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Vol. LXXIII, No. 5 Wednesday, February 1, 2006 ■■■■■■PHMMMMMMNHMHrtiMNMaMMMMMaMMMMMMMaHgMnMNMMHMNMMMHRMmMMmimBIMmiMMKg Single Copies: 50c For Boyle, it's all in , a day's work BY SEAN JACKSON The Chowan Herald > ■ U.S. District Court Judge Terrence W. Boyle of Edenton has handled important trials for more than two decades, but he’s set to preside over three law suits that have direct impact — and interest — in his home area. Boyle, 60, has been pre siding over two contentious cases that af fect the region, and may take up a third. The first two cases — over a lighthouse on the Currituck Outer Banks and a proposed U.S. Navy landing field near Pocosin Lakes Na tional Wildlife Refuge, respec tively — have garnered heavy media attention. The other, po tential case Boyle may hear, involves a dispute in Bertie County regarding the fate of several old public schools. While those cases have gar nered steady ink, Boyle said his caseloads haven’t been busier than in past years. “It’s fairly normal,” Boyle said, adding that the media chooses what it covers. Some of the most profound rulings, he said, never appear in print. “The fact that something is in the press,” he added, “doesn’t mean that... it’s sig nificant.” Still, Boyle didn’t appear to have much criticism with how his cases are represented in newspapers and on television. “I don’t have any qualms with what the press does,” he said. “Courts don’t start law suits,” Boyle added. “Lawsuits are started by the people in volved in them.” Boyle Life on the bench Boyle hopes that his work in holding federal court sessions • in Elizabeth City has returned the court’s presence to north east North Carolina. Prior to his arrival, it had been roughly See BOYLE On Page A2 Cycling for Hope: One Man’s Journey Florida man wants to raise awareness on behalf of national diabetes research EAR LINE WHITE /THE CHOWAN HERALD “Uncle Sonny” bicycles across the country to help raise awareness for those with chronic diseases. BY REBECCA BUNCH The Chowan Herald Ernie Neupert is not a man who sits back and waits for others to act when he sees some thing that needs to get done. So it’s really no surprise that the Paisley, Florida resident is spending the winter months bicycling across country in an effort to raise awareness of the need for people to support the work of diabe tes researchers nationwide. Neupert, whose wife, Jean, suffers from Type 2 diabetes, says he has seen firsthand the difficulties someone with diahetes can face in their everyday life. And, he says, he wants to show her and others in a tangible way that he cares and wants to make a difference on their behalf. Known as Uncle Sonny by his nieces tfcid nephews, Neupert decided to use his child hood nickname and call his endeavor Uncle Sonny’s Bike-A-Thon to Battle Diabetes. Trav eling from state to state since he began his trip in April, he has talked with many people and handed out literature telling them how they could help win the fight against diabetes by donating to the American Diabetes Associa tion. His message, he says, is a simple one: “Your contribution may save the life of some one you love!” Neupert, himself a cancer survivor who suf fers from osteoarthritis, says that while the exercise the extended bicycle trip provides is good for him physically, it also helps him men tally and emotionally because he is doing something positive to help others. “Tliere’s no better way I could imagine spending my sixty fifth birthday” he says, “than doing something like this.” He estimates that his journey will take him across more than ten thousand miles before he sees Florida and home again. And he speaks from experience - Neupert spent his sixtieth birthday on a bike-a-thon to raise money for cancer research. “Between these two trips,” he says, “I will have ridden through every one of the lower forty-eight states” ex cluding only Alaska and Hawaii. Some folks, he says, are very surprised to find someone with osteoarthritis pursuing such a vigorous form of fundraising. “We all do what we can,” he says with a shrug and a smile. “I do have bad knees and can’t walk a lot because of the degenerative cartilage I’ve got and my osteoarthritis, but cycling is some thing I can still do to stay active and spread this message of hope.” Neupert, who says it’s his goal to make it back home by February 12, began his winter trek from his Florida home. From there he went to California, then Spokane, Washington. From there he traveled to the northern state of Maine, stopping in a town called Bethel. Then he worked his way down the East Coast and will end up in Florida. He said that one of the biggest challenges he has faced is the weather, which has been both a friend and an enemy as his journey has progressed. “I have really kept going through some extremes in temperatures,” Neupert says. ‘<1 have ridden in everything from one hundred twenty degree weatheitto three de grees above zero. I rode for days at one point and never saw a day under one hundred de grees.” Frigid cold and steamy heat weren’t his only obstacles. One of the toughest situations he has faced so far involved riding from Nevada to Glacier National Park in August and Find ing himself in twelve inches of snow. “I rode with snow on both sides of me almost until I got to the Rocky Mountains,” he