Winning cheerleaders, 9
’’News from Next Door ' WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2019
75 cents
SUBMITTED PHOTO
A design shows the proposed Perquimans Marine
Industrial Park with a man-made boat basin. The
Perquimans County Recreation Center is located to the
right at the foot of South Granby Street. The first phase
of the boat basin is colored in light blue.
County gets $750,000 grant
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
A $750,000 grant by
Golden LEAF will put Per
quimans County one step
closer to the start of con
struction of a long-awaited
marine industrial Park.
The announcement by
Golden LEAF executive
director Dan Gerlach last
week was applauded by
county officials who ap
plied for the grant last year.
Golden LEAF was offering
counties up to $1.5 million.
“I’m ecstatic,” said Per
quimans County Manager
Frank Heath.. “We have a
pending grant with U.S. Eco
nomic Development Admin
istration and in my view this
just strengthens the case for
getting it. We’re on a good
footing now, and that would
put us on a better footing.
We’re also working on some
other angles as well.
“It’s clear Dan and Golden
LEAF believe in our project.
As you know, we’ve been
talking with them about it
for years, and now it’s hap
pening. This also creates the
effect of legitimacy for other
funders.”
Gerlach said Golden
LEAF will work with other
funding agencies to make
the Perquimans project a
reality.
“The closer you get the
easier it is to find the rest
of the money,” Gerlach said.
“We will be able to tell oth-
ers, ‘hey we’re in, why don’t
you get in too.’”
The first phase of building
an inland boat basin is es
timated to cost between $6
million and $7 million. The
state has already awarded
the county almost $2.9 mil
lion for the project. With
the $750,000 from Golden
LEAF, the comity has nearly
$3.6 million to spend.
The county owns the
72-acre parcel near tlie
Perquimans County Rec
reation Center. The site is
See GRANT, 2
County
adopts
fraud
system
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Perquimans County
property owners are urged
to take advantage of a free
system that will alert them
if somebody tries to file a
deed or other action against
their property.
A criminal may record a
fraudulent deed making it }
appear as if they now own |
your home. Once they’ve
done this, they can use !
your name as collateral on
a mortgage or even attempt |
to sell your home to an un- |
suspecting buyer.
Register of Deeds Jacque
line Frierson said the service
became active on Feb. 1.
Frierson said she is not
aware of this type of fraud
happening in Perquimans
County but she knows it
has happened elsewhere,
including Wake County. She
said Currituck and Gates
counties have adopted the
fraud alert program.
“Once you sign up, if a
deed or any other type of
document is filed with your
name on it, you will be alert
ed,” Frierson said. “If you
know about it, and it’s OK,
there is nothing you have tot
do, but if you don’t then you
contact our office.”
The system only works
with e-mail, not with phone
numbers. Once you log in,
you will be asked to give a
See FRAUD, 2
More funds available for winter heating help
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Perquimans County has
received another $31,000
to help low-income people
with heating help this win
ter.
Department of Social
Services Director Susan
Chaney said her depart
ment was notified of the
grant on Friday.
SUBMITTED PHOTO
The new DaVita kidney center in Hertford will have 10 chairs and can serve 20 patients.
DaVita to open kidney clinic
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
DaVita, a worldwide pro
vider of dialysis treatment,
plans to open a clinic in Hert
ford in March.
The clinic at 210 Ocean
Highway South is in a shop
ping center that also houses a
Family Dollar store.
Courtney Culpepper, a
conununications manager for
Denver-based DaVita, said the
Hertford clinic will have 10
chairs and expects to serve
20 patients. Additionally, the
center is equipped with train
ing rooms and will serve as
a regional hub for teammate
education efforts. DaVita has
clinics in Elizabeth City and
Edenton as well.
The Hertford clinic will
Tlie funding comes
through the federal Low
Income Energy Assistance
Program, or LIEAP. The
county received $70,000 in
late 2018 and those funds
were all used by early Janu
ary.
The initial grant was
earmarked for people who
were age 60 or older and
disabled and who were
already getting services
through Aging and Adult
Services.
The new grant is opened
up to low-income people,
regardless ®f age. People
are eligible for the new
LIEAP funds if they make
less than 110 percent of
the Federal Poverty Level.
That works out to about
$13,700 for an individual or
about $28,300 for a family
of four, based on the pov ¬
erty numbers on the U.S.
