ALD
Wednesday, May 12, 2004
Winn-Dixie checking out of Edenton market
BY SEAN JACKSON
Staff Writer
The days of having a Winn
Dixie supermarket in Edenton
are nearing an end.
JoAnne Gates, spokes
woman for the Jacksonville
Fla.-based grocery chain, con
firmed Monday that Edenton’s
store would be closed or sold
within a year. The store is part
of a Hampton Roads, Va. mar
ket that Winn-Dixie is elimi
nating in order to improve its
financial outlook.
Gates said that Winn-Dixie
hopes to find buyers for “most,
if not all” of the sites targeted
for closing.
The Edenton store has
roughly 60 employees,
Richard Bunch, executive
director of the Edenton
Chowan Chamber of Com
merce, said Friday that he
hopes a new supermarket will
replace Winn-Dixie. Several
major grocery chains have re
portedly already expressed in
terest. “This certainly a high
priority for us,” Bunch said.
“We stand ready to help in any
way we can (to bring in a new
chain), and we have expressed
that to them.”
America’s Supermarket
Staff photo by Earline White
The Winn-Dixie store in Edenton is among those currently up for sale. A corporate
spokeswoman said Tuesday morning that the grocery chain will spend the next year
attempting to find a buyer for the Edenton site and others slated for closing. Those that
are not sold will be closed after that time, she said.
In late April the company
announced it would cut 10,000
jobs and close or sell 156 stores
and other operations over the
next year.
The company has suffered
financial woes in recent
months.
“While sales continued to
decline, this quarter’s break
even results are an improve
ment from last quarter, largely
due to an increase in margins,”
Frank Lazaran, Winn-Dixie’s
president and chief executive
officer, said in an April 30 press
release. “We also made mean
ingful progress with our stra
tegic inbiatives, most notably
the completion of our compre
hensive review of Winn
Dixie’s markets to identify
which are core and non-core to
the Company. We are making
and implementing the tough
decisions we believe are neces
sary to streamline the Com
pany and return it to consis
tent profitability.”
Michael Nagle, manager of
Edenton’s Winn-Dixie, could
not be reached for comment.
The company will report
edly close 111 stores in 16 non
cgre markets in the Midwest,
Virginia and certain areas of
North Carolina and South
Carolina. The North Carolina
areas that will have closings
are: Greenville-New Bern and
Wilmington. Closings are also
planned in Portsmouth, Va.,
Norfolk, Va., and Newport
News, Va. — the market the
Edenton store is assigned to.
Winn-Dixie has also said it
would shut down distribution
centers in Raleigh, Sarasota,
Fla., and Louisville, Ky.
Winn-Dixie Media Director
Kathy Lussier said last week
that the Charlotte distribution
center would ship freight to the
Edenton store once the Raleigh
location closes.
Bunch said he deeply regrets
that Winn-Dixie is pulling out
of town.
“The local team here at
Winn-Dixie have been very
good neighbors to this commu
nity," Bunch said.
Winn-Dixie reported a 5.5
percent sales dip for the quar
ter ending March 31 compared
to the same period in 2003. The
company also reported a $77.7
million net loss for a 40-week
period ending March 31.
(Chowan Herald Managing
Editor Rebecca Bunch contrib
uted to this story)
Pruden to run
for commission
BY SEAN JACKSON
Staff Writer
Dossey Pruden may not have
any challengers for the July 20
primaries, but the Edenton
Democrat will face a Republi
can challenger Nov. 2.
Dorsey Pruden
Pruden has a first-things-first
attitude about his initial foray
into Chowan County politics.
He just wants to get his name
out for the county Board of
Commissioners district seat
he’s vying for.
County Democratic party
chairman Derrick Wadsworth
doesn’t think that’11 be a diffi
cult thing for Pruden to do.
U.S. Navy
appeals
ruling
BY BETH HALL
The Enterprise
RALEIGH - The Navy
ended its two-week silence in
regards to an injunction pro
hibiting further work on a
proposed outlying landing
field in Washington County.
A motion filed Tuesday,
May 3, requests the court re
consider the injunction or
See RULING On Page 3-A
“His family name has been in
the county for years,” Wads
worth said Saturday.