said. “And I dodged tornadoes in New Mexico, too.” Neupert recalls with a laugh that when he first proposed making the trip, those he ap proached at the Florida offices of the Ameri can Diabetes Association expressed concern that perhaps this wasn’t a wise thing for a man his age and battling osteoarthritis to under take. But, he adds, “They aren’t laughing any more.” And, as he left Edenton behind, “Uncle Sonny” noted, “Just look at all the long hours I’ve traveled...but helping others helps to make it all worthwhile. I’m on the home stretch now...it’s all down hill from here.” Anyone interested in making a donation to support Uncle Sonny’s Bike-A-Thon to Battle Diabetes may send it to: Uncle Sonny’s Bike A-Thon, c/o American Diabetes Association, 1101N. Lake Destiny Road, Suite 415, Maitland, Florida 32751. According to Neupert, “Every dollar raised will help support the mission of the ADA to find a cure for diabetes.” New radiologist joins the staff at hospital Sean Jackson/The Chowan Herald New Chowan Hospital radiologist Dr. William C. “Skip” Hope IV, chats with fellow staff members during a reception in his honor at the hospital. From Staff Reports William Cameron “Skip” Hope IV is the new radiologist at Chowan Hospital, and the Kinston native met with scores of colleagues and business leaders at an open house at the hospital on Jan. 26. Hope, 35, currently lives in Richmond, Va., where he works with Radiology Associ ates of Richmond Inc. He has been with that agency since June 2003. Hope did his residency at the Medical College of Vir ginia Hospitals in Richmond from July 1999 to June 2003, including six months of work at McGuire Veterans’ Administrations Hospital, also in Richmond. He also had a year of residency at Roanoke (Va.) Memorial Hos pital from July 1998 to June 1999. He received his medical de gree from the Medical Col lege of Virginia at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond in 1998. He earned his undergraduate’s degree from Hampden Sydney College in 1993. Hope was licensed by the N.C. Board of Medicine in April 2002. He was licensed by the Virginia state board in 1999. He is also a member of the American Board of Radi ology. He is married to Virginia M. Hope. The couple has two daughters, Mary Virginia and Frances. Jackson manages Edenton Fish Hatchery BY EARLINE WHITE The iChowan Herald Stephen “Steve” Jackson has smelled like fish for the past 14 years. Well, not really. He has, however, found his hand in many a fish pond from Vermont all the way to Texas. And now he brings his exper tise to Edenton’s National Fish Hatchery as the new Hatchery Manager. He was never an avid fisher man; his parents didn’t have a fish pond, but somewhere along the way Steve caught an interest in Marine Biology which has stuck with him ever since. “I went to the Coast Guard Academy and was a Fishery Specialist, Biological Oceanog raphy mostly,” Jackson said as Jackson the striped bass swam in circles in the aquarium behind him. During his time with the Coast Guard he studied com mercial fishing and its effects on the economic zones, as well as endangered species. Out of the 66 federally funded hatcheries nationwide, Jackson has worked in 5 of See HATCHERY On Page A2 INSIDE Calendar..C2 Church.C7,8 Classifieds.D1-4 Editorials.A6 Obituaries.C6 School. C5 Society.C3 Sports.B1-4 Contact us Call 482-4418 All Rights Reserved Has warmer weather resulted in a flu season slump? ; Number of cases reported so far | remains down BY EARLINE WHITE The Chowan Herald \ Winter apparel has taken a hiatus and remained in the closet for much of January 2006 as temperatures have reached into the high 60s. And Kleenex remains fully stocked on the supermarket shelves as the state’s rate of influenza like illnesses drop. On average the coolest month in Edenton is January, according to the National Weather Service online. Yet out of the first 31 days of the new year only eight of those were below the average high of 53 degrees. Not much differ ent than last year when the month’s heat wave never seemed to end. Likewise the monthly low of 33 was exceeded 20 times. Foggy morns greeted many school goers but frost-kissed windshields were seldom the norm. Meanwhile the easy winter has been a blessing for the school systems, which never like poor attendance. Sporadic outbreaks of flu, strep throat and stomach viruses this year are nothing like those in the past. Dr. Kristina Simeonsson, Medical Epidemeologist with the NC Division of Health said that even though "we haven’t gotten into the real thick of it yet, influenza-related illnesses compared to last year remain METRO Creative Although many have responded to the urgings of health care profes sionals and gotten their yearly flu shots, sporadic outbreaks of flu, strep throat and stomach viruses have been nothing like those experienced in the past during this winter. Temperatures have remained in the 60s for much of January. below the base line. Last year’s peak in mid-February to mid-March is not uncom mon in the season that lasts until May “Every year is dif ¥ ferent, Simeonsson said, “and we have no idea when the season will peak and how high it will go. A couple of years ago it peaked in December— we never know until the end of the season.” Influenza-like illness (ILI) is See SLUMP On Page A2
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