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Pets of the Week, 4
"News from Next Door"
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10, 2019
75 cents
Downtown fire contained
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
All six Perquimans County fire de
partments were able to contain a fire
early Saturday morning to the two-
story building where it started.
The State Bureau of Investigation
and the Hertford Police Department
are investigating. It was the second
suspicious fire in less than a week.
On March 31a vacant one-story com
mercial building on Edenton Road
Street was gutted by fire.
At approximately 1:49 am. Satur
day a Hertford Police Officer on rou
tine patrol contacted Perquimans 911
to advise there was smoke coming
from the second story windows of a
building in the 100 block of Church
Street. One window above White’s
Dress Shoppe was missing Saturday
morning and a second was covered in
a blue tarp.
“Thanks to the quick actions of the
firefighters, the fire was contained to
one building,” said Jonathan Nixon,
Perquimans County’s emergency
management director. “Other adjoin
ing structures did suffer smoke dam
age.”
Hertford Assistant Chief Matt
Woodell provided incident com
mand.
Responding Saturday were the
Hertford Fire Department, Bethel
Fire Department, Winfall Fire Depart
ment, Inter County Fire Department,
Belvidere Fire Department, Durants
Neck Fire Department, Hertford
Police Department, Hertford Public
Works, Perquimans Sheriff’s Office,
Perquimans EMS and Perquimans
Emergency Management.
Hertford Fire Chief Drew Woodard
said he couldn’t recall the last time
that all six volunteer fire departments
had responded to the same fire. When
a fire broke out in a building used to
See FIRE, 2
An SBI agent walks down Church Street in front of White’s
Dress Shoppe Saturday after a fire damaged some of the
building.
New
CERT unit
created
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Perquimans County now
has three Certified Emer
gency Response Teams, the
most of any in the five-coun- j
ty Albemarle area.
The teams are volunteer
emergency workers who re
ceive specific training in ba
sic response skills, disaster
preparedness, fire suppres
sion, medical operations,
light search and rescue and
how to supplement existing
emergency responders in
the event of a mqjor disas
ter.
CERT does not train
citizens to act as firefight
ers, police officers or para
medics, but as assistants to
those positions.
The first Perquimans
CERT team was established
in 2008 at Albemarle Plan
tation. The second came in
2013 and covers Deep Creek
Shores. The newest one is at
Shores at Lands End.
“We are excited about the
third CERT in Perquimans
County forming and look
forward to the support they
will provide for emergency
response.” said Jonathan
Nixon, Perquimans Coun
ty’s Emergency Services ]
Director.
Samantha Royster is the
North Carolina CERT pro
gram manager for North ]
Carolina Emergency Man
agement.
She said the need for very j
basic emergency training
became clear in 1985 when
hundreds of people were
killed after a Mexico City
earthquake. They weren’t
killed by the quake itself, 1
but in trying to help others 1
See CERT, 2
Bike riders
coming
soon
From Staff Reports
The month of April will
bring three bike races to
Perquimans County.
The TarWheel Century
Bike Ride will have cyclists
in Perquimans County on j
Saturday with stops at |
Woodville Baptist Church
on Woodville Road and
Missing Mill Park on West
Grubb Street.
Cycle NC’s Coastal Ride
will be in Perquimans Coun-
See BIKE, 2
6 11 89076 47144
2
SUBMITTED PHOTO
The Theater Department at Perquimans County High School will present Fiddler On The Roof on April 11
12 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $5 for students and $10 for adults.
PCHS to perform ‘Fiddler’
From Staff Reports
The theater department of Per
quimans County High School will
present “Fiddler on the Roof’
Thursday and Friday at the high
school auditorium.
Shows are at 7 p.m. each night
and tickets are $5 for students and
410 for adults.
Fiddler on the Roof tells the sto
ry of a time of transition and con
flict in the life of a milkman named
Tevye. Tevye finds comfort in his
Jewish traditions and believes they
provide the stability his little village
of Anatevka needs.
In the musical production set in
Early voting for primary starts today
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
r
Early voting for the primary elec
tion for the 3rd Congressional House
seat will run from today through
April 26 in Perquimans County.
No weekend hours are scheduled
and there will be no voting on April
19 for Good Friday.
Perquimans Elections, Director
Holly Hunter said the hours for early
voting are 8 am. until 5 p.m. Early
ERCMY TILLMON/THE DAILY ADVANCE
Family members of the late Charles H. Ward join
College of The Albemarle President Robert Wynegar
(second from right) for the ribbon-cutting at the new
Charles H. Ward Library & Knowledge Commons at
the COA campus in Elizabeth City, Thursday.
