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Wednesday, July 27, 2005
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I Tourism
v gets shot
§ in the arm
BY SEAN JACKSON
The Chowan Herald
Tourism in Edenton just
hasn’t been the same since
Hurricane Isabel pounded the
town and Chowan County al
most two years ago.
“Our visitation numbers are
down,” Town Manager Anne
Marie Knighton said Tuesday.
1
The Cupola House is among
the historic sites visited by
thousands of tourists annually.
Three recently donated ad
spots focus on the town's Co
lonial heritage and other attrac
tions.
Seeking.to help Edenton and
Chowan get back on track with
its tourism trade, Raleigh-area
radio and advertising execu
tives have donated monies to
fund a series of radio ads pro
moting the town and county’s
tourist destinations.
Monday night, the Town
Council listened to three ads
already on the air in the Tri
angle area!
“The council was really im
pressed with the ads,” Kni
ghton said. “They liked them
a lot.”
The idea spawned from a
media executive’s reaction to a
speech delivered by Mayor
Roland Vaughan in Chapel Hill
recently Shortly after hearing
Vaughan tell of Edenton’s
tourism plight, Phil Zachary,
Executive Vice President of
Curtis Media Group of has do
nated $25,000 worth of 30 and
60 second radio advertise
ments on the company’s 14 ra
dio stations based in the Tri
i
angle.
Vaughan shared that news
of the advertising gift with his
son, Harris, who works for the
advertising and public rela
tions firm Rockett, Burkhead
& Winslow, a town press re
lease states.
Harris Vaughan told his
boss, Michael Winslow, a na
tive of Hertford, about Curtis
Media Group’s gift. Winslow
immediately offered to donate
the creative services to develop
the advertising campaign.
Nancy Nicholls, Executive Di
rector of the Chowan Tourism
Development Authority, was
See TOURISM On Page 3-A
—
INSIDE
Calendar.A10
Church.A13
Classifieds.. A16-18
Editorials..A4
Obituaries.A14
Society.A11
Sports.. A7-9
Edenton addresses affordable housing concerns
BY SEAN JACKSON
The Chowan Herald
A panel charged with seek
ing ways to increase affordable
housing in Edenton and
Chowan County is up and run
ning after its first meeting on
July 22.
“It was a great first meet
ing,” Town Manager Anne
Marie Knighton said.
Edenton/Chowan Planner
[
Heat hits danger zone...
Staff photo by Earline White
A construction worker from Durham saws wood for the frame of the new subdivision on Hicks Street
Tuesday afternoon as the temperatures approached 96 degees and the heat index hit a scorching 116.
BY EARLiNE WHITE
The Chowan Herald
Heat advisories issued by the
National Weather Service re
mained in effect Tuesday with
temperatures continuing to
climb into triple digits. Town
officials are doing their best to
keep residents’ air conditioners
humming.
“Kilowatt per hour consump
tion has been getting high for
the past week or so,” Hawk
Crummey, Director of Electri
cal Services for the Town of
Edenton said Friday as tem
peratures approached the up
per 90s. Peak periods of con
sumption are combated by us
ing 2500 kw generators; their
times of operation are dictated
by the NC Power Agency.
But, already sweltering days
have forced the generator to be
cranked up before August (typi
cally the hottest month) has
even arrived.
“Only eight days into the
month we began using the peak
generators, typically running
UNC-TV finally available to thousands of dish owners
BY EARLINE WHITE
The Chowan Herald
After an extensive two-year
process the Federal Communi
cations Commission an
nounced Friday that over
10,000 satellite subscribers in
eastern North Carolina will fi
nally be able to watch North
Carolina’s public television
broadcasts.
Since 1963 the counties of
Chowan, Hertford, Gates,
Northampton, Perquimans,
Pasquotank, Camden, Curr
ituck and Dare have been iden
tified as part of the Norfolk,
VA DMA (designated market
Wmmmmm
Parks Britton
Elizabeth Bryant and staff in
tern Leigh Ann Cienek pre
them from 2 to 6 p.m," Crummey
said. “We’re doing pretty good
right now, keeping up with de
mands. We’re ready for what
ever comes.”
The 10-day forecast calls for
excessive heat warnings for our
area, temperatures in the upper
90s with heat indexes in the
triple digits. Possible relief may
be headed our way later this
week in the form of thunder
storms.
High moisture combined with
relentless heat has already
brought periodic bouts of thun
der and lightning to Chowan
County over the past few weeks,
triggering high consumption of
electricity and causing a signifi
cant amount of damage to the
county’s computer system.
