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@ SCAN ME
"‘News from Next Door”
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2022 $1.50
PAGE A6
Sheila Osborne
used SIVIL Flea
Market to launch
home-based biz
PAGE Bl
Panthers
end 15-game
drought, defeat
Pirates on road
PAGE B6
American
Legion to hold
flag retirement
ceremony Sept.
24
Hazard addressed
All four county
schools got Cs
on report cards
REGGIE P0NDER/THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
The roof has collapsed at this former gas station building at the corner of Church and Grubb streets in Hertford.
The owner has taken action to brace the structure but additional plans are still being worked out between the
owner and local officials.
Gas station building roof collapses
Owner Zarpas braced walls
to remove immediate hazard
BY REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
Hertford town officials
are glad immediate struc
tural issues have been fixed
at the gas station building
at 203 N. Church Street and
are awaiting plans for future
action at the site.
Toast the Perquimans set for Sept. 17
Beer-wine tasting to also
include food trucks, band
BY JOHN FOLEY
Staff Writer
If you’ve always wanted
to raise a glass to the Per
quimans River, you’ll get
your chance next week-
end.
Historic Hertford Inc.
is hosting Toast the Per
quimans, a beer and wine
tasting festival, at Hert
ford Marina on Saturday,
Sept. 17. The event will
The property is owned
by Global Deluxe LLC of
Virginia Beach, Virginia,
according to county tax re
cords. The land is valued at
$30,800, the primary build
ing at $13,400 and an out
building at the site at $5,000.
The building sits on a
0.16-acre lot at the north-
west corner of the Church
Street-Grubbs Street inter
section. A sign at the site
indicates the building pre
feature craft brews from
local breweries, food
trucks, wine tastings and
music.
From 6p.m. until
10 p.m., guests can raise
a glass toasting the river
enjoyed by residents and
visitors alike. Located
entirely within Perquim
ans County, the river runs
from Durant’s Neck in the
north to Harvey Neck in
the south, passing through
Hertford before emptying
into the Albemarle Sound.
See TOAST, A3
viously was operated as an
Esso station.
Hertford interim Town
Manager Janice Cole said
the town asked the Per
quimans County building
inspector to examine the
building.
“He did and marked it for
condemnation,” she said.
“When notified, the owner,
who lives in Virginia, acted
immediately to brace the
walls. He is shoring up the
PHOTO COURTESY HISTORIC HERTFORD INC.
Toast the Perquimans, Historic Hertford Inc.'s annual
beer and wine-tasting festival, will be held at the
Hertford Marina, Saturday, Sept. 17, from 6 p.m. until
10 p.m.
building to remove the im
mediate hazard.”
Cole told Hertford Town
Council Aug. 22 that the
building’s owner Michael
Zarpas responded quickly
when notified of the county
inspector’s findings.
“He came down in two
days to look at it,” Cole told
the council. “He had a struc
tural engineer to look at it in
See HAZARD, A3
Turner: Quick return to
in-person learning helped
BY REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
Perquimans County
Schools Superintendent
Tanya Turner believes the
district’s decision to bring
students back for face-to-
face learning as quickly as
possible helped improve
student scores on annual
state testing.
Information released by
the N.C. Public Instruction
last week shows all four
schools in the Perquimans
school district received C
letter grades on their an
nual “report cards” for the
2021-22 school year, rough
ly the same grade most
other districts in the area
earned.
Only one district in the
area — Elizabeth City-
FOCUS to get $4M
grant to speed up
internet in county
Project to affect 1.6K in
Chapanoke, New Hope, Winfell
BY CHRIS DAY
The Daily Advance
Access to high-speed
internet for thousands of
area residents in rural ar
eas is becoming more re
ality than wishful thinking,
thanks to more than $200
million in state grants an-
nounced last week.
