482-4418
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
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TAX BREAKS
COULD HELP
SENIORS,
DISABLED |
Story below
A freak bull-riding accident has left 25-year-old Bobby Lee “Leroy” Martin partially
paralyzed. He communidates with his eyes, blinking once for “yes” and twice for “no.”
Local churches have embraced him. .: •
His mother stays by his side at
Britthaven of Edenton, asking
only for others’ prayers.
Hilda Jones
holds a
memento
from
her son's
bull-riding
career.
Martin is
shown at
right.
“It’s been hard on all of us. We’re all trusting he’s going to come out of it OK. ”
— Hilda Jones, Martin's mother
By Sean Jackson
Staff Writer
Bobby Lee Martin knew
the risks he took every
time he climbed atop a bull
seeking an 8-second ride.
But his luck ran out in
July, when Martin suffered
a serious head injury dur
ing a bull-riding event.
His mother, Hilda Jones,
does the talking for her
25-year-old son, better
known as “Leroy.” They’ve
been in Edenton for three
weeks.
He’s been hospitalized,
virtually in a coma, since
the accident.
“Hopefully, he’ll be get
ting better soon and we’lj
be going home soon,”
Jones said during an in
terview on a rainy, gray
Sunday afternoon.
The Randolph County
woman has spent the past
three weeks watching and
praying for her son.
Leroy spends most of
his time at Britthaven of
Edenton, a residential
health-care facility.
INDEX
A Local
Opinion.........A7
Land Transfers......A5
B Inspiration
Nature...B3
School.B4
I C Community News
Upcoming Events.C2
Society....!.C4
Obituaries.C5
I Sports.... C6,7
D Classifieds
\ Buy/Sell/Trade.D1,3
Service Directory.D4
I Employment.D3
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6 ""8 9 0 7 6"4 4 813
©2006 The Chowan Herald
All Rights Reserved
“Home” is in Liberty,
about 20 miles southeast
of Greensboro.
Doctors can’t say when
— or if — he’ll recover
enough to go home, Le
roy’s mom said.
It appears to be break'
ing Jones’ heart, but not
her faith that Leroy will
return home again.
Leroy passed through
several facilities in the
Piedmont before Jones
called Britthaven, a place
that had been recommend
ed to her.
It’s a move she’s glad she
and her son made.
“The others, I just don’t
think they were trying
to do anything for him,”
Jones said.
That’s been far from the
case at Britthaven.
“Everybody down here
just has a warm attitude,”
she said. “I just want him
to get better and get home,
that’s all.”
Tax breaks for seniors available
300 local^homeowners already taking
advantage of Homestead exclusion
By Rebecca Bunch
Staff Writer
A change in state law
means some disabled and
senior citizens (age 65 and
over) in Chowan County will
be paying smaller property
tax bills in the future.
It will allow them to make
$25,000 and still file for a spe
cial exclusion to lower the
amount of real estate tax
they pay annually on their
homes.
Currently, they must make
less than $20,500 to qualify
To illustrate how the law
works, Chowan County Tax
Supervisor Linda Hendrix
’ offered the following exam
ple.
If an eligible person’s
income totals $20,000 (and
he lives outside the city
The injury
Bull riding has been de
scribed as America’s first
extreme sport. It’s danger
ous. Jones said Leroy knew
that. So did she.
While she enjoys watch
ing others get swung
around, holding tightly to a
leather rope, she didn’t like
watching Leroy compete.
“I was always holding on
the person beside me,” she
said. “Every time.”
Then came July 7, in Sil
ver Valley Bobby was doing
what he’d loved to do ever
since he was 15 — riding a
bull.
But it turned tragic. A
bull stepped on his head,
crushing the left side of his
skull.
He was rushed to a Win
ston-Salem Hospital.
Jones had worked that
night at her job at a conve
nience store. On the way
home, she happened across
a friend who’d been to the
limits of Edenton) and the
value of his house and lot
totals $75,000, an exclusion
of $37,500 — half it’s worth
— would be allowed.
