Volume NXXIV.—No. 22.
OPTION IS! TAKEN
BY CHRIS- CRAFT
Chris-Craft Corporation, world’s larg
est builders of motor boats, this week
announced plans to locate a plant in
the Edenton area.
D. A. Wich, vice president—opera
tions, announced from Pompano Beach,
Fla., that his firm has taken option on
54.05 acres of property near Edenton
(The public parade
Congratulations, Graduates
Later in the week, 171 boys and girls
in Chowan County will walk across the
stages of three area high schools and get
a piece of paper. To many, the diploma
will be just that—a piece of paper.
However, others will take pride in their
achievement of 12 years’ schooling.
This week we salute the high school
graduating classes along The Public Pa
rade. In so doing, we set some sort of
record for ourselves.
More pictures are printed in this
week’s paper than in any other 10
issues.
In The Herald are pictures of 169 of
these seniors. They are from John A.
Holmes High School, Chowan High
School and D. F. Walker High School.
Local merchants are sponsoring these
four pages of pictures as a special salute
to the graduates.
Were it not for modern printing tech
niques, as now used by The Herald, it
would have been virtually impossible for
these pictures to have been printed in
our paper.
May we join parents, friends, faculty
and others in saying congratulations to
the Class of 1967 at the three area
schools?
" .Kfcr’
Keep It Public
An ever-increasing practice of taking
the public’s business into the back room
for discussion would be halted in North
Carolina by an anti-secrecy bill now in
the General Assembly.
Some would hush, hush such legisla
tion as being unnecessary. But as public
officials continue to remove from public
meetings the public’s business, it is time
for action.
The bill now in the General Assembly,
being considered by a committee and
now a subcommittee, would make it a
misdemeanor for a public official to take
part in secret or closed-door meetings
concerning the public’s business.
Complete discussion of issues in public
meetings in Chowan County have been
the past rule. Because of this, the peo
ple have become more familiar with the
problems facing our public officials and
they are more sympathetic with the re
sponsibilities of these officials.
But, on the other hand, if all the talk
about school, town and county business
was held in executive session, with the
news media being handed just what these
agencies wanted the people to know, what
these agencies wanted the people to
know, what would be the result? There
would be no single administrative unit
in Chowan County. There would be tur
moil on ma'ny fronts. There would be
unjustified suspicion as to what mem
bers of our official boards have to hide.
Very few people have the interest or
the time to personally attend the many
meetings of the board of education, Town
Council or county commissioners. This
Continued on N* ♦
HOLMES STUDENTS GIVEN AWARDS Tuesday was Awards Day
at John A. Holmes High School with student* beta* cited for perfect at
tendance as well as many other scholastic and athletic activities. In the
picture at left is Jill Crandall and Mary Alice Byram, senior and Junior
DAB Good Citlsens, respectively. Winners of the science awards are
THE CHOWAN HERALD
Municipal Airport. Also, the corporation
has leased four buildings on the airport
property to be used for training of per
sonnel prior to completion of a modern
manufacturing facility.
Wich’s announcement came after
months of negotiations between Chris-
Craft and officials of Chowan County,
- m ;
Ja jB
I I m A
Caswell Edmundson
Labor Availability
Survey Underway
An extensive labor availability survey
in Chowan and surrounding counties was
launched today with Caswell Edmund
son as chairman.
Edmundson was named head of the
local survey by W. P. (Spec) Jones,
chairman of the industrial committee of
Edenton Chamber of Commerce. He
said Edmundson will direct all phases
of the 10-day drive to get survey forms
completed.
Chris-Craft Corporation today an
nounced that they had taken option on
54.05 acres of property near Edenton
Municipal Airport as the possible site
of a modern manufacturing facility.
They requested this labor availability
survey to determine the size of their
Edenton operation.
Edmundson said the challenge of this
survey is tremendous and since the
forms cannot be distributed through local
and area schools other methods must be
used to get a good report of labor in the
area.
