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News from Next Door”
QUIMANS
EEKLY
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THURSDAY, AUGUST 5, 2021
$1.00
8) SCAN ME
PAGE A2
More than 100
earn degrees at
COA summer com
mencement
PAGE A3
Free tours
offered during
National Light-
house Day
PAGE A5
Milot: Political
divide more than
partisan polar
ization
Town gov’t expert questions release of Brothers info
Bluestein: Town Council could
release information, not Jackson
BY REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
Some of the information Hert
ford Town Councilman Quentin
Jackson cited at last week’s resi
dency challenge hearing for a po
litical opponent may have been in
formation that shouldn’t have been
publicly disclosed by an individual,
BROTHERS
according to a
recognized expert
in municipal law.
A town coun
cilor acting on
their own initia
tive — as Jackson
appeared to do
last week — is
not permitted by
state law to pub
licly disclose a citizen’s municipal
utility billing information, accord
ing to municipal government pro-
JACKSON
fessor Frayda S.
Bluestein of the
School of Gov
ernment at the
University of
North Carolina at
Chapel Hill.
Jackson tes
tified at the July
22 residency
challenge hearing
that town records show Connie
Brothers has not had a valid utili
ty account in her name since 2016.
He also alleged Brothers is on the
list of people who owe significant
amounts of money to the town be
cause of unpaid utilities.
There is now an active electric
ity account at 504 Willow Street,
which Brothers claims as her res
idence, but there is no water and
sewer service, Jackson said at the
hearing.
Brothers is one of six candidates
seeking one of two seats in the
Hertford Town Council election
this November. Jackson is also on
the November ballot, seeking a
second term.
The hearing last week was held
to consider Jackson’s allegation
that Brothers is not a town resident
and thus ineligible to run for a seat
on the town council.
Asked about Jackson’s public
disclosure of Brothers’ utility bill
ing information, Bluestein said
that under certain circumstances
Hertford Town Council could vote
See QUESTIONS, A3
Positive message
Perquimans
Chowan: Masks
REGGIE PONDER/THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
Participants in the one-day community Youth Camp at Camp Cale Sunday afternoon enjoy outdoor games
after the weather cleared following a rainstorm. Tanner Thach, a member of the Class 1-A State Championship
baseball team at Perquimans County High School, was the featured speaker for the event.
mostly optional
CDC: Both counties seeing
rising transmission of COVID
BY REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
Thach urges youth campers to trust Jesus
Pirate baseball standout featured
speaker at Camp Cale event
BY REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
Perquimans High School baseball
standout Tanner Thach told area
teens Sunday that studying the Bible
is essential to Christian living the way
practice is critical to success on the
baseball diamond.
Thach and his Perquimans Pirates
teammates got a full taste of baseball
success recently when they claimed
the N.C. High School Athletic Asso
ciation Class 1-A State Championship
in a June 27 victory over East Surry.
Once you accept Jesus Christ as
Lord and Savior it’s only the first
step in the Christian journey, which
is a daily venture in growing closer
to God, said Thach, a rising senior
at PCHS who is a first baseman and
pitcher on the Pirates baseball team
and was named Most Valuable Player
of the state championship series.
“We can never get too close to
MALCOLM SHIELDS/THE DAILY ADVANCE
Perquimans County’s Tanner Thach
(left) poses with the MVP plaque
with a representative from the
NCHSAA after being named the
NCHSAA Class LA Baseball State
Championship series Most Valuable
Player, Sunday, June 27.
God,” Thach told the youth.
Thach spoke during the closing
worship service at a community
Youth Camp Sunday at Camp Cale.
Forty-one teens from Perquimans
County arid across the area partici-
pated in the Christian day camp. The
event was sponsored by Piney Woods
Friends Meeting and a community
youth ministry coalition that formed
this year to bring Christian moti
vational speaker and former Mqjor
League Baseball great Darryl Straw
berry to the area. Strawberry spoke
to area students and also held a youth
rally at Piney Woods.
More than 30 adults also turned out
to support the youth ministry Sunday
afternoon at Camp Cale, a Baptist-af
filiated camp on the shores of the Per
quimans River. The event included in
door games and even some outdoor
games once the skies cleared, as well
as small group discussions and the
closing worship with music by area
youth and Thach’s Gospel presenta
tion.
