Puhlic Parade
Still Alive
Northeastern Rural Health
Development Association, Inc-,
may be down but by no means can
be counted out. The agency has
been more or less living on
borrowed time since October 1,
1979. Now life has been extended to
May 31.
Determination by the board of
directors, now under the direction
of Walter L. White, Jr., appears to
be bearing fruit. Every week
NRHDA stays alive the greater
the chance of recovery; partial
recovery anyway.
There is now a thriving medical
and dental operation in Tyrrell
County. In the past three weeks
another medical and dental
satellite center has been added at
Colerain in Bertie County. A third
clinic is still on the horizon for
Perquimans County.
All of this has come about, in
cluding the addition of seven
physicians and dentists, because
of the unserved needs in North
eastern North Carolina. A spin
off is that Chowan Hospital has
become financially healthy and
expansion plans are being
discussed.
NRHDA may never again
receive a penny of federal
assistance for additional program
development. Nevertheless, the
dye has been cast and consumers
of health care are the
beneficiaries.
Mr. White said it adequately
Monday night, “...(we are) still
together and are going to fight,
not for ourselves but for people out
there who need and deserve the
services.”
It was on this concept that NRH
DA came into being. Regardless of
the epitath the good that has been
done overshadows mistakes made
during the organization’s infancy.
NRHDA has now grown up, is
strengthened by the past, and at
present is still alive.
Will It Last?
Well, we spent a couple' of days
last week in the Nation’s Capital
participating in the formation of
the National Extension Advisory
Council. Events ranged from a
visit with Secretary of Agriculture
Bob Bergland to a briefing by a
chief White House aide.
In between, representatives of
36 states from California to
Vermont set into motion an
organization which Dr. T. Carlton
Blalock predicted could be looked
on in 10 years as one of the
significant events in the history of
Extension. Dr. Blalock is state
director.
During a brief business session,
John Haas of Kansas was elected
chairman; Mrs. Marianne
Houston of New Hampshire, vice
chairman; L. F. Ambum, Jr., of
North Carolina, secretary; and
Mrs. Frances McConnell of
Colorado, a member of the
Executive Committee.
Sec. Bergland was tardy for his
meeting with a delegation of 10
designated representatives. He
came to the meeting directly from
an earlier session with President
Carter.
We had an opportunity to put in
a plug for the masterful work of
Chowan County Extension Service
in putting together a county-wide
Continued On Page 4
USED IN SIMULATION - This 1967 Chevrolet Impala was
used in an accident simulation last Friday night at the 5-mile Y
during an exercise by Bdenton-Chowan Rescue Squad Unit l.
Squad the ‘^eme^ency 1 ’ were not told it
NRHDA Phasing Out Federal Grant
Ji
’.fjjjp ifjff
i i
ADMINISTRATOR RECOGNIZED Mrs. Lucille Drake of
Bertie County is shown with Andy Martin, administrator of
Northeastern Rural Health Development Association, after she
recognized him for his efforts on behalf of the association and the
consumers of health care in this area.
W w ■■ B S M S ■ B B w
Vol. XLVI - No. 14
Easter Monday
Schedule Is Set
Easter Monday will be observed
as a general holiday in Edenton.
Schools as well as all town and
county offices will be closed.
Some, though not all, businesses
and industries will also take the
day off.
Town trash collection will be
handled in East Edenton on
Tuesday, and West Edenton on
Wednesday. A meeting of the
Chowan County Commissioners
has been moved to Tuesday at 9
A.M. in fourth floor conference
room of the county office building.
Easter weekend will include a
teen dance, Saturday from 8 to 12
P.M. at the Edenton Jaycee
Building. r
Conventions Set
Chowan County Republicans
will elect delegates to the district
and state GOP conventions and
will hold their annual election of
officers, this Friday, in the old
county courthouse, reported Terry
Boyle, local party chairman. The
county convention will convene at
5 P.M.
Three delegates and three
alternates will be elected to the
district convention, April 19 in
Greenville, and the state con-
Continued on Page 4
Rescue Squad
The automobile speeding toward
the intersection of N.C. 37 and U.S.
17 at the 5-mile Y was carrying
five passengers, three women and
two men. The conversation was
casual and the driver listened with
half-interest as they approached
the rainslick and water pocked
junction. Though he could oc
casionally feel the steering go
mushy as the car cut through the
little puddles, the driver was un
worried. He had driven in worse
weather them this. It was no
Edenton, North Carolina, Thursday, April 3, 1980
Bob Scott Campaigns At Local Pig-Picking
Bob Scott wants to be governor
for another four-year term; then
that will be it. He feels now more
than at any other time he is the
right man for the job; a job
description which includes fiscal
responsibility, belt tightening and
compassion rather than com
puters.
