QUIMANS
IC EICLY
“News from Next Door”
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2022 $1.50
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PAGES
Knowing the
boundlessness of
God’s unfailing love
PAGE 6
Pirate boys
went 1-2 in last
week’s games
PAGE 7
Sexual
revolution of
‘60s gave
anti-Christianity
big boost
Honoring trailblazers
ARHS: At-home
testing may cloak
COVID case totals
PHOTOS BY REGGIE PONDER/THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
Family members of the late Robert L. Harvey Sr. gather around a plaque designating the police building behind
Hertford Town Hall as the Robert L. Harvey Sr. Building. Pictured (l-r) are Belvine Vaughan, Kharie Johnson,
Missy Johnson, lesha Gay, Antone Whidbee, Xavier Whidbee, Laparker Harvey, Robert Harvey III and Robert
Harvey Jr.
Buildings named for Reid, Harvey
Former Hertford mayor,
late police officer honored
BY REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer •
The town of Hertford hon
ored two trailblazing Black
public servants Sunday af
ternoon by naming buildings
after them.
The Community Center at
305 W. Grubbs St. was desig
nated as the Horace Reid Jr.
Building in honor of the first
Black mayor of Hertford and
the police building behind
Town Hall was designated the
County receives less snow in 2nd storm
No incidents reported during
storm that dumps inch of snow
BY REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
Perquimans County saw
snow, high winds and bit
terly cold temperatures this
past weekend but escaped
any serious incidents.
“We didn’t have any ma
jor issues reported,” said
Perquimans County Emer
gency Services Director
Jonathan Nixon.
Nixon said there were no
reports of wind damage or
mqjor utility outages during
Teton Reid speaks about his father, former Hertford
Mayor Horace Reid Jr., at a ceremony Sunday
afternoon dedicating the Community Center in honor
of the former mayor.
Robert L. Harvey Sr. Building
in memory of one of the early
Black police officers in town.
PHOTO COURTESY MISSY MIMLITSCH
Snow and ice frosted plants in Hertford this past
weekend.
the storm late Friday and
early Saturday that dusted
the county with just one
inch of snow, he said.
At the dedication cere
mony for the Reid Building,
former Hertford Town Coun ¬
That compares to the
snowstorm the weekend of
Jan. 21-22 in which various
parts of Perquimans re
cilor Annie White described
Reid as “calm, cool and col
lected.”
White said Reid took things
step by step, first “observing
and learning” as a councilor
and later serving as mayor
pro tern.
“And then finally some of
the most influential people in
our community — they were
not all Black — convinced
him to serve as mayor,” White
said.
She said that although
he was the first Black may
or of Hertford, Reid always
See DEDICATIONS, A3
ceived between 3.5 inches
and 7 inches of snow. The
county didn’t see any mgjor
incidents during that storm
either.
“We were very fortu
nate,” Nixon said.
Nixon said N.C. De
partment of Transporta
tion crews checked roads
throughout the county, and
by noon Saturday all roads
had been plowed and were
drying.
“Any roads that had
the slush on them, they
■touched them with the
plow so they would go
See WEATHER, A3
Agency will no longer report
case counts, vaxx data
BY REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
Because of the growth in
at-home testing and lab delays
in reporting results, the total
number of COVID-19 cases
across the region is likely
larger than what the regional
health department has been
reporting, an agency spokes
woman acknowledged last
week.
Albemarle Regional Health
Services doesn’t get the re
sults of at-home COVID-19
tests, which are growing in
use, especially now that the
federal government has start
ed distributing them online.
While at-home tests allow
consumers to find out quick
ly if they have COVID, they
can cloak the true number of
COVID infections in an area
Because ARHS doesn’t re
ceive the results of positive
at-home tests, “the numbers
that we report are not show ¬
NC Treasurer:
Hospitals’ charity
care falling short
Report lists Chowan, 0BX
hospitals as ‘least generous’
BY PAUL NIELSEN
The Daily Advance
Vidant Chowan Hospital
in Edenton is one of several
nonprofit hospitals across
North Carolina that state
Treasurer Dale Folwell
claims is falling short of pro
viding free or reduced medi
cal services for the poor.
