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A4 THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY, THURSDAY, AUGUST 20,2020 “One of the most pathetic — and dangerous — signs of our times is the growing number of individuals and groups who believe that no one can possibly disagree with them for any honest reason. ” Opinion The Perquimans Weekly Robin L. Quillon, Publisher Sean O’Brien, General Manager Miles Layton, News Editor A publication of Adams Publishing Group Mayor Calls For Action, Change I did hot sleep well Wednes day night (Aug 12). I woke up early Thursday morning with a heavy heart. We, the leaders of this com munity MUST do something to EARNELL BROWN save our youth! At 7:45 p.m., Wednesday evening, I was informed there was a riot on King Street. I immediately stopped my dinner, dressed, and drove to Stokes Drive. The climate was hot and humid, crowded conditions where tempers rise, and patience is short. It was not a riot, but approx imately 100 people, mostly young men and women scat tered in groups, several observ ers and others engaged in an unrest. The Hertford Police Depart ment and State Troopers were already present. Some individ uals were leaving on foot while others were driving out of Stokes, as two Sheriff vehicles arrived with lights flashing and sirens blasting. Not only folks from Hertford, but Elizabeth City citizens were irt the crowd. Why are Eliza beth City residents allowed in our public housing community, contributing to unrest? I walked through the crowds stopping to ask if everyone was .okay, “are you alright, be safe, stay safe and where is your mask?” Almost none were wearing face masks! On that note, we must be serious to end this virus. I un derstand that our numbers are low compared to other loca tions, and we must increase our efforts to keep it that way. I have made arrangements through the our Hertford lead ers to obtain face masks for distribution via Hertford Police Department (HPD). They have agreed, while patrolling, to kindly offer a mask to a citizen, - with the message that: ■ We want to keep our num bers down, please wear your face mask, ■ It’s not only about protect ing yourself from others, but you could be a carrier, don’t take COVID-19 home e.g., from work or the store. ■ And most importantly, we must all contribute to minimiz- ing the virus in our community by wearing a face mask when in public. Back to the events from Wednesday -1 walked through out the crowd for 10 to 15 min utes and was told that this had Sheen going on for more than an hour. Not one of those young people was disrespectful to me. It’s a shame that their source of entertainment is to watch each other fight. There ap peared to have been a confron tation between some young women regarding one woman’s Facebook post. All of this over a FACEBOOK post!!!! We MUST do something for these young people...HELP them! They have NOTHING con structive to do in Hertford! No place to go! It is sad. It is very urgent. Not everyone living in these conditions are there be cause they want to be. It takes a village. • In the past the churches played a pivotal role in our youth’s future. The school athletics department, the parents and the elders in the neighborhood all helped raise our children “in the way they should go” to have a fulfilling life. That village has become scarce to non-existent in many communities. I am asking that “we” come together, brainstorm and de- See BROWN, A5 — THOMAS SOWELL Riddick: Mayor Pro Tem Should Resign BY TONY RIDDICK Hodges Sets the Record Straight R eason why Mayor Pro Tem Ashely Hodges Should Resign: 1. He swore on the Bible to uphold an oath 2. On 3/25/20 at 11:41am Hodges asked council to remove information from the minutes because the information could potentially undermine USDA’s confidence in the Town’s ability to use the grant wisely. The problem here is that information for the grant has to based on truth and not lies. When we remove such information, it’s intentional omission. To omit something is to take away from the truth, therefore it’s a lie. 3. Asking council members to BY ASHLEY HODGES Mayor Pro Tem O ne of the issues I’ve struggled with in this job is when to turn the other cheek versus when to speak truth about others’ actions and behaviors. After enduring repeated, galling, and grossly hypocritical character assassina tions over the last several months I felt it was time to help Councilman Norman see the log in his own eye. I won’t regurgitate my comments from Formal Session other than to say I provided a detailed and carefully documented re- TONY agree to lie with him. This now RIDDICK becomes conspiracy. The town manager responded. The Town Manager responded on 3/25/20 11:46 a.m. saying “Falsifying Documents”??????? The Town manager saw this as Falsification. As a responsible representative of the town she questioned this suggestion. The council voted and agreed to adopt the lies. The vote passed 3 to 2 in favor of lying about the minutes that were being sent to USDA. Not only did Hodges falsify documents but he convinced two more to support the lies. Councilmen Frank Norman and Quentin Jackson voted against the conspiracy. 4. Hodges responds on 3/25/20 at 12:15 saying if not including comments that are made in the meeting in official minutes count as falsifying minutes, then this coimcil and eveiy council before it in Hertford or elsewhere has falsified all their minutes since the beginning of time. The Town manager responded by saying, false hood is and has been rampant since the writing started but I will not take part. The problem with Hodges philosophy is that the correct information was there and they opted to remove the truth. The town manager then asked to let the record reflect her position. I would personally like to think that there are honest hard working dedicated red blood Amer icans out there who uphold the truth. Its very disappointing to hear a coimcil person trying to justify his lies and encourage others to follow. We don’t need this type of leadership in Hert ford or anywhere else in the country. We can’t let Hodges think that this is OK. This is not reflective of the direction that Hertford needs to be going towards. EDITOR’S NOTE There’s a scene in the movie Karate Kid, the good one, where the boy is trying to balance himself while standing astride a row boat. Mr. Miyagi said to the teen, “Lesson not just karate only. Lesson whole life. Whole life have a balance. Everything be better." Of course the old man laughed as he rocked the boat, tipping the boy over, but still, the lesson applies to this opinion page - provide balance as best as possible to allow the free flow of ideas. Published here, these two opinions attempt offer balance; let the reader