CHOWA P8/C8******CAR-RT LOT**C 002 A0038 I, "ii" , ii l liihillil ll l'h l iil l 'i'l" l ii|| l '|" l i'|i|| 1 ||i|i|| 1 SHEPHERD PRUDEN LIBRARY 106 W WATER ST EDENTON NC 27932-1854 482-4418 Wednesday, September 6, 201 7 50^ LEARN FROM THE PROS Each year, H&R Block teaches thousands of people to prepare taxes. Take the H&R Block Income Tax Course to learn how to prepare taxes like a pro. Enroll now! FOR CLASS TIMES AND LOCATIONS, VISIT HRBLOCK.COM/CLASS or call 800-472-5625 H&R BLOCK Council plans to pave a quartet of streets BY REBECCA BUNCH Staff Writer Four Edenton streets — Twiddy Avenue, Luke Street, West Hicks Street and West Carteret Street — have been identified as priority one sites in a plan being worked on by town officials. Members of the town council received a briefing on the plan at their Aug. 28 work session from Derrick Smith, project manager for the Greenville based Wooten Company office. "The streets were evaluated for eight different distress conditions." Derrick Smith Wooten Company project manager Smith said that streets in town had been given a rat ing by the town ranging from priority 1 for the most dis tressed to priority 4 for those least in need of work. At the town’s request, the Wooten Company performed an evaluation of town street conditions and a condition survey to verify what repairs would be necessary. “The streets were evalu ated for eight different dis tress conditions,” Smith said during a PowerPoint presen tation on the project. “Con ditions were classified as slight, moderate or severe.” Distress conditions the Wooten Company looked at included: Alligator cracking that is normally caused by in adequate thickness. Other causes, Smith said, include drainage issues or poor sub grade. The solution? Surface patching or resurfacing, de pending on the severity of the problem. Block or transverse crack ing caused by shrinkage that takes place with age and is not due to structural failure. The solution? Cracks can be filled. Reflective cracking that is normally the result of an old concrete road being paved over that over time allows cracks to be seen where joints in the concrete exist. The solution? Repairing old concrete joints by crack fill ing. Rutting that takes place in wheel paths or at the edge of pavement. The condition, Smith said, happens when pavement and subsurface compress, causing structural failure. The solution? Resur facing. Raveling, a condition caused by the wearing away of a street’s surface by loos ened aggregate. The condi tion occurs due to the weath ering of old asphalt, he said. The solution? Resurfacing. Bleeding which is a con dition where excess asphalt cement rises to the surface. The solution? Resurfacing. Ride Quality during which road distortion affects the See PAVE, 2A Algae blooms grow more common BY COLLEEN KARL For the Chowan Herald The Chowan Edenton En vironmental Group (CEEG) hosted a special community event focused on under standing and monitoring algal blooms in the Chowan River and Albemarle Sound. The program, A “Sound” Waterway? — Monitoring Environmental Changes in the Chowan River, attracted local citizens on Aug. 26 in Edenton. Elizabeth Fensin, NCDEQ Algal Ecologist, provided an overview of the general bi ology and benefits of algae, and then highlighted some of the differences between beneficial algae and the blue-green algae which are classified as cyanobacteria. She shared pictures of the mqjor blue-green algae spe cies commonly found in our waterways and reminded the audience that these al gae are much like plants — for optimum growth, they need sunlight, warm temperatures and nutrients. The “blooms” in our re gion are not new according to historical data. From 2000 to 2016, a total of 38 and 43 blue-green algal blooms were reported and verified from the Pasquotank and Chowan River Basins re spectively. The occurrence of blooms does seem to be on the increase since 2015 and 2016 had 5 -6 reported events, and already this year we have experienced eight documented blooms in the same region. The increase could also be explained by the fact that we are doing a better job of reporting bloom events to NCDEQ when we see them. Our state environmental agen cies can be best informed if we continue to report See ALGAE, 3A SUBMITTED PHOTOS Courtesy of the Waff family, these historical photos show the Confederate memorial statue being moved in June 1961. Back in the day, the Waff Brothers were the contractors for moving the monument. Taking a look at monument’s history BY MILES LAYTON Editor Rather than write this like a standard news story, I’ll stick to my strengths — writing directly to friends, neighbors and the commu nity. Like many people, each of us has been asked