TORNADO—Jasper Hassell’s yard was littered with logs on
Thursday, March 29 after a tornado touched down near his home
located at the Shepard Long Beach Farm the night before. His
house and his cousin’s house (in the distance) were damaged when
the storm pushed trees on top of them. t
Chowan County Escapes Severe Tornado Damage
By Ron Anderson
Chowan County was one of the
more fortunate counties in Nor
theastern North Carolina last week
when a series of tornadoes ripped
through the area.
No injuries or deaths occured
when a twister touched down in the
Nixon’s Beach-Greenfield area on
Wednesday, March 28. It is believ
ed that this was the same twister
MM—MOin in in _
that later caused thousands of
dollars of damage and took the life
of Teresa Ann Miller, 28, in Snug
Harbor.
In neighboring Gates County tor
nadoes were responsible for two
deaths and over $3 million worth of
damage.
Most of the damage here was in
the wooded areas near Greenfield
and Nixon’s Beach. But two houses
on the Shepard-Long Beach Farm
near Nixon’s Beach were damaged
by the twister.
Jasper Hassell and his wife, Bet
sy, live in one of those houses and
were home when the tornado touch
ed down at approximately 10:50
P.M. on Wednesday.
“We were sitting, watching TV
when the tornado struck and the
current went off,” said Mr. Hassell.
Kyy.
DAMAGE—A lot of damage was done to Jasper Hassell’s house as a result of the tornado that touch
ed down near his home on Wednesday, March 28. Fortunately neither he nor his wife Betsy were
injured in the storm.
When the storm hit trees crack
ed and fell everywhere. Some of
them fell on top of the Hassells’
house.
.“During the storm,” Hassell
said, “A 2’x8’ board off the pier
went through a wall in the house in
to the bedroom. Also, a pine limb
was stuck in the side of the hcpise
like an arrow.”
But ironically, “There was an
ashtrayon the screen porch that
didn’t even move,” he said.
Understandably, the Hassells
didn’t get any sleep that night. And
although they didn’t have any elec
tricity through the night, they did
have phone service because of
underground cables.
They were able to contact their
friend Tom Shepard. At 6:30 A.M.
on Thursday Shepard and another
man walked down the road to the
Hassell’s house to begin removing
the trees from the house and clean
ing up the yard. They had to walk
because the road to the Hassells’
house was covered with fallen
trees.
The men worked through the
afternoon cleaning up the mess at
Hassell’s house and the house next
door owned by Hassell’s cousin
Bobby Shepard of Raleigh.
By 4:00 P.M. Thursday Electrical
workers had managed to restore
electricity to the Hassell residence.
“The Albemarle Electric Member
ship Corporation was very very ef
ficient,” said Hassell.
The Chowan County Tax Depart
ment and the County EMS have
Continued On Page 4
Stormy Weather
The words “natural disaster” are
inadequate to describe the
magnitude of the storm that hit the
East Coast on Wednesday of last
week. One of the 19 tornadoes bare
ly kissed Chowan County.
The- property loas/*f»in and
- saMattrtHsBjfe
experienced property and physical
damage. The fallout from what is
probably the worst storm to hit
North Carolina in 100 years will be
of long duration.
A total of the death and destruc
tion of this storm is still being
counted. The latest figures showed
more than 50 deaths, thosands in
jured and in excess of $100-million
in property damage. Among the
dead was a young mother at Snug
Harbor in neighboring Perquimans
County.
Those who meander along the
Public Parade escaped death or
critical injury. However, in the Nix
on Beach area of Yeopim Township
an estimated $250,000 in property
damage was reported after on the
savage tornalV , set down along
Albemarle Sound.
PTP-pressure, tension and pain
-is not limited to those directly suf
fering from natural disaster. The
people intimately involved surely
suffer more than others but the hurt
is felt all around.
Among the things which graphic
' ly told the story was a message on
TV late Sunday. People were being
asked to assist farmers in Lenoir
County by helping pick up debris so
that Spring planting could move
forward. As tractors were seen in
the field along the Publii Parade
this week, it drove home the fact
that while things may be bad, they
could be a lot worse.
So long as we are a nation of car
ing people, when the demands are
tough we’ll get tougher. Stormy
weather-in any fprip-caq be
destructive. But as Hose Kennedy
is quoted as saying, even the birds
sing after a storm.
