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Fresh meats are cut and packaged daily at Whiteman's in Rocky Hock. Arleen Dail and Sue Carr ring up Sam Hord for a loaf of bread and a newspaper.
Fresh produce from Rocky. Hock and beyond is available during the summer and fall.
Whiteman’s store
Old times aren’t forgotten
Earline White/The Chowan Herald
David Harrell always gets a rise out of the boys at Whiteman's in Rocky Hock. Alvin Bunch can't help but cover his face from laughing so hard.
BY EARLINE WHITE
The Chowan Herald
David’s at it again — trying to play
matchmaker.
“Hey, Bill,” he Says, “why don’t you
come down to the Red Barn tonight and
meet this pretty gal who’s looking for
a fellow as good to' her as I am to my
honey?”
Bill Lane, who just walked in the
door of Whiteman’s store after his shift
at the dye plant sits down near David
in one of the broken slat wooden chairs
near the cooler.
He smiles, tips his blue cap up a bit
pnd takes a long swig of yoo-hoo.
“You should come and meet her.
Maybe she’ll cook you something good
so you won’t have to eat Nabs for din
ner,” David laughs.
Bill just smirks. He’s used to this.
Bill drops by Whiteman’s nearly ev
ery day, grabs a snack and heads to the
corner of the store where the good old
country boys sit talking about women,
farming and politics.
They’ve been doing it for years, just
like their Rocky Hock-bred fathers be
fore them who used to sit down at the
former Rocky Hock Grocery and do the
same.
Everyone who walks through the
double glass doors they know. And
sometimes the boys speak even when
the shoppers don’t.
The whole scene — the half dozen
men sitting around in a semi-circle in
a corner of a country store, telling sto
ries after getting out of the field — is
reminiscent of country stores across
rural America, now fading.
The men’s faces may change but the
chairs are always waiting.
♦ ♦ «
Ray Smith comes in to Whiteman’s
fresh from a shower. His clean-pressed
white shorts beam against J.C. Nixon’s
field-dusty Dickies.
Ray says that he’s been in the field
most of the day, but most likely he’s
been the one driving the tractor, not the
one picking the melons.
“They’re looking pretty this year,”
Ray said to J.C. about the peanut crop.
J.C. would know — he was after all, the
county production winner for peanuts
in 2003. He’s spent most of his day work
ing on the peanut picker, getting it
ready for next month.
“Yeah, they’re all right. But I’ll have
to get 6,000 pounds to the acre to get my
money back,” J.C. tells him.
“All the spraying and spraying this
year, ifused to could get $680 per ton,
now I’mgood toget $340. If I don’t get a
good price for yield, I’ll be sunk.
“If I had a boy that told me he wanted
to farm I’d have to put this up his be
hind,” J.G. says and lifts his right foot
off the cement floor.
❖ ❖ ❖
A young couple comes in, walks past
the fresh local produce on display, the
freezer full of nightcrawlers and mini
lending library filled with romance
novels, heading for the fishing tackle.
David Harrell, who has been here for
a while today, surprisingly does not
know the couple but says hello anyway.
They stand in the fishing section (be
side the hunting section) debating
which lure to buy. The seven-foot wall
is lined with anything and everything
a fisherman might break, run out of or
forget to bring.
“You know you probably shouldn’t go
fishing tomorrow,” David tells the girl
with a dragon tattoo on her neck.
“Why not,” she asks the stranger
with a hint of aggravation.
“When the wind is in the east, fish
bite the least,” David tells her. “Wind
in the west, fishing is best.”
The boys all nod their heads.
❖
“It ain’t Peyton Place,” Robert jokes
about Whiteman’s social circle, “but
almost is at times.”
Robert Wiley, a.k.a. the best transmis
sion man in town according to his circle
of friends, stops in for a quick smoke
before moving on to another job in the
adjoining garage at Whiteman’s.
His glasses are smudged with grease
and his fingernails dirty with oil.
About once an hour he’ll stop in just
to see what the boys are talking about.
He won’t stay long — he’s got too much
to do.
But for a few minutes he’ll sit and lis
ten to one of David’s stories.
“Tell her the one about you on the
gurney," Robert tells David.
J.C. Nixon says, “Tell the one about
going to make a deposit at the bank.”
See TIMES, Page A2 ►
©2006 The Chowan Herald
All Rights Reserved
INDEX
A Local
Opinion..
Land Transfers..
: -V ..
V.-1^ -%"■ ^ . Sfcf
B Sports
Recreation News...... B1
«. Nascar....................... 02
Contact U$ At 252.482.4418 or email chowanheraidOeailhlihk.net
C Community News
Upcoming Events.C2
Society........ C3
/ Obituaries................ C6 ^
Church.................. C7,8
D Classifieds
Buy/Sell/Trade_<? D1
Service Directory.D2 ;
Employment... D4
• -V; %■'.' -■? ;f.'/:; > y
Rogerson
to lead
Northeast
agency
BY SEAN JACKSON
The Chowan Herald
A veteran employee with the
area’s top economic develop
ment agency has been tapped
to lead the organization
through its rebuilding process.
Vann Rogerson was named
president
and CEO of
the North
eastern
North Caro
lina Region
al Develop
ment Com
mission dur
ing the org
anization’s
board meet
ing last Wed
nesday. Rogerson has previ
ously been the vice-president
of the Northeast Partnership,
a subsidiary of the Commis
sion.
“Vann has all the skills and
talents we need to lead our re
gional economic development
efforts,” Gene Rogers, Com
mission chairman, said last
See AGENCY, Page A2 >
Rogerson
Suspects
charged in
crackdown
BY EARLINE WHITE
The Chowan Herald
More than 700 grams of
marijuana have been recov
ered, and six people arrested,
by Edenton Police Department
during a community crack
down initiated by Police Chief
Greg Bonner.
“Our officers have been
working diligently to get drugs
off the street,” Bonner said,
“but we wanted to also address
several issues in the commu
nity such as noise ordinances
and curfew violations. I want
to commend the officers on a
job well done and encourage
them to continue ensuring the
safety of the citizens.”
Special assignments began
last Wednesday night and re
sulted in numerous citations
for loud mufflers, driving with
license revoked, juvenile cur
few violations and noise ordi
nance violations.
Later that night, a search^
warrant was served for the sec
ond time at 1013 C. Badham
Road.
Just two months after being
See SUSPECTS, Page A2 >
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