THE
"News from Next Door"
EEKLY
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2023
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AME Zion, UMC
congregations plan
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God’s Bible is
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letter, manual
for living
PAGE 7
Holley, Lady
Pirates storm
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State: Winfall detention center to reopen in 2024
Facility will reopen as need
for juvenile housing grows
BY TYLER NEWMAN
Staff Writer
WINFALL — The state
juvenile detention facility in
Winfall, which closed over a
decade ago, is scheduled to
reopen its doors sometime
next year, bringing close to
40 jobs to the area.
Diana Kees, deputy di
rector for external affairs
at North Carolina’s Division
of Juvenile Justice and De
linquency Prevention, told
Ilie Perquimans Weekly last
week that the Perquimans
Juvenile Detention Center
is slated to reopen in 2024.
The center, located on
Jessup Street, closed in
November 2012 because
of tighter resources and a
reduction in the number of
juveniles being held in se
cure custody. The facility
had been open for about 15
years prior to the closing.
A change to state and fed
eral laws has increased the
need for the facility again,
Kees said.
“Currently, juvenile
detention numbers are
increasing statewide fol
lowing implementation of
newer federal law and cor
responding state statutory
provisions that now require
the housing of juveniles
whose cases are transferred
to Superior Court in juvenile
detention instead of jail,”
she said.
Juvenile detention facil
ities in North Carolina are
currently housing more
children than they have
available beds, according
to Kees. The state is also
projected to need 397 juve
nile detention beds by 2025;
currently there are only 347
beds.
“The Division of Juvenile
Justice and Delinquency
Prevention is now seeking
additional detention space,
and renovations of the Per
quimans Juvenile Deten
tion Center, as well as ren
ovations at other sites, are
See DETENTION, A3
TYLER NEWMAN/THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
The Perquimans Juvenile Detention Center in Winfall,
which closed in November 2012 because fewer beds
were needed for the juvenile justice system, will reopen
in 2024, a state official said last week.
WinfaU
seeks to
nil seat
on council
Powell’s resignation from
town board created vacancy
From staff reports
WINFALL — The town
of Winfall is seeking appli
cants for a vacant council
seat after a town councilor
recently resigned from the
town board.
Councilwoman Virginia
Powell, who was elected
to the Winfall Town Coun
cil in 2019, resigned be
cause she has moved from
the area, a town employee
confirmed last week.
The town is accepting
applications for Powell’s
vacant council position
through Feb. 28.
Applicants must be qual
ified Perquimans Coun
ty voters who have lived
within Winfall’s boundar
ies for at least one year.
They must be at least 21
years old and not be a con
victed felon.
The person selected to
fill the seat will complete
Powell’s four-year term
that began in November
2019 and ends this Novem
ber. That means the seat
will be up for election this
fall.
Applications and infor
mation about the applica
tion process are available
at the town of Winfall
office, located at 100
Parkview Lane.
Information about the
vacancy is also available
by calling the town office
at 426-5015.
Hearts & Heroes
PHOTOS BY REGGIE PONDER/THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
David Laperrier (center) is flanked by first responders who helped save his life on May 13, 2022, during
Perquimans County Emergency Services’ Heart & Heroes banquet, Monday, at American Legion Post 126 in
Hertford. Among the first responders who assisted Laperrier were telecommunicator Steve Pyle; Emergency
Medical Services providers Sonia Davenport and Heather Miller; Bethel firefighters Alan Corprew, James
Ward, Caleb Hobbs and Jaylin Prince; and Nightingale flight crew members Jeremy Miller and Janice McKay.
PES celebrates 3 lives saved by CPR
Dr. Konstantin Krychtiuk addresses the audience at
Perquimans Emergency Services’ Hearts & Heroes
dinner at American Legion Post 126, Monday
evening. Krychtiuk is a professor of internal medicine
at an institution in Vienna, Austria, who currently
is working with Duke University on a research trial
called Randomized Cluster Evaluation of Cardiac
Arrest Systems, or RACE CARS.
Krychtiuk: Knowing CPR can
make cardiac arrest survivable
BY REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
Perquimans County this
week celebrated the lives
of three people saved from
sudden cardiac arrest by the
quick actions of family mem
bers and first responders.
