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Ashiey credited with breaking tri-county theft ring
BY SUSAN HARRiS
Cox NC PM^^caf tons
Two Plymouth men have
been charged in Perquimans,
Bertie and Chowan counties in
conjunction with what ap
pears to be an antique theft
ring.
Eric Andrew Peacy 18, of 110
E. Main St., Plymouth and
Douglas William Hewitt, 35, of
501 Wilson St., Plymouth were
charged with second degree
burglary by the Chowan
County Sheriff's Department
on July 11. The pair was sub
sequently charged with four
counts of felony breaking or
entering, four counts of feloni
ous larceny after breaking or
entering and possession of sto
Deputy Rick Ashiey
len goods by the Bertie County
Sheriff's Department.
Back to Schoo!
breakfast he!d
Atthea Riddick, chairwo
man of the Business. Engi
neering and industria) Tech
notogies Division at the Cot
tege of the Atbemarte in
Eiizabeth City, speaks at the
Edenton-Chowan Schoots'
Back to Schoot Breakfast.
BY HELEN K. OUTLAND
Sta# IVrttcr
The 2002/2003 Chowan
County school year officially
opened with its annual "Back
to School Breakfast" Thursday
morning. The breakfast, held
at Chowan Middle School, is
held for teachers, county lead
ers, and friends of education.
While visitors dined on eggs,
grits, bacon, and biscuit
Althea Riddick encouraged
teachers, parents, and admin
istration to continue the qual
ity education of Chowan
County students. "The founda
tion you give to the students of
Chowan County will pay you
back in a highly skilled work
force," said Riddick.
Althea Riddick serves as
Chairperson of the Business,
Engineering and Industrial
Technologies Division at the
College of the Albemarle in
Elizabeth City She is a mem
ber of the Board of Directors
for the Rural Entrepreneur
ship through Action Learning
Institute in Durham, NC.
Riddick has also been se
lected as the North Carolina
Community College Excel
lence in Teaching Award and
the North Carolina Commu
nity College -Professor of the
Year for 2001.
Riddick reminded the break
fast attendees that while hard
work and knowledge count, it
is attitude that makes the dif
ference. Riddick said that re
gion graduates tend to stick
close to home. Teachers and
custodians and cafeteria staff
will see the students whose
lives they have touched in the
community for years to come.
"The investment in time, labor,
and love that school personnel
give to students will bring a
local return," she said.
Dr. Allen Smith took this
opportunity to deliver his
"State of the School District"
address. Smith said the state of
the Edenton - Chowan school
system is strong, "perhaps
stronger than it has ever
been," he said. "Reading and
math tests reflect the highest
overall achievement we've
ever had."
Dr. Smith went on to men
tion several milestones for the
schools in the past year that
include the opening of the new
D. F Walker School, new roofs
for Chowan Middle, the addi
tion of eight more National
Board Certified teacher, and
the completion by seven sys
tem teachers of their three
year Initial Licensing Train
ing. The system also continues
its partnership with College of
the Albemarle.
"Our dream of providing
seamless student service from
pre-K through community col
lege is fast becoming a reality"
Smith said.
Schoo/ board term
//m/R e/zm/nafecf
The NC General Assembly
this month passed a bill re
pealing term limits for three
North Carolina county
boards of education, includ
ing Edenton-Chowan.
Session Law 2002-l8on July
15 abolished term limits for
board of education members
in Haywood County and
iredell-Statesville as well as
Edenton-Chowan County.
Board members here previ
ously were iim ited to two con
secutive six-year terms.
Section 1 of the new iaw
reads "...members of
the... Eden ton-Chow an
County Board of Education
may serve tor more than two
See LIMITS On Page 5 A
Perquimans charged Hewitt
with felonious breaking and
entering and felonious larceny
As of Monday both Peachy
and Hewitt were being held in
the Bertie County Jail under a
$100,000 bond.
Peachy and Hewitt are be
lieved to be responsible for at
least eight break-ins and larce
nies in the three counties.
According to Perquimans
County Sheriff Eric Tilley the
suspects cruised rural areas in
Perquimans, Chowan and
Bertie counties looking for
homes that appeared to be un
occupied. They allegedly en
tered the houses, stole an
tiques, then sold them to at
least three dealers and a collec
tor.
The case was broken by the
Chowan County deputy Rich
ard Ashley who was killed in
a plane crash in Tyner on July
16 while on a flight to search
for marijuana. Chowan Coun
ty Sheriff Fred Spruill said
Ashley spotted intruders at a
house in that county around 1
a m. on July 11.
"Richard Ashley came by
and saw them (suspects) at the
house and was able to catch
them," Spruill said. "He was
able to hold them at bay until
the other deputies arrived."
"Chowan County did an out
standing job actually catching
somebody in a house," said
Bertie County Sheriff Greg
Atkins.
The suspects were ques
tioned after being apprehended
in Chowan County and the in
vestigation led to a break in the
cases in all three counties.
"I was just pleased with the
way that the agencies came to
gether and cooperated," Atkins
said.
Atkins added that coopera
tion across county and town
lines is critical to effective law
enforcement.
Antiques allegedly taken
from the residences have been
recovered in Plymouth, James
ville, Windsor and Washington,
Tilley said. While a complete
inventory with values on the
pieces is not available, Tilley
said the value of the items sto
len is "in the thousands."
Spruill said the most valu
able piece recovered to date is
worth $30,000.