Gov. Roy Cooper’s of
fice announced Sept. 1 that
more than $206 million in
Growing Rural Economies
with Access to Technology
grants has been awarded
to expand high-speed inter
net access in 69 North Car
olina counties. The grants
were awarded to internet
service providers that are
performing the broadband
expansion in each of the
Pasquotank
Public
Schools —
scored low
er and was
deemed low
performing,
one of only
29 districts
TURNER in the state
to receive
the designation for the
2021-22 school year.
The state defines
low-performing school
districts as those “where
the majority of schools
received a D or F perfor
mance grade and have
been identified as low per
forming.”
Low-performing
schools, according to the
state’s definition, are “those
that receive a performance
grade of D or F and do not
exceed growth.” According
See REPORT, A3
counties.
Locally,
four coun
ties will
benefit from
Thursday’s
announce-
m e n t :
Camden,
COOPER Currituck,
Pasquotank
and Perquimans. The in
ternet service provider
Brightspeed will lead the
expansion efforts in Cam
den, Currituck and Pasquo
tank counties.
Another firm, FOCUS
Broadband, will perform
similar work in Perquim
ans and Chowan coun
ties. Chowan County was
notified in July that FO
CUS Broadband had been
awarded a GREAT grant.
“High-speed internet
See GRANTS, A3
Nelson in line to head
commissioner group
Prizer named Advance, Herald, PW publisher
Perquimans board chairman
elected 2nd VP of NCACC
BY REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
Perquimans County
Board of Commissioners
Chairman Wallace Nel
son is on track to become
president of the statewide
county commissioners as
sociation — the first com-
6
89076 47144
Vol. 87, No. 36
WWW.PerquimansWeekly.com
@2021 Perquimans Weekly
All Rights Reserved
NELSON
missioner
in the re
gion to be
in line for
the post in
several de
cades.
Nelson
was elect
ed second
vice presi
dent of the N.C. Association
of County Commissioners
at the association’s annu
2
al conference last
month.
Nelson’s election
took place during the
115th NCACC annu
al conference, “On
Track to Transform,”
See NELSON, A3
Chicago native coming to
area from Spokane, Wash.
BY REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
The new publisher and
advertising director for The
Daily Advance, Chowan
Herald and The Perquim
ans Weekly expressed ex
citement last week about
the opportunity to work
for newspapers in three
communities with a strong
sense of community.
David Prizer, who took
over the reins at the three
papers last week, comes
to the Albemarle from Spo
kane, Washington, but is no
stranger to eastern North
Carolina. He lived in New
Bern while serving as dig
ital sales director for Gan-
PRIZER
nett publi
cations in
Jackson
ville, New
Bern and
Wilming
ton.
Prizer
grew up
in Chicago
and has
lived in New York City, but
appreciates the way people
know and relate to each
other in communities like
Elizabeth City, Edenton
and Hertford.
Prizer said he went into
a corner store in Elizabeth
City for a cup of coffee last
week and the women be
hind the counter struck up
a conversation with him.
“And I love that,” he said.
“When I was in New Bern
people would say ‘good
morning.’ They say the
same thing in New York
and Chicago but they don’t
mean it. But they really
meant it in New Bem, and I
get that same feeling here.”
Prizer said people in the
community look to their lo
cal newspaper for informa
tion that they need. “That
makes me want to work
here,” he said.
“I want to be in the com
munity and hear from peo
ple what the newspaper
means to them and make
sure that we’re doing that,”
Prizer said. “I want to pro
vide an even more thor
ough and even more effec
tive way to make sure that
the community has what it
needs to get by every day.”
With experience in dig
ital advertising and digital
engagement, Prizer is in
terested in new ways to
engage the community,
whether through print or
other means.
“I don’t think that our
business revolves around
paper,” he said.
Growing up in Chicago,
Prizer had a neighbor who
was a cartoonist for the
Chicago Tribune. He thinks
that might have been the
start of his love for news
papers and the newspaper
business, but his career has
mostly tended toward com
munity newspapers rather
than the large metro dailies.
“At the end of the day
our job is to keep the com
munity engaged and to in
form the community,” Priz
er said.
He said he is looking
See PRIZER, A3