1
E EKLY
"News from Next Door”
THURSDAY, MAY 5, 2022
$1.50
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PAGE 6
Students see
dangers,
consequences of
impaired driving
PAGE 7
PCHS seniors
Nixon, Byrum,
Leary awarded
top scholarships
PAGE 8
Food,
dancing, fire
works highlight
PCHS Prom
2022
Living history
REGGIE PONDER/THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
Dina Hurdle demonstrates weaving for students in Rodney Lyons’ fourth-grade class at Hertford Grammar
School during Living History Day Friday at the Newbold-White House.
Students learn history hands-on at NBWH
4th-graders learn about weaving,
candlemaking, quilting, other crafts
BY REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
More than a hundred fourth-grad
ers from Perquimans County learned
about Colonial history hands-on at
last week’s Living History Day at the
Newbold-White House.
Rodney Lyons, a fourth-grade math
and social studies teacher at Hertford
Grammar School, said the kind of
interactive lessons that make up the
Living History Day are wonderful for
children.
“It’s giving them an opportunity to
have an event where they can learn
by doing, with the hands-on activ
ities,” said Lyons, who is in his 29th
year teaching. “The kids really enjoy
it. I just feel kids learn by doing.”
Gavin Jones, one of Lyons’ stu
dents, was fascinated by the weaving
display.
“I think it’s cool how they can make
that stuff by hand without using ma
chines,” he said.
Gavin said he thinks he would have
liked living in an earlier time when
more things were made by hand.
“I would have liked it more because
See HISTORY, A3
500 attend 10th annual Spring Garden Show
Vendors report good sales
day at Saturday event
BY JOHN FOLEY
Correspondent
They were lined up at
the front door as though it
were a “Black Friday” sale.
Except instead of Apple
Airpods, iRobot Roombas
and 65-inch smart TVs, they
had their sights set on lav
ender, lilacs and daylillies.
And some came with gar ¬
den plot maps in hand, hop
ing to find that oh-so-need
ed Hertfordshire rose bush.
That was the scene in
Hertford Saturday at the Al
bemarle Master Gardeners
Spring Garden Show at the
Perquimans County Recre
ation Center sponsored by
NC Cooperative Extension.
Gardeners, some Mas
ters, some not, began ex
iting, hands full, minutes
after the doors opened,
See GARDEN, A3
JOHN FOLEY PHOTO
Marshall
Bateman of
Sunnyside
Nursery assists
a customer with
plants at the
Albemarle Master
Gardeners Spring
Garden Show at
the Perquimans
County
Recreation Center
in Hertford,
Saturday.
Over 100 have
cast ballots early
Early voting continues at
elections board thru May 14
From staff reports
As of late Tuesday
morning 133 voters had
cast early ballots in the
May 17 primary and school
board election in Perquim
ans County.
Perquimans Board of
Elections Director Kath
ryn Treiber said turnout so
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far has not been bad.
“It’s better than in the
(November 2021) mu
nicipal election,” Treiber
said. “It’s still early. If it
hasn’t picked up any by
the end of next week I
might be a little worried
but I’m not worried at all.
It’s early.”
Early voting for the pri
mary election is taking
place at the Perquimans
Board of Election office
at 601 South Edenton St.,
Hertford, on week
days from 8 am. to
7:30 p.m. through
2 Friday, May 13.
Early voting
will also be held
on Saturday, May
14, from 8 am. to
3 p.m.
Chamber denies
allegations by
former directors
Remaining board members say
Chamber building not for sale
BY REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
The Perquimans Cham
ber of Commerce has re
leased a letter denying
some statements made by
board members who have
resigned and insisting the
Chamber is moving forward
with new board members.
A majority of the direc
tors on the Perquimans
Chamber board resigned
last week after a group
of them raised questions
about the business group’s
accounting practices and
planned sale of its building
in downtown Hertford.
The letter sent by inter
im President Jill Cohen on
Tuesday states the Chamber
building is not for sale.