what we think should be done about the Confederate monu ment in downtown Edenton. It’s a hard question to answer be cause offering a candid opinion may risk offending or losing a friend, which is a far more valuable com modity than hot air spent on a cen tury-old statue. We may not always agree on everything, but I like to think that most of us agree about the more important things — fam ily, community and the Aces — than what separates us. When County Commissioner John Mitchener spoke to me about this issue, he suggested that I check Chowan Herald’s archives at Shepa- rd-Pruden Library to see what those folks thought in 1961 when the mon ument was moved from the Court house Green to the tip of Broad Street. Thanks goes to Librarian Jennifer Finlay and Nicole Bowman-Layton for their research skills. Before heading to our local ar chives to learn why the monument was moved, here is a bit of my own research from UNC-Chapel Hill’s formidable archives about the mon ument’s origin. According to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s ar chives, the Bell Battery Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confed eracy organized a fundraising drive in the early 1900s to build the monu ment that cost $2,000 to build and features a 19-foot tall granite shaft topped off by a 7-foot tall bronze fig ure. According to the archives, fund- raising for the monument began in 1901 when 9-year-old W.D. Pruden Jr. made the first donation — 2 cents — to the project. By 1904, the chap ter had secured enough funds to erect the base and shaft, which were dedicated on June 3, 1904. On that day, 75 veterans were in attendance for the services which included the conferring of 12 Crosses of Honor and the “Rebel Yell” given by their recipients. The bronze statue was unveiled on May 10,1909. Around the turn of that century, a lot of Confederate monuments went up across the South for many reasons. Maybe first and foremost, a lot of Civil War veterans were dy ing. Makes sense because the Old North State supplied a large number of troops to the Confederate armies. The last days of the Confederacy See MONUMENT, 4A Cook will not seek a 4th term BY JON HAWLEY For the Chowan Herald Northeastern North Car olina’s state senator since 2013 is stepping down, citing redistricting and a desire to spend more time with family. Sen. Bill Cook, R-Beau- fort, announced he will not * run for re-election in 2018, explaining his reasoning in a press release Tuesday af ternoon. “I’ve tried to be a good servant to the people of East ern North Carolina. However, the recent redistrict ing chang es have prompted me to reevaluate my com mitment to my family,” Cook said. “And as much as I love the folks of East ern North Carolina, I love my family more. I have de cided to not seek another term in the state Senate. I am blessed to have a won derful family and I need to spend more of my life with them — especially my grandchildren.” Cook, 72, currently serves Senate District 1, which covers eight coun ties including Camden, Currituck, Pasquotank and Perquimans. That is ex pected to change, however, as the General Assembly is poised to approve new Senate districts in compli ance with a federal court’s ruling. Over Cook’s opposi tion, the Senate approved new maps on Monday that would make Beaufort part See COOK, 2A Bertie honors Sgt. Callahan Like us on Facebook at /EDENTON-CHOWANHERALD 6 B9076 H 44813 ©2009 The Chowan Herald All Rights Reserved BY LESLIE BEACHBOARD For the Chowan Herald 0 WINDSOR — Etched in stone. Last Friday a service was held to honor the life-and service of Sergeant Meg- gan Callahan by adding her name to the Fallen Officers Memorial next to the Ber tie County Courthouse on Dundee St. An inmate at Bertie Cor rectional Institute killed Callahan, a prison guard, in her line of duty on April 26. Family, friends, cowork ers and public officials gath ered at the memorial to un veil Callahan’s name newly added to the list of fallen officers. Bertie County Vice Chair man Ernestine Bazemore welcomed everyone to the occasion. Chaplain Riccardo Hardi son led the opening prayer. A representative from the Department of Public Safe ty expressed condolences from the department and spoke about how Callahan was an important asset to Bertie Correctional Insti tute. Friends and coworkers of Callahan had an opportunity to speak about her and give condolences to the family. Bertie County Commis sion Chairman John Trent spoke to Callahan’s family about her service and tragic death. PHOTO BY LESLIE BEACHBOARD/BERTIE LEDGER-ADVANCE Sergeant Meggan Callahan’s name was added recently to the Fallen Officers Memorial next to the Bertie County Courthouse on Dundee Street. See CALLAHAN, 7A