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A Chowan County coupfe watched this sea! on the beach from their home on the A!bemar!e
Seal is spotted on sound in county
BY HELEN K.OUTLAND
S;a/y IVrtfer
A Chowan County couple
were enjoying a lazy Satur
day morning when his wife
walked to the window and
spotted a seal laying on the
beach in front of their home.
"When she told me what she
had seen my initial response
was "yeah, right"," he says.
But. upon his wife's insistence
he went and took a look. Sure
enough, right there on the edge
of the Albemarle Sound lay a
sea lion.
"We have been getting lots
of reports of sightings," says
Kathy Rawis, Marine Biologist
for the North Carolina Marine
Fisheries in Elizabeth City.
"We have had reports of Mana
tees being seen in the Roanoke
River." Rawls says that these
sightings are highly unusual,
but that recent environmental
changes have had a lot to do
with the sightings.
"Waters in these areas that
are not normally salty are
salty now." she says. High
winds and seas, lack of rain
fall, and shifts in the winds
See SEAL On Page 13 A
Town looks at
budget cuts
State (grab of
funds cause
for concern
BY HELEN K. OUTLAND
For the second time Gover
nor Mike Easley is withhold
ing reimbursements from
counties and municipalities.
Easley plan is to hold $64 mil
lion in inventory tax reim
bursement, $9.6 million from
liquor sales, and $6 million for
other reimbursements.
The governor's decision will
cost Edenton $153, 669 or 5.5
percent of this 2001-2002 bud
get, "It's not fair that the State
is doing this to us," says
Edenton City Manager, Anne
Marie Knighton. "Where can I
cut. what services can we re
duce to make up for nearly $154
thousand?
"The Fire Chief was waiting
for me Friday morning when I
got to work," Knighton says.
"He had gotten the memo I had
sent about freezing all capital
outlay purchases, but he was
still concerned." According to
the city manager the chief
wanted to proceed in the pur
chase of ten new pagers, that
are in the budget, for the vol
unteer firemen. The old ones
are wearing out and are ready
to be replaced.
"Of course I said ok, but it
.irked me to no end that the
State is grabbing our money to
deal with their revenue short
falls."
Knighton says she is con
templating delaying the pur
chase of two new police cars. "1
am going to meet with the Po
lice Chief, Public Works Direc
tor and the Garage Supervisor
to assess the impact of a delay
on the police fleet."
She added that tentative
plans being looked at include
cutting by 5 percent allocations
from the town to the Edenton
Historical Commission, the
Chowan Arts Council, the
Edenton-Chowan Chamber of
Commerce and Albemarle
Hopeline.
Chowan County's is suffer
ing a double whammy with the
See CUTS On Page 13-A
Chowan continues elicits to work on resolving OLF issue
i
Public meeting
is held here to
inform on issue
(Editor's Note: To share your
views on the OLF site issue, e
mail Sen. Jesse Helms,
jessehelms@helms.senate.gov;
Sen. John Edwards, sena
tor@edwards.senate.gov; or
Rep Walter Jones at cong
jonesfa mail.house.gov)
BY HELEN K. OUTLAND
<S?G# Writer
About 200 people met with
county and city leaders in
Svyain Auditorium last Tues
day evening to discuss the
Navy's proposed Outlying
Landing Fields.
Edenton Mayor Roland
Vaughan welcomed everyone
and introduced Peter Rascoe,
3
Special Projects Director for
Chowan County. County Man
ager Cliff Copeland reviewed
the meeting's agenda and City
Manager; Anne-Marie Knigh
ton followed up with the ac
tions taken so far by citizens.
Peter Rascoe presented a
power point presentation on
the OLF issue. "The Navy's
plan is to use the proposed site
for practice landings on air
craft carriers," Rascoe says.
According to Rascoe the
Navy has phased out the
TomCat, so the planes that will
be using the site will be the F/
A 18 and E/F Supef Hornet.
"Fentress Field in Oceana is
not capable of handling these
touch and go landings, so they
are looking for another site,"
Rascoe said.
Rascoe says the Navy has
contracted with a private com
pany to develop requirements
and assess the environmental
impact of the landing fields in
the targeted counties, of which
there are six. The E1S w 11 tie
issued in March.