Pruden, 52, and Bill Gardner Jr
are the only two candidates for
the Disctrict 2 commissioners'
seat being vacated by George
Jones, who has held the job for 26
years. A1970 graduate of John A.
Holmes High School, Pruden
wants to continue his family’s
service to Chowan Comity Fun
neling new jobs into the county
is his chief campaign goal. “We
need to bring in new jobs,” he
said, “and then keep the ones al
ready here from moving.”
Controlled growth, education
and environmental issues also
top the Cape Colony resident’s
agenda. “The future will bring
many challenges and concerns,”
he said. “I will try to make the
best choices, if elected.”
Pruden, a Merchant Marine
captain, is also a 1972 graduate of
Cape Fear Technical Institute in
Wilmington, where he earned as
associate’s degree in Marine
Technology in 1972.
He is a member of the Shepard
Pruden Memorial Library Board
of Trustees; co-chairman of the
Northeast Regional Advisory
Committee of the N.C. Marine
Fisheries Commission.
Seeking County Commission seats
Libertarians George Bradham, Robin Sams and John Sams filed May 7 as candidates for
election as Chowan County Commissioners in the November election. Bradham is run
ning for the District 3 seat (Edenton); Robin Sams filed for the county at-large seat; and
John Sams is contesting the District 1 seat (Rocky Hock and northern Chowan County).
Libertarians, they noted, champion self-responsibility and individual liberty, values which
have made America great. The three are seen here at the Edenton Teapot, which com
memorates one of the first political protests of the American Revolution.
BOE unveils tentative budget
From staff reports
The Edenton - Chowan
Schools Board of Education at
its May meeting approved
unanimously the 2004-2005 lo
cal budget request. The re
quest now goes to the Chowan
County Commissioners for ap
proval. The total school system
budget is made up of local,
state and federal funds.
The lion’s share of the
school system’s expansion re
quest is for its Current Ex
pense Fund, in personnel costs
See BUDGET On Page 5-A
OLF: Noise level to impact reaion
BY EARLINE WHITE,
FRAN ARRINGTON,
CHARLES HARRIS
Cox NC Publications
Second in a series
A few weeks ago, Carolyn
Hess of Hertford and sonte of
her friends were meeting for
their regular discussion group
in Edenton when one of the
U.S. Navy’s new Super Hornet
fFntvretf the last
Birds, like these flying free across Pocosin Wildlife Refuge in Washington County, won't
be the only ones startled by the loud jet engines of the Super Hornets scheduled to use
the proposed OLF site. Humans living in adjacent counties are likely to experience the
noise firsthand too. (Chowan Herald file photo by Angela Perez)
jets flew overhead.
The noise from the plam
grew so loud that they could n<
longer hear one another. They
; were forced to stop their dis
> cussion until the plane had
passed on and was no longer
audible.
See OLF On Page 3-A
Operation
leads to
13 arrests
A joint community policing
effort to arrest and document
probation and parole violators
in Chowan County on April 30
resulted in the arrests of 13
people, including two abscon
ders from probation, and the
confiscation of significant
amounts of cocaine, mari
juana and cash.
Probation/parole officers
from the Division of Commu
nity Corrections organized the
operation. Along with local
law enforcement officers, pro
bation officers searched the
homes, of probationers and
manned traffic checkpoints.
Officers from Tyrrell Prison
Work Farm and the Chowan
County Sheriff’s Department
provided manpower, a van and
canines to assist in the
searches and traffic check
points.
Officers arrested two proba
tion violators, issued numer
ous traffic violations, seized
one vehicle, a half-pound of
marijuana, several rocks of
crack cocaine and several hun
dred dollars in cash.
“People in Chowan County
now know that we can and will
See ARRESTS On Page 5-A
INSIDE THIS WEEK
True
Survivors
_1-C
Special Olympics
tomorrow_7-A
Steamers season
tickets_....... 3-B
Jordan signs book
on Saturday
7-C
SATURDAY, MAY 15, 2004 FROM 4 PM - 7 PM t-prphta
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