’’News from Next Door 11 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15,2018 75 cents
County seeking more funding for marine park
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
With $2,885,000 in hand,
Perquimans County is pro
ceeding with efforts to get
the rest of the $7 million it
will need to start the long-
awaited Marine Industrial
Park.
The early rewards could
be perhaps 200 high-paying
jobs in Hertford for people
involved with marine indus
tries.
Perquimans County Man
ager Frank Heath said he’s
working on submitting a
letter of inquiry to Gold
en LEAF for some of the
funds.
“The deadline for the
next round of Golden LEAF
is coming up on Sept. 7,”
Heath said.
If Golden LEAF likes
what the county is saying
in the letter, the county will
be asked to submit a full
application. The letters will
be considered this fall and
it will be February of next
year before Golden LEAF
is expected to make a deci
sion.
The rules are govern
ments can ask for up to $2
million, but the grants will
be limited to $1.5 million.
And the boat basin won’t
be the only project be
ing considered. The total
amount of grants this cycle
is $11 million and 17 coun
ties can complete for it.
The Perquimans County
Schools system will be ask
ing for $500,000 for a me
chanical agricultural pro
gram.
The county is also seek
ing out a $2.8 million federal
Economic Development
Administration grant.
“If the two of these grants
come in, will be rolling
ahead full steam,” Heath
said. The $2,885,000 came
from a grant through the
General Assembly the Com
merce Department.
The permits to dig the ba
sin are valid through the end
of 2019.
“If we’re in the middle of
it, I don’t think there will be
a problem getting it extend
ed,” Heath said.
The project has been in
the works for eight years.
The original estimated cost
for the whole project was
about $20 million.
The first phase of the
project involves taking 72
acres of dry land near the
Perquimans County Recre
ation Center and digging a
boat basin wider than a foot
ball field off the Perquimans
River to a water depth of
10 feet. The sides would be
bulk headed so businesses
could set up on either side
and have access to boats in
the inland basin.
The second phase would
extend the basin several
hundred feet further into
the site.
Perquimans County
owned the land, but con
veyed the land to the state,
which in turn agreed to pay
See PARK, 2
Gym floor
to be
replaced
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Perquimans officials hope
to replace the gym flooring
at the Perquimans County
Recreation Center this year
because water has gotten
under the surface and is
buckling the floor.
At the very least, it will be
replaced before the end of
this fiscal year which ends
in June 2019.
Howard Williams, the
director of the recreation
center, said the floor prob
lem doesn’t present a safety
hazard for users, but it does
need to be replaced.
“The floor is buckling,”
Williams said. “It’s from
moisture under the floor.”
The cost will be about
$65,000 for the full floor.
The building was built in
2003 and the floor has never
been replaced. The building
wasn’t built with gutters on
the roof and the water tends
to fall down to the ground to
a series of “French Drains.”
It’s gravel but it doesn’t in
this case lead the water
away from the base of the
building.
Hence, the problem with
water getting under the
flooring and buckling it. The
county is also looking at
putting storm gutters on the
building.
It started with little bub
bles that would pop up on
the surface, called Teraflex.
Williams described it as not
like wood but not like rub
ber.
See FLOORS, 2
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Charter Members of the Satellite Club of Hertford
are Judy Leftwich, Paul Chappell, Pamela Hurdle, Kim
Mason and Chuck O’Keefe.
Band Practice
STAFF PHOTOS BY
PETER WILLIAMS
Top, Perquimans
County High School
band members
march without
their instruments
last week during
practice. Right,
Perquimans
County High
School Drum Major
Kaylynn Watson
directs the band
during a practice
last week.
Rotary forms new satellite club
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Residents interested in
^joining a Rotary Club now
have two options in Perqui
mans County.
The existing club, which
meets every Tuesday morn
ing at Captain Bob’s Restau
rant, has created a satellite
club.
The reason for the new
club is simple, said Connie
Jaklic, the president of the
established club.
“The reason was a lot of
folks can’t make a Tuesday
at 7 am. meeting,” she said.
“This will allow more folks
to participate.”
The satellite club will
meet next on Aug. 20 at noon
at 252 Grill. For now it will
meet on the first and third
Mondays of each month.
Jaklic said the satellite
club has seven members
so far, and needs eight to
be recognized by Rotary. It
needs 20 members to break
out on its own as an inde
pendent club.
The morning club has 45
members.
Jaklic said the goal of both
clubs is to limit the meeting
to just one hour. Anyone
interesting in attending the
Chowan
suffers
algae
bloom
(EDITOR’S NOTE: This
is the first of a two-part se
ries. Next week we look at
volunteer efforts to monitor
the situation)
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Perquimans County wa
ters have so far escaped
the huge algae blooms that
have clogged portions of the
Chowan River.
Leigh Stevenson, an algal
ecologist with the North
Carolina Division of Water
Resources, said there have
been no problems with the
bacterial blooms in the Per
quimans River or the Little
River. Likewise County
Manager Frank Heath said
no big problems have been
reported to him.
“I know in the past it’s
tried to encroach on to
wards us, but I haven’t heard
anything,” Heath said. “I’m
not saying it’s not out there,
but I am saying we haven’t
heard of anything.”
Edenton and Chowan
County have not been as
lucky.
The Chowan Herald re
ported on Aug. 5 the Queen
Anne’s Creek’s kayak ramp
was surrounded by the green
stuff that has also been spot
ted in Edenton Bay and by
the U.S. 17 bridge and boat
ramp.
See ALGAE, 2
Aug. 20 satellite club meet
ing is asked to order ahead
of time.
“We really work to get in
and out an in an hour,” she
said.
The charter members of
the satellite club inducted
on July 30 were Paul Chap
pell, Pamela Hurdle, Judy
Leftwich, Kim Mason and
See ROTARY, 2
Officials hope to keep the Perquimans Friends of the Library alive
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Officials say the local Per
quimans County Friends of
the Library still has a place,
and they want to keep the
group alive.
On Monday, Murielle Har
mon, the president of the
Friends board of directors,
announced that the group
was disbanding.
The group was formed
in the late 1990s and holds
fundraisers to support the
Hertford library.
“There are many reasons,
moving, age and lack of lo
cal support,” Harmon said
in a letter to the editor. She
thanks the “faithful mem
bers, dedicated volunteers
and local businesses.”
Both Michele Lawrence,
the Perquimans librarian
and Judi Bugniazet, the di
rector of the Pettigrew Re
gional Library System, said
they were surprised by the
move.
Harmon said getting peo
ple to help was an issue.
At the last board meeting,
three of the board mem
bers submitted their resig
nations.
Lawrence agrees the
Friends group did have
trouble getting members to
help with projects, but there
was no shortage of dues-
paying members. The latest
membership role numbered
207, but Lawrence said
there might have been some
members who dropped out
and new members might
have been added.
“I know we sent out cards
and a lot of them came back
and said they would like to
renew their membership,
but few checked the box
that said they want to volun
teer,” Lawrence said.
One of the fundraisers
the Friends did was a “Sil
ver Tea” at the Perquimans
Recreation Center.
“There wasn’t a lot of
people to do the cooking
or the baking,” Bugniazet
said. “Maybe if we get some
new blood we can get it re
vitalized. I know people can
get burned out. But they
(Friends) have been such a
huge part of the library and
I would hate to see them
completely go away.”
Since the start the Friends
existed to support the old
library on Academy Street.
This year, there is the brand
new location on Church
See LIBRARY, 2