c
“News from Next Door”
PAGE A2
THURSDAY, MAY 12,2022 $1.50
^^ - :
@ SCAN ME
Jackson removed
from ABC board
PAGE B2
Parker,
Benton, Fergu
son, Wall earn
top scholarships
PAGE B3
Pirates take
top spots at
track and field
championships
Candidates: Schools need to listen to parents
Corprew, Huddleston, Silva,
White, Winslow attend forum
BY REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
Five candidates seeking
the three open seats on the
Perquimans County Board
of Education in next week’s
election said at a candidates
forum last week that it’s im
portant to listen to the con
cerns of parents.
Six candidates are run
ning for the three seats in
Tuesday’s nonpartisan elec-
CORPREW HUDDLESTON SILVA
WHITE WINSLOW
tion: Kristy Corprew, Gracie
Felton, Brenda Huddleston,
Dave Silva, Anne White and
Matt Winslow.
Corprew, Huddleston, Sil
va, White and Winslow all par
ticipated in the May 3 forum
held at Bagley Swamp Wes
leyan Church and sponsored
by the Perquimans County
Farm Bureau. Felton did not
attend the event.
Corprew said she retired
last year from Perquimans
County Schools but is teach
ing part-time this year. She
said it is “devastating” when
she hears kids tell her they
don’t like to read.
The schools are working
hard to improve literacy and
school officials are commit
ted to working for children,
she said.
Corprew also said that
more real world, prob
lem-solving lessons are need
ed in order to engage stu
dents, and teachers are doing
good work in that area.
Huddleston said she had
been alarmed to hear about
things that were happening in
schools around the country.
She said she is fortunate to
live in this small county that
doesn’t have the same prob
lems.
“But I do worry that it could
get here,” Huddleston said.
Huddleston cited exam
ples of things she is con
cerned about: critical race
theory, social and emotional
learning, and comprehen
sive sex education.
She said she has met with
principals and teachers at
the schools. “It was a won
derful experience,” she said.
Huddleston said she en
courages schools to “look
at things outside the box”
in working to help students
catch up academically.
See BOARD, A3
A worker’s market
County economic
consultant Goss
to leave May 31
JOHN FOLEY PHOTO
Laura Martier (right), You Can Vote regional director, speaks with Perquimans County High School senior Kimari
Lashee Parker (left) about job opportunities with the organization. You Can Vote, which hires workers to help
register college students to vote, was one of the organizations and businesses attending Friday's Perquimans
County High School Job Fair at the Perquimans County Parks and Recreation Center in Hertford.
Employers at job fair eager for workers
Cohen: Finding entry-level
work no longera challenge
BY JOHN FOLEY
Correspondent
Whether it’s searching
for a part-time summer
job to earn money for col
lege or starting on a career
path, Perquimans County
High School seniors have a
wealth of job opportunities
available to them right here
at home.
That was a key takeaway
from last week’s PCHS Job
Fair at the Perquimans
County Recreation Center.
With a tight labor mar
ket, a number of employers
were in attendance to talk
with students about then-
job openings.
“One of the most effi
cient ways of finding staff
is through local job fairs,”
explained Jill Cohen, direc
tor of career and technical
education for Perquimans
County Schools and orga
nizer of the Friday, May 6,
job fair.
“The pandemic has made
some mindset changes in
our community,” Cohen
said. “In the past, students
had a difficult time finding
entry-level work in our area.
The job fair is in response to
employers asking, ‘who do
we have ready to work?’
“The requests have been
coming from local and dis
tance employers,” she con
tinued. “There is a pipeline
gap that we have been pro
jecting as the future; howev
er, the future is now.”
Albemarle Boats manu
facturing manager Carroll
Bundy said his company is
trying to fill a number of po
sitions.
“The (job) market is
tight,” Bundy said. “That’s
why we’re here. We have
openings at all levels. It can
be a summer job situation
or the first step in a career
of boat manufacturing.”
See FAIR, A3
Goss: Working on marine park
highlight of county tenure
BY REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
Perquimans County’s
economic development
consultant has resigned to
move to Charlotte.
Dave Goss sent a letter
to County Manager Frank
Heath stating his intention
to resign effective May
31. Goss plans to move to
Charlotte in early June, his
letter states.
Goss said in an phone in
terview Monday that work ¬
Corprew: Boat basin
project ‘a mistake’
Unaffiliated commission
candidate spoke at forum
BY REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
Candidates for county
commissioner offered var
ied perspectives on eco
nomic development at a
candidates forum held last
week by the Perquimans
County Farm Bureau.
Perquimans Board of
Commissioners Chairman
Wallace Nelson, a Repub-
lican, and Commissioner
Fondella Leigh, a Dem
ocrat represented at the
ing on the
Marine
Industri
al Park
has been
one of
his favor
ite parts
about
GOSS working
in eco
nomic development in
Perquimans. He also was
pleased to play a role in
the location of a Fed Ex re
gional hub in Perquimans,
he said.
Goss moved to
See GOSS, A2
forum
by Tam
my Mill
er-White,
both ex
pressed
support
for the
marine
CORPREW industrial
park boat
basin as an important proj
ect for economic develop
ment in the county. The
May 3 forum was held at
Bagley Swamp Wesleyan
Church.
But Tim Corprew, a
See CANDIDATES, A3
Voters go to polls
for Tuesday primary
PCRA seeks help reassembling Plank House
West Hertford polling site
has moved to DSS building
From staff reports
Voters seeking to cast then-
ballot at the West Hertford
precinct on Tuesday should
be advised that their polling
place has moved.
The polling place for the
6 " 89076 47144
Vol. 87, No. 19
WWW.PerquimansWeekly.com
@2021 Perquimans Weekly
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West Hertford precinct has
been relocated to the Perqui
mans County Department of
Social Services Building.
The building’s address is
103 Charles Street, but voting
will take place in a section
of the building that will be
accessed by a rear entrance.
Curbside voting also will be
set up in a parking lot behind
the building.
All other precinct
polling places will re
main the same.
Perquimans vot
ers are going to the
polls Tuesday to elect
three members of the
See ELECTION, A3
Nonprofit to hold June 4 Gaitien
Party fundraiser for project
BY PENNY BYRD
AND LYN WINSLOW
Special to The Perquimans
Weekly
Editor’s note: This story is
the final story in a four-part
series on the history of the
Pasquotank Plank House,
its travels and final return
to Perquimans County.
Last week in part three
we left you wondering
what was going to happen
next with the resurrection
of the Pasquotank Plank
House and its return to a
useful, educational life in
Perquimans County.
IMAGE COURTESY N.C. DIVISION OF ARCHIVES AND HISTORY
This image shows the front of the Pasquotank Plank
House as it once looked before it was disassembled
and its wooden planks stored for safekeeping. The
Perquimans County Restoration Association plans to
reassemble the house.
I even had a quote in
mind from the “Field of
Dreams” movie to build
this final part of the story
around: “Build it and They
Will Come.” But nothing
is that simple because re
constructing a 300-year-old
house is not at all like build
ing a modern house.
Today you want and
need skilled carpenters,
but back then carpenters’
skills had little to do with
hammering nails and more
to do with joinery.
We recently received a
file from the N.C. Division
of Archives and History
that included addition
al black and white photo
images, a few of which
showed the use of joinery
at the corners of the Plank
House. Also included were
different black and white
exterior shots and an archi
tectural schematic showing
See HOUSE, A3