Winton News

Despite an 11th hour plea from Winton citizens, it appears the new Hertford County Courthouse will not be built within this historic town.

This is the third in a series of columns on poverty, inspired by a recent North Carolina NAACP-sponsored tour of high-poverty regions of our state.

At their regularly scheduled Monday night meeting, Winton's elected leaders endorsed a plan introduced earlier that same day by Hertford County Commissioner Johnnie Ray Farmer in regards to the pending construction of the new county courthouse.

The discussion over where to build a new county courthouse took yet another turn here Monday morning where the Hertford County Board of Commissioners agreed to study four possible sites.

The Hertford County Board of Commissioners will meet at 9 a.m. on Monday, Feb. 6, convening for the first time since the county was offered 25 acres of free land last week on which to build a new courthouse.

On Friday, the pendulum representing the issue of where to build the new Hertford County Courthouse swung back in Winton's favor as an offer for free land was made to county officials.

On the heels of the site selection of a new courthouse, the chatter heard now around Hertford County deals with the need for such a facility.

"It is a sad day in Hertford County when grown men act like children" is right on target.

A record was set last week as a R-C News-Herald poll posted on its online edition generated in excess of 500 responses.

I never dreamed the day would come when we would be talking about the Hertford County courthouse moving from Winton.