin Luther
King Jr. event
Monday at First
Baptist Missionary
Church in Hertford.
Left, Winfall Mayor
Fred Yates gives
Shirley Skinner a
hug Monday after
she was named the
Perquimans County
NAACP OUnsung
HeroO winner during
a Martin Luther
King Jr. service in
Hertford.
Rotary
offering
tax help
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The Hertford Rotary Club
will once again be sponsoring
a volunteer tax help program
as a part of the IRS nation
wide program that provides
tax preparation services for
low to moderate-income and
elderly taxpayers.
The club ____^_
adopted the TAX
program sev- program
eral years offers forms,
ago and it e _fi| e . 2
has gained
interest for
residents from surrounding
counties as well, said Sandy
Stevenson, a member of the
club and one of the volun
teers.
About 110 to 120 people
have taken advantage of the
service in past years.
The club will start offering
the service on Feb. 6 and run
the program through April 14.
The club was the first Ro
tary club in North Carolina to
participate in the VITA pro
gram and conducts the pro
gram as a service project for
the community. The Rotarians
and other community volun
teers serve as tax preparers.
Stevenson said some AARP
programs in the area have
stopped offering the service,
and the Hertford site is avail
able to help those residents.
“We’re the only free tax
service that I know of in the
area,” Stevenson said.
Appointments are required
for the services. To make one,
See ROTARY, 2
Amazon wind project nets $640,000 to two counties
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The developer of the Amazon
Wind Farms East project presented
checks totaling $640,000 to officials
from Pasquotank and Perquimans
counties Tuesday.
Laura Beane, the CEO of Avan-
grid Renewables, said the event
might just be the first in what may
be a 40-year project.
When the project was first
planned, officials estimated the
life of the project at about 20 to 25
years. Now with newer technology,
the wind farm may last far longer.
Perquimans, got the largest share
of the money at $380,000. It’s home
to the operations/maintenance
building and the electrical substa
tion and 50 of the 104 turbines. Pas
quotank County received $260,000.
The tax payments make Avan-
grid the largest single taxpayer in
both counties, Beane said. In Pas
quotank the figure exceeds the tax
revenue from the Wal-Mart project.
In Perquimans County, the $380,000
is more than the combined tax pay
ments of Albemarle Plantation, Al
bemarle EMC and Weyerhaeuser.
Avangrid also pays each property
owner with a turbine $6,000 a year
in lease payments.
Also on hand for the event was
See WIND, 2
STAFF PHOTO
BY PETER WILLIAMS
Officials from
Pasquotank and
Perquimans
counties pose
with Avangrid CEO
Laura Beane at a
check presentation
ceremony
Wednesday.
The checks,
representing the
annual property
taxes on the
Amazon Wind
Farms East project,
totaled $640,000.
Auditions coming this month for new Carolina Moon play
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The Carolina Moon The
ater Group will be hold
ing auditions Jan. 29-30 for
6 11 89076 47144 2
the upcoming play “Nana’s
Naughty Knickers.”
The Hertford-based group
puts on two plays a year, one
in the spring and one in the
fall. The auditions will be
from 6-8 p.m. at the theater
at 300 W. Grubb St.
Lynne Raymond, the
producer of the play, said
the theater group looked
at performing the play be
fore, but the theater is small
and staging of scenery and
props can be difficult in a
small theater. Tom Loughlin
is directing the play.
The performance centers
around Sylvia Charles, a
woman in her 80s who is liv
ing like she’s in her 20s. She
is the mastermind behind
Saucey Slips, Etc. and lives
and works out of a rent con ¬
trolled apartment.
“Bridget and her Grand
mother (Charles) are about
to become roommates.
However, what Bridget saw
as a unique opportunity to
stay with her favorite Nana
in New York for the summer
quickly turns into an expe
rience she’ll never forget,”
reads a summary of the play.
“It seems her sweet Grand
ma is running an illegal bou
tique from her apartment,
selling hand-made naughty
knickers to every senior
citizen in the five-borough
area. Will Bridget be able to
handle all the excitement?
Will her Nana get arrested
— or worse?”
In addition to Sylvia
Charles and Bridget Charles,
her granddaughter, there are
roles for:
■ Vera Walters: Sylvia’s
aged accomplice equipped
with two hearings aids and
a collapsible walker.
■ Tom O’Grady: the new
est cop on the force, happily
assigned the beat where Syl
via’s apartment is.
■ Gil Schmidt: The land-
See PLAY, 2