482-4418
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
50*
Town manager
Anne-Marie
Knighton tells
how officials
are handling
"gang" issues
in Edenton
Around and About...
Employment official
gets the job done
Inside, A3
SfcoG&cf fauatfo
iK Sd&itOH,
Community, C1
Bootwright counsels
laid-off boat workers
Inspiration, C10
Officials grapple with fight at JAH
Bpnner:
Violators
will face
arrest
BY SEAN JACKSON
Staff Writer
Police and schools officials said
students who fight at John A.
Holmes High School will face
stiff penalties, including arrests
and suspensions.
Seven stu
dents were ar
rested and sus
pended after
an early morn
ing fight at the
school last
week.
Edenton po
lice Chief
Greg Bonner
w^Oid his department has beefed
up patrols outside the school
around dismissal time.
“We’re there to prevent any
thing from happening,” he said.
School board member Tom
Abbott also said violence
wouldn’t be tolerated at Holmes
or any other Edenton-Chowan
schools.
“They’ll be dealt with accord
ing to the laws of this country”
Abbott said of students who com
mit violent acts, even if that
means jail-time.
“They’ll get a taste of the real
world real quick,” he said of stu
dents who are arrested for fight
ing.
Bonner agreed. He has said
that some of the teens involved
in the Oct. 17 fight at the high
school are members of two Eden
ton groups which have had other
recent disputes.
“It’s just a shame it has to get
to this point,” Bonner said, “be
fore the parents and the child see
the seriousness of the situation
INSIDE
Police chief
says rival
groups are
being
addressed
Page A 7
See FIGHT, Page A2 >►
INDEX
A Local
Opinion.A8
Crime reports..,..A4
B Sports
Recreation News...... Bl
Nascar.......... B2
C Community News
Upcoming Events.C2
School.. C4.5
Obituaries.C8
Church.if-C9,10
. » V:, •; ■v r •
D Classifieds
For Sale/Rent.D1
Service Directory.D2
|| Employment.D3
©2006 The Chowan Herald
All Rights Reserved
i
Barbers work their magic
Earline White/The Chowan Herald
Kenya Hurdle of Keystone Barber Shop trims Willie Norfleet's mustache Friday after his shift
at Regulator Marine.
BY EARLINE WHITE
Staff Writer
Kenya Hurdle raises eyebrows.
Connie Holley’s eyebrows, that is.
With gentle, precise hands,
Hurdle applies the hot wax below
her brow and presses paper on it.
In one quick stroke, he snatches the
paper from her face, ripping the
hair out by the roots. Holley barely
flinches.
“Only at Keystone,” Hurdle says,
surveying Holley’s perfectly
arched brows. “Keystone works
magic.”
Up the stairs, in the narrow hall
way, the folding chairs just outside
of Keystone Barbershop are filled
with boys and men, waiting for
their turn in the chair. With three
pumps (of the chair), and a handy
booster seat in some cases, Hurdle
and shop owner, Vernell Coston,
transform the scruffy into the
clean cut; all in preparation for the
weekend.
Jeremiah Boyce, 6, asks his mom
for a quarter for a gum ball from the
antique machine in the hall. He paces
back and forth in the hall, in and out
of the shop, back and around again,
with the green ball filling nearly his
entire mouth.
Jada Privott sits in the chair qui
etly beside her mother, swinging her
legs out of boredom, waiting for her
brother, Anthony, to be called.
A.J., with his chipmunk cheeks
and never-fading smile, doesn’t mind
the wait. He sits listening to the old
men talking about cars and sports
while they flip through magazines —
Sporting News, Time, Men’s Health.
Like the hardware store and the
coffee shop, the barbershop has long
been an open forum for social com
mentary '
In every town the barbershop
serves as a gathering place where lo
cals gather for haircuts, shaves,
trims, and more importantly, to ex
change the news of the day
Terrance Dillard, a tall man with
hard eyes, walks in, cellphone to
ear and signs the roll.
What’s been going on, the bar
ber asks as he buzzes A. J’s head.
Dillard shakes his head, saying
that he’s been working on a dirt
bike all day. The piston and rings
are shot and it’ll probably cost 100
bucks to fix, he says.
His phone rings and Dillard
walks back down the stairs to sit
on the brick stoop out front.
“It’s all what you put in it,”
Hurdle says of barbering as Willie
Norfleet sits in the chair getting
an edge up and shave —$6 each.
Hurdle leans down, razor in hand
and straightens the hairline on
Norfleet's forehead.