Steven Young, who was
treasurer of the board and is
among those who resigned,
reportedly asked questions
about the organization’s ac
counting during the board’s
April 18 meeting.
But Young and the other
board members who want
ed answers about what was
going on were completely
shut down at the meeting,
according to their account
of the meeting which was
shared with The Daily Ad
vance and The Perquimans
Weekly on Monday.
The following day, April
19, Young and fellow board
members Melanie Metzler,
Erin Brabble, Brittany Tay
lor and Lisa Varrasto re
signed from the nine-mem
ber Chamber board.
Board member Reggie
White reportedly mentioned
resigning but did not formal
ly quit the board, according
See CHAMBER, A2
Jackson free after
61-day jail term
Candidate: Jailing ‘humbling,
shouldn't have happened’
BY REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
Perquimans County com
missioner candidate Quen
tin Jackson was released
from Albemarle District Jail
on Tuesday after serving 61
days for his conviction on
charges of trespassing and
violating probation.
“It’s a humbling experi
ence but one that shouldn’t
have happened,” Jackson
said of his time in jail in an
interview Friday.
Jackson said he will not
say much about the case
right now because he is
continuing to appeal the
conviction. “We’ll let the ap
pellate court deal with that,”
he said.
Jackson said he believes
he has been targeted be-
JACKSON
cause of
his refus
al to “go
along to get
along.”
“I think
all strong
leaders go
through
that,” Jack-
son said.
Jackson said he is busy
campaigning for county
commissioner. Because
there is no Democratic pri
mary for the three open
seats on the board, Jackson
is not on the May 17 ballot.
He won’t face Perquimans
voters until November.
“I’m ready to move for
ward with it,” Jackson said.
“I feel great about where
(the campaign) is but we’ve
got a lot of ground to cover
in a short period of time.”
Jackson said he had met
See JACKSON, A3
Plank House returns home in pieces
It took 2 trips to Bethania to return
lumber planks of house to county
BY PENNY BYRD
Special to The Perquimans Weekly
Editor’s note: This story is the
third in a four-part series on the his
tory of the Pasquotank Plank House,
its travels and final return to Perqui
mans County.
Part two of this story about the
Pasquotank Plank House ended with
the death of Ned Hipp of Bethania and
his wife reaching out to Ben Hobbs and
asking if he wanted the house back.
Mrs. Hipp had already sold the barn
that the plank house was stored in but
was holding off the buyer until she could
empty it. Fortunately the barn buyer
was an understanding man who gave
Mrs. Hipp the time she and her family
needed to remove the plank house.
It took a couple of months, but on
Dec. 7, 2021 (Pearl Harbor Day), six
PHOTO COURTESY PCRA
This combination photo shows
the planks of lumber from the
Pasquotank Plank House when they
were stored in Ned Hipp’s barn in
Bethania.
local men began their journey to the
Winston-Salem area with an attack
plan of a different kind on their minds.
Three of them traveled in a Ford
truck pulling an 18-foot enclosed
trailer, one was already in the Ra
leigh area, and the other two (tow ¬
ing an 18-foot open trailer) arrived
by way of a doctor’s appointment in
Norfolk, Virginia first. (The one with
the appointment gets the award for
dedication to the mission!)
As life would have it, there’s always
a mishap ... or two. The first Ford was
to deliver two passengers who were
to pick up a 26-foot box truck from
U-Haul, but because of miscommuni
cation they learned after they arrived
in downtown Winston-Salem that the
reserved vehicle was elsewhere. Life
lesson: if you haven’t learned it yet,
good communication is the key to just
about everything. But I digress.
When everyone converged on the
Hipp house they were joined by Mrs.
Hipp’s son and a neighbor to assist in
the “attack” on the huge pile of lumber
inside the barn. The structure featured
only a standard-size door for egress in
the area where the lumber was stored.
Lyn Winslow told me that what im
pressed him the most was how dry
See HOUSE, A3