THE CHOWAN HERALD
Volume XXXIV— No. 25.
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AIRPORT OFFICIALS Rhea Adams Os Edenton, left, and Herman R. Meads of
Weeksville, are pictured at Edenton Municipal Airport as they discuss operation of the
facUity. Adams and Meads head Albemarle Aviation, Ine., which has just leased the air
port from Edenton-Chowan Airport Commission. A fixed base operation is expected to
be opened by July 1.
Aviation Firm
Leases Airport
Albemarle Aviation, Inc., has signed
an agreement with Edenton-Chowan Air
port Commission for a fixed base opera
tion of Edenton Municipal Airport.
Dr. Richard Hardin, airport commis
sion chairman, said the lease was signed
last week and if is hoped that the new
facilities will be in operation by July 1.
Work is currently being done on a
portion of the old tower building to pro
vide offices and a pilot’s lounge.
Rhea Adams of Edenton and Herman
R. Meads of Weeksville have formed
Albemarle Aviation, Inc., and will oper
ate the airport.
Hunter Morris of Elizabeth City has
been employed as airport attendant and
wil soon move on the premises.
While the airport will normally be
open from 8 A. M., to 5:30 P. M., it is
pointed out that Morris will be avail
able on a 24-hour schedule if he is
needed.
The airport will have gas and oil and
wil soon be able to do aircraft mainten
ance. They will have instruction and
charter service by qualified personnel.
Two and four-place planes will be
available for charter service. Sight-see
ing will also be offered as well as hangar
service.
Crop dusting, spraying and seeding
Continued on fa ft 4
Car Rams House
James Edward Jackson, Jr., 24, Route
2, Edenton, escaped injury Saturday
night when the car he was driving ran
into a house on Old Hertford Road.
State Trooper R. H. Allen, investi
gating officer, estimated damage to the
house at SI,OOO.
Trooper Allen said Jackson was driv
ing a 1959 Ford when the car came out
of a rural unpaved road, crossed Old
Hertford Road, and struck the front of
the house. The motorist was charged
with reckless driving.
Troops Find National Guard Summer Training Very Realistic
(Editor's Note: Local National Guardsmen
returned home Sunday night after comple
tion of their annual summer training at
Ft Bragg).
FT. BRAGG —Specialist Fourth Class
Ralph Nixon of Edenton landed knee
deep in a creek, but that didn’t bother
him. His “friendly” forces had the ag
gressors on the run.
Nixon, his shirt soaked wiht sweat,
took a tighter grip on the 30 caliber
machinegun and waded through the wa
ter, yelling to his buddy, Pfc. L. A.
Spruill of Creswell, “bring- the ammo.
We got ’em going.”
The aggressors had held a strategic
hill, but retreated when they saw the
CLhc public |Jararlo
A Real Bargain
The value of municipally owned elec
tric systems is graphically illustrated
again in the 1967-68 budget for the Town
of Edenton.
The town will take more than $105,000
from utilities profits in order to main
tain e-jentia! services on a $1 tax rate.
This is some $3,000 more than will be
realized from property tax.
Edenton’s story is not unique. There
are 73 so-called Electric Towns in North
Carolina and at budget making time
they dip into the utilities profits to keep
taxes down.
However, the average citizen in these
towns—including those who meander
along The Public Parade —takes all this
for granted. We are more prone to criti
cize “high rates” than be grateful for
what we have.
In the past, Edenton has been able
to enjoy an abundance of services and
progress on a reasonable tax rate be
cause the profits from the sale of utili
ties was always there to take up the
slack. This community is rapidly out
growing existing facilities and as new de
mands are made it will necessitate long
range planning and long range financing.
The people should be conditioned to
meet the challenges of tomorrow. They
have certainly benefitted from the profits
of the past.
More In Balance
Two things have happened here in
the past few days which will tend to
make this a better rounded community.
Edenton-Chowan Airport Commission
has been successful in getting a fixed
base operator for Edenton Municipal
Airport. Albemarle Aviation, Inc., will
offer complete airport services and with
increased interest in aviation as well as
more and more people flying into this
area, reactivation of the airport will
mean much to the entire community.
Just down the road, Chowan Golf &
Country Club has added a handsome,
CanttuMd on Pag* 4
friendly forces, with superior firepower,
approach. Nixon, Spruill and other
members of Charlie Company, 4th Bat
talion, 119th Infantry of Elizabeth City
made a complete route of the “enemy.”
