SATURDAY, JUNE 17, 2023
"‘News from Next Door"
$1.50
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PAGE 3
Baker, Moore,
Smith, Thomas earn
DN Ruritan Scholar
ships
PAGE 4
Sheridan:
Thanks to fires,
‘Smoke on Wa
ter’ more than a
song
PAGE 7
Former Pirate
Thach earns
Freshman
All-America
status
Public gets first peek at Penelope at Plymouth event
Didow: First fast ferry may
be ready for tours in July
BY VERNON FUESTON
Staff Writer
PLYMOUTH — The pub
lic got its first chance at
a dockside ceremony in
Plymouth on Friday, June 9,
to check out the Penelope,
the first of two fast femes
Harbor Towns plans to use
transporting passengers
between six communities
on Albemarle Sound possi
bly starting as soon as next
month.
The Penelope and the
Moses Grandy, the sec
ond fast ferry also built by
Smoky Mountain Jet Boats
in Bryson City, expected to
arrive late next month, are
specially designed to meet
the sometimes rough condi
tions found in the Albemar
le Sound and the rivers that
flow into it.
The 45-foot long, 16-foot
wide ferries of the Albemar
le class series are foil-assist
ed, catamaran-hulled craft
that gain extra lift from a
hydrofoil, raising the hull
above submerged logs,
choppy waves, and other
obstacles.
The boats can travel up
to 38 mph under calm riv
er conditions or 33 mph
through waves up to 5%
feet. The boats cost approx
imately $1 million each.
As a new design, the Pe
nelope must undergo safety
inspections and testing by
the U.S. Coast Guard before
See PENELOPE, A6
VERNON FUESTON/
CHOWAN HERALD
Among those attending
a dockside ceremony
in Plymouth on Friday,
June 9, to celebrate the
arrival of Harbor Towns’
fast ferry the Penelope
were (l-r), State Rep. Ed
Goodwin, R-Chowan; Bunny
Sanders, former mayor of
Roper who had the idea
three decades ago for a
fast ferry system on the
Albemarle Sound; and
Harbor Towns CEO Nick
Didow.
Graduation Day
Hertford approves
budget that hikes
electric, sewer rates
REGGIE PONDER/THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
Members of Perquimans County High School’s Class of 2023 march into the school’s athletics stadium to the
strains of “Pomp and Circumstance" in Hertford Friday, June 9. One-hundred fifteen members of the PCHS Class
of 2023 received diplomas during the school’s commencement.
Minimum charge for residential
customers rising to $15
BY REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
HERTFORD — Hertford
Town Council adopted
a $7.6 million town bud
get for next year Monday
that increases electric and
sewer rates but keeps the
town’s property tax rate at
65 cents per $100 of prop
erty valuation.
Under the plan, the min
imum charge for electric
service
will in
crease
from 11.72
to $15 for
residential
custom
ers. Small
general
COLE service
users will
see their monthly cost rise
from $25.28 to $30, while
large general service users
will see their cost rise from
$105.21 to $150.
See HERTFORD, A6
Perquimans grads get fireworks send-off
115 turn tassels as grads
reflect on 4 years at PCHS
BY REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
HERTFORD — The
Perquimans County High
School Class of 2023 truly
had a blast at its graduation
ceremony Friday, June 9.
Not only did graduates re
ceive their diplomas, they
also were treated to a brief
fireworks show at the con
clusion of the event
The 115 graduates
seemed due some kind
of special consideration,
having endured a variety
of challenges including
the sudden shift to remote
learning at the beginning
of the COVID-19 pandemic
during their freshman year.
Graduates expressed
different points of view re
garding the impact that the
pandemic had on their time
in high school.
“It was pretty bad for me,”
said Benjamin Anderson.
“My grades went down.”
He said he was glad when
in-person classes resumed.
Summer Whitehurst said
students pulled together
and made the most of the re
mote-learning environment.
“I would say it wasn’t that
bad really,” Whitehurst said.
“Our class is really close
with each other. So we had
our teachers virtually and
we also had each other to
help each other out.”
Graduates said they have
a variety of things in mind
for their next steps. Ander
son, for instance, plans to
seek a job at the U.S. Coast
Guard base in Elizabeth
City-
Whitehurst will be study
cosmetology at College of
The Albemarle. She said she
also plans to earn a business
degree so she can operate
her own salon. She said
teachers at PCHS were kind
and helpful.
Aaliyah Poe plans to stud
zoology at the University
of North Carolina at Pem
broke.
See PERQUIMANS, A6
No tax, fee hikes
in Edenton budget
Town councilor, mayor
monthly salaries to increase
BY VERNON FUESTON
Staff Writer
EDENTON — The town
of Edenton’s proposed
budget for fiscal year 2023-
24 calls for no tax increase
despite a 2.6% rise in the
town’s general fund budget
to $8.4 million.
Ute town’s property tax
rate will remain at 43 cents
per $100 of property val
uation. Water and sewer
rates will also remain un
changed.
Town Manager Corey
Gooden said that main
taining the current tax rate
“was very challenging” in
the face of increases in the
price of materials, fuel, and
See EDENTON, A2
Sheriff: Man dies
in tractor accident
Thiel gives poetry reading in Edenton
Tractor rolled over in ditch
while mowing in Perquimans
From staff reports
HERTFORD — An Eden
ton man died last week in
6 " 89076 47144
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tractor accident reported in
Perquimans County.
Perquimans Sheriff
Shelby White said Friday,
June 9, that the driver of a
tractor died after the trac
tor he was using to mow a
field overturned in a ditch
on Thursday, June 8.
White said he did not
immediately have the
2 driver’s name.
A sheriff’s incident
report identified the
tractor’s driver as John
See TRACTOR, A6
UM prof is Peanut Factory’s
newest artist in residence
BY VERNON FUESTON
Staff Writer
EDENTON — About
three-dozen literary buffs
gathered Sunday at Eden
ton Bay Trading Company
for an evening of verse fea
turing Diane Thiel, the Pea
nut Factory’s newest artist
in residence.
Thiel is the independent
artists’ workshop’s 18th art
ist in residence.
Theil is the author of
11 books of poetry and
non-fiction, including her
latest, “Questions from
Outer Space,” a book that
just won the 2023 Indepen
dent Press Award in Poetry.
One poem from her
book, “Listening in Deep
Space,” describes Earth
and its people as seen by an
orbiting alien observer. It
won inclusion in the anthol
ogy “Best American Poetry
2023.”
Poetry critic David Ma
son said Thiel’s poetry
contains “the objectivity of
science mixed with human
concern for how we find
See THIEL, A6
VERNON FUESTON/
CHOWAN HERALD
Diane Thiel, the
Edenton-based
Peanut Factory’s
newest artist in
residence, gives
a poetry reading
at Edenton Bay
Trading Company,
Sunday. She is
the author of 11
books of poetry
and non-fiction
and the Regents’
Professor of
English at the
University of
New Mexico in
Albuquerque.
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