y
“News from Next Door”
THURSDAY, AUGUST 25, 2022 $1.50
If) SCAN ME
PAGE A2
Throckmorton:
Revolutionary War
chaplains real
‘Soldiers of the
Cross’
PAGE A3
Hartman:
Jesus is Jesus,
no matter in
what form he
appears to us
PAGE B2
Pirates’ of
fense stifled by
Manteo in 22-18
home loss
Turner’s back-to-school challenge: ‘Be the one’
Staff attend convocation
ahead of Monda/s school start
BY REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
Perquimans County
Schools staff are poised to
start the 2022-23 school year
on Monday with a renewed
resolve to make a difference
in students’ life and learn
ing.
“’Every Child Every
Chance Every Day’ has been
our motto since the 2019-
2020 school year,” Perquim
ans County Schools Super
intendent Tanya Turner said
in remarks at the Back to
School Convocation Mon
day morning. “It embodies
what we should be about
in education. It defines why
we do what we do.
“It is our why,” Turner
continued. “This year we
will continue to embrace
this motto, but we are add
ing an additional challenge:
‘Be the One.’ Be the one that
makes a difference in the
life of a child. I believe that
each one of us can make a
difference, no matter our
position, and my personal
challenge to myself and to
all of you is to be that one.”
Perquimans Comity High
School Principal Mickey
Drew said there are current
ly two vacant math teacher
positions at the high school.
But there’s a plan in place to
educate students until the
new teachers are hired, he
said.
“Middle school math
teachers are actually com
ing over to help us out so
we can have face-to-face in
struction,” Drew said.
Robert Spruill is a math
teacher at Perquimans
Middle School who will
be pitching in at the high
school. He explained that
it’s a comfortable fit for him
because he taught at the
high school for 20 years.
“So I’ll basically just be
coming back here,” Spruill
said. He will continue to
teach his other classes at
the middle school.
Spruill said he and oth
er teachers are glad to do
“whatever it takes to help
out.”
Perquimans County
Schools Chief Human Re
sources Officer Shawn
Wilson said in an interview
Monday that the district is
not facing a severe teacher
shortage that is troubling
some other school districts.
“Compared to other dis
tricts we are doing well as
far as filling our vacancies,”
she said.
See SCHOOL, A2
REGGIE PONDER/THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
Perquimans County Schools Chief Human Resource
Officer Shawn Wilson (left) and Perquimans County
High School Principal Mickey Drew discuss vacant
teaching positions at the high school following the back
to school convocation at the high school gym Monday
morning.
Are you ready for SOME FOOTBALL?
Hertford’s S-Bridge
won’t open to vehicle
traffic on Saturday
CHRIS DAY/THE DAILY ADVANCE
Perquimans’ Jaxon Bailey (24) forces Manteo ball carrier Jackson Gaskill (9) to fumble during the teams’ football
game at Perquimans County High School, Friday night. The Pirates lost their season-opener to Manteo, 22-18.
Board eyes rule change for unruly members
Jackson believes rule targets
him; county denies it is
BY REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
HERTFORD — Perqui
mans commissioners are
weighing changes to their
meeting rules that, among
other things, would allow
the board to order an un
ruly commissioner to leave
Quillon retires; Cohen to head APG-ENC
Quillon had headed newspaper
group since August 2018
The Perquimans Weekly
Adams Publishing Group
announced Aug. 16 that
Robin Quillon will retire
as its regional president in
eastern North Carolina ef-
6 1 89076 47144
Vol. 87, No. 34
WWW.PerquimansWeekly.com
@2021 Perquimans Weekly
All Rights Reserved
the meet
ing and use
sheriff’s
deputies
to enforce
c o m p 1 i -
ance.
The
board took
JACKSON a first look
at the pro
posed changes at its work
session Aug. 15. The chang
es are expected to be on the
fective Aug. 31.
Mark Cohen, publisher/
president APG Ohio/Michi-
gan, will move to Greenville
to oversee a combined di
vision, Ohio/Eastern North
Carolina.
“This change allowed us
to review our organizational
structure and we have de
cided to consolidate Ohio
and ENC under one
region,” said Nick
Monico, APG chief
2 operating officer.
“Mark and his team
have grown the Ohio
operation significant
ly on many fronts.”
Cohen has more
agenda for the board’s con
sideration at its next regular
meeting.
The board’s existing rules
of procedure allow the
board chair to determine
whether a speaker is being
disruptive.
The proposed revision
goes further, allowing for
the disruptive speaker to be
removed from the meeting.
And there’s also a new
provision in the proposed
COHEN QUILLON
than 30 years of experience
in the publishing business.
Prior to joining APG in Ohio
in 2019, he served as pres
ident of the Pennsylvania
Press Association, advocat
ing for the state’s newspa
pers. Cohen will relocate
to North Carolina on Sept.
revisions that authorize
the board —- after issuing a
warning — to order a dis
ruptive board member to
leave a meeting.
Some Perquimans resi
dents have speculated that
the provision is a pre-emp
tive move in response to
the candidacy of former
Hertford Town Councilman
Quentin Jackson for one
See RULES, A2
6 and oversee operations
from Rocky Mount east to
Elizabeth City and south to
Duplin County.
“I’m excited about this
expanded role and look
forward to blending into
the community, visiting cus
tomers and supporting our
employees,” Cohen said.
“I can’t wait to explore the
region and I also get to visit
the Ohio locations monthly,
which is the ideal situation.”
Quillon joined Adams
Publishing Group as East
ern North Carolina regional
president in August 2018.
See COHEN, A3
DOT: Pedestrian crossing,
ribbon cutting to go forward
BY JOHN FOLEY
Correspondent
HERTFORD — The
long-awaited opening of
Hertford’s new S-Bridge to
vehicle traffic will have to
wait a little longer.
While the N.C. Depart
ment of Transportation still
plans to hold a ribbon-cut
ting ceremony for the new
bridge and allow pedestri
ans and bicyclists to cross
over it on Saturday, the
bridge linking the towns of
Hertford and Winfall won’t
JOHN FOLEY PHOTO
Hertford’s new S-Bridge will not open to vehicle traffic
on Saturday. A ribbon cutting and pedestrian crossing
celebrating the span’s completion will go forward,
however.
Perquimans saw
7th-highest growth
in visitor spending
Visitors spent $19.2M in
2021,67% rise from 2020
BY PAUL NIELSEN
The Daily Advance
A study commissioned
by Visit North Carolina
said that visitors spent
$19.2 million in Perquim
ans County in 2021, an m-
crease of $7.7 million from
2020.
That 67-percent increase
was the seventh-highest
' percentage increase in the
state.
The same study shows
that visitor spending in
i Pasquotank County in
officially open to vehicles
for a few more weeks.
“We have a lot of groov
ing and grinding and strip
ing to do and the weather
is just not cooperating,”
NCDOT spokesman Tim
Hass said Monday. “Rath
er than open her and have
to close her again, we de
cided to delay the actually
opening (of the bridge) to
automobile traffic.”
Hass said the ceremo
ny celebrating the bridge’s
completion will still be
held at 11a.m., and that
afterward, pedestrians
and bicyclists will have a
See BRIDGE, A2
creased from $56.4 million
in 2020 to $82.4 million in
2021, a increase of 46.5
percent. The $26 million in
crease ranked Pasquotank
28th for the highest per
centage increase in the
state.
Visitors to Perquimans
spent $8.5 million on food
and beverages and almost
$4 million on lodging.
Perquimans Tourism
Director Stacey Layden
attributed the increase to
visitors wanting less hec
tic vacations that “bring
them back to their roots.”
She said many North
See SPENDING, A3