“News from Next Door” THURSDAY, MAY 27, 2021 $1.00 @ SCAN ME PAGE A4 Column: Reflec tions on Our Mili tary, My Heroes PAGE Bl APWC Awards Scholarships PAGE B4 This Week in North Carolina History Memorial Day Observance May 31 BY KEN ROMINGER American Legion American Legion Post 126 will conduct the annual Per quimans County Memorial Day Observance Monday, May 31, at the Veterans Mon ument on the County Court house Green. Herford’s American Legion Post 362 will assist in this observance which will begin at 11 a.m. In the event of in clement weather the obser vance will be moved to the Perquimans County Recre ation Center off Harvey Point Road in the business park. Post Commander Rick Caporale will conduct the program which will include the traditional roll call of Perquimans County veterans See MEMORIAL, A2 FILE PHOTO American Legion Post 126 Commander Rick Caporale (left) and past post 126 commander and past NC Department of North Carolina Vice Commander Ken Rominger (right) paid tribute to the nation’s fallen on Memorial Day in 2020. Perquimans County High School band member Nicholas Harris performed Taps at the monument by the courthouse. Rev. Brunoehler to be Guest Speaker BY KEN ROMINGER American Legion The Rev. Matthew Brunoehler [Pastor Matt], pastor of the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Elizabeth City, will be the guest speaker at the Perquimans Coun ty Memorial Day Observance May 31. American Legion Post 126, Hertford, conducts the annual Observance held on the County Courthouse Green at the Veter ans Monument in Hertford. The observance will begin at REV. BRUNOEHLER with the 2nd A 11am. Pastor Matt is a former U.S. Marine Corps veteran and a graduate of the U.S. Na val Academy commissioned as a 2nd Lieu tenant in 2004. He became an artilleiy officer trine Division at Camp Lejeune, NC. While there See BRUNOEHLER, A2 Study Suggests Dissolving Town Police Study Says Town Can Save Money By Contracting with Sheriff’s Office BY MILES LAYTON Editor Hertford Town Council re leased a study Monday suggest ing the cost of contracting law enforcement services through the Perquimans County Sheriffs Office could save the Town hun dreds of thousands of dollars per year versus continuing to operate a separate police department During a forum Monday, Mayor Pro Tern Ashley Hodges present ed the study that suggests that the sheriffs office can provide law enforcement protection for the town’s 2,100 citizens. The Hertford Police Depart ment is down to two officers — a quarter the number of officers it employed during much of2020. The purpose of the forum was to update citizens on a proposal by town officials to study dissolv ing the Hertford Police Depart ment and consolidating its opera tions with the Perquimans County Sheriffs Office. According to a resolution ad opted by Hertford Town Council on March 9, the consolidation study is needed because the town is struggling to find enough reve nue to pay its expenses. “Monday night I presented a detailed overview of the Town’s financial position as well as the results of the law enforcement funding study chartered earlier this year,” Hodges said. ‘Td like to personally thank the citizens who attended in person and online for sharing both their time and opin ions; the question and answer por tion in particular provided a great opportunity to discuss the pros and cons of each option.” See POLICE, A3 6 i 89076 47144 2 Vol. 87, No. 22 www.PerquimansWeekly.com @2021 Perquimans Weekly All Rights Reserved Baccalaureate Tribute to Pirates’ Seniors FROM STAFF REPORTS Perquimans High School Class of 2021 held a baccalaureate ser vice Friday evening at Charles H. Ward Field at the Nixon Athletic Complex. Pirates commencement takes place at 10 a.m. June 5 at the ath letic complex. Friday’s baccalaureate service paid tribute to Pirates’ seniors. Photos were compiled by Ly nette Baker and Tanya Turner. See page A3 for additional pho tos. Pirates’ Guidance Counselor See SENIORS, A3 Missing Woman’s Mother Seeks Answers BY MILES LAYTON Editor HERTFORD - Six years after Kar en Bosta went missing, her mother, Arlene Murin, is still waiting for an- swers. Bosta was 38 and living on Hol iday Island in Perquimans County when she was last seen May30,2015, while visiting Edenton. Her car was found a few days later in the Gaslight Square parking lot off Broad Street Sunday will mark the sixth anni versary of her disappearance. “It has been six long years since I have seen my daughter,” Murin said. “Her disappearance has been shrouded with secrecy from the be- ginning.” She’s convinced someone knows something about her daughter’s dis appearance. She pleaded with them to come forward and speak up, not ing without their help, “I am as lost as Karen.” ‘People must help one another,” Murin said. “Unburden yourself from this heavy weight It is the right thing to do.” In the initial days after Bosta was reported missing, the Chowan Sheriff’s Office mounted a search for her on both land and water. Law enforcement agencies in both Per quimans and Chowan have worked together to solve the case with the Perquimans Sheriff’s Office current ly talcing the lead because Bosta was a Perquimans resident “The investigation remains active and ongoing,” said Perquimans Sher iff Shelby White. A source who’s spoken with in vestigators said Bosta may have been with a woman whom she See MISSING, A3 Round-up — ^ * Roman and Woodley BY MILES LAYTON Editor A round-up of all things Perqui- mans County... XA As most folks know, a stretch of U.S. 17 Business in Perqui mans County was closed to traffic Tuesday and will remain closed until next spring, according to Perquim ans County Emergency Services. Bye bye S-Bridge! “So today she closed to traffic- forever! Many vehicles crossed her spans over the years. I remember well when she was the only Hwy 17 access. A huge part of Hertford’s appeal gone,” Sara Winslow posted to Facebook. The N.C. Department of Trans portation had planned to close the stretch of U.S. 17 Business between Hertford and Winfall in early July so they could construct a replacement bridge for the historic Hertford S Bridge. However, officials discovered during a routine inspection TUes- day that a critical part of the steel truss bridge had been damaged during a vehicle crash. The deci sion was made the close the old bridge seven weeks earlier than planned for safety reasons. U.S. 17 Business will be closed between Newby Street in down- town Hertford and the intersection of N.C. 37 in Winfall. Traffic will be detoured onto U.S. 17. The current construction sched ule calls for the replacement bridge to open to traffic in March 2022. As everyone knows, Hertford See ROUND-UP, A2 KAREN RAE BOSTA 1