“Although Chris-Craft has taken op
tion on the property, whether or not this
is exercised depends on the results of this
survey,” the chairman said.
Edmundson said the location of Chris-
Craft, world’s largest builders of motor
Continued on Pare 4
Summer League
The summer recreation program in
Edenton will again be highlighted by a
softball league, according to Coach Jim
Kinion, who directs the activities.
Kinion said an effort is being made
to get softball play under way within the
next couple of weeks, therefore, any club
or organization interested in entering a
team should contact him immediately.
In the past, industry in the area has
entered teams and Kinion is hopeful
that many local plants will sponsor a
team.
Edenton, Chowan County, North Carolina 29732 Thursday, June 1, 1967.
Town of Edenton and Edenton Chamber
of Commerce.
Mayor John A. Mitchener, Jr., speak
ing for Town Council, said the entire
community is delighted that a world
renowned firm such as Chris-Craft has
chosen Chowan County as location for
a new plant. “The Edenton Chamber
of Commerce, working with town and
county officials, have done a tremendous
job in securing this new industry that
will mean much to our community in
the years ahead,” the Mayor "said.
Mayor Mitchener pointed out that this
is the first transaction for a sizeable
piece of the base property to be approv
ed for sale by the Federal Aviation Ad
ministration since the town gained con
trol of this property a number of years
ago.
“This step in further diversified de
velopment of our county could not have
been realized without complete coopera
tion of Edenton and Chowan County
officials,” said W. P. (Spec) Jones,
chairman of the chamber industrial com
mittee. “The chamber is most appre
ciative for this demonstration of com
munity-wide assistance in its work.”
W. E. Bond, chairman of Chowan
County commissioners, lauded the cham
ber for successful negotiations with
Chris-Craft. He said the county is hap
py to cooperate in securing additional
industrial jobs and he believes Chris-
Craft will be an excellent corporate citi
zen.
W. B. Gardner, town administrator
and chamber president, said consumation
of the purchase of this property by
Chris-Craft will follow a labor avail
ability survey now being conducted by
the State of North Carolina.
This survey, conducted by the Em
ployment Security Commission, is being
Continued on Page 4
Bond Sales Good
For the seventh consecutive month,
sales of U. S. Savings Bonds in North
Carolina were up in April.
In Chowan County, R. Graham White,
local volunteer chairman, reports bonds
sold for January-April amounted to $29,-
682. This is 27.5 per cent of the coun
ty’s dollar goal for this year.
Chowan has a 1967 quota of $107,972
and $6,486 of this was subscribed during
April.
Area School Exercises Begin Friday
Graduation exercises for 171 seniors in
three Edenton and Chowan County high
schools will be held this week.
Friday night will be the ending of
high school careers for 34 students at
Chowan High School and 74 students at
D. F. Walker High School. Exercises
will begin at 8 P. M., at the respective
schools.
At the John A. Holmes High School,
Class Day at 1:30 P. M., Friday will
begin a round of activities which will
end with commencement exercises at
4 P. M., Sunday.
Class Day will be held in the Holmes
High Auditorium with senior awards be
ing presented as well as other spotlights
being focused on members of the gradu
ating class.
Sunday’s finals for 63 students at
Holmes High will be held at Ernest A.
Swain Elementary School Auditorium.
Rev, Warren Nance will give an in-
shown in the next picture. They are, left to right, Marvin Robey, Hubert
Sartaln and Sae Powell. Sartain was also presented the math award.
Wes Cheapen, super athlete at Holmes High, was presented his third Most
Outstanding trophy, given hy Edenton Varsity Clue. Coach Marion Kirby
here presents Cheapen the track trophy. Cbesson earlier was named top
MR. CHAIRMAN—Edenton is ideally situated for all types of recreation including
fishing, boating and hunting. There is an abundance of water and game in this North
eastern North Carolina area and much is being done to promote Edenton as a mecca for
those who like the out of doors. Heading the Recreation Committee of Edenton Cham
ber of Commerce is Scott Harrell. Harrell local businessman and marina operator, is
pictured here at the wheel of a pleasure boat as he skims over the relaxing waters of
Pembroke Creek.
