482-4418
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Coming Next Week
Reving up for U.K. race
! ■ Yeopim Baptist turns 242 Community, CIO
■ Alzheimer’s assistance comes to Chowan
I* Community, Cl
Around and About
From mill closings to
Duke basketball, Edd
Owens of Joe Lee Co.
shares his thoughts
The agony of defeat • 1
Nighthawks best Aces by 3
lliiksiftsa&y®Sports, B1
i Council OKs
[ Hayes Farm
j subdivision
| Southeast part of
county becomes
t next step in
l growth process
BY SEAN JACKSON
• ! Staff Writer
p
Town officials have given
the go-ahead to developers
j*? of a large subdivision on
the southeast edge of
' Edenton.
By approving a permit for
the Hayes Farm project, the
town council paved the way
for hundreds of new homes
and new retail develop
ment.
“When are ya’ll going to
start?” Councilman Sambo
Dixon jokingly asked prop
erty owners and developers
after council unanimously
i approved the permit re
quest.
« A developer replied that
work would start soon.
Developer George Wood
of Strawberry Hill Land
Management LLC said the
subdivision would include
more than 350 single-family
homes and another 150
multi-family units, prima
rily townhouses.
The town planning board
had previously approved
the permit request for the
project, which is located on
farmland bordered by
Queen Anne Creek to the
i west and Soundside Road to
the east.
The property —163 acres
— is owned by the family of
Gilliam Wood.
1 See HAYES, Page A2 >
I
:
INDEX
A Local
Opinion.. A8
Land Transfers... A9
B Sports
Aces Volleyball............. B1
Nascar......... B2
C Community News
Upcoming Events......... C2
Obituaries.C8
Church.. C9,10
f School... C4.5
D Classifieds
Service Directory..D4
Yard Sales... D3
For Sale/Employment... D4
6""89076 44813,,"0
Q2006 The Chowan Herald
All Rights Reserved
An afternoon with Emma
She cleans Beaver
Hill Cemetery for
free
BY EARLINE WHITE
Staff Writer
In the golden glow of a fall
afternoon, 77-year-old Emma
Tripp rakes the outlining
stretches of the Beaver Hill
Cemetery.
As people pass her by on the
sidewalk, she says hello. Most
simply nod and continue on
their way, a few will stop a chat
just for a minute or two.
Schoolbus drivers honk their
horns and the children on their
way home wave out the window.
Emma smiles a crooked
smile, waves, and turns back to
her raking.
Everyone knows Emma.
“People ask me if I get paid
to do this [rake], I tell them no,
I don’t need pay. Sometimes
they tell me that they are going
to speak with somepne about
getting me some pay. But I tell
them that the good Lord has
gotten me this far. Ninety-nine
and a half' won'tdo. They made
a song in Boston about that, you
know. He’11 see me through.”
“It [raking the cemetery]
gives me an excuse why I’m not
answering the phone,” she
jokes and pulls one of the hefty
trash bags she’s filled with dead
leaves to the pile she just fin
ished raking up.
Tripp admits in a whisper the
real reason she takes it upon
herself to clean the cemetery.
“This is my exercise,” she
says as she picks up the leaves
and puts them into the bag,
smashing the ones on top, mak
ing room for the next handful.
She’s been here today for two
hours already, but is nearly fin
ished with the job.
For the past three years,
Emma has become a recurring
image on Martin Luther King
Avenue, rake in hand, chasing
down crisp, brown leaves set
free by the breeze.
She attributes her weight loss
—nearly 15 pounds already, to
getting outdoors on breezy days
like this. Her clothes, she says,
are getting too big.
“But I’m not going to buy new
BY EARLINE WHITE
Staff Writer
John A. Holmes exceeded
the state’s proficiency goal
on the end-of-course test in
2005-2006, a recently released
state report said.
Holmes’ students scored
66.3 percent, six points
higher than the target set by
the state.
Superintendent Allan
Smith said he was pleased
with the results.
However, the scores are
lower than last year’s which
Holmes marked as school of progress, ABC’s released
Emma Tripp, 77, rakes Beaver Hill Cemetery each week, stop
ping to chat with schoolchildren and locals.
ones-1’11 manage with what I’ve got.”
“Plus you see the [town] workers
out here raking and there’s so much
to do. I watch them take breaks in
the shade, trying to get away from
the heat. I’m just trying to keep the
leaves out of my yard,” she laughs.
