SATURDAY, APRIL 22, 2023 $1.50
“News from Next Door”
@ SCAN ME
INSIDE
The 2023 Best of
the Albemarle guide
details more than
100 of the area’s
best businesses
and employees
PAGE 2
Perquimans
teams earn hunt
er safety state
tourney berths
PAGE 7
Lady Aces bat
around on Lady
Pirates twice in
13-6 win
5 candidates announce bids for Edenton Town Council
Bergeron, Turner, Sellers,
Inglis, Dixon to run in fall
BY TYLER NEWMAN
Correspondent
EDENTON — Filing for
the nonpartisan November
town election in Edenton
doesn’t officially open for
another three months, but
five candidates — four first-
time candidates and one
incumbent — have already
announced their candidacy
for open seats on the town
council.
Stephanie Bergeron and
Robert “Bob” Turner have
both announced their plans
to seek the First Ward seat
being vacated by Councilor
Hackney High, who has said
he plans to run for mayor in
the Nov. 7 election. Incum
bent Mayor Jimmy Stallings
has said he’s not seeking
re-election.
Patrick Sellers and Susan
Inglis have also announced
plans to run for the at-large
seat being vacated by Coun
cilor Roger Coleman, who
said recently he won’t seek
a second term.
Incumbent Second Ward
Councilor Sambo Dixon
also has announced he
plans to seek re-election.
Bergeron, a native of
Edenton, is a 1988 gradu
ate of John A. Holmes High
School who graduated with
a degree in art history from
the University of North Car
olina at Chapel Hill in 1992.
She lived and worked in
both Raleigh and Dallas be
fore returning to Edenton in
1996 with her husband of 27
years, Andrew. The couple
have two children.
“As an Edenton native I
feel fortunate to have been
able to raise my children
here as well,” Bergeron said.
“I have watched Edenton
grow and thrive for almost
53 years. I have loved being
a part of this community.”
Bergeron said she has
“worked to make Eden
ton better” through her in
volvement with education,
church, the Chowan Arts
Council and other volunteer
See COUNCIL, A6
Making the Pilgrimage
TYLER NEWMAN PHOTO
Attendees of the Edenton Women’s Club’s Pilgrimage of Historic Homes gather on the front steps of Pembroke
Hall in downtown Edenton as Russell Corker (center) relates some of the house’s long history. More than 1,000
visitors took a step back into Edenton’s past by attending the biennial event April 14-15.
Perquimans schools
seeking $700,000
more in local funds
1,000-plus tour Edenton’s historic homes
Visitors learned history of
Pembroke Hall, other homes
BY TYLER NEWMAN
Correspondent
EDENTON — More than
1,000 visitors took a step
back into Edenton’s past
last weekend by attend
ing the Edenton Women’s
Club’s biennial Pilgrimage
of Historic Homes.
Pilgrimage Chairwoman
Carlette Pruden told The
Chowan Herald on Saturday
that more than 1,100 tickets
were sold for the two-day
event which raises funds
for the club’s preservation
grants and community proj
ects.
“We are excited, and our
goals for the submitted
(community preservation)
grants were a success,”
Pruden said.
While Pilgrimage goers
had to dodge scattered
rain showers early on April
14, the sun finally broke
through the clouds in the af
ternoon, providing a warm
and pleasant wrap-up to
the first day of the tour. Sat
urday’s weather improved
even more, with tempera-
See PILGRIMAGE, A6
TYLER NEWMAN PHOTO
Russell Corker (left) greets visitors at Pembroke Hall
during the Edenton Women's Club’s Pilgrimage of
Historic Homes during the biennial event in Edenton,
April 14-15.
District has to pay for two
nurses, employee benefit hikes
BY REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
HERTFORD — The
Perquimans County Board
of Education is request
ing $754,000 more in local
funding from county com
missioners for operations
in the budget year that be
gins July 1.
