Herald
Published in the most beautiful little city on the North Carolina Coast
Vol. LXVI, No. 4 50e
Council looks
at planner and
joint services
Concerns raised
about liability and
other situations
BY SEAN JACKSON
Staff Writer
With increased growth
comes increased workloads for
local government officials, and
Chowan County’s and Eden
ton’s building inspectors are in
a state of constant motion as
development levels rise.
According to Edenton Town
Manager Anne-Marie Knight
on, a merger between the town
and county inspections depart
ments is a logical.choice to pro
vide quality service and save
precious tax dollars.
During the Edenton Town
Council’s Committee Meetings
Monday night, Knighton un
veiled a merger that would
make allies of Edenton Build
ing Inspector Chris Brabble
and Chowan County Code En
forcement Officer Holly .Co
lombo.
The town-county planning
and inspection department
may also enlist a full-time plan
ner to serve all Chowan resi
dents. The planner would over
v;;?e the new town-county de
partment.
In memorandum to the Coun
cil, Knighton outlined the bur
dens currently placed upon the
separate agencies. The com
mercial growth in Edenton at
US 17 and NC 32 highways, a
proposed assisted-living devel
opment near Chowan Hospital,
37 subdivisions in Chowan
County since 1996, and three
major subdivisions in Edenton
in the past three years were
just some of the developments
she said are stretching the
town’s and county’s depart
ments too thin.
“With all of thes’e planning
issues facing us, it seems that
the time has come for the Town
and County to employ a full
time, professional planner,”
Knighton stated in the memo.
“By combining our inspections
department, we will provide
more coordinated and more
efficient services to our cus
tomers.”
During Monday night’s Coun
cil meeting, Knighton said that
the town’s population could
grow from 5,300 to 7,200 in the
next decade - a projected in
crease of nearly 30 percent.
Knighton said that Brabble and
Colombo would join the plan
ner as official county employ
ees, though the town would
fund the department an esti
mated $27,000 annually. The
county is expected to provide
an additional $73,000 to the
town-county department.
However, several council
men expressed concerns about
the merger, citing liability is
sues, certification, and finan
cial justification of a planner
position as issues that need to
be addressed before the Coun
cil votes on the matter on Feb.
9.
See COUNCIL On Page 3-A
(From left) Elton Anthony, Sarah Leggett, Jonathan Smith, and Tanner Leggett picked up 4-H Extension awards during last week’s 4-H Achievement Awards
in Edenton. Looking on is 4-H Extension Agent Bonita Williams (back, at left) and NC Secretary of State Elaine Marshall (seated at right).
Secretary of State honors local 4-H'ers,
pays tribute to program's place in her life
BY SEAN JACKSON
Staff Writer
According to North Carolina
Secretary of State Elaine
Marshall, a person’s experi
ence in 4-H activities is some
thing that will be cherished
while providing a solid founda
tion for character throughout
adulthood.
Marshall was in town last
Thursday night as the keynote
speaker at the Chowan County
4-H Annual Achievement Pre
sentation held at the Chowan
County Senior Center.
Marshall told the more than
100 guests on hand that her
own stint in 4-H paved the way
for what has turned out to be a
remarkable career for a Mary
land farm girl.
“It allowed me to be of ser
vice to others,” said Marshall,
who is currently serving her
first term as Secretary of State,
a post she was elected to in
1996. “My 4-H experience
didn’t happen in a vacuum,”
she added, noting that her
mother helped her throughout
her years in 4-H which included
a seven-month stay in Brazil.
“So, without a doubt, ail that
makes me the person I am to
day,”
Marshall said she was the
first person in her family to
attend college, and that 4-H
motivated her to continue pub
lic service after receiving her
law degree from Campbell
University. Marshall later
served as a state Senator (15th
District) from Harnett County.
“There is a place for every
one to serve... and give of them-.
selves,” Marshall said. “AH it
takes is an investment ... of
time and energy.”
She also told the crowd that '
Achievement Award nights are
perhaps the most important
nights for 4-Hers as well the
communities they reside in.
“It (achievement awards)
might be the most important
thing done in Chowan County
all day today ... all month ...
maybe even the best thing done
in Chowan County all year,”
See TRIBUTE On Page 3-A
School superintendents encouraged to form community groups
It’s not a cure-all. for rural
school districts, but supple
mental funding for low-wealth
schools is a necessary step to
help level the playing field for
a majority of North Carolina
students, says Gerry Hancock.
