Edenton is always full of sur
prises for us. During the good
weather we have been having
along the Public Parade, we
decided to take a series of walks
around the downtown area, vary
ing our route each day.
Our first round went up Broad
Street past the new courthouse,
then out toward the Iredell House
to Court Street, down Court Street
to East King and back to Broad.
Our first surprise was to find
that, following the windy night,
pecans were plentiful down Court
Street and back across King. So
we stopped from time to time to
fill our pockets. That day for lunch
we enjoyed a fruit salad laced
with pecans.
Next day we went east on Water
Street, then up by the Masonic
temple to King Street again. This
time as we were returning along
the south side of King we again
noticed pecans. In fact, as we
were passing 210 East King, we
noticed a women out on her lawn
picking up the nuts; and, before
we could decide whether to vol
unteer to help her, she asked us if
we wanted some.
We told her yes and started to
begin picking them up. But that
was not what she meant. She
wanted to give us those she had
! already picked up. She explained
that she couldn’t eat them, but
picked them up to keep them from
going to waste. In that case, we
told her, we would be happy to ac
cept them.
That, of course, brought on fur
ther talk. We wanted to know the
name of such a gracious lady and
she told us. After that there was
1 an exchange of information about
children and grandchildren, about
a son who calls every morning and
about her long years in Edenton.
This is our way of saying, “Thank
you, Mrs. Owens.”
Another pleasant surprise came
a day or two later when Mrs. Joe
Thorud came into our office at the
I Chowan Herald. During the
course of the conversation, she
mentioned that her daughter mar
ried Lewis Raulston, formerly of
Greensboro, and that she
understood his parents had been
good friends of ours.
In fact, they were our closest
friends when we lived in Greens
boro back before World War II.
* Just the mention of their names
called up many happy memories.
We once bought a saddle horse
jointly with Lewis, Sr., which we
would keep at our place in the
country and lie to our wives about.
If asked, Lewis would say it
belonged to us and we would say
it belonged to him, a charade
which continued until our entry in
1 to World War II. A moment of
truth came when Lewis joined the
Seabees and we went into the
Navy.
We, of course, didn’t tell Mrs.
Thorud all this. We are telling it
here just to let you know how
things were back then when all of
us were alive and well. One of the
sad things about growing old is
> that you outlive so many of your
friends.
Officials Attend
Annual School
Civil liability for jail suicides
k and handling emotionally dis
9 turbed prisoners wore jyst two of
the subjects discussed when local
law enforcement officers traveled
to Chapel Hill January 12-14 for an
annual school.
Chowan Sheriff Fred Spruill,
Chief Jailer Walt Linhardt and
Jailer William (Bill) Manke went
to the seminar, co-hosted by the
v N.C. Sheriff’s Association and the
' Institute of Government at the
University of North Carolina.
Other subjects discussed at the
seminar included training
requirements for jailers, issues in
personnel law, suing North Caro
lina jails, stress management and
civil process duties of sheriffs.
'The local officials were award
\ ed certificates for participation in
the school.
THE CHOWAN HERALD
Published In The Most Beautiful Little City On The North Carolina Coast
.Volume LLIfl - No. 4
Edenton, North Carolina. Thursday. January 22. 1987
Single Copies 25 Cents
Holmes Phone Threat
Proves False Alarm
By JACK GROVE
Classes and other normal school
activities were interrupted at
John A. Holmes High School Mon
day morning due to one phone
call. The call, a bomb threat, was
received by Marcia Evans in the
school’s office at 9:39.
Mrs. Evans was asked by a
male caller how her day was go
ing? When she replied “fine,” he
reportedly said, “Well I’m going
to tell you something that’s going
to ruin your day. There are three
bombs in your school.”
Principal Rob Boyce im
mediately notified Edenton Police
Chief John Parrish and an order
ly evacuation of the building
began. Students and staff were in
itially told that the evacuation was
a “drill,” and some 600 students
were moved to the nearby old Na
tional Guard Armory under rainy
skies.
