“News from Next Door”
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2021
$1.00
@ SCAN ME ^
PAGE A2
Dollar Tree-Family
Dollar store to open
for business today
PAGE A8
Local NSDAR
chapter honors
ARHS for work
during pandemic
PAGE A8
Perquimans’
White wins
another cross
country race
Perquimans opposes possible district shift
Heath: Draft map removes
county from 1st House District
BY REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
HERTFORD — Perquimans offi
cials and county residents are ex
pressing concern about the pros
pect of Perquimans being removed
from the 1st House District when
new legislative districts are drawn.
County Manager Frank Heath
told Perquimans commissioners
Monday night that he had seen
a draft redistricting map that re
moves the county from the 1st
House District and moves it into a
district with other counties to the
south, including Carteret County.
Heath said he advised area legis
lators that the counties in the north-
eastern corner of the state have al
ways worked closely together and
that Perquimans has no history of
working with, for example, Cart
eret County. Besides Perquimans,
the 1st House District currently
includes Camden, Chowan, Bertie,
Tyrrell and Washington counties
and is represented by state Rep.
Eddie Goodwin, R-Chowan.
A number of Perquimans resi
dents presented a similar plea at
a public hearing on redistricting
that was held in mid-September at
the K.E. White Center at Elizabeth
City State University. The hearing
was one of 13 held across the state
to gather public input on how the
General Assembly should redraw
electoral districts. Lawmakers in
North Carolina redraw both legis
lative and congressional districts
every 10 years to reflect popula
tion shifts shown in new Census
data.
Asked this week about Heath
and Perquimans’ residents’ con
cerns, Goodwin said he was rm-
able to comment on current or
proposed districts because the
General Assembly has been sued
in the past over redistricting.
A number of different maps re
portedly have been developed at
universities and think tanks in the
state. One of those maps is appar
ently what some Perquimans res
idents have seen and which has
sparked the concern.
The Associated Press reported
Tuesday that House and Senate
remapping committee leaders
could begin drawing boundaries
Wednesday in committee rooms
that will be open to the public,
with activity and maps drawn by
computer streamed online. It’ll
likely be at least two weeks before
plans are debated and voted upon,
giving members time to experi
ment and build consensus with
colleagues, The AP reported.
Sarah Smiles
Judge sentences
Jackson to 5 days
in jail; he appeals
REGGIE PONDER/THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
Sarah Ashlee Jordan, 18, is crowned 2021 Miss Chowan County Regional Fair by Jaden Sawyer, 2019 Miss
Chowan County Regional Fair, at the fair on Saturday, Oct. 2. Jordan, a 2021 graduate of Perquimans County
High School, is a freshman at Appalachian State University where she’s majoring in social work. She hopes to
become a clinical social worker after graduation.
Jordan looks forward to helping others
PCHS grad named
Miss Chowan Regional Fair
BY REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
EDENTON — Sarah Ash
lee Jordan is all smiles when
she’s on stage but she also
understands that life can be
difficult and even painful.
Because of her com
passion for people who
are hurting, the 2021 Miss
Chowan County Regional
Fair is studying social work
and plans to work as a clini
Layden looking to boost visitation
Marketing specialist took over as
county tourism director Sept. 1
BY REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
Stacey Layden is fascinated with the
history of Perquimans County and is
ready to spark a similar fascination for
people near and far.
6 1 89076 47144
Vol. 87, No. 41
WWW.PerquimansWeekly.com
@2021 Perquimans Weekly
All Rights Reserved
Layden took over as the new director
of tourism for the Perquimans County
Tourism Development Authority Sept.
1. The tourism director position had
been vacant about a year since the de
parture of Sharon Smith.
Layden brings a background in
marketing to her new role as tourism
director. She worked previously as a
marketing and events specialist with
the Perquimans County Chamber of
Commerce and also helped local busi
nesses market their goods and services
as a freelance marketing consultant
Layden, who grew up in Greenville
and lived for several years in Wilming
ton, graduated from East Carolina Uni
versity in 2007 with a degree in business
See LAYDEN, A3
REGGIE PONDER/THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
Stacey Layden, the new director of
the Perquimans County Tourism
Development Authority, stands
next to the Perquimans River on
Wednesday, Oct. 6. Layden, who
lives in Belvidere, began her new
job on Sept. 1.
cal social worker and coun
selor.
