Council talks policy, addresses concerns
BY MILES LAYTON
Editor
Hertford Town Council
tackled many issues Mon
day that ranged from the
travel policy to Riverbash,
along with rules and proce
dures governing meetings.
At the outset of a meet
ing that lasted more than 3
hours and 20 minutes, May
or Earnell Brown presented
each council member with
a copy of Robert’s Rules of
Order, a guide for conduct
ing meetings and making
decisions as a group. Books
were donated by a citizen
familiar with council’s pro
ceedings.
Brown then gave Jackson
a sympathy card expressing
condolences arising from
matters in his life; losing
three members of his family
recently.
Due to the extreme length
of the meeting, particularly
as it relates to a tight Tues
day morning press deadline,
a follow-up story including
other meeting items will ap
pear in the next edition of
the Perquimans Weekly.
Minutes
Meeting began with
Councilman Frank Norman
saying that it would be a
dereliction of duty for coun
cil to approve the minutes
for meetings dating back to
August.
“We can not approve
these minutes and do it jus
tice,” he said.
Brown said after receiv
ing the minutes Monday,
she read the documents.
“I’m in agreement. I’ve
read them line by line, made
notes and have comments,”
she said. “I don’t know if
anyone else read the min
utes, but I think we should
read them before we ap
prove them, especially if it
is a group of minutes."
Brown said she has ques
tions with regard to min
utes pertaining to council’s
closed session meetings.
Council approved a mo
tion made by Mayor Pro
Tern Ashley Hodges and
seconded by Norman to ta
ble the minutes until Febru
ary’s work session.
Brown asked that moving
forward, minutes be made
available to councilors
24-48 hours in advance of
council meetings.
Norman suggested min
utes be made available
3-working days in advance.
Jackson noted how Mon
day’s agenda and minutes
were made available less
than four hours before the
meeting started, so he too
would like more time study
the materials before the
meetings start.
Norman circled back to
discussion of the minutes
- saying that because there
is sometimes two and three
weeks between council
meetings, minutes from the
last meeting could be made
more readily available in a
timely manner, three days
before the next meeting.
Brown said after review
ing regulations regarding
the creation of the minutes,
the meeting’s decisions and
See COUNCIL, A3
Perquimans NAACP
celebrates MLK Jr. Day
Perquimans County
National Association for
the Advancement of Col
ored People celebrates
Martin Luther King Jr.
Day Monday, Jan. 20 at
Porters Chapel AME
Zion Church.
Jubilee starts at 7 a.m.
with an MLK Breakfast
at Captain Bob’s - invi ¬
tation only for breakfast.
Later at 10a.m., the
motorcade will line up at
Perquimans County High
School and travel to the
church.
Perquimans County
Commissioner and the
church’s pastor/presid-
ing elder Fondella Leigh
will be the guest speaker.
Broadband
access
essential
to growth
BY MILES LAYTON
Editor
Aaron Saunders recently
spoke to the Perquimans
County Commission about
the importance of expand
ing broadband coverage
throughout the county.
“Over the years, we have
seen the rural areas of our
county, and many others in
the region, overlooked by
television, cellular and fixed
internet providers,” said
Saunders, a key organizer of
a group seeking to promote
broadband access. “Unless
you live on Highway 17, on
the way to or from school,
or in a highly concentrated
center of population, we
have had to learn to live with
the balance of living where
we love to live knowing we
don’t have the same ameni
ties as others in more popu
lated areas.”
Saunders shared a statis
tic about how 35 percent of
the county’s students don’t
have adequate access to
broadband connections. He
said limited access to the
internet affects everyone by
hindering economic growth
and property values.
“Residential property val
ues are being surpressed by
either people being unable to
sell their properties or refus
ing to relocate to this county
due to inadequate coverage
to many areas of the county
that by any other definition
would be considered “prime
real estate,’” he said. “Indus
trially, companies choose to
overlook us due to the same
type of concerns because if
we can’t support at least a
somewhat technically con
nected workforce, many of
these companies choose
to locate elsewhere. And
of course, if you don’t have
the industrial and residential
base, the commercial sector
suffers growth stagnation as
well.”
