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Volume LVII - No. 37
Published In The Most Beautiful Little City On The North Carolina Coast
SDENTON, NORTH CAROLINA, THURSDAY. SEPTEMBER 21. 1995
After 95 Years, Cotton Mill Will Close
By CLIFF CLARK
After 95 years of continuous
operation the Edenton Cotton
Mill, now owned and operated
by Greensboro-based Unifi, Inc.
will cease operations on Novem
ber 17, leaving 75 people out of
work.
“We’ve got a lot of people here
who have never worked any
where else,” said Unifi’s Plant
Engineer Don Latham, “There
are people here whose parents
and even grandparents worked
at the mill.”
It is a blow to the economic
vitality of Chowan County that
is nearly as great as the closing
ofPelikan Inc in November 1994.
And like Pelikan’s closing, it
came as a complete surprise to
nearly everyone in Chowan
County.
“It caught us totally off guard,”
said Edenton-Chowan Chamber
of Commerce Executive Director
His view was shared by
Edenton Town Manager Anne
Marie Kelly, who was in Denver,
but quickly made plans to travel
back to Edenton to address the
situation.
:hard Bunch.
CO at a professional conference,
‘We had no idea this was hap
■v
pening,” said Kelly.
While a firm decision has been
made to close the mill, which has
an average annual payroll of
approximately $1.6 million,
there are still many loose ends
that will need to be tied up, said
Robert Ward, Unifi executive
vice president.
When Ward was asked about
what would be done with the
mill village, he said no firm deci
sions have been made, but that
it would be sold as either one
parcel or in parts. “There are
still some areas we will need to
address.”
Ward was also asked whether
the plant had been “shopped
around” for potential buyers.
“No. We have no active buyers
for the entire operation,” he an
swered. Ward also couldn’t give
a firm answer on whether the
machinery in the plant would be
sold or remain.
The Town of Edenton recently
appropriated approximately
$55,000 of a $120,000 water line
project to help increase the wa
ter pressure at the mill. When
the negotiations were underway
to have the water line installed,
Unifi officials insisted the line
was necessary for the operation
to continue. The project has just
been completed.
Town Manager Kelly said in a
telephone interview from Den
ver Tuesday morping that Unifi
officials have promised to pay
back the $55,000 to the town for
the improvement. “Unifi has as
sured us that they would reim
burse us for the water line,” said
Kelly.
In a press release about the
closing, Unifi said the primary
reason for its decision was to
“reduce the Company’s cost
structure and improve produc
tivity through the consolidation
of certain manufacturing opera
tions and disposition of
underutilized assets.”
A Unifi plant in Mount Pleas
ant is also being closed.
Despite the bad news, Chowan
County Manager Cliff Copeland
said the people of the county
should look at this as an “oppor
tunity. We are committed to
making the best of this bad situ
ation.”
He also offered those who will
lose their jobs some
For many years the Edenton Cotton Mill employed well over 1,000 local people. In recent years, however, that
number had dropped to below 100. The fate of the mill and the surrounding mill village is still in question.
Dr. Rev. Clifton Davis was the keynote speaker during the Edenton-Chowan Civic League's
annual banquet Saturday night. He talked about social problems facing America, and urged
those present to begin taking steps toward effective change. Davis is serving as Interim Vice
Chancellor of Development and Planning at Elizabeth City State University. (Staff photo by Re
becca Bunch)
Z' - 1 ". ...x
s January
! Closing
Confirmed
| For Belk
By REBECCA BUNCH
Belk of Edenton, a fixture
in the downtown business
district since 1948, will close
its doors here Jan. 31.
"The decision to close was
a difficult one, but the store's
location just has not been
competitive in recent years,"
said Troy Howard, executive
vice president of the Belk
Group, headquartered in Fa
yetteville, N.C.