But back to the smile for
a moment: During the pag
eant at the Chowan County
Regional Fair Oct. 2, Jordan
was beaming throughout
the competition, including
during the strenuous activ
ity of dancing in the talent
portion of the contest.
Jordan, 18, who is the
daughter of Wayne and Su
san Jordan of Hertford, has
been dancing at Edenton
Dance Stars since she was 2.
Instructor Wanda Rossman
choreographed the dance
2
that she performed in the
pageant.
Jordan said Rossman
choreographed the dance a
couple of years ago so she
had to relearn it for the pag
eant. Rehearsing the dance
was something she enjoyed,
she said, and performing it
on stage was something she
liked even more.
Jordan* said she first
started thinking about com
peting in the pageant after
her sister Samantha Jordan
Wagner won it in 2015 and
her cousin Courtney Perry
won in 2016.
“I decided that it’s some
thing that I really wanted to
do,” she said.
Right now her sights are
set on a career as a clinical
social worker and coun
selor. The 2021 graduate of
Perquimans County High
School is enrolled at Ap
palachian State University,
where she is majoring in so
cial work.
Jordan, who says she’s
benefited from therapy her
self, would like to be able
to provide therapy to help
See JORDAN, A3
Hertford councilor found
guilty of threatening citizen
BY REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
HERTFORD — A district
court judge ordered Hertford
Town Councilman Quentin
Jackson to serve five days
in jail after finding him guilty
Wednesday of threatening a
local citizen at a town coun
cil meeting this summer.
But Jackson won’t be
serving the sentence any
time soon. According to
Perquimans County court
officials, the councilman ap
pealed District Court Judge
Amber Davis’ ruling.
Davis found Jackson
guilty of threatening Patrick
Morrissey during the July 6
town council meeting. Davis
sentenced Jackson to serve
120 days in jail, but suspend
ed the sentence and ordered
the councilman to serve 12
months of supervised proba
tion instead.
Davis did sentence Jack-
son to an active jail term of
five days and ordered him
County hopes to
meet with Union
monument owners
Heath, Nelson, Leigh to also
meet on signage proposal
BY REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
Perquimans County offi
cials hope to meet soon with
the owners of the Colored
Union Soldiers monument
to discuss its possible relo
cation to the county court-
house property.
Trying to get the mon-
I ument moved from King
Street to the courthouse is
one of two recommenda
tions a study group recently
made. The group was tasked
by county commissioners
with coming up with recom
mendations about what the
county should do about the
Confederate monument on
the courthouse green.
Some citizens have com
plained about the Confed
erate monument, saying it
should be removed because
it’s a remanent of white su
premacy and was erected at
JACKSON
to pay $75,
plus the
costs of
court, and
to have no
direct or in
direct con
tact with
Morrissey.
Court of ¬
ficials said
Jackson was placed under
$5,000 unsecured bond after
he filed notice of his appeal.
Jackson declined to com
ment on Davis’ ruling when
reached Wednesday.
Morrissey took out the
criminal complaint against
Jackson July 12 in the wake
of an incident at the July
6 meeting of the Hertford
Town Council. Morrissey
approached the council dais
during a verbal confronta
tion with Jackson. Jackson
threatened to knock Mor
rissey out or “put him to
sleep,” according to Mor
rissey’s complaint.
Jackson has said he stood
up as Morrissey approached
the council dais because he
See JACKSON, A3
PHOTO COURTESY
AFRICAN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE
OF NORTHEAST NC
Perquimans County
officials hope to set
up a meeting with the
owners of the Colored
Union Soldiers monument
on King Street to
discuss moving it to
the Perquimans County
Courthouse green.
a time when Black citizens
in Hertford were denied
both civil and political rights.
County Manager Frank
See MONUMENT, A3