Julie Solesbee of Perquim
ans Emergency Services nar
rated the lifesaving incidents
during the Hearts & Heroes
dinner Monday at American
Legion Post 126 in Hertford.
She noted that David La ¬
perrier became unrespon
sive after returning home
from a bike ride on May 13.
An air ambulance was
requested and CPR was ini
tiated at his home. He was
transported to a facility for
specialized cardiac care.
Among the first re
sponders who assisted La
perrier were telecommu
nicator Steve Pyle; EMS
providers Sonia Davenport
and Heather Miller; Bethel
firefighters Alan Corprew,
James Ward, Caleb Hobbs
and Jaylin Prince; and
Nightingale flight crew
See HEROES, A3
County
man dies
in Gates
collision
Patrol: Fischman’s SUV hit
rear of truck on NC 32
BY JULIAN EURE
Managing Editor
GATESVILLE — A Per
quimans County man was
killed in Gates County
Tuesday, Feb. 7, when his
SUV collided with the rear
of a tractor-trailer stopped
in the roadway for a dis
abled vehicle.
First Sgt. L. Hill identi
fied the deceased motor
ist as Brian Scott Fisch-
man, 46, of Bagley Swamp
Road, Hertford.
According to Hill,
Fischman was driving
south on N.C. Highway
32 about 3:45 p.m. when
his 2019 Toyota RAV4 ap
proached a line of traffic
stopped about 151^ miles
south of Gatesville. Traf
fic was backed up be
cause of a vehicle that
had broken down and
was waiting to be moved
from the roadway, he
said.
Fischman’s RAV4 failed
to reduce speed and
“hit the back of the trac
tor-trailer,” Hill said.
Fischman was pro
nounced dead at the
scene, Hill said.
See DEATH, A2
FEMHIMY2023
Patton helps give first responders a boost
ALBEMARLE
Business @
DIRECTORY
Nixon: Therapy dog ‘partner’
for Emergency Services
BY CHERI L. SHERIDAN
Correspondent
When the going gets
“ruff,” Patton the therapy
dog gets going. He stops by
the Perquimans Emergency
Services building in Winfall
6 1 89076 47144
Vol. 88, No. 07
WWW.PerquimansWeekly.com
@2021 Perquimans Weekly
All Rights Reserved
to provide a little TLC for
his favorite EMTs.
There are dogs that
wag their tail politely. And
there are dogs with a “wig
gle-butt.” The wag starts at
their shoulders and regis
ters on the Richter Scale.
Patton is a 3-year-old brin-
dle boxer mix with a world-
class wiggle-butt that he
loves to share with his pub
lic safety pals.
First responders
are available in the
community 24 hours
2 a day, seven days a
week. They work
8-, 121 and 24-hour
shifts, often with lit
tle sleep. They get
hearts beating and
stop arteries from bleeding.
They spray Narcan to re
verse the effects of opioid
overdose.
They pull up to an ac
cident not knowing if the
seat-belted driver is banged
and bruised or if an unbelt
ed driver is in a lifeless heap
on the side of the road. Sui
cide calls are the worst.
Jonathan Nixon, direc
tor of Perquimans County
Emergency Services, man
ages 75 full-time and part-
time dispatch and medical
personnel. He describes
Patton as a “partner to the
agency.”
“Patton is a mental
health maintenance tool for
our staff,” Nixon said. “Just
having him in the building
livens everyone’s spirits.”
As they head to 911 calls,
Perquimans telecommuni
cations staff listen to fren
zied family members and
coach them in CPR and first
aid. Fear is one side of the
emotional coin and anger is
the other.
Dispatchers are often
cussed out because an am
bulance hasn’t magically
appeared. Law enforce
ment, fire and emergency
medical technicians, who
receive updates along the
route, arrive on scene and
walk into a family’s worst
nightmare, facing rage that
is really terror.
Domestic violence in ¬
cidents can be the most
frightening. If there is a
gun, it can be just as easily
be aimed at first responders
as at a family member.
Being first is dangerous.
Paramedic Nicole Auden
son notes that just petting a
dog can reduce stress, low
er blood pressure and re
lease feel-good hormones.
“We can talk to Patton I
and he doesn’t judge us,”
she said. “He. listens and |
loves us unconditionally.
Patton is a healthy way for
us to deal with the stress of
our jobs.”
First responders deal
with trauma, but they
See THERAPY, A2
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