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•Chowan Plagued By Murders, Robbery
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The Nerve
The Internal Revenue Service
got caught in a bind this year with
W-2 forms turning up in short
supply. The problem has ap
parently been corrected but it has
created some ill will along the
Public Parade.
The U.S. Post Office passes out
tax forms, both federal and state,
as a convenience to patrons. When
people started yelling for W-2
forms, Postmaster James M.
Bond got busy.
Postmaster Bond contacted IRS
in Greensboro. He was given a
number in AUanta, then another
somewhere else. When he didn’t
get results he wrote a letter.
Soon the package containing the
W-2 forms arrived. The IRS had
the nerve to send them by United
Parcel Service.
Going About Change
As we alluded to last week, there
are some changes taking place in
the historic Leary Building on
Cheap Side. Additional equipment
has been installed in the shop in an
effort to make our operation more
efficient as well as produce a
better product, but not
necessarily in that order.
A third unit has been installed to
our News King printing press
which gives us 12-page black and
white capacity along with
capabilities of printing eight pages
with color, and ultimatley four
pages with process color.
Like most everything else, it
just didn’t happen. It was certain
ly not a one-man show. Without the
fullest cooperation of a number of
people meandering along the Pub
lic Parade and elsewhere it
could not have been possible.
We returned from Galax, Va.,
only to discover that it would “cost
a fortune” to get a trucker to
deliver a 5,000 pound cargo the
3330 miles to Edenton. At about the
same time we learned that our
“mechanic out-of residence”,
who masquerades as an afternoon
daily publisher and state
legislator, invited himelf for the
weekend.
With this information, the pres
sure of getting the printing unit
out of Southwestern Virginia early
in the week had diminished con
siderably. It gave relief to the
master of the left hand screw
that’s us when it comes to
machines time to muster
Continued on Page 4
Kehayes Academy Nominee
' WASHINGTON D.C. - Sen.
Jesse Helms announced today that
he has offered the name of Ernest
Gregory Kehayes for a com
petitive nominaton to the U.S.
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SCENE OF CRlME—Pictured here is the cluttered interior of
the rural store in which Les Jones was killed during a robbery
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WHERE MERCHANT DlED—Deputy Sheriff Melvin Evans
kneels by the counter where the victim’s body was found by a
young grandson.
THE CHOWAN HERALD
Volume XIV No. 6
EC AS Funds Sought
A search is underway for money
to keep Edenton-Chowan Alter
native School in operation next
year when federal funds cease,
according to Mrs. Clara Boswell,
director.
For the past two years the school
has received a total of SIBO,OOO for
Restricted Permit
A state permit that will restrict
CF Industries near Tunis to
discharging no more nitrogen
the riyer than it takes out of the
river has been issued by the
N.C. Division of Environmental
Management.
The permit extends the
provisions of an earlier
permit under which CF Industries
could discharge an average of 42
pounds of nitrogen each day. This
is die average amount of nitrogen
mixed into tl ( e river water which
CF withdraws each day.
The permit also is restrictive in
that it’s for 10 months rather
than the normal five years.
In a letter to CF Industries,
Division of Environmental
Management Director A.F.
Mcßorie said: “The purpose of
Continued on Page 4
Merchant Marine Academy for
the class entering July, 1979.
Ernie, a senior at Frederick
Military Academy in Portsmouth,
Va., is the son qf Mr. and Mrs.
Byron P. Kehayes of 113 Pem
broke Circle, Edenton, and is the
grandson of Mr. and Mrs. Ernest
Kehayes, also of Edenton.
Sen. Helms said, “Ernid has
demonstrated impressive
determination and ability in
athletic and extracurricular
pursuits, and has an outstanding
academic record. I believe be
stands a very good chance of
securing an appointment from the
academy. I know that his family
and friends are just as proud of
Ernie as I am, and Join me in
wising him the very best of suc
cess in pursuit of a career of
professional military service to
our Country.”
Edenton, North Carolina, Thursday, February 8, 1979
the Law Enforcement Assistance
Agency, with the county’s cost
being SIO,OOO and like amount
coming from the state.
