PeRQUIM
P9/C9
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KS»^ UBRARY
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W T HERTFORDNC 27944.1225
Weekly
■Farm
"News from Next Door”
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2019
Family grows goat soap business, 2
$1.00
County prepares for Dorian
Some
schools
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Perquimans County officials
were preparing for bad weather
Tuesday but were still were unsure
just what they were going to get
and when.
Confidence in predications for
Hurricane Dorian were getting
higher, but it will be later in the
week before they have a better
handle on wind speeds or rainfall
totals.
Dorian was expected to turn
northeast and track off the Caroli
na coast by Thursday and Friday.
A control group consisting of
elected and appointed leaders from
the county and the two municipal
ities along with the sheriff was
scheduled to meet late Tuesday
or early Wednesday. Last year the
group imposed a ban on alcohol
and firearms sales that lasted for
about 36 hours.
“I don’t anticipate that at this
time given the storm tracks we’ll be
on the left hand side of the storm,”
said Perquimans County Manager
Frank Heath.
The control group could also or
der an evacuation if one is needed.
Some coastal counties had al
ready done that. The Dare County
Control Group met Monday and de
clared a State of Emergency for all
areas of Dare County including the
towns of Duck, Southern Shores,
Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, Nags
Red Cross seeking volunteers to staff shelters
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The Red Cross is reach
ing out to senior citizens
and others to find volun
teers who can help staff
local evacuation shelters in
an emergency.
Long before Hurricane
Dorian, Mark P. Lenz spoke
at the Perquimans County
Senior Center. He is the lo
cal disaster program man
ager for the Red Cross and
will be back on Sept. 11 at
11 a.m. to talk again. The
meeting is for everyone, not
just seniors.
Lenz said the Red Cross
tested the program of re
cruiting seniors in the west
ern side of his 20-county area
and it worked so well, it’s be
ing rolled out elsewhere.
Emergency officials: ‘Be Prepared, Not Scared’
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Perquimans County Emergency
Management has been highlighting
a program of “Be Prepared, Not
Scared” during this, the hurricane
season.
It promotes emergency planning
for families and conun unities.
There are some things that don’t
cost money.
There is the county’s Code Red
NOAA PHOTO
A NOAA photo shows Hurricane Dorian off the coast of Florida earlier this week.
Head, Manteo and all unincorpo
rated areas including Hatteras Is
land, Roanoke Island and the Dare
mainland. A mandatory evacuation
was issued for all Dare County vis
itors beginning Tuesday, at noon. A
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Mark Lenz recently spoke at the Perquimans Senior
Center about the services of the American Red Cross.
Additionally, he extended opportunities for members to
join the Red Cross as members of a sheltering team
during disaster and recovery in the community. The
Red Cross will return to speak on Sept. 11
“If you have three to five well together that is a real
folks and they know what help.”
they are doing and work After hurricane Florence
some people thought they
had seen the worst, Lenz
said.
Then came Matthew.
“Hurricane Matthew
was very, very, very hard
on emergency agencies be
cause it was so large.”
In just 53 counties in
eastern North Carolina, the
Red Cross opened 172 shel
ters in the span of two and
a half days, he said.
“Obviously that’s a lot of
shelters and we couldn’t do
it without our partnering
agencies.”
The training the Red
Cross will do for volunteers
will take about a day.
“It’s about them (seniors)
being part of that bigger
picture,” Lenz said. “It gives
them that joy to know they
are helping their communi ¬
reverse 911 system. A resident has
to enroll in the service in order to
receive messages. It will send out
messages as needed to certain ar
eas that have an issue or county-
wide.
The messages can vary r like
water depaittoent alerts, evac
uation procedures or weather
warnings.
“We currently have about 1,270
residents and close to 40 business
es enrolled,” said Julie Solesbee, a
mandatory evacuation order for all
Dare County residents became ef
fective at 6 a.m. on Wednesday.
Hyde County also imposed an
evacuation.
As of early Tuesday morning
spokesman for Perquimans EMS.
“Residents can enroll on the coun
ty website at http://www.co.per-
quimans.nc.us/ and click on the
CodeRed tab on the left side of the
screen.”
There is also a new text to enroll
option. Residents can text PER-
QES to 99411 and that will send
them a link to the CodeRed website
for enrollment.