BY REGGIE PONDER
The Daily Advance
More than 200 people
turned out Thursday morn
ing as College of The Albe
marle opened the doors to
its new Charles H. Ward Li
brary and Knowledge Com
mons on the community
college’s main campus in
Elizabeth City.
The library was named
for Ward, who died in Sep
tember 2014 at age 76, in
recognition of his years of
service as a trustee of ffie
community college and a
$600,000 contribution to
COA that was used to equip
and furnish the new library.
The ribbon cutting and
open house, which was
hosted by the COA Foun
dation along with the Eliza
beth City Area Chamber of
Commerce, was attended
by college and community
leaders, business leaders,
and more than 100 COA stu
dents who crowded into the
lobby, the upstairs balcony
and the courtyard outside
the building.
1905, Tevye trusts the matchmak
er, Yente, to find good husbands
for his five daughters. However,
Tevye finds his family taking sev
eral surprising turns. If the seem
ing abundance of broken tradition
in his family were not enough, the
Russian government also has some
plans of their own for Tevye’s little
town of Anatevka that cause the
whole town to stop and think about
what truly is important in life.
The performance is under the
artistic direction of Rachel Sand
ers with the technical direction
from Lynwood Winslow. Costume
management is by Melissa Lane
and choreography by Makayla Wil
voting takes place at the elections
office 601S. Edenton Road Street.
There are 26 candidates, including
17 Republicans, six Democrats, two
Libertarians and one Constitution
Party candidate.
All of them are running to replace
Walter Jones in Congress. The Re
publican represented the district
from 1995 until his death on Feb.
10. The 76-year-old Jones, who was
a Democrat before changing party
affiliation prior to the 1994 election,
liams.
The show features a live orches
tra under the direction of Malik
Barrows.
The cast includes:
■ Tevye, the Dairyman — Ma
son Rhodes
■ Golde, his wife — Mariah Or
mond
■ Tzeitel, his daughter —
Makayla Williams
■ Hodel, his daughter — Marlie
Wright
■ Chava, his daughter — Maria
Tinsley
■ Shprintze, his daughter—Am-
See FIDDLER, 2
earned a reputation as an indepen
dent voice in Congress. He ran unop
posed in the 2018 general election.
There are snapshots of candidates
who responded a survey in the paper
today.
The candidates running are:
Republicans: Phil Law, Michele
Nix, Michael Speciale, Greg Murphy,
Gary Ceres, Chimer Davis Clark Jr.,
Graham Boyd, Celeste Cairns, Phil
See VOTING, 2
New Charles Ward library opens
Town
picks
highest
bidder
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The Hertford Town Coun-
I cil awarded an $87,535 con
tract to a local company for
LED street lighting even
j though it was the highest
I bid.
Tony Riddick, who said
he’s been working to get a
contract with the town for
the past 10 years, owns the
firm. His firm is Grower By
LED and a web site shows
the office is at 306 Dobbs
I St.
The price of the lowest
bidder was $61,000, but that
bid was withdrawn. Appar-
| ently the lights have never
been field-tested. The next
lowest bid was $64,477.
Three times before the
vote was taken John Leidy,
j the town’s attorney, cau-
I tioned the board to award
I the contract to the “lowest,
responsible bidder.”
“I want to caution the
j board to pick the lowest
responsible bidder,” Leidy
said one of those times.
Still the vote to approve
the contract with Riddick
was 4-1 with Mayor Horace
j Reid as the lone no vote.
I Councilman Sid Eley spoke
up at one point before the
LED vote to tell the board
he has a serious hearing
problem, so he may not
I have heard the call for a
vote on the street lights. If a
member doesn’t cast a vote,
it’s the same for voting for
whatever the majority of the
board wants.
Councilman Frank Nor
man said the bid specifica
tions were too complicated
and that may be one reason
why the town doesn’t get
more local contractors to
bid, especially minority con
tractors. Riddick is black
and said only about 1 per
cent of all government con-
See TOWN, 4
COA President Robert
Wynegar said he appreci
ated Ward’s generosity. He
also thanked the college’s
trustees for their support
throughout the project.
Mary Lee Willis, Ward’s
sister, said her brother truly
loved northeastern North
Carolina
“He especially eryoyed
his time here on this board
and I think he would be so
proud of this library,” Willis
said.
See LIBRARY, 2