E E KLY
“News from Next Door”
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2022 $1.50
(g) SCAN ME
PAGE A2
Santa’s Helpers
golf tourney to help
schoolkids in need
PAGE B2
Lady Pirates
sweep Tarboro
in first round of
playoffs
PAGE B3
Foundation
awards $6K in
grants to
Academy for
Girls
Eariy voting, mail-in balloting tops 800 in Perquimans
Early voting continues through
Nov. 5, mail-ins due Nov. 8
BY REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
Voters in Perquimans
County are taking advan
tage of the opportunity to
vote early.
As of noon Tuesday, 790
one-stop ballots had been
cast in the Nov. 8 General
Election. That did not in
clude an additional 34 ab
sentee mail-in ballots that
have been returned.
“We have had a steady
stream since Thursday,”
said Perquimans County
Elections Director Jackie
Greene. “It’s steady.”
One voter casting a ballot
during one-stop Tuesday
morning at the Perquimans
Board of Elections Office
was Leora Foreman.
“I’m concerned about a
lot of things that are going
on,” Foreman said, explain
ing why she believes it’s im
portant to vote.
And she likes to vote
during the one-stop period
because of its convenience.
“It’s better to get in and out
faster — especially if you’re
working,” Foreman said.
Foreman said she is con
cerned about both state and
local races on this year’s
election ballot. One of the
main issues on her mind is
inflation, she said.
“Everything is going up,”
she said. Rising prices make
it a struggle to make ends
meet, she added.
Foreman declined to say
which candidates she voted
for.
Although there were a
number of people voting
Tuesday morning, Foreman
said casting her vote did not
take long.
One-stop voting began
Oct. 20 at the elections of
fice at 601 S. Edenton Road
St., Hertford, and contin
ues weekdays from 8 a.m.
to 5p.m. through Nov. 4.
One day of Saturday voting
will be held on Nov. 5 from
8 a.m. to3p.m.
In the only contested
local race on the county
ballot, six candidates are
vying for three seats on the
See VOTING, A2
Welcome Friends
AG, locals discuss
uses for opioid
settlement funds
PHOTOS BY JOHN FOLEY/THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
Lynwood Winslow addresses those attending a ceremony to rededicate the Edmundson-Fox Quaker monument
at Phelps Point in Hertford, Sunday. The monument, first placed in 1929, had to be relocated about 10 feet back
from its former site to accommodate construction of the new S-Bridge over the Perquimans River.
Friends rededicate Quaker monument
BY JOHN FOLEY
Staff Writer
Despite misting rain and
a cloud-filled sky, members
of the Religious Society of
Friends from Perquimans
and across the state cele
brated the rededication of
the Edmundson-Fox Quak
er Memorial Monument in
Hertford on Sunday.
Located on Phelps Point
in the shadow of the new
S-bridge, the monument
was originally dedicated at
the comer of Church and
Newby streets in 1929. Con
struction of the new bridge,
however, required the mon
ument to be relocated ap
proximately 10 feet behind
its original site.
“This worked out well,”
said Lynnwood Winslow of
Glenn White addresses those attending a ceremony to
rededicate the Edmundson-Fox Quaker monument at
Phelps Point in Hertford, Su
Up River Meeting, who along
with Glenn White, spoke at
Sunday’s rededication. “We
had discussed either moving
the monument or placing an
addition plaque on the back
so people wouldn’t need to
stand in the road. This move
is great.”
The monument marks
the spot where the first re
ligious service on record in
North Carolina was held.
“Near this spot William
Edmundson, an English
Friend, held in May 1672 the
first religious service on re
cord in Carolina,” reads the
monument’s plaque. “Six
months later, George Fox,
Founder of the Religious
Society of Friends, also vis
ited this section and held
meetings among the Colo
nists. Here were the begin
nings of the religious life of
a great state.”
Winslow read excerpts
from Edmundson's and
Fox’s journals, noting that
the weather the two Friends
encountered in what later
would become Perquimans
County was “a little worse
during that spring in 1672”
See MONUMENT, A2
Area will receive $5.5M from
1 drug maker, 3 distributors
BY PAUL NIELSEN
The Daily Advance
North Carolina Attor
ney General Josh Stein
discussed strategies for
mitigating the opioid crisis
last week with area lead
ers whose counties have
begun receiving their first
payments from a national
opioid settlement.
Stein said the money
will save lives and has to
be used for prevention,
treatment, recovery and
harm reduction services.
REGGIE PONDER/THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
The Open Door Food Pantry of Perquimans County
has purchased the former Highway 55 restaurant
building and will be moving into the new site once
renovations are complete.
Food pantry buys
former Highway 55
Open Door will remodel
new facility before moving
BY JOHN FOLEY
Staff Writer
For the first time in its
42-year history, The Open
Door Food Pantry of Per
quimans County has a
home of its own.
The nonprofit that pro
vides food to county res ¬
He said
opioid
deaths in
the state
are cur
rently av
eraging
around’
113,600 a’
STEIN year, in
cluding 30
in the Albemarle region in
2021.
“It is ravaging too many
lives,” said Stein, who
helped lead-a nationwide
effort for the settlement
money. “Your communi
ties are not immune.”
See STEIN, A5
idents who need it, has
purchased the former
Highway 55 restaurant at
293 Creek Drive in Hert
ford and will be moving its
services there.
The Open Door’s new
facility will need some re
modeling before pantry
service can begin. Until
then, pantry services will
continue to be offered
See PANTRY, A5
Ghost talk: ‘Ghosts’ of Masons revisit Hertford’s past
About 180 attended Lodge 106’s
first Ghost Walk last weekend
BY JOHN FOLEY
Staff Writer
About 180 people got a glimpse
into Perquimans County’s past this
past weekend during Perquimans
Masonic Lodge 106’s first-ever
6
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Ghost Walk.
The town’s streets came to life
Saturday night as curious resi
dents visited four different venues
where they got to Rear tales about
four prominent Masons from their
“ghosts” — locals portraying them.
Perquimans Masonic Lodge 106
members hosted the event and also
led ghost-spotters around town.
An actor portraying local attor
ney James McNider spun a tale or
two about crimes and villains in
Perquimans in the early 20th cen
tury. One of his stories was about
the murder trial for Jim Wilcox,
the boyfriend accused of killing
Nell Cropsey in 1901.
Although both Wilcox and
Cropsey were from Elizabeth City,
Wilcox’s murder trail was held
in Perquimans County where he
was defended by McNider. Wil
cox would be found guilty and
sentenced to death but the N.C.
Supreme Court later overturned
that verdict declaring his first trial
a mistrial.
Wilcox would also be found
guilty of second-degree murder
in Cropsey’s death at a second
trial and sentenced to 30 years in
prison. In 1920, he was pardoned
by the governor. He continued to
claim his innocence until his death
by suicide in 1932.
Dr. John Harris didn’t fare too
well in Hertford, either. The young
See WALK, A5
JOHN FOLEY/THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
The “ghost” of bridge tender James S. Vick, speaking to Ghost
Walk attendees in front of the restored bridge tender’s house, was
one of four ghosts of prominent Masons to talk about their lives
and Perquimans’ historic past during Perquimans County Masonic
Lodge 106’s first-ever Ghost Walk Friday and Saturday.