Hancock, General Counsel
for the Low Wealth Schools
Consortium, met with more
than 30 local school officials at
John A. Holmes High School’s
auditorium Monday night to
discuss funding plans for the
next fiscal year,
“We’re addressing a problem
that’s almost as old as the state
itself,” said Hancock. “Wealth
is not spread evenly. Unfortu
nately, the gap is not narrow
ing, it’s widening. And that’s
one of the great challenges our
state faces.” *
Hancock noted that the
state’s top 10 wealthiest coun
General Counsel Gerry Hancock
ties {including Mecklenburg
and Wake counties) annually
spend more than $2,400 per stu
dent, while poorer counties
spend legs .than $700 per child.
Most school funding is pro
vided by county tax collections,
he said, noting that urban ar
eas have a larger tax base than
rural areas - including north
east North Carolina.
“That’s (a difference of)
$46,000 per class, per year, year
in and year out,” he said, bas
ing those figures on a 26-stu
dent classroom.
Currently, more than half of
North Carolina’s students live
in the 73 counties designated
“low wealth” by the General
Assembly. In FY 1998-1999,
legislators approved more than
$63 million in supplemental
funding for low-wealth schools,
but $100 million is needed for
the next school year, he said.
The state initiated the supple
mental funding program (in
cluding funding for small
school districts) in 1991.
A finance study conducted
by the Consortium showed a
drastic difference in student
achievement based on funding
from local coffers. In Dare
County (spends nearly $1,700
per student), 70 percent of all
high school students per:
formed at grade level, while in
Tyrrell County (spends $738
per student), high school stu
dents achieved just a 50 per
cent at-grade-level rate.
Even if that $100 million in
funding for low-wealth school
systems is approved in upcom
ing budget talks, all school sys
tems will not be equal, Hancock
said.
“But at least the low-wealth
systems will be better off,” he
said. “They’ll be brought up to
the state average.”
The Consortium’s latest fig
ures put Chowan County in the
bottom tier of the state’s 100
counties based on tax value,
putting the county 74th place
between Cleveland and Duplin
counties. The county school
system received slightly more
than $300,000 in low-wealth
funding for the current school
year.
Edenton-Chowan School
Supt. Dr. Allan Smith said that
his school system uses that
funding for a host of programs,
including exceptional children
programming, honors classes,
technology, and for increasing
staff.
“Without those funds, we’d
See SCHOOL On Page 3-A
—
Quota reduction could spell the
end for Chowan herring industry
BY SEAN JACKSON
Staff Writer
In what they view as an ef
fort to stop alleged declines in
herring stock in the Chowan
i River, state Marine Fisheries
I officials have proposed a siz
| able cut in the allowable her
ring catches this spring.
But many local commercial
fishermen think the nearly 40
percent proposed reduction in
quota will bring an end to their
livelihood.
In Raleigh last Thursday
;jan. 21), the North Carolina
arirte Fisheries Commission
roposed to reduce pound net
larvests of blueback river her
ing in the Albemarle Sound
anagement Area from
00,000 pounds to 250,000
pounds. The Commission is
expected to vote on the pro
posal within 30 days.
For commercial fisherman
Herbert Byrum, an approval
of a 150,000-pound drop will
push many local pound net fish
ermen out of the water since
the majority of herring landed
in this management area are
caught in the Chowan River.
“What they’re doing is put
ting us out of business,” Byrum
said in a telephone interview
last Friday morning. Byrum
attended the meeting in Ra
leigh with 11 other Bertie and
Chowan County fishermen to
plead their case that the
400,000-pound quota for pound
netters is the “break-even
point” for commercial fisher
men.
At a public meeting in
Edenton on Jan. 12, state Divi
sion of Marine Fisheries Stock
Assessment Scientist John
Carmichael told the Commis
sion, and nearly 200 fishermen,
that over-fishing has essen
tially reduced herring recruit
ment (spawning numbers) to a
dangerously low level.
Carmichael even suggested
that a moratorium be placed on
pound net fishing in the
Chowan River to increase re
cruitment.
Fishermen balked at
Carmichael’s findings then,
and still are not convinced that
his figures are correct now,
Byrum said.
“My feelings are that you
See QUOTA On Page 3-A
OUTSTANDING VOLUNTEER IS CHOSEN
Edenton Historical Commission Chair Susan Creighton, left, congratulates Mary Rhea Jones,
Volunteer of the Year for the Barker House. Jones was honored at a tea last week.