Newspapers / The Chowan Herald (Edenton, … / Sept. 14, 2005, edition 1 / Page 1
Part of The Chowan Herald (Edenton, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
, ‘ Vol. LXXII, No. 36 Wednesday, September 14, 2005 immm Single Copies 50tf Crime rates drop for '04 Chowan neighbors not so fortunate BY SEAN JACKSON The Chowan Herald Following the trend across much of North Carolina, Chowan County’s crime rate dropped in 2004, mirroring the state’s 3-percent drop in crime last year. Chowan’s overall crime rate fell by 5.2 percent in 2004, with 433 crimes reported, down from 536 in 2003, to a rate of 3,014 per 100,00 Chowan resi dents, compared to a 2003 rate of 3,747.' . The county’s violent crime rate also dipped, to a rate of 278.4 in 2004, down from 384.5 in 2003. The property crime rate saw a similar decrease. Edenton Police Chief Greg Bonner has said that bringing his force to capacity by hiring new officers has stepped up patrols and put more criminals behind bars. In addition, a new detectives division formed in 2004 has targeted felony crimes — including drug activity — over the past year. “Their tenacity certainly has attributed to crime reduc tion in this community,” the chief said recently of his de tectives and patrol officers. “They’re very dedicated to what they’re doing and they enjoy what they are doing. ” Chowan County Sheriff Fred Spruill also said a fully staffed department aids in curbing crime.' “I feel last year’s reduction is due to the retention rate of the members of the sheriff’s office,” Spruill said Tuesday, “and the increase in man power authorized by the Board of Commissioners which al lows for the continuous visibil ity of the patrol units, along with a detective unit and the use of outside state and federal agencies, that can aggressively and effectively deal with the cases that do happen have led to this reduction.” Across the region, not all area counties saw a similar drop in crime last year. Pasquotank County’s crimes rose from 1,602 in 2003, to 1,720 in 2004, or 118 more reported incidents. In Camden, one of the state’s smallest counties, the reported crimes nearly doubled, rising from nearly 587 crimes per 100,000 residents in 2003 to slightly more than 1,211 last See RATES On Page A3 INSIDE Calendar.C2 Church.C5 Classifieds.D1 -4 Editorials...A6 Obituaries.C6 Society..C3 Sports.B1-4 Football Contest B4 On C-1 ... High School Football takes center stage: Friday Night Lights Ophelia lurks offshore, eyes coast Tropical storm may intensify over the gulf stream, regain Category 1 status — 1 ■ linTIII ■ — B 1 WE8 Kgasar Photo by Mimi Reiheld Volunteers load supplies from St. Paul's Episcopal and St. Anne's Catholic Church in Edenton to be sent to Missis sippi as part of local Katrina relief efforts. Chowan helps with Katrina aid From Staff Reports By the time the water began to recede, the people of Chowan County were already busy thinking of ways to help those affected by Hurricane Katrina. Colony Tire donated $50,000 to the cause ($25,000 to both the Salvation Army and the American Red Cross), Immanuel Baptist Church be gan collecting (and continues to collect) basic survival items to ship to the victims of t)*J category 5 storm. ■ Each day, civic groups, busi nesses, churches and individu als around the country are pulling together to help their fellow citizens who lost every thing in what has become known as the worst natural disaster in American history. And though thousands of dol lars pour in, it will take much more to rebuild, replace and reform what was lost. And with any situation, local ef forts, no matter how small, make all the difference to those in need. The Chowan County Inter faith Disaster Relief Effort will host a community meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 14 at 3:30 PM at Edenton Baptist Fellowship Hall to bring groups together who are undertaking relief ef forts for the Gulf Coast citi zens. “Interfaith has heard from a number of churches, civic clubs, non-profits and even school children interested in organizing relief efforts,” said Interfaith President Jerald I. Perry, Sr. “This meeting will be an opportunity for us to in ventory the numerous relief efforts and help publicize them to the community,” Perry See AID On Page A3 Photo courtesy of The Coastland Times, Manteo NC Overwash at Rodanthe Overwash at the Rodanthe pier caused by strong northeast winds occurred as Ophelia ap proached the Outer Banks of North Carolina. In oreparation for the tropical storm, Gov. Mike Easley declared a state of emergency on Saturday and moved 200 National Guardsmen to staging areas in eastern North Carolina. By Tuesday morning, mandatory evacuations had been ordered for Ocracoke and Hatteras. County officials shore up preparedness guidelines Steps taken to help avoid logistical problems that plagued the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina , BY EARLINE WHITE The Chowan Herald With the threat of another hurricane headed for the east coast, County Manager Cliff Copeland, during the Septem ber meeting of the County Commissioners, addressed the anxiety by explaining that “the county will take aggressive and coordinated actions in the event of a hurricane or serious incident.” This statement came in direct response to a letter addressed to Director of Emergency Services, Doug Belch, in which the