% THE CHOWAN HERALD
Published In The Most Beautiful Little City On The North Carolina' Coast
I Volunrm LUV - No. 3'
Edenton, North Carolina, Thursday, January 21,1988
Single Copies 25 Cents
Squirrels Find A Way
We've been pretty well
snowed in for the past 10 days
and, as the old saying goes,
it's just waiting around for
|inore.
" Snow began falling early
on January 6 in the foothills
and continued into the night.
When the sun came up on
Thursday, we had an accu
mulation of about 12 inches,
powdery dry and light as
thistle.
During the day, as the snow
J was falling, we decided to try
*to getVmt of our through-the
woods driveway. We made it
out and back in, leaving a
nice set of ruts. Next morn
ing we tried again and,
thanks to the tracks of the day
before, we were able to make
it. We are still using the same
tracks, now solid ice.
k, Except for that one excur
sion, which was to the gro
cery store, we were practically
snow-bound for the rest of the
week.
But, to be snowbound
doesn't mean you can't learn
a thing or two. We didn't
know, for example, that
squirrels tunneled under the
£snow in search of food.
We were looking across the
pond into the woods when we
saw a squirrel come down a
tree and, apparently, disap
8ear at the base. For a time we
tought it had gone into I Hol
low in tho"tre»t 'but there' wi>
no hollow in this tree.
In a few seconds we safe the
$ squirrel pop up out of the snow
some five or six feet from the
tree. In a short time, it ducked
back under again and, this
time, came up with something
in its paws which it proceeded
to eat
The squirrel repeated this
several times, not attempting
to stay on top of the snow. We
V concluded it was being led by
its strong sense of smell to
food previously stashed in the
ground around the tree.
It was several days before
the squirrels tried to travel
about in the snow. In the
meantime, we had spread
some com on top of the snow
a around the perimeter of the
®lawn where it appeared the
sun would soon melt the snow
away. Today, a week later,
there were more than a half
dozen squirrels feeding hap
pily on the corn.
We have also discovered
that birds feed more heavily
during hard weather. We
thave a suspended feeder, with
a cereal bowl on the bottom
and a brass canopy on top. It
holds a gallon of sunflower
seeds.
During a snow or very cold
. weather, a feeder full of seeds
lasts only a little more than a
day despite the fact that most
of the birds using it carry
Continued On Page <
Schedule
Revised
The Edenton-Chowan
Schools central office has an
nounced school calendar re
U visions.
v Students will attend school
on Monday, Jan. 25 as a snow
make-up day.
Parent Conference Day,
originally scheduled for Fri
day'. Jan. 29 has beer
rescheduled for Monday, Fob
i. K
Report cards will go out or
£ Friday, Jan. 29 instead ol
Jan. 28.
Ordinances
Recommended
Edenton may soon have an
expanded historic district as
plans progress in that direc
tion.
The Edenton Historic Dis
trict Commission placed two
proposed town ordinances be
fore the planning board which
the board approved and rec
ommended to the town coun
cil.
The first ordinance ex
pands the historic district
from the small area around
the town's oldest homes to the
boundaries of the historic
district recognized by the Na
tional Register of Historic
Places.
The second ordinance
deals with the commission it
self and brings it into exact
compliance with state
statutes. The main provision
would provide staggered
terms for commission mem
bers who are appointed by the
council.
A letter was sent by the
town tp the N.C. Division of
Archives and History asking
for approval of the expanded
boundaries which was
granted. This paves the way
for a public hearing on the
subject which has been sched
uled for 8 p.m. on Tuesday,
February 9 prior to enactment
of the ordinances.
The approximate bound
aries of the revised historic
district are the waterfront; a
line west of Moseley Street;
north pf West Gale Street;
west of 'Korth Broad, West
Freemason, just east of North
Broad Street; and Oakum
Street. (A more exact descrip
tion of the proposed revised
district boundaries can be
found in the Herald legal no
tices, published on page 6-A of
this week's edition).
Councilman Livingstone
Goodman said Wednesday
that persons owning property
within the proposed historic
district would receive a notice
of the hearing in the mail.
William Turbin,
commission chairman, said
that it is the policy of the his
toric commission to help
property owners, architects
and contractors in their plan
ning of changes to buildings
in the historic district by
making sure that planned
Continued On Page 4
COMING DOWN - A landmark in Chowan County is being
demolished by the federal government in a program to
eliminate abandoned government buildings that contain
asbestos. This was the steam plant used during World War II at
the airbase. Phelps and White Construction Co. of Windsor has
been contracted to do the work. An adjoining maintenance
building has already been removed. Demolition will be
completed once asbestos has been removed from this building.
Survey Underway
By JACK GROVE
An architectural survey of
historic Edenton homes began
Janyary 4 when Tom Butchko
arrived to conduct the study of
post-Civil War buildings
within the town limits. He
joins Brad Barker who con
ducted a survey of buildings
in the county and who is cur
rently completing that paper
work. Barker will concen
trate in the town study on pre
Civil War structures.
In an interview last week,
Butchko said his study will
involve structures built from
1866 through 1938 with build
ing styles that include Victo
rian, Queen Anne, Eastlake,
Bungalow, Colonial Revival
and Neo-Classical Revival.
