Board looks
at options
for Holmes
BY SEAN JACKSON
Staff Writer •
With John A. Holmes High School not getting any
younger, Edenton-Chowan Schools know a new high
school will have to be built—and soon.
There are currently about 770 students enrolled at
Holmes. Teaching methods and curriculum have
changed drastically since the school was built five de
cades ago. Classrooms are cramped, some teachers
scramble from room to
lUUili.
“Space is the issue,”
Superintendent Allan
Smith told the 15 school
officials and parents on
hand for an information
meeting Monday night at
Chowan Middle School.
The Board of Educa
tion is considering three
plans to expand the con
fines, new construction
at the existing site, buy
ing new land for a new
school, or renovating the
current school. They
range in cost from a pro
jected low of about $15
L
Staff photo by Sean Jackson
Dr. Allan Smith
speaks at Monday
night's rheeting.
million to renovate the existing high school, to a
high of $28 million to build a new school at a new
location.
Since construction or renovation work is ex
pected to start until at least 2006, those estimates
could likely rise. Smith said.
Over the past several years, the county has al
ready spent $1.3 million in repairs, mostly for roof
ing projects, at Holmes.
The school board hopes to select an option by
the end of the year, Smith said. School officials have
been working with the architectural firm M.B.
Kahn — which designed the new D.F. Walker and
White Oak elementary schools—on plans for a new
or renovated high school.
The proposed options are:
• New school, same site: $18 million for an 800
student capacity school, $21 million for a 1,000-stu
dent school;
• New school, new site: $25 million for an 800-stu
dent school, $28 million for a 1,000-student school;
• Renovated school: $15 -$16 million for a 1,000
student school.
The renovation plans include everything from a
new, state-of-the art media center to a new gym.
Much-needed classrooms, as many as 10, would also
be added.
To build a new school on county-owned property
at the current North Broad Street site it would take
roughly two to three years to tear down the exist
ing school, Smith said.
When asked if the county has targeted land it
could buy to build a new school, Smith said a new
site hasn’t been identified.
“We haven’t gotten to that place yet,” he said.
“That would have to be one of the first steps we’d
have to take, choosing an appropriate site.”
Smith also said enrollment hasn’t increased in the
past decade and isn’t expected to rise any time soon.
“But it something new comes into town,” he said,
“all bets are off.”
A public hearing on the proposed plans will be held
March 23 at 6:30 p.m. in Holmes’ auditorium.
"The (school) board want input from the public,”
Smith said.
Input can be emailed to: hotline(aecps.kl2.nc.us.
- /lO." , 'v£ i -, l
Steve BroWn, foreground, and Woody
' Coppess put down new shingles on a
, storm-damaged home -pn Sandy Ridge
;KRoad last week. The pair was part of a
if crew from Asheville that was in town last
| week helping with repairs to homes dam
| aged during Hurricane Isabel last Septem
: ber. Isabel has cost residents of Chowan
I County and Edenton nearly $200 million,
with much recovery work still to be done
| six months after the storm. ^
Mm
BY SEAN JACKSON
Staff Writer
It’s been called a broken para
dise and the land of “blue-tarp
houses.”
' But this county of 14,400 just
wants to mend its wounds. Leaky
roofs, drafty walls, and plywood
covered windows still exist, six
months after Hurricane Isabel
ripped through Chowan County
and Edenton in September.
“It’s just almost overwhelming
that we’ve been able to recover as
quickly as we have,” Edenton
Town Councilman Jerry Parks
said during a March 9 meeting.
The storm pounded the town and
county in September, toppling trees,
flooding waterfront homes, peeling
roofs from homes — from Cape
Colony to Rocky Hock. Many resi
dents were without water for several
days. All lost power Only a handful
had working telephone lines.
Nearly $200,000 million in prop
erty damage was caused by the hur
ricane, which stove in off the Atlan
tic shortly after sunrise and de
parted just before sunset on Sept.
18. The Federal Emergency Man
agement Agency poured nearly
$3.5 million into Edenton and
Chowan in the weeks after Isabel.
Town Manager Anne-Marie
Knighton said Edenton expects to
spend nearly $2.5 million to repair
damage to public properties and
infrastructure. FEMA has agreed
to cover 75 of those costs. The state
has said it would cover the rest.
In the meantime, the town is pay
ing its bills.
“It could be six months before we
see that,” money from the state,
Knighton said Tuesday.
County Manager Cliff Cope
land has said residents here could
face a recovery time similar to
what it took for Down East resi
dents to rebound from Hurricane
Floyd. That 1999 storm’s publicly
funded recovery has only re
cently been closed out. Cope-lapd
has indicated Chowan and
Edenton could also face a 5-year
recovery window.
Knighton has said Edenton
continues to find new storm dam
age, nearly every day. A utility
crew is still tweaking the town’s
power system.
Both town cemeteries — Bea
ver Hill and Vine Oak — remain
scarred.
Residents toil, as do public
workers and officials. Both
Knighton and Copeland have es
timated they spend the bulk of
their workweeks dealing with re
covery from Isabel. But the day
to-day operations of their respec
tive local governments—includ
ing drafting budgets for the next
fiscal year — continue.
“I think I’m suffering from
‘Post Hurricane Isabel Stress Syn
drome,”’ Knighton said jokingly
More than $155.2 million was
doled out by FEMA to storm-rav
aged counties in North Carolina
Staff photo by Sean Jackson
through mid-Dec. Volunteers may
be around for a while, hammering
away at the scars Isabel left behind.
