P11/C11****** CAR . RT LOT**G 001 A0027
PERQUIMANS COUNTY LIBRARY
110 WACADEMY ST
HERTFORD NC 27944-1306
The go-to source
for all events in
the place we all
call home.
Have a community
event you would
like to post?
I^EEKLY ^^W
'News from Next Door
11
Visit dailyadvance.com/events
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2018
50 cents
Town debates utility deposit charges
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Hertford Town Council
members debated last Tues
day what to do, if anything,
about the utility deposits
that some new customers
have to pay to get utilities
turned on.
As it stands, new utility
customers pay a deposit of
up to $450 when they get
their electric, water, sewer
service turned on. That’s
lower than it has been and
no deposit is required for
homeowners or those who
can provide a letter of credit
from another utility that
shows the customer has
paid their bill on time for the
last 12 months.
The deposits are de
signed to protect the town
and other customers from
unpaid debt when a custom
er leaves still owing money.
Last year the town wrote
off $27,000 of unpaid utility
debt because it was uncol
lectible.
Councilman Archie Aples
said some customers still
have trouble getting that
much money up front. He
threw out one suggestion.
Let customers pay one third
of the deposit for three
straight months.
As it stands, a customer
will get their deposit money
back in terms of a credit to
their bill after 12 months of
on-time payments.
Councilman Quentin
Jackson asked to have the
special meeting on both
the iPads and and the util
ity issue. He and Council
man Frank Norman arrived
at the meeting after Aples
made his pitch.
“The $450 (deposit) is
high, but we’re not doing
any favors (dividing it in
three installments),” said
Councilman Sid Eley.
Sara Winslow asked if the
meeting was supposed to be
for public comment, why
wasn’t their more notice giv
en. No notice was published
in the paper.
Jackson admitted that he
wanted want to get a discus
sion started and there can
be other meetings.
“I am new at this,” Jack-
son said.
Mayor Horace Reid said
much of the utility issue
would be resolved if the
town could get more new
utility customers to spread
the debt load around. While
the town owns the electrical
utility infrastructure, it has
debt on loans it took out to
expand the water and sewer
plants during a period of
anticipated growth 10 years
See CHARGES, 2
Snow snarls school schedule
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Perquimans County Superin
tendent Matthew Cheeseman
doesn’t take closing schools for
weather lightly.
He takes it seriously.
But he recognizes that as of
last Friday, the school system
has only had two full days of
schools in 2018.
“There was a full day on Jan.
2, and then we were out Jan. 3,
Jan, 4, Jan. 5, Jan. 8, Jan. 9 and
Jan. 10. Then we came back
with a two-hour delay. We had
a full day on Jan. 12 and then a
holiday.”
The day after Martin Luther
King Jr. holiday there was a
two-hour fog delay and the fol
lowing day there was snow.
“The decision to close
schools based on the weather
is one of the most scrutinized
decisions out there. What wor
ries me the most is bus driver’s
time on the road and coming
back in the evening and stu
dent drivers. You’ll be putting
a 16, 17 or 18-year-olds behind
the wheel. I’d rather be wrong
in everybody’s face than have
one fatality.”
He also worries about stu
dents who live near their school
and . walk. They may have to
walk in the road because the
sidewalk is covered in snow
and/or ice.
Cheeseman said he’s OK
with negative feedback from
parents, but he hasn’t heard it,
at least not directly.
“There has been no push-
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
Snow piles on top of the sign at Hertford Grammar School last week and classes were canceled
once again.
back directly communicated
to me, but what people may
talk about on Facebook, I don’t
know,” Cheeseman said.
Despite losing two more days
last week, Cheeseman said as
it stands now there won’t have
to be any more changes to the
calendar to make up for those
two days.
While some roads may have
been fine last week, Cheese
man said there were serious
issues in the Snug Harbor area
and heavy ice in Woodville.
Even in the town of Hert ¬
ford, there was heavy ice. He
said some residents helped out
by using their own tractors to
clean areas not only around
Hertford Grammar School but
some of the side streets that
buses would have to use.
The state requires students
have 1,025 hours of instruction
and employees have 215 work
ing days a year. Cheeseman
can comply with that provided
there aren’t any more weather
events.
So for now, high school start
ed testing on Tuesday. There
will be a heavy testing window
until the end of the month.
Cheeseman applauds teach
ers for being understanding.
“I think our teachers have
done a remarkable job of stay
ing patient.”
If there are other weather
incidents, Cheeseman said the
board of education’s policy is
to first turn early release days
into full days. After that there
are teacher workdays and the
Christmas and Easter breaks.
The option of doing Saturday
school is the last on the list.
Perquimans man to get life in prison
BY WILLIAM F. WEST
The Daily Advance
CAMDEN — A Perquimans County man
was sentenced to life in prison without the
possibility of parole last week after a Cam
den County jury found him guilty of first-de
gree murder in the 2015 shooting death of
an Elizabeth City teen.
Superior Court Judge Jerry Tillett sen
tenced Kamani Ames to the life prison term
after a nine-man, three-woman jury found
Ames responsible for the murder of Unique
Graham at Camden Causeway Park in Sep
tember 2015.
