Volume XLX - No. 26
Edenton, North Carolina, Thursday, June 26, 1986
Single Copies 25 Cents
Close Encounters Yet
Two recent close encounters
with nature left us with a better
understanding of the complex
system which, somehow, con
tinues to function within this
polluted cage we all occupy.
One was with a bird, the other
with a bunny.
There is a family of mock
ingbirds which occupies the
undergrowth on the frontal dune
which rises between our deck and
the ocean down at Pine Knoll
Shores. For years we have en
joyed watching the cycle of this
little family, staking out and
defending its territory, building
nests and hatching out its young.
We have on occasion enjoyed the
I opportunity of feeding the young
fledglings as they came out from
under the muscadines and cedars
to test their wings in the world
beyond.
But this spring a new element
was added. A cat appeared where
no cat had been for years before.
We could always tell when the cat
was about by the changed attitude
of the mockingbirds, which
f became fussy and belligerent. As
the days passed, their protesta
tions became more pronounced,
even a version of the old broken
wing trick being put into use in a
determined effort to divert the
. cat’s attention to other areas.
We knew the reason for this
' because we had heard the voices
of the young trying to get attention
W f every time the mother arrived
| ' with a new grocery order. Thus it
was that we went onto the deck to
check things out. Sure enough,
there was the cat, a slinky, prowl
ing predator, making his way
across th6 lawit Suddenly, he
parjKpd just dpbasitetHe place
where the birds had located their
nests. We stomped on the deck,
k flailed our arms and shouted at
t him, trying to get him to move on.
But he acted just as if we weren’t
there.
Then, since ours is a second
floor deck and there was not much
more we could do at the time, we
stood transfixed as the cat turned
slowly and ducked under the vines
and shrubs, disappearing in the
direction of the nests. The mother
bird continued to dart into and out
of the bushes, but we couldn’t see
what was going on. Shortly, the
cat emerged, carrying a half
grown mockingbird in its mouth,
gave us a look of contempt, and
departed leisurely toward a
neighboring fence.
At that point, we recalled the
pellet pistol our grandsons had left
after their last visit. We dug it out
and brought it up on deck, togeth
er with a supply of ammunition.
Next time around, we were going
to be prepared.
Next time was not long in com
ing. The very next afternoon, the
drama resumed at act one. The
cat was making his way leisurely
down past the nesting place in the
dune, the mockingbird was again
trying to distract him and he
looked at us as if to say, “Well,
when are you going to start your
silly act?”
As he turned to crawl through
the underbrush, we let him have
a B-B right in the behind. He
jumped and turned around a post
to face us, this time with a little
more respect, since most of him
was protected by the post. We
tried a second shot. It hit the post
with a sharp crack which made it
sound a lot worse than it was.
This apparently helped to make
up his mind. He started a slow
walk toward the fence, with the
bird helping to give him the bum’s
rush. We let him have another
pellet to he^) move him on his way
and, by the time a third one
caught him at his bole in the
fence, be was moving at a respec
table speed.
Then, a surprising thing hap
pened. The mockingbird, returned
from the chase and lighted atop
the highest post on the deck and
sang a cheerful little song. It was
* her way of saying, “Thank you.”
Coatlaued On Page 4
PROTEST TAX INCREASE—Walter Bond speaks to county commissioners and a crowd of concerned
taxpayers at the county’s tax hearing in the old Court House Tuesday morning. Bond said that he was
concerned about the property tax increase and that “The town says we’re going to add on a nickle.”
Proposed Tax Increase Debated
By JACK GROVE
A packed court room in the old
Chowan County Court House
heard County Manager Cliff
Copeland and County Commis
sioners say that an ad valorem tax
increase is inevitable. In
response, taxpayers told county
officials that ways should be found
to cut expenses.
Copeland led off the annual tax
hearing with a summary of past,
present and future revenue needs
of the county government. He
cited three reasons that a tax in
crease is needed:
(1) Loss of federal revenue
sharing—last year’s federal funds
to the county was budgeted at
$180,000 and this year’s only
$29,667;
(2) A reduction in appropriated
fund balance or reserves—in an
effort to protect the county’s
ilieager reserves, none would be
Used in the projected budget;
(3) Loss of interest earned and
ABC revenues—with the reduc
tion in both interest rates and
reserves, interest income in this
year’s budget is reduced by
$40,000.
The county manager said that,
all told, the county is losing some
$465,047 in revenue.
