g w *
The Other Side
The Coastal Resources Com
mission has developed stringent
guidelines and regulations for
major energy industries. First
Colony Farms’ peat manufac
turing process in Northeastern
North Carolina falls in CRC’s
definition of major energy
operations.
However, the regulations, which
have the same effect of law since
they must be met in order to ob
tain a state permit for con
struction, were the result of plans
for a S3OO-million oil refinery in
Brunswick County. Within the last
year representatives of the con
sortium making up Brunswick
Energy, Corp. have appeared at a
CRC meeting to discuss
preliminary plans.
Refinery officials have
repeatedly said they intend to
meet all environmental
regulations. “The refinery will be
environmentally sound,” one was
quoted as saying. The company
even flew some CRC members
along with representatives of the
Coastal Resources Advisory
Council and Brunswick County
leaders to the State of Washington
to see a refinery in operation.
At this week’s meeting of CRC
and CRAC, Walter Davis of
Elizabeth City and Midland, Tex.,
presented the other side. Mr.
Davis has made millions of dollars
in the oil business ; he speaks with
authority and readily admits that
he might have a conflict of interest
in the matter.
Mr. Davis served for two years
'' on the CRC. He was an original
appointee by Gov. James
Holshouser in 1974. Although he
spends more than 60 per cent of his
time outside North Carolina he
was an active member.
The oilman has financed a 30-
minute documentary on the
danger oil spills cause to the en
vironment. In remarks prior to a
showing of the film Tuesday, Mr.
Davis declared that North
Carolina cannot afford the “en
vironmental risk” of a major oil
refinery. He said he came to this
decision after much thought. He
supports people who like their
environment like it was and
furthermore, he is interested in
more and better jobs.
Mr. Davis said all of the 60
major oil spills are the result of
human error. “We can develop a
fool proof machine but we can’t
avoid hiring fools to operate
them,” he said.
Because existing refineries are
now working at only 80 per cent
capacity, he added, there is no
need for another costly refinery in
this country.
Gov. James B. Hunt, Jr., is
among those in state government
who supports location of the
refinery in Tar Heelia. However,
he says it must be able to meet all
environmental regulations.
The refinery may be “en
vironmentally sound” but there is
bound to be an “environmental
risk”. The question remains: How
much risk is the state able to take?
CRAC now has heard the other
side. And it didn’t make their
awesome responsibility any
easier.
Too Costly
We read in our favorite daily
newspaper of general circulation
along the Public Parade where the
Isle of Pasquotank is on the verge
of getting, a group home for
mentally retarded adults. On the
surface, the project appears to be
too costly.
The group home, built with a
$135,000 HUD grant and furnished
with another $30,000 in public
money, is designed to house five
adults and the cottage family. The
first operating budget is $44,184.
This is the second time Charles
Franklin, Albemarle Mental
Health Center program director,
has attempted to cash in on dollars
from outside Northeastern North
Carolina. A few years ago he had
costly (dans and. specifications
developed for a new Mental Health
Center which included some ac
comodations for patients. Those
plans now merely gather dust. Mr.
Franklin failed to come up with
adequate matching funds at the
Continued on Page 4
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Xnni V MV
ARRIVES IN EDENTON Gov. James B. Hunt, Jr., center, is
shown as he entered the old Chowan County Courthouse for a
speech Wednesday of last week. With him are, from left: James
C. (Pete) Dail, Sheriff Troy Toppin, and W. B. Gardner.
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HEARS ABOUT CONDITION OF RIVER Murray Nixon, left, explains to Gov. James B. Hunt,
Jr., the bad condition of the Chowan River. Shown with them at a stop last week at W. E. Smith’s
Store in Rocky Hock are: J. Gilliam Wood, center and Smith.
Copeland Found Not Guilty
Carlton Eugene Copeland,
shaken but relieved, walked out of
Chowan County Superior Court,
last Friday, a free man, found not
guilty of second degree murder in
the shotgun slaying of Sammy
Lucien Langley, a Perquimans
County man.
A 12-man jury deliberated about
45 minutes before returning the
not guilty verdict. Applause
erupted from among Copeland’s
relatives, friends and character
witnesses when W. E. Goodwin,
Sr., jury foreman, read the verdict
before Judge Herbert S. Small.
The jury’s finding ended two
days of testimony during which
Copeland admitted shooting
Herring Run
Slated May 3
The Second Annual Herring
Run, a fund raising event of the
American Heart Association, will
be held May 3 in Edenton. Co
chairmen Jay Woglom and Hobart
Truesdell hope this .year’s par
ticipation will top the 84 registered
last year; Persons 12 years of age
and older are eligible to par
ticipate.
Two mini-marathons, one 6.2
miles and the other, three miles,
will be held as well as a one mile
Fun Run. Action will begin at 10:30
A.M. on the town green with the
races winding through Hayes
Plantation and wrapping up back
at the green.
