QUIMANS
EEKLY
"News from Next Door”
THURSDAY, APRIL 22, 2021
$1.00
@ SCANME
PAGE A2
Council
Discusses
Fireworks,
Town Property
PAGE A6
Tri-County
Animal Shelter
Pets of the
Week
PAGE Bl
Pirates defeat
foes on softball
field
Committee to Study Civil War Monument’s Future
BY MILES LAYTON
Editor
Perquimans County Commis
sion has appointed a committee
to study the future of the Civil War
soldiers’ monument on the court-
house green in Hertford.
County Manager Frank Heath
said the monument committee’s
charge as developed by the county
commission in no way advocates
for any position regarding the
monument.
“The committee was formed
to examine the issue of the mon
ument’s location and see what
various ideas these committee
members have about it and form
a recommendation that would be
presented to the county commis
sion,” he said. “The committee has
no decision-making power; that
lies with the commissioners.”
Edenton and Tyrrell County
are also exploring potential plans
about the future of their Civil War
monuments.
Sponsored by UNC Chapel Hill,
Documenting the American South
(DocSouth) is a digital publishing
initiative that provides Internet
access to texts, images, and audio
files related to southern history,
literature, and culture.
Dedicated June 12,1912, Perqui
mans County’s 109-year-old monu
ment has a low two-tiered granite
base with rusticated edges topped
by an obelisk resting on a finished
granite plinth. In high relief on the
plinths front face is a furled Con
federate battle flag and the years
1861 and 1865, according to Doc
South. Below the flag is the words
OUR SOLDIERS. Crossed sabers
still in their scabbards adorn the
monuments back face.
Heath explained that commis
sion received requests from Town
of Hertford, Perquimans’ chapter
of the NAACP and two county
commissioners to remove the
monument.
“We got to this point because the
Board of Commissioners received
letters from the NAACP and the
Town of Hertford requesting that
the monument be removed,” he
said. “Also, Commissioners Fon-
della Leigh and Joseph Hoffler
asked that the monument be re
moved. The Board then decided
that a committee should be formed
to examine the issue. They wanted
to take a measured approach ver
sus immediate action.”
Those appointed to the mon
ument study committee are:
Robert Jackson, Johnny Caddy,
Gwayland McCleney, Tammy Mill
er-White, Jeff Proctor, Antoine
Moore, Debbie Jean Parker and
Brenda Lassiter.
Heath said the county commis
sion asked Perquimans County
Commission Chairman Wallace
Nelson and Vice Chairwoman
Fondella Leigh to suggest names
for the committee. They provided
names and the Board approved.
Recently, Keith Throckmor
ton, who was originally appoint
ed to the committee when it was
formed in early April, resigned
last week. Robert Jackson was
appointed Monday to fill that va
cant slot.
Submitted to the Perquimans
County Commission, Throckmor
ton’s letter of resignation said any
plans by the committee to consid
er moving the Civil War soldier’s
statue would be in violation of
state law. Throckmorton’s letter
appears at the end of this story.
“If my understanding of the
‘law’ is correct, the monument
See MONUMENT, A3
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Perquimans County Civil War
monument
Democratic
Party Holds
County
Convention
FROM STAFF REPORTS
Perquimans County Demo
cratic Party re-elected officers
MILLER-WHITE
re-elected:
■ Chair —
er-White
and conducted
business at the
party’s Coun
ty Convention
April 10 in the
Perquimans
County Court
house in the J.
Carlton Cole
Courtroom.
Following
officers were
Tammy Mill-
■ 2nd Vice Chair — Earnell
Brown
■ Secretary — Janice McK
enzie Cole
■ Treasurer — Jacqueline
Frierson
Newly elected:
■ 3rd Vice Chair — Quanta-
jah Armstrong
For the time being 1st Vice
Chair is vacant.
Miller-White and Cole were
elected to the State Executive
Committee
Nine people were elected as
delegates to the annual District
Convention on May 22.
At the meeting, party mem
bers reviewed the demograph
ics of the turnout for the No
vember (2020) election in our
County.
Chairman Miller-White intro
duced her new initiative Neigh
bors Meeting Neighbors which
will be a series of various com
munity gatherings to bring peo
ple together to promote a stron
ger sense of county/community,
and awareness of Perquimans’
See CONVENTION, A3
89076 47144
2
Vol. 87, No. 17
www.PerquimansWeekly.com
@2021 Perquimans Weekly
All Rights Reserved
PHOTO COURTESY CAMP CALE
Camp Cale Director Matt Thomas speaks at a ribbon-cutting event for the camp’s new bunkhouses
Thursday (April 15) in Hertford. The Elizabeth City Area Chamber of Commerce organized the event.
