Vol. LXX1I, No. 4
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Single Copies 50tf
County 4-H'ers recognized during Achievement Night
' BY EARLINE WHITE
The Chowan Herald
A celebration commemorat
ing a successful year for 4-H
clubs and individual partici
pants was held Monday, Janu
ary 24. Packed into a small
room at the Extension office,
kids and their parents from all
around the county sat together,
proud of their many accom
plishments.
After an informal dinner, 4
H’ers young and old listened as
Enoch Bond, former 4-H’er,
spoke of the impact the orga
| nization left on him. Bond
thanks the 4-H group for giving
him the leadership skills that
have taken him abroad with
his studies at NCSU. “When
im&mm
Utility rate
| hike eyed
by town
BY SEAN JACKSON
The Chowan Herald
Edenton residents will likely
see a slight increase in then
electric bills as of March 1.
During its committee meet
ing Monday night, the Town
Council discussed imposing a
1.4-percent hike in the power
t , rate, an issue the board dis
cussed last fall. The increase is
the result of a rise in the
wholesale power rate charged
to the town.
“It’s always an ugly word,”
Councilman Privott, chairman
of council’s Utilities Commit
tee, said of the proposed in
crease.
Council was aware of the
| boost in the wholesale rate last
\ summer, but opted to delay the
cost-increase to its customers
as long as it could. The in*
# crease to the town became ef
$ fective in October.
“This is the month (Janu
ary) that we are going to have
to decide,” to raise the elec
I trie rate, Privott said.
Council will make the final
decision to raise the power
rate in February.
Town Manager Anne
Marie Knighton said the in
crease would result in an av
erage rise of roughly $13 to
$14 annually. The increase
would be affected by the
amount of power a customer
uses. An average household
with two residents uses
about 1,000 kilowatts a
month, she added.
“This is something nobody
at this council table wants to
do,” Privott said, adding that
councilors will also have to
pay added electric bill costs.
INSIDE
Calendar.C2
Church..C4
Classifieds.D1-6
Editorials.A6
Learning.B4-6
Obituaries.C6
Society.C3
Sports.B1 -3
On Page B4 ...
Holmes senior
attends Presidential
Inauguration
Staff photo by Earline White
Justin Karl and Matthew Leary of the Geographically Inspired
Students 4-H club present Colleen Karl with a special gift. Without
Karl's grant-finding skill the.group would not have been formed.
A GLITTERING SIGHT
L.^y./,.y ■____
j
Staff photo by Earline White
Last weekend's freezing temperatures produced some unexpected results. The garden fountain
of Edenton resident Sambo Dixon took new form by Monday morning as a frozen ice sculpture.
Rocky Hock Opry plans benefit for Relay, Arts Council
Tickets on sale
now for March
show at Swain
BY REBECCA BUNCH
The Chowan Herald
Jack Evans and his fellow
performers with the Rocky
Hock Opry know a good cause
. when they hear one. And they
continue to use their musical
talents to support them. For
years now, the Opry has been .
a backbone of the financial
. support offered to the Ameri
can Cancer Society locally,
through its strong support of
the Relay for Life. Now, they’ve
added the Chowan Arts Coun
cil to their roster.
Tickets went on sale this
week for an Opry show sched
uled to benefit the two organi
zations. The benefit will take
place at Swain Auditorium in
Edenton on March 18-19.
Shows start at 7:30 p.m. nightly.
“Since the Arts Council pro
vides so much for our commu
nity and schools, we felt this is
an opportunity for us to help
with the arts and Relay for Life
at the same time,” Evans said.
On behalf of the Arts Coun
cil, CAC Executive Director
Sue Clark expressed gratitude
Amy Damrow asked me to
speak on how 4-H had im
pacted my life, the hardest part
wasn’t figuring out how the
program affected me...it was
narrowing it down,” Bond
said. .
Like Bond who strove to be
come president of his Senior
class at Holmes High, the
young 4-H participants are also
learning leadership skills from
the programs, evident by the
large number of awards given
Monday night.
Those honored at the cer
emony were Alyssa Miller, 9-10
year old project record book on
animal science. Sarah Hupp,
13-15 year old project record
book on personal development
and leadership. Kelsey Lich
Johnny Milteer, guitarist with
the Rocky Hock Opry. Their
next show will be held at Swain
Auditorium in March.
tenwalner, 13-15 year old
project record book on healthy
lifestyles. Sydney Mason, 13-15
year old project record book on
communication arts. County
champion project record book
was awarded to Kelsey Lich
tenwalner’s horse book. Holly
White’s horse book will also be
going on to the District compe
tition.
