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.