School bus mishap results in injuries
By SEAN JACKSON
Staff Writer
A Chowan Middle School
custodian suffered only minor *
injuries from a two-vehicle ac
cident on N.C, Highway 32
North last Wednesday morn
ing (Feb. 4).
Vernon Privott, a substitute
school bus driver, was travel
ling south on N.C. 32 when a
car driven by Mirma Portillo,
23, of Elizabeth City, pulled out
in front of him at the Small’s
Crossroads intersection at 6:50
a.m. The bus flipped over on its
right side before coming to rest
in the highway. Privott, of
Tyner, and Portillo and a pas
senger in her car, Angel
Dinoro, 24, also of Elizabeth
City, were taken to Chowan
Hospital where they were all
treated and released.
There were no students
aboard the bus at the time of
the accident.
“Naturally, we were very
much relieved that there were
no serious injuries involved in
the accident,” schools Superin
tendent Allan Smith said Fri
day.
The bus, No. 108, is currently
undergoing extensive repairs,
Smith said. The state has sup
plied a replacement bus for the
school to use, the superinten
dent added:
“It’s going to take some time
to repair the bus,” he said.
The bus sustained an esti
mated $35,000 in damages, ac
cording to a re port filed by N.C.
Highway Patrol Trooper J.H.
Blizzard. Portillo’s vehicle sus
tained $5,000 in damage. She
A Chowan County school custodian, who also serves as a substitute bus driver, was injured in a two-vehicle accident
on Hwy. 32 North after the bus he was driving was struck by a car driven by an Elizabeth City resident. (Staff photo by
Jerry Swanner)
allegedly pulled out in front of
Privott while travelling west
through the intersection. The
bus’s rear left tires ran over
Portillo's car, Blizzard’s report
stated. , >
• ' • . ' .. • ' • - \ • ■ '
Portillo has been charged
with failure to yield at a stop
sign.
Smith said the schools’
(transportation department
has a good safety recording
with taking students to and
from schools.
“Safety is our first priority
in transporting students,” he
said, v .
Parerfte were notified Wed
nesday, via letters, of the acci
dent, Smith said. Students who
were to ride bus 108 Wednes
day morning were taken to
school by an alternate bus,
school officials have said.
Lowe:
not a
surprise
BY SEAN JACKSON
Staff Writer
For the second time .in as
many even-year election
cycles, the state Board of
Elections has pushed back
the state’s scheduled pri*
mary date.
The elections board unani
mously approved canceling
the initial May 4 date. The
primaries are now set to be
held July 20.
The postponement also
pushes back the filing pe
riod, which had been set to
open at noon Monday Candi
dates will now have to wait
until April 26 to file The hew
filing period closes May 7.^-1
The new voting schedule
allows absentee voting to
begin May 31.
The general election date
remains Nov. 2.
However, caucuses for the
state Democratic Party’s
presidential-election del
egates will be held April 17.
, The primary date had
originally been set for May
4. ' ■>
Locally, Chowan County
commissioners Harry Lee
Winslow (District 1), Georgsi!
Jones (District 2), Ralph Cold ’
(District 3), and Jerry
Sea DELAY On Page 3-A
Mardi
Gras
coming
Come jazz it up New Orleans
style at the Chowan Regional
Hospital Foundation’s second
casino-style Mardi Gras Mad
ness fundraiser featuring a Si
lent and Live auction of items
donated by generous sponsors.
You will be tempted by deli
cious heavy hors d’oeuvres
served up by Chero’s Nancy
Hagen and mouth-watering
desserts by Lorraine Brucia.
Listen to cool jazz as you heat
up the night with fun casino
style games provided by enter
taining croupiers — all for a
great charitable cause. Pro
ceeds from the event will be
used to purchase biphasic
defibrillators for Chowan Hos
pital.