The three largest budget items
are the Sheriff’s Department,
Social Services and Education. In
a comparison of the years 1983
and 1987, the Sheriff’s Department
budgeted total of $182,618 showed
only a slight increase while Social
Services has increased by $331,891
and Education has increased by
$456,701.
Copeland said that since these
programs are mandated by state
and federal laws the county is
obliged to fund them.
Taxpayers, for the most part
farmers, had strong objections to
the proposed 15* per $100 valuation
tax increase.
J.M. Parrish, Sr. presented a
petition opposing any tax increase
to county commissioners. He said
the petition bore the names of
1,715 town and county taxpayers.
He asked why county officials
were not looking for income from
the proposed one-half cent sales
tax increase and land transfer tax
(these taxes are under considera
tion by the General Assembly dur
ing the current short session in
Raleigh).
Parrish went on to say, “We
fanners have had to tighten our
belts.” He cited the federal
Gramm-Rudman legislation that
mandated a reduction in farm
commodity price supports. He
said that prices were down some
$1 per bushel on corn and
soybeans.
Parrish read a recent Asso
ciated Press story that dealt with
FmHa Loan foreclosures on
farms in North Carolina. “If the
government starts taking over our
farm land, will the county be able
to collect taxes from government
land? There has never been a
budget that couldn’t be trimmed,”
he concluded to applause from the
crowd.
Farmer David Bateman told
the commissioners, “I think we’ve
got a problem that won’t go away.
We need to get the state to change
the ways localities can raise need
ed revenues.” He said that the
political action committees of the
state organizations of county com
mission boards and school boards
should pressure state legislators
to broaden the tax base through
means other than ad valorem
taxes.
Carroll Evans suggested that
money could be saved through a
consolidation of the town and
county governments, a suggestion
that he called, “opening up a
whole new can of worms.”
Bob Lepley of Arrowhead
Beach said that when he bought
his property, the developer used
Continued On Page 4
mm? s m ■ \
NEW CHIROPRACTOR—Dr. James McLellan and his wife Sally
have recently moved to Edenton to set up his practice at 208 North
Broad Street.
New Practice Opens Doors
Edenton’s newest doctor has set
up his practice at 208 No. Broad
Street. Dr. James McLellan,
along with his wife Sally has mov
ed his practice of chiropractics
from Long Island, N.Y. where he
practiced for four years.
McLellan is a native of a small
town in Illinois and graduated
from Pacific University in
Oregon. He took his chiropratic
training at Palmer College in
Davenport, Iowa. The school is
named after D.D. Palmer, the
founder of modern chiropratic
practice in 1895.
Sally McLellan is from a small
town near Pittsburgh, Penn. She
has had business experience in the
insurance field and will act as
receptionist and handle the
business aspects of the couple’s
practice.
Dr. Mclellan said he first
became familiar with North
Carolina when he filled in for a
friend in his practice in Gastonia.
Feeling that there were better
places to raise children than in
New York, the couple began look
ing around in this state to settle.
After contacting many
chambers of commerce in small
towns, including talking with
former Edenton-Chowan’s former
executive director Jerry Hendee,
the McLellans felt that they had
found the right place to raise a
family. Selling points for them in
cluded proximity to the water; the
size of the town; access to an ex
cellent hospital; a good local pro
fessional atmosphere; and access
to a major city (Norfolk).
The doctor said that the fact
that John A. Holmes High School
students were televised live from
the White House on the day after
they arrived seemed to add to the
rightness of their decision. He
said, “When we saw Edenton,
there was nothing else that com
pared to it. It’s the best move
we’ve made in four years.
The practice will be called Col
onial Chiropractic according to
McLellan. He explained that the
word chiropratic is derived from
latin: chiro meaning “hands" and
practic, “practice." “Chiroprac
tic is a system of eliminating
nerve pressures which can cause
symptons of pain all the way to
organ dysfunction," he said. He
gave as an example, stomach
ulcers.
Mclellan said that people with
chronic headaches can be treated
through chiropratic. “We often
get people as a last resort and
they can get relief in a relatively
short period of time,” he said.
“Chiropratic is as much preven
tion as it is a curative procedure,”
he concluded.
The white house next to Fast
Continued On Page 4
Bill Awaits Approval
Special legislation to change
Edenton’s Town Charter has
leaped two legislative hurdles in
the General Assembly and seems
ready to race to the finish line.
The bill, introduced by First
District Representative Charles
Evans, would specify a council
manager form of government for
the town rather than the present
mayor-council form.
