9 Looking Out
For Dog
What do you do when you
are adopted by a strange dog
that is too good to send to the
pound?
We faced that dilemma the
other day when we found this
. mid - sized black dog, with
brown face and feet, sitting on
the stoop of our workshop. We
tried to run her Sway, but each
time she would go into the
woods and, when our back
was turned, come right back
and make herself comfortable
on the well-shaded stoop.
This went on for two or
** three days. Finally, a storm
blew up just at dusk and a
downpour set in. The dog went
into the woods and we as
sumed she was going home or
at least to where she knew she
could find shelter.
Well, next morning when
we went outside we were greet
• ed at the door of our garage by
a smiling, tail-wagging dog
which had spent the night in
dry comfort in our garage.
She had on no collar or other
means of identification, but
she exhibited about the best
man-ners of any dog we had
ever seen. She would sit when
% we said .sit, stay when we said
stay and, among other things,
shake hands and roll over.
This was when we decided
she was too nice a dog to call
the warden to pick up. At the
same time, we knew we
couldn't keep her since we are
away from home weeks at the
£ time. We decided to run a
"Dog Found" ad in the news
paper and wait for results.
Meanwhile, we would feed her
and look after her. We de
tieked her and put a flea eel
~i»r around her peck, to which
she did not object in the small
est.
a The ad brought a few re
Continued On Page 12
CHOWAN
Volume LVI - No. 35
Edenton, North Carolina, Thursday, August 30,1990
Single Copies 25 Cents
Testimony Continues In Murder Case
Jury Hears Of Alleged Violence In Trial
After presenting physical
evidence last week, the prose
cution in the murder trial of
Claude Augustus Felton, Jr.
paraded a number of wit
nesses before the jury this
week prior to turning the case
over to the defense yesterday.
Felton has been charged
with the murders of Sarah
CONFER—Defense attorneys for Claude A. Felton, Jr. are
shown conferring during his first trial in February of this year
for a double murder committed two years ago. From left are
Samuel B. Dixon, William T. Culpepper, III and Felton. That
trial resulted in a mistrial when the jury couldn't agree on a
verdict. Felton’s re-trial began last week and may run into
next week.
Ann Jones, 26 and her
daughter, Falinda Brooks, 11
on August 28,1988.Their bod
ies were found on a Sunday
morning by another daughter,
Toya, 12 at the time, in their
Davis Place apartment. Ms.
Jones had been stabbed and
Falinda Brooks shot with a
small caliber gun.
Several witnesses testified
to Ms. Jones' fear of Felton,
her former boyfriend, after
breaking up in June or July
prior to the murders. Ms.
Jones' sister, Barbara Bond,
told the court that on August
14,1988, Ms. Jones came to her
apartment and related that
Felton had attempted to run
over her with his car.
Other witnesses said that
Ms. Jones had told them of
separate incidents where
Felton had pushed her down
apartment stairs, struck her
in the foot with a pistol, and
had taken her to a deserted
county road at night and
swung at her with a hatchet
and tied her to a tree.
Police officers testified that
they had been called to Brit
thaven where Ms. Jones
worked in the laundry room
Continued On Page 12
High Court Asked To Rule
By JACK GROVE
HERTFORD - Superior
Court Judge G.K. Butterfield
Monday ordered health care
providers and government a
gencies to turn over records in
a child sexual abuse case in
which four Edenton residents
face charges.
The charges arose last year
during a bitter child custody
dispute between Donald and
Darlene Harris. Mrs. Harris
was accused, along with her
fiance, Bruce Allen Bunch, of
abusing her small son. Also
charged were Robert F. Kelly
and Willard Scott Privott.
Although the case is sepa
rate and distinct from the Lit
tle Rascals Day Care case,
Swain Hosts Court Session
Renovations at the old Cho
wan County Courthouse and
sessions of Chowan Superior
Court have combined to cause
problems*"for district court
eases here. ’Recently, several
■essioKii of district court hove
been cancelled due to una
vailability of a court room.
With a special session of
superior court beginning last
Deer Labeled Hazard
Concerned about a large
number of deer that are graz
ing the lands at the Edenton
£ Airport, town council will
consider establishing a con
trolled hunting program at the
airport.
The town's Airport Advi
sory Board recently met with
officials from the N.C. Wild
life Commission to hear pro
posed recommendations to
% eradicate the deer problem.
The board is following up
on concerns raised by pilots
using the facility. Deer hunt
ing was banned at the airport
five or six year ago and con
sequently the deer population
has grown substantially.
The board will make a
presentation to the council at
its regular meeting on Sep
tember 11. The board is ex
pected to recommend that
council adopt a program that
would allow bow and arrow,
muzzle-loading gun and shot
gun hunting. The board is not
expected to recommend hunt
ing with rifles.
Board chairman Bill My
ers said recently, "We've got
to make sure that the safety of
the pilots and the users of the
airport is addressed. The
board will recommend a con
Continued On Page 12
I 1» I •*
TIE A YELLOW RIBBON"-Edenton Jaycee Betz Ricks
^ fleft) and Chowan Director of Social Services, Patti Williams,
hang a yellow bow on the door of Social Services. The Jaycees,
in an effort to show support for the men and women of the Arm
ed Forces, will he distributing yellow bows to local businesses
on Saturday, September 1, from 10 a.m. to noon. Smaller bows
to wear and display on car antennas will be distributed at the
same time.
week for the Felton murder
trial at the new courthouse,
and which may stretch into
next week, district court cases
would have piled up had a so
lution not been found.
An innovative option was
found after district court was
again cancelled last week.
