Vol. LXXIII
No. 29 Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Coming next week
EDENTON TODAY, the
Chowan Herald's annual
progress edition.
Inside Today
Destination Downtown
earns national status, A3
Why was Planning chair shown the door?
BY SEAN JACKSON
The Chowan Herald
Edenton’s top planning offi
cial says town leaders acted
with cowardice in how they
called for his resignation.
Stephen Lane, chairman of
the town planning board, said
Edenton councilors should
have invited him to their July
11 meeting.
Councilors unanimously
called for Lane’s resignation,
saying he was hostile towards
the developers of a Farm
Fresh-anchored shopping cen
ter'during a planning session
the night before.
“I view the actions at the
very least (as) heavy-handed,”
Dixon describes
‘surreal’ events
during shooting
(BY SEAN JACKSON
XThe Chowan Herald
Cl/
Sambo Dixon arrived to
court early in Jackson last
week. He had one standard
hearing going before the judge.
His day would turn out to be
anything but standard. In less
than an hour news helicopters
Were buzzing overhead the
Northampton County Court
house and Dixon’s client would
lay dying on a gurney.
“It was a wild ride,” the
Edenton attorney said Friday
from the comforts of his West
Edenton Street law office.
“It was just so surreal.”
A good start
Dixon walked into the Greek
Revival courthouse at 8:45. He
and fellow attorney A. Jackson
War mack went with their cli
ent, 37-year-old Willie Forrest,
before Judge Alba Hinton.
Forrest, facing the death
penalty if convicted on a first
degree murder charge, had a
motion hearing set to begin at
9 a.m. He wanted to remove
Dixon and Warmack as his
INDEX
A Local
Opinion.A4
B Sports ‘ i
Nascar........B2
Recreation News...... B4
C Community News *
Upcoming Events.C2
Society..— C3
Obituaries..C4
Church.C5.6
D Classifieds
Employment.. D1
Home of the Week... D1
Service Directory..... D2
Buy/Sell/Trade D6
©2006 The Chowan Herald
All Rights Reserved
INSIDE
In a 1 1/2-page letter, Edenton Planning Board Chairman Steve
Lane fires back at Town Council members who've asked for his
resignation.
Page A4
Lane said in a letter to the
town, “if not an act of coward
ice.”
Councilors have strongly
criticized Lane’s actions dur
ing a July 10 planning meeting.
“They were treated rudely,”
Councilman Steve Biggs said
of the developers. “It was an
embarrassment to me.”
Biggs said he had received a
number of phone calls about
INSIDE
Local officials are expand
ing efforts to make
Chowan courthouse safer.
PageA2.
counselors.
“I think I was the fourth law
yer he’d been through,” Dixon
said.
Forrest was escorted in by a
pair of prison guards, who
were armed. He was hand
cuffed and wearing leg shack
les, which were both connected
by chains. He was acting nor
mal.
“He was ra
tional. He was
calm,” Dixon
said. “He
called us by
our first
names.”
Forrest also
wanted his
case to be
heard that day.
Hinton also told him he would
not have his case heard that
Wednesday
since his motion
for an attorney
change was his
only business in
court.
In fact,
Forrest had an
old law book Forrest
with an entry
about North Carolina’s speedy
trial act. That act was repealed
a few years ago.
“The district attorneys set
court calendars,” Dixon said.
“It doesn’t have anything todo,
with me.”
A turn for the worst
Forrest began to get both
ered.
“He was angry that our (law)
book didn’t have what his book
had in it,” Dixon, aressed in a
casual, lime-green polo shirt
mid-afternoon on Friday, said.
Everyone headed into the .
courtroom. Inside, amongst
what Dixon described as
“beautiful woodwork” and tall
See SHOOTING, Page A2 >
Lane’s actions during the plan
ning session, and his persis
tent questioning of the devel
opers and town staff.
Councilwoman Phyllis
Britton, who represents the
district nearest the proposed
shopping center, also said
she’d received calls critical of
Lane.
“We had a lot of very upset
SWEATIN' IN THE SUMMER HEAT
;£■
Earline White/The Chowan Herald
James Kee of Barnhill Contracting gestures toward a heavy equipment operator on his crew as sweat glistens on his body
in the hot summer sun Monday morning. Kee and his co-workers from the Elizabeth City-based company were taking
care of some road paving along Sandy Ridge Road in Edenton. Highs in the 90s are expected for most of the week, with
the heat index driving temperatures into the triple digits for the next few days. Some expected rainfall could bring relief
as the weekend rolls in, according to the National Weather Service.
School daycare program under scrutiny
/ BX^ARLINE WHITE
The Chowan Herald
What has served as a safe
haven for latchkey kids since
the late ’80s may be closing its
doors.
The before and after school
daycare operated at White Oak
School on a pay-as-you-go ba
sis is no longer self-sufficient,
Superintendent Allan Smith
told the Board of Education
during their July meeting. In
fact the daycare which serves
K-5 is $22,000 in the hole, Smith
said.
The program initially re
ceived government funding,
people last night,” she said. “It
was most embarrassing.”
Reached last Thursday, Lane
declined to comment, saying
he had not been formally con
tacted by town officials and
had not listened to an audio
tape from the meeting.
“It’s hard to comment yet,”
Lane said.
Lane said he was disap
pointed that he was not invited
to the council meeting.
“If you want to talk to me,”
he said, “talk to me.”
In his July 17 letter to coun
cilors, Lane said he had lis
tened to a tape from the coun
cil meeting..
See DOOR, Page A2 >■
with close to 80 students a day
in attendance. Years later fund
ing dwindled, as did atten
dance.
In the 2004-2005 school year,
41 students attended thek five
-day -a-week daycare. In 2005
2006 the numbers continued to
drop to approximately 30.
“The program has not bro
ken even since 2002*2003,”
Smith said.
The total cost of the pro
gram last year was $66,000.
Only 30% of the operation bud
get for the year was collected.
Glenda Jakubowski with
Edenton-Chowan Schools has
been asked to collect data, talk
Ijoiew (Council’s)
actions...(as) heavy
handed if not an
act of cowardice. ’
Steve Lane, Chair
Planning Board
with other school districts and
determine how the program
can continue to serve students.
“At this point we are not talk
W&M
Tve never seen
such showboating
in my life. Enough
is enough. *
Steve Biggs
Councilman
ing about closing the program,
we are talking about keeping
the program open, if possible,”
Jakubowski said.
Crammey to be honored
at public reception
The Mayor and Town Council are hosting a reception to honor
longtime Electric Utilities Director Hawk Crummey The recep
tion will be held Tuesday at the Barker House on Edenton Bay,
from 4 to 6 pm.
The public is invited to come express their appreciation to
Hawk for devoting 50 years of service to looking after the town’s
electric system. Hawk will celebrate his 50th anniversary with
the town on July 3; he will officially retire July 31.