Police, firemen, EMS Coor
dinator Doug Belch and ALE
agents, along with designated
school staff began “a thorough
search” of the building. When no
evidence of suspicious packages
was found, all personnel left the
building and a perimeter was set
up to await a possible explosion
that the caller threatened would
take place at noon.
When the deadline had safely
passed, police and fire officials
allowed the school to be reoc
cupied at 12:15 p.m.
School officials were unanimous
in their praise for the orderly con
duct of students and the cool effi
ciency of emergency personnel.
At the Armory, Guidance
Counselor John Santana said of
the students behavior with a
smile, “The worst thing we’ve had
to worry about here is paper air
planes,” as one sailed by his head.
Even though no official
announcement had yet been
made, most students at the make
shift shelter had realized what had
happened. Superintendent John
Dunn said, “They all pretty much
know that the principal would not
call a drill in the rain and have
them go to the Armory.” Dunn
said that he had called both Par
rish and Fire Chief Lynn Perry to
thank them “for their coopera
tion, their thoroughness and the
fact that they were very quick to
respond.”
Concerning the students, Dunn
commented, “I was real pleased
with the way they responded.
They were orderly and just as
cooperative and well-manrtered
as you could ask.”
Perry and Parrish explained
that their response was kept as
“low-key” as possible in order not
to alarm the public and create
crowd and traffic problems. They
said that since many people in the
town and county have scanners,
they purposely did not broadcast
information about the situation.
The proximity of the school to
the fire station allowed equipment
to be in readiness and manned
without being visible to the
curious.
Perry said that the immediate
concern of emergency personnel
is always the safety of the stu
dents and staff. “Thank goodness
that this and threats in previous
years have proven to be hoaxes,”
he declared.
Parrish said that his depart
ment was investigating. He
pointed out that phone threats
such as this are crimes punishable
by up to two years in prison and
or a fine.
Speed Limit Is Changed
Travelers crossing the
Albemarle Sound Bridge are fin
ding the going slow. The speed
limit, formerly 55 mph was chang
ed to 35 mph by the N.C. Dept, of
Transportation on Monday,
January 12 apparently without
any notice to local law enforce
ment officers or the media.
In addition to the new speed
limit, double solid yellow lines
were painted from shore to shore
last fall, making it unlawful to
pass on the bridge.
DOT District Traffic Engineer
Don Conners in Ahoskie said that
his office does not give notice to
the highway patrol or local sheriff
departments of such changes.
“We used to send them locally. I
was under the impression that
was handled out of the Raleigh of
fice,” he said.
A check with the local highway
patrol office and with Sheriff Fred
Spruill of Chowan and Sheriff Jim
Whitehurst of Washington County
indicated that they received no
advance notice of the speed limit
change. Both sheriffs said this
week that they were unaware that
the bridge limit had changed.
Continued On Page 4
Group Discusses Plans For Improving Edenton's Waterfront Park
A group of Edentonians was
determined to “Save Our Water
front” last year when town coun
cil was set to sell waterfront pro
perty to a developer for con
struction of an inn. They were suc
cessful in stopping the proposal
dead in its tracks and convincing
the council that local citizens
fc.lt
could convert the property,
located adjacent to the Municipal
Building, into an attractive park
with recreation amenities.
Many of the original group met
at the Municipal Building Tues
day night to form a structured
organization and to get a fund
raising drive underway to realize
their goals for the new park.
Gil Burroughs made a presenta
tion for the gathering, summariz
ing what has already been done to
spruce up the approximately 1.06
acre site, to outline the develop
ment plan and to discuss financial
needs.
The park would feature
.1 «i
<4JF
PARK PROPOSED—Gil Burroughs points out recreational features of a proposed new park on town
property on the waterfront. The meeting Tuesday evening was held to formalize an organization that would
raise funds and promote the park idea.
amenities such as an outdoor
stage, badminton courts, horse
shoe pits, picnic shelters and a
boat launching ramp.
“What we’d like to do after this
meeting is to go to the town coun
cil with an organization and tasks
to do,” Burroughs told the 27 peo
ple present. He said that bulk
heading of the park’s 150 foot
shore line was estimated to cost
$15,000. “Paul Waff (Waff Con
tracting, Inc.) has agreed to give
us a very good price,” he told the
group. Preliminary work in mov
ing heavy obstructions will be
done with heavy equipment pro
vided by Ross Ingles and the town.