decide who’s right. ASHLEY buttal of several of his lies HODGES and behaviors over the last several months. We’ll see whether more public statements are merited in the coming months to continue to hold him accountable. I can’t say I’m surprised by the person al and blatantly untrue attacks from Mr. Riddick given his rather comprehensive conflict of interest. Let’s begin with the lighting contract he referenced during the public comment period last month. By Mr. Rid dick’s own words in a video posted to YouTube, he “got them [Coun cilman Norman and Councilman Jackson] elected” and “the day they got elected I got the contract.” As the contract wasn’t actually awarded until 17 months after the election, the im plication is that Councilman Norman and Councilman Jackson were “bought and paid for” on Day 1 of their term. Mr. Riddick condemned Council for turning over delinquent tax accounts to a law firm for collection, but perhaps his beliefs are influenced by the enormous amount he himself owes the Town and County. Every year, the Town is forced to move around $84,000 from the Electric Fund to the General Fund in part because he and others are delinquent on their taxes, meaning they are directly contributing to our high light bills. But what I find most troubling is the effort he and his team are expending to See RIDDICK, A5 Milot’s Musings The Education Battlefield I n the game of chess, the object is to capture the opponent’s king, a final move known as “checkmate.” To achieve that end, players move their “men” strategically to destroy opposing forces and overwhelm defenses. Some men, like bishops, knights, and rooks, derive their power from their ability to make unique moves, somewhat akin to different branches of the mil itary that can attack the enemy on the ground, at sea, or from the air. The most numerous but least powerful men are the pawns, pieces that are routinely sacrificed to achieve tactical advantage. CLAUDE MILOT The simile may be a bit of a stretch, but it is not unlike the war being fought on the battlefield of education. The two sides are the mortal ene mies we know as the Republi cans and the Democrats. On the GOP side, the presi dent is the king, the leader the Democrats have been trying to kill for the last three and a half years. He is defended by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and other members of See HODGES, A5 his administration. On the Dem ocrat side, the most powerful leader is the queen, the Speaker of the House. Her powerful men are the teachers’ unions and the leftist media. Schoolchildren are the pawns. Some of the ones enlist ed by the Republican side are the products of school choice: private schools, charter schools, and homeschooling. They have a record of success that outshines their counterparts in traditional public schools. For this reason they are targeted for elimination by the Democrats who view them as See MILOT, A5 It’s Time to Grow Up! W e all know it takes a long time to grow up—not only biologically, but psychologically. There’s a saying among psychiatrists that it takes STEPHEN 50 years to over come the first 20. Here’s the good news: unlike other spe cies, we are not restrained by our instincts alone. We are able to learn from our MARMER parents,our experiences and our culture. Here’s the bad news: Nobody matures without effort. It doesn’t happen naturally. It takes a lot of hard work. But what does it mean to be “mature?” Good question. So, let’s answer it. I have identified five charac teristics of maturity. If you work to possess them all, you will have a happier, deeper, and more pro ductive life. One: Taking Control Of course, you had no choice what era you were bom in, or where you were born, or who your parents are. But with each year of childhood you attain more and more capacity to chart your own course. Yes, society and fate play a role, but cultivating your ability and willingness to make your own decisions, expands your ability to influence how your life unfolds. The only way to achieve maturity is to take charge of your life. Nothing empowers you as much as exercising that control. Refusing to act, waiting to be rescued and seeing your self as a victim are sure signs of immaturity. Two: Taking Responsibility. I mean this in two ways. The first way is simply to acknowledge that you’re respon sible for what you do. If you make a mistake, acknowledge it. Don’t alibi and don’t blame others. This is an easy thing to say, but we all know it’s very hard to do. A mature person does it. A mature person takes responsibility. Second, is the willingness to take on obligations and fulfill them. For example, I got married and took on obligations to my wife and children. I have ethical obligations to my patients and my profession, even on days that I might not feel like it. A mature person doesn’t see obligations as burdens but as something he will ingly accepts and sees through to fulfillment. Three: Containing Emotions. I would never suggest that you should ignore your emotions, but you have to learn to contain them. Immature people lash out at then- boss or their coworker if some thing doesn’t go their way, or ar gue with their spouse when they come home, or turn to alcohol or drugs because of a rough day. I often tell my patients that maturity can be measured by how much anxiety they can tolerate without acting out inappropriate ly against themselves or others. Mature people express their emotions in the right place, at the right time, in the right way. We are emotional beings, but we should never let go of the steering wheel; that is, we need to learn how and when to contain our emotions. Four Having Perspective. An immature teenager will regard a pimple as a catastrophic eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, or will regard rejection by a girlfriend or boyfriend as the end of the world. Maturity comes from putting dis appointments into perspective. The reason we forgive a teen- ager’s overreaction is because we understand it’s probably the first time it’s happened. But life’s disappointments don’t stop when you turn 21. Far from it. Disap pointments of every variety, great and small, happen throughout life. The mature person learns from them and gets stronger each time he recovers. This kind of mature thinking is best expressed in the famous advice given to King Solo mon: This too shall pass. Perspective also means that when we are upset with some one dear to us, we have to put that negative experience in the context of the entire relationship. Immature people demonize a See MARMER, A5
The Perquimans Weekly (Hertford, N.C.)
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Aug. 20, 2020, edition 1
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