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PERQUIMANS COUNTY LIBRARY
110 W ACADEMY ST ,
HERTFORD NC 27944-1306 V y
VV ILILIVJuY
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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2018
75 cents
Anger heats up at Hertford town meeting
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Tempers flared Monday
night when Hertford Town
Council members met be
fore a near capacity crowd
in the historic Perquimans
County courthouse.
The meeting was moved
to that location from town
hall because the anticipated
crowd.
For the past several
months Councilman Quen
tin Jackson has leveled ra
cial charges, been critical
of the town’s volunteer fire
department and asked for
a morato
rium on
cutting off
people’s
utilities for
non-pay
ment until
he and oth
er board
members
can dis
cuss the utility issue.
It came to a head Mon
day. At one point Monday
Jackson walked off the po
dium into the audience af
ter he said somebody said
something negative about
his mother. Rev. Gilbert
Vaughan urged Jackson to
go back to the podium.
There were also shouting
matches between members
of the council and other
council members and the
audience and other audi
ence members and the audi
ence and the council.
Jackson came under fire
for a number of actions in
cluding why he didn’t stand
for the pledge of allegiance
with other town council
members.
Former Town Council
man Ed Lane issued a writ
ten statement saying Jack-
son should stand for the
pledge.
“How disrespectful for
you not to do so. I did learn
that in school while I was
there.”
Jackson defended his ac
tions pointing out the pledge
ends with “and liberty and
justice for all.”
Jackson claims that
doesn’t hold true in Hert
ford if you’re black and he
talked of racial profiling.
Jackson has been arrested
several times in the past in
cluding Feb. 1 when a town
police officer arrested him
See MEETING, 2
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
Hertford Town Councilman Quentin Jackson stays
seated while the rest of the town board stands for the
Pledge of Allegiance on Monday night.
Primary election season starts
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Perquimans County Sheriff
Shelby White, Clerk of Superior
Court Todd Tilley and Perqui
mans County Commissioner
Fondella Leigh were the first
candidates to file for local of
fice Monday.
White was the first, filing just
minutes after noon, the start
of the filing period.. Tilley was
right behind him.
It’s White’s first election. He
was appointed to the job last
year when Sheriff Eric Tilley
retired. White has been in the
sheriff’s office for 18 years.
The county commission
seats of two other commis
sioners are also up this year,
Ed Muzzulin and Wallace Nel
son.
White is the only person so
far who is running for the first
time.
. Since he took office, White
worked with the county com
missioners to add the position
of Chief Deputy. It was filled in
ternally by 12-year veteran Tom
Reid. Under Tilley there was
no Chief Deputy on the depart
ment.
In addition Tilley brought in
a K-9 to serve with drug issues
and added a third School Re
source Officer. During the last
year, security in courtrooms
was also upgraded.
White said he wants to do
even more.
He said he wants to forge a
strong bond between the Sher
iff’s office and the people of
Perquimans.
Hunter named to elections post
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Just in time for the next elec
tion, Perquimans County has a
new Director of Elections.
Holly Hunter was appointed
to the role this month. She’s
been working in the elections
office for about a year and a
half as an assistant.
Sydni Banks resigned the di
rector’s job effective Jan. 26 in
order to take a similar position
in Currituck County.
Hunter, 22, is a graduate
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
Perquimans County Elections Director Holly Hunter completes paperwork to run for office for
Perquimans County Sheriff Shelby White on Monday. White was appointed to the job in 2017
when Sheriff Eric Tilley retired. He was the first candidate to file in Perquimans on the first
day of the sign-up period.
“With what can be a negative
environment at times with law
enforcement, I hope that the
community, from the young
est on up, see the Sheriffs Of
fice as a positive figure for the
people”, White said.
“I believe that it is important
that your sheriff can handle
of Perquimans County High
School who went on to study at
College of The Albemarle.
Hunter takes over at a tim^
when elections boards across
the state are in turmoil.
Tradition holds that the
every aspect of the office with
knowledge and service to the
community when needed. I do
not ask things of my deputies
that I am not both willing and
capable of performing.”
Tilley was first appointed to
Clerk of Court and filled the 14
months left in that term. He’s
“There is a lot to do and it can be
stressful, but I like it."
Holly Hunter
Perquimans Director of Elections
county board has three mem
bers. When Gov. Pat McCrory
held office, two of them were
Republicans and when Gov.