Mrs. Boswell discussed two
possible sources of funds, saying
each mandate an active Youth
Task Force. In order to ac
complish this commissioners
appointed such a group.
Named were: Mrs. Hazel
Elliott, Dr. M. Bernard Atkinson,
Sheriff Troy Toppin, Capt. C.H.
Williams, Mrs. Mary Horton,
Mrs. Lola Bass, Wayland Spivey,
Rev. J.L.Fenner,Sr.,RalphV. Cole
and Mrs. Boswell, who was
designated as temporary chair
man.
An organizational meeting has
been set for February 20.
County Manager Eddie Dick
reminded the board that the state
requires such a resource for stat
us offenders and described the
Alternative school as the best to
meet the state mandate.
Mrs. Luella Sellers, chairman
Continued on Page 4
Sale Approved
Final steps are being taken for
the sale of the Edenton United
Methodist Church property on
North Broad Street to the U.S.
Postal Service. The price is
$72,500.
Members voted unanimously
Sunday to sell the property to be
used for parking. Earlier the sale
had been approved by the trustees
and Dr. Richard Hardin, chair
man, made the presentation at a
called Charge-Church Conference.
Rev. Norwood Jones of
Elizabeth. City, district superin
tendent, conducted the con
ference. Earlier he delivered the
sermon at the morning worship
service.
Rev. Richard R. Blankenhora is
pastor of the church. Construction
is progressing on Phase I of the
church’s building program. L.F.
Ambon, Jr., building committee
chairman, says Edenton Con
struction Company is expected to
have the Education Building,
including a fellowship hall, ready
for occupancy by Easter Sunday.
Consolidation
Approval Fails
Before Board
Consolidation of the 11th and
12th grades in Edenton-Chowan
Schools was buried Monday night
by the board of education that also
sent to a study committee a
previously approved proposal for
a second school bond referendum.
Dr. John Dunn, superintendent,
explained the 11-12 merger and
said he could not recommend it
“in all good faith as a viable plan
for consolidation.” It would
require a teaching principal at
Chowan as well as leave the school
without a librarian and guidance
counselor.
Mrs. Emily G. Amburn, who last
month made a motion to steer the
board toward another bond
referendum, called for the
chairman to appoint a study
Continued on Page 4
Single Copies 15 Cents
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MEETS WITH GOVERNOR C.A. Phillips, right, chairman
of Chowan County commissioners, is shown with Gov. James B.
Hunt, Jr., at an hour-long meeting to discuss algae in the Chowan
River. Ten Albemarle Area counties were represented at the
meeting held in Raleigh Wednesday of last week.
River Meeting ‘Disappointing’
Northeastern North Carolina
counties are on the verge of em
ploying a private engineering firm
to gather evidence of point sources
of pollution of the Chowan River.
This tactic has surfaced as a
viable alternative since last
week’s “disappointing” meeting
in Raleigh with Gov. James B.
Hunt, Jr., and Sec. Howard N. Lee
of the Department of Natural
Resources & Community
Development
At Wednesday hour-long
meeting, C.A. Phillips, chairman
of Chowan County commissioners
and spokesman for nine other
counties and two municipalities,
questioned the state’s availability
to resources necessary to take
positive steps to clean up the river
immediately.
Gov. Hunt’s suggestion that
each county bordering on the river
and Albemarle Sound form a
“battle plan” to attack the
problem was called “disap
pointing” by Phillips.
Phillips said the top echelon of
state government is well aware of
the problem, but “I am not certain
they even yet understand the
gravity of the problem,” he said at
Monday’s meeting of Chowan
Comity commissioners.
“We need to get the fuzzy talk
out...and deal with the real
issues,” he continued. He said this
could best be done by getting a
Suspects Elude Officers
In Slaying Os Les Jones
Crime in Chowan County and
Edenton has been rampant in the
past week with two homicides and
a break-in of a downtown business
keeping area law enforcement
officers on the run. Both
homicides were in Yeopim
Township, east of Edenton.
