' NUMBER ONE It is disturbing when people ques tion if the United StttM is slipping in vital areas, as the editors of a na tional news magazine did recently in an article headlined, “Is The U.S. Really No. 2?” While that question dealt with U.S. military strength as compared to the Soviet Union, other critics suggest that our political and legal systems are unworlnble, that our corporations habitually place pro fits ahead of people, that only the rich can afford health care, that our industries are outmoded - with non existent quality control reflected in a continuously declining U.S. productivity. It is time to call a halt to this fbolish denial of American greatness. Dislike the phone company? Try it in China. Unhappy with mail ser vice? Consider Uruguay where tons of undelivered mail have been routinely burned. Try naming the Country with a better judicial system (Iran? Poland? South Africa?). Concerned about money yalue and national financial stabili ty? Look across our borders in either direction...or to 100 per cent inflation in Brazil, higher in Argentina. We are not saying we should be happy to live with American infla tion, unemployment or other pro blems. What we are saying is that our political system has produced a national stability second to none. If you dislike two-party politics, consider Italy with more than two dozen parties and almost a monthly change in administrations. Com pare U.S. health care services and opportunities with the socialized programs of Great Britian and Sweden. One good American super market contains more food and consumer goods than the total found in many foreign capital cities - and at a fraction of the {nice. Unfortunately, there is just enough truth in most .negative statement abouttbe UmfcedStates $ represent whole truths, rather than a glimpse of truth surrounded by a very complex issue or abstract problem. Perhaps a letter-to-the-editor by a Soviet immigrant provides the perspective we need. He wrote: “If Americans knew what it is like to search for a piece of meat and never find it; how it is not to be able to buy a refrigerator unless you stay on a waiting list for ten years; what it is like, by man datory registration, to be commit ted forever to living in one place; how easily people are put in jail for complaining about it; what it is like to live in constant fear and to strag gle for survival every day in a coun try where courts are designed to protect the government and justice is formulated in one simple concept of guilty unless you can prove otherwise . .. “If they knew all this . . . they would whisper, as I do: ‘God bless this land and its people’.” We ARE number one. Never forget it, NOTED AND PASSED Where did you pick up the talent and inclination to open your own business? r Two Purdue University pro fessors asked that question of near ly 2,000 entrepreneurs who manage their own companies. The predomi nant answer was: working at other small companies in the same line. If you are a typical owner manager, the professors found, you are under 40, educated, still live near where you always did and have parents who started their own businesses too. Sellers Named To Local Commission Gov. Jim Hunt has named Franklin O. Sellers of Edenton to the Historical Commission. He will serve at the pleasure of the Governor. Sellers is operations manager of the Avoca Division of RJR Technical Go. He is chairman of the lltS Edanten Peanut Festival and president e# the Chowan Junior CiMlMed On Page 4 Ml" n «,V 'j*. Frank E. Cox Major Promotions Announced By Officials Os Peoples Bank & Trust A major promotion and new assignment of key personnel at Peoples Bank & Trust Company in Edenton has been announced from officials at the Rocky Mount headquarters. S. Brace Gillikin has recently been promoted to senior vice presi dent in the bank’s Edenton offices. As city executive in Edenton, he is accountable for directing efficient operations and profitable growth in those branches, it was stated. Frank E. Cox, assistant vice president with Peoples Bank and Trust Company has assumed new responsibilities in the Commercial Loan Department of the bank’s Edenton office. An Edenton native, he is a graduate of John A. Holmes High School and attended Elizabeth Ci ty State University. He has com pleted several AIB courses and graduated from the North Carolina School of Banking at University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill. He recently completed a Management Development course. Cox has been associated with Peoples Bank since 1973, having worked in the Consumer Credit Departments of the Edenton, Scotland Neck and, most recently, the Elizabeth City branch. A community and dvic-mined in dividual, he served as President of the Elizabeth City Downtown Business Association, Residential Chairman of the Pasquotank Coun ty Cancer Society and volunteer Chowan County District Court Session The Criminal Calendar of Chowan County District Court was heard on March 15 by the Honorable J. Richard Parker. W. W. Kilgore received a volun tary dismissal on