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PERQUIMANS COUNTY LIBRARY
514 S CHURCH ST
HERTFORD NC 27944-1225
^S
. BYE E K LY
"News from Next Door"
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2019
Rec basketball champions, 4
75 cents
Jackson: Former town officials will be jailed
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Hertford Town Council
man Quentin Jackson said
an ongoing outside investi
gation into former town offi
cials will result in jail terms
for them and when it’s over,
he will step down from the
town board.
“I will not stop until every
one of you is thrown in jail,”
Jackson said at a meeting
JACKSON
Monday
night.
He did
not specify
who the
town offi
cials were
and what
they did.
He has
been criti
cal about how the town has
been run in the past.
Jackson also blamed the
media and specifically The
Perquimans Weekly for cov
erage about him. He was
also called members of the
public for being critical of
the current town board. He
did not mention names.
“It doesn’t define who
I am as a man. It’s easy to
sit out in the audience, but
while I am here, I’m still go
ing to advocate for what’s
right.”
Jackson openly praised
Police Chief Dennis Brown
for the job he has been do
ing.
“Thank you,” Jackson
said. “Thank you from the
bottom of my heart.”
Brown responded that he
was just following the law.
Brown was hired last fall.
Jackson has had fewer kind
words for some previous
police chiefs.
In 2011 Hertford Police
Chief Joe Amos was fired
after the town manager said
he posted information on
the Hertford Police Depart
ment’s Facebook page that
violated the town’s person
nel policies.
Jackson was running for
town council in 2011 when
then Chief Joe Amos posted
about Jackson’s arrest for
failing to pay child support.
Jackson lost that race.
In the 2017 election
Jackson and Frank Nor
man unseated two white
incumbents and shifted the
balance on the five person
board from having three
white members and two
black members to having
four black members and
one white member, Coun
cilman Sid Eley. The racial
makeup of Hertford is about
half black and half white.
Councilman Norman also
See JACKSON, 2
Fordham
honors
Janice
Cole
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
On the 100th anniversary
of the year the first women
were admitted to Fordham
Law School, Janice McKen
zie Cole was one of those
who have been honored for
her contributions.
COLE
The
Black Law
StudentAs-
Sociation
honored
16 living
alumnae,
four future
alumnae
and three
past alum ¬
nae. The ceremony held on
Feb. 26.
“We were happy to honor
her at our museum entitled
‘Lawyering Beyond the
Shadows: Telling Her Sto
ries,’” said Melissa Romain,
the president of the Black
Law Association at Ford
ham.
Cole started thinking
about law in childhood.
“When I was young, I talk
ed a lot and people would al
ways say I should become a
lawyer,” Cole said last week.
“Then I saw T2 Angry Men’
and ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’
and that’s what gotten me
thinking about becoming a
trial attorney. It was what I
wanted to do."
Cole started working as
a New York City street cop
back when women didn’t
do that. She took courses
at night at John Jay College
where she graduated.
She picked Fordham Law
School because a fellow po
lice officer was going there
and said the program was
good and they had an eve
ning program.
Since graduating Ford
ham Law in 1979, she has
tried to remain active with
the university but since she
and her husband, Superior
court Judge J.C. Cole live in
North Carolina, she hasn’t
been able to attend events
as much.
For that reason, Romain
See COLE, 2
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
N.C. Sen. Bob Steinburg speaks to Republicans Saturday in the historic Perquimans County Courthouse.
Seated is Michael Stallings, president of the Perquimans County GOP.
GOP hears from candidates
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Seven of the 17 Republican can
didates for the 3rd District Con
gressional race were represented
Saturday at the Perquimans Coun
ty GOP Convention at the old Per
quimans County Courthouse.
Five of the candidates appeared
in person: Michele Nix, Phil Law,
Jeff Moore, Celeste Cairns and
Mike Payment. Surrogates spoke
for two others: Dr. Joan Perry and
Dr. Greg Murphy.
Perquimans Republicans were
warned that if the GOP doesn’t
fight back, they could lose the seat
held by the late Congressman Wal
ter Jones.
“This is an extraordinary year,”
said local GOP secretary Geoff
Byrd. “We’re in danger of losing
this election.”
No candidate has the luxury of
time. The primary election is April
30, and a runoff primary is sched
uled for July 9. With a field so large,
the odds of getting a 30 percent
majority are low, and so a run'off
will be needed, Byrd said.
Dianne Layton, a former chair of
the Perquimans GOP, spoke on be
half of Murphy. She said he is open
and accessible, and has a “We The
People” platform. She called him a
Constitutional conservative.
“He represents our values,” Lay
ton said.
Cairns said like President Don
ald Trump, she is not a political.
She grew up in rural Georgia.
Early voting hours set
From Staff Reports
Early voting from the primary
election for the 3rd Congressio
nal House seat will be from April
10 through April 26.
No weekend hours are sched
uled and there will be no voting
bn April 19 for Good Friday.