Participants already registered
are asked to be at the green at 10
A.M. Registration for latecomers
will begin at 9:30.
Registration will be $5 for the
6.2-mile event, $2 for the three
mile event and $1 for the Fun Run.
Herring Run t-shirts will be given
to the first 100 registrants.
Held in conjunction with
National Run For Your .Life Day,
the Herring Rip is sponsored by
Bank of North Carolina, Peoples
Bank, Tarheel Bank and Trust Co.
and Chowan Hospital, Inc. The
Coca-Cola Bottling Comj&ny of
Elizabeth City will provide
refreshments.
A registration form is included
on Page 6-A of today’s Chowan
Herald.
Langley in self-defense on Happy
Home Church Road between
Center Hill and Ryalnd. He stated
that Langley, who was married to
his ex-wife, had threatened to kill
him.
Outside the courtroom Friday
afternoon, Copeland paused
briefly to say, “I had begun to
doubt the truth would pay off. The
only thing I can say is it does.”
W. T. Culpepper, 111, defense
attorney said simply, “The jury
system works.” He added, “It
didn’t take long, about 45 minutes.
They found a proper verdict;
that’s all there is to it.”
The jury had been charged by
Judge Small with returning one of
three verdicts: guilty of second
degree nurder, guilty of voluntary
manslaughter, or not guilty. In
order to get a conviction on second
degree murder the state had to
prove the element of malice.
In his summation, Culpepper
contended that if there was
malice, it was on the part of
Langley, who after beating
Copeland up, had chased him
down and threatened his life. He
cited court rulings upholding a
person’s right to self defense when
reasonably certain that inaction
will result in serious bodily injury
or death.
The state argued it had
produced evidence to back the
contention that Copeland acted
maliciously, and without cause,
had fired the weapon at an
unarmed man.
Because Copeland entered a not
guilty plea, it was up to the state to
prove that he had acted for
reasons other than self-defense.
Copeland, a 43-year old Chowan
native now residing in
Chesapeake, Va. and employed by
Vepco, testified that since his
separation and divorce from his
wife, Sylvia, nine years before, he
had frequently visited the county
to hunt, but had never seen his
former wife, or was even
acquainted with Sammy Langley.
On the day of the shooting, a
Wednesday, Copeland had come to
Chowan County to hunt deer and
allow his three month old “lard
puppy” to romp around.
He testified that shortly after
arriving here, he ran into Lester
Ray Copeland, a Tyner farmer,
who showed him a field they
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Vol. XLVI-No. 16
Gov. Hunt Outlines Strategy
Gov. James B. Hunt, Jr., was
given a cordial welcome last
Wednesday afternoon at W. E.
Smith’s Store in Rocky Hock. He
was nearly an hour late for the
second of three stops in Chowan
County during a whistle stop
campaign tour through Nor
theastern North Carolina.
It didn’t take long for an out
spoken fisherman like Murray
Nixon to put the formality aside
and get to the real issue-the lack
leased on Happy Home Church
Road as a possible place to hunt.
They visited the site about 10
minutes before going their
separate ways for lunch.
The defendant said he arrived at
Teenie Boy Perry’s Store on N. C.
32 shortly after noon, where he
spoke to H. Ivey Ward and Perry’s
wife. He said he noticed Teenie
Boy outside talking to a man in a
blue two-toned pick-up truck.
They did not speak, but later
Perry testified that Langley, the
man in the truck had said, “That
man has caused me a lot of
trouble. I’m going to get him.”
Perry said Langley had been
drinking.
About 15 minutes later,
Copeland said he left the store,
heading north on the highway to
see about a Volkswagen that Ward
had mentioned was for sale by
Wayne Goodwin. Passing the
place, Copeland didn’t see the
Continued On Page 4
Long Stumps For Insurance Commission
Jim Long, a Democratic can
didate for Insurance Com
missioner, visited Edenton last
Friday morning, talking to
citizens on the street and telling
them he wants to return
professionalism, stability and
credibility to the commissioner’s
office.
Long, who served two years as
Chief Deputy Commissioner under
John Ingram, said Ingram’s
ineffectiveness as commissioner
stems from his inability to win
court cases.
“He fired his chief actuary,”
Long commented, “and without
his technical evidence, the courts
don’t have anything to base their
decision on.”
Long went on to say he thought
the Rate Bureau has outlived itself
and that decontrol of insurance
rates would, in the long run, help
out the consumer.
“If we allow open competition in
the insurance industry, it’ll give
people the chance to shop around
and find the best rates,” he said.
Long predicted that decontrol of
rates would result, initially, in
some increase followed by a
stabilizing period and ending with
a gradual decline.
Edenton, North Corolino, Thursdoy. April 17, 1980
of fish in the algae-plagued
Chowan River.