Reading the Bible every day will
help you grow in the faith and impact
the world for Christ, Thach said.
“This right here is how you solve
the world’s problems right now,” he
said as he held high a Bible.
See THACH, A2
For now, wearing a face
mask in indoor public plac
es remains optional for both
vaccinated and unvaccinat
ed residents in Chowan and
Perquimans counties despite
new guidance from the Cen-
ters for Disease Control and
the governor’s office rec
ommending they be worn
where the rate of COVID-19
transmission is either high or
substantial.
But officials in both coun
ties were expected to dis
cuss possible changes to that
stance at their meetings this
week.
As of Saturday, the CDC
considered Perquimans an
area of substantial trans
mission for the coronavirus
that causes COVID-19 while
Chowan was considered an
area of high spread.
As evidence of how quick
ly those designations can
change based on the number
of new cases and positivity
rates, the CDC’s 7-day COVID
tracker a few days earlier
had rated Perquimans high
for transmission and Chow
an substantial. As of Friday,
Perquimans had seven active
cases of COVID and Chowan
had 19, according to Albe
marle Regional Health Ser
vices.
Public health officials
said COVID cases again are
rising — after dropping for
months — largely because of
a new highly contagious delta
strain of the coronavirus that
causes the disease. Cases
are particularly spreading in
areas where COVID-19 vac
cination rates are low. As of
Saturday, the percentage of
fully vaccinated residents in
Perquimans was 19.5% while
Chowan’s rate was nearly
double that, 35.9%
Based on the CDC’s warn
ings about how quickly the
delta variant of COVID is
spreading, Gov. Roy Cooper
announced July 29 that state
government will begin verify
ing the vaccination status of
its workers.
“Employees not vacci
nated are required to wear a
mask and be tested at least
once a week,” according to
a press release from the gov
ernor’s office. The governor’s
statement said a recent up
swing in COVID-19 cases and
hospitalizations is driven by
unvaccinated North Carolin
ians.
“Until more people get the
vaccine, we will continue liv
ing with the very real threat
of serious disease, and we
will continue to see more
dangerous and contagious
variants like Delta,” Cooper
said.
The state’s Department of
Health and Human Services
has recommended that both
public and private employers
verify vaccination status of
employees.
The statement from the
governor’s office also cited
the new CDC guidance on
masks.
“Moving forward, every
one in a red or orange county
in North Carolina, including
those who have been vacci
nated, should wear a mask
in public indoor settings,” the
statement says. “Additionally,
in accordance with the up
dated CDC guidance, all K-12
schools should require uni
versal masking, regardless of
vaccination status.”
Local officials were ex
pected to discuss this week
what additional steps if any
should be taken in light of the
See MASKS, A3
Farmers hear timely tips for cotton, peanuts at NE Ag Expo
Parrish and Son, Beech Fork
farms hosted agricultural event
BY REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
ROCKY HOCK — This could be
a big year for cotton in Perquim
ans County.
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Daniel Lilley, field crops agent
for Perquimans County, said in an
interview at the July 29 Northeast
Summer Ag Expo that Perquim
ans farmers have planted more
cotton this year than last year.
The number of growers planting
peanuts has decreased over the
past several years but the growers
who still plant peanuts seem to be
maintaining about the same acre
age, he said.
Lilley said the weather last year
was less favorable for planting
cotton and that probably contrib
uted to a dip in cotton acreage last
year.
Jim Parrish of JM Parrish and
Son Farms in Rocky Hock grows
crops including peanuts and cot
ton on his farm, which along with
Beech Fork Farms served as host
site for the Summer Northeast Ag
Expo.
In an interview at the expo he
said both crops are looking pretty
good.
“They’re looking pretty good
but it’s getting really dry up my
way,” Parrish said. “We’re actually
irrigating right now.”
Commodity prices also look
good right now, he said. The irriga
tion should make a difference for
the crops and pay off because of
decent prices, he said.
REGGIE PONDER/CHOWAN HERALD
Charlie Cahoon, a weed specialist with N.C. State Extension, talks
to farmers about herbicide resistance in ryegrass as he stands next
to a cotton field on JM Parrish and Son Farms during the Northeast
Summer Ag Expo on Thursday, July 29.
See EXPO, A3