Ames received the same sentence as
Nahcier Brunson, another Perquimans
County man who pleaded guilty in Graham’s
AMES
slaying last September.
Ames’ court-ap
pointed attorney, John
Bramble of Washing
ton, advised Tillett his
client intends to appeal
the verdict. Bramble
could not immediately
be reached for com
ment. District Attorney
Andrew Womble said in
an email Friday evening
he believes the jury’s guilty verdict against
Ames sent two important messages.
“First, the citizens of Camden County
will not tolerate criminal activity in their
community and are prepared to dispense
justice to whomever commits crime in their
county,” Womble said. “Second, the District
Attorney’s Office is prepared to prosecute
the individuals who commit these crimes
involving serious injury and death to the
fullest extent of the law.”
The Rev. Anthony Harrison, a cousin of
Graham’s who delivered the eulogy at his
funeral, said immediately after the trial that
both the jury’s verdict and Tillett’s sentence
were fair.
“My family feels that justice has been
served,” Harrison said. “We do not hate. We
do forgive because we are a family that does
have Christian values.”
Harrison said the wait for a guilty ver
dict, while long, was worthwhile. He said
See PRISON, 2
U.S. 17 study
includes
new route
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The N.C. Department of Transporta
tion is studying the option of changing
the route of U.S. 17 north of Hertford as
part of a plan to turn the four-lane road
into an interstate.
The studies are in their very early
stages, said Angela Welch, the director
of the Area Regional Planning Organi
zation.
One option would be to upgrade US
17 to interstate standards along the
current route to create that part of I-
87. A second idea would be to create
a new road from around Wiggins Road
in Winfall to the area near Victory Bap
tist Church on the Pasquotank County
side.
Welch said there would be plenty of
time for public comment on the plan
once further studies are done. The fi
nal draft of the study is expected to be
complete in early 2018.
“A feasibility study doesn’t deter
mine much, because it’s just a study,”
she said.
“This is just a preliminary docu
ment.”
If and when the process moves fur
ther along, it will involve a merger team
that will include both state and federal
officials. At that point there will be en
vironmental studies and historic pres
ervation issues will be addressed.
“There is going to be a lot of going
back and forth once the merger team is
created,” she said.
One reason the alternate route may
be attractive is it can bypass the ex
isting homes built along that section
of US 17. Upgrading the existing road
may require the demolition of existing
homes and businesses and/or creating
new access roads.
“If you stayed on the current US 17
there would have to be service roads
and some of those would go right
through people’s property,” Welch said.
Welch said she is unaware of any fu
ture public meetings on the project for
now.
More may be known in January
2019 when the state releases the new
transportation plan. That will include
a guideline of when funding might be
available, she said.
The DOT study looked at an 80-mile
stretch of U.S. 17 through seven coun
ties. From south to north it goes from
Williamston in Martin County to Cam
den County.
Perquimans County officials and
See ROUTE, 2
Navy to release
wind study findings
BY JOHN HAWLEY
The Daily Advance
About a year ago, state
lawmakers called for shut
ting down the aAmazon
Wind Farm US East over
concerns it would cause too
much interference with a vi
tal, U.S. Navy long-range ra-
6 89076 47144 2
dar receiver in Chesapeake.
Were their fears justified
or not? The Navy should
soon know.
The Navy’s analysis of
the wind farm’s first year of
operations should be done
by this spring, according to
Katisha Draughn-Fragua-
da, a public affairs officer
for Naval Support Activity
Hampton Roads, which in
cludes the Forces Surveil
lance Support Center. That
See WIND, 2
Hertford to buy new iPad computers
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Hertford councilmen that want one
will get a new iPad this year.
Newly elected Councilman Quen
tin Jackson asked to have the issue
on the agenda last week and he ar
gued that he needs an iPad Pro with
256 megabytes of memory to do his
job.
Town members have been issued
16-gig iPads in the past but they aren’t
Wi-Fi compatible.
The iPad Pro will cost the town
$992.76.
Mayor Pro Tern Archie Aples said
he simply wanted to have an iPad
with WiFi so he could use it while at ¬
tending meetings with outside boards
and agencies.
Town Manager Brandon Shoaf of
fered some suggestions, but said it
was all up to the board to decide what
they wanted to do.
The Town can buy the basic iPad
with a smaller 9.7 inch screen and 32-
gigabytes of memory for $349.99. It
would have WiFi capabilities. In the
end three of the councilmen, Aples,
Sid Eley and Frank Norman said the
basic model was fine with them.
Mayor Reid made it clear he was
fine with what he already had.
“As far as I’m concerned, this little
fella is all I need,” he said holding up
his old iPad.
Aples said the Wi-Fi issue, not the
higher level 256 gig Pro model that
was the issue for him.
Aples said he’s attended other
meetings with other local officials
and he’s sitting at the same table and
because the town’s iPad didn’t have
Wi-Fi he couldn’t use his while other
county and town officials could use
theirs.
He said Hertford wouldn’t grow
unless it changes some attitudes.
“If we don’t, we’ll be stuck in the
1970s” he said.
Jackson said he went to college to
study computers, and argued that he
needed the larger iPad and the addi
tional memory.
See IPADS, 2