The late day electrical storm
on Friday, July 15 resulted in
several lighting strikes within
town limits. One particular
strike damaged the antennae
atop the County Office Building,
temporarily knocking out the
See HEAT On Page 2-A
area), thereby receiving Vir
ginia public television broad-'
casts. As a result of Friday’s
announcement, the designated
city of license for the transmit
ter serving these counties will
change from Columbia to
Edenton, allowing satellite and
Direct TV viewers in those
nine counties to access UNC
TV services.
“We are very pleased that
the FCC has agreed with our
filing,” said Carl Davis, Assis
tant General Manager/Direc
tor of Engineering with UNC
Center for Public Television.
“The meat of the matter is that
at some point, after working
sented the committee with a
PowerPoint presentation.
Bryant and Cienek also pro
vided income statistics and in
formation about what other
communities have done to
boost affordable housing in
their areas, Knighton said.
The six-member committee
recommended town staff focus
on two strategies: urban in-fill
in Edenton, and potential land
acquisitions by non-profits.
4-Day Forecast
Wednesday
Mostly Sunny
102782°
Thursday
Scatt. T-stoms
92780°
Friday
Scatt. T-storms
93779°
Saturday
T-showers
91778° •
information taken from weather.com
% : v;. ■ > . ■>;. ■
with the satellite providers,
UNC-TV will be available
within the area that was pre
viously unable to receive it be
cause of an inconsistent rule. ”
By moving the city of license
to Edenton, Chowan will be
come part of the WUND tele
vision marketing area. How
ever, the physical location of
the tower and transmission
facilities, in Columbia will re
main at the current site. Those
viewers receiving transmis
sions from Columbia by the
tower and through local cable
service will continue to receive
See UNC On Page 2-A
The in-fill issue, Knighton
said, centers around the fact
that some already targeted va
cant lots and buildings in
Edenton are supplied town
water and sewer services. That
fact would negate any private
developers’ need to install in
frastructure at any new devel
opments for affordable hous
ing.
“That’s usually what makes
affordable housing afford
able,” Knighton said, “if yoir
can bring down the cost of (in
stalling) infrastructure.”
Regarding abandoned prop- .
erties, the committee showed
interest in the possibility of
having the town and county
acquire such properties that
are up for public sale, or to
work with private developers
who could buy land the local.
See HOUSING On Page 3-A
Seniors urged
to beware of
potential scam
BY EARLINE WHITE
The Chowan Herald
With Medicare’s constant changes a supplemen
tal plan to help pay for senior health care may seem
tempting. But beware, some agents soliciting for
enrollees in the area are allegedly giving misinfor
mation to attract enrollees, leaving them with more
to pay in the end.
Several sources, including Darlene Peebles of the
Chowan medical community, have confirmed that
insurance agents have been soliciting seniors (at
among other places, private residences, Chowan’s
senior facilities, and McDonald’s) to enroll in plans
like Humana Gold Choice, based in Camden, South
Carolina. The plan is reportedly being described
as a supplement to their current Medicare cover
age plan. Though Humana Gold Choice is a legiti
mate business, it is not a Medicare supplement plan
and after becoming enrolled by Humana, the senior
may in fact forfeit part of his/her Medicare plan.
Bill Hayes with the University Health Systems
(UHS) of North Carolina confirms that there have
been several agents working in Chowan and Bertie
counties using the Humana Gold Choice company
name and allegedly giving misleading impressions
of the plan.
Burgess Jernigan says he and some neighbors
in Bertie County were solicited door-to-door by just
such an agent. For the past two days, Jernigan has
found himself calling offices across the eastern US
trying to disenroll in the program.
“I took my mother to the hospital and they
wouldn’t take the insurance even though it said in
Humana’s brochure that this hospital would take
it,” Jernigan said. “A lot of people have got it (the
Humana Gold Choice plan) and don’t know it’s no
good around here until they go to the doctor.
There’s no telling how many people (have) sign(ed)
up.”
Under the U.S. Center for Medicare and Medic
aid Services guidelines, no agent is allowed to so
licit door-to-door or at public places without for
mal presentations, Patrick Farley, Director of
Humana Marketing based in Cary said Tuesday.
However, Humana does hold informative seminars
at public places like fast food restaurants to enroll
seniors in the program, he said.
One local agent has allegedly enrolled many
people by telling them that the plan pays like Medi
care. The reality is that the program is not funded
by Medicare and no health cqjre provider in this
area has a contract with the Humana Gold Choice
program. Therefore, the patient is left to pay the
bill.
Farley emphasized that agents working in the
area who are allegedly falsifying information to
attract participants are not following the market
See SCAM On Page 2-A •
The FCC
announced
Friday that
Edenton would
become a
designated city
of license,
enabling area
satellite
subscribers to
view North
Carolina PBS
programming.