"News from Next Door"
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PERQUIMANS COUNTY LIBRARY
110 W ACADEMY ST
HERTFORD NC 27944-1306
25
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2018
The go-to source
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the place we all
call home.
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Deputies respond to skull found, shooting
INSIDE
fl Travonte Madison, 23,
suffered serious injuries from
gunshot wounds at his home on
Chestnut Street. Madison was
airlifted to the hospital.
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
A resident in New Hope discov
ered a human skull Saturday on
the shore near Web Street, Perqui-
mans County Sheriff Shelby White
said Tuesday.
Sheriff Shelby White said the
location is at the very end of New
Hope where it meets the Albemar
le Sound.
The skull was sent to the medi
cal examiners office in Green
ville.
There are two boaters who have
been missing in waters in the area.
It’s also possible the skull could
belong to 26-year-old Kelvin Sin
gleton. He had escaped from law-
men in Edenton and his headless
body was found April 7, 2017 in a
remote Bertie County field.
Chowan County Sheriff Dwayne
Goodwin said Singleton was not
killed where the body was found.
His body was identified by his
fingerprints. His head was not lo
cated.
White does not believe the head
belongs to Karen Bosta, a 39-year-
old Perquimans County woman
who has been missing.
At the same time deputies were
responding to the case of the skull,
they were called to a shooting in
Snug Harbor.
Travonte Madison, 23, suffered
serious injuries from gunshot
wounds at his home on Chestnut
Street.
White said he was airlifted to a
hospital, but would not say which
one. He believes that robbery may
have been a motive.
White said the sheriffs office
has a “person of interest” that may
have been involved.
Three months after a deadly
escape attempt, Pasquo
tank Correctional Institution
remains seriously under
staffed, based on numbers
the N.C. Department of Pub
lic Safety reported Friday.
There are 104 vacan
cies currently at PCI, DPS
spokesman Jerry Higgins
reported in an email to The
Daily Advance.
Page 2
Plans for
new building
now on hold
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The Hertford-based Albemarle Com
mission will be looking for how it can
use what it already has since plans for a
new building have been put on the back
burner.
The Commission serves a 10-county
area and needed buy-in from leaders in
those counties in order to borrow the
money for a new building.
The Commission now leases a build
ing owned by Perquimans County on
Church Street.
Executive Director Cathy Davison
said her board endorsed plans for a
new building. One reason is they want
ed to bring in all the employees under
one roof. There was not enough space
to do that with the old building. There
also wasn’t enough room to store some
things and the Commission had to rent
storage units.
“It’s not about just getting a new
building, it’s about providing efficient
services,” Davison said.
Davison said the Perquimans County
Commission was willing to donate prop
erty for the new $2.2 million, 17,000
square foot structure across the street
See BUILDING, 2
Chamber Banquet And Auction
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
Doug Layden (right) auctions off an item held by Perquimans County Chamber of
Commerce director Sid Eley on Friday night during the chamber’s annual banquet
held at Louise’s Event Center.
Military test
to be offered
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Students at Perquimans County High
School took a lot of tests this month,
but this week students who want to,
can take one to find out their career op
tions in the military.
For two hours, they’ll be taking the
ASVAB, a multiple-choice test, admin
istered to determine qualification for
enlistment in the military.
Army Staff Sgt.
Latoria Hinton
said other high
schools in the
region have been
offering it to their
students, but Per
quimans hasn’t in
the past. Hinton is
a recruiter based
in Elizabeth City.
“Most of the
schools admin
ister it mainly
because it’s a ca
reer exploration
tool,” she said. “It
"Most of
the schools
administer it
mainly because
it's a career
exploration
tool."
Latoria Hinton
Army Staff Sgt.
Riverbash to feature ‘Dine, Drink and Dance’
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
As the time draws closer, the de
tails of this year’s Riverbash Festi
val are coming into focus.
The event will be held April 27-
28.
The inaugural Riverbash is timed
with the 350th anniversary the for
mation of government as we know
it in northeastern North Carolina.
