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PERQUIMANS COUNTY LIBRARY
514 S CHURCH ST
HERTFORD NC 27944-1225
Groups awarded $34,690 in grants, A2
“News from Next Door”
WEDNESDAY, JULY 3, 2019
$1.00
Moreland, Gregory return to local schools
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Two principals are headed back
to Perquimans County to fill va
cancies.
Laura Moreland has returned to
the position she left in December
- principal at Perquimans County
Middle School.
Tracy Gregory will trade one
Central School - one in Elizabeth
City — for another one and return
to where she started. She will be
principal at Perquimans Central
School next school year. She spent
the first 19 years of her career in
Perquimans and is a Perquimans
County native who has lived here
her entire life.
The school board approved
both hires last week.
Moreland, 37, said she almost
instantly missed her role at PCMS
once she started working as hu
man services director for tire Dare
County Schools earlier this year.
“I just missed it terrible,” she
said last week. “I am not meant for
an office. I am the Energizer Bun
ny. Sitting in an office all day is
tough. In the schools you can see
the impact you make every day.”
She also really missed life in
Perquimans County.
“When you’re in the military
you move around a lot, but I never
found a place I would call home
until Perquimans County. I missed
it, my kids missed it, and my hus
band missed it. The kids missed
working with me on game duty af
ter school making popcorn in the
concession stand. You wouldn’t
think they would miss that, but
they did.”
Moreland served in the Nation
al Guard for eight years. Her hus
band also served in the Army.
“This time we’re laying down
the law, we’re not moving. After
moving so much our entire lives,
we finally found a home. I am
grateful for Dare County for taking
a chance on me, and maybe when
my kids are grown I may look for
something else, but not now.”
Moving back to Perquimans
will mean the family will need to
buy a new house. Wren they left,
they put the one they had on Mar
ket Street up for sale and it sold in
nine days.
“Right now I will be back at my
old stomping grounds as of Mon
day,” Moreland said on Friday.
Moreland said she is looking
See PRINCIPALS, A2
County
asks for
help with
algae
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Perquimans County is
among others in the north-
east that are asking the
state for more financial as
sistance to help strengthen
critical drainage and im
prove water quality.
Mark Powell, a project
management consultant,
made the request of the 10
counties. ’He works for the
Edenton-based Albemarle
Resource Conservation and
Development Council.
Algal blooms have re
turned the region this sum
mer a little earlier than usu
al.
The Perquimans County
Commission has been sup
portive of efforts in the past
to restore water quality in
area rivers, but the resolu
tion said the state and oth
ers need to help.
Specifically the Perquim
ans resolution asks for mon
itoring of the rivers.
“We request funds to
help identify the causes of
and solutions to, the algal
blooms.”
The resolution points out
the N.C. DEQ does not have
monitoring stations that can
See ALGAE, A2
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Crystal Proud (right) a neurologist, checks on Kelli Price and her daughter Kaeli recently at King’s Daughter’s
hospital in Norfolk, Va.
New drug offers hope for infants
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
A Perquimans County
infant may be able to live a
normal life thanks to a new
drug that comes with a re
cord-setting $2.1 million
price tag.
Kaeli Price was born in
March with spinal muscu
lar atrophy, the top genetic
killer of infants.
She was diagnosed at
eight weeks by doctors at
Children’s Hospital of The
King’s Daughters in Nor
folk. Kaeli’s parents are
Brandon and Kelli Price of
Belvidere.
The hospital said Kae
li had a cry so weak she
sounded like a kitten when
she was born in March.
SMA is a progressive neu
romuscular condition that
gradually wears down
muscles to the point where
children are unable to walk
or breathe easily. Children
with the most severe forms
of SMA need ventilators
to breathe and usually die
in childhood. The type of
SMA Kaeli has kills most
children by 2 years of age.
