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SUMANS COUNTY LBRARY
EEKLY
All-star team advances, 7
"News from Next Door"
WEDNESDAY, JULY 25, 2018
75 cents
Resident blasts DOT S-Bridge plan
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
A property owner who
stands to lose land because
of the construction of the
replacement of the S-Bridge
spoke out to Hertford Town
Council this month.
Sara Winslow was critical
of the lack of detail provid
ed by the N.C. Department
of Transportation.
“In summary, the town
and its citizens have been
hoodooed by NCDOT,” Win ¬
slow said.
“Many of the citizens
have been in contact with
NCDOT over this long pro
cess, requesting information
and received at times no
response to very little. We
have been to the town coun
cil numerous times request
ing information and support
to the point the other year
when council wouldn’t even
allow the citizens to make
anymore comments relative
to the bridge replacement.
So, I guess the town is not
concerned with the loss of
tax revenue as a result of
the bridge and the associat
ed impacts to property from
the construction.”
DOT’s plan is to construct
another swing span near
where the current bridge
sits. It will also create a
low bridge that eliminates
the need for the existing
causeway, hi the process,
some of the land Winslow
owns on Phelps Street will
be needed by DOT, but
Winslow says she doesn’t
know how much. She said
she was hoping for more
answers when DOT and
the contractor held a public
meeting in late June, but she
was not impressed. Many of
the maps were not updated
to reflect what is being built.
The handouts still show the
federal government is pay
ing the bulk of the cost of
the new bridge, when in fact
the state agreed years ago
to pay the entire cost and
See PLAN, 2
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
Perquimans Schools Superintendent Matthew
Cheeseman (left) discusses the alignment of the road
in Winfall at a meeting last month on the replacement
for the S-Bridge.
Stadium may be delayed
County tackles
smaller projects
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Work on the new $1.2 million
football field at Perquimans
County High School is pro
gressing, but it won’t be ready
for the first game of the season
as was hoped.
Superintendent Matthew
Cheeseman said the school
system still hopes it can be
ready to play on by Aug. 17
but said Oct. 12 may be a more
realistic date. The Pirates play
four of their first few games on
the road and the Oct. 12 date
against Gates is the first home
game after that.
The hang up is grass — or
more specifically an irrigation
system to keep it watered.
Leary Winslow, a school board
member and owner of Macon
Turf Farm, offered to donate
the sod but was worried about
keeping it alive.
“Sod will only live a day or
so without water,” Winslow
said. “That was a huge concern
among other things. Once the
water goes in irrigation can be
installed along with the final
grade. Then sod. We will still be
donating the sod — once those
other things happen.”
The original plan was to bore
under Edenton Road Street
to get the six-inch water main
from the high school side over
to the football field without dis
turbing the pavement, said Jim
Davison, the school system’s
maintenance director.
That won’t work and now
the plan requires tearing up as
phalt to lay the line. Motorists
will still be able to travel down
Edenton Road Street because
both lanes won’t be tom up at
the same time. But the forecast
of rain for days, may hinder the
water line work.
The line has to be in place
so the irrigation firm can do a
flow test to make sure it pro
vides enough water. Once that
happens, the irrigation can be
installed, Davison said.
As much as Cheeseman says
he wants to be able to play
the first game there, he under
stands.
“It took us 15 years to get to
this point, but we’re going to
get it done,” Cheeseman said.
“We are very happy Mr. Win
slow is donating the sod.”
* The home side bleachers are
nearly finished and the press
box can be hoisted up just as
soon as it is dry enough to get
a crane in, Davison said.
STAFF PHOTOS BY
PETER WILLIAMS
Top. a crane lifts
one. of the four
light poles into
place at the new
athletic complex
at Perquimans
County High
School earlier
this month. Left,
large drainage
pipes wait to
be installed at
the new athletic
complex earlier
this month.
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Perquimans County is tackling some
smaller projects this summer, including
building restrooms at the new boat ramp
on Granby Street and adding fresh sod
and irrigation at the new county library.
The contractor that built the library
wasn’t required to lay sod, but instead
just scattered some grass seed, said Per
quimans County Manager Frank Heath.
There was no irrigation and the grass was
dying. That detracted from the looks of a
brand-new $2.5 million building, he said.
“It was always the plan to bring in sod
and install irrigation,” Heath said last
week. “But we had to wait for the weath
er to get wanner.”
Work started last week.