Les Jones, 61, a well-known
rural merchant, was killed in an
armed robbery on Wednesday
afternoon of last week.
George Murphy Daniels, 48, was
shot and killed early Tuesday
night in his home on Base Road
near Edenton Municipal Airport.
The break-in was at Griffin
Musicenter on South Broad Street
Monday night. Cash, records, a
tape deck and radio has been
reported missing.
County Board Posts Reward
Chowan County commissioners will pay SSOO for information
from anyone other than law enforcement officers who contribute
information leading to the arrest and conviction of the Negro men
allegedly involved in the robbery-murder of Lester Augustus
Jones on January 31. Here are composites prepared by an artist
of the State Bureau of Investigation on descriptions given by two
unidentified witnesses. Confidential information should be given
to Sheriff Troy Toppin or his designee at his office on East King
Street.
Pilgrimage Set April 20 - 22
The Biennial Pilgrimage of
Colonial Edenton and Coun
tryside will be held on April 20, 21,
and 22.
Block tickets will include all
public buildings open year round,
churches, private homes and
gardens. Adult block tickets will
be $7 and students $2. Single
tickets for each home are $1 for
adults, and 50 cents for students.
private engineering firm to work
with the state in getting to the root
of the problem.
J. Gilliam Wood of Edenton,
chairman of the NR&CD board,
was also dissatisfied with the
meeting. “We’re still hearing the
same thing and another com
mittee isn’t the answer,” he said.
This was in response to Lee’s
statement that a technical com
mittee of the best minds in the
Continued on Page 4
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FUN IN THE SNOW Thsi quartet appeared to be enjoying a
day out of school Wednesday as they romped in the first real snow
of the winter. They either had an enemy across the street, or
maybe they were aiming at Luke Amburn, The Herald
photographer who captured this shot.
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Sheriff Troy Toppin said
Wednesday morning that no
suspects have been arested in the
Jones robbery-murder. Fred
Edward Keeter, Jr., 28, 205 South
Granville Street, is being held on a
second degree murder charge in
the Daniels death. His bond has
been set at $50,000.
Chowan County commissioners
have posted a SSOO reward for
information leading to the arrrest
and conviction of the person or
persons involved in the armed
robbery murder of Jones.
At the same time, Gov. James
B. Hunt, Jr., is expected to an
nounce at any time a $5,000 state
reward for information to break
the case.
SBI Agent O.L. Wise of
Continued on Page 4
Tour hours will be from 10 A.M.
to 5 P.M. on Friday and Saturday.
Sunday hours 1 P.M. to 5 P.M.
Hayes Plantation, the home of
former Gov Samuel Johnston
(1787-1789), and first U.S. Senator
from North Carolina, is among
the historic homes which will be
open during the pilgrimage.
Other private homes on tour this
year will include; Sycamore
(1725), the house restored and
moved to new location by present
owner; Coffield House (ca. 1726),
previously a boarding house until
restored by present owners;
Wessington House (1850), listed in
the National Register of Historic
Places and has been described as
the “first Villa in the Albemarle”
Beverly Hall (1810), a former
state bank building; Jubilee Farm
(1853), ante-bellum home with
double galleries front and rear;
Mulberry Hill, a plantation
established in 1684 on the
Albemarle Sound.
Also, open to the public wil be
the lovely Pembroke Hall Gardens
(1840) and the Powell House
Gardens (1897). Os special interest
will be Deerfield Wine Cellars,
Inc., one of North Carolina’s two
licensed wineries, where the
public will be welcome to vist the
winery and tasting room.
Public buildings include the
James Iredell House ; 1759), home
of the first associate Justice of the
U.S. Sup"eme Court; The Cupola
House 71725), noted for its
Jacobean architecture and
Georgian interior, also its newly
finished garden.
The Barker House (ca. 1782), the
home of Penelope Barker who
according to tradition presided at
the famed Edenton Tea Party in
1774; Saint Paul’s Episcopal
Continued on Page 4