Vol. LXXII, No. 7
Single Copies 50tf_
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Council agrees to rezone Whitemon Lane
Phyllis Britton
Britton to fill
vacant seat
BY SEAN JACKSON
The Chowan Herald
Phyllis Britton’s return to
service with the Town of
Edenton is more ground
breaking than it may at first
appear.
The Paradise Road woman
isn’t just replacing former
Ward 3 Councilman Jerald
Perry, she’s also become the
first female African-American
to join the town board. She was
appointed by council during
its Feb. 8 meeting.
“Welcome aboard;” Mayor
Roland Vaughan told Britton
after her unanimous appoint
ment.
“I think it’s a great honor to
be appointed (to Perry’s
former Ward 3 post) by the
council,” she said Tuesday.
Britton was sworn in by
Chowan County Clerk of Supe
rior Court Mike McArthur.
“It’s an honor for me to do
this," McArthur said. “I’ve
known Phyllis for 30 years.”
During a recent interview
with The Chowan Herald,
Britton said she’s certainly a
neophyte in the political arena,
but is looking forward to the
challenges ahead.
“I need to get in there and
really find out some things be
fore I go in (to issues) gung
ho,” she said.
She was openly endorsed by
Perry, who stepped down after
moving out of his ward.
“Jerald and I grew up to
gether,” Britton said of Perry,
who had represented the dis
trict for 15 years. “We’ve just
known each other forever ...
He knows I’m interested in the
well-being of Edenton.”
Britton also is familiar with
fellow councilors Jerry Parks,
Steve Biggs, Sambo Dixon, and
Willis Privott. And she knows
Town Manager Anne-Marie
Knighton and Vaughan.
“I’m a people-person,” Brit
See BRITTON On Page 5-A
INSIDE
Calendar.C2
Church....C4
Classifieds.D1 -6
Editorials.A6
Learning....B4-6
Obituaries.C6
Society..C3
Sports...B1-3
On Page B6 ...
Remembering Dr.
Martin Luther King's
visit to Edenton
Land was
site of
Wal-Mart
controversy
BY SEAN JACKSON
The Chowan Herald
The Edenton Town Council
has approved an Elizabeth City
man’s request to rezone his
undeveloped property, the
same tract that sparked contro
versy over “big-box” retailer
Wal-Mart nearly seven years
ago.
By a 5-1 vote on Feb. 8, coun
cil approved zoning the
Whitemon Lane property
Local soldier seeks help
for refugee children
BY REBECCA BUNCH
The Chowan Herald
Lisa Brown of Tyner is a
woman with a mission - to
make her son’s dream come
true.
SFC Jeremy Brown is
among the Americans
serving in Afghanistan. And
while a Feb. 3 e-mail from
her son said his Army
Special Forces Unit contin
ues “doing great things for
the cause of freedom,”
Jeremy Brown also shared
with his mom another
mission for the greater good
that he’d like to accomplish.
“About 1/2 mile from the
entrance to our camp,” he
wrote, “there is a refugee
camp. We pass this camp
every time we leave the base.
When we leave all the
children run out to wave,
give us thumbs up, and hope
for candy or something from
us...Most times we don’t
have anything to give them
other than smiles and a
friendly wave.
“My friend, J.D., and I
have come up with an idea.
We want to go into the camp
on Sundays (because) there
is only a Catholic priest on
the Base (he is French!), so
in lieu of a service, we hope
to go and play with the
children or talk with them
Commissioners briefed on fiscal impact of revamping policy
BY EARLINE WHITE
The Chowan Herald
A completely revamped per
sonnel policy for the employ
ees of Chowan County was
presented at the Chowan
County Commissioner’s meet
ing Thursday, February 10.
Ben Rose, director of the De
partment of Social Services
presented the policy that has
been in the makings for over
two years. The staff commit
tee, in developing this new
policy, focused on Federal poli
cies that will address the grow
ing needs of county employ
ment. Among the newest ele
owned by Dr. Lloyd Griffin II
from highway commercial to
shopping center designation.
Councilman Sambo Dixon
voted against the request.
Council debated how to
gauge, or the futility of pre
dicting, any harm to the town
and potential success of
Griffin’s plans for developing
the 60-acre site.
Dixon and Mayor Roland
Vaughan indicated that allow
ing large-scale commercial de
velopment at the site—located
just south of Hampton Inn off
of N.C. Highway 32 — may not
have been in the right interest
of residents in the area.
Vaughan noted that the town
has three shopping centers,
one of which is closed, with the
other two scrambling to keep
These Afghan children live in a refugee camp near where
American soldiers are based. One of those soldiers, SFC Jeremy
Brown, is asking for your help for the children.
or maybe even read stories
through our interpreter. We
are hoping to spread goodwill
and hope to these kids and
show them that we are here
to help them and their
country. We could use some
help though.”
Brown’s e-mail went on to
tell his mom how he hopes
that help can be provided for
the approximately 100
children, whose ages range
from two to 10.
“What we are hoping that
we can do,” he said, “is get
our friends and families and
churches to send us stuff for
these children. We don’t need
Allysa Miller, bronze medal
winner at 4-H state competi
tion, gives a presentation.
merits of the policies include
training for all department
their current tenants under
lease.
