The
QUIMANS
EEKLY
“News from Next Door"
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2022 $1.50
jS^ SCAN ME
PAGE A2
Jollification!
fundraiser for PCRA
set for Sept. 24
PAGE B2
Lady Pirates
again sweep
Currituck in
volleyball
PAGE B3
Postcards
from Ukraine: On
Ukraine’s Inde
pendence Day,
women show
power of cake
Bridge to the future
PHOTOS BY JOHN F0LEY/THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
Perquimans County residents begin walking across the new S-Bridge in Hertford following a ribbon-cutting event
Saturday to mark the span’s near completion. About 200 people attended the event.
Hertford responds
to state agency
on audit findings
CPA firm hired to bring bank
reconciliations up to date
BY REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
HERTFORD — Hert
ford town officials try to
make strategic use of per
sonnel to ensure good in
ternal control over financ
es despite having a small
staff, the town stated in a
response to state finance
officials.
The N.C. Local Govern
ment Commission includ
ed Hertford on its list of
municipal governments re
quired to respond to find
ings in the town’s annual
audit report.
The response prepared
by interim Town Manager
Janice Cole got a thumbs-
up Monday from the Hert
ford Town Council at the
council’s work session.
COLE
Cole
told the
council
that LGC
members
visited
Hertford
about 372
weeks
ago. The
officials
have reviewed the town’s
proposed response and
determined that it was ac
ceptable, Cole said.
Mayor Pro Tern Ash
ley Hodges described the
town’s response as accu
rate and well-written.
During brief discussion
of the matter, Hodges said
he thinks that sometimes
there is an expectation that
a town has a large staff to
handle financial matters.
He said he believes the
town has done a good job
200 help christen nearly complete span
NCDOT: Bridge to open to
vehicles in ‘next few weeks’
BY JOHN FOLEY
Staff Writer
HERTFORD — Nearly
200 Perquimans County res
idents helped christen the
nearly completed new Hert
ford S-Bridge on Saturday
by either walking or biking
across the half-mile span.
North Carolina Depart
ment of Transportation Di
vision 1 Engineer Win Bridg
ers thanked those gathered
on the Hertford side of the
bridge for a ribbon cutting
ceremony that preceded the
pedestrian crossing.
“It’s great to see everyone
here as we give the com
munity a close-up look at
the new Hertford S-Bridge,
nearing completion here
on the Perquimans River,”
Bridgers said. “It’s not easy
replacing a 92-year-old icon,
but we at the NCDOT hope
that once you get a chance
to walk or bike across this
state of-the-art bridge, the
communities of Hertford
and Winfall will be just as
proud of this new bridge as
they were of the old one.”
See BRIDGE, A4
IVlayor Earnell BroWn
addresses the crowd
on hand for the
ribbon cutting for the
nearly completed
S-Bridge in Hertford,
Saturday. Behind her
(l-r) are former state
Sen. Bob Steinburg,
R-Chowan; North
Carolina Department
of Transportation
Division 1 Engineer
Win Bridgers; and
Perquimans Board
of Commissioners
Chairman Wallace
Nelson.
See HERTFORD, A4
THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
A group of line dancers participate in the street dance
at the annual Indian Summer Festival in this 2013 file
photo. This year’s festival will be Sept. 9-10.
Fog fails to dim school return excitement
Indian Summer
Festival to feature
60 artisan vendors
Students, teachers, bus
driver all happy with first day
BY JOHN FOLEY
The Perquimans Weekly
HERTFORD — Students
in Perquimans County
Schools eager to return for
the first day of school had
to wait an extra two hours
because of heavy fog blan
keting the region Monday
morning.
With fog reducing visibil
ity for motorists, Perquim
ans school officials delayed
the start of school out of an
abundance of caution.
Although there were
some disappointed stu ¬
dents, parents and teach
ers, all was back to normal
as the fog lifted and school
doors opened just after
10 a.m.
Despite the two-hour fog
delay making “schedule a
little bit different from what
everyone had prepared for,”
the district’s first day of
school was very successful,
Superintendent Tanya Turn
er said.
“Our bus drivers did a
great job as always getting
our students to school safe
ly; our child nutrition staff
adjusted to the time change
for meal preparation; our
schools adjusted their
See SCHOOL, A4
JOHN FOLEY/THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
Tiffany Stallings is shown with daughter, Annabelle
Stallings, on Annabelle’s return for the first day of
school at Perquimans County Middle School, Monday.
After 4-year hiatus, festival
to be held Sept. 9-10
BY JOHN FOLEY
Staff Writer
The 36th annual Indian
Summer Festival is back
and Perquimans County
Tourism Director Stacey
Layden couldn’t be more
excited about the recep
tion the event is receiving.
“We have about 60 arti
san craft and retail vendors
already committed to par
ticipating,” said Layden of
the festival that will held in
downtown Hertford Friday
and Saturday, Sept. 9-10.
Sponsored by the Per
quimans County Tourism
Authority, the Indian Sum
mer Festival is one of three
Perquimans County events
— the Perquimans County
Restoration Association’s
Jollification and Historic
Hertford Inc.’s Toast of
Perquimans — scheduled
for successive weekends
in September expected
to draw hundreds of resi
dents and visitors.
This year’s Indian Sum
mer Festival, which was
first held in 1982, will be
the first in four years. The
festival had been canceled
even before the COVID-19
pandemic shut down most
large events in 2020.
Layden said the
See FESTIVAL, A4
Perquimans Weekly, Chowan Herald win 8 press awards
PW won Ad Sweepstakes and
General Excellence honor
From staff reports
89076 47144 11 2
Vol. 87, No. 35
WWW.PerquimansWeekly.com
@2021 Perquimans Weekly
All Rights Reserved
RALEIGH — The Perquimans
Weekly and Chowan Herald won
a combined eight awards in the A
division of the 2022 North Caroli
na Press Association’s Editorial
and Advertising Contest.
The awards were announced
Aug. 25 during the N.C. Press
Association’s annual conference
held at the Raleigh Hilton North
Hills.
The Perquimans Weekly won
an Advertising Sweepstakes
and General Excellence award
for its work
both in print and
online. Spon
sored by Metro
Creative Graph
ics the sweep-
stakes award
recognizes the
top award win-
ALEXANDER ners from each
division.
The Perquimans Weekly won
first place for community cover
age in the editorial categoiy of the
contest.
Bev Alexander and staff won
four awards for the Perquimans
Weekly in the advertising catego
ry.
The awards included a first-
place healthcare/medical entry for
an Albemarle Eye Care ad and a
first-place entry for use of humor
in a Bass Services ad.
Alexander and the staff also
won second place for a small ad
entry for The Hertford Hub and
third place for a healthcare/med ¬
ical entry for a Coastal Carolina
Family Practice ad.
Alexander and staff also won
two awards in the advertising cat
egory for the Chowan Herald.
Those awards included sec
ond place for a healthcare/medi
cal entry for a Jerry Bradley, DSS
ad and third place for an institu
tional entry for an Edenton Lions
Club ad.
Judges for the NCPA’s 2022 con
test were supplied by the Iowa
Press Association.