the charge of false pretense. Ronald Alfonza Armstead receiv ed a prayer for judgement con tinued for having improper lights. He had to pay cost of court. Leo William Hermans was found guilty of failure to report an acci dent. He was sentenced to 60 days with one year suspended, fined SSO and cost of court. Timothy Cornelious Hughes was found guilty of shoplifting. He was sentenced to 60 days with one year suspended, fined SSO, had to pay $35 cost of court and is not to go upon Food Lion. Darrell Alexander Gibbs was 111 TREE CITY AWARD PRESENTED—On Tuesday, March Bth, the Town of Edenton was presented the Tree City Award at Town Coun cil’s regularly scheduled meeting. Pictured above is North Carolina State University Forester, Herman Terry (right) presenting the award and Chuck Sopher (left), Chairman of th4 Tree Committee. The Tree Committee would like to remind residents that Friday is National Arbor Day and the Town will plant a live oak tree across from the Barker house to celebrate. -iH ' - W M S. Bruce Gillikin with Pasquotank County United Way. He is currently serving as a Director of the Elizabeth City Boys Club and a member of the Adopt-A- School Program, and Edenton Bap tist Church. He is married to the former Toni Smith of Edenton, North Carolina and they have two daughters, Tara, age 11, and Bonnie, age 8. A Bettie native, Gillikin is a 1972 graduate of UNC- Chapel Hill. He holds a B.S. Degree in Business. In 1979, he joined Peoples Bank in the Raleigh Offices as assistant city ex ecutive and vice president. He was transferred to Edenton and pro moted to city executive in January of 1982. He has completed several bank ing courses including Mid- Management and Advanced Management at the UNC School of Banking and receiving a diploma from the National Commercial Lending Graduate School at the University of Oklahoma. Active in many civic and com munity affairs, he is presently ser ving on the Board of Directors of the Edenton Chamber of Com merce, President of the Chowan County Heart Association and is a member of the Edenton Rotary Club and the First Presbyterian Church. Gillikin is married to the former Rose Marie Pittman of Davis, North Carolina and they have two daughters, Elizabeth, 2%, and Carolyn, age 1. found guilty of trespassing. He was sentenced to 30 days with one year suspended, fined $35, $39 cost of court, is to stay off Edenton Recreation Department Property, and is on supervised probation. Otis McCurtis was found guilty of assault on a female and resisting arrest. He was sentenced to six months with 2 years suspended, fin ed SIOO, cost of court and is not to assault the prosecuting witness for two years. He has appealed. Ellis (NMN) Bonner received a voluntary dismissal on the charge of false pretense. Joseph Lee Beasley, Jr., was found guilty of assault on a female. He was sentenced to 90 days with two years suspended, fined $75, cost of court and is not to assault the prosecuting witness for two years. Continued On Page 4 the Chowan Herald Volume XIVII-No. 11 ' t -rt,. Town Makes Improvements On Carteret St. The Town of Edenton has been doing a lot of improvements to West Carteret Street over the past several weeks. These im provements may be causing a slight inconvenience at the present time; but, when they are com pleted, around April 1, they will im prove drainage, offer greater fire protection and make West Carteret Street more attractive. The improvements to West Carteret Street will cost the Town around $70,000. SII,OOO of which is to replace the water main, from the present 2” main, to a 6” main. The increased size of the water main will increase water pressure in that part of town giving residents better water service and offering increas ed fire fighting capabilities. The Town is also widening the street to accommodate traffic. Other im provements include curbing and guttering. The Town is making these im provements in response to a peti tion presented to Town Council by the people who live on West State Secretary Os Commerce Will Be Keynote Speaker ELIZABETH CITY-D.M. (Lauch) Faircloth, State Secretary of Commerce, will provide the keynote address at the banquet held D.M. (Lauch) Faircloth Smith Appointed As Chairman Os Wheels For Life Mr. Chuck Smith, has been ap pointed Chairman for the annual “Wheels for Life” Bike-A-Thon in Edenton, to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The event is scheduled for April 9,1983, with a rain date of April 16, 1983. The starting point and registration will be held at the Old U.P.S. Building on Coke Avenue at 9:00 A.M. