Vol. LXXll, No. 30
DOT to fix
local drainage
problem
BY SEAN JACKSON
The Chowan Herald
Flooding problems at an
Edenton church may soon be
corrected by the state of North
Carolina — as soon as next
week.
St. Anne Catholic Church
has dealt with stormwater
runoff for about two years, ac
cording to a letter sent to The
Chowan Herald by church di
rector of religious education
Mary Montgomery — and
Edenton Town Manager Anne
Marie Knighton.
“If you have ever gone by
our church after a good rain,”
Montgomery wrote, “then you
know our side yard floods.
This has been an ongoing con
cern that has gotten progres
sively worse.”
Knighton agreed with that
assessment. The problems
stem with stormwater drain
age from West Albemarle
Street on the church’s south
side—between the church and
the parish hall. From there,
pipes and catch-basins in the
side yard run to Broad Street,
where another stormwater
pipe has been found to be
clogged in the street, state De
partment of Transportation
District Engineer Darrick Lee.
said Tuesday
According to parish council
head John O’Connor, that wa
ter has been backing up into
the church’s basement.
“We use that basement for
classes,” O’Connor said.
Lee met with Knighton,
O’Connor and church officials
on June 21 to hear their con
cerns, Lee said. Plans are to
bring in DOT equipment to
clear the first blockage in the
church side yard next week.
“That should help their
problem,” Lee said.
O’Connor hopes that is in
fact the case.
“I think we have a problem
that’s about to be solved,” he
added. “(But) you don’t know
what (problem) you’ve got un
til you get in there.”
Lee had said early Tuesday
that he had been working to
locate the equipment to be
used to clear the blockage. He
tried to locate the machinery
recently.
“It was being used by some
body else,” he said.
DOT contacted Town Man
ager Anne-Marie Knighton
Tuesday before presstime and
assured her the equipment
would be brought to Edenton
next week and the problem
taken care of. O’Connor
sounded relived Tuesday after
noon upon hearing the news
during an interview with The
Chowan Herald.
See DRAINAGE Page 3-A
INSIDE
Calendar.C2
Church..........C5
Classifieds..... D1-4
Editorials........... A6
Obituaries.C6
Society.. C3
Sports ..B1-4
On Page Cl ...
Edenton, Ink
Drug dealer may face deportation
Calzada sentenced to jail time of over three years
BY CHRIS WHIPPLE
The Daily Advance
A Mexican national whom
police have described as one of
the Albemarle area’s “mid
level” drug dealers was sen
tenced in Pasquotank County
Sales Tax Holiday in time for Back to School
BittiMSSinL.
Staff photo by Earline White
Taking advantage of holiday
North Carolina will celebrate its fourth Sales Tax Holiday beginning Friday August 5th through
Sunday August 7th. During this three-day exemption, created to help consumers with back-to
school shopping, items free from sales tax include clothing, shoes and school supplies under
$100 per item and computers and educational software that is under $3,500. Locally, Peebles,
Cato's, Farmer's Foods, Dollar General, Super 10, Shoe Show, Sound Feet Shoes, CVS, and Roses
will be taking part in the tax-free weekend. Above, Amber Keyser, a rising sophomore at John A.
Holmes perusing through this season's hottest styles at Cato's in the Chowan Crossing Shopping
Center.
Two arrested in weekend drug busts
Suspicious activity led authorities to find drugs,
paraphernalia and weapons in unrelated cases
BY SEAN JACKSON
The Chowan Herald
Police arrested a pair of Edenton men over
the weekend on unrelated drug charges.
On Friday night, July 29, Officer D.M.
Knox arrested Ricky Lee Welch, 29, of 301
W Gale St., and charged him with driving
while impaired, open container, possession
with intent to sell and deliver marijuana,
and possession of drug paraphernalia. He
was placed under a $1,000 secured bond.
Knox had been patrolling the area of
West Freeman and North Granville streets
when he spotted two men get into Welch’s
vehicle, and remain inside, Bonner said.
After approaching the vehicle, Knox nixed
an attempt by Welch to drive away, then
searched the vehicle, where he found two
open containers of liquor, three plastic
baggies of marijuana, and electronic
scales.
On Saturday night, Knox stopped a 1994
Ford Crown Victoria on N.C. Highway 32
just north of Edenton after the vehicle al
Low voter turnout the focus of 'Democracy Summer' §
Same day registration is touted
as solution to encourage
18-24 year olds to get involved
BY EARLINE WHITE
The Chowan Herald
Fewer than 2 percent of
North Carolina’s young people
fully understand voter regis
tration deadlines, according to
a recent survey by Democracy
North Carolina, a non-parti
san, non-profit group. Ten col
lege students from various NC
universities worked with the
organization’s annual summer
Superior Court on Monday to
a maximum of 3 1/2 years in
prison.
Arturo Baeza Calzada, 34, of
Edenton, pleaded guilty to traf
ficking cocaine by possession
as part of a plea agreement
between the state and the pub
L
J
Basnight
Welch
most caused a collision, Bonner said Tues
day. Knox was given permission to search
the vehicle, only to later arrest its driver:
Demetrius Lamont Basnight, 21, of 208 E.