Neurologist Crystal
Proud diagnosed the ill
ness and a week later a
new gene therapy drug,
Zolgensma, was approved
by the federal Food and
Drug Administration, the
hospital said.
It had only been used
in the United States once
See INFANTS, A2
Local
budgets
are on
hold
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The failure to pass a state
budget has both Perquim
ans County and the school
system out on a limb.
Until the state budget is
passed, the school system
won’t know much my state
funding it will get. As a re
sult, Superintendent Tanya
Turner asked her board to
adopt a stopgap budget for
now. The budget is sup
posed to be in place by July
1.
State funding makes up
about two thirds of the local
school budget.
Turner also has the issue
of “low wealth funds.” Even
before the budget impasse,
the county didn’t get its
share for next year.
That is a big hit,” she said.
“Like a $100,000 hit,” she
said.
Turner is perplexed be
cause all the counties sur
rounding Perquimans got
their low wealth money and
nobody can tell her why
Perquimans was left out.
See BUDGETS, A2
Parade,
fireworks
coming
Saturday
From Staff Reports
Organizers are expecting
more than 60 entries this
year for the Perquimans
County fourth annual Inde
pendence Day Celebration
on Saturday.
See PARADE, A2
Volunteer fire department to get new brush truck
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The Belvidere-Chappell Hill Vol
unteer Fire Department will soon
have a new beast to contend with.
It is buying a Skeeter-model
truck to fight brush fires to replace
the converted 1980 International
4x4 it has been using.
“She is going to be a beast,”
Fire Chief Lee Dail said of the new
truck.
It will replace a truck that can
carry 500 gallons of water. The new
one can handle 1,250 gallons. There
is also a nozzle on the front that can
be controlled from inside the cab
with a camera to monitor where
the water is going.
The old truck had the nick
name of “Big Foot.” Dail said the
department got it when from the
old Virginia Electric Power Corp.
and r modified it with the tank and
pumps.
The new vehicle can seat four,
two in the front and two in the
back. While driving through a field
it can spray water in front and from
both sides.
“We figured this truck would be
an asset for Chowan, Perquimans
and Pasquotank as well,” Dail said.
The truck is being built in Tex
as and Dail expects delivery early
See TRUCK, A2
THANK YOU
SUBMITTED PHOTO
The Belvidere-Chappell Hill Volunteer Fire Department will be buying
a Skeeter model brush truck to replace one that is nearly 40 years
old.
Work starts on Municipal election filing starts Friday
historic house
BY NICOLE BOWMAN-
LAYTON
The Chowan Herald
BETHEL — Tucked
away behind some trees
along a curvy stretch of
Holiday Island Road, a
stately white plantation
home in Perquimans Coun
ty is receiving some tender
loving care from Eden-
ton-based Down East Pres
ervation.
After sitting vacant for
about 10 years, the Isaac
See HOUSE, A3
STAFF PHOTO BY PETER WILLIAMS
Members of the Hertford Town Board met Friday
in the former Historic Hertford Inc. business on the
corner of Grubb Street and West Academy Street.
HHI vacated the town-owned building to move next
door to the former location of the Perquimans County
Library. Councilman Sid Eley was absent from Friday’s
meeting. The board met briefly to adopt some budget
amendments before the end of the fiscal year.
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Candidates for municipal
offices in Hertford and Win
fall can start signing up to
run on Friday at noon. The
filing period ends at noon
on July 19.
The seats up in Hertford
are for Mayor Reid, Sid
Eley and Gracie Felton.
Felton was appointed to
the board when former
Mayor Pro-Tern Archie
Aples resigned last Decem
ber. Both Reid and Eley
were elected four years
ago.
In Winfall it’s Mayor Fred
Yates, Preston White and
Steav Congdon.
The municipal election
will be in November.
Early voting for the July
9 Republican run-off elec
tion for a U.S. House seat
runs through Friday Votes
can go to the polls on Tues :
day.
Early voting takes place
at the Perquimans County
See FILING, A2