At county activity day Diana
Mason was awarded a bronze
DAD for her speech on the
“Life and Times of Homer”.
Joelisa Anthony was recog
nized for her competition in
the demonstration of “Break
fast Smoothie with a Calcium
Kick”. Alyssa Miller won a
gold DAD and bronze in the
state for her demonstration “A
Countywide zoning
now on the horizon;
joint discussions held
BY SEAN JACKSON
The Chowan Herald
The days of a lack of
countywide zoning in
Chowan County may be num
bered.
During joint meeting of
the county’s planning and
commissioners* boards on
Jan. 18, the idea of imple
menting a zoning map re
ceived praise from members
of both panels. Implement
ing a zoning ordinance and
map would allow for con
trolled growth in Chowan,
and stem the potential for
haphazard development,
County Manager Cliff Cope
land indicated during the
meeting at the 1767 Chowan
County Courthouse on East
King Street.
“Zoning has to be proac
tive, not reactive,” he said.
Currently, only sexually
oriented business are regu
lated countywide, county
planner Elizabeth Bryant
said. County planning staff
has recommended the coun
ty move forward with a com
prehensive zoning map, she
added.
The majority of surround
ing counties, including
Perquimans and Pasquo
tank, have countywide zon
ing, Copeland said..
Copeland said county offi
cials would move forward
with plans to contact a con
testant who would help the
county develop a proposed
zoning map. The initiative
wouldn’t change the current
layout of the county. For ex
ample, Copeland said, exist
ing farmland would likely be
zoned for agricultural use,
for their generosity.
“We are incredibly grateful
for the support offered by this
wonderful group of folks,” said
CAC Executive Director Sue
Clark.
Clark said the gesture
caught her completely by sur
prise.
“Jack Evans just wandered
down here one day and said,
‘we’d like to do this’,” Clark
said. “They’re being incred
ibly generous.”
“We are very proud of all of
our community-based pro
grams and particularly our
work with the Edenton
Chowan public schools,” she
added. “It is gratifying that the
Day in the Life of a Commer
cial Herring Fisherman”.
Megan Simpson was recog
nized for her tough competi
tion in the 5K Run. Sydney
Mason was recognized along
with Rachel Clark for their
demonstration “A Treat of a
Different Color”. Sarah Hupp
took the gold DAD, gold in the
state, 6th out of 17 in Ohio, and
5th out of 21 in Kentucky with
her speech “Mini Horses with
a Mighty Job”. Kelsey Lich
tenwalner took gold DAD with
a demonstration titled “La
minitis”.
Those achieving perfect at
tendance at club meetings
were Hunter and Houston
See 4-H On Page 5-A
while commercial areas
would be labeled for business
use.
Commissioner Wayne
Goodwin agreed with other
county officials that the time
is right for Chowan to move
forward with zoning plans.
“We’re closer (to having
countywide zoning) than
we’ve ever been before,”
Goodwin said. “Basically,
something is going to have to
be done ... I’m in favor of
moving this forward.”
Research on the proposal
would likely take 12 to 18
months, Bryant said. She
said the county could be di
vide into three sectors —
north, central, and south —
during the survey process.
Public hearings would also
be included in the planning
phase, she added.
In November, a County
Line Road resident appealed
to the county to consider es
tablishing a zoning map. In
her letter to Copeland and
The Chowan Herald, Debbie
Whitehurst said her prop
erty would suffer from the
building of four chicken
houses near her home.
“Now is the time for
countywide zoning,” White
hurst wrote. s
• In other business, the
boards discussed the possi
bility of requiring new sub
divisions with seven or more
units to install buffer zones
between homes and second
ary roads in Chowan County.
The proposal would also re
quire subdivisions with five
or more lots to include buffer
strips for projects located on
U.S. Highway 17, and N.C. '
highways 32, 37, and 94.
community values our pro
gramming as well.”
Evans said the members of
the Opry show are looking for
ward to the opportunity to per
form again before a hometown
crowd after their highly suc
cessful sold-out shows held in
December at the COA Audito
rium in Elizabeth City.
“The latest two shows were
played before a full house as
has been the case with all the
Opry shows in the past,” Evans
said. “We are excited about
playing in Swain Auditorium,
which is a new venue for us.”
Evans describes that the
See OPRY On Page 3-A