Their tax bill would cost
them $228.75 under the cur
rent county tax rate of 61
cents per $100,000 of ap
praised property value.
The property tax rate
for those living in Edenton
is currently 85 cents per
$100,000 because they pay
both town and county taxes.
The Homestead Act itself,
adopted as a state law in the
early 1970s, has been around
for quite a while, Hendrix
noted.
And while other area tax
administrators have said
they don’t believe everyone
who is eligible is taking ad
vantage of the law, Hendrix
rodeo.
Since that Friday night,
Jones has rarely left Leroy’s
beside. She typically pulls
12-hour days at Britthaven.
Breaks are rare.
“I’ve been with him every
day since he’s been in the
hospital,” she said.
Jones has two other chil
dren — daughter Melissa,
30, and younger son Joshua,
•23.
“It’s been hard on all of
us,” Jones, 49, said.
A slow recovery
Until her son is released,
she plans to remain as near
Leroy as she can, recalling
his smile, talking to him
whenever he wakes up.
“Ever since he’s a baby,”
she said, “he’s got that little
smile.”
Jones said her son can
blink his right eye, even
signal yes or no to certain
questions — one blink is
believes that’s hot neces
sarily the case in Chowan (
County. . (
“I believe that many of
those who are eligible are
aware of it,” she said. “In
fact we have about 300 tax
payers in our county who
are already receiving it. But
for those who are just hear
ing about it, they need to be
aware that they will need to
come in and apply to receive
the exclusion.”
A spouse’s income will
also be counted toward the
amount of the exclusion
even if the home is owned
by only the husband or wife,
she said.
Application forms will be
available starting in Janu
ary.
Hendrix said taxpayers in
terested in learning wheth
er they are eligible for the
exclusion may contact the
Chowan County Tax Office
at 482-8486 for further assis
yes, two means no.
“He knows we’re here,”
she said.
He has some movement
in his right hand and leg,
something the doctors
doubted would ever happen
again.
Jones said she’s put her
faith in a higher power to
take care of Leroy, to get
him home again.
She's patiently waiting
for the day when Leroy may
speak again. (He’s current
ly using a tracheotomy tube
to breathe.)
“I’ll just be glad when he
starts talking to me,” she
said. “I get so lonesome
sometimes.”
Helping hands
Local churches helped
Jones find an apartment on
North Broad Street, just a
few-minutes’ drive to Brit
thaven.
They supplied furniture,
T
Nine days to go!
Edenton’s annual
Christmas Candle
light Tour begins next
Friday, Dec. 7. Events
continue through Sat
urday, Dec. 8.
There are 15 homes
on this year’s tour, all
to be decked out in hol
iday finery! Cost is $25.
even pitched in to pay her
December rent and get her
a tank of heating oil.
Family members visit
when they can, Jones
said, but it was just her
and Leroy over Thanks
giving.
A new friend, Chowan
Hospital volunteer Ann Lis
ton, took Jones out to eat
Thanksgiving dinner at a
local restaurant.
“If anyone has something
'to give to her, I’m sure she
could use it,” Liston said in
an e-mail. “The thing she
wants most is prayers for
her son.”
Though still saddened
by Leroy’s injuries, Jones
smiles whenever she talks
about the people here who
have helped her.
' “I just want to thank ev
erybody for what they’ve
done so far,” she said.
For now, she just wants
spiritual support, as she
and her son get by one day
at a time.
“I just want prayer. I just
want him to get better, that’s
the main thing.”
Some public buildings
will be open without
charge.
Free events will also $
include caroling in the
1767 Courthouse Friday
at 6 p.m., and the Eden
ton-Chowan Christmas
Parade Saturday at 11
a.m.
§
Open to the Public - Edenton Masonic Lodge
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Doors Open at 6:00pm
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