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Wednesday, July 20, 2016
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July 20 VS Petersburg Generals (Waytack wadnasday: Salute to Prltica, Papal Went)
July 22 vs Peninsula Pilots
(Kids Run tha Basas, Post Gama Firaworka, Gates County Night)
July 23 vs Wilmington Sharks
(kids Run tha Basas, Princesses on a Mission NighttChildhood Cancer Fundraiser])
-- July 25 Morehead City Marlins <50# Hot Doga)
Call 482-40S0 For Ware Information I WWW.EDENTONSTEAMERS.COM
Survey brings concerns of leadership, student conduct
BY REBECCA BUNCH
Staff Writer
Nearly a third of teachers sur
veyed recently at John A. Holmes
High School did not regard the
school as safe.
While only 68 percent of teach
ers rated the high school as safe,
the same survey showed 100 per
cent of teachers surveyed felt that
the elementary schools and the
middle school were safe facilities.
“We want to ensure that our fac
ulty and staff and students are safe
when they’re on that campus,” Su
perintendent Rob Jackson told the
Edenton-Chowan Board of Educa
tion at its July 12 meeting.
Jackson added that the school
system would continue to work
with the Edenton Police Depart
ment, Chowan County Sheriff’s
Office and Town Manager Anne
Marie Knighton on ways to im
prove campus security.
“Certainly this is an area for us
to work on,” Jackson said.
The information was part of
Jackson’s review of highlights of
the 2016 North Carolina Teacher
Working Conditions Survey.
Results of this portion of the
survey focused only on respons
es by teachers in the Edenton
Chowan Schools. A comparison
survey comparing their responses
to others across the state will be
released in a couple of months,
Jackson said.
Jackson noted that initial re
sults show teachers in the local
schools expressed a high rate of
See SURVEY, 4A
f
STAFF PHOTO BY REBECCA BUNCH
Look Homeward was the featured band at Sunday afternoon’s concert on the lawn of the Penelope Barker House Welcome Center on the downtown waterfront. The concert
was presented as part of the annual Music By the Bay series.
County backs return to earlier catfish inspections system
BY REGGIE PONDER
Editor
Chowan County officials have
gone on record in opposition to
a federal regulatory change that a
local businessman says threatens
the livelihood of area fishermen
and other workers in the seafood
industry.
The Chowan County Board of
(ommissioners voted unanimous
ly at its July 5 meeting to send to
the congressional delegation a
letter supporting Senate Resolu
tion 28, which would move catfish
inspections from the C.S. Depart
merit of Agriculture back to the
Food and Drug Administration.
‘"riie current inspection pro
gram costs $700,000 annually;
however, the USD A inspection
program would cost approximate
ly $30 million to be established
and another $14 million for an
nual operations,” the board's letter
states. “The proposed regulations
were designed to give protect ions
on imported catfish; however, na
tive catfish me also being affected.
Catfishing in Northeast Nort h ('ar
olina provides the livelihood of
over 600 families. Because of the
potential for detrimental impact
on local economies, we ask for
our consideration mid support of
Senate Resolution 28.”
Ricky Nixon of Miuray L Nixon
Fishery in Rocky Hock said tlus
week that in order to comply with
the USDA inspections process he
would have to build a new facility
to process catfish. That would not
be cost-effective for liis operation,
he said.
“With FDA we haven't ever had
a problem,” Nixon said.
Die FDA process has not failed
to protect public health and safety,
so the move to USDA is unwar
ranted, he said.
Nixon said there had never been
any health-related problems with
the area’s wild catfish industry un
der the FDA inspections system.
“We have been cutting catfish
for 50 years and never had a prob
lem,” Nixon said.
Nixon said if the change be
comes permanent it probably
would cause turn to cut his work
force in half, “because I would
have to get out of the catfish busi
ness.”
That in turn would put com
mercial fishermen in the area out
of the catfish business as well, he
said, because those commercial
fishermen catc h catfish would no
longer have access to a processor.
“We’re the only wild catfish pro
cessor in the state,” Nixon said.
He said his facility processes cat
fish caught by companies such as
Quality Seafood in Elizabeth City
and Frog Island in Weeksville, as
well as a number of fishermen in
Virginia.