As part of their tax-exempt
status, nonprofit hospitals
are supposed to waive fees
for poor patients — known
as charity care—but they set
their own standards for how
much to waive.
Folwell released a “N.C.
Nonprofit Hospitals Bill the
Poor” report during a press
conference last week that
was critical of a majority of
nonprofit hospitals. State
Rep. Ed Goodwin, R-Chow-
ing the true burden of illness
we are seeing in our commu
nities,” ARHS spokeswoman
Amy Underhill said. “We are
also seeing delayed reporting
in our systems — labs and
providers cannot keep up get
ting the data into the reporting
system because there are so
many cases right now.”
ARHS announced later in
the week that it no longer will
report active case counts or
vaccine totals in its weekly
surveillance report. ARHS Di
rector Battle Betts noted that
the growth of at-home testing
and the expansion of state
reporting on vaccinations
had made it more difficult for
ARHS to collect and report ac
curate data.
“During the COVID-19 pan
demic, it has been the goal of
ARHS to provide accurate
and timely data to keep our
communities up to date,” Bet
ts said in a press release. “As
time moves on, it is apparent
to us that the data we are
collecting is no longer exact
See COVID, A3
an, and state
Rep. How
ard Hunter,
D-Hertford,
were two of
four Gener
al Assembly
members
who ac
companied
Folwell at
the press briefing which was
livestreamed.
Folwell’s report has Chow
an Hospital and St Luke’s
Hospital in Columbus tied
for first in providing the “least
generous” charity care among
110 nonprofit hospitals listed.
The Edenton hospital’s char
ity care as a percentage of
operating expenses was just
0.15% in fiscal year 2019.
Vidant’s Outer Banks
Hospital was second on Fol-
well’s “least generous” list at
just 0.3% in 2019.
See FOLWELL, A3
PCS officials update school board on safety measures
Bunch: Bus drivers feel
supported by administrators
BY REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
Perquimans County Schools
officials said last week the district
remains steadfastly focused on
school safety.
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Assistant Superintendent
James Bunch presented a brief
report on school safety measures
to the Perquimans Board of Edu
cation on Jan. 24.
Board member Matt Peeler said
he would prefer to receive the
safety update in closed session
to prevent details about security
from being disseminated to the
public.
But board member Amy
Spaugh said she thought a pre
sentation in public was fine
since it was general information
and wouldn’t divulge any sensi
tive matters related to safety and
security.
Bunch said he planned to keep
the update general in nature. He
said safety measures include:
• All schools use a buzz-in sys
tem at entrances — people can’t
simply walk into the school build
ings.
• Each school has a panic
alarm.
• Each school uses an elec
tronic “lobby guard” system that
requires visitors to enter driver
license info and provides them an
identifying sticker to wear while'
they are in the building.
• School resource officers are
assigned to each school.
• Each school has a threat as
sessment team.
• Communications systems at
all schools have been updated and
upgraded.
• New surveillance systems
have been installed at schools.
• The schools conduct emer
gency drills periodically.
Bunch also reported briefly on
school bus discipline. Drivers typ
ically contact parents to discuss
concerns about behavior on the
bus, he said.
When necessary the drivers re
fer discipline matters to the prin
cipal, he added.
Peeler asked whether bus driv
ers feel they are being supported
by administrators in decisions
they make about discipline.
Bunch responded that he be
lieves drivers do feel they are sup
ported by administrators.
In December, local school safe
ty nonprofit KEYS donated more
than $3,400 to the Perquimans
County Schools to improve school
safety.
Keeping Every Youth Safe
founder Bridget Jernigan ex
plained at that time that the
funding will be used to purchase
a metal detector and three hand
wands for Hertford Grammar
School.
KEYS’ sole mission is to raise
funds for safety needs in the
Perquimans County. Schools for
which there is not sufficient fund
ing in the district’s capital outlay
budget.
The nonprofit plans to raise ad
ditional funds to purchase class-
room door locks.