Saunders said in Decem
ber, more than 100 people
attended a meeting with lo
cal internet providers to air
concerns and listen to lis
ten to solutions. From that
meeting, Connect Perquim
ans Initiative was created to
improve broadband access
countywide.
Saunders asked the coun
ty commission for its sup
port so as to take advantage
See BROADBAND, A2
SUBMITTED PHOTOS
Working closely with law enforcement agents and others involved in the 2009 search for a missing college
student, Karen Throckmorton of Hertford discovered that she wanted to learn more about training human
remains detection dogs. (From left to right): Carol Gilbert with Moki, Dr. Dan Harrington, Gil Harrington, Karen
Throckmorton with Savanna.
Working partner of the best kind’
Local woman trains
‘cadaver’ dogs
BY MILES LAYTON
Editor
Everyone has a sto
ry to tell, that’s what
makes Perquimans
County so interesting.
Karen Throckmorton
is not just an accom
plished and well-trav
eled nurse, she trains
specialized dogs that
have a keen sense of
smell.
Utilized by law en
forcement agents from
across the country, hu-
Promising Pirate serves as governor’s page
BY MILES LAYTON
Editor
Perquimans High School
senior Alli Copeland said
she learned a lot about
state government when
serving as a Governor’s
Page.
“It was an awesome
experience. I learned so
much about the different
branches of government,
especially the executive
branch. I also learned
about different things go
ing on in the state of North
Carolina and the impact of
volunteering,” said Cope ¬
With more than 220 million scent receptors in a dog’s nose, they can identify
scents that are so dilute that even the most sensitive tools can’t detect these
smells. Like super heroes, these powerful crime fighting agents have keen
eyesight and ears able to pick up sounds from a greater distance than humans.
land, who served Governor
Roy Cooper’s office in No
vember. “I served as a page
the week before Thanks
giving, so the highlight of
our time was visiting the
Governor’s mansion and
attending Governor Coo
per’s second annual Tur
key Pardoning.”
Copeland said while she
was there, she visited the
Department of Agricul
ture, the General Assem
bly, Supreme Court, the
Department of Environ
mental Quality, and several
other departments.
Page program is geared
to educate and promote
volunteerism. As a collab
orative service project,
pages made blankets for a
program called SAFEchild
NC.
Copeland said pages
were given time to re
search service projects to
bring back to their com
munities. Her service proj
ect will be working with
the volunteer coordinator
from Sentara Albemarle
Medical Center so as to
create a junior volunteer
drive.
See PAGE, A2
Riverbash
planned
for April
BY MILES LAYTON
Editor
Mark your calendars to
attend Riverbash in April.
Monday, Hertford Town
Council authorized the use
of town property by the Per
quimans Tourism Develop
ment Authority for the festi
val that runs between April
24 and April 26. Events will
mostly take place in the
Hertford Town Dock/Mari-
na/Lawnarea. —
“This will be the 3rd year
for Riverbash - a commu
nity festival focused on
Perquimans County’s river
heritage and culture,” said
Sharon Smith, county’s
tourism development di
rector. “The idea to show
case Perquimans County in
the best way possible and
invite visitors to see what
the county has to offer. We
want this to be a firn thing
and the premier event in
the county.”
Below is a preliminary
listing of events planned for
Riverbash:
Friday April 24
■ Bear Swamp Beech
Spring Ruritans Fish Fry 3-6
pm municipal parking lot
■ Methodist Women
Bake Sale 3-6 p.m. munici
pal parking lot
Saturday April 25
■ Paddle the Perquimans
Kayak tour of Front Street
area 10 am. to 12 p.m.
■ Live music 10 am. to
3 p.m. town dock stage
■ Kids activities on the
marina lawn 10am. to
3 p.m.
■ Water taxi free rides
in Hertford Bay 10 am. to
3 p.m.
■ Food trucks/beer gar
den 10 am. to 3 p.m.
See RIVERBASH, A2
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Plrates' senior AIII Copeland said she learned a lot
about state government when serving as Governor’s
page in Roy Cooper's office.
6
89076 47144 2