The
QIJIMANS
EEKLY
"News from Next Door”
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2022 $1.50
© SCAN ME
PAGE A2
Salvation Army
seeing need rise,
fundraising slow
PAGE Bl
‘The capacity
of community’:
Pitt family helps
Ukrainian find
refuge
PAGE B2
Holley helps
Lady Pirates
pull away from
Grizzlies
2022 in review:
Pirates win title, S-Bridge opens
Cole took reins in Hertford,
$4M received for boat basin
BY REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
It was a busy year in Per
quimans County. Here are a
few of the major develop
ments that were covered in
the Perquimans Weekly:
Election — In the Nov.
8 General Election, Perqui
mans Board of Commis
sioners Chairman Wallace
Nelson, a Republican, was
reelected as a county com
missioner. Two new com
missioners were elected:
Republican James Ward
YEAR IN REVIEW
and the county’s first unaf
filiated commissioner, Tim
Corprew. Democrat Fon-
della Leigh lost her bid for
re-election to a third term.
With Ward joining Repub
licans Nelson, Kyle Jones
and Charles Woodard on
the board, the six-member
board now has a Republican
majority for the first time.
In the May 10 primary, the
only local contested race on
the ballot was the Perqui
mans Board of Education
election. Incumbent Anne
White, the school board’s
chairwoman, was reelected,
and first-time candidates
Kristy Corprew and Matt
Winslow were both elect
ed to the board’s two other
open seats. Corprew and
Winslow will replace Matt
Peeler and Amy Spaugh,
who did not seek reelection.
New committee struc
ture in Winfall — In July
the Winfall Town Council
adopted a committee struc
ture that redirected most of
the administrative responsi
bilities that had been shoul
dered by the town’s long-
time mayor, Fred Yates, to
various council members.
Each member of the
council was assigned one or
more areas of responsibility
such as public safety, fire,
recreation, finance, sewer,
and tourism. Yates, who has
served as the town’s mayor
for three decades, previous
ly exercised general admin
istrative oversight of the
town.
Confederate monu
ment controversy re
solved — In April the Per
quimans County Board of
Commissioners approved
language for interpretive
signs to be placed next to
the Confederate monument
on the lawn of the Perqui
mans County Courthouse.
The move was a compro
mise of sorts between those
See YEAR, A3
PHOTO BY DEAN STRICKLAND
Perquimans players celebrate their 1A NCHSAA state
title win on the infield of Ting Stadium in Holly Springs
on June 4. The Pirates won their second state title in
as many years by beating Cherryville High School two
games to one in the best-of-three game series.
Region’s finest
PHOTOS BY REGGIE PONDER/THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
Hertford Grammar School Principal John Lassiter, dressed in pajamas as part of a holiday-themed staff gathering
at the school Tuesday, Dec. 20, learns from 2022 N.C. Principal of the Year Patrick Greene (left) that he had been
selected Northeast Region Principal of the Year for 2023.
$400K to help
CA upgrade
tracks,
Some of railroad upgrades
will be made in Perquimans
From staff reports
Chesapeake & Albe
marle Railroad will re
ceive more than $400,000
in state grant funding to
make needed bridge im
provements and track up-
grades in Perquimans and
Pasquotank counties.
The railroad, which op
erates 69 miles of track be
tween Chesapeake, Virgin
ia, and Edenton, received
bridge
the short line railroad
matching grant earlier this
month from the N.C. De
partment of Transporta
tion’s Freight Rail and Rail
Crossing Safety Improve
ment Program. The FR-
RCSI, established in 2013
by the General Assembly,
enables DOT to partner
with rail companies on im
provement projects to help
move freight more effec
tively.
According to Chesa
peake & Albemarle, the
See RAILROADS, A3
High winds knock
out power to 2,300
HGS’ Lassiter region’s Principal of Year
Turner, Greene surprised
Lassiter with news at school
BY REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
Hertford Grammar
School Principal John Las
siter has been named North-
east Regional Principal of
the Year.
That recognition makes
Lassiter one of eight final
ists across the state for
North Carolina Principal of
theYear.
The current N.C. Prin
cipal of the Year, Patrick
Greene of Greene Central
High School in Snow Hill,
joined Perquimans Coun
ty Schools Superintendent
Tanya Turner and other
local school officials at
Hertford “Grammar School
Tuesday, Dec. 20, to sur
prise Lassiter with the news
of his selection as Regional
Principal of the Year.
See AWARD, A3
Hertford
Grammar
School Principal
John Lassiter
celebrates
his selection
as Northeast
Region
Principal of
the Year with
Perquimans
County Schools
Superintendent
Tanya Turner,
Tuesday, Dec.
20.
All outages on Friday
restored within several hours
BY JOHN FOLEY
Staff Writer
The artic front that
pushed through the region
on Friday brought strong
winds and resulted in the
coldest holiday tempera
tures in Perquimans in 40
years.
Temperatures were pro
jected to drop below freez
ing within two hours of the
front’s passage over the
region, bringing wind gusts
between 40 and 50 mph for
roughly an hour, followed
by gusts between 30-45
mph the rest of the day.
Because of the high
winds, roughly 2,300 pow
er customers in Perquim
ans were temporarily with
out power at some point
on Ifriday.
According to Albemar
le Electric Membership
Corporation spokesper
son Chris Powell, AEMC’s
Burgess substation lost
power at 10:22 a.m. follow
ing an outage on a Domin
ion Power line that feeds
power to the substation.
The outage affected 1,546
meters, he said. Dominion
was able to restore power
to the substation a little
See WEATHER, A3
Vehicle collides with school bus; 1 taken to hospital
11 students aboard when
collision reported on US 17
BY REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
A Perquimans County
school bus was involved in
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Vol. 87, No. 52
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@2021 Perquimans Weekly
All Rights Reserved
a collision with another ve
hicle as students were being
transported home at the
start of the holiday break
Wednesday, Dec. 21.
Bus 129, which was
transporting students
from Perquimans County
High School and Perquim
ans County Middle
School, was struck
from behind by an
other vehicle in the
400 block of U.S.
Highway 17 while
traveling north near
the N.C. Department
of Transportation
shop in Winfall, according
to emergency officials.
The accident is being in
vestigated by the N.C. High
way Patrol. An update on
the wreck wasn’t available
this week.
Julie Solesbee of Perqui
mans Emergency Services
said in a press release that
there were 11 students, a
bus monitor and a driver
aboard the bus at the time of
the collision. The accident
was reported to emergency
officials around 12:46 p.m.
and school officials were
notified around 12:51 p.m.
The students were re
moved from the bus after
school officials arrived be
cause the bus was still in
the roadway following the
collision, Solesbee said.
She said “several people
involved in the accident”
were evaluated by emergen
cy medical services person
nel at the scene before one
person was transported to
Sentara Albemarle Medical
Center in Elizabeth City.
She did not say whether
the person was someone
See BUS, A3
CHRIS DAY/THE DAILY ADVANCE
Perquimans Middle School, shown Wednesday, Dec.
21, served as the reunification point for parents picking
up middle and high school students who were aboard
a school bus that was rear-ended by a vehicle on U.S.
Highway 17.