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Spring Is The
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LN herald
Published In The Most Beautiful Little City On The North Carolina Coast
Volume LVII - No. 10
Edenton, North Carolina, Thursday, March 19,1992
Single Copies 35 Cents
Testimony Is Over, Judge Limits Closing Arguments
By LANE DUNN
FARMVILLE - The judge
in the Little Rascals Day Care
case denied defense motions
Monday to dismiss charges
^against Robert F. Kelly Jr. as
attorneys finished the evi
dence portion of the trial and
prepared for closing argu
ments.
The motion by the defense
to drop charges is standard
procedure in criminal trials.
Nearly 150 charges against
Kelly have been dropped in the
course of the seven-month
trial.
Kelly faces 97 charges of
sexually abusing 12 children
from the Little Rascals Day
Care Center which he owned
and operated with his wife,
Betsy. Mrs. Kelly and five
others are also charged and
await trial.
The defense decided not to
offer more witnesses in the
trial, which is the longest in
state history. Testimony be
gan in August 1991. The pros
ecution offered 83 witnesses
in its 18-week case. The de
fense called 60 people to the
stand in its nine-week portion
of the' case.
Judge D. Marsh McLel
land ruled against the de
fense on two motions to dis
miss all charges.
PROUD MOMENT — Howard E. Kohn II, left, director of Special Projects for The Chowan
Herald, and Herald Publisher Pete Manning, third from left, offer their congratulations to Police
Captain G.K. Bonner and Chief Harvey Williams Saturday morning as the department's offi
cers gather to be fitted for bulletproof vests.
0 Officers Fitted For New Vests
By REBECCA BUNCH
A jubilant Police Chief
C.H. Williams gathered with
his men at police headquar
ters Saturday morning where
they were measured and fitted
$ for bulletproof vests.
"This is one of the happiest
days of my life," he said with
a grin. "I still can't believe
that it's true."
The event marked the rea
lization of a longtime dream
for Chief Williams and other
officers. Williams said he
had long realized the im
portance of having the pro
tection afforded by the vests,
and had been actively trying
for several years to obtain
funds to purchase them.
He and his officers repeat
Paxton Wants To Clean
Up NC Insurance Dept.
By MARGUERITE MCCALL
Charles Paxton, 39, of Ca
barrus County visited Eden
ton Tuesday, March 10, cam
paigning for Insurance Com
missioner of North Carolina.
& An assistant to the com
missioner in 1984-85 and a
Democrat, Paxton is running
against James E. Long, the
incumbent insurance com
missioner of the state.
"Help Charles Paxton
Clean Up the Insurance De
partment," said the bright red
® words on white wrappers cov
ering the wee bars of soap
Paxton freely dispensed to all
whom he met while in town.
He stated that he adopted the
bar of soap as the symbol of his
crusade for change.
"My message is simple,"
he said. "Somebody needs to
1 step forward and reform that
department (insurance)."
He said if elected, the au
ditor’s report will be used as a
guideline for the "clean up"
operation.
"I know the battle ahead
will not be easy," he said.
"But in the end, everyone in
1 this state will say, ’Where
There Is Soap, There Is
Hope."’
Charles Paxton
Paxton attended UNC
Charlotte where he received
his BA degree in Political
Science with a background in
Business. He is the president
of Paxton & Son Tire Com
pany in Harrisburg, N.C.
"I will clean up the Insur
ance Department," he reiter
ated prior to leaving, while
rubbing the motel-sized bar of
soap between thumb and fore
finger.
edly expressed gratitude for
the community support that
had enabled them to order the
vests. "Everyone has really
come through for us," he said.
"We've had countless civic
groups, businesses and indi
viduals donate money to help
us...their support really does
mean a lot."
Williams credited the hard
work of Howard E. Kohn II,
director of Special Projects for
The Chowan Herald, with get
ting the ball rolling earlier
this year. "He has certainly
done a fine job on this. When
he and the newspaper got in
volved, we started to see re
Continued On Page 11-A
P
1
Volunteers
Are Needed
The Economic Improve
ment Council needs volun
teers who would be willing
to help with an upcoming
project to make improve
ments to the homes of senior
citizens, the disabled and
the handicapped in Chowan
County.
"We need assistance
from anyone who has any
spare time they could give to
help us in writing up de
scriptions of the work that
needs to be done on these
homes," said EIC spokes
man Gil Johnson. "We'd be
delighted to hear from some
of our retired people and
others who would like to help
with this project."
Johnson said anyone who
would be willing to help
could contact him at 482
8547 (weekdays).
Defense attorney Jeffrey
Miller said the state had not
produced evidence to prove
many of the charges remain
ing against Kelly.
Miller also said charges
should be dropped because
prosecutors did not provide all
of their information in rela
tion to specific charges. He
said the Bill of Particulars, a
court document stating alle
gations against Kelly, is in
complete because it does not
contain specific dates or pla
ces abuse allegedly occurred.
Prosecutors say the docu
ment contains all of the spe
cifics they had about the al
legations.
But defense attorneys said
information came out in the
trial showing that the state did
have much of that informa
tion but refused to turn it over.