It was a “new” Bob Scott who
dined on two of his favorites
politics and pork barbecue-with a
generous helping of both. After a
I 1
I 'Jl| 'i iiii . I i|| |j|i|i | i|M i.lj^B
I '"A
UmBI §i§ib
0m
V* <&■> ?*•
>. . # n
,; >f Jr- " s. t
mm< w ■
SCOTT STUMPS IN CHOWAN Bob Scott brought his cam
paign for the Democratic nomination for governor to Edenton
Tuesday night. The Edenton Jaycee Building hosted a pig-picking
sponsored by local Scott supporters as a fund-raising affair. Scott
is shown at center, above with W. T. Culpepper, left, an Edenton
attorney and Joe Nowell of Perquimans County.
Holds Convincing Exercise
problem.
One of the women in the back
seat made a comment, cracked a
little joke, and the driver laughed
as he glanced into his rear view
mirror. At that moment, he
allowed the car to drift right,
running partially onto the road
shoulder. Without thinking, he
jerked the sterring wheel sharply
to the left, and the car, instead of
righting itself, begun to spin out of
control.
Crossing the highway, the car
struck the grassy median
separating the two highways and
started rolling, doors flying open,
glass bursting and people
screaming. Two of the passengers
were hurled by the centrifugal
force out of the car. Hie other
three were still inside when the
car finally struck a light pole and
stopped..
That's the way the scenario for
real accident might be written,
and could have been just what
Harvey Williams and Bill Un
derkofler had in mind when they
set up the fake disaster, Friday
night. Williams is captain of the
Edenton-Chowan Rescue Squad
Unit One, and Underkofler is
regional coordinator of
Emergency Medical Services.
What they had put together was a
very realistic drill for members of
the squad.
The accident victims were
members of the Perquimans
■■■■■l
PAST AND PRESENT T. B. H. Wood, first chairman of the
board of Northeastern Rural Health Development Association,
Monday night presented a plaque to Walter L.White Jr., current
chairman, in recognition of White’s contribution to the system.
stump speech at Edenton Jaycee
Community Building Tuesday
night he got in line for seconds (or
was it thirds?) at the barbecue
cooker and was overheard saying
to an old political ally: “I’ll be the
first to admit that I have changed
since I was in there before.”
During his term he successfully
guided a government
reorganization program through
the General Assembly. Observers
say this has resulted in more state
County Rescue Squad, carefully
prepared to test the readiness and
capabilities of the men who would
respond to the emerngecy call
from Chowan Hospital.
Earlier in the day, Williams and
Underkofler had a wrecked car
towed from Albemarle Motor
Company to that intersection,
undoubtedly one of the worst in the
two counties. After bashing in the
top a little more for added ef
fectiveness, the wrecker wenched
the car onto its side, against the
pole.
In Hertford, Underkofler busied
himself with creating the “vic
tims”. Among the grisley injuries
he made was an open chest wound
on one of the men, complete with
spurting blood activated by a bulb
syringe in the man’s pocket. One
of the women had a compound
fracture of the thigh bone. The
broken ends of the largest bone in
the woman’s body protruded from
the flesh of her leg. It was neatly
created from a beef bone acquired
at S&R Supermarket. Another
“victim” had a spinal injury, as
evidenced by the lump on her
neck, and a laceration on her
forehead. The two thrown from the
auto where dressed in a variety of
lacerations and instructed to fake
shock.
A carefully guarded secret, only
a handful of people knew the
“accident” was a drill, Williams
/ ’onlinued on Page 4
Single Copies 20 Cents.
government instead of less. In his
remarks he noted that the state
payroll alone has swelled by 15,000
in the past three years alone.
Additional experience and a
closer touch with reality, he says,
has brought about the new Bob
Scott. “Things are moving our
way,” he told a small but en
thusiastic crowd generated from
Chowan, Perquimans and Gates
counties. “I see it changing every
day and this tide is indeed turned
in our way.”
He talked about many things at
the rally, but his most pointed
reference to the Hunt Ad
ministration come when he
charged that public education is
being run out of the Governor’s
Office. “No need to have a state
superintendent,” he said. And he
said a lot of the same things are
happening at other places. “I will
be supportive of the Council of
State because I think this should
be a shared government,” he
added.
