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“News from Next Door”
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2023
$1.50
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1X1
W SCAN ME
PAGE 2
HGS students
perform Black His
tory Month tribute
PAGE 5
Hartman:
Christians need
to look for ways
to sow seeds of
love
PAGE 7
Tobias: Jimmy
Carter kind of
president our
nation needs
now
Durants Neck fire stations nearing completion
New Station 1 about 3 times
size of station built in 1980
BY TYLER NEWMAN
Staff Writer
With each new nail ham
mered, stud installed, bar
becue plate sold and dona
tion from the community,
Durants Neck Volunteer
Fire Department’s two new
stations inch closer to real
ity.
Fire Chief Robert Eure
recently led a tour of the
VFD’s soon-to-be main sta
tion located at the comer of
New Hope and Cove roads.
Standing at around 9,500
square feet, the new main
station is substantially
larger than the old station
built in 1980. That station is
around 3,500 square feet.
Eure said the Durants
Neck department realized it
needed a new station “about
20 years ago,” when the
VFD had to special order a
fire truck to fit its existing
building.
“We only have about a
foot to walk around the
trucks,” Eure said of the
current station, located at
the intersection of New
Hope and Woodville roads.
After taking the reins as
Durants Neck fire chief in
2014, Eure said he started
looking into a new station
almost immediately.
“We really started push
ing about six or seven years
ago,” he explained “So
far, we’ve raised around
$450,000 from the commu
nity” to build it.
While Durants Neck
receives building fund do
nations all of the time, the
department also hosts some
larger annual events that
help drive contributions: a
sportsman’s raffle, yearly'
fund drives and a barbecue
pork supper.
“Everything currently
standing is paid for,” Eure
said, pointing throughout
the interior of the new sta
tion.
While still empty, the fu
ture main station is expan
sive and cavernous. The
garage doors have already
been installed and studs are
up, sectioning off the meet
ing room and kitchen.
The second floor above
the main bay will be stor
age space, while the lean-to
TYLER NEWMAN/THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
Construction continues on Durants Neck Volunteer Fire
Department’s new Station 1 at the corner of New Hope
and Cove roads.
See DURANTS, A3
CONFERENCE CHAMPS
Hodges critical of
HT communication
on dinner vessel
PHOTOS BY DAVID GOUGH/THE DAILY ADVANCE
Perquimans’ Crishya Sellers (center) makes a shot during the Lady Pirates' 61-38 Four Rivers Conference
tournament championship win over Gates, Friday Feb. 17, at Perquimans County High School.
HERTFORD — A Hert
ford town official ex
pressed frustration last
week that the Harbor
Towns Inc. dinner boat
cruises won’t be able to
visit downtown Hertford.
Town Councilman Ash
ley Hodges also was criti
cal of Harbor Towns Inc.,
the private nonprofit that
is developing fast ferry and
dinner boat service in sup
port of economic develop
ment efforts in the Albe-
Hertford official also questions
nonprofit board’s makeup
BY REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
HODGES
marle.
Harbor
Towns
officials
have ac
knowl
edged
that the
140-pas-
s e n g e r
Eagle 1
dinner boat the nonprofit
recently purchased can’t
dock at the Hertford wa
terfront. The Eagle 1 has
a 6-foot draft, which also
happens to be the depth
of the Perquimans River at
the town’s waterfront.
Hertford Town Manager
See HODGES, A3
Lady Pirates run past Gates for FRC title
Winfall OKs town
PCHS last won conference,
tourney titles in same year in “98
BY DAVID GOUGH
The Daily Advance
The' Perquimans girls
basketball team achieved
something Friday night the
program had not done in 25
years.
With a 61-38 win over
Gates County in a packed
gym at Perquimans County
High School, the Lady Pi
rates won regular-season
conference and conference
tournament titles in the
same year for the first time
since 1998.
“The girls deserve it,” Per
quimans head coach Aar on
Burke said. “It’s been 25
years since it’s been done.
I think that’s a big step for
this program.”
Perquimans, 21-2 and un
beaten in the Four Rivers
Conference, faced a No. 2
Lady Red Barons (13-11)
team that had given them
a good game in their first
matchup. Perquimans won
39-35 at Gates in January
before the Lady Pirates
won the second matchup at
home, 64-28,10 days later.
Early on in the FRC
championship game, it
looked like Friday’s game
was going to mirror the
teams’ first matchup more
than the second.
Gates scored first — in
the middle of six turnovers
See HOOPS, A2
The
Perquimans
girls
basketball
team poses
after defeating
the Gates
County High
School Lady
Red Barons
61- 38 in the
Four Rivers
Conference
tournament
championship
game, Friday,
Feb. 17, at
Perquimans
County High
School.
hall repairs despite
pushback
Town Council approves $31K
contract with Chesson tor work
BY TYLER NEWMAN
Staff Writer
WINFALL
WinfaU
Town Council has agreed
to spend more than $30,000
to renovate its aging town
hall despite pushback from
the town’s mayor.
The council voted 2-1
Feb. 13 to accept A.R.
Chesson’s approximate
ly $31,000 bid to perform
restorative work at the
— town’s
munici
pal cen
ter that
includes
replacing
some rot
ted wood
decking.
YATES Coun
cilwoman
Carol Cooper told council
that A.R. Chesson submit
ted the lone bid for the
work. She said she spoke
with five other contractors,
See WINFALL, A3
Wallace new golf pro at Sound Links at Albemarle Plantation
Wallace hopes to start Operation
36 Academy at Sound Links
BY TYLER NEWMAN
Staff Writer
Anyone needing golf
lessons at the Sound Golf
Links at Albemarle Planta
tion need look no further
6
■ 89076 47144 "
Vol. 88, No. 08
WWW.PerquimansWeekly.com
@2021 Perquimans Weekly
All Rights Reserved
than the course’s youthful
new addition, PGA Teach
ing Professional Mary Eliza
beth Wallace.
Wallace, a Camden Coun
ty native, developed a pas
sion for golf when she was
around 12 years old. She
noted that her father was
an avid golfer at the time
and she took lessons at The
2
Pines of Elizabeth
City under the tute
lage of the late Jim
Gilbert.
Wallace said she
had tried her hand at
other sports but noth
ing else interested
her.
“I tried soccer and cheer
and dance and other ‘female
sports,’ but nothing really
stuck,” Wallace said. “So we
went out to my grandpa’s
yard to hit golf balls one
day and I hit one the first
time. My dad said there was
‘something there’ and asked
if I wanted to wear pink and
skirts all the time. I said, ‘ab
solutely.’”
That first swing snow
balled into a long-term love
for Wallace.
“I loved playing so much,
I decided to get my first job
at The Pines as a part-time
intern helping David Mas-
citti, PGA (head pro) with
summer camps,” Wallace
said.
She’s now worked in the
golf industry for nine years,
learning under some of the
best junior instructors in the
game, including Michelle
Holmes, an LPGA teaching
professional and top 50 U.S
kids instructor, during high
school and PGA tour in-
structors Butch Liebler and
David Orr.
Wallace graduated from
Campbell University in . De
cember 2020 with a bach
elor’s degree in business
administration and PGA
TYLER NEWMAN/THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
PGA Teaching Pro Mary Elizabeth Wallace (left) gives a
friend a quick lesson on the driving range at the Sound
Golf Links at Albemarle Plantation.
See GOLF, A3