The aggressors moved back about a
mile and prepared to defend their posi
tion on the edge of a woods, but the
friendly forces’ six tanks followed by
squads of men sent them scurrying into
the woods.
After chasing the aggressors to near
their base camp, Charlie Company set
up a holding action.
The action had the appearance of a
real war, except the weapons were fir
ing blanks and the men really weren’t
Edenton, Chowan County, North Carolina 29732 Thursday, June 22, 1967.
Unemployment Low In Area
Unemployment in the Chowan area
Is at a record low and wages paid work
ers covered by unemployment insurance
reached $1,774,000 in the fourth quarter
of 1966.
R. E. Cheek, manager of the Edenton
Office, Employment Security Commis
sion, said in May unemployment reach
ed 2.6 per cent. This was in Chowan,
Gates, Tyrrell and Perquimans counties
—the area served by the local office.
Cheek also reported that last month
his office processed 139 new applications
and 105 persons were placed in non
Town Budget Approved
A budget of $868,230.06 for fiscal
1967-68 has been adopted for the Town
of Edenton and the tax rate will stay
at $1 per SIOO valuation. The new bud
get is $48,441 less than the current one.
Town Administrator W. B. Gardner
explained that such items as the new Fire
Station and a computer for the Munici
pal Building were in the 1966-67 budget
and have now been paid for.
The town anticipates revenues during
the fiscal year of $923,525.03 which will
provide a budget surplus of $55,294.97.
General fund expenses are estimated
at $327,325.03 while the Electric and
Water Department expenses are set at
$540,905.03.
With an assessed valuation of $10.5-
million, the town will derive $102,000
from ad valorem taxes. Profits from
the E&W Department will put $105,-
405.13 into the treasury.
The town will also receive $20,000
from Chowan County as the first in
stallment on a loan to finance extension
of water and sewer to an industrial site
outside the town limits.
Area Planning
Future Uncertain
Albemarle Area Planning Commis
sion’s future will be discussed tonight
(Thursday) at a meeting scheduled for
Lake Mattamuskeet Lodge.
Edenton’s Mayor John A. Mitchener,
Jr., chairman, will preside.
For Mayor Mitchener it will probably
be his last meeting as Chowan County
Board of Commissioners recently voted
not to continue to participate in the 10-
County planning group.
W. E. Bond, Chowan board chairman,
said Tuesday he had information that
only three counties have agreed to go
along with the new studies proposed by
the commission. It would cost Chowan
$1,545 over the next two years to sup
port the new program.
The AAPC is unique in that it in
volves such a vast area and has been
chosen as an example for a three-state
planning study group now being or
ganized.
Fish Fry Friday
A membership meeting of Chowan
Wildlife Club will be held at 7:30 P. M.,
Friday at Rocky Hock Community
Building. There will be a fish fry.
The purpose of this meeting is to re
activate the club which has not been
active for several years.
Everyone interested in the wildlife
program is encouraged to attend Friday’s
meeting.
mad at each other.
Nixon, checking his machinegun and
ammo supply during the pause, talked
about the mock war, called “Operation
Chigger,” in which his battalion and five
others participated.
Nixon said he was getting good trail
ing and really liked playing war. One
of the things he didn’t like was waiting
for a counterattack or another offensive
move.
“We want to go,” he said. Spruill
agreed. Both kept a close eye open for
aggressor activity.
Another man keeping a sharp watch on
the war games was Grig. Gen. Dan K.
Edwards of Durham, assistant com
agricultural jobs. There are 471 appli
cations in the active file at Cheek’s of
fice and 337 of these are from women.
Wages paid in the fourth quarter were
up more than $200,000 from the third
quarter, according to figures released
by Cheek. Average employment in the
87 reporting units was 1,800 and the
average weekly wage was $75.81. This
was up from 1,680 employees in 89
units who paid $1,569,000 with the aver
age being $71.84 in the third quarter.
Manufacturing payrolls for the fourth
quarter exceeded sl-million in the fourth
Gardner said the budget reflects a
5 to 10 per cent salary increase for town
employees. Also, employees will have
increased hospitalization benefits. No
action was taken on a retirement plan
for municipal employees.
This year, too, the town will finish
paying for a street sweeper, fire truck,
parking meters, police communications
and a planning grant. The town plans
to purchase a new panel truck for the
Fire Department.
There will also be newly designed
town license tags.
The new budget includes $15,000 for
off-street parking and $5,000 for side
walk paving.
The board will consider in January,
1968, at budget review time, purchase
of an additional packer truck for the
street department. This would allow the
department to discontinue collecting gar
bage in open trucks. It would also bring
about containerized pick-up for commer
cial establishments.
