Strange Opposition
One of the strangest cries of
“wolf” coming out of the current
controversy over beefing up
medical manpower in North
eastern North Carolina is coming
from spokesmen from at least two
general hospitals in the area. And
it ain’t right!
“The project as I understand it
would create an overlapping of
services and might hamper our
recruitment efforts,” Jean
Combs, Bertie County hospital
administrator was quoted as
saying this week.
And over in Ahoskie, John
Blanton, Roanoke-Chowan
Hospital administrator, repor
tedly said for print: “We think the
government could better spend
money in some other fashion. We
don’t feel the plan would improve
the quality of health services.”
While physicians along the
Public Parade have been in the
forefront of opposition to an ap
plication by Northeastern Rural
Health Development Association’s
for a federal grant to establish
three satellite clinics in the area,
no public position has beeri taken
by Chowan Hospital.
Physicians have expressed
more concern over plans of the
privately financed Albemarle
Family Practice, Ltd., just across
the line in Perquimans County,
than in the guts of NRHDA’s
application.
The two are related, and then
they are not related. The private
venture must stand on its own
bottom. Sb must the satellite
clinics. Both can remain erect
with a lesser degree of effort
• through cooperation.
This area is fortunate to have a
physician and a dentist willing to
not only be bold, but gamble on the
future. Without such medical
support clinics which are so badly
needed in the hamlets of our
country are doomed from the
, outset.
§ The Outer Banks Health Center
»at Nags HfeaaTs a case in point.
There were great expectations for
the federally financed facility. But
when physician support was lost
because of bad politics, the facility
turned into something less than a
good first aid station.
NRHDA’s board, composed
entirely of consumers, and Drs.
Clement Lucas and Richard N.
Hines, Jr., are determined this
won’t be repeated in this section of
the Albemarle. The key to the
situation is medical manpower,
which NRHDA is assured.
Maybe along the way some
sacred cows will be gored. Area
hospitals have no right to be
among the first to cry “wolf”
because they aren’t among the
most healthy institutions around.
The Duke Endowment reported
that between October 1,1975, and
September 30,1976, the acute unit
at Chowan Hospital had a 74 per
cent occupancy rate; Roanoke-
Chowan, 83 per cent; Martin
General in Williamston, 67 per
cent; Bertie County, 68 per cent
and Tyrrell, 48 per cent.
During the same period
Albemarle Hospital in Elizabeth
City enjoyed 98 per cent oc
cupancy. From this you can see
where the doctors are.
VEPCO Pays
Virginia Electric and Power
Company has presented checks
totaling $1,305,676 in payment of
1977 real estate and personal
property taxes to the county, city
and town tax collectors in the 22
counties that Vepco serves in
North Carolina.
' The largest check of $313,798
went to Northampton County.
Chowan County received $15,157.
The Town of Edenton received
$2,306.
i Vepco’s 1977 North Carolina
state and local taxes are
•gfeiiated to total $7,552,000 in
eluding $1,316,000 for property
| taws and $8,061,000 for taxes on
gross receipts.
Bloodmobile Monday At Edenton Baptist Church Fellowship Hall 12:00 Noon
Til 6:00 P. M. Quota 150 Pints
PUBIC: fa
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MILL DESTROYED - Fire completely destroyed the M.G. Brown Company mill at the corner of
Albania and Dickerson Street early Thursday evening. Through the alertness of members of
Edenton Fire Department the blaze was contained in the main building. (Staff Photos by Amburn)
Local Firemen
Contain Mill
Facility Blaze
An electrical defect probably
started the fire early Thursday
evening which destroyed the
millwork building at M.G. Brown
Company on West Queen Street.
Alertness of members of Edenton
Fire Department kept the blaze
from spreading to two nearby
buildings, one less than six feet
from the fire.
Fire Chief Luther C. Parks said
Wednesday morning that in
vestigation uncovered “evidence
that strengthens our suspicion of
an electrical defect.” He said the
origin of the fire was in the center
of the building where the heating
plant and main electrical
distribution panel was located.
Preliminary estimates of
damage to the frame structure
was placed at $50,000. No estimate
of damage to■ the naaahinary and--.
other contents was readily
available.
Chief Parks was across the
street at Mrs. Boswell’s
Restaurant when the alarm was
sounded at 6:27 P.M. “I knew from
the time I got to the door that the
building was doomed,” he recalls.
When firefighters arrived, ef
forts were made to contain the
blaze. A wall of water was
Continued on Page 4
Sales Figures
Gross retail sales in the 10
Albemarle Area counties in Oc
tober, 1977, exceeded $34.7-
million, according to a report
released by the State Department
of Revenue. Sales in Chowan
County were $4,065,007.
Throughout North Carolina,
sales were $2.2-billion with the
food group accounting for $5lO
- and the automotive group,
$430-million.
Gross sales in area counties in
addition to Chowan were:
Camden, $798,815; Currituck,
$2,990,420; Dare, $6,162,081;
Gates, $1,453,332; Hyde,
$1,215,858; Pasquotank,
$12,334,634; Perquimans,
$2,373,033; Tyrrell, $747,720; and
Washington, $3,944,754.
Hertford Clinic Is Leased
Chowan Medical Center, P.A., has recently signed a lease on the
Hertford Medical Clinic, previously operated by Dr. Robert Hodgson.
Dr. Richard Hardin, president of the Edenton corporation of physicians,
signed a three-year lease on the property.
Hie members of Chowan Medical Center have been actively recruiting
for the Hertford Clinic over the past three months. Thus far, five doctors
have shown interest in the position by visiting Edenton and Hertford.
“Hopefully, a doctor will be procured in the near future as a full time
physician for Hertford with medical back up by the established Edenton
group and the facilities of Chowan Hospital, Inc., ” according to a >
spokesman.
