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Operation Overcharge:
Petition To Push Rate Gits
By Flynn Surratt
The signatures of some 79,000
citizens living in 22 Northeastern
North Carolina counties served by
Vepco will be sought on petitions
protesting area electric rates as
Operation Overcharge gets un
derway October 26.
Stanley Hege of Edenton,
executive committee member of
Operation Overcharge, reported
Monday that the petitions, calling
for a cut back in the wholesale and
retail rates, will be distributed
locally to most businesses,
financial institutions, industries,
and rural firms. In addition, the
Edenton Jaycees and Jaycettes on
November 4 and 11 will solicit
signatures downtown and at the
shopping colters.
Following a meeting Tuesday,
Public Purade
Public Service
The Town of Edenton has a'
policy which restricts the time a
person can serve continuously on a
committee, commission or
authority. It is designed to involve
more citizens in governmental
affairs.
In theory, the policy should
cause members to work harder
during their tenure if they are
interested in accomplishing
anything for their fellow man. If,
in fact, they don’t they should not
be given lifetime status.
While no person is indispensible
it is bound to harm a program
when the policy prohibits con
tinued service of key figures. This
is the case with A.C. Hudson and
the Edenton Housing Authtimy,
It was in October, 1967, that then
mayor John A. Mitchener, Jr.,
appointed the original five*«m
missioners to an authoritjrto
develop a low-rent public housing
Jack Habit was patapd
chairman. We served" as a mem
ber with. Mr. Hudson, George
Lewis and Glenn Mabe.
The commissioner selected this
writer to serve as executive
director, a post held until a year
ago. During that period we yere,in
position to watch the per
■ Dimance of many public ser
vants. Mr. Hudson as a com
missioner'and later as chairman
served with distinction.
In fact, he was the first of his
race to be chairman of a public
housing agency in all of North
Carolina.
Mr. Hudson was in the forefront
in the development of a project
designed in keeping with the rest
of Edenton and has been among
those who are determined it will
not become just another slum.
The course for public housing
along the Public Parade has been
set. The challenge of the future
lies in the past.
Melvin Elbert Bunch
Lt Col. Melvin Bunch’s tem
porary duty along the Public
Parade has ended. His final
orders were cut last Thursday at
Duke Medical Cener in Durham.
The Supreme Commander
called Mel Bunch to His own
services on just two weeks’ notice.
In 60 years, Mel Bunch lived a
Continued on Page 4
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Hege reported that the executive
committee has finalized [dans for
the presentation of the petitions
directly to Gov. James B. Hunt on
November 15.
The petition reads:
“We, the undersigned, served
either directly or indirectly by
Vepco, do appeal to the Governor
of the State of North Carolina and
other elected officials of the N.C.
Utilities Commission, the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission,
and all other regulatory bodies
concerned to take such steps as
are necessary to effect, for the
consuming public in Northeastern
North Carolina, electric rates
compatible with those paid by
consumers in other sections of the
State, beginning with a roll back of
retail and wholesale rate in
V
Volume XLIV-No. 43
■■PPI •
rMraKa
t- H-* B%b| •• -
RECOGNIZED FOR COMMUNITY SERVICE A.C. Hudson,
706 North Oakum Street, has been recognized by the Town
Council for his service to Edenton Housing Authority. He is
pictured here holding a copy of the resolution signed by Mayor
Roy L. Harrell. Hudson was appointed to the authority when it
was formed in October, 1967, and for the past five years served
as its chairman. He was not eligible for reappointment for a new
term. (See Public Parade.)
McArthur Outstanding Officer
State Trooper Michael J.
McArthur of Edenton was named
“Outstanding Officer of the Year”
at the Annual Appreciation
Banquet for Law Enforcement
AFP To Meet
A meeting of the full board of
Alliance for Progress has been
called by L.M. Brinkley, acting
chairman, for 6:30 P.M. Monday
at the new Gates County Com
munity Education Center.
Richard W. Baker, Jr., director,
said among the agenda items is
the election of a chairman and
vice chairman due to the
resignation of Frank Rice.
