P9/C9******CAR-RT LOT**R 008 D0017 ■ I| 1|lllll | 11 ii 1 i 1 | 1 ii.i.||q|iq|ii l ll' l l j ^ PERQUIMANS COUNTY LIBRARY 514 S CHURCH ST HERTFORD NC 27944-1225 Senior walk, 6 "News from Next Door" WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5, 2019 75 cents STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS The lack of rainfall is taking a toll on the corn crop in many areas of Perquimans County. Lack of rain taking a toll BY PETER WILLIAMS News Editor A lack of rainfall has taken a toll on some area crops, especially com, said Dylan Lilley, an extension agent in Perquimans County. “We need rain, no doubt about it,” Lilley said last week. “I’ve talked to some farmers who say they are seeing the bottoms of ditches that they’ve never seen before.” At least one Perquimans County farmer said last week if he didn’t get rain by the weekend, his com crop would be gone for this season. Higher powers must have heard that, because between Friday and Sunday the airport in Elizabeth City recorded just over three inches. How much fell in Perquimans Coun ty depends on where you measure it. But before the rain, Lilley said some com crops had suffered per manent damage. “Some areas have been going five or six weeks without rain. Com is our biggest worry right now. A certain point, each day without rain can equal a loss of one to three bushels an acre of yield. On aver age, Perquimans County com has a yield of about 160 bushels an acre, Lilley said. There is no way to say a harvest will be good or bad because soil conditions vary widely in the coun ty, Lilley said. Some areas are very sandy and crops there are suffering, but some soils are heavier. But Lilley points out while north- eastern North Carolina is dry, farm- See DROUGHT, 2 Goodwin proposes ferry trial BY JON HAWLEY The Daily Advance State Rep. Ed Goodwin, R-Chowan, is pursuing a trial run of an Inner Banks ferry this fall, saying he hopes it’s a step toward the Harbor Town Ferry proj ect that would link water fronts across the Albemarle Good- win, a for mer state Sound. GOODWIN Ferry Divi sion direc tor, said he’s seek ing other lawmak ers’ sup port for operating a ferry this fall. Whether other lawmakers will back funding for the ferry remains to be seen, but Goodwin said everyone he’s presented the idea to thinks it’s an “interesting project.” Ferries can drive up tour ism, grow businesses and spur waterfront improve ments, he said, citing the Hatteras-Ocracoke ferry as an example of that. Goodwin also said the trial ferry should help make the case for the Harbor Town Ferry project. Pro posed over a year ago by Nick Didow, a University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill business professor, the idea calls for buying five fast fer ries and starting a service connecting Edenton, Hert ford, Elizabeth City, and See FERRY, 2 SUBMITTED PHOTO Lauren Winslow (right) is the valedictorian of the PCHS Class of 2019. Samantha Midgett is the salutatorian. SUBMITTED PHOTO A firefighter works to open a door during a drill Friday on Burnt Mill Road. Counties hold hazmat drill From Staff Reports Chowan and Perqui mans County public safety personnel joined together on Friday to conduct a joint training exercise on Burnt Mill Road. The exercise was de signed to test hazmat re sponse and decontamina tion, mass Casualty triage and transportation and communication between the counties’ 911 centers. The exercise began at 5 p.m. when both Chowan and Perquimans County 911 Centers received a call for a motor vehicle colli sion on Burnt Mill Road. The wreck consisted of two vehicles with a number SUBMITTED PHOTO Firefighters work to decontaminate a hazardous material during a drill Friday on the Perquimans- Chowan county line. of occupants that had usu ries ranging from minor to critical and included a pa ¬ Winslow earns Tom’s scholarship BY PETER WILLIAMS News Editor Clinton White Toms made the offer and this year Lau ren Winslow is taking him up on it. Winslow is the valedic torian of the 2019 class of Perquimans County High School and will be attending Duke University in the fall. Toms, a Hertford native and teacher, school superin tendent, businessman, and tient that was entrapped in the vehicle. With several patients, that allowed EMS philanthropist had a stand ing offer for a Perquimans County student who got ac cepted to Duke University he would pay for it. Clinton lived from 1868 until 1936. He named the scholarship after his wife Mary Newby Toms, also of Hertford. But over the years, few have taken him up on the scholarship offer. Winslow said the scholarship is val ued at $69,000 a year for four years. personnel the opportunity to implement the triage process and fire depart ment personnel the ability to practice vehicle extrica tion, said Jonathan Nixon, Perquimans County’s EMS director. Just inside the Chowan County line a separate incident was staged with a vehicle pulling a trailer that jackknifed causing a hazardous materials leak. Public safety personnel had to determine the best and quickest way to seal the leak, as well as ensur ing that any spilled chemi cals were properly han dled. Due to the hazardous See HAZMAT, 2 In 1990 Stuart Rayburn earned the Toms scholar ship. He graduated from of Perquimans County High School, attended Duke Uni versity for four years. He graduated in 1994 with a degree in Civil and Environ mental Engineering. While Winslow knew she was going to college, she admits hadn’t really con sidered Duke even though she’s been a straight-A stu dent her entire life. County tax hike proposed BY PETER WILLIAMS News Editor Perquimans County Man ager Frank Heath is pro posing raising the county’s property tax rate by two cents next fiscal year to re duce the reliance on spend ing reserve funds to balance the budget. If adopted by the county commission at a June 17 public hearing, the tax in crease would be first in al most 10 years that wasn’t related to revaluation of property tax values. In the past, the comity has raised the tax rate when property values have fallen so as to raise the same amount of dollars as they did the pre vious year. Heath’s proposal raises the tax rate in a non revaluation year. Heath cautioned his board Monday night that continuing to draw down reserve funds to pay large operating expenses was not sustainable. The county ear marked $990,000 in reserve funds this year to fund ex penses and it is expected to use about $732,000 of that. Even the two-cent increase in the tax rate would not totally wean the comity off using reserves to balance the budget next year. The proposed 2019-20 budget in cludes $597,000 in reserves. ‘To begin to stabilize the effects of our reliance on fund balance in previous budgets, I am recommend- See BUDGET, 2 She said Randy Awrey, the lead instructional sup port teacher at the high school, strongly urged her to apply to Duke. Awrey said it was a team effort. “I can’t take credit for that, Mr. (Wayne) Price and Mr. (John) Manning and Mrs. (Tina) Meiggs and Mr. (Isaac) Lister and Mrs. (Teressa) Blanchard and ev- See GRADUATION, 2 State to monitor algae in area rivers BY PETER WILLIAMS News Editor State officials are moni toring algae in the Perqui mans, Chowan and Little Rivers. Water samples were tak en on May 13 near Harrells-, ville and the next day near Hertford. On May 29, there were reports of algal blooms on the Chowan River near Har rellsville, the boat basin on the Edenton waterfront, and some canals on the Little River. Also algae was in an area on the east side of the Perquimans River. What was observed in Per quimans on May 14 appears to fall short of the Division of Water Resources stan dard for an algal “bloom.” Algal densities were low and did not support the presence of an active bloom at the time of sampling. Pre liminary results of cyano toxin testing were negative for microcystin. However the sample tak en from the Chowan clearly does qualify as a “bloom.” Generally speaking, some species of cyanobac teria (commonly called bluegreen algae) have the ability to produce harmful compounds called cyano- toxins, according to Sarah Young, a spokesperson for the Division of Water Qual- See ALGAE, 2 SUBMITTED PHOTO A photo shows a portion of the Chowan River on May 13.

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