AO previous patient charts will remain in the Hertford Clinic. For the
interim, until a doctor is obtained, patients should contact the physician
of their choice about any medical problems or contact their pharmacist,
who in turn will contact the physician of the patient’s choice about refills
on their medications.
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Volume XLIV—No. 1. Edenton, North Carolina, Thursday, January 5, 1978 Single Copies 15 Cents.
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AFTER THE FIRE Here is what the M.G. Brown Company mill looked like after it had been
razed by fire early Thursday evening. At the far right can be seen a storage building and the retail
sales outlet both of which were saved by the alertness of local firemen.
N. C. Congressional Club
To Honor Sen. Jesse Helms
The N.C. Congressional Club
will honor U.S. Sen. Jesse A.
Helms with a dinner at the
National Guard Armory in
Edenton on January 20 at 8 P.M.
Sen. Helms, one of America’s
leading conservative spokesmen,
has been instrumental in efforts to
Sen. Jesse A. Helms
- • -« ii'iffirjiaif'
retain U.S. jurisdiction of the
Panama Canal. A critic of
wasteful spending by Congress,
Senator Helms has returned to the
Federal Treasury over SBOO,OOO
allocated to him for use in his
Senate office during the past five
years.
The N.C. Congressional Club is a
bi-partisan organization of over
2,000 members across the state.
Sen. Helms is the honorary
chairman of the club, which
stands for principles of individual
freedom, the preservation of the
free enterprise system, and
fiscally sound government.
Tickets for the barbeque and
chicken dinner are available for $5
each at both branches of the Bank
of North Carolina in Edenton, at
Southgate Cleaners in Elizabeth
City, and at Hertford Hardware in
Hertford. Student tickets are $1
each.
AFP Election Set
New officers of Alliance For
Progress, Inc., will be elected at a
meeting set for January 5 at
Angler’s Cove Restaurant in
Perquimans County. Riley S.
Monds, Jr., chairman, said the
business meeting will begin at 6:30
P.M.
Also, Monds said several
proposals will' be reviewed at the
meeting with comments taken
from board members.
Richard Baker is executive
director of the six-county
educational consortium which is
headquartered in Powellsville.
The service area includes: Bertie,
Chowan, Gates, Hertford, Martin
and Perquimans counties. -
N. C. Medical Society
Plays Hands Off
Efforts have been made to in
volve the N.C. Medical Society in
legal means of blocking a federal
grant being sought by the North
eastern Rural Health Develop
ment Association which would
establish three satellite clinics in
the Albemarle Area.
In a memorandum dated
December 23, 1977, Dr. E. Harvey
Estes, Jr., of Durham, president
of the society, made mention of
'“informal suggestions” to involve
NCMS. “This does not seem ap
propriate, and we have made no
moves in this direction,” he wrote.
He further stated that if the
proposed clinics fail organized
medicine could get a black eye, if
they are opposed by physicians in
the area.
The Project Review Committee
of Eastern Carolina Health
No Surprises
With Election
Filing Underway
No surprises developed Monday
when filing began for May
primaries and election in Chowan
County.
Mrs. Lena M. Leary, veteran
clerk of Chowan County Superior
Court, and Sheriff Troy Toppin
were the first to file for re-election
with the board of elections. Both
will be seeking four-year terms.
Neither Mrs. Leary nor Sheriff
Toppin made a formal statement
about their candidacy but one is
Continued on Page 4
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INVOLVED IN FATAL ACCIDEh f Shown here is the right
side of the truck involved in a multi-vehicle accident near Hert
ford which resulted in the death of Dana Darnell, seven, of
Edenton. The car in which she was a passenger collided with the
truck at about the fuel tank. (Photo Courtesy Elizabeth City
Police Department.)
Systems Agency will conduct a
public hearing on the proposal
tonight (Thursday) at 7 P.M. i
the auditorium of Perquimans
County High School in Hertford.
The Chowan Herald and other
area newspapers last week
printed a news release which
stated that“competition” was
among the reasons physicians and
pharmacists in the area oppose
the proposal. It has been deter
mined that this was in error.
The competition aspect entered :
the picture, according to an out-of
town reporter who attended a
meeting in Greenville on
December 1, when supporters of a
rural health clinic in Gates County
spoke in opposition to the NRHDA
plan.
Fear was expressed that the
Continued on Page 4
Accident
T akes Life
Os Child
The seven-year-old daughter of
a prominent Edenton family died
in a Norfolk. Va., hospital Wed
nesday morning of injuries
received in a multi-vehicle ac
cident near Hertford last Friday.
Dana Darnell, daughter of Mr.
and Mrs. James E. Darnell,
Morgan Park, suffered the fatal
injuries when a car in which she
was riding with her grandmother.
Mrs. E.L. Hollowell, 13 Queen
Anne, was in collision with a truck
about 3:45P.M.. twomilesnorth of
Hertford on U.S. 17. Darnell is
president of Chowan Veneer
Company, Inc.
Mrs. Hollowell, who was
seriously injured, is confined to
Albemarle Hospital in Elizabeth
City.
James Waverly Belch, Route 1,
Tyner, driver of the tractor-trailer
rig involved in the mishap, was
treated at the Elizabeth City
hospital and released.
State Trooper Y.Z. Newberry
investigated the accident which
resulted in the death. The 1974
Mercedes Mrs. Hollowell was
driving was destroyed by fire.
The investigation showed that
Belch, driving for Estes Motor
Lines, headed north when he
slowed for some traffic ahead of
him. His rig jack-knifed into ihe
southbound lane and into the
Hollowell vehicle. A third car, a
Continued on Page 4