THE CHOWAN HERALD Published In The Most Beautiful Little City On The North Carolina Coast Volume III ■ No. 44 Edenton, North Carolina, Thursday, November 20, 1986 Single Copies 25 Cents Carter By Comparison Jimmy Carter comes off look ing pretty good when we compare his handling of the hostage prob lem with Ronald Reagan’s. Carter waffled a lot during the 444 days the American embassy employees were held captive by dissidents in Tehran, but he waf fled in public. Reagan has waffled a lot during the 550 or so days six Americans were held captive by moslem zeal ots in Beirut, but he waffled in private, all the time preserving a stem public visage. Carter did manage to close the deal by which the 52 embassy hos tages were returned alive and in reasonably good health. Reagan has managed to return three of the six Americans held in Beirut, but two are still there and the sixth has been murdered. Jimmy Carter tried to deal with anybody in Tehran who offered any promise of cooperation, but he met with reverse after reverse, topped by the miserable failure of a military rescue mission in the Iranian desert. But he kept the public informed until the last few minutes of his last day in the White House. Ronald Reagan has tried to deal with anybody in Tehran who of fered any promise of cooperation, tendering spare parts and various munitions for Iranian leverage in the release of three of the six hostages, one at the time. But he did it all in secret, waiving first the arms embargo against Iran by decree and then dealing through third parties until his cover was blown' when somebody m-Iran leaked a story to a moslem maga zine in Lebanon. Carter ransomed the 52 Ameri cans, but he did it with Iranian assets frozen in American banks, which was paid, not to the kid nappers, but to the Khomeini regime. As a part of the deal, he put some $3 billion of Iranian funds into an escrow account to Continued On Page 4 DETAIL—This closeup shows the chair’s fine craftmanship. COLONIALCRAFTSMEN—'The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation’s craftsmen are shown with their art, the replica of the 18th century Master’s chair presented to the local Masonic Lodge Monday. At left is Wallace Gusler, chief craftsmim, with Graham Hood, Vice-President of the foundation just to right of the chair. The other craftsmen are John Prawn, Jay Gaynor, Leroy Graves and Albert Skutans. Seminar Held On Area Drug Abuse Problem By JACK GROVE A seminar, hosted by Albe marle Mental Health and radio station WZBO-FM probed the drug and alcohol abuse problems Marc Basnight River Study Scheduled An Interstate Study Commis sion on the future of the Chowan River will have its first meeting in Edenton on Thursday, Dec. 4 at the Municipal Building. The commission was the idea of N.C. Senator Marc Basnight of the First District. It brings together, for the first time, seven members of the Virginia State Legislature and seven from the N.C. General Assembly to find ways to improve the river’s water quality and ultimately that of Albemarle Sound. * The N.C. members include Sen. Basnight of Manteo, Sen. Monk ^Harrington of Lewiston/Wood vilie, Sen. Lara Tally of Fay etteville, Rep. Vernon James of Elizabeth City, Rep. William T. Watkins of Oxford, Sen. Joe Thomas of Vanceboro, and Rep. Howard Chapin of Washington. The Virginia delegation is headed by Sen. Howard P. Anderson of Halifax, Va. The state’s delegations will meet separately on Dec. 4, begin ning at 3 p.m. On Dec. 5, they will hold a joint meeting from 8:30 a.m. to noon. Both Sen. Basnight and Rep. James feel that the Edenton com mission meetings will be primari ly organizational in nature. Basnight expressed confidence Continued On Page 4 Rare Masonic Chair Is Reproduced In October of 1983, Edenton s Unanimity Lodge #7 sold an historic Masonic master’s chair to Colonial Williamsburg for a “gen erous” amount. As part of the pur chase agreement, Colonial Wil liamsburg arranged to reproduce the chair. of this area last Thursday night. A panel of experts spoke to a small audience of about 20 and to a radio audience on a live broad cast from the old court house in Edenton. Each speaking for five minutes, the consensus of the panelists was that alcohol abuse is by far the largest problem among young people in Chowan County. Panel ists from Albemarle Mental Health, however, said that they were seeing cases of drug abuse ranging from marijuana to “crack,” the newest form of co caine that is reportedly sweeping the country. Several panel members pointed out that parents must become in volved in the effort to stamp out drug and alcohol abuse. Cindy Thomas of AMH told the au dience, “We have a responsibility to become knowledgeable on the subject.” The Rev. Garry Mickey cited Biblical referenced that showed that “substance abuse is not new. The Church has a responsibility to help in the anti-drug effort. Drug and alcohol abuse is only a tem porary escape from the reality of life. The Church and God are the permanent escape,” he con cluded. N.C. Highway Trooper, Mike McArthur said of substahce abuse among young people, “Linda (Terry, Dep. Sheriff) and I see it every day. The problem that I have is that we’re not getting rein forcement from home.” McArthur remarked that he often sees evidence of parental drinking when he brings home a young person involved with alcohol. He cited an example of heavy drinking “on Oakum St.” The trooper said that authorities found a victim dead from a .34 alcohol overdose. A female companion, who was tested at a .20 blood/ alcohol content stabbed him in the face with scissors to wake him up. Perquimans defense attorney Janice Cole spoke on the people she has defended in court, charged with driving while im paired. “Oftentimes, you see the defendant who is there for the se cond, third and fourth time in the system. Often you can still smell alcohol on their breath.” Saying that “You need to catch the problem at early stages,” she continued, “You find that Continued On Page 4 In 1983, William Easterling, a lodge official, said that lodge members, realizing that they could not insure the security of the valuable piece and that literally millions of people could view it in Williamsburg, conveyed the DRUG SEMINAR—N.C. State Trooper Mike McArthur