The Chowan County Interfaith
Disaster Recovery group has
helped homeowners’ repair dozens
of storm-damaged properties. Last
week, a crew from Asheville
worked on several homes — roof
ing during the day, bunking at
Edenton Baptist Church at night.
Woody Coppess, a member of New
Hope Presbyterian Church in
Asheville, said Edenton and
Chowan had a different type of
damage than he saw south and
west of the county after Floyd in
1999. Floyd has massive floods,
Isabel was a wind destroyer.
But like the residents of Rocky
Mount flooded by Floyd, Chowan
and Edenton residents have appre
ciated the volunteer work.
“Everyone we meet,” Coppess
said, ‘‘they’reenthusiastictDwanlus.”
With the next hurricane season
just a little more than two months
away plans are in place to bolster
Edenton against another blow. A
grant from the N.C. Rural Center
has allowed the town to purchase .
two permanent generators for the
sewer system, and three portable
generators.
“I just feel that we are beyond be
ing prepared,” Knighton said.
“Since September we have just
learned so much about what we
need in terms of resources,” to
withstand another Atlantic tropi
cal storm.
Foundation
helps fund
technology
Chowan Hospital is in the pro
cess of standardizing to the
Biphasic Defibrillator technol
ogy which will allow clinicians to
achieve the same results as be
fore, but with less energy, result
ing in less trauma to the patient
Seven (7) biphasic defibrillators
will be purchased (total cost
$70,000) and located in .the Emer
gency Room, Intensive Care and
other areas of the hospital per
mitting immediate response to
in-hospital sudden cardiac arrest.
DefibriUation is the most impor
tant factor affecting survival
from sudden cardiac arrest due
to ventricular fibrillation. For
every minute of defibrillation
delay, chances of survival de
crease by 7% to 10%.
“Using the Biphasic Defibril
lator technology will make the
hospital “state-of-the-art” for
emergent cardiac conditions,”
stated Chowan Hospital Presi
dent, Jeff Sackrison. “Although
we prefer that the patient will not
need this new technology we are
very' happy that it will be avail
able to the patient when the pa
tient needs it most.”
Cindy Coker, Vice President of
Patient Care Services, further
clarified that “Access to Biphasic
Defibrillation will improve the
patient’s outcome because the
biphasic technology has proven
to be effective and to minimize
post-defibrillation heart dysfunc
tion. Why this technology is so
effective is because the biphasic
technology delivers a lower en
ergy charge, as the name sug
gests, in two phases. ”
Proceeds from the Chowan Re
gional Health Care Foundation's
annual fund-raising event,
“Mardi Gras Madness” on March
20th at the National Guard Ar
mory, have been designated for
the purchase of the Biphasic
defibrillators for Chowan Hospi
tal.
NASCAR enthusiasts are in for
a real treat as 4 exclusive VIP
NASCAR tickets for the Septem
ber 2004 Richmond, Virginia
venue will be auctioned off.
"These exclusive VIP tickets are
not available to the general pub
lic. We are very fortunate to have
generous donors like Charlie
Creighton of Colony Tires, who
donated the tickets to the Foun
dation." stated Helena Szczesny.
“The successful bidder of the
Goodyear VIP NASCAR tickets,
will get a once- in-a-lifetime op
portunity to get the full VIP treat
ment of food, fun and festivities
at the Goodyear Hospitality’ tent,
including drinks, food, pit tours,
garage tours and visit with the
drivers.” said Mrs. Szczesny.
For Mardi Gras Madness tick
ets, please call the Foundation of
fice: 252-482-6440.
Staff photo by Earline White
Getting acquainted
Chamber Director Richard Bunch, right, talks with Bruce
Beasley, President of the Wilson Chamber during a March
11 planning session. (See related story on Page 3-A)
Town reluctantly raises rates
BY SEAN JACKSON
Staff Writer
Saying they had run out of
options to avoid raising elec-'
trie rates, the Edenton Town
Council agreed last week to a 1
percent hike effective April 1.
Utility-related fees will also
go up April 1.
“We have tried every av
enue we could to keep from
doing this,” Willis Privott,
chairman of council’s Utili
ties Committee, said of the
increase during the March 9
meeting. “It just had to be
done,” he added.
The increase stemmed from
a 1.3 wholesale electric-rate
hike passed down by the town’
power supplier, Electricities,
last October. The town had ab
sorbed the increased rate as
long as it could, officials have
said.
In addition, a number of
fees — including reconnection
costs and meter-testing
charges — are also going up.
Knighton said the town is
forced to disconnect an aver
age of 20 to 25 customers each
month. Of those, about 15 are
“repeat offenders,” she said.
Council considered how to
address the increase in after
hours reconnection. Most cus
tomers who have their lights
turned off, Knighton said, are
aware in advance of the dis
connection potential. Cutoff
notices are sent out days in
advance of the disconnect
date, she said.
Privott asked town officials
if consideration was still be
ing given to alert residents
who rely on power for health
needs that a disconnection
date is approaching. Public
Works Director Hawk Crum
mey said the town ensures
that people who use oxygen
machines are given eyery
chance to avoid disconnec
tion.
INSIDE THIS WEEK
I Dance duo
teaches tap
to students
.1-C
Warriors’ Ward nabs
hoops hardware.1-B
$100 NCAA tourney
giveaway._.3-B
CMS Odyssey of the
Mind teams rack up at
regionals_.2-B
FRIDAY, MARCH 19™, 2004 BS'HKS
ll
Donation: $6.00 per plate
%:'£ VMM! Want to n«htCMMiMr
RELAY
FOR LIFE
o