QUIMANS
EEKLY
“News from Next Door”
THURSDAY, JANUARY 6, 2022
$1.50
@SCAN ME
PAGE A2
Durants Neck Ru-
ritans sponsor blood
drive, help families
at Christmas
PAGE A2
As CCC man
ager, Hoeltzel
continues role
helping others
Smooth transition
PAGE A6
Retired
Episcopal bishop
pens ‘God, Life,
You and Me’
REGGIE PONDER/THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
Jackson returns
phone, reimburses
town for hotspot
Town Manager Pam Hurdle (left) and acting Town Manager Janice Cole review information related to Hertford’s
town government on Hurdle’s last day with the town Thursday, Dec. 30. Hurdle’s retirement took effect on Jan. 1.
Cole will serve as interim manager until the town appoints a new full-time manager.
Cole takes reins as Hurdle departs
Town checking claim one
computer given to ex-chief
BY REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
Former town councilor
Quentin Jackson last week
returned one item issued to
him by the to wn of Hertford
and reimbursed the town
for another — but town
officials said some other
town-issued property to him
still has not been accounted
for.
Town Manager Pam Hur
dle said in a Dec. 30 inter
view —her last day at Town
Hall before her retirement
took effect—that Jackson’s
claim that the Hertford Fire
Department has one of the
computers issued to him
while he was a town coun
cilor appears to be correct.
But Jackson’s claim that
he turned over a town-is
sued computer to Hertford’s
then-police chief remains in
question. Acting Town Man-
JACKSON
ager Janice
Cole said
that claim
is current
ly being
investigat
ed for the
town by
attorney
John Leidy.
Hurdle
and Cole said Jackson re ¬
turned a town-issued cell
phone on the morning of
Dec. 30, though Cole noted
it was badly damaged. They
said Jackson also reim
bursed the town for a WiFi
hotspot.
Officials believe there are
also other items Jackson
charged to Hertford using a
town credit card that were
never inventoried.
“We’re checking into
that,” Cole said. “He says
that’s not so.”
A computer bought by
the town for former Town
Councilor Frank Norman III
See JACKSON, A3
Hurdle: Infrastructure upgrades
should be town’s priority in new year
BY REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
Town Manager Pam Hurdle and act
ing Town Manager Janice Cole spent
three days last week preparing for a cru
cial transition in town administration as
town officials eye a renewed focus on
community development.
Hurdle, who retired effective Jan.
1, said upgrading town infrastructure
should be the town’s top priority.
“Infrastructure has to be first,” Hurdle
said.
Hurdle said thanks to the availability
of new federal grants the town is poised
to see improvements to both its infra
structure and community development
over the next few months.
She said the town’s new Riverfront
and Community Development Plan will
provide good launching point for those
efforts. The key will be planning, she
said.
“I don’t have a doubt in this world that
it’s going to happen,” Hurdle said.
Hurdle said the town will consider
a resolution of support at Town Coun
cil’s January meeting for converting the
S-Bridge truss for use as a public facility.
The Perquimans Board of Commission
ers was scheduled to discuss a similar
resolution at its Jan. 3 meeting.
See TRANSITION, A3
Sheriff anticipates
making arrest
in armed robbery
Black soldiers monument not moving
Effort to put signage near
Confederate statue progressing
BY REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
Perquimans County of
ficials expect to have pro
posed language for an ex
planatory sign or signs at
the Confederate monument
on the courthouse green in
the next few months.
Meanwhile, the Colored
Soldiers Monument on King
Street will not be moving
to the courthouse green.
County officials have con
sulted the owners of the
monument and been ad
vised they “prefer that the
monument stay where it
is,” County Manager Frank
Heath said.
Heath did say the effort
to develop language for
signs putting the Confeder
ate monument in context is
moving forward.
“We are still working on
that,” Heath said last week.
“We are still seeking input
from different historical
sources.”
Heath said county of
ficials have already had a
conversation with a faculty
member at Elizabeth City
State University and are
planning to consult with
College of The Albemarle
See MONUMENT, A3
PHOTO COURTESY AFRICAN AMERICAN
EXPERIENCE OF NORTHEAST NC
The owners of
the Colored
Union Soldiers
Monument on
King Street
have advised
Perquimans
County officials
they are not
interested in
moving it to the
Perquimans
County
Courthouse
green.
Family Dollar-Dollar Tree
store robbed at gunpoint
From staff reports
The Perquimans sheriff
said Friday authorities have
examined surveillance foot
age of last week’s armed
robbery at the Family Dol
lar-Dollar TYee store and ex
pect to make an arrest soon.
Sheriff Shelby White re
leased no other details of
the robbery carried out by
an armed man at the retail
store in Hertford on Mon
day, Dec. 27.
According to a press re
lease, the Perquimans 911
Center received a call about
10:40 p.m. reporting an
armed robbery at the Fam
ily Dollar-Dollar Tree Com
bo store in the 200 block of
Ocean Highway South.
Before deputies arrived,
they learned a man had en
tered the store and demand
ed cash of the store’s two
employees by gunpoint. The
suspect then fled.
Deputies arrived within
two minutes of the call but
the employees were not
able to say which direction
the suspect left, the release
states.
The press release didn’t
describe the robbery suspect
or state his method of travel.
Six deputies and inves
tigators responded to the
store to begin searching the
area near the store, the re
lease states.
Both employees were able
to exit the store after the rob
bery and go to a neighboring
business where they alert
ed authorities. One of the
employees was evaluated
by Perquimans Emergency
Medical Services personnel
but neither was transported
for medical treatment
White did ask that anyone
with information related
to his office’s investigation
of the robbery call 252-426-
5615.
Election-related sheriff salary adjustment on hold
County missed deadline to
reduce salary before election
BY REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
Perquimans County’s longstand
ing practice of reducing the salary
of the sheriff and register of deeds
HEATH
in the years when
elections for those
offices are held is
on hold for now
— and might be
canceled altogeth
er for this election
cycle.
A resolution
for an election-re ¬
6
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2
Vol. 87, No. 1
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lated salary re
duction for the office of sheriff in
Perquimans was on the agenda for
the December regular meeting of
the Perquimans County Board of
Commissioners.
But the item was then removed
when county officials realized they
had missed the deadline set by
state law. That law doesn’t allow
reductions of salaries to be taken
any later than 14 days from the end
of the filing period.
Although the county appeared
to have missed that deadline, elec
tion filing has been suspended by
order of the N.C. Supreme Court
because of the ongoing litigation
over the state’s new legislative and
congressional districts. The court
ordered a trial court to rule on the
case by Jan. 11. The court reset the
election primary from March to
May, however no date has yet been
set for when filing may resume.
The delay might allow the coun
ty to reconsider the action, but
county officials haven’t made a
decision whether they will pursue
the matter any further this election
cycle.
Perquimans County Manag
er Frank Heath said when asked
about the matter last week that the
county may not revisit the resolu
tion even though the filing period
has been changed.
“We may just leave it alone,” he
said.
Leaving it alone would suit Terry
Swope just fine.
Swope, who told The Perqui
mans Weekly recently that the
election-year salary adjustment is
a “pet peeve” of his, sent county
commissioners a written state
ment last month objecting to the
practice.
“After two back-to-back years
of large tax increases, Perquimans
County just recently enacted large
pay increases countywide because
the commissioners believed that
Perquimans County was not offer
ing competitive compensation in
relation to other counties,” Swope
said.
“Clearly the board recognizes
compensation- has a direct impact
on the ability to attract candi
dates,” he continued. “By reducing
the compensation from what one
must assume the board believes
to be the proper compensation for
See SHERIFF, A3