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1 A * 2 THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20,2019 COLE Continued from 1 said they were pleased Cole could attend the ceremony in February in New York. “It was so great. We’re so happy she came knowing she’s coming from North Carolina. And we’re happy she’ll be back for the 40th anniversary of her gradua tion in May.” Cole has broken a num ber of barriers in her life. She was the first woman, and the first black person elected as a District Court judge in the northeast re gion of North Carolina. A few years later, President Bill Clinton appointed her to be the first black woman U.S. Attorney for the eastern district of North Carolina. “Since we’re in the midst of the 100-year celebration, we thought it was important to highlight black women alumni and put into context the accomplishments they have made,” Romain said. In a quote used in a dis play of her at Fordham, Cole says “being a black woman attorney means that I have an opportunity to enrich this profession by my expe riences, my perceptions and my sensibilities.” In her final year of law school, Cole created the Ruth Whitehead Whaley Dinner, which has become an annual effort. Whaley, a native of North Carolina, graduated at the top of her class from Fordham in 1924, a year before Robert F. Kennedy and Malcolm X were born. She went on to become one of the first three black women admit ted to practice law in New York. In 1933 she because the first black woman to practice law in North Caro lina. She maintained a pri vate practice in New York until 1944. One of the women hon ored by Fordham this school year was Geraldine Ferraro, class of 1960. She was in ducted into the School’s Alumni of Distinction dis play, which celebrates grad uates who have broken bar riers in the legal profession. Ferraro, who passed away in 2011, was the first wom an vice presidential candi date on a major party ticket and a lifelong advocate for women’s rights. She served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing New York’s 9th District, as secretary of the House Democratic Caucus, and as United States am bassador to the United Na tions. Group looks at prison problem BY MILES LAYTON The Chowan Herald CANCER Continued from 1 hurts. She’s not in pain. “Bone cancer is supposed to be one of the most pain ful kinds, but I have been blessed. “Cancer is not the boss of me, but sometimes I feel like taking a nap. I don’t like the things cancer has taken away from me.” Woodard owns up to the fact that she is partially to blame. She knew women should get annual checkups that would catch cancer in time, but she just didn’t go to the doctor. She figures it might have been 10 years since her last checkup. “I was busy living my life. 1 was married. I didn’t have any symptoms. I always fig ured I’d wait and do it in the summer when school was out, but I was always busy.” Part of the reason she put it off was she didn’t appreci ate what could happen. “I thought if you got it (cancer) you’d have a hys terectomy and it would be over. By the time they found my tumor it had spread to the lymph nodes.” Now she faces a different challenge, but one she is up to facing. “It makes you think of Consistently high staff vacancy rates and the con tinuing challenge of retain ing experienced personnel were among the topics dis cussed at last week’s inau gural meeting of a new Sen ate committee tasked with making state prisons safer. Led by state Sen. Bob Steinburg, R-Chowan, mem bers of the Senate Select Committee on Prison Safety spent most of their time Monday hearing a report on prison system finances. However, the committee also held a question-and-an- swer session with Director of Prisons Kenneth Lassiter about prison staffing and other issues. Lassiter suggested filling correctional officer vacan cies continues to be a chal lenge for the state prison system. “We’ve looked at a host of things and done a lot of intensive research not just on neighboring states but across the country,” he said. “This is a national epidemic going on in reference to law enforcement maintaining people in this profession. We’ve looked at the various tools that have worked in other places and there’s a list of things we like to discuss and show the committee.” Nine state prisions — in- longtime adminis trator with the federal Bureau of Prisons, also at tended Monday’s things you used to consider eluding two maximum-se as having a bad day, and curity facilities — had an they’re really not bad any more. There are people a whole lot worse off than me. “I don’t think I’m all that special, but my doctor thinks I’m a bad ass.” “There is not anything I can do to get rid of it, so I decided whatever life I have, I’m going to live it. You just