QUIMANS
1717 VT V*
"News from Next Door"
THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 2022
$1.50^
@ SCAN ME
PAGE A5
With God, never
too late to start the
new year right
PAGE A6
PAL honors
Brinn for contri
butions to arts,
culture
PAGE AS
Simple healthy
resolutions
easier to keep
State board nixes fast-track OK for charter school
Board chair: Efforts to open
Elaine Riddick not derailed
BY REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
The State Board of Edu
cation has rejected a request
to expedite the application
for the Elaine Riddick Char
ter School in Perquimans
County.
The accelerated appli
cation process would have
allowed the planned charter
school to open this August.
The state’s Office of Char
ter Schools clarified Jan. 11
that that the State Board
of Education’s unanimous
rejection of the accelerat
ed application at its Jan. 5
meeting means the school
will have to reapply for fast-
track status in the next ap-
plication cycle.
The State Board of Edu
cation in its decision cited
the recommendation of the
Charter Schools Advisory
Board, which recommend
ed the Riddick school’s fast-
track application not be ap
proved.
Despite the setback, the
chairman of the Elaine Rid
dick Charter School Board
said efforts to establish the
school are ongoing.
“Yes, of course, we’re ob
ligated to our youth,” Rid
dick responded when asked
if the school is still moving
forward with plans to open.
“We’ve been obligated to
See CHARTER, A3
REGGIE PONDER/THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
Shown Friday is the site of the proposed Elaine Riddick Charter School off Harvey
Point Road in Perquimans County. Meeting on Jan. 6, the N.C. State Board of
Education denied the school’s application for fast-track approval to open this August.
Motorist
charged
in fatal
collision
Two pickups collided on
Harvey Point Road Monday
From staff reports
A Currituck County man
has been charged with felony
death by vehicle and driving
■ while impaired following a
fatal head-on collision in Per
quimans County on Monday.
Bryan Keith Harrell, 45, of
Moyock, was charged follow
ing the collision on Harvey
Point Road that killed Levery
Butts, 71, of Hertford, the
N.C. Highway Patrol said.
Sgt. B.P. Daniel said Har
rell was driving a Ford F-150
pickup west on Harvey Point
Road when his truck ap
peared to go left of the cen
ter line and collided head-on
with Butts’ 1990 Chevrolet
Silverado traveling east on
the road.
Butts died at the scene.
Harrell was transported to
Sentara Albemarle Medical
Center in Elizabeth City for
medical treatment. He was
later released and transport
ed to Albemarle District Jail
where he was being confined
in lieu of a $50,000 secured
bond.
Harrell’s blood-alcohol
level was not available Tues
day. A test of his alcohol
blood level at the time of the
collision will be performed
at a state crime lab, Daniel
said.
The collision happened
about three miles south of the
town of Hertford, Daniel said.
REGGIE PONDER/THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
The Rev. Kera Johnson, pastor of Bethlehem Apostolic Church in Hertford, speaks to those attending an
observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day at Winfall Landing Park in Winfall Monday morning.
King speaker: Faith key in pursuing justice
Dozen vehicles took part in
annual motorcade to Winfall
BY REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
WINFALL — The speak
er at the Martin Luther
King Jr. Day observance
in Perquimans County
Monday encouraged those
assembled at Winfall Land
ing Park to walk in faith
as they seek justice and
equality.
“Don’t miss the Prom
ised Land,” said the Rev.
Kera Johnson, pastor
of Bethlehem Apostolic
Church in Hertford.
Johnson based his mes
sage on Deuteronomy 3:21-
29. He talked about how
both Moses and Martin Lu
ther King Jr. got a glimpse
of the Promised Land but
did not enter it.
“What do you see as
your Promised Land?”
Johnson asked.
Johnson said King had
a dream of love, equali
ty and "acceptance for all
people. He noted that the
dream contradicted the
way Black people in this
country had been treated
for four centuries.