Peterson St.
He was charged with misdemeanor pos
session with intent to sell and deliver
marijuana, felony maintaining a vehicle
for the storage of a controlled substance,
felony possession with intent to sell and
deliver marijuana, and possession of drug
paraphernalia. He was placed under a
$5,500 secured bond.
Knox found two separate bags of mari
juana in the car, and a loaded 12-gauge
shotgun in the trunk, Bonner said.
program “Democracy Sum
mer” to potentially identify
low voter turnout among 18 to
24 year-olds.
North Carolina’s young
voter turnout in the 2004 elec
tion was 38.4 percent, lower
than the national average of
41.9 percent.
The summer program par
ticipants conducted over 500
face-to-face interviews. Of
those interviewed, the 67.9 per
lie defender’s office. Judge J.
Richard Parker sentenced
Calzada to 35-42 months in
prison and fined him $50,000.
Local, state and federal agen
cies had been investigating
See DEALER On Page 2-A
cent who were not registered
for last year’s election said that
they would have been more
likely to vote if they’d been
able to register on Election
Day. More than one in three
agreed that the registration
process is inconvenient.
“Same day registration
would be a big help for college
students or those young people
who move around a lot,” said
Amanda Smith, a rising senior
at Meredith College and one of
the 10 students who helped
conduct the survey. “Often
times when students become
voting age they are in high
school. They register in that
Edenton
resident
Arturo
Caizada may
face deporta
tion after
serving
sentence for
drug traffick
ing.
County asked to
oppose fishing
moratorium J
Commissioners deal with full
agenda during Monday’s meeting
BY EARLINE WHITE
The Chowan Herald
The possible elimination of
an age old lifestyle, a national
conference in Hawaii, an up
coming change at convenience
centers, and the 2006 revalua
tion schedule of values were
among the items on the agenda
at the latest Chowan County
Commissioners meeting held
this past Monday night.
Local fisherman, Terry
Pratt, asked the Chowan
County Commissioners at
their August meeting to oppose
the ban that may ultimately
destroy his lifestyle.
“I have been casting lines in
northeastern North Carolina
for 50 years ” Pratt told the
board Monday night. “Re
cently the Division of Marine
Fisheries has proposed a total
moratorium for herring fish
ing throughout the state. Al
ready regulations on herring
fishing allow only 300,000
pounds can be taken out of
NC’s waters annually.
“What we’re facing is being
regulated out of business
based on assumptions that
don’t fit in the real world,”
Pratt said. “The problem of the
seemingly diminishing her
ring population doesn’t lie in
the fact that we’re fishing; it’s
a lack of proper management.
In the 70s we had 700 pound
nets in Chowan’s waters; today
we have 34. We have been do
ing our part to help sustain the
species and there are direct
resources that need to be fo
cused toward finding the prob
lems rather than destroying
oUr livelihood and heritage.”
This was the third stop on
Pratt’s visit through north
eastern North Carolina asking
for the counties’ support to
oppose the herring fishing
ban. Already, Martin, Bertie
and Perquimans have given
their support. After many com
ments from the commissioners
county but then leave that area
to go to college. We learned
through this survey that very
few students knew that you
must register 25 days before
Election Day. It is startling to
think that students would try
to register up to Election Day
but couldn’t. We believe that by
simplifying voter registration
(with same day registration),'
the state would see an increase
in the number of young people
who register to vote,” Smith
said.
According to the US Census
data released in May 2005,
there were 310,00018 to 24 year
olds not registered to vote in
L_-.jsns I
Terry Pratt
including Chairman Wayne
Goodwin who grew up around
the industry, a unanimous vote
forwarded Pratt’s efforts to get
support from all the northeast
ern counties in favor of the
fishermen.
Back from the National As
sociation of County Commis
sioners (NACo) meeting in
Hawaii, Chairman Wayne
Goodwin and Commissioner
Louis Belfield highlighted sev
eral items of interest for the
county and many informative
talks they attended while
there.
“When I got back on the
plane with the suitcase I ar
rived with, I was 12 pounds
over the limit,” Goodwin
joked. “That is a sign of how
much useful information I
picked up during the confer
ences. And yes, this is the tan I
left Chowan County with,” he
added.
Belfield raved about the
speakers, Judge Glenda Hat
chett and T.R Reid who ad
dressed the importance of chil
dren and globalization respec
tively. Transportation in rural
communities and medical as
sistance for the prescription
drug cards were also topics
which incited Belfield’s inter
est and his attendance at the
seminars. Goodwin mean
See FISHING On Page 3-A
the November election. De
mocracy North Carolina hopes
that the NC General Assembly
will utilize the information
learned from the survey to
push forward legislation
(HB851) that would allow same
day voter registration through
out the early voting process.
The bill has passed the House
Election Law and Campaign
Finance Reform Committee
July 20 and is up for debate in
the House Appropriations
committee. Of those polled by
Democracy NC, 80.5 percent
said they would support same
See VOTER On Page 2-A