Young women wield the needles
3lRSfa
Aces end
gridiron
losing skid
Sports, B1
Group to Lowe’s: Forget Edenton
$5,000 committed to oppose ‘big-box’ retailer
I By Connie Sage
Contributing Writer
n
Concerned that Eden
| ton will lose its small-town
1 charm, two local men have
f launched a grassroots cam
v| paign to try to keep Lowe’s
^ _•__
By Earline White
Managing Editor
^/Vhile her classmates
played with their cellphones
and their Ipods, Jennifer Ar
gent, 15, sat on the sidelines
this past summer at band
,, camp, knitting gloves.
Freshmen would pass
her by, giving her quizzical
looks. They said “You really
are a granny!” and she’d'
laugh.
She doesn’t mind the
jokes. She admits that she is
a grandmother in training..
“When I get my permit I
want to start a knitting club,”
Argent said, “and call it the
FGA — the Future Grand
mothers of America.”
♦ ♦ ♦
When it. seems nearly
impossible to break some
youth away from the TV and
computer, others have redis
covered an old niche — knit
ting.
It’s a phenomenon grow
ing across the country, in
the home, church and class
rooms.
Before moving to Eden
ton, Jenni-Lea Slattery, 16,
was one of 10 students in a
knitting club at Booker T,
INDEX
A Local
Opinion...A7
Land Transfers.....A5
B Sports
Aces News...B1
Nascar...B2
I’ '"/'fe,;.V\V
C Community News
Upcoming Events.C2
Society.C3
Obituaries.........C6
Church.................. C7,8
■
D Classifieds
Buy/Sell/Trade.D1,5
Service Directory.D2
Employment........D3
t
6 "®8 9076"44813*" 0
©2006 The Chowan Herald
All Rights Reserved
Home Improvement Center
— or any other “big box”
store — out of Edenton.
Lowe’s is one of two an
chors proposed for Edenton
Commons, a 38-acre shop
ping center on N.C. Highway
32 North.
Washington High School in
Norfolk.
“It’s a way to keep busy
and out of trouble,” Slattery
said of knitting — some
thing her former librarian
taught her.
When she transferred to
John A. Holmes she had no
idea that she could bring
knitting needles to school.
Now she is never without
them.
While sitting in the li
OLF panel to review new sites
By Sean Jackson
Staff Writer
Local officials are guess
ing that a panel appointed
by the governor will not re
view a previously proposed
Navy airfield site within 25
miles of Edenton.
That airfield site — in
Washington and Beau
fort counties — has been
staunchly opposed by area
residents for several years.
The grassroots opposition
was joined by state and fed
eral officials, prompting the
Navy to review other sites.
Gov. Mike Easley has reac
tivated a panel to aid efforts
in locating the Navy’s touch
and-go airfield in North Car
olina.
“I assume that the Navy,
Plans for the 40-store com
plex were submitted to the
town last week by developer
Wheeler Interests of Nor
folk, Va.
Mark Reilly and Julien
Mordecai on Saturday be
gan raising money to boost
brary, Slattery works on part
of a light blue and purple
blanket that will be knitted
and purled into an afghan
for her rrj^m. ^ ^
“You have to do whatev
er you can to get through to
kids,” said Catherine Baker,
math teacher and advisor
with the high school’s newly
found knitting club.
“And some kids need to
or this new committee, will
not be reviewing the sites
listed in the last impact
statement,” Chowan Coun
ty Manager Cliff Copeland
said.
“But we should know more
in the coming weeks.”
Edenton Mayor Roland
Vaughan said the move is in
the right direction.
“I think it appropriate for
the governor to re-activate
the panel to check for al
ternate sites for an OLF in
North Carolina,” he said.
Like Copeland, Vaughan
still opposes an airfield
coming to Washington and
Beaufort counties - within
several miles of a national
wildlife refuge.
“I have not changed my
opinion that an OLF in
public awareness of the im
pact that Lowe’s could have
on downtown.
Within three days, a dozen
residents had committed
$5,000, according to Reilly,
which he said may be used
to hire an attorney to fight
the proposal, or for a consul
tant to look into economic
ramifications a shopping
have something in then
hands. Knitting is very
calming. By concentrating
on one thing like knitting, it
opens the mind for others,”
Baker said.
Jessica Ordonez, biol
ogy teacher at Holmes and
crotcheter, agreed.
“Back at Eastern Ran
dolph High School where
I used to teach, we had a
crochet club. I had one stu
dent who was ADHD and he
the Northeast is not a fit
and should be located else
where,” Vaughan said.
The six potential new sites
include two each in Camden
and Gates counties.
Easley has joined local of
ficials in trying to keep the
airfield away from the ref
uge.
"The Navy has agreed to
center might have qn down
town Edenton homeowners
and businesses.
“We’re asking the town
to make a decision in a ra
tional manner about Eden
ton Commons and the im
plication that it has for the
unique nature of the town,”
said Reilly, an art dealer and
retired computer software
From left. Holmes students
Jennifer Argent and Jenni
Lea Slattery work on their
knitting techniques.
Earline White photos/
The Chowan Herald
At top of page, drawing by
Jason King/The Chowan Herald
learned to knit. He would
sit in class all day and knit.
“By the end of the year he
had a nine-foot-long scarf
and better grades. It was a
special case, but you’ve got
to try different things to get
through.”
Trying new things is
something Argent’s first
year Spanish teacher, • Bar
bara Cavanagh, is willing
to do.
Cavanagh is intrigued
by the craft and is hoping
to learn how to knit from
her student who carries
a couple of projects along
with her.
“She can do whatever
she wants with her hands
as long as she’s speaking
Spanish,” Cavanagh said.
♦ ♦ ♦
“I wouldn’t say it’s
an obsession,” Argent
laughed. Wearing her sec
ond finished piece, a small
See KNITTING, Page A2 >
reopen consideration of in
formation about possible al
ternative sites,” Easley said
in a news release in advance
of the panel’s first meeting
yesterday.
Opponents have said the
site near Pocosin Lakes Na
tional Wildlife Refuge would
pose a ha zard to migratory
waterfowl and jet pilots.
executive on West King
Street. “We want to be seen
as progressive,” he said.
“At the same time, we want
to preserve the very values
that brought and have kept
us all in Edenton.”
Anchors for the proposed
retail complex are Lowe’s
See LOWE'S, Page A2 ►
Town OKs
industrial
park growth
By Sean Jackson
The Chowan Herald
Local officials expect an
expansion of Edenton’s
industrial park to create
new jobs.
The To wn Council unan
imously approved Phase
II of the industrial park,
located next to Northeast
ern Regional Airport.
Officials did not say
what type — or how many
— jobs the expansion
could create.
The 76-acre site con
nects with the current
park, where development
began about nine years
ago.
That existing park has
already created nearly 400
jobs, Edenton-Chowan
Chamber of Commerce
Executive Director Rich
ard Bunch said.
“Right now, this will
See GROWTH, Page A2 >
It’s Fair
time!
The 60th annual
Chowan Regional
Fair kicks off Tuesday, •«
with gates opening at
4 pun.
The fair runs through
Saturday, Sept. 29.
Tickets are $10 in
advance, $12 at the
gate.
I
<
t
|
If you are a member of a service group and would like to be included in this special pullout
call Ashley Misseri at 482-4418 ext. 25 or Becky Carter ext. 28