THURSDAY, JANUARY 13, 2022 $1.50
“News from Next Door”
@ SCAN ME
PAGE A2
Overtons opened
Inner Banks BBQ in
Edenton in December
PAGE A6
Starting com
munity garden
both rewarding,
challenging
PAGE A8
Civic League
holds Breakfast
With Santa,
Santa parade
White: Sheriffs Office reaches full staffing
Sheriff’s Office now has
24 full-time sworn officers
BY REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
The Perquimans County
Sheriffs Office is now ful
ly staffed, Sheriff Shelby
White said last week.
The office has added five
sworn officers and an ad-
ministrator
as part of
a contract
with the
town of
Hertford
to provide
law en
forcement
protection
inside the
the county
WHITE
town limits.
In addition,
funded two additional dep
uties in the 2021-22 budget.
The hiring of William
Phillip Lane III, announced
at the Jan. 3 meeting of the
Perquimans Board of Com
missioners, brings the sher
iffs office up to full staff,
White said.
Commissioner Joseph
Hoffler asked White what
he considers full staffing,
and White explained that 24
full-time sworn officers now
work for the sheriffs office.
Since July 1 of last year
the sheriffs office has been
providing law enforcement
services within Hertford’s
corporate limits under a
contract with the town.
The policing contract is
a result of town councilors’
majority vote last year to
dissolve Hertford’s police
department, citing the high
cost of operating a stand-
alone policing agency.
Town officials deter
mined that contracting
law enforcement services
through the Sheriffs Office
could save the town hun
dreds of thousands of dol
lars a year.
The town is providing
the sheriffs office $350,000
under the contract, and also
vehicles and equipment.
White said in July that
he expected it would take
about six months for the
new arrangement to run
smoothly. He said last week
that he believes that point
has now arrived.
“I feel like it’s going pretty
smooth,” White said.
The sheriff said everyone
in the department is fitting
See SHERIFF, A3
A Matter of Truss
Marine park basin
designer also
tapped to build it
REGGIE PONDER/THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
Perquimans and Hertord officials are seeking grant funding to have the N.C. Department of Transportation
preserve the former S-Bridge truss, shown here Saturday on a barge in the Perquimans River, and relocate it to
Missing Mill Park in Hertford.
County: Move bridge feature to park
S-Bridge truss would be focal
point at Missing Mill Park
BY REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
Perquimans County of
ficials last week strength
ened and clarified their
support for a town of Hert
ford effort to preserve the
S-Bridge truss as a new fea
ture at Missing Mill Park.
Last month County Man
ager Frank Heath wrote a
letter to N.C. Department
of Transportation officials
supporting the preserva
tion of the S-Bridge truss
and its relocation to park
site.
That sentiment was
cemented in a resolution
adopted unanimously by
the Perquimans Board of
Commissioners on Jan. 3.
The resolution supports
the town’s request for grant
funding to relocate and pre
serve the S-Bridge truss.
Heath noted the reso
lution asks that funds be
provided to the NCDOT for
the project. Heath added
that county officials hope
the agency will oversee the
project, though that kind of
detail has yet to be worked
out.
The resolution ' notes
that the S-Bridge is being
replaced “due to functional
obsolescence.” Nonethe
less, the bridge’s historic
and aesthetic importance
has not diminished at all,
according to county and
town officials.
“Since the bridge was
constructed in 1929, it has
served as the centerpiece
of our county, even appear
ing on town and county lo
gos throughout the years,”
Heath wrote in a Dec. 14
letter to NCDOT Division 1
Engineer Sterling Baker.
“Recently, the town of
Hertford has approved a
waterfront revitalization
plan along the Perquimans
River with the S-Bridge
truss again being incor
porated as a focal point,”
Heath said in the letter. “In
this plan, the S-Bridge truss
would be located in the
Missing Mill Park area as
an integral part of the bike
and pedestrian paths on
the water.”
Heath’s letter said the
project “would accentuate
See TRUSS, A3
Perquimans project can begin
once state funds released
BY REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
Perquimans County plans
to use the engineering firm
that designed the inland ba
sin for the Marine Industrial
Park to oversee the basin’s
construction.