Perquimans Elections Direc
tor Holly Hunter said the hours
for early voting are 8 a.m. until
5 p.m. Voting takes place at the
elections office 601 S. Edenton
Road Street.
The newly appointed board
includes Democrats Vera Mur-
rill, Mae McGee and Devin Wild
er and The Republicans are John
McGowan and Shirley Ashworth.
Murrill will serve as chairman.
The primary is April 30. If a
runoff is required, it will be held
on July 9. The general election
for the House seat is set for Sept.
10.
“I grew up with two hard work
ing parents,” she said.
She became an accountant and
worked in the corporate world then
married a U.S. Army Green Beret
she knew in high school and lived
through his deployments overseas.
The couple now live in Emerald
Isle and have two children attend
ing East Carolina University.
She said the left wing has be
come increasing more radical and
called herself a true Conservative,
who will protect the unborn.
“I will fight with President Trump
to build the border wall and I will
protect the Second Amendment,”
she said.
Jeff Moore grew up in Mote-
head City and still lives there. He’s
worked in the financial trading in-
dustry and he too believes in Presi
dent Trump.
“We have to pull ourselves back
from the fiscal cliff,” he said.
Phil Law of Jacksonville said
serving in the U.S. Marine Corps
made him “learn a lot of lessons
fast. I am not trying to replace Wa
ter Jones, we can’t do that.”
He vowed to fight illegal immi
gration.
“There is a battle going in Wash
ington D.C. and I want to go there
to fight for you,” Law said.
Jim Perry spoke for his wife, Dr.
Joan Perry who could not attend.
Dr. Perry is a pediatrician, a
world-class triathelete, and a “very
strong woman,” her husband said.
See GOP, 2
Tougher
firearms
laws
sought
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
A New Hope man recent
ly implored the Perquimans
County Commission to
adopt tougher rules on how
far hunters can be from the
property or other people
when they shoot.
Steven Samonsky and his
wife moved into their home
in late 2016. They went off
for the weekend one time
and when they came back
there was a duck blind
erected nearby the home.
“I went out with my rods
and my reels to go fishing,
and there are two guys with
12 gauge shotguns 400 feet
away.”
Samonsky said he talked
with local law enforcement
and wildlife officials and
they said that was perfectly
legal. So he spoke to the
county commissioner dur
ing the public comment pe
riod on March 4.
“The shot people use to
day will really travel,” he
said. “It’s totally unsafe and
it’s ridiculous to have a 400-
foot limit,” he said. “You
might bag a homeowner.”
The commission listened
to Samonsky’s request but
took no action. It would
require a commissioner to
ask the issue to be placed
on a future agenda for any
thing to move forward and
it would require a majority
vote to approve any such
measure..
Samonsky is 69-years-old
old and he said he has noth
ing against hunting.
“I first went hunting when
I was 13 or 14-years-old,” he
said. “I am not saying don’t
go somewhere to shoot, but
make sure you have a 2,100
foot distance or 110 per
cent of the carry distance
from any public or private
school, any churches and
all county offices, hospitals,
residential subdivisions or
residences, business and
public or comity roads or
highways.”
Samonsky served in the
U.S. Air Force and worked
See FIREARMS, 2
Woman, 48, refuses to let terminal cancer ruin her life
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The prospect of death has
given Amy Woodard a pow
erful perspective on life.
Woodard, 48, has been di
agnosed with Stage III meta
static cervical cancer.
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“What I want people to
know is it doesn’t matter
what someone tells you.
Your life doesn’t just stop.
None of us knows when the
end is and I just decided ‘so
what, I have cancer.
“When the doctor said
it is incurable ... that it was
terminal, I told him that he’s
terminal too.”
Her meaning was, we’re
all going to die of something
sometime. She may just go a
little sooner.
WOODARD
“I’m
stubborn
and it’s not
the boss of
me. Don’t
get me
wrong, oc
casionally
I feel sorry
for myself
about all I
have lost but then I remem
ber if today is my last day I
don’t want to spend it that
way.”
The native of Wheeling,
W.V. has lived in northeast
ern North Carolina for the
past 26 years. She is an ex
ceptional children’s teacher,
and worked in Pasquo
tank County before com
ing to Perquimans County
Schools.
She still works, but now as
an EC instructional coach to
help other EC teachers. She
credits the school system
for allowing her to continue
to work, but not be tied to
a classroom. Her radiation
treatments are eveiy day
Monday through Friday.
For Woodard the journey
started in May 2017 when
she had issue and was diag
nosed soon after. The radia
tion soon followed and was
completed in August 2017.
A scan in October of that
year was inconclusive, and
in January last year spots
were found in her lungs and
bone. More radiation fol
lowed.
“In August of 20181 didn’t
have any evidence of any
thing new, and in November
I had a scan and there was
new bone spots and my
neck and chest area were
swollen.”
She started taking che
motherapy in. November
and should complete that by
the end of the month.
As bad as it all sounds,
Woodard said none of it
See CANCER, 2