Emma’s gentle nature stems
from her upbringing in the church.
She has been a member, usher, el
der of Providence Baptist since she
moved back from Boston almost 11
years ago.
Back in Boston she worked as a
housekeeper and it seems that the
need to stay busy and keep her sur
roundings clean moved down South
tested only eight end-of
course tests, compared to
this year’s scores which
added three new tests, in
cluding the writing test.
“Comparing the two [year’s
scores] is like comparing
apples and oranges," Smith
said.
One year prior, students
were tested in English I, al
gebra I and II, geometry,
physical science, biology,
chemistry and physics.
Had the students only been
tested in those areas the
scores in 2005-2006 would
with her. -
Emma lives across the street in a
mother-in-law addition on the house
her own mother left to her.
“Everybody knows that Brooks
like to talk. That was my mama’s
maiden name,” she says after she
realizes she’s talked for 15 minutes
about everything from cleaning
heating elements in a stove to incon
tinence.
“Sometimes I stay on the phone
until one in the morning telling
people what it’s like to live in the
South. A lot of people have no idea.
I am blessed —■ I’ve got a lot of
friends.”
have actually been even
higher. Smith added.
But U.S. history, civics and
the 10th grade writing test
were added into the formula
at the beginning of the 2005
2006 school year.
Because Holmes scored
above the proficiency target,
it is considered a “school of
progress,” meaning that
teachers and teaching assis
tants will receive a bonus in
their wages.
Holmes was not recognized
last year as a school of
progress. .
>!' '
$
chiefs wary
of gangs in
their towns
“If they’re wannabe gang
members they are gang members. ”
— Rodney Hoggard,
Windsor police chief
BY SEAN JACKSON
Staff Writer
Two local police chiefs say or
ganized gangs aren’t in their
towns, but they are still cautious
about the potential for bona fide
gang activity in the future.
Windsor police Chief Rodney
Hoggard said his town in Bertie
County has groups of youths who
try to link themselves to the
Bloods and Crips gangs. —
“We got a so-called little gang here in town,” Hoggard
said, adding that the youths are more akin to wannabes
and not officially connected to either of the California
based gangs.
But Hoggard doesn’t take that lack of connection
INSIDE
t '
Related story
about Tuesday's
fight at John A.
Holmes High
School
Page A2.
lightly
“If they’re wannabe gang members,” he said, “they
are gang members.”
Hertford police Chief Dale Vanscoy said his
Perquimans County town has had little — if any —
true gang activity
“We haven’t seen it,” Vanscoy said
A recent visit to Hertford by a state crime-preven
tion expert didn’t reveal any gang activities, he added.
“She really didn’t see anything,” Vanscoy said of
Starr Barbara's trip to his town in August.
But Vanscoy said he’ll remain wary of any gang-re
lated activities.
“We feel there’s a potential, a very good potential for
gang organization,” he said.
Barabaro also warned of that potential, Vanscoy
added.
“She says if there’s wannabes, there’s some poten
tial for somebody to come ip and organize them,” he
said.
•> ❖ ❖
Edenton police Chief Greg Bonner has called
two bands of local youths “groups,” saying neither
See CHIEFS, Page A2 >
The ABC report, which re
ports the EOC test results,
was released Oct.5.
Typically the report in
cludes results for the elemen
tary, middle and high
schools^ but because the new
math test results will no be
released until Nov. 1, the re
port only showed results for
area high schools.
To view the results go to
www.ncpublicschools.org.
Click on the link to the state
ABC’s accountability re
sults.
By the Numbers
How other schools scored* *
2004-2005
Holmes
72.4%
Pasquotank
63.6%
Northeastern
57.7%
Perquimans
73.4%
2005-2006 «
66.3%
59.4%
60.9%
58.4%
* 60 percent« proficient
JS Located on Atlantic Forest Drive at the 2006 SeaSOfl Finale
Northeastern Regional Airport.
Cycle Speedway is a part of the
Edenton-Chowan Recreation Dept.
FHday, Saturday and Sunday, October 20-22
Fri. & Sat. - Gates Open at 6:00 pm. Racing - 7:30 pm.
Sunday - Gates Open at 1:00 pm. Racing - 2:00 pm.
Race Entrees for all ages available.
Come join the fun. Sign up today!
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