Newspapers / The Chowan Herald (Edenton, … / Jan. 13, 2016, edition 1 / Page 2
Part of The Chowan Herald (Edenton, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
2A THE CHOWAN HERALD, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13,2016 Community Fuel stop dooms man wanted in robbery BY BARRY WARD The Daily Advance An Edenton man was ar rested Friday night in Ber tie County after allegedly conunitting armed robbery at a Chowan County busi ness, stealing the clerk's car and stopping at a gas station in Windsor to fill up. Kelvin Eugene Singleton, 26, of the 200 block of hast Albemarle Street in Edenton. was charged with armed robbery, at tempted kidnap ping and larceny of a motor vehicle. According to the Edenton Police De partment (LF1>). officers responded to a report of an limit'd robbery at It) p.m. SINGLETON Friday at Pearls To bacco Plus, located at the 300 block of North Granville Street in Edenton. According to police, the suspect entered the store earning a hand gun and demanded money from the clerk. The suspect then forced the clerk outside at gun point and attempted to force him in his vehicle. Tire clerk refused, so the suspect took the clerk's keys and fled the scene in the clerk’s vehicle. A broadcast was issued with a description of the suspect and the stolen ve hicle. When the suspect ar rived at a gas station in Windsor to purchase gas for the stolen vehicle, of ficers from the Windsor Police Department appre hended the suspect. It was later discovered that Singleton was also wanted by the Charlotte Police Department for as sault with a deadly weap on, inflicting serious ii\jury and other weapon viola tions. He was being held at the Chowan County Jail on Saturday under a $500,000 secured bond. The Edenton Police De partment asks anyone with additional information on this crime to contact Sgt. Laura Wilkins at 252-482 9884 or 252482-5144. “We want your infor mation, not your name," said the EPD in a released statement. DELAYS VOTE Continued from 1A Developers said that would kill the project. After a public hearing at the meeting. Cole asked her fellow commission ers what they wanted to do. She pointed out that board has been listening to the public since August and the planning board did forward a recommen dation. “1 don't know if 1 would say I heard anything at the public hearing (tonight) that 1 haven't heard he ft >re." ('ole said. ('< mimissK >ner Matt Peeler said he did. Craig Craft, who runs a crop-dusting company, talked about how it will f'e harder to recruit pilots to spray crops with the threat of running mVo one of the turbines m the way. t i mimissK mer \\allace Nelson also said he's still hasing citizens proside him svith information and he wanted to delay a deci sion. The hoard has a work session later this month. The next regular meeting will be Feb. 1. Peeler wanted to cre ate a subcommittee to address the issue. He sug gested it include two or three county commission ers and one or two plan ning board members. His motion to do that failed to get a second. Don Diecek. senior de \ elopment manager for Apex, said he behest's the county commission will make the proper decision. "1 have confidence the full county board will con sider properly this impor tant issue. (Jiecek said Tuesday. (ipponents of wind power hast' talked about how it will destroy the natural beauty that either brought them to Perqui mans or kept them in the county in the first place. Others have questioned how they will impact near by property values, birds, bats or other flying things. There is also the issue of '■flicker” the strobe-light effect caused when sun light is falling through the turbine blades at a certain angle. The newest issues brought up involved what would happen if a wind turbine blade fell off and what happens to the ice that may accumulate on a turbine blade and what area that may impact. Supporters point out the Apex project would bring millions of dollars in tax revenue to the county and provide even more to the property owners that lease land to Apex. Perqui mans County could stand to gain $2a(),0()() a year in taxes with the Apex proj ect if 50 turbines are lo cated in Perquimans. That would make it the single largest taxpayer in the county. Given that Weyerhaeus er. one of the world’s largest private owners of timberlands is the larg est property owner in the Apex project, some critics say that makes the Tim berwind project is differ ent than the similar-sized wind project Iberdrola is building on the northeast corner of Perquimans County as well as parts of Pasquotank. Weyer haeuser owns about 15 percent of the land used in the Iberdrola's project — Amazon Wind Farm East. Weyerhaeuser owns the biggest chunk in Tim bdrwind project. But there are some