“It doesn’t lead me to believe
there is a great demand for
another shopping center,”
Vaughan said during the hour
long discussion on Griffin’s
rezoning request.
“I think we can look at our
general stock of what we have
and what we need,” to deter
mine if more retail businesses
are needed, Dixon said.
Councilman Jerry Parks
said the board shouldn’t un
dertake the task of determin
ing what types of businesses
are needed, and which will suc
ceed or fail.
“That is for the developer to
decide,” said Parks, adding
that he has seen projects ap
proved “that I knew wouldn’t
money...Here are some
things that we could use to
help these children: Socks
and/or shoes, even flip-flops
would be good (because)
most have nothing: Balls
(soccer, softballs, kickballs,
anything that can be played
with); candy.”
Brown’s mom also said he
hoped people would send
the following items of a
non-religious nature, since
Islam, not Christianity, is
the major religion in
Afghanistan: children’s
books that the soldiers
See CHILDREN On 3-A
heads on a regular basis. A re
tiree medical insurance ben
efit was also introduced simi
lar to those across the state. It
came to the committee’s atten
tion that Chowan County was
one of the few counties left in
the state that did not have such
a policy
Under the Local Govern
ment Retirement System, em
ployees that have twenty years
of continuous service with the
county are eligible to retire
with full benefits. Those appli
cants must retire from
Chowan County with the last
five years of work performed
within the County system,
happen, and they didn’t.”
Edward Brooks, a consultant
working with Griffin, told
council that 14 acres of the
property was zoned for resi
dential use, with the remain
ing 46 zoned highway commer
cial.
“I personally don’t see the
need for the R-20 (residential)
piece to be changed,” Vaughan
said.
The shopping center zoning
will allow the development to
proceed quicker, Brooks said,
and cheaper. The highway
commercial zoning would re
quire projects to be done in
separate chunks with a size
restriction of less than 80,000
square foot per business. The
shopping center zoning allows
for much larger businesses.
Board green lights
systemwide calendar
for next school year
BY EARLINE WHITE
The Chowan Herald
The Edenton-Chowan Board of Education has unanimously
approved a new school calendar for the 2005-2006 school year,
which dictates that teacher workdays are reduced by five days
and that schools open no sooner than August 25 and close no
later than June 10. The calendar puts the
local school system in compliance with
new terms set out in House Bill 1464 which
was passed by the NC General Assembly
in 2003.
The measure was pushed through the
state by the Tourism committee that had
hoped to extend the summer vacation in
order for the young work force to support
NC tourism. The NCAE switched its
former position and supported the passage
of the bill. Though the new law takes away
individual county flexibility, its requirements had to be met.
Therefore, the 12-member calendar committee made up of one
administrator, one classroom teacher and one parent from each
of the four schools, had to formulate a calendar of 180 school
days within approximately 210 weekdays. The state did however
allow school systems to apply for waivers in order to forego the
August 25 opening. Submitted on a school-by-school basis, only
John A. Holmes received the waiver. Because of the extra money
and stress involved for parents and children if the school open
ings did not coincide, the calendar committee opted not to use
the waiver. Edenton-Chowan schools district-wide will open
August 25.
Several changes are apparent in the new calendar. Five of the
2005-2006 calendar school days are protected teacher workdays,
dictated by the state to come at the end of the academic quar
ters. Yet, in total, teacher workdays were reduced by five. K-5
teachers had a problem with the reduction and asked the calen
dar committee to consider early release days once a week.
Though the instructional hours would be met if the early re
Dr. Allan Smith
See CALENDAR On Page 8-A
among other elements. A
policy similar to this was intro
duced by Lisa Jones for the re
tiring Law Enforcement Offic
ers. After 30 continuous years
of service, with five to ten of
those years of service prior to
retiring, a Law Enforcement
Officer 55 years of age with
five years service (unless re
employed by the government)
may be eligible for a Separa
tion Allowance. Such an allow
ance will be paid until the age
of 62. Sheriff Fred Spruill does
not agree with the allowance
under which the employee can
not come back to work on even
a part-time basis. Spruill
“We don’t want to develop it
piecemeal,” Brooks said. “It’s
not economically sound (to do
that)... It doesn’t make sense.”
And the developers have a
broad plan in mind. “We are
attempting to build a shopping
center,” Brooks told council.
And a national-chain super
market would be a part of that
development, he added.
To do that, Brooks said, Grif
fin would need to conduct a
“land-swap” with the property
owner who owns a tract that
borders N.C. 32. That deal
would allow traffic to flow onto
the highway from the shop
ping center, and not onto
Whitemon Lane.
That land owner has indi
See LANE On Page 5-A
shared his concerns with the
board that his team would be
losing valuable assets by not
being able to call on former
employees to help out if
needed. Wayne Goodwin,
chair, assured Spruill that
adopting a resolution to accept
the policy does not mean that
the policy is etched in stone.
The commissioners adopted
the resolution, promising that
Sheriff Spruill’s concerns will
be heard and perhaps ad*
dressed in a future revision. *
The fiscal impacts for the
entire policy revamp will re
See POLICY On Page 3-A