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PERQUIMANS COUNTY LIBRARY
514 S CHURCH ST
HERTFORD NC 27944-1225
Rec winners, 7
"News from Next Door"
WEDNESDAY, JULY 11, 2018
75 cents
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Local, state and federal emergency officials met recently
at Perquimans County High School to discuss hurricane
preparedness.
Isabel’s memories linger
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
As the 15 anniversary of Hurri
cane Isabel approaches, county of
ficials say they are better prepared
to handle a storm that size, but they
aren’t letting down their guard.
Before Isabel, the worst hurri
cane locally was Hazel in 1954, of
ficials say.
Emergency Management Direc
tor Jonathan Nixon said being bet
ter prepared is an ongoing process.
“Because of a continuous process
of improvement, Perquimans Coun
ty is much better prepared than we
were 15 years ago. There were a lot
of lessons learned from Hurricane
Isabel,” he said.
To get everybody on the same
page, the county hosted a meeting
recently with state and federal of
ficials.
The included Nixon, Perquimans
County Manager Frank Heath, Mike
Strayberry from the N.C. Emergen
cy Management agency, Jeff Orrock
from the National Weather Serivce,
Capt. Benjamin Watkins from the
N.C. Civil Air Patrol, First Sgt. Zach
Fromme from the N.C. National
Guard’s 42nd Civil Support Team,
Chief Michael Peaks from the N.C.
Regional Response Team, Capt.
Steve Harris of the Medical Ambu
lance Bus, Justin Williams from the
American Red Cross and Bill Blake
from the American United Way.
Nixon said the last time the coun
ty has on a meeting of this scale was
in 2015.
“Prior to that, Jarvis Winslow
held one annually for several years,”
Nixon said. “I believe this is the
first time we’ve have had this many
resources or outside agencies pres
ent. The goal was to share with first
responders and our partner agen-
See ISABEL, 2
Creek Drive Bridge Closed
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
Signs show that Creek Drive near the Perquimans County Emergency Management office is closed. DOT closed the road Monday so
the bridge can be replaced. Creek Drive should reopen in November.
Winfall man
gunned down
BY WILLIAM F. WEST
AND PETER WILLIAMS
Staff Writers
An Elizabeth City man with a prior
criminal history that includes convic
tions for violence is being held with
out bond at Albemarle District Jail
after being charged with first-degree
murder in the shooting death of a
Winfall man in southern Pasquotank
County last month.
Dazis Davante
Bonds, 22, of the 1100
block of Wood Street,
was arrested July 2
in connection with
the slaying of Devon
Khamari Revelle,
21, of Perquimans
County, Pasquotank
Sheriff Randy Cart-
REVELLE
Schools hire three new football coaches
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Perquimans County High
School will host a meet and
greet tonight at 6 p.m. in the high
school gym with players and
three new football coaches.
Randy Awrey will take the
helm of the Pirates varsity team
this season. The Michigan na
tive has more than 30 years of
football coaching experience
and comes to Perquimans from
Concordia University. Also new
this year will be John Nixon who
AWREY
will head the
jayvee pro
gram and Len
nard Bartlett
who will be
head coach at
Perquimans
County Middle
School.
Awrey joined
the Concordia
program in the spring of 2013
and ‘since then has had a record
of 12 wins and 36 losses. Over
the course of his college career,
his record is 134-106-1.
Awrey, 62, said he’s making
the switch in part for family
reasons. He also said he’s disil
lusioned with football at the col
lege level.
Awrey said he was impressed
with the people in Perquimans
County.
“The people were probably
the biggest seller for me.” He
mentioned Principal Wayne
Price and Superintendent Mat
thew Cheeseman.
Awrey said he wanted to
move closer to his daughter
and her four children. She lives
in Apex now, but they are look
ing to move to Virginia Beach
where her husband’s parents
lives.
“If you know anything about
grandchildren, they steal your
heart,” he said. “I am a man
of faith, and I prayed about it.
I think this is a calling for me
and it’s going to be a welcome
change. At the collegiate level,
it’s more about business. I be
lieve in doing what’s right for
student athletes.”
See COACH, 2
wright said in a press
release.
Cartwright said
deputes received a
call at 6:45 p.m. June
30 that a person had
been shot on Esclip
Road. When depu
ties arrived, they
found a man lying
in the roadway with
BONDS
multiple gunshot wounds. Pasquo
tank-Camden Emergency Medical
Services pronounced Revelle dead at
the scene.