After meeting with County
Manager Cliff Copeland Fri
day, Chief District Court
Judge John T. Chaffin elected
to utilize Swain Auditorium
on a trial basis as a substitute
court room.
Backed by a red velvet cur
tain, Judge J. Richard Parker
sat on a high-backed chair at
a desk placed on a low plat
form in front of Swain's stage
as he presided over district
court Tuesday morning.
Desks were also set up for pro
secution, defense, court clerk
and the sheriff. A microphone
and witness chair were set up
to the left of the judge.
According to Chowan Dep
uty Court Clerk Alice Twiddy,
the normal district court case
load each week is 50-55 cases.
Due to session cancellations,
Judge Parker had 143 cases
facing him Tuesday.
Over 100 persons attended
the session and were scattered
through the first 15 rows of the
three sections of seats. Al
though the proceedings were
easily heard throughout the
auditorium, a slight echo ac
companied the speech of par
ticipants.
After each case was heard,
the defendant was escorted to
an area behind the stage
where fines and court costs
were collected.
Next week could have posed
even greater problems for the
local court system. In addi
tion to the possible continua
tion of the Felton trial, district
criminal and district civil
courts had also been sched
uled for Tuesday. The crimi
nal session was cancelled,
however.
Marjorie Hollowell, Clerk
of Chowan Superior Court,
didn't know at press time
Wednesday if the week-long
Continued On Page 12
Kelly, Privott and Mrs. Har
ris face multiple charges in
that case as well. The Harris
child had not been enrolled at
the day care.
Defense attorneys have
failed in previous attempts to
get a look at the requested
records through the normal
discovery process in criminal
proceedings. At a hearing be
fore Judge Butterfield last
month, the judge approved the
issuance of subpoenas for the
records from Chowan Dept, of
Social Services, the local
Headstart Program, Psychi
atric Associates of Chesa
peake, Va., Chowan Medical
Center, UNC-CH Medical
Center and a doctor.
The prosecution, represent
ed by William P. Hart, spec
ial prosecutor and N.C. As
sistant Attorney General,
fought the release of the
records Monday. He cited
previous cases that, he said,
showed that pre-trial release
of such materials was im
proper.
Michael Spivey, Kelly's at
torney, told the court that ac
cess to the records was es
sential to the investigation of
the case and preparation for
trial by the defense. He said
that he couldn't understand
why the state was placing it
self in the way between the
defense and the holders of the
records who were potential
defense witnesses.
Keith Teague, Bunch's at
torney, said that the defense
needed the records to deter
mine the competency of the
child to testify against the de
fendants.
Hart accused the defense of
circumventing the normal
discovery process with the
subpoenas and further said
that the health care providers
did not have to talk with the
defense prior to trial.
During the proceeding,
Hart informed the court that
he had filed a petition with the
N.C. Court of Appeals that it
rule that the superior court
didn't have authority to order
the release of the medical
records.
Settling the matter, Judge
Butterfield ruled in favor of
the defense and ordered that
the records be provided for his
review. He said that he would
hand over to the defense any
portions of the records that
were material to the fairness
of a trial. He also noted that
Continued On Page 12
ALL IN A DAY’S WORK- North Carolina Wildlife officers pause after chasing a black bear
out of Edenton city limits and towards a forested area south of town Tuesday. They were
summoned from adjoining counties to remove or capture the animal, which had been seen in
various sections of Edenton since late Monday, including at D.F. Walker School.
Black Bear Rambles Through Town
By MARGUERITE MCCALL
Edenton had one and pos
sibly two unusual visitors
Tuesday - black bears. First
spotted before dawn on the
west side of town (Twiddy
Ave. and West Gale Circle), a
small bear, chased by Wild
life officers, fled to the east
side of town and disappeared
into a cornfield between the
railroad tracks and Coke
Ave.
Holiday Closings Announced
The Labor Day holiday
will be observed Monday by
most town and county ser
vices. Closings will include
town and county offices,
schools, court clerk's office,
banks and post offices.
Also closed Monday will be
the Chowan Senior Center and
the Edenton-Chowan Food
Pantry. Shepard-Pruden Li
brary will be closed Saturday
and Monday.
The offices of The Chowan
Herald will be open for busi
ness Monday.
Edenton trash pickup
scheduled for next week is:
Monday - no collection;
Tuesday - East side pickup;
Wednesday - West side
pickup; limbs and waste will
he picked up on the East and
West sides;
Thursday - East side pick
up;
Friday - West side pickup.
At mid-morning, Edenton
Police received a report that a
large bear had been seen in
the vicinity of D.F. Walker
School.
Believing that Wildlife of
ficers had tranquilized and
captured the early morning
bear, police feared this one
might be a she-bear searching
for her cub. If so, they knew
she could be extremely dan
gerous.
Officers Chris Joyner and
Wayne Forehand saw the an
imal crossing Freemason
and Blade Streets. They man
euvered their cars in a wedge
formation to corner it. The
tactic didn't succeed.
"I started blowing my si
ren," Forehand said. "When
the bear ran behind the school
maintenance building, my
only thought was to shoo it a
way, keep it from getting to the
children. I chased it across
the schoolyard toward the
railroad tracks.
"I didn't know a bear could
run so fast. At one point, it
stopped and just looked at me.
It couldn't have been been
more than ten feet away and it
didn't look frightened, just
stared, then headed across the
tracks to the cornfield.
"It was a good-sized bear,
black, about five feet tall."
(A local hunter estimated
Continued On Page 12
Invitation
Extended
A special invitation is
being extended to all area
residents to take advantage
of merchandise and service
values at participating busi
nesses during the County
wide Sale being held now
through September first.
A special section inside
this week's Chowan Herald
features the merchants and
values being offered.