Wednesday, August 18, 2004
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Published in historic Edenton... The South’s prettiest town.
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Contributed photo courtesy of Jimmy Patterson, Town of Edenton
Edenton Bay surged onto East Water Street Saturday evening as a tropical storm blew through Chowan County.
Though not as devastating as Hurricane Isabel, Charley caused widespread power outages in the area.
Charley churns through Chowan
BY SEAN JACKSON
Staff Writer
s Tropical Storm Charley had
lost much of its punch by the
time it arrived in Edenton Sat
urday, but the former hurri
cane still dealt a blow to the
town.
The storm that caused at
least 16 deaths in South
Florida, where it roared in off
the Gulf of Mexico as a Cat
egory 4 hurricane, blew in
from the Albemarle Sound late
Saturday, pushing Edenton
Bay onto the waterfront and
scattering tree limbs.
Local woman
found dead of
gunshot wound
BY SEAN JACKSON
Staff Writer
A Sandy Ridge Road woman
was found dead in her home
Aug. 11 and authorities have
issued a warrant charging her
husband with first-degree
murder.
Chowan County Sheriff
Fred Spruill said last Friday
that Anita Jackson Leary, who
worked at a pair of Edenton
restaurants, was found at her
home with an apparent gun
shot wound. Investigators had
not received results of an au
topsy by Friday.
Authorities are searching
for ber husband, Cornelius
Dr. Slade will be
remembered
for selflessness
BY REBECCA BUNCH
Managing Editor
Edenton lost one of its most
beloved citizens when James
N. Slade, M.D., died Saturday
morning after a two-year battle
with cancer. For almost 40
years, he practiced pediatrics
* and general medicine for those
who could pay, and those who
couldn’t, at the same small of
fice he opened in downtown
Edenton in 1965.
Born Sept. 7,1930 in Edenton
to the late Alonzo V. Slade and
Martha Bemridge Slade, he
began the private practice of
Pediatrics and Adult Medicine
in Edenton in March 1965 and
continued through December
2003. He was on the staff of
“The ground was so wet
from the enormous.amount of
rain we've had, I surprised,
quite frankly, we did not have
more trees to come down,”
Knighton said. Approximately
two feet of storm surge came
in from the Sound and tempo
rarily flooded East Water
Street. Public Works Director
Jimmy Patterson reported that
employees were clearing catch
basins of debris during the
height of the surge.
In addition, winds as high as
68 mph were reported.
“The southern end of the
county appeared to suffer the
Leary. He had been released
from prison in 2003 after serv
ing 11 years of a 20 sentence for
common law robbery, the sher
iff said Friday. The couple re
portedly had married in
March.
The family did not immedi
ately report Anita Leary miss
ing, Spruill said, because she
worked two jobs — Pizza Hut
and Snooker’s Grill.
She hadn’t been seen for sev
eral days until her body was
found last week.
Anyone with any informa
tion about the incident call
Chowan County Sheriff’s Of
fice Investigator Dwayne
Goodwin at 482-8484.
Dr. James N. Slade
Chowan Hospital for 38 years.
He also was clinician at clinics
See SLADE On Page 3-A
''
brunt of the storm,” Knighton
said. “At least a dozen spans of
line were torn down from fall
ing trees in Cape Colony and
on Popular Neck Road. Two
tree limbs fell on lines in Town,
one near Moseley Street and
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Avenue and one near the
Edenton Baptist Church park
ing lot on West Eden Street.
Once those tree limbs were
cleared, electric power was re
stored to most customers in
side the city limits. Electric
crews were able to isolate ar
eas where lines were down,
and gradually restored power
SHCIWS PROFUSE
BY EARLINE WHITE
Staff Writer
At-risk students have an
other terrific program to
help them with their reading.
The Ivy Reading AKAdemy,
sponsored by the NC Arts
Council Grassroots Grant
program, assists second and
third graders to help pass the
North Carolina End of Grade
Tests. The AKAdemy has
been in effect for about three
years now and was imple
mented by the Nu Eta Omega
Chapter of the Alpha Kappa
Alpha Sorority, Inc alumni.
Todne Bembry is the coordi
'nator of the program with
four other dedicated volun
teers, Jolyquin Belfield, Ruby
Webb, Mary Lewis, and
Bettie Bembry.
. Todne Bembry initiated
the grant that rose the pro
gram to where it is today.
“This is Alpha Kappa Alpha’s
way.to help the reading ini
tiative started with Bush’s
‘No Child Left Behind’ legis
lation. There should be an
Ivy Reading AKAdemy in ev
ery city or small town where
there is an AKA alumni chap
ter. We aim to help the stu
dents with their reading
Council plans review of
proposed dog ordinance
BY SEAN JACKSON
Staff Writer
The Edenton Town Council
has decided to review a move
of placing stringent guidelines
on viscous dogs before decid
ing whether or not to adopt a
new ordinance.
During its Aug. 10 meeting,
council delayed taking action
on the proposed ordinance. In
a memo to council, Town Man
ager Anne-Manager Anne
Marie highlighted a few issues
to customers as spans of new
lines were repaired.”