One piece recovered was a
corner cabinet built in 1805 by
slaves, Tilley said.
Tilley said the three dealers
and one collector have not been
charged in the incidents at this
time. The dealers are cooperat
ing with law enforcement agen
cies, he said.
While all of the pieces miss
ing from the vandalized homes
have not been recovered, the
sheriffs said many have been,
and they continue to follow
leads on the missing items.
All three sheriffs said the
case is still under investigation
and they expect more charges
to be filed.
Washington Co. named preferred
site in new OLF study draft
BY HELEN K. OUTLAND
Sfa# Wrffer
Even as the OLF Steering
Committee met this past
Thursday news that the Navy
was preparing to release a
Draft Environmental Impact
Study soon was filtering down
to the affected counties.
A statement released by the
committee early this weeks
states; "The Steering Commit
tee has been told unofficially
to expect a release of the draft
EIS tor the location of the of the
Navy's OLF either Thursday,
August 1 or Friday August 2nd."
All of that changed early
Tuesday morning when word
came from sources that a for
mal notice had been placed in
the Federal Register that a Draft
EIS is available for review.
Within a few hours a press re
lease from the offices of Sena
tor Jesse Helms and Represen
tative Walter Jones stated they
applauded the Navy's decision
to deploy F/A-18 Super Hornet
Fighter squadrons to MCAS
Cherry Point, North Carolina.
'After considering four Navy
and Marine Corps air stations
as potential receiving site for
the latest generation of F/A-18
fighter aircraft, the Navy has
identified MCAS Cherry Point
as a preferred alternative for
the deployment of the newest
combat-proven strike fighter,"
says the release.
The Navy had developed
eight homebasing alterna
tives for this action that were
subjected to detailed analy
sis. Of these eight, two were
identified. One was Cherry
Point. The Navy has also
identified either Craven
County or Washington
County North Carolina as the
preferred alternative for the
site of a new Outlying Land
See OLF On Page 5-A
Heraid is forming advisory board
The Chowan Herald contin
ues to strive to be the best com
munity newspaper possible,
but we need your help to
achieve this goal.
The Herald is looking for
readers willing to serve on a
newly organized 13-member
Reader Advisory Board. For
one year the board will include
folks from every walk of life
and every description of re
sponsibility throughout our
community
- The group will weigh in on
issues that affect our commu
nity and the way in which our
newspaper covers those issues.
- Board members will be
asked to comment and give
feedback on the direction that
the newspaper is headed with
future plans.
* The group will be asked for
input on the way the Herald
assesses the needs and makes
contributions to our commu
nity.
* We'll be asking for improve
ments that might need to be
made on how we handle news,
how we handle area sports and
how we handle local events.
- We will also need your o
pinions and insight as to what
readers in general expect from
the newspaper on a week-to
week basis.
See BOARD On Page 5 A
Co!e puts service to others above ai!
BY HELEN K. OUTLAND
StG# Wirier
From the quiet of her office
Judge Janice McKenzie Cole
begins to speak softly about
the people of the congressional
district she would serve, and
some of the issues they face
that impact their lives so pro
foundly Her fervent hope to be
a congressional representative
who would represent and pro
tect those who can not always
protect themselves.
Janice Cole's professional
life has always been devoted to
"protecting and serving", first
as a police officer in New York
City and later as an attorney
a Judge, and then US. Attor
ney. Her entire life has been
based on integrity, persever
ance, and "what is right".
"This is something my par
ents instilled in all of us from
day one," Judge Cole says of
she and her two sisters. "My
parents required the best from
us and taught it by example."
Cole goes on to say that her
mother was a strong, soft- spo
ken woman who had no prob-,
lems making herself under
stood. Her father, in her words,
"is the most self educated per
son I know"; adding that he is
Judge Janice Coie and her campaign manager. Staccato
A. Poweii, take time to discuss issues she wiii address dur
ing her campaign. (Staff photo by Heien K. Outiand)
a prolific reader and someone
with whom she has shared a
strong desire to always learn.
Her father also strongly en
couraged her to do her very
best.
"If 1 brought home a grade
of 99, he would say that was
wonderful and praise me, but
then it was followed with, 'Now
let's talk about what you got
wrong'," she adds with a
smile. It was her parent's for
titude and strong faith in God
that has ultimately tostered
her desire to serve others.
By working with local Dis
trict Attorneys and the com
munities she set about to
change the odds. Her unprec
edented success as U.S. Attor
ney in crime prevention and
neighborhood restoration and
creating solidarity between
federal, state, and local law
enforcement agencies is per
haps the single most contrib
uting factor in the successful
fight to keep drugs out of the
backyards of America.
"Living in a rural commu
nity myself, I saw first hand
that local law enforcement did
not have the resources needed
to fight the rising drug prob
lems," Judge Cole says. "When
you look at a sheriff's office
or police department with
limited staff you see they are
responsible for many duties
including covering some
very large counties and keep
ing criminal activity out of
some of these pockets. This
was very evident to me as a
judge on the bench." Judge
Cole felt it was very important
to bring in other resources, to
work together, from the local,
state and federal level. "The
volume of crime may not be
the same in the rural areas as
the metropolitan areas, but I
impressed upon the federal
agents that it still had the
same impact on the citizens,"
she says. "There was a need
to help all the counties. We
worked with each county to
help root out the most egre
gious offenders. It did have
an impact." Once the hard
core offenders were taken
See COLE On Page 6-A
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