take care of yourself and do what your doctor tells you to do. I don’t let people treat me like a China doll. “I had an uncle with Stage Four lung cancer they told him he had about six weeks and he lived four years.” So it’s one day at a time. “I get up every day and wonder what if this is the best I ever feel again. I am blessed to work in a county that has a job for me. “Cancer is a bad thing, it sucks, but it has been a blessing to me. It’s given me a new perspective.” officer vacancy rate of more than 35 percent during at least one month last year, according to a recent report in The News and Observer. That does not include posi tions left vacant because of leaves of absence. Art Beeler, a retired STEINBURG committee meeting. He noted that the vacant of ficer position rate in North Carolina’s prison system may be much lugher than what’s reported — more than 8,000 officers — be cause a national standard quantifies a prison’s operat ing capacity. “When you look at that, you have lots more vacan cies than you have on pa per,” Beeler said. “Now I don’t think that anybody expects you to fill all those vacancies — I certainly wouldn’t — but I want you to understand that if you’re looking at a national stan dard of how many officers you needed based on your square footage, it would be significantly higher than the vacancies that you have.” Both internal and external reviews have noted that in adequate staffing and major security flaws contributed to the deaths of four prison workers at Pasquotank Cor rectional Institution during a failed inmate escape at tempt in October 2017. The committee Steinburg chairs was formed partly in re sponse to those deaths and that of a correctional ser geant at Bertie Correctional Institution in April 2017. Stanley Drewery, a gener al instructor for the Depart ment of Public Safety, told the committee he works with corrections staff pretty closely, and it’s apparent to him things have changed since the deadly attacks in 2017. “I can say for myself from personal experience that I was complacent be cause nothing really ever happened as far as death (in a prison),” he said. “We always had assaults and we had serious assaults.” But since the slayings of disabilities does not meet the minimum standards of psychological testing. When inmates are first screened for mental illness, they may score higher after being retested — a result of the practice effect, he said. “Many times they will go above the threshold being tested, so they are no longer eligible for developmental officers at Bertie and PCI, disability services or any correctional staff are now “in fear for their lives,” Drewery said. Addressing the retention issue, Drewery, a past presi dent of the State Employees Association of North Caroli na, noted that the staff short ages at prisons didn’t happen overnight. He said salaries matter to employees who put their lives on the line ev ery day. He said an equitable pay scale makes a difference to a captain with 15 years of experience when that officer sees how a newly hired cap tain is paid more. “Something really has to be done because we are losing a lot of really good people,” he said. “As soon as they get the opportunity to retire, they are heading out the door. They would stay on if they were making the money that was promised to them.” John Schwade, a retired prison psychologist, also told the committee that many inmates treated for mental illness need to be identified with those condi tions earlier in their incar ceration. “We need to begin to get the jails to send mental health records with the in mates,” he said. Schwade said current screenings of inmates for intellectual developmental other help that they might need,” he said. Ardis Watkins, director of government relations for the State Employees Assoi ciation of North Carolina, praised Steinburg for push ing for reforms of the state’s prison system. “Definitely, we are hear ing from the state correc tional personnel that they feel like you are out there fighting for them,” she said. “I was sort of surprised (this committee was formed) be cause not many states are actually going in and doing what you are doing right now: taking things apart and really looking at them. It means more than you will ever know to the folks working in the system.” Steinburg said he was pleased with the commit tee’s first meeting, which he. said was mostly an overview of the Division of Prisons. “We will be meeting weekly on Mondays for the next eight weeks or so to try and determine how best to improve safety in our- pris ons and then report those findings along with recom mendations to the Senate leadership,” he said. Salary inequities as well as the rising cost of over time and retention of prison employees will be topics at upcoming