smaller property owners Rita Saunders, whose family has owned property on Popular Neck Road in TVner since 1946, spoke in favor of the Apex project. She said if the county ad opted a tough setback on wind turbines, then their property could no longer play a part. By increasing the setback on the Apex project, it will actually leave out most if not all of the smaller property owners who would ben efit from lease payments for the next 25 years. Only Weyerhaeuser would then benefit under tighter set back rules. Of the eight people who spoke in favor of Apex and Timberwind Monday, four were either employed by Apex or Weyerhaeuser. But Weyerhaeuser has a financial stake in what is decided and is the largest single property owner in Perquimans County. “Changing the ordi nance now, after it has been approved and is in use for a project (Iber drola) currently under construction impacts our rights as a property own er,” wrote Alissa ('ale. a real estate manager for Weyerhaeuser who spoke to the board Monday. “Further, it is discrimi natory to change ordi nances affecting one single landowner when multiple landowners received dif ferent treatment ,"Cale said. Patsy Miller works for Apex in their office on Market Street in Hertford. She explained she's lived 66 of her 68 years in Perquimans County. “I have grandchildren, age 20, 12, 6 and 8.1 would never do anything to hurt my grandchildren, "she Said. “This is my state ment, not theirs (Apex)." She said she felt to change the rules onjApex at this point, woultl “not be fair." HISTORIC JAIL Continued from 1A historic jail is no longer part of the State Historic Site tour m Edenton tie cause of ttie condition the building is in now. The state is not in a posi lion financially to take on the restoration of anoth er building at this point, he said, so lie's glad other entities m the community are taking a look at the historic jail. If the building is re stored to a presentable condition, he and his f STOP Foreclosure STOP Lawsuits STOP Car Repossession STOP Tax Levies and Garnishments Call Allen C. Brown Attorney #252-752-0753 \ I >e‘ \fl-: “MEET & GREET ^CANDIDATE SOCIAL" j Sunday, January 24, 2016 from 4p.m. - 6p.m. LOCATION: C&N Basic Learning Center, 423 Sandy Ridge Rd., Edenton JAMES "JILL" WHITE, CANDIDATE FOR CHOWAN COUNTY COMMISSI ONER, 1ST DISTRICT - THE FACE OF CHANGE r\j i: i tor h> :hc ^andaidk 1 Married life is life even better ' This anniversary, thank your better half for helping you create a better life 311 South Broad St. Edenton, NC 252-482-3525 stall would he thrilled to offer guided tours at the facility. Hopkins said. Restoring the budd ing could he a tall order. Hopkins noted, for exam ple. that the building has termite damage. But $ 10,000 could at least get the ball rolling, he said. "It would be fantastic to be able to open that up again." Hopkins said of the historic .jail “There is interest in it. “1 do believe that the building definitely needs to be saved," Hopkins continued, adding that something needs to be done soon because the condition of the building is deteriorating rapidly. < 'Inner agreed that res toration work should be gin soon. "Transforming the His toric Chowan County •lail from a deteriorat ing facility to a worth while asset makes all the sense in the world,” Climer said. “Managers of the Beaufort site told us that Beaufort's jail is their most frequently vis ited building within their cluster of historic build ings," Climer said. Chowan’s jail actually is more interesting than the one in Beaufort be cause of features such as interior metal cells, enclosed exercise yard and exterior stairs to the second floor, Climer said. A jail tour would comple ment a visit to the 1767 Courthouse. “For relatively little ex pense to the county, the jail will become a safe and educational attrac tion helping residents and visitors better un derstand the close con nection between convic tion in the courthouse and incarceration in the jail," Climer said. “If the money is not spent, the deterioration of the jail will accelerate and the county will be the loser for not having taken care of this rare asset." Nicholls said the trip to Beaufort was a won derful day because the Chowan group not only saw the historic jail there but also visited other historic attractions and learned about how Beau fort presents and pro motes its historic sites. Nixon told his fellow county commission ers that members of the Tourism Development Authority Board had been looking for a use for the historic jail. There always is a lot of activity around the jail, but the building's condition is going down and money has not been appropriated for the jail site in recent years, Nix on said. Beaufort has a jail of a similar age that is used as a historic site and local tourism officials would like the historic jail here to be a historic site for visitation, Nixon said. Patricia Suggs, execu tive director of Beaufort Historic Site, said the site draws more than bb.OOO visitors a year, and the jail is the top attraction among the 14 houses and buildings. “We do tours on a daily basis of the jail showing how the prisoners would have lived," Suggs said. “The Beaufort Jail of IS.'