Your $50 per person ticket
entitles you to food, one drink
ticket and one ticket for a
chance to win one of three
See COMING On Page 3-A
Suzie Swanner won a free dinner at Waterman's Grill for participating in a recent opin
ion survey on smoking in the restaurant. Pictured from left to right are: Katie Ebersole,
co-owner, Jean Bunch, CRHCF Coordinator, Suzie Swanner, BB&T employee, and Brian
Roberts, co-owner. The dinner was sponsored by CRHCF. (Photo by Angela Perez)
Smoking survey finished
BY ANGELA PEREZ
Staff Writer
After collecting 391 surveys
at Waterman’s Grill, the
Chowan Regional Health Care
Foundation (CRHCF) has con
cluded that the restaurant’s
patrons prefer a total smoke
free environment. As part of
its strategy to decrease second
hand smoke exposure in
homes, workplaces, and res
taurants, CRHCF Program Co
ordinator Jean Bunch, ap
proached Waterman’s Grill
owners to ask if they would
agree to participate in the sur
vey. In an effort to better serve
their patrons, Waterman’s
agreed. From December 9th -
Dec. 31, 2003, surveys were
placed on tabletops. The re
sults were tabulated on Janu
ary 2, 2004 with the results
See SURVEY On Page 3-A
Steamers' GM
takes new job
BY SEAN JACKSON
Staff Writer
After just four months as
head of the Edenton Steamers
front office, Jeff Roemer is
leaving for a job in Major
League baseball.
Roemer, whose last day as
general manager of Edenton’s
Coastal Plain League is Fr iday,
has said he planned to work in
the big leagues. But the 25
year-old’s decision to join the
Toronto Blue Jays club was not
an easy one.
“I was torn emotionally
with the whole thing,” Roemer
said Tuesday, “because things
could not be going better than
they have in Edenton.”
He had predicted a winning
season for the Steamers. That
forecast won’t be affected by
his leaving, Roemer said.
“We were headed in that
(successful) direction on every
front,” he said.
A Princeton graduate and
former Tigers football player,
Roemer will work out of the
Blue Jays’ baseball operations
offices in Dunedin, Fla. — a
town of nearly 36,000 just west
of Tampa. He will not be work
ing for Toronto’s Class A mi
nor league team, the Dunedin
Blue Jays.
“I’ll be working for the ma
jor-league club,” he added.
During his 2-plus years with
the CPL, Roemer has set his
sights on big league baseball.
He said the Blue Jays’ organi
zation offered him everything
he was looking for.
. “The Blue Jays are one of
the fastest-growing and best
run team in the majors,” he
said.
Roemer says he will miss the
personal relationships he has
developed since arriving in
Edenton in November.
“It’s a special place,” he said
of the town, which has been
home to the Steamers since
1998.
Local illiteracy focus of discussion group
BY ANGELA PEREZ
Staff Writer
Last week, the Edenton Dis
cussion group sponsored a talk
on illiteracy in Chowan County
Donna Koppelman, a local el
ementary school teacher,
opened the discussion with sta
tistics on adult literacy, citing
numbers from the National In
stitute for Literacy (NIL).
In the NIL’S most recent re
port from 1992, researchers es
timated that within Chowan
County, 65% of adults over 16
years of age are functioning at
the two lowest levels of literacy,
levels that indicate possession
Donna Koppelman
of only the most basic of skills.
This high rate of low literacy
among adults, says Koppelman,
affects literacy rates among
children. “These children
aren’t seeing grown-ups read
ing at home,” she said, “and
that affects their reading levels
and habits.”
These nearly illiterate adults
are at a great disadvantage in
society, according to NIL. With
such low literacy skills, they do
not have access to the full range
of economic, social, and per
sonal options that are open to
Americans with higher levels
of literacy skills.
Another hot topic of discus
sion among those in attendance
centered around a story in last
week’s Chowan Herald about
D.E Walker and White Oak el
ementary schools pleading
against a $1.25 million grant
aimed at improving reading
among young adults. Many
criticized lst/2nd grade teacher
Anne Ziemba’s quote, “Why fix
something if it’s not broken?”,
exclaiming that given the lag
behind other North Carolina
schools in end-of-year testing,
obviously something was bro
ken within the Edenton/
Chowan Schools.
In recent years, says the NIL,
national and local policyma
kers, including members of
county school boards, simply
don’t have enough information
available to them to help them
understand the extent of the
adult and child literacy prob
lems.
John Onufrak, former profes
sor and current speech therapist
for Edenton-Chowan Schools,
spoke after Koppel-man, explain
ing that although some statistics
may seem to indicate lags, the lo
cal school system has “really un
dergone some phenomenal
.change and improvement in the
past few years.”
The Edenton Discussion group
meets every 1st and 2nd Thurs
day of the month at Acoustic Cof
fee.
INSIDE THIS WEEK
Evans
Church
is torn
down/
Fellowship
continues
_1-C
Aces old and new
gather to toast
success-1-B
Bulldogs claim first
ever ACC title_1-B