The school board pre
sented its request for $3.8
million in local current
expense funding to the
Perquimans Board of
Commissioners at a joint
session of the two boards
Monday night.
County commissioners
funded the schools current
expense at $3.1 million in
the current budget year.
The school board is also
requesting $235,000 in lo
cal capital outlay funding
for 2023-24, which is the
same level as in the cur
rent year’s budget.
TURNER
The
school
district
will need
to pick
up the
$139,546
cost
of two
school
nurses
that previously were fund
ed through a grant. In ad
dition, the school district
paid $194,625 in local em
ployee benefit increases
in this budget year out of
its fund balance, but rec
ognizes it needs to begin
budgeting for that expense
without drawing on fund
balance.
An anticipated reduc
tion in state funding for
low wealth districts and
a likely increase in how
much funding has to be
diverted to charter schools
for Perquimans students
who attend are together
expected to cost about
See BUDGET, A6
Developer may be
closer to tax credits
for Hinton project
Davis: GOP backing ‘extreme’ legislation
Dem congressman spoke to
Perquimans Dems Saturday
BY VERNON FUESTON
Correspondent
HERTFORD — U.S. Rep.
Don Davis, D-N.C., told Per
quimans County Democrats
Saturday that starting his
first term in the U.S. House
with Republicans in charge
has been a surreal experi
ence.
Davis, who was elected
in November to succeed
G.K Butterfield represent-
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Vol. 88, No. 16
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@2021 Perquimans Weekly
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ing North Carolina’s 1st
Congressional District,
noted that his office in the
Longworth House Office
Building is only a couple
down from fellow freshman
George Santos, R-N.Y., who
is the subject -of a House
ethics probe for fabricating
large parts of his biography
during his recent successful
campaign for Congress.
“I have to walk from my
office past the press corps
every day, and my office is
just two doors over from
George Santos,” Davis said.
“But that’s where we are.”
Davis, who was
speaking at the Per
quimans County
2 Democratic Conven
tion, said Santos is an
example of what peo
ple can expect from
See DAVIS, A2
VERNON FUESTON PHOTO
U.S. Rep. Don Davis, D-N.C., addresses fellow Democrats
at the Perquimans County Democratic Party’s county
convention at the Perquimans County Courthouse,
Saturday. Davis also was scheduled to address the
Pasquotank County Democratic Party county convention
on Saturday.
SAGA says it needs NMTCs
to finance renovation
BY TYLER NEWMAN
Correspondent
EDENTON —- The de
veloper of the Hotel Hin
ton project in Edenton
is closer to obtaining the
federal tax credits it says
it needs to finance reno
vations to the former hotel
property that neighbors
claim is both an eyesore
and safety hazard.
That’s according to Irvin
Henderson, a stakeholder
in the hotel project and a
board member of Preser
vation NC who had din
ner with Edenton officials
during a recent conference
in Boston, Town Manager
Corey Gooden said.
“We had a very raw and
very frank and candid dis
cussion” about the Hotel
Hinton property, Gooden
told Edenton Town Coun
cil last week. “It was a very
‘rubber meets the road’
conversation.”
Gooden said Henderson
told officials that SAGA,
the Hotel Hinton’s owner
and developer, is “as close
to obtaining New Market
Tax Credits as they’ve ever
been,” noting that rural
communities recently be
gan receiving priority for
the tax credits.
SAGAs claim that it
needs New Market Tax
Credits, or NMTCs, to fi
nance the Hotel Hinton
project has been a point of
controversy with Edenton
residents, who’ve argued
the developer could fi
nance the project through
other methods. SAGA of
ficials have claimed they
have applied for NMTCs
in the past but been denied
them.
Established by Congress
in 2000, the New Market
Tax Credit program per
nuts both individuals and
corporate taxpayers to re
ceive a credit against their
federal income taxes in ex
change for making “equity
investments in financial
intermediaries known as
See HOTEL, A6