In addition to the E&W Department,
department budgets are:
Administrative —$30,510.00.
P01ice—571,997.03.
Street—sllß,2ss.oo.
Fire—s4l,o47.oo.
0ther—565,516.00.
Mitchener To Head Study Group
An Edentonian has been selected to
serve as leader of a group going to Swit
zerland this summer under sponsorship
of The Experiment in International Liv
ing.
John A. Mitchener, 111, who recently
received an advance degree at Yale Uni
versity Divinity School, will be a leader
in the program which involves 200 per
sons from ages 16 to 30 who are going
abroad to gain firsthand knowledge of
another country’s customs and culture
S■•• ™ i z' Wm
John A. Mitchener, 111
mander of the N. C. National Guard’s
30th Infantry Division and director of
“Exercise Chigger”.
Reviewing the 246-hour maneuver,
covering a two-week period, Edwards
said:
“This division is at a fairly high state
of combat readiness.”
The 30th Division trained at the bat
talion level while, Edwards said, “a lot
of Guard divisions are at the platoon and
company levels.”
Battalion level training, he said, “is
a good attitude to be in. If we can
hang on to the battalion training level,
and should this division ever be mobi
lized, all we would have to do is brigade
quarter with 938 employees reported get
ting an average check of $82.50 per
week.
Cheek said wages paid in the final
quarter of 1966 were up 7.1 per cent
from the previous quarter.
Manufacturing payrolls in Chowan
County have more than doubled in the
past six years. Total wages paid by
manufacturing firms for 1966 reached
$3,664,000. In 1960 the wages paid
were $1,728,636 with the average weekly
wage being $50.82. The increase in
wages was nearly $600,000 more than
in 1965.
Hospital Surgeon
Is Being Sought
Chowan Hospital officials are current
ly conducting interviews for a replace
ment for Dr. L. Polk Williams, Jr., local
surgeon who recently resigned to move
to Elizabeth City.
Dr. Edward G. Bond, president of the
Medical Staff, recently told the Execu
tive Committee of the Board of Trus
tees, that one interview had already been
conducted and another was scheduled
for Wednesday.
In the meantime, emergency and oth
er surgery will be done by Dr. A. M.
Stanton, who has been performing in
this capacity for a number of years.
Too, Dr. Arthur B. Bradsher, surgeon
at Bertie County Memorial Hospital in
Windsor has been appointed to the staff
to perform surgery. He will make daily
rounds and have regular operating hours,
as well as do any emergency surgery that
may arise. Dr. Bradsher has been in
Windsor for more than two years.
W. P. Jones, hospital administrator,
reported that the hospital census for the
month of May averaged 20 patients per
day. The extended care facility is full
to its capacity of 18 patients and has
been for several months. Jones said
there has been a waiting list for some
Continued on Fag* 4
at the person-to-person level.
He is the son of Mayor and Mrs.
John A. Mitchener, Jr., of Edenton.
Mitchener was selected on the basis
of leadership ability, familiarity with
the country and an active interest in
fostering international understanding, the
EIL office said.
During the first month of the two
month program, Mitchener will live as a
member of a host family. He will then
spend a month traveling about the coun
try with host family members as his
guests, or in special work or field study
proects.
After returning from Europe, Mitch
ener will begin graduate work in politi
cal science at Syracuse University.
A graduate of John A. Holmes High
School, he received his degree in pharm
acy at the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill.
He spent 1965-66 at Michigan State
University as an intern in the campus
ministry and developed an interest in
college teaching. While at Yale he spent
the summer of 1965 traveling in North
Africa and the Middle East. There he
studied economic development, the Pale
stine conflict and Muslim-Christian dia
logue.
Mitchener leaves for the Experiment
in International Living program July 3
from Connecticut and arrives in Brussels
the next day. He will return to the U. S.
from Le Havre on August 30, returning
to New York on September 8.
training. Then we’d be ready for com
bat.”
The umpires, many of whom walked
as much as 75 miles during the two
week exercise, graded the units and im
posed particular situations into the prob
lem to beef up training. They also
served to calm the men when they be
come a little too enthusiastic.
Despite a few rough spots, Gen. Ed
wards complimented the battalions for
“very excellent work.” He termed it a
“tough exercise, physically speaking.”
The six battalions spent 30 consecu
tive hours each participating in “Chig
ger,” which was designed to give the
companies practice for their Army Train
ing Tests.
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