These styles reflect a Euro
i pean influence. "The first
truly American house style
really did not come on the
scene until the early twentieth
century in the South,” Butchko
said. He pointed to noted ar
chitect Frank Lloyd Wright
as the father of American de
signs.
Butchko, a native of Ohio,
earned a degree in landscape
architecture from the Univer
sity of Georgia. He has been
working on building surveys
in North Carolina for hide
years. His work has been
done in Sampson, Scotland,
Johnston, Pasquotank and
Gates countisls and in Eliza
■ both City and Wilson.
The survey is coordinated
t
by the N.C. Division of
Archives and History. The
first survey done in
northeastern North Carolina
was in Perquimans in 1979.
Continued On Page 4
Edenton's Peak-Load System Bids Approved
Edenton's Town Council
was called into special ses
sion at noon Monday to hear
bid proposals for a diesel gen
erator building and a pad
mounted transformer for the
new electrical peak-load sys
tem. Ray Cohn, engineer with
Southeastern Consulting En
gineers presented the bids.
His company is working with
Edenton and Elizabeth City on
peak-load systems.
The generating plant con
struction bids come from
APTCO, $703,620; Roanoke,
$822,000; and J.H. Hudson,
$727,000. Cohn recommended
APTCO, lowest bidder and the
one that promised quickest
completion time. He said that
construction could begin
within ten days. A $500 per
day penalty for .noncomple
tion wouljl J>e assessed after
May 15.
Transformer bids were
from Mill-Power, $20,690;
Rigby, $22,760; and WESCO,
$21,420. Cohn recommended
the Mill-Power bid.
Council unanimously ap
proved Cohn's recommenda
tions. Anticipating council's
approval, Cohn presented
tm
I SWEAR *• Members of the Edenton Historic Commission take their oaths of office at last
week's town council meeting. They are (1. to r.) Tom Reid, Jack Pruden, John Morehead, Emily
Irby, Thomas Sharpe and William Turpin, chairman.
Litter Cleanup Has Begun
Chowan County has begun
laying siege to the problem of
litter that mars the natural
beauty of the area and reflects
the lack of pride of some of its
citizens.
In a two-pronged attack,
litter is being removed from
roadways and law enforce
ment has begun a crackdown
on those responsible for toss
ing trash from their cars.
The trash cleanup began
Saturday when three commu
nity service workers and a
supervisor worked at the in
tersection of U.S. 17 Bypass
and Albemarle Street. People
are assigned to community
service Work as'thei result of
sentences handed down in
court cases.
The supervisor, Edward
Murphy, was hired by the
county to oversee the work on
weekends. A retiree from the
New York City Police Dept.,
he relocated his family to the
Crossroads area of the county.
Funds for the supervisor come
from the sanitation depart
ment budget.
Nancy Morgan of the
county manager's office, said
that work would be done along
the bypass intersections first
because "they seem to be the
worst areas.” She said that
other spots throughout the
county would be targeted for
the cleanup.
The cleanup began with
concerns expressed by board
members at this month's
county commission meeting.
Commissioners said that
trash along approaches to
Edenton could hurt tourism
and would not help to attract
new businesses to the area.
The county currently is
holding the cleanups only on
Saturday. However, plans
call for weekday cleanups as
well, which will be supervised
by a full-time county em
ployee.
Jail inmates are being
considered for future litter
collection efforts on a volun
teer basis. Only those inmate
volunteers that have been
screened by the sheriff will be
used.
The county manager's of
fice is coordinating the
cleanup.
Those who litter can expect
to pay for their transgres
sions. Sheriff Fred Spruill
reported to commissioners
that he had briefed his
Continued On Page 4
Manager Is Sought
The Town of Eden ton is
looking for a new town man
ager. After going into execu
tive session at the regular
monthly meeting, council
voted to accept the resignation
of Phillip Whitaker.
Whitaker said personal
reasons prompted the resig
nation which was effective
last Friday. He will receive
pay for the position for 90 days
in accordance with the em
ployment agreement.
Whitaker assumed the po
sition of manager in April
after a search of several
months by council. Former
manager Sam Noble left
Edenton for a managerial po
sition in Tarboro in late 1986.
After a specially called
meeting at noon Monday,
council again went into exec
utive session. Afterward, in
opea session, council voted to
name town finance director,
Linda Edmundson, acting
town manager with a tempo
rary salary increase of $300
per month. Janet Hines, ac
counting technician, was also
named as assisting acting
town manager with an addi
tional $150 per month.
These two employees will
handle the routine day-to-day
business of the town. Council
will meet twice a month on the
second and fourth Tuesdays
at 8 p.m. Similar arrange
ments were in effect between
Noble's and Whitaker's
tenures.
Mayor John Dowd said
Monday that ads for the man
ager’s position have been
taken in The News and
Observer, Charlotte Observer
and Virginian Pilot.
contracts to Mayor John Dowd
for signing to expedite startup
of construction.
In response to a question
from Councilman A.B. Har
less, Cohn indicated that the
project could be in operation^
by July 1 and said that Eliza
beth City's completion sched
ule was nearly identical.
The peak-load generators
Continued On Page 4
CONTRACTS SIGNED - Mayor John Dowd diligently signs contracts for peak-load
generation facilities as they are handed to him by Ray Cohn, engineer with Southeastern
Consulting Engineers. The signing took plnce at the specially called council meeting at noon
Monday. Looking on are Linda Edmundson and councilman A.B. Harless.