Burroughs said that the town and
Ingles had already agreed to this.
Financing is expected to come
from civic organizations and
public contributions. Burroughs
pointed out that the Edenton
Women’s Club had already
donated $250 for the park.
Two lists were passed around
for signature. One was an
“Organizations” list and people
were asked to give their names
and organizations that they
belonged to where they could
press the case for the park. A
“Subscriptions” list was for
volunteers to sign up as can
vassers for donations from in
dividual citizens. Several ideas
were offered from individuals for
fund-raising activities.
Grant money was mentioned as
Continued On Page 4
TEMPORARY REFUGE—Students were given temporary shelter in the old National Guard Armory
building while emergency personnel searched Holmes High School as the result of a bomb threat Mon
day. The threat turned out to be a hoax. Emergency personnel were praised by school officials for their
efficiency and students were lauded for their cooperation and good behavior during the incident.
Brickhouse Convicted In Wife's Slaying
By JEANETTE WHITE
“She quit living” was the way a
Chowan County man described
the murder of his wife after his ar
rest in October. Isiah [Ike]
Brickhouse was sentenced to 15
years in prison in criminal court
Tuesday for the murder.
In a plea arrangement worked
out between the prosecutor and
defense attorney, Brickhouse was
allowed to enter a plea of guilty to
second degree murder on the first
degree charge.
Wayne Rice, who was a deputy
sheriff in Chowan County in Oc
tober, testified that he was called
to the Brickhouse mobile home
around 1:30 a.m. October 17,
where he found the nude body of
Deborah Lynn Modi in Brickhouse
face-up in a bathtub of water. An
autopsy later revealed that the
wife had died of asphyxia by
manual strangulation.
According to trial testimony,
Brickhouse has a history of
alcohol abuse and had been drink
ing heavily the night of the
murder.
Rice said the couple had
separated several times and was
separated then. Rice said
Brickhouse went to their mobile
home around midnight and asked
his wife for a reconciliation. When
she refused, an argument
erupted. After Brickhouse struck
his wife, she went into the
bathroom. He followed, ripped off
her gown and started to hit his
wife again, knocking her onto the
floor.
“He said she quit living and he
picked her up one end at a time
and put her in the tub and was go
ing to bathe her,” Rice said
Brickhouse told him.
After Rice was called to the
house, he talked with the couple’s
12-year-old son. The boy said he
heard his father come to the home
around 1 a.m. and began beating
Continued On Page 4
a
BICENTENNIAL PLANNING—Dr. John Dunn speaks to a group in
terested in forming a county Bicentennial Committee. This year marks
the beginning of a three-year celebration of the U.S. Constitution.
Bicentennial Group Meets
Schools Superintendent John
Dunn, acting as convenor, con
ducted a preliminary meeting of
the county Bicentennial Commit
tee that will localize the three
year celebration of the U.S. Con
stitution. Local plans will comple
ment state and national plans for
the celebration. Dunn was asked
by the state committee to form a
local committee.
A nominating committee was
formed, composed of Nell Hyatt,
chairman, Winston Dail and Phil
Evans.
A meeting on February 19 was
set to receive reports on sym
posium ideas, Linda Eure; ex
hibits, Phil Evans; a book fair,
Anne Jones; and publicity,
Winston Dail.
Mrs. Eure, of Historic Edenton,
said that a series of programs will
be presented this year as part of
the bicentennial. The programs,
organized by Duke University,
will run from February 17 to
March 31. Lecture and discussions
topics in the series will include
The Philadelphia Constitutional
Continued On Page 4
Area Break-In
Investigated
The Chowan County Sheriff’s
Dept, is investigating a break-in
on January 11 at Murray Nixon’s
Fishery in the Rocky Hock area.
According to Sheriff Fred
Spruill, his department was called
just before 11 a.m. and found that
entry was made after a window
had been broken in the rear of the
office.
Offices were ransacked and an
undetermined amount of money
was taken.
Deputy David Jethro is investi
gating officer.