Norfleet, still in his Regulator
uniform, jokes with Hurdle be
tween razor strokes. Hurdle turns
the razor upside down and edges
the line once more. Norfleet sits
quietly, sure not to move as Hurdle
and Coston work their Keystone
magic.
Candidates:
Uniforms could
quell violence
at high school
BY SEAN JACKSON
Staff Writer
A majority of Edenton-Chowan County
school board candidates think that a new
INSIDE
North
Carolina
prison
inmate says
Bloods will
never be
defeated.
Page A8
surfaced often since he’s been campaigning.
"The issue of school uniforms has been a
hot topic among voters I’ve spoken with,”
Dale said, “with the majority supporting uni
forms.” -
Two other candidates said the issue needs
to be discussed, while the fourth candidate
declined to discuss any safety concerns stem
ming from last week’s fight, which resulted
in seven arrests.
The debate about uniforms has surfaced
recently in the wake of last week’s — and
other — fights involving two rival groups
that include some Holmes students who wear
clothing colors associated with organized
gangs:
Uniform opinions
Tom Abbott, Dale’s opponent for the
board’s at-large seat, said he would vote for
a policy change requiring students wear uni
forms if his constituents favored such a
move. But Abbott is not convinced that uni
forms would be a cure-all for safety concerns
at Holmes.
See UNIFORM, Page A2 ►
policy requiring students
to wear uniforms at the
high school could help end
violence there.
Polled by The Chowan
Herald this week, three of
the four candidates said
uniforms could improve
both safety and test scores
at John A. Holmes High
School.
One candidate, Win
Dale, said the topic has
School board hopefuls gearing up for election day
BY EARLINE WHITE
Staff Writer
On Nov. 7, Chowan residents
will cast their ballots in five lo
cal elections including county
commissioner, sheriff, clerk
of court and the two locally
contested races — school
board and soil and water com
mission.
Newcomer Jean Bunch of
the Rocky Hock/Center Hill/
Wardville area is going up
against incumbent Randy
White who has served 12 years
on the school board.
Another newcomer, Win
Dale, is running against in
cumbent Tom Abbott who has
served six years on the Board
for the at-large precinct.
The Chowan Herald: As
the new millennium takes
hold, what do you see hap*
pening with 21st century
education?
Bunch: “Students will com
pete for colleges and universi
T
ties not only amongst their
peers, but with students across
the na
tion, the
world..
Compet
ing in a
global
market
should be
in the
forefront Bunch
of our
minds as we increase the stan
dards for testing.”
White: “There are several is
sues we need to look into in
clud ing
teacher re
tention,
building
projects,
and tech
nology.
Hiring
and retain
ing good
certified
teachers
are a must. The cosmetic reno
White
vations at Holmes are a great
thing but we need to look to
ward expanding Holmes to add
more classrooms. And it is
time to take technology up an
other level — I don’t know
what that means exactly at this
point but we have to be ready
to jump.”
Abbott: “We have to go be
yond the industrial model of
education — kids are not wid
gets and
we do not
bolt infor
m a t i o n
onto them
and pass
them
along.
Educa
tion
needs to
be about
Abbott
higher order thinking skills,
global awareness, civic en
gagement, and career prepara
tion. These 21st century skills
will have to come from inte
grated learning, making con
." P
nections and mastering the
curriculum. We have to make
sure we teach the whole child
in preparation for global com
petition.”
Dale: “My vision of 21st cen
tury edu
cation in
cludes di
versified
teaching
skills and
the blend
ing of
electron
ics and
technol
ogy into the curriculum. In
the next 10-20 years there will
be more computer technology,
online classes, possibly
classes on Podcast—teachers
will have to adapt and
change.”
TCH: In all rural area*,
teacher turnover is a big
problem. What are your
ideas on finding and keep*
ing those certified teachers?
Dale
Bunch: “We need to act on
responses (of those teachers
who remain and those who
have left the system). If the
teachers are saying that there
is a problem Finding housing,
getting pay raises, with their
classroom size, whatever, then
we need to work to solving
those issues. It’s one thing to
ask and not do anything, but
another to take action. ”
White: “One thing we have
to promote is home-grown
teachers — those people who
have a tie to the community. If
they [teachers] are not from
here it is harder to keep them
here. And we have to work
with the county commission
ers to increase supplements to
help keep teachers here. “
Abbott: “We need to look at
the environment of the
schools — are they a good
place to teach? We need to 1;
make each teacher feel that
they are valuable to the school
and the community, making '
See CANDIDATES, Page A2 ►
MUM