P I THE ERQU P9/C9******CAR-RT LOT**R 008 D0017 I|•'II|I|||■II||II' | I|•||I|■II|I|"■||I'■ | I||■|" I || II ■■II■I | |||I PERQUIMANS COUNTY LIBRARY 514 S CHURCH ST HERTFORD NC 27944-1225 ±1V1^V1 ^ O .1 Wilma Camp hosts Hunt and Fishing program, 3 ‘'News from Next Door” WEDNESDAY, JULY 24, 2019 $1.00 Effort gets lower fire rating BY PETER WILLIAMS News Editor Homeowners in the Du rants Neck fire district could see a reduction in their fire insurance premiums as the result of an upgrade in the state fire rating. Effective Oct. 1, the Du rants Neck Volunteer Fire Department will be rated 5/9. The fire department had been rated a 7/9.The depart ment was able to get rating down because of a coor dinated effort with the In ter-County and Winfall fire departments and the Perqui mans Comity Water Depart ment to prove that Durants Neck could sustain pump ing 250 gallons per minute on a fire for two hours even if a hydrant wasn’t nearby. The department has two fire engines that can carry 1,250 gallons each but an engine without the resupply of water would run dry in about five minutes. Instead water was trucked in and dumped into a portable tank near the fire and the truck or trucks can draw water from that. Durants Neck has a tanker that can carry 1,500 gallons, and with the help of Win fall and Inter-County, the department could prove to the N.C. Department of In surance and the state fire mar shal s office that it could sustain a long fight with a fire. Fire ratings are deter mined by a number of fac tors, and Durants Neck Fire Chief Robert Eure said the ability to shuttle water is just one of the them. Man power, training equipment, maintenance all play a big role. Barry Smith, a spokes man for the N.C. Depart ment of Insurance, said Du rants Neck residents should be proud. “They worked hard to get this,” Smith said of the department. “This didn’t just happen overnight. They are all volunteers so they take time away from then- families to do this. The rea son why property owners should get lower insurance rates is because they are getting better fire protec tion.” Eure said he started fill ing out some the paperwork to get the rate reduction in October and the process lasted until April 1. PETER WILLIAMS/THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY A crane lifts the new scoreboard in to place at the new Charles A. Ward Field at Perquimans County High School last week. Football field nearly finished BY PETER WILLIAMS News Editor See FIRE, A2 The new Charles H. Ward football field at Per quimans County High School is nearly complete. The new scoreboard was installed last week. The scoreboard measures 14 feet high and 24 feet wide, which is much larg er than the one on the old field. But Maintenance I Director Jim Davison said that is the normal size high school scoreboard being built these days by Fair : Play, the manufacturer. The $28,000 scoreboard is not sponsored by a com pany, like Pepsi, which has a sign on the old score- board. Assistant Super intendent James Bunch said the school system did consider doing that to de fray the cost. Life Touch, a company that takes school photos, offered a three- year deal to be a sponsor, but the school system de cided against it. Life Touch donates a portion of the money they get from taking school pictures to the individual schools right now. See FOOTBALL, A2 Hertford, Winfall to see election contests BY PETER WILLIAMS News Editor The new scoreboard at Charles H. Ward Field was installed at the new athletic complex at Perquimans County High School last week. There will be contested races for mayoral seats in both Hertford and Winfall this November as well as a town council race in Hert ford. Hertford Mayor Horace Reid opted not to run for re-election. Earnell Brown and Hertford Mayor Pro- Tem Quentin Jackson will be seeking the mayor’s seat. Brown is a political newcomer and Jackson is mid-way through his first four-year term as a town councilman. If he wins the mayor’s race he will have to give up his council seat, but if he loses he will still retain the council position. In Winfall, Mayor Fred Yates is facing a challenge from Councilman Preston White. Yates has been May or for 16 years. When con tacted on the phone, he was traveling and said he would have a statement later. White, 53, was first ap pointed to the Winfall Council to replace Frankie Etheridge. When that term ran out, White ran for office four years ago and won. He is a Winfall native who is a supervisor at the New port News Shipyard, where he has worked for the past 32 years. He is also a mem ber of the Winfall Volunteer Fire Department. White said he was en couraged to run for the mayor’s seat by people in the community. “A lot of people felt I would be good. I was born and raised right here in Win fall and I have always try to reach out and help people in the community.” White would like to see a playground in the immedi ate area of downtown Win fall with a basketball court. He’d also like to see a green walkway. “People are trying to ex ercise more and there is nowhere to do it. When the main drag, Winfall Boule vard was widened, it was designed for a walkway but it was never built.” He’d also like to attract more small businesses to the town. There are four people running for two seats on the Hertford Town Board. See ELECTIONS, A2 Grant from Firehouse Subs to provide defibrillators to county BY PETER WILLIAMS News Editor Each Perquimans County Sher iffs Office vehicle and Emergency Service’s support vehicles will be equipped with Automatic Exter nal Defibrillators (AEDs) by the end of this year thanks to a grant. The $36,433 is being provided by a Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation. The foundation began in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina and the mission is to provide funding, life- saving equipment and educational opportunities to first responders and public safety organizations. In 2018, the sheriffs office re sponded to 88 percent of all sud den cardiac arrest calls in Perqui mans County. In several cases, deputies were the first to arrive on scene and initiated CPR but did not have the capability for early defibrillation. Sheriff Shelby White welcomes the addition of AEDs. The office has 17 sworn deputies and two an imal control officers. “To me it’s another step forward to help the citizens of the com munity. It’s a extra step because sometimes we can arrive before EMS does because we’re in the neighborhood.” Deputies know how to do CPR and use it but the AEDs does things CPR can’t. The AEDs have sticky pads with electrodes that are attached to the chest of someone who is having cardiac arrest. The electrodes See GRANT, A2 Policy on glass recycling changes New Dollar General BY PETER WILLIAMS News Editor Perquimans County still wants people to re cycle glass, but it’s asking that glass be kept sepa rate from our recyclable goods. Perquimans operates five convenience sites around the county where residents can drop off their garbage and recycling. When the recycling program first started the county wanted glass to be separate but lat er adopted a policy where it could be commingled with other recyclables like pa per and aluminum. Having a single stream waste col lection process increases participation in recycling, but it more costly, especial ly now. Since China banned the import of recyclables there, things like glass and paper went from something the county could get paid for, to something where it actu ally costs more to recycle it. Now the company that handles glass for tire county wants it to be separate. The Perquimans-Chow an-Gates board decided in April to start the separating See RECYCLING, A2 SUBMITTED PHOTO Site work has begun on a new Dollar General store near Albemarle Plantation.

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