Town power workers began
efforts to repair the electric
system at about 5:30 p.m. Sat
urday. Power was fully re
stored to approximately 1,500
customers by 7 a.m. Sunday,
Knighton said. Utility crews
from Greenville also assisted
in restoring power, she added.
Knighton said the Town
learned a great deal about' pre
paredness after Hurricane
Isabel. In anticipation of Hur
ricane Charley, the Town
See CHARLEY On Page 3-A
James Williams
through the use of African
American poetry, illustrators,
and prose,” Bembry said. The
most recent program began in
January 2004 and ended June
1, 2004. The programs were
held every Monday and
Wednesday after school. Par
ticipants were hand-selected to
participate in the curriculum
by Debbie Webb.
“Kids need to be encouraged
because their surroundings
are so negative,” said Brenda
Benjamin DeBona, Assistant
Director of the Chowan Coun
ty Arts Council. “They need to
be encouraged to see beyond
their humble surroundings.
The world is their oyster; all
they need to do is reach for
ward and grab.”
the ordinance would need to
address.
Owners of a “potentially
vicious” dogwould have to ob
tain a $50,000 public liability
insurance policy, under the
proposed ordinance.
“We have been in touch with
various local insurance
agents,” Knighton wrote, “and
have learned that it is virtually
impossible to purchase such a
policy for potentially vicious
dogs. So, it appears that coun
cil needs to decide if it wishes
Bird fouls up
power grid
BY SEAN JACKSON
Staff Writer
Just two days after Tropical
Storm Charley left many resi
dents in the dark, the Town of
Edenton’s electric system was
shut down by a bird.
Town Manager Anne-Marie
Knighton said Tuesday morn
ing that officials found a
"dead (fried) bird in our sub
station” Monday night. The
wayward bird knocked out
power at approximately 7:25
p.m.
“Electric Department per
sonnel immediately went to
the substation on Freemason
(Street),” Knighton said, “and
quickly determined that Do
minion Power’s transformer
that feeds our substation had
kicked out.”
A call was then placed to a
Dominion Power service tech
nician who lives in Belvidere,
Knighton said. The power
company’s Norfolk, Va.-based
operations center was also
contacted by town officials.
“They were aware of the
outage and were awaiting di
agnosis from the service tech
nician,” Knighton said.
Chowan County Manager
Cliff Copeland drove to the
Cotton Mill neighborhood, on
The program this year had
phenomenal success. Each
student came determined
and committed to get what
they came for. One student in
particular went the extra
mile, literally. James Will
iams, now a fourth grader,
has been in the program for
one year. He began when he
was in the 2nd grade and
ended when he was in 3rd.
Williams missed only one
session at the Reading AKA
demy, because he was sick
with the flu and couldn’t find
the strength to walk home
afterwards. Usually James
walks from the old D.F.
Walker (where the program
is held) to his house one mile
away.
But James didn’t become
discouraged because of the
distance nor the struggle. In
stead James seemed driven
by a force that took him to
excellence. James began to
read at a faster pace, love po
etry and prose and set goals
for himself. James became
the first student of the pro
gram to score fours on all of
his EOG tests!
James, now a rising fourth
See PROMISE On Page 3-A
to keep this insurance provi
sion in the ordinance or delete
it.”
Aggressive dogs — specifi
cally those with a history of
biting people — would be re
quired to be microchipped, and
muzzled when off their
owner’s property.
Dogs on the “black list” for
the proposed ordinance in
clude: Pit bulls, Staffordshire
bull, American pit bull terrier,
See DOG On Page 3-A
the south side of town, where
power was in service, which
meant Dominion Power had
power at its substation. -
The technician reset the
switch to the town’s trans
former shortly after 8 p.m.r
Knighton said.
“We question why Domin
ion’s transformer was on
what is called ‘one-shot,’”
Knighton said of the custom
of a system having three
times to “clear” by “resetting
itself.”
"We asked the technician
why Dominion’s (transfor
mer) was on one shot,” she
added, “(and he said) he did
not know and directed me to
call the ‘higher ups,’ which I
am doing this morning.”
In addition, the town is
looking at installing bird-pre
vention devices at electric
substations.
“Even though this the
first time we can remember
a bird taking out the entire
system,” Knighton added,
“we think it worth it to
check out. I have learned
today (Tuesday) that there
are devices that makes
noises that some utilities
have had success with, an
other options is to install
some type of cage.”
Locals
to aid
Florida
BY REBECCA BUNCH
Managing Editor
Watching television cover
age of the devastation visited
upon Florida by Hurricane
Charley over the weekend
brought back a lot of memo
ries for Chowan County resi
dents - vivid memories of loss
and destruction brought to our
community last fall by Hurri
cane Isabel. But local residents
are not dwelling on those
thoughts; instead, they are
hard at work trying to fill an
18-wheeler that they hope can
be sent from Chowan County
to Florida later this week.
The truck will deliver the
supplies to Venice, Florida just
north of Fort Myers. There
they will be turned over to the
South Venice Baptist Church
and its pastor, David Burgess,
for distribution to those in
need.
The drive was. organized by
two local women, Peggy Dees
and Felisa Bass. Bass said she
See LOCALS On Page 3-A
INSIDE THIS WEEK
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Exchange Students
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COA expands course
offerings.............. 4-D