School Boards Will Begin New Era
Edenton-Chowan Board of Education
becomes official Monday.
An organizational meeting of the
Going To Camp
The local National National Guard
unit will leave Sunday for two-weeks
training at Ft. Bragg.
Edenton’s unit, some 70 men strong,
will join the Elizabeth City group at Ft.
Bragg and form Company C, 4th Bn.,
119th Infantry, 30th Infantry Division.
While at camp, the National Guards
men will participate in company and
battalion level training with the follow
ing areas being stressed: Infantry tac
tics, mine warfare, daylight and night
withdrawals, rifle attack course and
combined arms training with armored
elements from the Calvary Squadron.
Capt. Kenneth L. Stalls, commander
of the local unit, expressed his appre T
ciation for the cooperation of employers
of Guardsmen. “I hope this fine rela
tionship will continue,” he said.
spirational message and Ann Harrell,
Larry Parks and Ivy Lowe will make
short speeches. They will be introduced
by Danny Hassell, class president.
The class will be presented by Prin
cipal Cecil W. Fry and Supt. Hiram J.
Mayo will award diplomas.
John Graham is chief marshal. Other
marshals include Jill Crandall, Frankie
Katkaveck, Ronnie Harrell, Carroll Las
siter, Donald Jordan, and Henry Wells.
Supt. Seth Henderson of Dare County
Schools will address the graduating class
at Chowan Friday. Principal J. P.
Snipes will give the diplomas.
Belinda Perry and Charles Asbell,
valedictorian and salutatorian respective
ly, will also address the group.
Supt. Mayo will be principal speaker
at the D. F. Walker finals.
Grace Brothers, valedictorian and
James Reddick 111, salutatorian, will
also appear on the program.
athlete in football and basketball. The six-WCDJ award winners are
shown in the picture at right with Pat Flanagan. Left to right are: Mike
Overton, Rusty Bootwright, Flanagan, Danny Hassell, Thomas Willis, John
Barrow and Brian Twiddy. Those who lettered in all sports for the first
time were aso recognised.
Single Copy 10 Cents
board will be held at 8 P. M., at John
A. Holmes High School.
Chowan County voters on May 16 ap
proved 4-1 merger of the two administra
tive units in the county.
In addition to the selection of a chair
man and vice chairman, board members
are expected to discuss employment of
a superintendent to replace Hiram J.
Mayo who leaves July 1 to assume his
duties in Craven County. Several ap
plicants have been interviewed but no
action had been taken on hiring a super
intendent.
Under terms of the merger, the six
members of Edenton City School Board
and the five members of Chowan County
Board of Education will make up the
interm board. They will serve until
1971. In the fall of 1970 a seven-mem
ber school board will be elected. Four
members will come from First Township
and one from each of the remaining
three townships.
Dr. Edward G. Bond is chairman of
the city board and O. C. Long, Jr., is
chairman of the county board.
Plans for merger of the administrative
units have been discussed here for ap
proximately 18 months and the vote on
May 16 brought it to fruition.
Legion Play Set
American Legion Junior Baseball re
turns to this area Saturday night when
the Edward G. Bond team meets Rocky
Mount at Hicks Field. Game time is 8
P. M.
W. E. Mills, commander of the local
post, said Coach David Bumgarner of
John A. Holmes High School will direct
the team sponsored by the Edenton post.
Edenton will be in League One, Area
One with teams from Ahoskie, Apex,
Raleigh, and Rocky Mount.
Next week’s schedule for the locals,
includes a game with Apex on Monday
night, Raleigh Tuesday night and Rocky
Mount Friday night, all at Hicks Field.
The team will travel to Ahoskie Satur
day.
Continued on Pace 4