A cloud of uncertainty hangs over
the 1964 primary election for State
Senate along the Public Parade.
This is costly in terms of money and
voter interest.
(ji«t month the N.C. General
it** .
court. Affected were the First and
S**—J
Volume XLVIII-No. 62
Edenton, North Carolina. Thursday, April 5, 1984
Single Copies 25 Cents
Residents Express Dismay Over Proposed Sewage Treatment Site
By Maru Amburn
Residents of northwest Chowan
County packed the meeting roorh at
-the-Mumeipai Building .Tueptfay
night to present a petition to the
Town Council expressing their
displeasure with the proposed loca
tion of the town’s sewage treatment
facility.
Although the Town of Edenton
has not yet ruled out other possible
sites, at their regular monthly
meeting on March 13 they focused
plans for the proposed site on the
C.H. Small farm on Mexico Road.
« The council approved apraisal
bte.onlheSmaU?iteTW»ym^l
ana last month authorized
representatives of L.E. Wooten
Company to continue detailed soils,
topographic and environmental
study on the Mexico Road site.
In his letter to council members,
A1 Everson, Chairman of the Ad
vance Community Concerned
Citizens Coalition, asked the coun
cil to consider the petition signed by
Center Hill-Crossroads Fire Dept.
Celebrates Its 25th Anniversary
Over 175 people gathered at the
Center-Hill-Crossroads Volunteer
Fire Department on Friday, March
30 to celebrate the department’s
twenty-fifth anniversary.
The department was begun in
1959 when members of the Chowan
Ruritan Club saw the need for a
department in the area. Previous
ly the Edenton Fire Department
handled all the calls from that sec
tion of the county. Since the Center
Hill department was begun, it has
saved many lives and buildings.
The first meeting of record was
on September 15, 1959 at the
Chowan High School auditorium.
At that meeting a motion was
made and carried to purchase-a
piece of land from John F. White,
and erect a building 34’ by 28’ with
a build-up roof to house a pumper.
and a tank truck. Also, there was to
be room enough for a desk and a
chair. 1635 of th 1,885 needed to
erect the building was raised at this
meeting.
At an April 17,1960 meeting the
first officers were elected. They
were: Garland Asbell, Chief; W.H.
Hare, Ass. Chief; and Troy Toppin
and Marvin Evans, Captains. Also
at that meeting, the members
agreed to meet on the third Monday
of each month, a practice that has
continued for 25 years.
The department was organized
for 2 years before it got a fire truck.
The first truck used by the
Department was a used Chevrolet
from the Department of Transpor
tation purchased in January, lttl.
Joe Conger donated a tank to p ut
on the truck to carry water to. A
new water pump was purchased te
fill out the tank and a fire or twi
was fought with the water carrier
From these humble beginnings
•* •-v. '‘i-'-r->■ • • r-*.
the department has worked its way
up to owning two pumpers and a
water carrier.
The Department now has 31
members. It started out with 22
charter members and seven of
those are still members of the
department including Frank V.
White, who is the current Fire
Chief.
Commissioners
Express Concern
By Maru Amburn
County Commissioners Monday
voted to send a letter to Edenton
Mayor Hoy Harrell expressing
their concern that all available sites
be evaluated before action is taken
on a sewage treatment facility
location.
The commissioners added that
the correspondence will suggest
that the town select an appropriate
area for the site that is suitable to
the long-range.benefit of the coun
ty. Alton Elmore, Chairman of
the Commissioners, told the ova* 25
Advance Community Coalition
members in attendance to request
support from the commissioners
that he had taken State Director of
the Envirbnmental Management
Commission Robert Helms on a
tour of the C. H. Small site earlier
in the day.
Citizens Coalition Chairman A1
Everson showed the commis
sioners a petition signed by over 700
citizens who oppose the location of
the land application facility on the
Small farm on Mexico Road.
The citizens urged the commis
•{ simms to support their efforts to
relocate the proposed location to a
less inhabited area. •
Continued On Page 4
723 citizens that would be affected
should the proposed land applica
tion treatment facility be located at
the Small site.
