Herald
Communitywide Clean-Up Day March 27
Edenton Police to
host cookout for
local volunteers
BY SEAN JACKSON
Staff Writer
With the biennial Edenton
\ Pilgrimage just weeks away,
i event organizers and town of
* ficials have proclaimed March
to be “Clean Up Month” in an
| ticipation of hundreds of visi
tors coming to town for the
two-day tour.
Edenton Mayor Roland
Vaughan said the sprucing-up
efforts would ensure that visi
tors see Edenton at its most
beautiful.
“We want to look our best,”
Vaughan said. “This is just an
extra push to make sure we
show our town in the best pos
sible light during the Pilgrim
age.”
The Pilgrimage is set for
April 16-17, with some of the
town’s most historic homes -
including newly renovated Mill
Village homes - scheduled to
be open to tour-goers during
the event. This year’s event is
the 50th anniversary of the in
augural Pilgrimage that took
place in 1949.
Vaughan said the that the
spring cleaning proclamation
is also an effort to make
Edenton residents mindful of
the crowds expected to flow
into town next month.
Pilgrimage Co-Chairman
Barbara King said that a spe
cial clean-up day is set for later
this month. On March 27, from
10 a.m. to noon, approximately
200 volunteers - including lo
cal Boy Scouts and 4-Hers -
will be combing the town to
pick up trash. Afterwards, King
said, the Edenton Police De
partment will sponsor a hot dog
cookout for the volunteers.
For more information, or to
order tickets for the Pilgrim
age, call 1-800-775-0111. For
group tickets, call .482-4801.
Tickets are $20 and can be or
dered in advance. To order tick
ets by mail, write to the
Edenton Woman’s Club, PO Box
12, Edenton, NC 27932, or the
Chowan Arts Council, 200 E.
Church St., Edenton, NC 27932.
Checks should be made pay
able to the Edenton Woman’s
Club.
Bonner announces new guidelines
With a state requirement on
I physical fitness looming for the
' men and women in blue,
Edenton Police Chief Greg
Bonner has decided to be one
step ahead of the fitness craze,
Bonner has devised a pro
gram for his officers which is
designed to get them in shape
well before North Carolina
implements minimum stan
dards. The program is mod
eled after a plan used by the
„Town of Tarboro and has been
reviewed by the state’s Crimi
nal Justice Division.
The department’s health
maintenance program will en
sure that all paid police offic
ers are physically ready to per
form their duties, and will vary
in intensity according to age,
sajd Bonner.
According to the procedure,
all sworn officers will be re
quired to take a physical ex
amination annually. Also, all
officers who have significant
health problems will receive a
physical examination as often
as prudent in order to ensure
safe involvement in enforce
ment activities, policy guide
lines say. Components of the
physical examination will be
determined by medical person
nel selected by the Town of
Edenton.
In addition, each applicant
for the department will be re
quired to undergo a physical
prior to being hired. Applicants
will also undergo health main
tenance testing and must score
in the expected range in mus
cular strength, muscular en
durance and cardiovascular
endurance in order to become
a member of the department.
Promotions and pay raises
will also be affected by the fit
ness policy. The policy states
that officers must meet profi
ciency requirements in all
three (cardiovascular and both
muscular) tests in order to be
promoted within the depart
ment.
“Officers who cannot medi
cally meet the standards must
show continual improvement
until the standards are met,”
the policy states. Additionally,
all standards must be met
within a six-month period or
the officer will be given the
opportunity to either retire
with a medical disability or will
be terminated.
Other policy requirements
are as follows:
• Effective Sept. 1,1999: Of
ficers must test in the expected
range to be considered for a
standard evaluation.
• All full-time officers who
rate in the less-than-expected
range will participate in a re
medial training program to be
developed by the Edenton
Chowan Recreation & Parks
Department. Those who do not
See BONNER On Page 3-A
Pilgrimage Co-Chair Barbara King and Mayor Roland Vaughan set a good
example for fellow Edentonians by placing some trash in dumpsters at the
Courthouse Green. A townwide clean-up day will be held here later this
month in preparation for the 50th anniversary Edenton Biennial Pilgrimage.
(Staff photo by Sean Jackson)
Charges planned
for 'white goods'
pick-up service
BY SEAN JACKSON
Staff Writer
With the ever-increasing
cost of transporting discarded
appliances in mind, town offi
cials have devised a plan to
begin charging residents for
the removal of certain “white
goods” items.
The removal of white goods
- including refrigerators,
washers, dryers and stoves -
has become a burden on the
town, said Edenton Town Man
ager Anne-Marie Knighton.
“Our ordinance calls for the
town to charge a fee for col
lection of goods that weigh in
excess of 75 pounds,”
Knighton wrote in a memo
randum she recently sent to
the Town Council. “We are
experiencing a lot of wear and
tear on the trucks transport
ing the white goods from our
facility to the landfill in
Perquimans County.”
The plan calls for the town
to stop collecting white goods
at the curb.
