THE CHOWAN HERALD
Published In The Most Beautiful Little City On The North Carolina Coast
Volume LUV - No. 50
Edenton, North Carolina, Thursday, December 29,1988
Sinqle Copies 25 Cents
Through A
Glass Darkly
Stand here at the gateway --
the end of one era and the be
ginning of another — we are
hard put to know what the new
year will bring or even what
^ie old year left behind. There
W this queasy feeling that we
are about to experience a sea
change, but how it will affect
us is still written in the stars.
Looking back, 1988 was
something of an enigma, a
mix of the good, the bad and,
quite often, the ugly. There
was, for example, the rebirth
€the space shuttle, with the
ccessful launching of Dis
covery on September 29.
At the other extreme, a 30
year-old Greek Olympic cy
clist, Kanellos Kanellopoulos,
took off in April from Crete in
Daedalus and pedaled his
way over the Aegean 72 miles
to the island of Santorini in
^iree hours and 54 minutes,
lie missed his target by 30
feet, but when his little plane
crashed down, he had set new
distance and duration records
for manpowered flight.
... And between these two.ex
tremes, a flight of another sort,
took place. Molloko, the only
condor ever conceived in cap
gvity, was removed from her
isolation chamber on October
10 into one of San Diego Wild
Animal park's six flight
cages with three other young
condors. She flexed her wings
and, within hours, began to
fly.
(Speaking of birds, Dr. D.L.
Cuddy, who quoted the curator
^ the British Museum of Nat
ural History in our paper of
Continued On Page 8
RE PAIRS--Maintenance supervisor Clarence Wigginton hands a plumbing wrench to Jesse
Morring as they prep an apartment for new tenants at the Edenton Housing Authority's Oakum
Street site.Their maintenance shop is spotless with every tool in its designated place.
Excellent Staff Services Apartment Units
"We’re running a little
town here,” commented By
M>n Kehayes in a recent in
terview. He was talking about
the Edenton Housing Author
ity of which he is executive
director.
He said that the public has
many misconceptions con
cerning the projects which
provide rental housing for low
income citizens. There are
wbur sites that comprise 100
units of one, two, three and
four bedroom apartments.
The largest site is located
at Oakum and Blade Streets
where the office and an activ
ity room are located. It has 56
units. The E. Freemason site
has ten units, one on W. Gale
Street has 2Q and a site be
tween E. Gale and E. Albe
marle Streets has 14 units.
One of the most common
misconceptions is that Eden
ton Manor, Chowan Court and
Davis Place apartments are
part of the authority.
Kehayes pointed out that the
housing is not a giveaway
program. Families, or sin
gles if elderly or disabled,
qualify on entry income. For
example, a family of four
cannot have an income great
er than $19,450.
Tenants pay rent based on
30 per cent of their income,
adjusted to allow for child
care or medical expenses.
Mail Indicators Are Given
To Elderly And Disabled
By JACK GROVE
The Kiwanis Club has
teamed up with the U.S. Postal
Service in Edenton to provide
a service to elderly or dis
abled residents.
Kiwanian Gordon Kay has
invented a "mail delivery in
dicator flag" to be affixed to
rural mail boxes. After mail
is delivered, the flag lets the
homeowner know that a trip to
the mail box is warranted.
The metal flag is about 14
inches in height and plainly
shows above the box. With the
invention, elderly or physi
cally impaired county resi
dents can eliminate unnec
essary walks to retrieve their
mail.
The flags, which have been
approved for use by the Postal
Service, are the first in North
Carolina and may be only the
second in use in the nation.
Edenton Postmaster Steve
Bennett said that the only
other such mail indicators
that he knows of have been
placed in Genoa, Ohio.
Kay's invention (which he
plans to patent) is unique,
however. The flag pops up au
tomatically when the mail box
door is opened.
Bennett said that Kay
mentioned his idea to Ann
Parrish who in turn brought
the idea to his attention. Kay
- provided a working model
which Bennett took to state
postal officials.
Upon receiving approval,
Bennett met with the Kiwanis
Club which adopted the pro
ject. Rural carriers were ask
ed to submit names of pros
pects for the service.
The first flag was installed
on the route of Rodney Har
rell, Route 2 deliveryman.
The postmaster said that four
have now been installed and
he expects a total of 25 to be in
use by the end of January.
The club is making the in
stallations at no charge to
those needing the service.
The effort will be publi
cized through the state's postal
newsletter. The local Kiwa
nis Club plans to forward the
idea to its international head
quarters. Bennett said the
Edenton initiative could
spread statewide and through
out the nation.
"For the part of the Postal
Service, we truly are inter
ested in community activities
and helping people in the com
munity," the postmaster com
mented.
Fire Department
Has A Busy Week
The Edenton fire depart
ment had another busy week
answering calls to woodland
fires, vehicle collisions and a
structure fire.