Heath doesn’t have a final cost figure,
but said the county did have to install a
second water meter for the irrigation sys
tem. He estimates the total price tag will
be between $10,000 and $15,000. There
was money left in the library budget to
cover that.
The boat ramp was completed last
year, but there wasn’t any money to pay
to build restrooms. The project was fund
ed by the N.C. Wildlife Resources Com
mission with money from motorboat
registration receipts; a federal Sport Fish
Restoration Program and a Golden LEAF
grant.
The access area features a 41-foot-wide
concrete boat ramp and two 100-foot
long floating docks. The asphalt parking
lot includes 26 spaces for vehicles and
See COUNTY, 2
Musco Lighting completed
that task of getting the lights
installed in three days once the
materials were on-site.
Davison said it involved tak
ing four 24-foot-long pre-cast
concrete pipes and burying
them 18 feet in the ground.
The four metal light poles were
then lifted down onto the con
crete pipes and adjusted.
“At the top they had a bat
tery-operated laser and they
marked off the dead-center of
the field and turned the pole
until the laser hit that spot and
then the lights were set.”
Davison said football fans
and players will really see a dif
ference with the LED lighting.
“They will provide almost
triple the amount of light on
the field,” he said.
The concession stands and
the field house weren’t expect
ed to be complete for the very
first game. Instead the plan is
to have them ready by mid Sep
tember.
“Chicago” Eure, the owner
of Eure and Sons construction,
said the weather has held him
back, and there was a problem
with the delivery of the metal
buildings. Eure is building both
the 1,000-square foot bath-
room/eoncession stand and the
1,800-square foot field house.
“The buildings were sup
posed to be here by now, but
the company had them loaded
on the truck and somebody no
ticed they hadn’t been painted,”
Eure said Wednesday. Instead
of black, the metal panels were
red, so the company in Georgia
had to take the materials off
the truck, paint them and then
put them back on the truck.
“My guys are ready to start
standing that thing up tomor
row if we get the buildings,”
Eure said.
He said he’s doubtful he’ll
hit the origrnal target for being
finished, “but we’re going to be
close. That’s what I’m working
on anyway.”
All in all, Davison said the
school system has made a lot of
progress in a very short time.
“We are in pretty good stand
ing. We had a couple of small
setbacks from unforeseeable
stuff. We’ve also had a little bit
of (rainy) weather.”
The 32-acre site for the field
was donated by Dr. William
Nixon, a former Perquimans
County resident. What gave
the project a huge boost was
a $600,000 gift from the estate
of the late Charles Ward. Ward
left the money to the county
with instructions it should be
used for either a new library or
See STADIUM, 2
Davison repays
$11,000 to board
BY WILLIAM F. WEST
AND JON HAWLEY
The Daily Advance
The Albemarle Commission Board of
Delegates voted Thursday night to ac
cept an $11,000 check from the agency’s
executive director to resolve a conflict of
interest involving her husband.
The board voted to
accept the check from
commission Executive
Director Cathy Davison
following an hour-long
closed session. Del
egate John Mitchener,
a Chowan County com
missioner, led the unani ¬
mous vote. DAVISON
During an interview
earlier on Thursday, Davison explained
she had decided to refund the commis-
Man plans to refurbish historic ‘Lowe’s Beach’
BY REGGIE PONDER
The Daily Advance
History lives on at Lowe’s
Beach.
Joe White has found his
own piece of paradise at the
historic beach founded on
the Perquimans River more
than 60 years ago, buying
a home there 15 years ago.
Now the military retiree
said he plans to refurbish fa
cilities at the site with hopes
of operating Lowe’s Beach
beginning next summer as a
public recreational site.
White, who grew up in
Perquimans County, re
cently bought 10 acres or
so where the Lowe’s Beach
club formerly stood. The
beach is located at the end
of Lowe’s Drive off Harvey
Point Road not far past
Hertford Beach Road.
Lowe’s Beach is one of a
number of beaches in the
area that were established
by black residents at a time
when recreation — like
much of the rest of life in
North Carolina and across
the South — was racially
segregated and black fami
lies did not have access to
beaches that were frequent
ed by whites.
Some of those historic
black-owned beaches, such
as Chowan Beach on the
Chowan River in Hertford
County and Bogue’s Beach
on the Little River in Pas
quotank County, are cur
rently being featured in the
“Memorable Sands” exhibit
on display at Museum of
See BEACH, 2
See DAVISON, 2
THE DAILY ADVANCE
Joe White plans to refurbish facilities at the site with
hopes of operating Lowe’s Beach beginning next
summer as a public recreational site.
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