meetings. FIREARMS Continued from 1 in the nuclear industry and telecommunication industry before retiring. He moved to Perquimans from Aiken, S.C. He said when some laws were written, North Caro lina might have been even more rural and there weren’t some of the houses or sub divisions that are around now. ‘ “I grew up hunting, but some people haven’t. They go and get the most power ful rifle they can possibly get and people who are new at hunting, the mind turns off that (mental) safety.” He cited a Pasquotank County case where an out of state hunter shot at a deer, missed and hit a woman in a pickup on a public high way. The woman survived but was seriously hurt. The hunter was standing on the ground, not in a tree stand where he should have been if using a rifle. “Laws need to consider the most inexperienced per son,” Samonsky said. He argued that if the county refused to take ac tion, and there was an ac cident, the county would be responsible. He also said that the county has enacted shoot ing and firearms ordinances in the past. He cites three of them dealing with Holiday Island, Albemarle Planta tion and Snug Harbor. They were adopted be tween 1989 and 2012 and all have nearly the identical language. They all prohibit shoot ing any stone, rock, shot or other hard substance be yond the limits of your own property. They also all band the firing of any gun within those subdivisions. SUBMITTED PHOTO Max, a l-year-old gray and white longhair male cat, is adjusting to the Tri-County shelter and certainly would love to be in a loving caring home. Pets of the Week SUBMITTED PHOTO Sandy is a gentle adult male yellow Lab mix. Sandy loves visitors, but is a little frightened to venture out of his kennel. For more information, call 221-8514. GOP Continued from 1 He said Republicans squandered a chance to do more when they held the presidency and both the House and Senate. “We have to come togeth er,” Perry said. Michele Nix of Kinston started her speech by sup porting Trump’s agenda for the country. “I want to bring common sense back to America.” She said she was a young mother once who had to live on public assistance but worked to get out of that. She worked in the se curities industry and as vice chair of the N.C. GOP Party. She said she logged 175,000 miles driving in North Caro lina talking to people in the GOP role. “I want to fight for this district,” Nix said. Mike Payment of Curri tuck talked about serving in the Navy and his role now as a business owner who has trouble finding qualified workers. He too supports Trump, and the need to fight illegal immigration. He also said he would listen to the people. “As a business owner, you are my boss.” Chowan Perquimans Habitat for Humanity Restore Open Tues., Thurs., Sat. 9:00 am to 1:00 pm We pick- up large donations! only Flat Screen TVs will be accepted. 1370 N. Broad St., Edenton 482-2686 JACKSON Continued from 1 agreed that some citizens have been unduly critical of the current town board and they should consider them selves responsible for any past problems an investiga tion uncovers. “All of this stuff is going to come to light,” Norman said. “When all of the stuff comes out, you’re going to look worse than I am.” Gracie Felton, who was appointed to take the seat of former Councilman Ar chie Aples, chimed in that the public has been unfair to the new board. “My heart hurts that you (Jackson) are going to step down,” Felton said. While she admits she’s only been on the job for a few months, there are past issues. “My feet are getting wet, and there are things that are wrong that you (the public) don’t know about,” Felton said. “When the facts come out, you might want to say ‘I’m sorry.’” Perquimans AbWEEKLY Recycle this newspaper, Read more Perquimans news and feature stories online at DailyAdvance.com... At the home page, mouse over the News link and select Perquimans RUSTY JACOBS Professional Financial Planner Income Tax Preparation Business Consultation Retirement Planning 49 YEARS EXPERIENCE 252-335-4036 1300 North Road St. .Elizabeth City, NC 27909 (USPS428-080) Vol. 87 No. 12 Published each Wednesday. ■ A publication of Adams Publishing Group Established 1934 111 W. Market St., Hertford, NC 27944 Mike Goodman Publisher Peter Williams News Editor Bev Alexander Advertising Representative Phone 252-426-5728 • Fax 252-426-4625 Email: perquimansweekly@ncweeklies.com Subscription Rates Tn Daily Advance home delivery area All other continental U.S $26.25* $32.50* *Plus applicable sales tax. Activation fee of $1.99 will be collected with all new subscriptions. Deactivation fees may apply for early cancellation. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Perquimans Weekly, Hertford, NC 27944
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