According to Howard, the
17,000-square-foot store em
ploys 20 associates. He said
that management from the
Elizabeth City store "will be
See BELK On Page 8-A
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Auditions For ELT
Auditions for the upcoming production of "My Fair Lady" will be
held at Swain Auditorium, E. Church Street, Edenton, at 7:30 pm on
September 26, 27 and 28. The last of the three dates will be for call
backs. For more information, contact Joe Conger at 482-8411 or
Ross Inglis at 482-3315 or 482-4193.
Bar-B-Que Chicken Dinner
There will be a Bar-B-Que Chicken Dinner on Saturday, Septem
ber 23 from 11 am to 7 pm at the VFW Post 9280 on Old Hertford
Road. Eat in or take out. $5 per plate.
Walk-A-Thon Set For Sat.
The Albemarle Crisis Pregnancy Center of Elizabeth City will
hold a Walk-AThon to help raise funds for a satellite center in
Edenton. Beginning at 9 am on Saturday, September 23 at the
Waterfront Park in Edenton, the two-mile walk is open to everyone.
There will be clowns, balloons and refreshments. For more informa
tion, call 338-1656 or 793-9385.
Marker To Be Placed
On Thursday, September 28 at 3 pm a Daughters of the American
Revolution Historic Marker will be dedicated on the grounds of the
James Iredell House. This marker will be dedicated to the 13
Edenton Tea Party DAR members that saved and restored the
Iredell House. The public is invited to attend.
Dr. Rev. Davis Entertains,
Educates E-G Civic League
By REBECCA BUNCH
Empowerment through
teamwork was the theme
hammered home by Dr. Rev.
Clifton Davis before a capa
city crowd at Holmes High
School during the annual
Edenton-Chowan Civic Lea
gue Banquet Saturday even
ing.
Davis, who is serving as
Elizabeth City State Univer
sity's Interim Vice-Chancel
lor of Development and Plan
ning, said there are many op
portunities, and many chal
lenges, facing African-Ame
ricans as the millennium ap
proaches.
"The Contract With Amer
ica is not a mandate by all the
people," he said. "And I don’t
think a lot of folks in this
room voted to kill Affirmative
Action."
Davis noted that the Repub
licans, in addition t;o "cutting
everything" have "put our
universities on the auction
block...you can tell those
folks ’that mandate is not my
mandate.
He also noted that poverty
and hopelessness are leading
increasing numbers of Amer
icans to commit violent acts,
that homelessness is a
national tragedy and that af
ter years of decline drug use
is rising once again.
"There's crack out there,
there's crime out there. Co
caine can only destroy your
life; only God can put it back
together," he said.
Davis said that rural ar
eas, once thought to be havens
from the violence of the larger
American cities, are no lon
ger safe. He said only strong,
quick action by concerned ci
tizens will stem the tide.
"We’ve got to fight to take
the drugs and the guns but of
our children’s hands," he
said.
Davis said African-Amer
icans must strive to become
empowered economically, po
litically, and spiritually.
"We've got to learn to
share, we've got to make it a
little more equal. I know Je
sus said the poor we will have
with us always, but why are
they always us?"
Davis said there are tools
for achieving parity in the
modern world. "We do it by
caring, by being involved, by
volunteering. We've got to be
See DAVIS On Page 5-A
Jennings
Concert
Set For
Oct. 22
Country music legend
Waylon Jennings, his band
and his wife, singer Jessi
Colter, will come to Edenton
on Sunday, Oct. 22, for two
performances in the E.A.
Swain Auditorium. Shows
will be at 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.
Tickets for the Jennings
concerts will go on sale at the
Chowan Arts Council on Mon
day, Sept. 25, and by phone at
482-8005.A11 seats are reser
ved, with prices ranging from
$20 to $30 in the 840-seat au
ditorium.
The shows are being co
sponsored by the Arts Council
See WAYLON On Page 3-A
$15 ADVANCE
$20 GATE
CALL 221-443
OR 482-8739