AFP is a six-county educational
consortium headquartered in
Powellaville.
creases recently approved by die
North Carolina Utilities Com
mission and file Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission.”
Gov. Hunt has ordered the
Public Staff of the Utilities
Commission to further study of the
high retail rates charged by
Vepco, with completion of the
investigation scheduled for the
end of November.
Currently, Vepco has approval
of a 17.8 per cent increase. They
originally requested a rate hike of
22 per cent.
Operation Overcharge is
chaired by Richard S. Coiner,
president of the Washington
Chamber of Commerce which
serves as clearinghouse for the
effort. There are 11 members on
the exectutive committee.
sponsored by Edward G. Bond
Post 40, American Legion, last
Thursday night.
Legion District Commander
E.C. Toppin made the presen
tation before a capacity crowd
attending the eighth annual
banquet.
Trooper McArthur has been
assigned to Chowan County since
graduating from N.C. Highway
Patrol Training School in 1974.
A native of Wilson and 1967
graduate of Wilson Fike High
School, McArthur attended N.C.
State University and in 1967 joined
the N.C. Wildlife Commission as an
enforcement division officer.
In Highway Patrol school the
Continued on Page 4
More Employed
The unemployment rate for
Chowan County dropped to 2.9 per
cent in August, from a 7.2 per cent
average for the year 1977. This
compares with a national average
of 6.4 per cent as of June 30.
Bouncing back from a long, hard
recession, the area has shown
much progress job-wise ac
cording to figures released by
Mrs. Alice W. Bond, manager of
the Edenton Employment
Security Commission Office.
The Edenton ESC Office serves
Chowan, Gates, Perquimans and
Tyrrell counties on a daily basis.
Activity in the {01? counties for
th 12-month period ending Sep
tember so, shows 3,491 persons
were registered tor work, 836
individuals counseled, 385 in
dividuals tested, 1,386 individuals
paced on jobs and 162 food stamp
and welfare recipients were
placed on jobs.
***PHKf' v . ff 'M f v .jm
PETITION CAMPAIGIV PLANNED Operation Overcharge, a petition campaign of 22 Nor
theastern North Carolina Counties aimed at rolling back high Vepco rates, will be initiated on Oc
tober 26. Shown above is the Chowan County committee coordinating the local effort. From the left
is Robert W. Moore, Warner Perry, Bill Smith, Stan Hege, George A. Byrum, Charles Creighton,-
Capt. A1 Howard, Carl White and W.E. Smith. Operation Overcharge is composed of representatives
throughout the region with the office of the Washington Chamber of Commerce serving as clear
inghouse. Stan Hege serves as local representative on the Executive Committee. The campaign was
spearheaded through the Edenton Chamber of Commerce which prompted other area counties to
become involved in protesting further rate hikes.
Edenton, North Carolina, Thursday, October 26,1978
Insurance Scheme Costly
By L.F. Am burn, Jr.
HERTFORD Plea bargaining
may have kept Mayor George R.
Rowsom, 67, out of jail here
Monday and at the same time it
recouped for Chowan and
Perquimans counties some of the
expense incurred in the lengthy
investigation of insurance fraud,
embezzlement and conspiracy
Little Theater
Patrons Sought
The Edenton Little Theater
Group is still holding their annual
patron drive. If you are interested
and haven’t received a letter,
-please fall, .Mrs
482-4954 or Mrs. Pat Weber at 482-
2287.
Patron memberships are $5
each or $lO per couple, and you
receive tickets for both per
formances of the season.
The first performance for the
group is November 16-17, when
they will [resent “You’re a Good
Man, Charlie Brown”. The play
has been cast with the following
performers: Mrs. Jean
McGraw, as Lucy; Mrs. Pat Weber
as Patty; Eric Byrum Eric
Byrum as Linus; Otis Strother as
Schroeder; Bruce Weber as
Charlie Brown; and Greg
Shackelford as Snoopy.