Book hopes to inspire, educate others
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Johnnie Finch came about
the practice of law a little later
in life than some. One reason
could be he didn’t see a lot of
people like him, black and from
a rural area, doing it.
But now at age 37, Finch has
written a book to show others
that it is possible if they are
willing to work at it.
“Black Lawyer Confidential:
Keys to Success” “ is a self-pub
lished book available on-line.
Finch graduated Perquimans
County High School in 1999 and
went on to graduate from Eliza
beth City State University. He
found a career in the juvenile
justice system as a youth coun
selor. When he was about 27 he
met a judge for lunch through a
relationship with his father that
changed in path.
“After that, I found it (a law
career) was obtainable,” Finch
said.
He enrolled in Regent Uni
versity in Virginia Beach, V^. to
study law.
“I found law school so dif
ferent than anything I’d experi ¬
enced going to Perquimans and
ECSU. When I got to Regent,
there were some many differ
ent people, some rich, but if
there was a class of 100 people,
there might be only two or
tluee minorities.”
It was then that he started to
keep a journal to chronicle his
thoughts.
He went on to graduate, pass
the bar, and was sworn in as a
lawyer in the old Perquimans
County courthouse in October
2013.
See FINCH, 2
BI^K
LAWYER
KEYS TO SUCCESS
Black Lawyer by Johnnie Finch
A memorial tribute on the Den
nis J. Stallings Memorial Funeral
Home website said Revelle, known as
“Dookie” had a love for playing drums
and supporting his team, the Duke
Blue Devils.
A funeral service was held for him
Saturday at Melton Grove Missionary
Baptist Church in Winfall. He was the
son of Paulita Powers and Dexter Rev-
eUe.
Cartwright didn’t release anything
further about the investigation into
Revelle’s death, except that the probe
remains in its early stages. He thanked
the State Bureau of Investigation, the
N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission,
N.C. Alcohol Law Enforcement, N.C.
Community Corrections, the Dare
County Sheriff’s Office and Eliza
beth City police for assisting with the
probe.
“I am happy with the work these
agencies have done in getting this per
son off our streets so quickly,” he said,
referring to Bonds.
Bonds has a history of prior convic
tions in Pasquotank County; including
felony accessory after the fact for his
See MURDER, 2
Albemarle Commission agency spearheads Dementia effort
(COMING NEXT WEEK:
How Vidant Chowan Hos
pital is training staff
there.)
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The Area Agency on Ag
ing (AAA) is stepping up
89076 47144 2
6
efforts to
increase
awareness
about De
mentia and
show how
communi
ties can
better deal
withit
As part
of that, three informational
sessions are planned in the
coming months to introduce
the Dementia Friends North
Carolina program. Two will
be in Chowan County and
one in Perquimans.
The AAA is one of the
agencies within the Hert
ford-based Albemarle Com
mission. The commission
covers a 10-county of north-
east North Carolina. Ashley
Lamb is an aging program
specialist with the AAA
Dementia is not a specific
disease. It’s an umbrella
term that describes a group
of symptoms associated
with a decline in memory or
other thinking skills severe
enough to reduce a person’s
ability to perform everyday
activities. Alzheimer’s dis
ease accounts for about 60
to 80 percent of cases.
Lamb said it’s critical to
increase awareness and
support now because the
diseases tend to hit older
people the most and the av
erage age of people in the
area is already high com
pared to national data and
will only get higher.
“Statistics show that one
in eight people age 65-plus
and one in three age 85-plus
are living with dementia,”
Lamb said.
The figures come from
the group Dementia Friend
ly America.
The first local Dementia
Friends meeting is Aug. 15
at 7 p.m. at Ballard’s Bridge
Baptist Church in Tyner.
The second one is Aug. 22 at
noon at the Chowan County
Senior Center. On Oct. 31
at 11 a.m. there will be one
at the Perquimans County
Senior Center, 1072 Harvey
Point Road.
Lamb said what some
body does after the hour-
long session is up to them.
“The task can be as big or
as small and they want it to
be.”
“One of the things they’ll
talk about is normal aging vs.
signs of Dementia and when
you might need to go to the
doctor,” Lamb said. “They’ll
talk about basic communi
cations techniques.”
One suggestion is to not
ask a lot of questions in
one big chunk. Someone
may not be able to process
that. Instead ask just one
See DEMENTIA, 2