* 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

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