"The state did not comply
with its obligation to the Bill of
Particulars so that they pur
posely could leave matters
vague...and we might never
know which offense was be
ing tried," Miller said.
"Their failure to (release
information) affected the de
fendant's ability to prepare a
defense," he added.
Prosecutor Bill Hart said
the state had been as specific
Continued On Page 11-A
JOBS Program Established
By REBECCA BUNCH
Helping community resi
dents with children under age
18 become independent of wel
fare programs and learn to
succeed in life is the goal of
the newly established Chowan
County JOBS program.
Carried out through the
auspices of the Department of
Social Services, the program
targets AFDC (Aid to Fami
lies with Dependent Children)
recipients who fall into one of
the following categories:
• Custodial parents under
age 24 who have not completed
high school and are not cur
rently enrolled.
• Custodial parents under
age 24 who have reported little
or no work history during the
preceding year.
• Individuals not falling
into either of the preceding
groups who have a child at
home who is between 16-18
years of age.
"The big difference be
tween this and most plans is
that it emphasizes getting an
education and a job," said
Sherry Jordan, lead social
worker for the Chowan De
partment of Social Services
(DSS). "It shows welfare re
cipients that there is a way
out...that they can get out of
this cycle of dependency and
lead productive, successful
lives."
Mrs. Jordan said that
AFDC families have been
very receptive so far to the help
offered by the program. "We
have many people who want to
get into the JOBS program,"
she said, "and we are still
conducting assessments to
determine who qualifies."
She said it is hoped that even
tually the program will be
able to assist as many as 150
participants each year.
Currently, the Chowan
JOBS program is being car
ried out by Melissa Perry and
Elaine Lewis with assistance
from their office manager,
Mary Skinner. The group
held their first orientation
session in early March.
"We feel like things went
well," said Mrs. Skinner.
She said that 17 out of 30
prospective applicants had at
tended and seemed to respond
to the program's message.
Persons who enroll in the
program must get an AFDC
referral first, according to
Mrs. Jordan. She said that the
JOBS program has as it's goal
providing ongoing education,
Continued On Page 11-A
Mayor Wants To Cut Off Heat
By MARGUERITE MCCALL
Mayor Roy Harrell asked
to be placed on the town coun
cil agenda Tuesday, March
10, to speak to the council re
garding several concerns.
He said he had already
asked Town Manager Anne
Marie Kelly to meet with him
to discuss how to correct some
procedural and management
problems.
Heating unused buildings,
he said, specifically the old
EIC building at the airport
and the old Police Department
building, is an added expense
to the Town.
"We need to cut off the heat
and drain the pipes in build
ings not being used," Harrell
advised. "Doing so will result
in a savings of $7,000 to $8,000
in the next few months and a
continued savings in the
future."
Owing over $53 million on
a debt to North Carolina East
ern Municipal Power Agency
(NCEMPA) that was $49 mil
lion ten-years ago didn't
make sense, Harrell said.
"Why $4 million more?"
he said he questioned in a
letter written February 17 to
Jim Bobo, a power agency
official. He said Bobo's reply,
which arrived on March 4,
was addressed to Ms. Kelly.
The mayor read Bobo's
answer, a 78-word-long sen
tence that concluded "the
amount you (the Town of
Edenton) owe cannot be de
termined."
Councilwoman Marina
Crummey said the rates fluc
tuate on the power agency
bond issue.
"If the power agency ever
pays off the bond," she said,
"we won't owe anything. We
buy our power each month
from them. We do owe a debt.
Continued On Page 11-A
Brandon Visits Edenton
By REBECCA BUNCH
Williamston mayor Tom
Brandon visited Edenton Fri
day as he continued his cam
paign for the First District
seat in the United States Con
gress held by Rep. Walter B.
VJHL
Thomas Brandon
Jones Sr.
His wife, the former Jane
Bell of Windsor, is a school
teacher, a fact Brandon said
had made him more aware of
the importance of bolstering
educational efforts on behalf
of North Carolina's children.
"I want to see even greater
support for education, and to
push for additional funding
for programs that will help
our children," he said. Bran
don added that he personally
favored the year-round school
concept and believed that
American schools would have
to model themselves along the
lines of those in Germany
and Japan if American
youngsters were to remain
competitive with their peers.
He also said that he felt
teachers were called upon to
Continued On Page 10-A
Suspects Elude Police
Edenton police gave chase
to two subjects seen running
from George Chevrolet Body
Shop at 12:30 a.m. Monday.
A person living near the
business called the depart
ment saying he heard noises
indicating that a break-in
might be taking place.
Upon their arrival, Offi
cers Linard Bonner, Stacey
Boyce and Ronnie Stallings
saw two males leaving the
shop located at the intersection
of Oakum and Johnston Sts.
In the pursuit, the officers
lost sight of the subjects in the
Badham Rd. area near the
railroad tracks.
Police Chief Harvey Wil
liams said an investigation
is continuing.
Edenton United
Methodist Church
Wm
*4y - ; .
Vv.
BLOODMOBILE
mk
FRIDAY, MARCH.20 - 2 TO 7 P.M.
Sponsored By
Edenton Jaycees