Town, County get ready for Isabel BY TAMIKA SPRUILL Staff Writer Town of Edenton and Chowan County officials be gan preparing for the projected arrival of Hurricane Isabel Monday, all the while hoping that the efforts “will not be sometime early Wednesday morning.” As of Monday afternoon, Town and County officials were getting word of predic tions that storm surge in the Albemarle Sound could be of historical proportions. “Tues day evening will be a critical ness plan; we will be ready if the storm hits.” Departments are testing equipment, especially chain saws, emergency generators and the like, Knighton said. “A crew is cleaning catch basins. All our vehicles have been gassed up.” needed come Wednesday or Thursday,” ac cording to Ed enton Town Manager Anne Marie Knigh ton. “EMS Direc tor Doug Belch called for a briefing of all town, county and regional al lied agencies Monday after noon,” Knighton said. “Traditionally, Hurricane Isabel approaches the Carolina coast Knighton noted that state officials have been in touch with Edenton’s airport to ask about the possibility of pur chasing aviation fuel during a re covery effort. “NCDOT leases their office space from our town at the airport and they recently in stalled an emer gency generator, so if the state needs fuel, we will mis group gamers wnen se vere weather warnings are is sued.” Knighton said that the group “will likely meet Tuesday af ternoon, and then several times early Wednesday. Deci sions regarding the opening of shelters, the possible evacua tion of flood-prone neighbor hoods will likely be made time tor decisions regarding actions needed to protect our citizens,” said County Man ager Cliff Copeland. “We urge everyone to take heed of these warnings that are being issued and be pre pared,” added Town Manager Anne-Marie Knighton. “Our department heads are review ing our hurricane prepared be able to service the aircraft,” she said. Local residents are re minded to call 482-4414 to re port any power outages expe rienced as a result of the hur ricane. “We don’t want to over load the 911 Central Communi cations System with non-emer gency calls,” she explained. “We will have personnel at the Electric Department to answer calls.” Knighton also reported that she had been in touch with Electricities, the organization that administers the Public Power Emergency Assistance Program. “Usually, we are the ones sending our guys to other communities to help restore power after a disaster strikes,” she said. “Hopefully, that will be the case with Hurricane Isabel but if we do have trouble, we know who to call for help.” At photo on left. Chowan County EMS Director Doug Belch, left, talks with Dr. Allan Smith, Superintendent of the Edenton-Chowan Schools, during a special meeting Mon day where town and county officials discussed plans for dealing with Hurricane Isabel. In the photo on the right, town employee Chris Jackson removes the flags from downtown Edenton as town braces for Isabel. (Staff photo by Tamika Spruill) Many events altered (Editor’s Note: The following are notices of changes in sched uled events due to the approach ing hurricane that the Chowan Herald had received by press time.) Friends of Chowan Hos pital’s Rock Around the Clock dinner and dance at Nixon’s Catering has been rescheduled for November 14th. The cur rent tickets you hold will be honored for the same event at the same place. Call 482-6336 or 482-1932 for more information. ****** Albemarle Crisis Pregnancy Center’s Walk for Life 2003 will not be held on Saturday, Sep tember 20, 2003 due to the threat of Hurricane Isabel. They ask that all recruiters > collect pledge forms and dona tions from their walkers and turn them into one of the cen ter offices. Special hours will be set for Tuesday and Wednes See EVENTS On Page 3-A Mayor Roland Vaughan and Earl Willis look on as Larry Ambrose from Triangle Construction, boards up the windows at The Christian Book Seller. Business owners up and down Broad Street were taking precautions Tuesday for Hur ricane Isabel. The large windows at most of the downtown businesses are always a concern dur ing high winds. (Photo by Debbie Collins) ready to roll if needed MM The North Carolina National Guard has a pool of 3,500 sol diers and airmen on standby and another more than 1,500 available to respond to the state’s needs if and when Hurri cane Isabel comes ashore. “Some published reports would lead people to believe that we are undermanned and unprepared, and that is simply not the case,” said Maj, Gen. William E. Ingram Jr., commander of the North Carolina National Guard. “Despite our commit ments here in the United States and overseas, we have more than enough people and equipment to serve the people of North Carolina in the event of a natural disaster.” The North Carolina National Guard has about 12,000 sol diers and airmen in its ranks. Right now, about 1,800 of them are on federal active duty either here in the United States of overseas. Another 4,500, the soldiers of the 30th Heavy Sepa rate Brigade headquartered in Clinton, NC, are on alert for possibile mobilization in the coming weeks. That leaves a surplus of more than 5,000 personnel for responding to other contingencies, including natural disasters. The alert of the 30th has led to many of the questions about the Guard’s abil ity to respond to a'state emergency. 1 “The mobilization of the 30th is having no impact on the Guard’s ability to meet my needs in terms of disaster re sponse,” said Dr. Ken Taylor, director of the North Carolina Division of Emergency Management s.kl2.nc.us). INSIDE THIS WEEK Hurricane Preparedness Tips On Page 3-A Aces going into conference play.—1-B Canaan Temple Homecoming ‘03... 1-C OLF threatens sanctuary for birds and more....4-A