Department of Health and
Human Services’ website.
There are also are other
limits.
People who received
money in the first round of
funding and ineligible for
funding in the new round.
The money is paid di
rectly to the utility, either
electrical utility or some
thing that provides fuel like
have a staff of about 10 peo
ple. That will include a nurse,
dietician, social worker, insur
ance counselor and patient
care technicians.
An estimated 31 million
people in the U.S. have chron
ic kidney disease, accord
ing to the American Kidney
Fund.
Diabetes and hypertension
are the two leading causes of
kidney disease. One in three
people with diabetes and one
in five people with hyperten
sion also have kidney dis
ease.
For people with stage five
kidney disease, also known
as kidney failure or end-stage
renal disease, dialysis or a
kidney transplant is required
See KIDNEY, 2
SUBMITTED PHOTO
A picture shows the lobby area of the new
DaVita kidney center in Hertford.
propane or oil. The amount
ranges by how many people
in the household. The most
someone can get is $400.
The least is $200.
If you take an average
of $300, the $31,000 will be
enough to help about 105
households.
For more information on
the program, contact the
Perquimans Social Services
office at 426-7373.
Schools
want
calendar
control
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Perquimans County is
joining the list of school
systems that are asking the
state to give them back lo
cal control over the school
calendar.
Interim Superintendent
James Bunch made the
request tlus month to the
Perquimans County Corm
mission and asked for their
f support. The county com
mission agreed to back the
plan.
In 2004, the North Caro
lina General Assembly took
control of school calendar
and set what amounts to a
“one size fits all” statewide
mandate. Schools cannot
start any earlier than the
Monday closest to Aug. 26
and school must end no
later than the Friday clos
est to June 11. The change
was largely supported by
the tourism industry. A lon
ger summer break meant
people had more time to
vacation at the beach or
the mountains and it pro
vides teenage workers who
wouldn’t be in school.
School officials have been
fighting to get back control
of the calendar ever since.
In 2017, a bill passed in
the N.C. House by a 100-8
margin to let any school sys
tem start as early as Aug. 15
to align with the community
college calendar. The House
voted 104-6 in favor of let
ting 20 primarily high-pover
ty counties start the school
year as early as the Monday
closest to Aug. 10.
Both measures never
made it to the Senate floor.
That same year then Rep.
Bob Steinburg sponsored
a bill that would give com
plete control of the calen
dar to the school boards in
Camden, Currituck, Eden
ton-Chowan, Elizabeth City-
Pasquotank, Perquimans
and Tyrrell County.
“One reason the issue
See CALENDAR, 2
Long-time congressman dies at 76
Man faces $2 million bond
BY BOBBY BURNS
The Daily Reflector
U.S. Rep. Walter Jones,
the long-serving legislator
who railed against deficit
spending and advocated for
the active duty military and
veterans alike, died Sunday
at age 76 after struggling
with health problems in
cluding a broken hip.
Jones, a Republican from
the Pitt County town of
Farmville, represented the
3rd Congressional District
which includes Perqui
mans County. He had been
re-elected to his 13th term
in November and had an
nounced he would retire at
the end of the term. He be
came ill before the new ses
sion began, however, and
was excused on Dec. 11.
“Congressman Jones rep
resented the best of North
Carolina politics,” said U.S.
Rep. G.K. Butterfield, a Wil
son Democrat who gave
Jones the oath of office on
Jan. 4 during a private visit
to Jones’ home.
See JONES, 2
From Staff Reports
A host of law enforcement agencies
were involved in the arrest of a man on
Turnpike Road on Wednesday on weap
ons and drug charges.
Eddy Rodriguez-Pinto, 26, is being held
on $2 million bond on charges of traffick
ing marijuana, maintaining a dwelling and
possession of a firearm by a felon.
He was living in the 500 block of Turn
pike Road in Perquimans County. Sheriff
Shelby White said more than 10 pounds of
marijuana was seized.
RODRIGUEZ-
PINTO
The sheriff would only
say multiple law enforce
ment agencies were in
volved in the case, but he
would not name them. A
spokesman for the FBI
in Charlotte said last
week the pending charg
es were state related and
her office couldn’t com
ment on state charges.
More charges are ex ¬
pected. Rodriguez-Pinto is being held in
Albemarle District Jail.