482-4418
Wednesday, October 4, 2006
50c
Coming Next Week
■ i
. *
t
' i
Bill Bangert
shakes
things
up with
unique
salt and
pepper
j ■
j
After 44 years: ■
Peebles' Modlin still
on the job
Community, C1
Aces Profile
QB Joseph Westbrook
has completed 56 passes .
Sports, B1
Aces drop j
fourth game i
Sports, B1 •
Keeping
kids safe
focus of
session
Former White Oak
educator stresses
safe use of Internet
by students
BY REBECCA BUNCH
Managing Editor
A former White Oak El
ementary School teacher is at
tempting to raise awareness
among parents concerning
sexual predators who target
children.
During an upcoming com
munity workshop, Deborah
Goodman, now on loan to the
N.C. Department of Instruc
tion, will explain how parents
can monitor their children’s
Internet use and keep them
from making inappropriate
contacts.
% Sponsored by the Edenton
Chowan Schools and the local
law enforcement community,
* the session will take place at
the John A. Holmes High
School cafeteria Oct. 12 from 7
8:15 p.m.
As Nelle Hyatt, director of
Media/Technology for the
Edenton-Chowan Schools, ex
plains, “While the Internet can
be a very enlightening re
source, it can also be a danger
ous place. This Internet Safety
Awareness session is designed
to provide information to par
ents and community members
i on the issues concerning chil
dren and youth on the Internet
as well as giving tips on keep
ing our children safe while
they learn from the Internet.”
See WORKSHOP, Page A2 >
INDEX
A Local
Land Transfers.A7
Opinion..A10
B Sports
Aces Football ............ B1
Nascar....B2
C Community News
Upcoming Events.C2
Society.. C3
Obituaries......CIO
Church.............. C11,12
D Classifieds
Buy/Sell/Trade.. D1
Service Directory.D2
Employment D4
4813®
©2006 The Chowan Herald
All Rights Reserved
Ober pleads guilty to murder
BY SEAN JACKSON
Staff Writer
Carl M. Ober III, of Edenton,
pleaded guilty yesterday to the
2005 slaying of his grand
mother.
Ober, 21, was sentenced to
roughly 26 to 33 years in prison
by Superior Court Judge
Clifton W. Everett Jr. Ober
shared a hug with his mother
and received a kiss on the
cheek from his father shortly
before he was led out. of a
Chowan County courtroom.
Ober pleaded guilty to sec
ond-degree murder and con
spiracy to commit murder. He
had faced a potential life sen
tence if convicted by a jury of
first-degree murder, defense at
torney Andy Womble said.
Womble said it was a reason
able deal between his client
and prosecutors, adding, how
ever, that neither side was
completely satisfied with the
outcome.
“Sometimes the best pleas
are when nobody’s satisfied,”
Womble said.
Everett called the crime “ter
rible” considering Ober’s rela
tionship to the victim.
“It’s sad for the family, sad
for him,” he said.
Ober was convicted of the
January 2005 murder of his
grandmother, Joyce Smith Lee.
Ober was 19 and living with
Lee at the time of her death.
She had been reported two
days prior to the discovery of
her body in Vine Oak Cem
etery by a state Highway Patrol
helicopter.
Casey Lynn Forward has
also been charged in Lee’s njur
der. Forward was 14 at the time
of Lee’s death. She had agreed to
testify against Ober through an
arrangement with prosecutors.
Her trial — for a second-degree
murder charge—could begin as
soon as today
Statements given by Forward
to Edenton police investigators
were presented before Everett.
Forward said she and Ober
killed Lee then dumped her
body in the cemetery in the
middle of the night.
See MURDER, A2 ►
County Fair hits record attendance
Earline White/The Chowan Herald
Talesa Spruill, Hannah Rice and Jada Privott enjoy the slide at the Fair.
Fair attendance climbs
to 25,000 visitors this year
BY EARLINE WHITE
Staff Writer
Where else can you eat cheesecake on a stick,
pet a goat, fish for trout, and listen to gospel mu
sic all day?
For years the Winbornes have taken home
handfuls of blue ribbons from the county fair
for their large pumpkins. And this year was no
different - Sarah and her father, Emmett both
took first place for size and best in show.
Theirs was just two among the 281 agricul
tural exhibits at the 59th annual regional fair,
and among the 2,135 entries for homemade good
ies, arts and crafts.
Fair attendance this year was up nearly 2,500
people for a grand total of 25,000 — the largest
crowd so far.
Sherri Volk, chairperson of the exhibits, has
noticed slight increases each year in the num
ber of entries, especially those among the
youth-a sign that the fair is still going strong
after so many years.
E. C. Toppin, president of the fair association
1 and fab? manager said, “A lot of people come
out just for the entertainment, especially the
younger crowds for the rides and cotton candy.
But I think the older ones come out for the ex
hibits and the enjoy their kids/grandkids.”
At the fair you can hear, touch, smell and taste
what is still being produced in the rural kitch
ens of America, handed down through genera
tions of cookbooks.
In a tradition tracing its roots back as far as
1620, the county fair - an American institution -
continues to provide a slice of Americana right
here in Chowan.
Though the attrac
___________ tions may change-the
Fair fun caught Italian sausage, the fun
«I nel cakes and Wild West
_ Folies-the need to recon
Community, Cl nect with our past con
tinues to bring out the
young and old alike.
The agricultural fair is a way to keep the next
generation close to their roots and a means for
the older generation to rekindle memories of
their childhood days on the farm.
Cole Hare entered his Virginia peanuts ai\d
won first place. Caleb Sawyer showed several of
his chickens and goats. Makayla Deaver picked
buds from her blooming miniature rosebush.
Lisa Wilkins entered canned snapbeans she
made just months earlier. Wyatt and Tori Bland
both brought corn on the cob, freshly picked
from their family’s farm and took away several
ribbons.
More than 3,000 fairs, state, county and dis
trict are held each year in the U.S. allowing a
See FAIR, Page A2 ►
While farmers
struggle, peanut |
festival goes on
Annual parade, run and
‘Battle of the Bands’all ]
back on tap for Saturday
Glenda Jakubowski/Edenton-Chowan Schools
Mr. Peanut is looking forward to another
successful Peanut Festival this Saturday.
BY EARLINE WHITE
Staff Writer
With more and more local farmers turning away
from the peanut, will the festival, one of the long*
est-standing in N.C, created in its honor die as
well?
Since 2002 (and the introduction of the peanut
quota) peanut farmers have been seeking alterna
tives to the southern cash crop. Instead of peanuts,
farmers are planting soybeans and clary sage,
turning family farmlands into housing develop
ments, horse and beef pastures, as well as mining
for development, according to county agriculture
agent, Mike Williams.
J.C. Nixon Jr. feels the effects of the quota all
too well. Nixon was the 2003
county production winner
(with nearly 5,300 pounds of
peanuts per acre) but said that
he will not be farming much
longer if prices continue to be
low.
He was working on a picker
Fora
schedule of
Peanut
Festival
events, see
pageA2
See PEANUT, A2 ►
4-H
National 4"H WGGk ^ October 1 ■ 7f 2006 involved in Chowan County 4-H?
VOLUNTEERS WE N EEL) YOU! If you are between the ages of 5 and 19,
see page C6&C7 tor more details you can become a member of 4-H!
"H
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