discusses drug and alcohol abuse from his view point as a traffic enforcement officer. The program was aired live on Thursday evening on WZBO-FM. In the background are other panelists and at right is Violet Barefoot, seminar coordinator. Court Tries Criminal Calendar Chowan Superior Court was in session during the week of Nov 10, the Honorable David E. Reid, Jr. presiding over the criminal calendar. True bills of indictment were handed down by the Grand Jury on Nov. 10 in the following cases: Frankie Lorenzo Etheridge, charged with breaking and enter ing of a motor vehicle; Isiah Brickhouse, charged with murder; and Randy Reese Bowen, charged with delivering a schedule IV drug; misdemeanor possession of a schedule IV drug and giving unfortified wine to a person underage. Michael Stinnette and Randy Stevenson Green, each appearing for probation violations, had their probation continued. Willie Joe Cecil Leary pleaded guilty to one charge of DWI and the state elected not to proceed in a second. He was found guilty of DWI, level one and was sentenced to four months. In a probation violation hearing, Leary was found in violation and his probation was revoked. An ac tive sentence of four months in the Chowan County Jail was invoked, to run concurrently with his sentence on the DWI conviction. Continued On Page I The chair, the only known piece of furniture to have been signed by a Williamsburg cabinetmaker, Benjamin Bucktrout, was built between 1767 and 1770. The heavi ly carved and ornamented chair was made originally for an un known Virginia lodge and was brought to Edenton in 1778 to pro tect it from harm during the Revolutionary War. The reproduction, accom plished by Colonial Williamsburg artisans was unveiled before a crowd of over 100 at the local lodge on Monday during a luncheon. Current Master of the lodge, William (Hawk) Crummey, offi cially accepted the replica from Colonial Williamsburg’s Vice President and Chief Curator Graham Hood. Crummey com mented, “I look forward to being the first Master to sit in this chair.” Colonial Williamsburg’s Direc tor of Decorative Arts and Con servation, Wallace B. Gusler, headed a team of five that hand crafted the replica. After the unveiling, done by Mason, Harry Tellier and Gusler, Gusler pointed out details of the chair and described its construction. The replica took over three years to craft. He said that the on Continued On Page 4 Local Hospitals Study Statewide Pay Plan The North Carolina Hospital Association began a 15-stop statewide effort in Edenton Wednesday to promote four ways of paying for health care for peo ple who can’t pay for it themselves. Speaking to state legislators and hospital officials of Chowan, Albemarle & Martin General Hospitals at Boswell’s Restaurante, Hospital Association A1 Nichols Nichols Given Promotion EDENTON—NCNB National Bank’s Edenton City Executive O.B. Rawls has named A1 Nichols branch administrator. Nichols will be responsible for branches in Edenton, Hertford and Hobbsville. A Pitt County native, Nichols joined NCNB in 1976 as a credit adjustor in Greenville. He was promoted to loan officer in 1978 and branch manager in 1979. He moved to Mount Olive in 1983 as a relationship manager and was promoted to assistant vice presi dent in 1985. Nichols graduated from East Carolina University in 1974 with a bachelor of arts degree in social science. Active in his Mount Olive com munity, he is vice president and a director of the Mount Olive Chamber of Commerce, first vice president of the Mount Olive Lions Club, and a member of the finance and administration board of First United Methodist Church. Senior Vice President Steve Mor risette said the state should: • Expand Medicaid to cover many of the 71 percent of the state’s poor who are not now covered, • Sponsor a Multiple Employer Trust which would help small employers provide health in surance at the same low rates of fered to large employers, • Set up an insurance pool for North Carolinians who cannot get health insurance because of pre existing chronic conditions, and • Increase funding for local health departments so these agencies can provide more primary care, such as health screening. Before his speech, Morrisette said indigent care is the number one concern of hospital ad ministrators in the state. “In 1985, North Carolina hospitals gave away care worth $242 million to patients who couldn’t or didn’t pay,” he said. “That amount could operate the Town of Edenton for 26 years, not counting inflation. To make up the difference, hospitals have to add an average of $200 to the bill of each paying patient. That’s not the very best way to handle the problem. ” Morrisette said that since American ethics requires hospitals to care for poor people even if they can’t pay, then socie ty as a whole should pay for that care. “Instead, the opposite is hap pening,” he said. The burden ot m Continued On Page 4 Town Service Dates Given Employees of the Town of Eden ton will observe the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday and Friday, Nov. 27 and 28. Trash pickups next week for the town are: Monday, East Edenton and Tuesday, West Edenton. County employees will observe the holiday on Thursday. County offices will be open Friday, Nov. 28. Herald To Take Holiday The Chowan Herald will be closed all day Thursday, November 27, in order to allow employees to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with their families. Accordingly, next week’s edition will be published early, and revised deadlines will be observed. They are as follows: All classified and legal advertising intended for publication next week must be in our office no later than 12 noon on Monday, November 24. The same deadline will be observed for all display ads. News items and photo graphs must be turned in no later than 2:00 p.m. on Mon day, November 24, in order to appear in the Thanksgiving edition. Those who can have adver tising or news-related mater ials brought in on Friday, November 21 (tomorrow) are strongly urged to do so. The Chowan Herald will re open at 8:30 a.m. on Friday, November 28. The staff ex tends its best wishes to you and your loved ones for a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

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