The bill, also endorsed by First
District Representative Vernon
James, was passed in the House
on June 13 after three readings. It
was then sent to the Senate.
A meeting of the N.C. Senate’s
Local Government Committee
gave proponents and opponents
from Edenton an opportunity to
speak Tuesday. Representing the
Edenton Town Council were
Edenton Mayor John Dowd, Town
Administrator Sam Noble and
Ellis Hankins, an attorney from
the N.C. League of Municipalities.
Representing Edenton citizens
opposing the bill were former
mayor Roy Harrell, Councilman
Steve Hampton, the Rev. Ashby
Browder and the Rev. James L.
Fenner.
Briefly speaking on the
measure, House Bill 1461, Rep.
Evans told the committee that the
town had requested it by a coun
cil vote of five to one. He told them
that he favored passage of the
legislation.
Harrell was given five minutes
to state his opposition. In a phone
interview Wednesday, Harrell
said, “I said in the meeting yester
day that we were not there to pro
test the changing of the charter
but that the people of Edenton had
been prevented from having the
opportunity for a public hearing or
the chance to vote on the chang
ing of the charter which is a right
given to the citizens under state
statute 160-A-103.”
He continued, “However, the
method chosen by the mayor and
the council of going to the General
Assembly to get this passed
prevents the people from having
their say.”
During the hearing, Harrell told
the committee that he had a peti
tion in opposition to the charter
change that bore over 500 signa
tures. He also displayed two
copies of The Chowan Herald that
contained headlines on stories
that spoke of local opposition and
read the headlines to the
committee.
Following Harrell before the
committee, Rep. James told the
legislators that the local
legislative delegation made it a
practice to honor requests of local
governments such as the one
represented by House Bill 1461.
First District Senator Marc
Basnight also voiced his approval
of the measure.
In a statement Wednesday,
Dowd said, “Local government
and state government have
always had a very close working
relationship. This relationship has
been based on the idea that local
governments know what is best
for their communities and they
are elected to make studied, in
telligent decisions for their
people.”
Dowd continued, “Our council
has studied the council-manager
form of government and with ad
vice from the League of Munici
palities, has decided that this
form of government that now
serves all but six of our state’s
municipalities with populations
over 5,000 would also serve Eden
ton well.”
Harrell said, “I understand that
it will be quickly ratified in the
senate. This is very disappointing
to me and I’m sure it will be to the
500 people who signed the petition.
Of this area’s legislative delega
tion Harrell said, “I’m very disap
pointed that they got involved ”
He said that their “automatic en
dorsement” of this legislation
should not have been made.
No presentation was made by
Dowd or Noble at the committee
hearing. The matter was dosed
when the committee unanimous
ly approved the bill and sent it to
the full senate for final
consideration.
Miller
Completes
Program
Kathleen Miller, Executive
Director of the Edehton-Chowan
Chamber of Commerce, recently
completed a week's Institute for
Organization Management at the
University of Georgia. Over roo
voluntary organization executives
from all over the country par
ticipated in this professional
development program.
The Georgia Institute is one of
six annual, one-week sessions
sponsored by the Center for
Leadership Development, a divi
sion of the National Chamber
Foundation at leading universities
throughout the country.
During the five-day session,
participants spent 27 classroom
hotirs in the Institute course of
Continued On Page 4
Truck Run
Off Road
An accident at a sharp curve on
State Road 1101 late Tuesday
afternoon left a 1982 Luv truck on
its top in a ditch. The occupants,
driver Darren Allen, 20, of
Virginia Beach, Va. and Richard
Basnight, 22, of Manteo were
transported to Chowan Hospital
by the Perquimans County
Rescue Squad. The curve is one
and a half miles north of N.C. 37
in the Yeopim community of
Chowan County
A witness, Alicia Ludwig, of
Snug Harbor in Perquimans
County, said she was traveling
north, towing another vehicle with
her car when she was passed by
the Allen truck, also traveling
north. She said that upon ap
proaching the curve, she was
passed by a southbound “ white
car” that was moving at a high
rate of speed.
Continued On Page 4
FOURTH OF JULY planners—These Optimist uub members met Monday night to finalize plan s
for Eden ton’s Fourth of July celebration on the waterfront. The festivities that begin at 11 a.m. will featun s
food and drink concessions, craft booths, games for children, a tug of war, and live music. Radio statior i
WZBO will be on the air live from the waterfront. The celeb: ation will be capped at 9:30 p.m. with fireworks
from a barge fired by Optimist experts.