lack of gov ernment agency coordination in response to Hurricane Katrina likely caused addi tional deaths, damage. Emer gency Management Coordina tor, Patty Madry, assured the Commissioners that all county agencies were preparing for the event, if it should happen and that officers, personnel that were to deploy to the af fected Gulf Coast area would remain in the immediate area to help with recovery “We will do our very best to show the nation and the state that we will take care of our people,” Chairman Wayne Goodwin said. Belch and Madry proposed Staff photo by Earline White Patrick Gresham, Patrick Major, Ryan Hazari and johelen Hazari (along with Nicolas Hazari, not pictured) fled New Orleans six days after the Hurricane Katrina hit r 10* the resolution whereby tile ' county would establish the National Incident Manage ment System as the standard for management of routine and catastrophic emergencies. “This means that all levels of the government; EMS, health dept., social services, Sheriff’s Office, etc, would have the same line of training,” Madry said. The passage of the reso lution allowed eligibil ity for t he county to re ceive funding for such train ing. Otherltems discussed at the County Commissioners meet ing included Training for a career is the goal of the new boat building facility at COA in Edenton. Chamber Director, Richard Bunch, and COA President, Lynn Winslow, presented infor mation to the Commissioners about the boatbuilding cur riculum at the local commu nity college. Bunch went on to say that the boat building No place like home Displaced evacuees long for the day when they return BY EARLINE WHITE AND DAVID SINGLETON The Chowan Herald For Johelen Hazari, home is New Orleans. For now at least, Edenton is going to have to do. Hazari was born here, but has lived most of her life in the French Quarter, where she’s made a living in the hospitality classes are a “vital part of our workforce development” and provide real life experience. Approximately one-fourth of the latest graduating class is currently employed in the lo cal boat building industry, Winslow said. . Wildlife Officer, Mark Rich presented Patty Madry with a plaque, for her years of dedi cated assistance to the officers of the NC Wildlife Law En forcement District 1. Finance Officer, Lisa Jones, presented the purchase bids for the new EMS rescue boat. The bid from BB&T for $44,100 was accepted. DSS Director Ben Rose pre sented a reorganization of the Social Services Department that will eliminate 2 positions and save an estimated $40,000 per year. The positions will be restructured upon those al ready employed and will elimi nate no personnel. Recreation Dept. Director Robbie Laughton presented a contract with the ECU Dept, of Recreation and Leisure Stud ies to update the county-wide recreation plan. The plan is a comprehensive one designed See GUIDELINES On A3 business as a bartender at the Gazebo Cafe and also a waitress. It was in New Orleans that she met Patrick Major, and with him, his son Patrick Gresham and with two sons of her own (Nicho las, 5 and Ryan, 2) began to forge a life together. Ironic as it is obvious, New Or leans isn’t feeling all that hospi table these days. The storm, the AccuWeather.com graphic This map shows the pro jected path of Ophelia as of Tuesday afternoon. Coastal North Carolina residents were preparing for it to make land fall late Wednesday. Workers on 'high alert' BY SEAN JACKSON The Chowan Herald After nearly a week of mean dering along the southeastern U.S. seaboard, Tropical Storm Ophelia made a turn for coastal North Carolina on Tuesday Having been through a couple of strength changes, and looping in the Atlantic twice, the storm slowly took a northward track early Tues day, prompting local officials to begin preparing for Ophelia. Forecasters have said the storm could dump up to six inches of rain across the re gion, as well as deliver gale force winds for up to 24 hours. In Edenton, workers were gearing up in advance of the storm, Town Manager Anne Marie Knighton said. “The Town departments are all on high alert,” Knighton said Monday. “We are doing our normal preparedness, test ing generators, chainsaws and other emergency equipment. We are much better prepared this go-around, thanks to some important lessons we learned from Hurricane Isabel (in Sep tember 2003).” According to Chowan Coun ty Emergency Services acting public information officer Doug Belch, Ophelia could pro duce sustained winds of 39 mph, with gusts to 50 ,mph, from midnight Wednesday to mid-afternoon Thursday. In addition, a storm surge of up to three feet could be seen along the Albemarle Sound and Chowan River, officials said Tuesday. At press time, the storm had sustained winds of 70 mph and was 125 miles south of Wil mington. Since Sunday, forecasters had called for Ophelia to See ALERT On Page A3 flooding, the crime, the panic and the fUry that was the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina changed all that forever. For the days leading up to all this, things didn’t seem all that out of the ordinary. “We didn’t think anything about it,” Hazari said of the warn ings, who like many others, See HOME On Page A2
The Chowan Herald (Edenton, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Sept. 14, 2005, edition 1
1
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75