Johnson talked about
the Jim Crow era, in which
Black men were lynched
and Black women raped
without the murderers and
rapists ever being brought
to justice.
“Don’t you see the same
thing happening today?”
he asked.
Johnson spoke about
how riming the Civil Rights
Movement people were
killed for pursuing civil
rights and churches were
bombed.
“Can’t you see the same
thing happening in this day
and time?” he asked.
Johnson said Egypt in
Moses’ day and the Jim
Crow system that King
struggled against both em
bodied powers that sought
to oppose God’s will for
justice.
Such powers are
doomed to fail, he said.
“Just encourage your
self: One day my dream
will become a reality,”
See MLK, A3
Suspect
charged
in armed
robbery
Johnson also charged
with kidnapping, assault
From staff reports
JOHNSON
INSIDE
Sheriff:
Hertford not
seeing recent
increase in
crime. Page A2
The Perquimans Comity
Sheriffs Office has charged
a local man in connection
with last month’s armed
robbery of the Family Dol
lar-Dollar Tree Combo store
in Hertford.
Reese Devon Johnson, 52,
of Dobbs
St., Hert
ford, was
arrested
Friday and
charged
with com
mitting the
Dec. 27
robbery,
according
to Sher
iff Shelby
White.
The
charges
against
Johnson in
clude rob
bery with a
dangerous
weapon, second degree kid
napping, assault with a dead
ly weapon inflicting serious
injury, felony possession of
stolen goods, possession of
a firearm by a felon, carrying
a concealed weapon, and as
sault by pointing a gun.
Johnson is being confined
at Albemarle District Jail in
lieu of a $200,000 seemed
See ROBBERY, A3
Mizelle’s ‘Transition’ commemorates AP clubhouse’s 30th year
Painter likes to document
historic scenes, landscapes
BY REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
Painter and Albemarle Plan
tation resident Alvin Mizelle has
commemorated the 30th anniver
sary of the Albemarle Plantation
Clubhouse with a painting called
“Transition.”
The painting “Transition” de-
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2
Vol. 87, No. 3
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picts the Albemarle Plantation
Clubhouse from groundbreaking
to completion and featmes fom
men who were at the ground-
breaking ceremony: developer
Ralph G. “Pete” Bosher, Sound
Golf Links developer Dan Ma
ples, Major League Baseball Hall
of Fame pitcher Jimmy “Catfish”
Hunter, and developer Elwood
“Woody” Perry.
Hunter autographed baseballs
at the groundbreaking ceremony.
Mizelle explained that the paint
ing, which now hangs in the hall
way at the clubhouse, will remain
there as a commemoration of the
groundbreaking and the club-
house’s history.
Mizelle donated a painting of
Hunter to the Catfish Hunter mu
seum in Hertford, which is now
being incorporated into the new
Perquimans County Heritage Mu
seum. Mizelle explained that the
painting shows Hunter in three
different poses in front of Yankee
Stadium.
Mizelle said he expects to do
nate additional paintings to the
museum in the future. Works by
Mizelle also hang in Hertford Bap
tist Church and in St. Anne’s Cath
olic Church in Edenton.
Mizelle said he used to paint
portraits for people but became
frustrated with the way people
expected his work to be a photo-
graphic-type likeness.
“I’d rather paint what I want,”
Mizelle said.
What he wants to paint has
included historic scenes from
Perquimans and from his native
See MIZELLE, A3
REGGIE PONDER/THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
Artist Alvin Mizelle stands next to his painting hung in a hallway
at the Albemarle Plantation Clubhouse during a reception Jan. 12
recognizing the clubhouse’s 30th anniversary. Depicted in front of
the clubhouse in the painting are (l-r) developer Ralph G. “Pete”
Bosher, Sound Golf Links developer Dan Maples, Baseball Hall
of Fame pitcher Jimmy “Catfish” Hunter, and developer Elwood
“Woody” Perry.