The county also has a Voluntary
Special Needs Registry Form for
Perquimans school officials had
not made a decision on classes this
week or if sports schedules would
be changed. Michelle Maddox,
See DORIAN, A2
ty in a time of need.”
The commitment the
Red Cross is looking for
isn’t necessarily long term.
“We’ll have them ready to
go to work in shifts for two
or three days until we, the
Red Cross at the national
level, can be ready to real
ly dump a lot of volunteers
into an area.”
Beverly Gregory, the di
rector of the senior center,
said talks like the one Lenz
gave is just part of what
theydo.
“We want to encourage
people to be actively in
volved,” Gregory said. “There
is the concern that they will
need lots of volunteers to set
up cots, and do data process
ing and enrollment.”
Lenz can be reached at
Mark.lenz@redcross.org.
residents who need some addition
al help in the event of an emergen
cy.
By filling out the form public
safety personnel can contact the
resident to check in with them.
The form gives first responders
a basic medical history; emer
gency contacts and can also
share the limitations of a resi
dent.
See OFFICIALS, A2
see big
gains
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Perquimans Central
School and Perquimans
County Middle School saw
big increases in enrollment
this year.
As of last week, Central
had 51 more students than
last year and the middle
school saw an increase of
49. The high school was also
up by 12 students.
Hertford Grammar
School however is estimat
ed to have 25 fewer kids
than last year. Principal
John Lassiter said it was
simply a matter that this
year’s incoming third grade
class wasn’t as large as last
year’s fifth grade class that
moved on to middle school
this year.
“We lost a really big fifth
grade, like 160 and the in
coming third grade class is
like 115.”
The grammar school, he
says, is always dependant
on incoming students from
Central and some years
those classes are big and
some years they are small.
Likewise both the middle
school and the high school
are dependant on the stu
dents moving up.
Superintendent Tanya
Turner said the school dis
trict should have a better
handle on final enrollment
this week.
“These numbers are mov
ing targets at the moment as
students are still enrolling
and withdrawing and will be
through Labor Day,” Turner
said. “After that time, the
numbers should begin to
stabilize and we will have
a more accurate picture of
our actual increase.”
But as of last week the
numbers were:
Perquimans Central in
creased from 377 to 428
HGS decreased from 402
to 377
PCMS increased from 367
to 416
PCHS increased from 457
to 469
Middle school Principal
Laura Moreland said the
increase in enrollment is a
positive sign for not only the
school, but also the commu
nity. She said some families
moved to Perquimans just
so their kids could enroll
here.
“It is exciting to see
people are choosing us,”
Moreland said. “When peo
ple choose you, you are
going to live up to their
See SCHOOLS, A2
Laundry, school join forces for reading
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The Laundromat may
not be the most exciting
place to be, especially
for a child, but Hertford
Grammar School and the
operators of The Wash
House have taken steps to
make it a little more pro
ductive.
The two created what
6 89076 47144 2
is referred to as a “library
without borders.” The
Wash House provided the
foam cushion mats for kids
to sit on plus a bookcase.
The school provided the
books.
“I’m good friends with
Luke Williford and Josh Riv
erbark and they are broth
ers in law and the owners
and operators of The Wash
House,” said HGS Principal
John Lassiter.
“The idea started in
Durham. After they checked
the security cameras .and
you could see kids in the
Laundromat at midnight or
1 a.m. Sometimes a Mom
gets off work and has to
take the kids with her to the
Laundromat.”
So the company created
the pop up library.
Sheila Evans, the princi
pal at White Oak Elementa
ry in Edenton worked with
the Wash House there to
create a similar space.
Now there is one in Hert
ford.
“We don’t know how
much it will help, but we
know it can’t hurt,” Lassit
er said. “We know there are
three things parents can do
to improve the life of their
child, and one of them is
reading to them,” Lassiter
said.
“There is a ton of re
search on how reading 20
minutes a day impacts stu
dents’ achievement. I am
not overly concerned about
the state test, but we’re
trying to make students a
success in life - period. Any
thing we can do toward that
is good.
“Literacy is important
and family engagement is
important. If we could get
every family to read with
See READING, A2
SUBMITTED PHOTO
A reading space has been created at The Wash House
laundromat in Hertford.