Perquimans County was formed in
1668 when Olde Albemarle was di
vided into what would become the
first counties of North Carolina.
Currituck, Pasquotank, Perqui
mans, and Chowan represent the
beginnings of local government in
the state.
“The idea is to showcase Per
quimans County in the best way
possible and invite visitors to see
what the county has to offer,” said
Sharon Smith, the county’s tourism
director. “We want this to be a fun
thing and the premier event in the
county.”
Most of the events will be free,
but tickets to the “Dine, Drink and
Dance” event are $25. It’s being
co-sponsored by Historic Hertford
Inc. and the Hertford Rotary and
will be held on the waterfront be
hind Hertford Town Hall on April
28 from 6 p.m. until 10 p.m.
The tickets provide you a meal of
steamed shrimp, or steamed crabs,
or ribs; two sides and two drinks
(beer, wine or soda). The location
will be the parking lot behind Hert
ford Town Hall next to the town’s
dock. ID will be required for all al
cohol sales.
Beverages, shrimp and crab will
be available at an additional cost
until sold out.
Tickets go on sale starting Feb.
5 and only 200 will be sold. Tickets
will be available at Carolina Trophy,
109 N. Church St. No tickets will be
sold after April 13 and ho tickets
See RIVERBASH, 2
Perquimans Library
closes for relocation
From Staff Reports
The Perquimans County
Library will be moving this
week, and as a result both
the old and new locations
will be closed to the pub
lic.
“Hopefully everything
6 89076 47144 2
goes smoothly and it wont
be more than a couple
weeks,” said Librarian Mi
chele Lawrence.
With the move, the li
brary’s computer services
will be lost and without that,
it can’t check out books.
“We’re excited about get
ting back to normal,” Law
rence said.
The move involves mov
ing some 41,000 books to
the new location in the
500 block of West Church
Street.
HERTFORD + WINFALL PQ
RIVERBASH
PERQUIMANS COUNTY. NC
» APRIL 27-28, 2018
shows what kinds of jobs they would
qualify for after graduation even if they
don’t join the military.”
Administering the test at the high
school has advantages, Hinton said. Oth
erwise students would have to schedule
a time and travel to Elizabeth City and
the recruiting office and take it there.
“This way they take it at their own
school with their peers,” Hinton said.
Taking the test doesn’t require a stu
dent join the military, but it does show
them what jobs they would qualify for.
“Some parents, and I’m a parent only
are looking at college as an option.
Sometimes you need to think outside
the box.”
Hinton, a native of Rocky Mount, is
the mother of two.
She has one child in college and the
other is a senior in high school.
Velvet Jennings Harris is also a moth
er of two, and both of them graduated
Perquimans County High School. Both
also joined the Army and Harris couldn’t
be happier.
The oldest, Michael Spearman, is
now a Staff Sergeant and has earned a
Master’s Degree in college while in the
Army.
“Some kids struggle in school, and he
was one of them. I cried every night just
hoping he would pass,” Harris said.
He did graduate and joined the Army
in 2008.
That meant he left home, but Harris
said the military would offer him a fu
ture.
See MILITARY, 2
Plantation women look to help others succeed
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Sometimes a little bit of help can go a
long way, so once again the Albemarle Plan
tation Women’s Club is opening up the an
nual Women In Transition grant program.
The APWC also funds traditional schol
arships for high school seniors, but it also
awards up to $1,000 to a woman who have
a strong work ethic and a plan for advance
ment. Applications are due back to the
APWC Community Giving Committee no
later than March 23.
The WIT grants are based on charac
ter, ability, having a plan and the need for
financial aid, said Lisa Gregor, a member
See WOMEN, 2
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Last year’s Albemarle Plantation Women’s Club scholarship
recipients (left to right) Amanda Pulley, Toni Woodward, Shykesha
Kee, Jessica “Winter” Money, and WIT recipient Sarah Branham,
and the 2017 Community Giving Co-Chairs Lisa Gregor (far left) and
Patty Walsh (far right) pose with their mothers or friends. Scholarship
recipients not pictured are Taylor Green and Christin Castro.