A call was received at 12:35
p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 21
reporting a woods fire at 104
Oakdale Dr. There was no
property damage and the fire
was put out in 26 minutes.
Firemen responded to the
scene of a collision on Sound
side (Base) Rd. at 3:36 p.m.
the same day. A pickup truck
had collided with a Federal
Express van and the van over
turned. There was no fuel
spill,
Units went to the scene of
another two-vehicle accident
in front of McDonald's short
ly after 7 p.m., Friday. The
accident caused a gasoline
spill that- was cleaned up by
firemen.
The department was called
to a woods fire on Base Road at
2:34 a.m. on Christmas
morning. No property dam
age resulted and firemen
wrapped up the blaze in 41
minutes.
Another woods fire was re
ported at 5:38 p.m. on the same
day on Oak Ridge Rd. in the
Riverton section. There was
no property damage and fire
men returned to the station
after 35 minutes.
On Monday, at 8:56 p.m., a
fire was reported at the home
of Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Cole
son on Colony Drive in Cape
Colony. Flooring and a wall
had ignited as the result of a
chimney fire. A crack in the
chimney allowed the fire to
spread.
Edenton Fire Chief Lynn
Perry said that damage to the
one story dwelling was light.
Firemen were on the scene for
two hours checking under the
floor and surrounding walls
to ensure there were no re
maining smoldering embers.
FLAGGING TQE MAIL--Kiwanians Gary Anderson and
Gordon Kay installed the first mailbox flag for a local mail
patron recently on Route 2. Anderson watches as Kay makes
final adjustments. The flags will save steps to the mailbox for
elderly or physically impaired residents who have had to make
several trips to see if they had any mail.
Robbery Effort Is Thwarted
Attempted robbery was re
ported via the 911 emergency
phone number to the Chowan
Sheriffs Dept, on Tuesday,
Dec. 20 at 9:45 p.m.
Sheriff Fred Spruill said
that two young black males
attempted to rob the Creswell
Oil Co. Convenient Mart No.
3 on N.C. 32 North (the site of
the former Virginia Fork
Service Center).
One of the would-be thieves
was already in the store when
the other dashed in and tried
to grab money from an open
cash register drawer. They
Area Man
Arrested
An Edenton man has been
arrested and charged with a
first degree sex offense in
volving a 10 year-old girl.
Police on Friday arrested
Frederick Brinner Holley, 22,
who lives on Mexico Road,
The alleged offense took place
the previous day at fl :30 p.m.
Holley has been released
from custody on a $30,000 se
cured bond.
Investigating officers are
Brenda Toppin, W.D. Harris,
L.C. Brothers, Leonard Bon
ner and W.L. Forehand.
Deadlines
Announced
The Chowan Herald will
be closed on Monday, Jan.2.
Advertisements (includ
ing classifieds and legals)
for the Jan. 5 edition will be
accepted until noon on
Tuesday, Jan. 3. News
items and photos will be ac
cepted until 2 p.m. Ads or
news items received later
will be printed as space re
mains available.
Anyone who can submit
news, photos or ads on Fri
day, Dec. 30 is encouraged
to do so.
The Herald staff would
like to take this opportunity
to wish our readers a Happy
New Y^r!
both ran out of the store empty
handed and left the scene in a
car headed in the direction of
Edentofr. " —»** - -*’»«■—
Store clerk Marie Midgette
of Rt. 2, Creswell, called au
thorities as the two ran out. Lt.
James White of the sheriffs
dept., Spruill and Edenton
Police responded to the call.
Authorities searched the town
for the vehicle without sue
cess.
The sheriff said that no
suspects have as yet been
identified and asked that
anyone having information
on the crime contact his
department or the Edenton
Chowan Crime Line at 482
5100.
Callers providing infor
Continued On Page 8
Accident Reported
Edenton police and fire
units responded to the scene of
an auto accident on Virginia
Road at 7:13 p.m. Friday.
A police report indicates
that a 1974 Dodge truck driven
by Reginald Davenport, Jr.,
32, of Creswell pulled from the
parking lot of Golden Corral
into the path of a northbound
car. That vehicle, a 1975
Chevrolet, was driven by
Steven Currin, 30, of Rt. 2,
Edenton.
Damage estimates to the
truck were $1,000 and to the
Chevrolet, $2,000. There were
no injuries. The use of seat
belts was not determined.
Davenport was cited for ,
failure to reduce speed to
avoid colliding with a vehicle
in the roadway.
Collection
Days Set
Trash collections for the
Town of Edenton through the
New Year's weekend are:
Dec. 29 - East
Dec. 30 - West
Jan. 2 - No pick up
Jan. 3 - East and West
LAST SEGMENT-The last box structure segment was lifted
into place on the new Albemarle Sound bridge on Wednesday,
Dec. 14, completing the span. The $22 million, three and one
half mile bridge is expected to be open for traffic next June.