Nixon was quick to get to the
scenario and gave the “marble in
the bowl” reasoning of Dr. Gus
Witherspoon, a N. C. State
University scientist who is con
sidered a foremost authority on
the river problems.
“All we know is that we didn’t
have any problems until that
fertilizer plan started,” Nixon
said. “That was the marble which
caused the bowl to overflow.”
Gov. Hunt also talked tough. “If
we took that marble out would the
problem correct itself?” he asked.
And then he added, “If I can get
the information to back me up in
court I’ll see that all the damn
marbles are removed.”
The governor, campaigning for
re-election, was tardy because he
had chosen to go out in the river at
the Chowan bridge on U.S. 17 to
gather a sample of the water. Dr.
Bob Holman, the state’s scientist in
residence, explained the samples.
Earlier the governor had spoken
to an attentive audience at the old
Chowan County Courthouse. There
Lecture Tickets Are Available
For the first time, persons
wishing to attend the Edenton
Symposium on History, Ar
chitecture and Furnishings will
have the opportunity to purchase
tickets to individual lectures for $5
each or block tickets to any three
lectures for $12.50.
Mrs. Anne Schenck, director of
the Northeastern Historic Places
Office explained that it is an effort
to give interested persons who are
unable to attend the entire sym
posium a chance to hear
presentations on topics of in
dividual interest.
The registration fee for the full
symposium, including meals,
tours and lectures is S6O.
The symposium begins today
(Thursday) at 9 A.M. with
registration at the Municipal
Building on South Broad Street. At
10 o’clock, Catherine Bishir, ar
chitectural historian with the
Division of Archives and History,
will examine and interpret the
town’s architecture as it evolved
during the 1800’s. Her presentation
will include slides of many of the
significant buildings and a
walking tour of the Historic
District.
During a luncheon at St. Anne’s
Catholic Church, nineteenth
century glassware will be the topic
of discussion by Nancy Merrill
from the Chrysler Museum. She
will discuss the types and uses of
all kinds of glass and stem ware
popular in the Victorian period.
Tom Funk, chief archaeologist
of the Historic Sites Section,
Department of Archives and
“The office of Insurance
Commissioner is a full time job,”
he remarked,'“and should not be
used as a political stepping stone.”
His statement referred to Com
missioner Ingram’s absences due
to campaigning for U. S. Senate.
Long, who is a Graham at
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CAMPAIGNS IN EDENTON Jim Long, a Democratic
candidate for Insurance Commissioner, left, pauses on Broad
Street to chat with Raymond A. Tarkington, an Edenton mer
chant and county magistrate. Long spent time in Edenton Friday
morning talking to local citizens and sounding out their views.
Single Copies 20 Cents
he outlined steps his ad
ministration was taking to clear
up the river.
There were some kind words at
the rural store. J. Gilliam Wood,
long a strong Hunt supporter,
calmed the waters somewhat
when he said Gov. Hunt is
basically an honest man. “Our
best bet of continued progress out
here lies in Jim Hunt,” he said.
At the courthouse, Gov. Hunt
said the algae problem is his top
environmental priority. He called
what has happened to the river “a
sin and a tragedy.” He went on to
say: “I get mad when I see what
has happened to it, and I plan to go
out there today and see it again.”
And he added: “We’re not going
to give up until that river flows
clean and clear again.”
At his request, the State
Department of Natural Resources
& Community Development has
been given “every penny”
requested for the Chowan River
Restoration Project.
Gov. Hunt revealed that he has
personally contacted Gov. John
Continued on Page 4
History, at 2 P.M. will talk about
discoveries made at various digs
in the area. His presentation will
be entitled “Archaeological Ex
cavations in Edenton: Overview of
the Nineteenth Century”.
The schedule for Friday,
starting at 9 A.M., includes “Style
in the Nineteenth Century” by
Sumpter Priddy, associate
curator of Colonial Williamsburg,
Va. He will discuss taste in the
1800’s-why our ancestors chose the
colors, fashions, designs, fur
nishings, and decorative arts that
Continued On Page 4
Convention Set
By Democrats
L. F. Amburn, Jr., publisher of
the Chowan Herald, will be
keynote speaker at the Chowan
County Democratic Convention,
Saturday. It will begin at 12 noon
in the new county courthouse on
Broad Street.
Democrats will elect a slate of
delegates to district and state
conventions and will act on
reports from the Resolutions
Committee.
Two members each will be
elected to four executive com
mittees including the district
congressional and judicial com
mittees as well as the state
Senatorial and House of
Representatives district com
mittees.
Reports on the federal census
and local party registration efforts
will be heard at the meeting.
torney, was elected in 1970 to the
N. C. House of Representatives,
representing Alamance County in
the 1971 session of the General
Assembly. He served in 1973 and
1975 as a representative from
Alamance and Rockingham
Continued on Page 4