“We have been fighting this
thing Irani,” Nixon said, adding
“it's a waste of money for the tax
payers.”
Nixon said Rep. Walter .Jones,
See CATFISH, 2A
Perquimans wind project to be reviewed
BY PETER WILLIAMS
The Perquimans Weekly
The Perquimans Plan
ning Board reviewed
plans for a $300 million
wind power project on
July 12 but decided it
wanted more time to con
sider some of the informa
tion.
The next meeting Ls set
for Aug. 2.
Apex Clean Energy Ls
seeking a Conditional Use
Permit (CUP) for the proj
ect known as Timbennill.
About 17,000 acres of Per
quimans and Chowan land
would l>e leased, most of it
owned by Weyerhaeuser
'Hie county allows wind
power projects, but con
siders them in a special
category, hence-the CUP
process.
In February tire Per
quimans County Com
mission made changes to
its wind rules. An outside
consultant reviewed the
Apex CUP document and
concluded it satisfied the
Perquimans ordinance.
However Clarion As
sociates, a Chapel Hill
linn, suggested commis
sioners should consider
adding some conditions if
it decides to approve the
project.
Opponents of the Apex
project maintain the
Clarion report is not ;ut
independent study of the
project, but simply a re
view of the data tliat Apex
provided.
Chad W. Essick, a part
ner in the Raleigh law firm
Poyner Spruill, raised a
number of questions
tliat he feels need to be
answered. Among them
are heal tit Issues and the
potential tliat property
values will fall if the wind
turbines are allowed.
The applicant has failed
“thus far to meet its bur
den of showing there will
be no adverse impact on
public health or safety
and that the proposed
project will not substan
tially ii\jure ;«joining or
abutting property values,”
Essick said in an e-mail
response.
“A critique by a licensed
appraiser submitted on
Tuesday iiight showed
that data from the study
they submitted demon
See PERQUIMANS, 4A
County sets meetings on
Timbermill Wind Project
From staff reports
'Hie Chowan County Plan
ning Board will meet next
week to review the conditional
use permit application for the
Timbermill Wind Project.
'Hie review by the plaitning
board is advisory. The actual
decision on the permit appli
cation by Charlottesville, Va.
based Apex Clean Energy Inc.
will be made by the Chowan
County Board of Commission
ers following a quasi-judicial
hearing - probably laie next
month.
Tlio planning board meeting
will be July 26 at 7 p.m. in the
Chowan County Office Build
ing on Freemason Street.
Apex has proposed a util
ity-scale wind energy facility
in the Boar Swamp and Center
Hill areas of Chowan and Per
quimans counties..
The phmning board meeting
will include astaff report, which
will introduce the project and
the application, and also will
See PROJECT, 4A
School board backs switch to Chrome Books for students
BY REBECCA BUNCH
Staff Writer
The Edenton-Chowan
Board of Education voted
6
0
©2009 The Chowan Herald
j AMights Reserved
unanimously July 12 to re
place iPads with less costly
Chrome Books for stu
dents.
“The Clirome Book is
now less than half the cost
of an iPad," Superintendent
Rob Jackson said in rec
ommending the change to
Chrome Books.
The plan as approved
would also provide fcf a
decrease to $50,000 annu
ally - or 50 percent of the
school system’s current
contribution - for funding
the devices. It would also
cut student fees by 50 per
cent, making them more af
fordable for students to take
home with them to do their
homework.
The plan, which Jackson
characterized to the board
as “sustainable,” would also
provide funding for device
repair.
By voting to approve
Jackson’s request the school
board authorized the super
intendent to purchase 600
Chrome Books for up to
$125,000, to authorize a re
quired annual student fee of
$25 rather than the current
optional fee which is double
that amount, and to place
$50,000 in tl\e Sustainability
Fund each school year.
Jackson said that the
required fee would easure
that “everybody has skin in
the game” when it came to
using and being responsible
for the new devices.
School board chair John
Guard said before the vote
that he hated having to re
quire that students pay a fee
to use the device but saw no
way around it if the school
system was going to meet
its goal of providing ail stu
dents with learning devices '
in the future.
“I hate that we’re having
to nickel and dime families,’’
Guard said, “but we don’t
See BOARD, 4A »