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PERQUIMANS COUNTY LIBRARY
514 S CHURCH ST
HERTFORD NC 27944-1225
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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.