!) housed t he sheriff and his family the first few years, so we also show their In - ing quarters. The jail is used for the individual daily tours, and it is also one oi the most popular buildings used for our school group tours. Dur ing the Pirate Invasion Weekend, every year in early August, we also open the jail for use with the Pirate Encampment on the grounds of the Beaufort Historic Situ." WIND REGS Continued from 1A requirements for a wind en ergy farility and to require an escrow account to cover the costs of md(‘|x'ndent studies that might i>e required i>y the county during the j>emiitting process. Chowan Board of Com missioners Chairman .Jeff Smith said last week that tie didn't see any need to revisit the wind energy regulations in Chowan. Smith said that even if Perquimans were to adopt some new rules, that wouldn’t mean Chowan i us sled to iulopt anything new. He said he thinks < howan r should move forward under its existing ordinance. On advice from tire coun ty attorney. Smith is not vot ing on any matters related to the wind energy ordinance or Apex’s Timbermill Wind Project Smith’s family lias been approached by Apex regarding the possibility of leasing part of the fam ily farm for the wind energy facility, according to disclo sures by Smith and the coun ty's attorney. The only outspoken pro ponent of stricter wind en ergy regulations among the Chowan commissioners lias been Commissioner Alex Keliayes. Keliayes, who lias argued for larger minimum setback requirements and a vs° ,\N^ ANIMAL HOs* it. Benton, Riston Howell Kelley Durlman Christian Ford dvm dvm dvm Small Animal Medicine & Surgery BOARDING AVAILABLE Appointment Preferred Hours: Mon-Fri. 8:00 - 5:30 • Sat. 8:00 -12:00 noon 1515 PARADISE ROAD, EDENTON www.chowananimalhospital.com • 252-482-411? lower noise limit, said he had not set'n anytiiing tliat would cliange his mind regarding those positions. But making tlit' Chowan wind energy regulations stricter would require other commissioners’ minds being clianged, he said. Kehayes said he In'lieves tiie commissioners should do their own research on wind energy and not dejx'nd on wliat other countit's have done. In that sense, he said, wliatever Perquimans might do or not do would not cluu ige liis mind regan lit ig 11 le regula tions he believes should lie in place in Chowan. ( on m ilssii >i icr Emmett Winlrome said lie was wait ing to see how the Perqui mans vote turns out next month before thinking about how to respond to it. “Let’s not go speculat ing on what they might do,”Winbome said “Lets wait and see what they actu ally do. I don’t like speculat ing-” Commissioner Keith Nix on |x>mted out that even tin her the existing regulations, the county will still have the conditional use permit process as an opportunity to consider the location of wind turbines and possibly add some additional eondi (ions on the project. Nixon said at this point he doesn’t phut to ask for the countys wind energy ordinance to be put back on the agenda,in and he hasn't heard any other commis sioner asking about that, either. Commissioner dreg Bon ner said he doesn’t think it would make any difference for Chowan’s ordinance if Perquimans ended up changing then wind energy ordinance. “1 wouldn’t say tluU it would impar t us at all at tins point,” Bonner said. "Our hoard met and we came to a decision alxmt wliat w;e thought would lx* lies! for the people in our county.” REACTION Continued from 1A keep in mind the need for a lessening of energy eon sumption from fossil fueLs in Edepton and elsewhere. “We have to find ways to use less energy (from fossil fueLs)," she said. The proposed solar farm, inglls said, “Ls such a splen did solution.” At press time, t he Edenton Town Council was sched uled at its regular monthly meeting on Tuesday night, Jan. 12, to consider adopt ing a text amendment to its Unified Development Ordinance regarding r<* quirements governing the presence of solar farms in die community. At present the ULX) dot*s not mention solar farms. Should die text amend ment be approved the town council would then lie free to consider a request from the developer for a Condi Uonal Use Permit for the project *
The Chowan Herald (Edenton, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Jan. 13, 2016, edition 1
2
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75