Bev Purdue was in office, two
were Democrats.
But the General Assembly
since run for office and won
three times.
The filing period runs
through Feb. 28 at noon. Voter
registration for the primary
election ends April 13 and one-
top voting goes from April 19
through May 5. The primary is
on May 8.
challenged the system and the
dispute remains in the courts.
The Perquimans board has
just two members, Republican
John McGowan and Democrat
Vera Murrill.
On a statewide level the dis
pute means there is no func
tioning state elections board.
Hunter said without that
state board, the decision to
buy new voting machines is on
hold. Hunter said before she
left, Banks sought state funding
See POST, 2
School
leader
left legacy
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
If you had a child in the Perquimans
County Schools system between 1990
and 2014, Walter Leigh was looking out
of them.
That’s the span of
time Leigh served on
the school board. Dec.
1, 1990 until June 30,
2014, six four-year-
terms. Those who knew
him, say students were
always his focus.
Leigh, 79, died
Feb. 3 at his home in
LEIGH
Elizabeth City. Fellow
school board members remember him
as a steadfast advocate of children and a
man who put children on the front of his
mind, not his position of authority.
That’s the way his daughter, Sheila Hy
man remembers it.
Walter and his wife Fanny, taught her
and sister Fondella early on about public
service. Fondella is now the vice chair of
the Perquimans County Commission.
“They introduced us to politics and the
importance of knowing what was hap
pening in your county. We were raised
with a sense of service to our church, our
community and our neighbors. That was
handed down by our parents but also by
our grandparents as well,” Hyman said.
Walter Leigh was appointed Presiding
Elder of the Edenton District in the Al
bemarle Conference from June 2000 to
June 2016. His daughter Fondella is now
the Presiding Elder.
Hyman lives in High Point now but
she used to live in Greensboro. When
the N.C. School Boards Association held
meetings Greensboro, she would meet
with her father at some of the gather
ings.
“There were people from different
counties all over the state and everybody
knew him.”
That’s also how both Susan Cox and
Wallace Nelson remember it. Everybody
in the schools community in North Caro
lina seemed to know Walter Leigh. In
2009 the state School Boards Associa
tion named him to the All-State school
board.
Cox served eight years on the board
with Leigh and credits him a lot.
“Rev. Leigh was always concerned
See LEGACY, 5
Concerns are resolved over campaign chili cook-off
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
A chili cook-off fund
raiser for a state legislative
candidate will go on, but
Perquimans County health
officials say they did have
some initial concerns about
it.
Candice Hunter, a Re
publican who plans to file
for the open seat in N.C.
House District 1, said she
was advised on Thursday
of a potential problem with
the fundraiser she’s plan
ning to hold Saturday, Feb.
17, at The Crawfish Shack
on Swing Gate Road outside
of Hertford.
John Morgan, an em
ployee of Albemarle Re
gional Health Services who
is based at the Perquimans
County Health Department,
informed Hunter of two po-
C. HUNTER
tential is
sues with
the fund
raiser. One
was that
chili for
the fund
raiser was
scheduled
to be pre
pared off
site and brought to the The
Crawfish Shack and served
to the public. The other is
sue centered on whether
the public would be charged
to attend the event.
Hunter said the language
in her advertising for the
fundraiser clearly indicates
attendees are not being
charged to attend. The ads
recommend donations of
$25 at the “Attend Level.”
“It is just that, a recom
mended donation,” Hunter
said. “I don’t like the fact
candidates have to raise
money any more than any
one else, but I did not make
those rules. We all know the
definition of a donation.”
“It is just that, a recom
mended donation,” Himter
said. “I don’t like the fact
candidates have to raise
money any more than any
one else, but I did not make
those rules. We all know the
definition of a donation.”
The Crawfish Shack on
Swing Gate Road routinely
rents outs its facilities for
fundraisers and events. The
College of The Albemarle
Foundation held a fund
raiser at the facility in Octo
ber that included a catered
meal.
Morgan said the Crawfish
Shack’s kitchen has been
approved by the health de
partment and if the chili
for Hunter’s fundraiser was
going to be prepared there,
the event wouldn’t have
raised ' any public health
concerns. Because the chili
for Hunter’s event is going
to be prepared off-site, how
ever, health officials wanted
to make sure public health
rules would be followed.
“Her fundraiser presented
a complicated way of serving
food to the public,” Morgan
See CHILI, 2