Everson emphasized that, “the
citizens signing the petition are all
of voting age and reside within a
two - mile radius of the proposed
site...”
Windsor attorney Steve Burch,
representing the citizens group
read a letter from Charles C. Har
ris, pastor of Macedonia Church,
expressing his opposition to the pro
posed site.
According to their April 3 letter
to the council, Advance communi
ty citizens feel ttiat'irtdhddnai well
water and county water would be
contaminated by seepage from the
facility. The letter also notes that
seepage would infiltrate the water
of Pembroke Creek which boarders
the site and the Chowan River
which is one-half mile from the pro
posed location.
Wmmmm i i mmmmmmmm. mmmmmmmmmmmmmm
COMMUNITY COALITION—Over 180 citizens gathered at the
Municipal Building Tuesday night to oppose the proposed sewage
treatment site in Northwest Chowan County. Steve Burch, of Wind
sor (left), Attorney for the Advance Community Concerned Citizens
group, prepares for the Town Council meeting as A1 Everson (mid
dle) and Edsell Waff (right) discuss the proposed C. H. Small site.
Superior Court Cases Are Heard
Chowan County Superior Court
was in session last week, Monday
through Friday. The Honorable
Elbert S. Peel, Jr. of Williamston
presided over the criminal term.
Howard Holley, Jr. plead guilty
to reckless driving after drinking.
He was sentenced to 90 days
suspended; placed on unsupervis
ed probation for one year; fined $50
and cost of court and is to attend
Drug-Alcohol School.
Carolyn Ruth Gillaim plead guil
ty to misdemeanor common law
forgery. She was sentenced to 8
months in The Department of Cor
rections suspended ; is to remain on
supervised probation for 3 years
and is to pay cost of court and
restitution.
Naomi T. Twine plead quilty to 17
counts of Employment Security
Law Violation. The cases were con
solidated for judgement and a
prayer for judgement was entered
upon payment of cost of court in 1
case. She had previously made
restitution to the Employment
Security Commission.
Bobby Alexander Wright, Jr.
plead guilty to 2 counts of felonious
breaking and entering. The two
counts were consolidated for judge
ment and he was committed to 3
years in the NC Department of Cor
rections he is eligible for an im
mediate work release). As a condi
tion of release he must pay
restitution.
Desi Eulish Pierch was found
guilty of hit and run and property
damage. He was sentenced to 90
Continued On Page t
“Future development in this area
would come to a halt, and this
would impede the future growth of
Edenton, realizing that other areas
around Edenton are not feasible for
expansion,” Everson said in his
letter.
Mayor Roy Harrell encouraged
the citizens to attend the April 26
public hearing where their ques
tions and concerns could be aired
before engineers and consultants
who would have the answers to
their questions. Harrell also invited
concerned citizens to participate in
a tour of the Woodville land ap
plication faciliity this Saturday.
Advance community leaders urg
ed council members to take every
possible location in the county into
consideration and to select the site
that would affect less people and
still retain the potential growth and
health of the citizens.
Unemployment
Shows Decline
RALEIGH —February
unemployment rates decreased in
81 percent of the state’s counties.
Rates increased in 15 counties and
remained the same in four accor
ding to Glenn Jernigan, chairman
of the N.C. Employment Security
Commission (ESC). The figures
released today reflect a signilicant
drop in unemployment which was
7.6 in February, down from 8.1 per
cent in January.
Jernigan said, “Equally positive
is the fact that employment was up
14.400 over January 1984 and up
119.400 over February 1983. More
than 2.7 million North Carolinians
were employed in February 1984.
That was the highest level for any
February during the past 15 years.
Counties with the lowest
unemployment rates were Orange,
3.6 percent (1,700 unemployed);
Wake, 3.7 percent (6,900)
unemployed); Durham, 4.1 percent
(3,820 unemployed); Montgomery,
4.3 percent (470 unemployed);
Gates, 4.4 percent (150
unemployed); and Watauga, 5.1
percent (880 unemployed).
Chowan County’s February
unemployment rate was 7.2 percent
(350 unemployed).
Double didgit unemployment was
recorded in only 37 counties.
Highest were Swain, 36.7 percent
(1,300 unemployed); Tyrell, 23.5
percent (380 unemployed);
l uiiunued On Page 4