All but two of the counties
being considered by the Navy
will be holding individual pub
lic hearings. Washington and
Bertie counties will hold a jo int
meeting.
On January 2nd of this year
Rascoe received a letter of in
tent notifying him of the Navy's
intentions.
"These are regional issues."
says County Manager Cliff
Copeland. Copeland went on to
inform the audience of the
meetings that had been held so
far with the leadership of the
counties targeted. "We are in
the process of investigating the
use of in-house staff and exper
tise," Copeland said referring
to the.collective efforts. "We
need to identify the money re
sources and the use of people
already on staff, but we must
be prepared to look outside as
See MEETING On Page 4 A
Leaders visit DC, taik with tegisiators
BY HELEN K. OUTLAND
Ntc# Writer
Representatives from five
counties were in Washington
DC this past Thursday to meet
with senators, congressmen,
and the Under Secretary of the
Navy, Dan Holiday. Holiday
will be making the recommen
dation for the location of the
Hornets and OLF site to the
Secretary of the Navy.
"Although it was a very long
day, I think it was well worth
the time," says Edenton City
Manager, Anne-Marie
Knighton in memo to the
Mayor and Town Council.
"Our legislators and their staff
know our objections to the
OLF." Unfortunately she feels
they came away feeling more
concerned that one of the sites
in the Northeast is probably
going to be chosen.
"The politics of the situation
are such that a powerful rank
ing member of the Armed Ser
vices Committee is getting tre
mendous heat from his con
stituents in Virginia to get rid
of the noise." Knighton added.
Chowan County Manager
Cliff Copeland and City Man
ager Anne-Marie Knighton
joined seven officials from
Hyde, Bertie, and Perquimins
counties for the trip. The pair
presented a copy of the Certi
fied Resolution from the
Edenton Town Council oppos
ing the location of an outlying
landing field for the FA-18 in
Perquimans, Bertie, Washing
ton, or Hyde counties.
The contingency, joined by
retied four Star Air Force Gen
eral George Stringer, a
Perquimins native, met with
Senator John Edwards, Sena
tor Jesse Helms. Eva Clayton,
and Walter B. Jones.
The area leaders were able
to spend Edward's "Tarheel
Thursday" meeting in the
Russell Senate Office Building.
With the senate in session
Edwards spent only 15 minutes
with the contingency pledging
to review the EIS due out some
time in March.
From there the leaders went
on to meet with Senator Helms.
Former Congressman George
Shultz from Pennsylvania, who
owns property at Albemarle
Plantation, joined the team
there. "We also met with NY
Manhattan Congresswoman
Carol Maloney," say Knighton.
"She and a number of her fam
ily members own property at
See LEADERS On Page 4-A
Chowan kids Job Shadow
Chowan Middte Sc hoot student Jamte Window
examine* a puppy * skin cetts under a micro*cope
during Jab Shadow Day. Jamie *pent the day with
y^t^finarian* at Chowan Animat Hospitai.
i
Participating in 2002 Job
Shadow Dayactivitiestookone
Edenton-Chowan Schools stu
dent on a wild goose chase last
Monday - but now she knows a
bit more about working for the
county animal shelter.
Learning about pbtential
careers is the point of Job
Shadow Day. now in its fifth
year nationwide. About 36
Chowan Middle School stu
dents teamed up with repre
sentatives from 27 area employ
ers to spend the day observ
ing—and participating - in the
day-to-day activities of busi
ness.
The students and their men
tors met at Nixon's Catering
for a hearty breakfast before
starting their workdays.
"Some of you will come a Way
from your experiences today
thinking, 'this is what 1 want
to do,"' said Sheila Evans. Di
rector of Instruction for
g. Edenton-Chowan Schools, wel
coming the participants.
"Some of you will see what's
See SHADOW On Page 13 A
Chowan-Perquimans Retay Co-Chair Pauia Evans speaks during kickoff
Joint Relay for Life kickoff is held
BY REBECCA BUNCH
Editor
Cancer is a disease that
touches everyone at some point
in iife. if you've been fortunate
.4
enough not to have experi
enced the disease, chances are
you've had a family member,
friend or co-worker who has.
And the medical research that
continues to help save many
lives takes money. Relay for
Life is one way that people can
help raise that money.
Last Tuesday evening those
See RELAY On Page 4 A
A ' A