The Perquimans Board of
Commissioners voted unan
imously Monday to autho
rize County Manager Frank
Heath to contract with Mof
fatt and Nichol Engineering
when it comes time to con
struct the basin.
That time could be soon.
The recently signed state
budget includes $4 million
for the park, which comes
on top of $2.8 million the
Perquimans: Temp
911 sharing with
Gates working fine
Gates dispatchers working
in Perquimans for now
BY REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
Perquimans County of
ficials said last week that
shared 911 operations with
Gates County have gone
smoothly and all calls are
being answered on a timely
basis.
Because of staffing short
ages at the Gates County
911 center, Perquimans
County’s 911 center is tem
porarily providing dispatch
ing services in both Perqui
mans and the neighboring
county received in state
funding for the project
about five years ago and
a $750,000 Golden LEAF
grant about four years ago.
The county has not yet
received the new funds al
located in the state budget
but county officials expect
to have them in hand soon.
The project can begin once
the newly budgeted state
funds are released, accord
ing to county officials.
Moffatt & Nichol En
gineering Is the firm that
designed the Marine Indus
trial Park basin. Board of
Commissioners Chairman
Wallace Nelson pointed out
that Moffatt and Nichol also
completed a lot of work
at the commerce park in
Wanchese.
See PARK, A3
county.
The Gates 911 Dispatch
Center has temporarily re
located to the 911 center
in Perquimans and Gates
telecommunicators began
working there on Dec. 17.
Gates County Manager
Tim Wilson said last month
that as soon as dispatcher
vacancies in Gates are filled,
911 dispatching services for
Gates will relocate back to
the Gates County 911 Dis
patch Center.
Wilson could not be
reached this week for com
ment on why the vacancies
happened or what Gates’
See 911, A3
Bertie drug trafficker gets 25 years in fed prison
Feds: Leary bought drugs,
then supplied local dealers
From staff reports
A Bertie County man who for
five years headed a drug traffick-
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ing organization that supplied ille
gal drugs in communities across
the region — including Perquim
ans County — has been sentenced
to 25 years in federal prison, a
press release from the U.S. Attor
ney’s Office states.
Levar Anthony Leary, 41, was
convicted in August of traffick
ing cocaine, crack cocaine, and
methamphetamine and conspir
ing to commit money laundering,
U.S. Attorney Michael Easley said
Wednesday, Jan. 5.
According to Easley, U.S. At
torney for the Eastern District of
North Carolina, Leary organized
and led a drug trafficking orga
nization from 2016 to early 2021
that distributed cocaine, crack co
caine, methamphetamine, heroin
and marijuana throughout north-
eastern North Carolina
Easley said Leary and his “as
sociates” used a hotel, nightclub
and convenience store in Bertie
to distribute narcotics and laun
der money. Narcotics agents were
able to track and observe Leary
travel across the country, includ
ing to California, Texas, Florida
and Georgia where he obtained
large quantities of illegal drugs
and returned to North Carolina,
Easley said.
Some of those assisting Leary’s
drug trafficking organization have
already been convicted and sen
tenced, Easley said. They include
Johnny Earl Jordan, who was sen
tenced to six years; Fred Rudolph
Robbins Jr., sentenced to 71/2
years; and Alexander Leander Wil-
liams Jr., sentenced to 11 years.
As a result of the investigation,
law enforcement seized numer
ous vehicles and properties that
Easley says were used to conceal
the profits of Leary’s illegal activ
ities. Investigators also recovered
a number of fireanus and illegal
drugs.
Perquimans County Sheriff
Shelby White said Leary is be-
lieved to have provided drugs to
individual drug dealers who were
operating in Perquimans. White
said said his office helped with the
investigation, and added that near
ly every county in the region had
at least one officer who contribut
ed to the probe.
Pasquotank Sheriff Tommy
Wooten said Leary was also
a supplier for drug sellers in
Pasquotank. He said his office
See BERTIE, A3