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PERQUIMANS COUNTY LIBR
Ruritan Club Celebrates Anniversary, 3
“News from Next Door”
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2019
$1.00
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Larry Amaker was sworn in to the NC Marine Industrial
Park Authority by Retired Judge Janice McKenzie Cole
at the Hertford Court Annex Courtroom last week. The
Bible is being held by Carol Amaker.
Amaker joins marine board
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News ^Editor
Gov. Roy Cooper has ap
pointed Larry Amaker to
serve on the North Carolina
Marine Industrial Park Au
thority.
Tire authority is under
the N.C. Department of
Commerce and oversees
marine parks in Wanchese
and Engelhard as well as
the proposed 72-acre one in
Hertford.
Janice Cole, the former
chair of the authority, is
stepping down. Amaker
will serve as a Perquimans
member along with Wallace
Nelson, the chairman of the
Perquimans County Com
mission.
Amaker, 66, is retired
from a 38-year career in law
enforcement. He is the pres
ident of Amaker & Associ
ates Investigations, LLC. Be
fore founding his practice,
he had a 36-year career in
law enforcement including
time with the NYC Dept, of
Corrections, White Plains,
NY Police Department, New
York City Police Depart?
ment and the United States
Secret Service.
He grew up in Harlem.
“Back in those days, it
wasn’t gentrified,” he said.
He moved to Shores of
Lands End about 12 years
ago.
“We were living in Mary
land, just outside of Wash
ington D.C. and really just
stumbled on it (Perquimans
County). We fell in love with
it immediately. Once we had
a house here, I knew I didn’t
want to work in D.C. any
more and retired.”
He loves the quiet life he '
has in Perquimans.
See AMAKER, A2
Schools
placed on
lockdown
From Staff Reports
Two Perquimans Coun
ty schools were placed on
lockdown Thursday follow
ing a report that an Eliza
beth City man wanted on
murder and other charges
was in the vicinity.
The Per
quimans
County
Sheriff’s
Office said
it received
a tip that
Caprie An-
PAIGE thony Paige,
who is wanted in both Eliz ¬
abeth City and Atlanta, was
at a location outside the
Winfall town limits.
As a precautionary mea
sure, both Perquimans Cen-
tral School and Perquimans
Middle School were placed
on a modified lockdown
until the tip about Paige’s
whereabouts was investi
gated, the Perquimans Sher
iffs Office said.
After an investigation
determined the tip lacked
merit, the lockdowns were
lifted and normal school op
erations resumed, the sher
iffs office said.
Elizabeth City police
Perquimans players run out onto the field for Friday’s game. See the game story on Page A8.
New stadium
See LOCKDOWN, A2
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
The results of nearly a decade of
thought and work became a reali
ty Ffiday night when Perquimans
County High School held their first
football game on the Charles H. Ward
Field at the Nixon Athletic Complex.
The football team responded with
a 40-0 win over Columbia.
The project started when Dr. Wil
liam Nixon, a Perquimans native,
made the offer of 32 acres of farm
land across the street from the high
school in 2010. Work was to start
within five years, but when that
didn’t happen, Nixon extended the
offer another five years. It wasn’t un
til former Perquimans County Com
missioner Charles Ward died and left
$600,000 for the county for a football
opens
field or a library did the athletic proj
ect get traction. $
School officials had hoped to play
on the field in 2018, but that was not
to be. It didn’t seem to matter to fans
that packed the stands.
“Tonight we stand on a field built
from dreams and a vision ... dreams
and a vision which began nearly a de ¬
See STADIUM, A2
County
supports
Murphy
BY PETER WILLIAMS
■ News Editor
Perquimans County was
among the counties that
did more than their share
to give Republican state'
lawmaker Greg Murphy a
big win in his race for North
Carolinas 3rd Congressio
nal District last week.
Across the district, Mur
phy, a Green
ville doctor,
got 61 per
cent of the
vote over
Democrat Al
len Thomas,
who had 37
percent. Two
DAILY ADVANCE PHOTO
MURPHY third-party
candidates —
Libertarian Tim Harris and
Greg Holt of the N.C. Consti
tution Party — were far be
hind, combining for less than
1 percent of the vote.
The special election was
called to fill the vacancy left
by the death of Walter B.
Jones Jr., who died on Feb. 10.
In Perquimans County,
Murphy got 70.49 percent
of the vote. Tire only county
See MURPHY, A2
SUBMITTED PHOTO
A sign hangs in front of the new home for Historic
Hertford Inc. and Carolina Moon Theater.
HHI, theater working on new location
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Come spring, Carolina
Moon Theater will be per
forming a play in their third
location in the past seven
years.
The theater and Historic
Hertford Inc. have moved
next door to 110 W. Acad
emy St. to a space that last
served as the Perquimans
County Library. Before be
coming a library, the build
ing housed the cafeteria for
Hertford Grammar School.
HHI and Carolina Moon
are leasing the new space
from Perquimans County
for$layear.
Before the move, they
were in the next door in a
building owned by the Town
of Hertford on the corner of
West Academy and Grubb
Streets. That building once
housed the Perquimans Se
nior Center before it moved
to a building on Harvey
Point Road.
Lynne Raymond, the
leader with Carolina Moon
and chair of Historic Hert
ford, said the move was
made to give HHI and the
theater more space and get
everything under one roof.
The theater group had been
storing props and costumes
in a metal building the town
owns near Missing Mill
Park, but it had a roof leak.
The new building has just
under 6,000 square feet. The
old senior center measures
about 3,600.
“We’ll be able to seat
about 90 people and the
stage itself is much bigger,
like 30 percent bigger,” Ray
mond said. “That allows us
to do a lot of different per-
formances that we couldn’t
See THEATER, A2
Tilley named to advisory committee
Candidate Forum
From Staff Reports
Perquimans County
Clerk of Superior Court
Todd Tilley has been ap
pointed to serve on the
eCourts Advisory Commit
tee for the North Carolina
Judicial Branch.
The eCourts Adviso
ry Committee comprises
representation of judicial
officials and court staff
from throughout the state’s
court system. This group
is charged with evaluating
and recommending stan
dard case/business process
es to enable courts to move
from a largely paper-based
environment to a digital
one. Tilley was selected to
serve as a voice for clerks
of superior court. He was
selected by nomination by
leadership of the statewide
Conference of Clerks of Su
perior Court.
“We look forward to
Clerk Tilley’s collaboration
to further our successes
as transformative change
continues in the Judicial
Branch,” said McKinley
Wooten, interim director
of the North Carolina Ad
ministrative Office of the
Courts (NCAOC). “Our
work together will deliver
technology systems, tools,
and processes that provide
greater access to justice
and enable efficient, fair,
and equitable outcomes in
our unified court system.”
“It is an honor to serve
on this committee,” Tilley
said. “I am proud to be the
voice for the residents of
Perquimans County and to
represent my fellow clerks
across the state as we work
to modernize our courts
and provide greater access
to justice for all North Car
olinians.”
As the NCAOC progress
es in its eCourts initiatives,
it will be critical that ex
peditious decisions are
made concerning request
ed modifications or addi
tions to current business
See TILLEY, A2
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Hertford candidates Earnell Brown, Jerry Mimlitsch,
Orlean Jones and Ashley Hodges attended a candidate’s
forum Saturday at the historic Perquimans County
Courthouse. Two other candidates, Quentin Jackson and
Gracie Felton were invited but did not,attend. Brown
and Jackson are running for mayor and the,other four
are running for a town council seat.