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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.