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AQUARIUM TO RE-OPEN Members of the Young Adult
Conservation Corps are pictured above completing masonry
work at the Edenton Fish Hatchery which is scheduled to re-open
itsaquariumintbenearfuture. The youth workers built sunscreens
for the aquarium and rest room entrances as well as painted the
aquarium interior.
Visitor Aquarium To Re-Open
After being closed to the public
for five years, the Department of
the Interim*, U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, will reopen the aquarium
at the Edenton National Fish
Hatchery.
Much of the renovation and
remodeling of the aquarium area
has been done by Young Adult
Conservation Corps enrollees
(YACC). Some of their work in
volved the masonary work on the
new concrete sunscreens around
the Aquarium and public
bathroom entrances, and painting
charges.
Bargaining between Dist. Atty.
Thomas Watts of Elizabeth City
and defense attorneys also put
Rowsom and an employee,
ClarenceL. (Barney) Badham, 56,
of Edenton, out of the insurance
business.
In total, Rowsom coughed up
some SB,OOO in fines, court costs
and restitution as well as his
inusrance license and the right to
be able to participate in mutual
burial associations.
He paid a fine of SI,OOO in
Perquimans County, plus court
costs and restitution of $1,033 to
victims of the alleged scheme. In
cases brought from Chowan
County and in which pleas were
plus court costs and restitution
totaling $1,569.
Rowsom is not to engage in any
insurance business for five years
and is not to associate with
Badham and a third defendant,
Joe Dixon, for a like period of
time.
Badham entered a plea of guilty
to four felony counts growing out
of action in the two counties. He
was sentenced to from seven to 10
years by Judge Thomas W. Seay of
Spencer.
Also, Badham entered a plea of
guilty to an insurance law
violation and was given two years
Continued on Page 4
the Aquaria.
The Young Adult Conservation.
Corps, established by Public Law
95-93, is a program to provide
year-round jobs for unemployed
and out-of-school young men and
women, ages 16-23, in con
versation work oa national forests,
national parks, fish hatcheries,
wildlife refuges, and other public
lands. The program is ad
ministered jointly by the
Departments of Labor,
Agriculture and the Interior
Continued on Page 4
Single Copies 15 Cents.
i
gfrrh
Dr. Richard Hardin
Hardin To Head
Society Directors
RALEIGH - Phillip J. Kirk,
Jr., former Secretary of the
Department of Human Resources
and currently assistant to Rep.
James T. Broyhill in Washington,
D. was elected president of the
N.C. Division, American Cancer
Society, at their annual meeting at
the Sheraton-Crabtree Motor Inn
Kirk suceeds Dr. William E.
Easterling, Jr., associate dean of
the University of North Carolina
School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, in
this position.
Dr. Richard Hardin, of Edenton,
first vice president, was elected
chairman of the Board of Direc
tors.
Other division officers elected
were First Vice President, Sen.
George M. Wood, of Camden;
Second Vice President, Dr. James
E. Davis, of Durham; Third Vice
President, W.C. Calton of Raleigh;
Secretary, Dr. Richard W. Martin
of Salisbury; Treasurer, J.T.
Lindley, of Raleigh; and Assistant
Secretary and Treasurer, H. John
Thatcher, Jr., Raleigh
Jobs Created
Perdue, rapidly becoming a
familiar name in Northeastern
North Carolina, plans to add a
second shift to its broiler
processing plant in Lewiston. The
decision by the Salisbury, Md.,
firm will add 250 employees by
March and push capacity to
900,000 birds a week.
Frank Perdue, president of
Perdue Farms, Inc., made the
announcement at the company’s
21st festival held Saturday at
Chowan College.
Edgar Ray and Joann White of
Edenton were presented the top
award for being the best overall
producers.
The festival was an activity the
company sponsors each year to
bring together the growers and to
present awards to outstanding
produce’s.
Perdue has 24 per cent of the
retail chicken business in New
York, 20 per cent in Baltimore,
and 17 per cent in Philadelphia.
The president reported that
although “money is short,” there
were 50 to 60 new chicken houses
scheduled for construction iir the
immediate future.