Camp Cale Unveils New Bunkhouse
BY REGGIE PONDER
For the Perquimans Weekly
Camp Cale hosted Baptist
leaders and area business, edu
cation and government leaders
Thursday morning to celebrate
its 60 years of operation as well
as the camp’s new bunkhouses
that feature air conditioning, heat
and indoor plumbing.
Camp Cale Director Matt
Thomas told the 60 or so people
gathered for the event that in the
late 1950s the Chowan Baptist
Association decided it wanted to
have a camping ministry.
The Cale family donated a site
and it now has grown to the cur
rent 86-acre camp on the Perqui
mans River.
Perquimans BOE Seeks Budget Increase
BY MILES LAYTON
Editor
The Perquimans County
Board of Education met Mon
day in a joint meeting with the
Perquimans County Board of
Commissioners to share the
budget request for capital out
lay and current expense needs
for the 2021-2022 school year.
The local current expense
request totals $3,103,236 -
an increase of $203,236 from
the 2020-2021 allocation of
60-Year Celebration
The new bunkhouses have
transformed Camp Cale to be
able to do much more, Thomas
said.
He noted the older cabins did
not have heat, air conditioning, or
bathrooms. The new bunkhouses
are outfitted with those ameni
ties.
The event, which included a
ribbon-cutting and tour of camp
facilities, was organized in con
junction with the Elizabeth City
Area Chamber of Commerce.
Officials from the Perquimans
County Chamber of Commerce
also were in attendance, as was
Hertford Mayor Earnell Brown.
Mid-Atlantic Christian Univer
sity President John Maurice, Col
lege of The Albemarle President
$2,900,000.
There was no
increase in
the request for
capital outlay
funds which to
taled $475,000.
Superinten
dent Tanya
TURNER Turner said the
local current
expense bud
get includes funding for addi
tional transportation costs for
rerouting school buses due to
Jack Bagwell and COA Trustee
Marion Harris all attended.
Harvey Roberts, a farmer in
the Shawboro community of Cur
rituck County, recalled outside
the new bunkhouse that he first
came to the site in 1963 when he
was 10 years old, and has been
coming ever since.
He explained that he worked
alongside his father and a group
of other men who were clearing
trees and doing other work at the
camp site.
Roberts also chaired the com
mittee for the camp for a number
of years. He said he was excit
ed to see how far the camp has
come.
See CAMP CALE, A3
the closure of the S-shaped
Bridge ($61,000) and state
mandated salary and bene
fit increases ($142,236). The
Board of Commissioners were
also apprised of the possibil
ity of increases in payments
to charter schools for student
enrollment. Additional local
funding ($200,055) may be
needed to lessen the impact of
funds reduced from the school
system’s budget that must be
paid to charter schools for en
rollment.
Round-up
Centenarian
and Wynne
Fork Bridge
BY MILES LAYTON
Editor
A round-up of all things Per
quimans County...
Lessie B. Riddick of
Perquimans County turned 100
years old on April 5. As a woman
born 100 years ago Lessie has
seen the world change in almost
unspeakable ways.
Think about that for a moment
-100 years. Means Riddick lived
through the 20s, Great Depres
sion, World II, Korean War, Civil
Rights, Kennedy assassination,
Vietnam War, MLK assassination,
70s malaise, Reagan era, Obama’s
two terms, so on so forth. And
See ROUND-UP, A3
LESSIE B. RIDDICK
Capital Outlay projects pro
posed for funding for the 2021-
2022 school year include pav
ing projects at all four schools;
renovating the science lab, re
placing exit doors and adding
a camera system to Perquim
ans Middle School; replacing
broken kitchen equipment at
all four schools; providing a
furniture replacement allot
ment to all four schools; repair
and repaint epoxy floor in the
See BOE, A3
Join us for the 13th Annual Week of the Young Child
Children’s Festival & Safe Kids Day
DRIVE-THRU Event WHILE SUPPLIESUIST Z»
^aotts OW#B3®J'V ^
Saturday, April 24, 2021
10:00 AM -12:30 PM
Perquimans Recreation Center
FREE Admission
and Activities for families
For more information, call 252-482-3035
Hosted by Chowan/Perquimans Smart Start Partnership & Chowan County Safe Kids