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Pets of the week, 7
"News from Next Door"
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2019
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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