V Pets of the week, 7 "News from Next Door" WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2019 75 cents STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS An overflow crowd fills the main room and the hall at a Hertford Town Council meeting this month. Jackson found guilty of assault BY PETER WILLIAMS News Editor District Court Judge Eula Reid found Hertford Town Councilman Quentin Jackson guilty of assaulting Councilman Sid Eley and sentenced him to 120 days in jail last week. Jackson is appealing the ruling to Superior Court, so he won’t have to serve the jail sentence until that case is heard there. No date has been scheduled. The next JACKSON admin- istrative session of Superior Court is in February. Jack- son, 33, was ac cused of hitting Eley, 71, in the head with a closed fist after the two got into a heated discussion af ter a town meeting. Neither Jackson nor Eley would comment following the rul ing. The witness list included Mayor Horace Reid, Eley, and the other councilmen Archie Aples, Frank Nor man plus Town Manager Pamela Hurdle and Town Attorney John Leidy. Aples has since resigned his board seat. Jackson was the only wit ness called in his defense. The assault took place on Oct. 1 after a town council workshop meeting. Both Jackson and Eley said the discussion started when Jackson asked Eley if it was true that Eley wasn’t going to support the Demo cratic Party because it had supported both Jackson and Norman. Eley said it was true. Jackson was defended by Wade Tyndall, a court- appointed attorney. Assis tant District Attorney Holly Metzger represented the See JACKSON, 2 MLK speaker calls for action BY PETER WILLIAMS News Editor Sen. Erica Smith-Ingram (D-Northampton) urged people at a Martin Luther King Jr. celebration to speak up when they see injustice and not wait. The Democrat from Northampton County was the speaker at the annual Perquimans County NAACP event. This year it was held at Melton Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Winfall. Smith-Ingram said that the Perquimans event was her sixth MLK celebration in just the past few days. “Melton Grove, I feel like I’m coming back home,” she said. Smith-Ingram’s address revolved around a Bibli cal passage in Luke. It was the Sabbath and Jesus was speaking at one of the synagogues when he came across a woman who had been crippled for the past 18 years and he healed her. The leaders of the synagogue criticized Jesus, saying there are six days to work and just one day for the Sabbath. Jesus attacked the critics saying they had watched the woman suffer for 18 years and not done anything. “Jesus said, ‘I can’t wait another day,’” Smith-Ingram said. She then compared ex amples of a 9/11 passenger who when the plane was In- jacked instead stormed the cockpit. The plane crashed into a field, but the White House was spared. In current times, she mentioned people who are going without paychecks because of the government See MLK, 2 STAFF PHOTOS BY PETER WILLIAMS Top, Sen. Erica Smith-Ingram claps her hands at a Martin Luther King Jr. service Monday at Melton Grove Missionary Baptist Church. Left, the Perquimans NAACP’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. service was held at Melton Grove Missionary Baptist this year. Shutdown impact looming BY PETER WILLIAMS News Editor The partial shutdown of the federal gov ernment has had some impacts on Per quimans County, but it could be worse if it draws on much longer, officials say. The Farm Service Agency located inside the same building with the Albemarle Com mission, is no longer staffed as the first day of the shutdown, said Bob Murphy, the interim director of the commission. Some farmers use the FSA to learned about what to plant this spring. The FSA provides services to farm opera tions including loans, commodity price sup ports, conservation payments, and disaster assistance. The FSA operates separately from the commission, and Murphy said ev erybody in his agency is working. “There has been no impact on us as of now, but if it continues the nutrition and workforce development programs would be impacted,” Murphy said. Services for the elderly, like meals and medical transportation, will not be impacted the shutdown at least through the end of March, said Laura Alvarico, the director of the Area Agency on Aging. In a 10-county region, about 350 seniors get meals delivered to their home through the nutrition. About 650 to 700 participate in congregate meal programs at places like senior centers. She said federal funds pay for about 35 to 40 percent of the cost of the meals for se niors. The rest is paid by local county contri butions and the state. James Bunch, the interim superintendent of Perquimans County Schools, said child nutrition funding should continue well into the month of March. Bunch said some of the funding may arrive slower than it has arrived See SHUTDOWN, 2 Third generation to run Layden’s BY PETER WILLIAMS News Editor When February rolls around, a new Layden will be in charge of the countiy store in Belvidere that car ries the family name Charlie Layden will take over Layden’s Supermar ket from his Dad, Doug Layden. Doug took over the family business from his father, Charles, in 1986. Charles started the business in 1952. Parts of the building date back to 1860. Quaker builder Josiah Nicholson also built most of the old homes in Belvidere. At one point the building served as a general store, post office and black smith shop. Doug has no plans to to tally retire, but he will turn 65 years old in February and figures it’s time to pass the torch. He said it was always his plan t6 eventually hand over the reins. “He (Doug) is still go ing to be working here, so I might take over on paper, but he will still be the boss,” Charlie joked. Charlie, 38, grew up in the business but moved to Char lotte and worked for Sam’s Club and Harris Teeter for 10 years. He came back to Layden’s in June 2009. “I always knew I would come back home. I don’t re gret being in Charlotte, but you know in corporations you are just a number in the system.” Charlie isn’t worried about running the store. He was raised on it. “Between my grandfather and Doug, they paved the road pretty well for me. All I See LAYDEN’S, 2 STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS Doug Layden stands with his son Charlie next to some of the country hams in the store. Charlie will be taking over the business in February. County manager defends 911 fee charged to towns BY PETER WILLIAMS News Editor Perquimans County Manager Frank Heath is de fending the fee charged to 6 89076 47144 2 Hertford and Winfall for 911 dispatch services, saying it’s fair. Heath said he would reach out to Hertford officials to explain the situation. Their bill is expected to be about $74,000 this year. “I want to establish a dia log with the town,” he said last week. “But it’s pretty simple. The town provides services county residents do not get. They have a po lice department that county residents don’t have and they have a public works department we dispatch.” If the county system wasn’t there to dispatch Hertford calls, the town would have to spend mon ey to do it, and Hertford couldn’t afford it on the $74,000 the town pays the county now. For that rea son, he calls the current agreement “a wholesale bargain.” To not charge Hertford and Winfall would mean residents in the county would have to shoulder the burden of dispatch services for benefits the county resi dents they don’t get. The two towns entered into an agreement with the county in 1993 when the countywide 911-dispatch system was established. In the deal, the towns agreed to pay a percentage share of the cost of operating the dispatch system for services not related to medical calls. The cost of dispatch for EMS for medical issues is borne all county taxpayers. Town officials, led by Councilman Quentin Jack- son, argue the fee is wrong and represents “double taxation” of town residents. Hertford residents pay the same county tax rate as peo ple who live in unincorpo rated areas like New Hope See 911,2

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