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3 PAGE A6 Rotary Club to offer free tax help PAGE Bl Perquimans’ basketball, soccer and swim teams compete PAGE B4 This week in North Carolina history Hertford Has Not Filed Annual Audit Report BY MILES LAYTON Editor State Treasurer’s office said the Town of Hertford’s annual finan cial audit for fiscal year 2019/20 has not been filed with the state’s Local Government Commission. Deadline to submit the audit with the LGC was Jan. 31 - fourth year in a row Town Hall has not filed the annual audit by the dead line. Town Hall did not provide com ment about why the audit has not been submitted to the state, specifically to the State and Lo cal Government Finance Division and the Local Government Com mission. Town’s audit is prepared by Jeff Best, a certified public ac countant based in Belhaven. Audit reports for counties and municipalities are typically due by Oct. 31 based on the terms of the local government’s contract with its auditor, but the deadline was extended to Jan. 31. COVID-19 has impacted local governments in many ways, not the least of which is interfering with the timeline for completing a June 30, 2020 audit, according to the Treasurer’s office that keeps See AUDIT, A2 Town Council Discusses Discord Hertford hires town clerk BY MILES LAYTON Editer Monday’s four-hour long Hert ford Town Council meeting will be covered in more detail in a future edition so as to include the sequel - Thursday’s special meeting. However, among the high- fights from Monday’s meeting in clude how Lashonda Cartwright of Bertie County was recently hired as the new Town Clerk. Prior to Cartwright’s hire, she worked as an administrative assistant at the Windsor-Bertie Chamber of Commerce. Previ ous Town Clerk Shoniqua Pow ell resigned in September. Next, for more than an hour council debated back and forth over the agenda, whether to amend, when to amend, who can amend and more. Councilmen Quentin Jackson and Frank Norman constantly challenged the Mayor Earnell Brown’s decisions as she presided See TOWN, A3 GOODWIN HUNTER Bill Alters Way Public Notices Are Published BY PAUL NIELSEN For Chowan Herald State Rep. Howard Hunt er, D-Hertford, is a primary sponsor of a bill introduced in the N.C. General Assem bly that would allow local governments in 12 north- eastern counties to publish required legal notices on their websites. Pasquotank, Camden, Perquimans and Chowan counties are among the doz en eastern counties covered by House Bill 51. State Rep. Ed Goodwin, R-Chowan, is also a primary sponsor of the legislation. A similar bill sponsored by state Rep. Bobby Hanig, R-Currituck, that includes Currituck and 13 other counties stretching across the state, has also been in troduced. Of the seven pri mary sponsors of the two bills, Hunter is the only Democrat. Critics of the legislation say, if passed, it would al low governments to oper ate more easily in the dark. They note that under cur rent law, local governments are required to post public notices in a newspaper of general circulation in their county. The legislation would still allow local govern ments to publish public no tices in local newspapers if they choose. However, not being required to do so likely would result in local See NOTICES, A6 PAGE A4 Column: Counties once again looking to operate in the dark 6 89076 47144 Vol. 87, No. 7 www.PerquimansWeekly.com @2021 Perquimans Weekly All Rights Reserved Blessed Place to Live FROM STAFF REPORTS Photos of the Perquimans River by Elizabeth Porcher Jones are a welcome respite from current events. Moreover, they should help all citizens embrace the fact that they live in a beautiful place. Temperatures during the week ahead will top out in the mid 40s and there is 60 percent chance of rain Friday and Saturday. Sunday may be wet too, though it is less likely. Monday, temperatures will dip into the 30s while Tues day, there is a chance of snow, but time will tell. 2 Cole: Prep, Opportunity, Courage Key to Breaking Barriers BY PAUL NIELSEN For the Perquimans Weekly Judge Janice McKenzie Cole is prominently featured in the Museum of the Albemarle’s current exhibit called “Women Breaking Barriers in Northeast ern North Carolina.” But Cole did more than break barriers, she smashed them. Cole, of Hertford, began her barrier-breaking career in New York City but the rest of the bar riers she shattered happened during a long legal career in northeastern North Carolina. Cole was the first female and first African-American at torney in Perquimans County; elected the first female and first African-American District Court judge in the 1st Judicial District; and the first African American to win a presidential appointment as a U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina. Cole told the museum’s virtu al “History for Lunch” program Wednesday that three basic principles allowed her to break barriers, first in law enforce ment and then later as a prose cutor, attorney and judge. “I think preparation, oppor tunity and then courage are the three things that had the most to do with it,” Cole said. Cole was among the first group of women in the early 1970s in New York City to be- BY ELIZABETH PORCHER JONES SUBMITTED PHOTO Attorney Janice Cole, founder of the Cole Immigration Law Center and a former District Court judge, U.S. Attorney and Perquimans County commissioner, stands next to an exhibit noting Fordham University’s honoring of her in this March 25,2019 file photo. come patrol officers and said that prepared her for a legal ca reer. “They opened the police exam to both men and women,” Cole said. “I decided I wanted to take it. I was in one of the first groups of women to be as signed to street patrol. It gave me an opportunity to be one of the first.” Three years later in 1973, New York suffered a fiscal crisis and Cole was laid off. “Last hired, first fired,” Cole said. Cole had completed over a year of college before joining the police department and after being laid off she went back and earned a criminal justice degree from City University of New York. Cole then went to law school at Fordham at night while work ing during the day, saying she “had always wanted to be a law yer.” Before graduating with her law degree, Cole had a summer internship in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New York. Cole pre- See COLE, A3 Round-up SBI and Town Hall BY MILES LAYTON ; Editor A round-up of all things Perqui mans County... . NC State Bureau of Investigation has several agents investigating the Town of Hertford. Agents have been using a confer ence room within the Perquimans County Sheriffs Department to conduct business. Councilman Frank Norman announced via Facebook Feb. 4 that SBI agents took town equipment Jan. 30 from the Community Center. Nonnan did not say what kind of equipment was taken, only that it is needed for zoom broadcasts. Norman did not elaborate about any details as to the possible scope of the SBI investigation, but he said the SBI is investigating “something or someone that concerns our town and governing board” that council should’ve discussed at a special meeting Thursday (Feb. 4) that did not gain quorum. SBI said search warrants would be filed with Superior Court for Perquimans County. In other news unrelated to the latest headlines, Hertford Police Officer John Duncan has left HPD and is fighting crime somewhere else. Thank you for your service to the community. Meanwhile, Hertford Police Department’s website has not been adjusted to reflect new hires or present staffing. HPD Officer Gilbert Rodriguez resigned in January, but he is still listed on the webpage for HPD’s duty roster. Pending SBI matters and other Town Hall happenings that deserve immediate attention, a story about I the HPD staffing challenges is ahead. On that note, prior to a recent above-the-fold headline regarding long vacant 321 Market St., the Perquimans Weekly has asked Town Hall to provide a list of distressed properties. In June, Zacchaeus Legal Services of Tfrenton to pursue debt collec tions among other related matters for property that is three years or more behind in taxes, andnotapri- mary residence of property owner. In related matters, the county recently hired Zacchaeus Legal Services to pursue collections on delinquent properties. Elaine Riddick Charter School has a new sign up by its facility on Harvey Point Road, so that may be an indicator that progress is being made toward a possible opening later this year. Last August, the State Board of Education approved a one-year See ROUND-UP, A2
The Perquimans Weekly (Hertford, N.C.)
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Feb. 11, 2021, edition 1
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