“Instead, residents would be
required to transport the
white goods to one of Chowan
County’s solid waste disposal
facilities which are equipped
to handle white goods,”
Knighton said. “We under
stand that most other munici
palities in the region are han
dling the white goods in this
way.”
See SERVICE On Page 3-A
Business celebrates local expansion
When Fisher Nut closed the
doors of its plant on Peanut
Drive in the early 1990s, town
officials scrambled for ways
to find another company to oc
cupy the building.
In the wake of the shutdown,
the Edenton-Chowan Develop
ment Corporation purchased
the building and immediately
set to work to find a new ten
ant. Eventually, the develop
ment team landed a prospect
in Morven Partners, L.P., a pea
nut-products company already
located across the street from
the then-vacant Fisher Nut
building.
Last Thursday morning, a
host of local business and gov
ernment leaders gathered at
the once-vacant building to of
ficially welcome Morven Part
ners to its new facility. Still
operating its original in-shell
facility on Peanut Drive,
Morven Partners has expanded
its Edenton business to include
additional peanut processing
in the building that formerly
A host of local business leaders and government officials look on as Mike Partin cuts the ribbon to celebrate a new
expansion project at Morven Partners, L.P., located on Peanut Drive. (Staff photo by Sean Jackson)
housed Fisher Nut.
The company began operat
ing out of the building in early
January where it makes such
products as peanut butter and
peanut toppings for ice cream,
as well as ingredients v>* can
dies, cookies and a vanety of
snack foods.
After a ribbon-cutting cer
See EXPANSION Page 3-A
Chowan Arts Council sponsors Ensemble program
BY REBECCA BUNCH
Editor
For “dancing at the highest
level imaginable,” the place
to be this Friday night is the
Swain Auditorium in Edenton.
Starting at 7 p.m., in a pro
gram sponsored by the
Chowan Arts Council, the
North Carolina Youth Tap En
semble will take to the stage
for some of the fanciest foot
work around.
“We are just thrilled to have
a group of this caliber come
to Edenton to perform,” said
Chowan Arts Council Execu
tive Director Sue Clark. “Af
ter leaving Edenton, the group
will be traveling to New York
to perform. That gives you
some idea of just how great'
they really are...we hope ev
eryone will take advantage of
this opportunity to come and
see them perform while
they’re here.”
The dancers, ranging in age
from 10 to 17, are under the
expert direction of visionary
teacher/director Gene Med
ler. Medler teaches the “old
time” version of tap popular
ized by Charles “Honi” Coles,
Jimmy Slyde and Sandman
Sims - the same dance style
that in more modern times
dancer/actor Gregory Hines
has worked so hard to pre
serve.
According to the group’s di
rector, their performances in
clude both the history and
demonstration of dance styles
as diverse as an Irish Jig, a
soft shoe, French Canadian
waltz clog, be-bop, and jazz/
rhythm tap.
“These kids are dancing at
the highest level imaginable,”
said Medler. “There are per
haps a handful of companies
nationwide which allow me
complete choreographic free
dom. Close your eyes and you
could never tell that most of
the dancers are top young to
drive."
The Ensemble tours exten
sively in North Carolina and
the Southeast and is a regular
at the St. Louis Tap Festival.
Medler said the Ensemble’s
\
goals are:
• Entertain and inform au
diences of the universal na
ture of percussive dancing
• Preserve tap, ah indig
enous American dance form,
plus a variety of traditional
percussive dances by teach
ing them to a new generation
of performers, and
• Offer young dancers an
opportunity to perform and to
refine the delight of dancing
entertainment.
The Ensemble’s choreogra
phers include Lane Alex
ander, Ira Bernstein, Barbara
Duffy, Josh Hilberman,
Jeannie Hill, Gene Medler,
Zans McLachlan, Jan and
Eddie Owens, Ruth Pershing
and Savion Glover.
Tickets for the performance
(priced at $5 each) and infor
mation on a Master Tap Danc
ing Class the group will hold
on Saturday are available by
calling the Chowan Arts Coun
cil at 482-8005. This program
is sponsored in part by a
Grassroots Grant from the
North Carolina Arts Council.
The North Carolina Youth Tap Ensemble will perform in Edenton Friday
night. Tickets are available from the Chowan Arts Council.
Grant funds
to absorb cost
of project here
BY SEAN JACKSON
Staff Writer
In accordance with a grow
ing demand for water and
sewer services in one of the
town’s largest industrial sec
tors, a state economic agency
has awarded a grant to offset
costs of pump station upgrade
there.
Last month, the North Caro
lina Rural Economic Develop
ment Center awarded a $75,000
grant to the Town of Edenton
for the replacement of a sewer
lift station on Peanut Drive. An
award description stated that
companies discharging to the
lift station have requested in
creased flow that the existing
lift station cannot handle. The
grant will leverage $150,000 in
town investment into the
project.
“We are very excited,” said
See EXPANSION On 11-A
i