In fielding questions, Scott said
he didn’t know enough about the
Currituck Outer Banks problem to
voice an opinion; and that a move
to run Vepco out of North Carolina
wouldn’t work. “Even if
everything was agreed to and
signed today it would take 10 to 15
years to get it consumated,” he
said of the utility issue.
On the campaign trail in the past
10 days to two weeks, he says, he is
finding it more difficult to get
people talking politics. “People
are worried, frustrated and
concerned,” he noted. “There is
deep seated frustration.”
Labeling it a “watershed”, he
said this is the most important
time in our history since World
War 11. “There are a new set of
conditions for the 1980 s, and this is
especially true with our young
Continued On Page 4
Census Bureau
Is Offering Jobs
The Bureau of Census is seeking
an unspecified number of persons
to employ for follow-up work
beginning April 14, reported Bill
Hodges of the Census Bureau’s
Greenville office. Those wishing to
apply for the job should contact
the chairmen of their respective
precincts or the Job Service in
Edenton, he said.
Follow-up work will include
contacting households who failed
to return a census questionnaire or
returned it incomplete.
Testing of prospective em
ployees will be handled on an
appointment basis, it was stated.
The chairmen of the county
precincts are: East Edenton. J. L.
Fenner; West Edenton, Alton
Elmore; Yeopim, Tom Palmer or
Dr. Clement Lucas; Rocky Hock,
Jack Evans: Wardville, H. Ivey
Ward; and Center llill, Helen
lloliowell.
Northeastern Rural Health
Development Association, Inc.,
has been given a 60-day extension
to phase out a federal grant. This
was announced Monday night at
an appreciation dinner for
directors who have worked with
the non-profit association for the
past two years.
While the new phase out date is
May 31, Walter L. White, Jr.,
board chairman, told a group at
Angler’s Cove Restaurant in
Perquimans County that the board
has every intent of remaining
active.
NRHDA was formed to provide
health services in Tyrrell,
Perquimans and Bertie counties.
Federal officials, acting on
recommendation of the Eastern
Carolina Health Service Agency,
has not renewed funding for NRH
DA. The decision is on appeal and
late Monday the decision was
made to extend the date to phase
out the agency.
Andy Martin, NRHDA ad
ministrator, said the agency is
responsible for expansion of the
health care delivery system in
Northeastern North Carolina.
Giving special thanks to board
members and Drs. C. Clement
Lucas, Jr., and Richard N. Hines,
Jr., Martin said “this has been a •
very successful organization” and
one yhich has caused much
change.
Earlier, White said represen
tatives of two counties not ad
dressed in the new grant ap
plication have expressed interest
in joining NRHDA to obtain health
services. He said the Colerain
satellite clinic is now in operation
with both medical and dental
services available. The next
target is Perquimans County.
Mayor Bill Cox of Hertford, a
board member, expressed his
appreciation for what has been
done and what continues to be
done in the field of primary health
care in Perquimans County.
White said despite opposition the
board should be proud of the fact
that “you have brought about
change” (in the health delivery
system). This has been, he added,
even after there has been a lot of
misunderstanding about grants
and what was being addressed. “I
don’t see how anyone could say we
duplicated services when there
was no service,” he added.
Dr. Hines said he and Dr. Lucas
have enjoyed a “great ex
perience” of working with a group
of folks who are on the receiving
end of health care.
Holiday Death
Toll Is Estimated
At 18 Fatalities
CHARLOTTE Approximately
18 people may die in traffic ac
cidents on North Carolina streets
and highways over the upcoming
Easter weekend, the N. C. State
Motor Club has estimated, unless
Tar Heel motorists change their
driving habits and use more
caution and common sense.
The state will count its toll over
a 78-hour period, from 6:00 P.M.
Friday, April 4 through midnight
Monday, April 7. Last year 20
persons lost their lives and 883
were injured during a similar
period, while 23 died in 1978. The
latest figures show a total of 26?
fatalities already this year despite
all efforts to keep the traveling
public aware of the causes con
tributing to highway deaths, and
how they can help reduce the
needless loss of life.
“Only the drivers themselves
can help reduce the morbid
figures showing the loss of life”,
Dr. John G. Frazier, 111, President
of the Statewide motor club said.
“The drivers must change their
driving habits. Good common
sense and consideration for others
would help greatly, along with the
observance of our traffic safety
rules”, Frazier stated.
It is every drivers personal
responsibility to drive safely.
Observe the 55-mph speed limit;
"55 I Believe" is the first big step
to increase highway safety. Don't
drive and drink; alcohol is a factor
in half the fatal accidents that
occur in North Carolina. I'sc
safety belts; it only takes half a
4 unturned tin I’ugf i