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is a research-treatment education center where physicians and scientists working side by side have actually succeeded in rewriting medical textbooks through painstaking research and treatment advances. This institution, now the largest childhood cancer research center in America, owes its establishment to a promise made years ago by enter tainer, Danny Thomas. His dream became reality when the doors of this non-sectarian research hospital opened in 1962 dedicated solely to the conquest of hopeless diseases of children. When St. Jude Hospital accepted its first patient, the survival rate for children, diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia was less than five per cent. Today, the disease-free survival figure for children in long-term remission has grown to more than 50 per cent. Procedures that originated at St. Jude are now being used to treat children throughout the United States and other parts of the world. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital has treated children from 43 states and 29 foreign countries. Upon referral from their physician they are admitted to a research study without regard to race, creed, national origin, or ability to pay. The sole criterion is a medical determination that their disease is under study. They receive the very best and latest total medical care Continued On Page 4 Edenton, North Carolina, Thursday. March 17, 1983 Carteret. The Town is also working on several other projects at the pre sent time. One project will be the in stallation of sewer lines on Coke 9 CONSTRUCTION ON WEST CARTERET CONTINUES The Town of Edenton continues the work along West Carteret Street for the improvement of drainage. during the Northeastern North Carolina Tomorrow Annual Meeting on April 21. Faircloth was appointed secretary in 1977 by Gov. Jim Hunt and was reappointed in 1981. As Secretary of Commerce, Faircloth oversees a variety of pro grams, including industrial development, tourism, state ports, energy, banking, international trade, savings and loans, the in dustrial commission and the employment security commission. He has been a strong supporter for regional economic development and has advocated groups such as Northeastern North Carolina Tomorrow and Western North Carolina Tomorrow. “Sec. Faircloth has been involv ed with us from the start,” Joe M. The NCNB National Bank Merger Completion Results In New Signs Edenton and several other towns in eastern North Carolina have a new bank in town this week - NCNB National. The merger with the Bank of North Carolina was completed dur ing the weekend of March 12 with the changing of the signs on branch offices from Bank of North Carolina to NCNB. “While our merger with Bank of North Carolina has resulted in new signs and other similar changes, former BNC customers will con tinue to receive the same kind of personal services they’ve grown ac customed to from the same people they are used to doing business with,” said Sidney Warner, coastal area executive for NCNB. The merger, the largest bank merger in the state of North Carolina’s history, was phased in over the last three months. The first phase affected Bank of North Carolina offices west of Raleigh. The second phase included Edenton along with Benson, Burgaw, Dunn, Elizabethtown, Farmville, Havelock, Hertford, Hobbsville, Holly Ridge, Jacksonville, Kenansville, Lillington, Maysville, i b - it pH '*§ ]|£Bl is NEW BANK IN TOWN—W.P. Jones, business development con sultant and member of theNCNB local bank’s Board of Directors, and George A. Byrum, also a member of the Board, take a moment to pose in front of the Nr™ ’~ tHp Frfonton main office. Single Copies 25 Cent* Avenue ana ula tteruord Road. The Town has also announced that the sewage line to McDonalds has been installed and the water line will be in place soon. Parker, NNCT chairman said. “Our future is bright because he and others in Raleigh support our efforts.” Faircloth’s business interests in clude farming, construction, farm equipment, automobiles, milling and commercial real estate. He is married to the former Nancy Bryan of Greensboro and has one daughter. He is a native of Clinton. The NNCT annual meeting will be held during the afternoon of April 21 at the Graduate and Conti nuing Education Center at Elizabeth City State University. Registration materials will be sent to everyone currently on the mail ing list. Anyone interested in atten ding the meeting should write to: NNCT, ECSU Box 5-S, Elizabeth Ci ty, N.C. 27909 or call 335-3491. Mount Olive, Richlands, Seaboard, Shallotte, Swansboro and Wallace. The last phase of the merger, the sale of Bank of North Carolina of fices in Wilmington and NCNB of fices in Jacksonville to Peoples Bank of Rocky Mount, should be completed later this month. Jim Ball, local bank manager, is very excited about the merger because it brings to the people of Edenton the vast resources of a large 11.5-billion dollar bank on which to draw. These resources will mean that local customers will have several new services that they formally did not have. Services include more specialized lending, better customer service and the first bank in the area that has an international department. The Edenton NCNB as Mr. Ball puts it, “... is now on line with the central operational computer which gives us immediate informa tion on customer accounts. This cuts out the delay time in getting in formation to the customer.” In this manner the customer is served better. Continued On Page 4