482-4418
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Chowan
By Vernon Fueston
Contributing Writer
Whether it’s a sign of
changing times, an in
creased interest in local
politics, or maybe just be
cause it’s a presidential
election year, an unprec
edented number of pan
didates have filed for elec
tion to the Chowan County
Board of Commissioners.
Teaching
jobs maybe
eliminated
Schools may also
lose funds to pay for
local programs
By Rebecca Bunch
Staff Writer
As many as 7.5 teacher anc
teacher assistant position!
could be lost in the local schoo
system next year.
Local school officials sai(
the losses could occur becaus<
of state budget cuts governinj
personnel and programs.
Supt. Allan Smith said tha
“it is hoped if any reduction
are necessary they can' be ac
complished through the attri
tion of staff.”
Significant cuts in prc
grams could include as mud
as $84,000 eliminated fror
the Children with Disability
Program, for example.
Smith said that state prc
gram allotments are “are sut
ject to change, but only by
little bit.”
As the school system pr<
pares to submit its budget pn
posals for the 2008-09 schoc
year to the county commis
sioners in time for their Ma
meeting, Smith said that th
amount of allocations the 1<
cal schools typically receiv
remain unknown.
Those include approprit
tions for low-wealth areas an
smaller counties.
“We are expecting big cul
there (in the Low-Wealth a]
propriation) based in pai
on the relative wealth of ou
county, which is becomin
more affluent than it has bee
in the past,” he said.
Federal funds that will t
available for the schools ai
unknown at this time.
The budget submitted t
President George W. Bus
to the Congress, Smith sail
includes a proposal to con
pletely eliminate the Caret
Tech curriculum from schoo
and a major cut in education;
technology.
“We have not seen anythir
from Congress,” Smith addei
“We will keep monitoring i
we go along.”
In other business
The board was briefed c
the selection process for fillir
a vacancy in the principal’s c
fice at White Oak Elementar
The current principal, Line
Mathias, will be leaving at tl
end of the school year to jo:
her husband who has accept*
a job in Mississippi.
©2006 The Chowan Herald
All Rights Reserved
As a result, the County
will hold its first primary
in which two parties are
represented.
This will also be the first
Republican primary in
memory
Five of the county’s sev
en seats on the board of
commissioners are open in
this election.
Three seats are being
contested within a party.
Truck rams mobile home
:C'$
i ■
Earlrne White/The Chowan Herald
Jim Fries points out the damage left after a truck hit his mobile home Sunday afternoon.
Jim Fries was sitting in his
i living room Sunday afternoon
watching Dale Earnhardt Jr.
come from behind when an ex
plosion rocked his home.
1 According to Fries, a driver
coming south on Broad Street
y jumped the ditch and continued
e across the yard, through the
trees and into the backside of
e Fries’ mobile home.
Tire marks coming off the
L. road and into the yard show the
^ event just as Fries described it.
“I thought someone had dy
s namited the house,” Fries said
Tuesday
t Fries’ said that the canned
r goods were jolted out of the
g cabinets; pictures thrown off
n the wall; the 50-gallon aquarium
that housed his beloved fish was
: Commercial developments on the way
CL fcs <f
J
h By Connie Sage
l, Contributing Writer
i
r An Andy’s Cheesesteaks and
s Cheeseburgers restaurant, a
d dry cleaners with drive-thru
drop-off service, a gift shop and
g maybe even a pizza parlor are
1. planned to open here this sum
is mer.
Construction is to start next
month for the Shoppes at Eden
ton Village, located on nearly
n two acres near the Edenton Vil
[g lage Shopping Center, anchored
f_ by Food Lion.
L Two 6,000-square-foot build
[a ings, one with retail stores
and the second for offices, are
planned, said Marshall Williford
of Edenton, a partner in Coastal
Plains Development Group.
Both buildings would be to the
front and right of Food. Lion,
next to Dr. Jerry Bradley’s office
on Coke Avenue.
A 2,000-square-foot Andy’s
will be the first tenant, Williford
Said, and Albemarle Cleaners &
Laundry will move its retail op
According to Rebecca
Lowe of the county’s board
of elections, there has not
been an election within
anyone’s memory in which
Republicans have filed for
all open seats on the board
of commissioners.
Democratic primaries
have not been rare, but they
have been the exception to
the rule. Martha Badger,
Chowan Democratic Party
destroyed.
“I’ve been telling everybody
that they [the driver] must have
wanted to watch the races too,”
Fries joked, then leaned down to
rub his hip where he sustained
two fractures from the jolt.
He also broke two bones in his
foot.
Just days before, Fries had
rearranged his living room fur
niture.
He said that if he hadn’t the
truck would have slammed into
his back.
“At least they could have done
it during the soap operas, not
during the race,” Fries laughed.
Fries is staying with his
daughter Kim Francis.
Fries’ landlord thinks that the
mobile home can be repaired.
eration to the site.
Negotiations are under
way with two pizza restaurant
chains, including Domino’s Piz
za, for a 1,000-square-foot pizza
delivery shop, he said.
A cell phone store and a gift
shop, both already in business
locally, also plan to move to the
new center.
The second phase is an adja
cent office building, which Wil
liford said will house a local con
tractor’s offices, an engineering
firm, and a meeting/boardroom
that will be available for rent.
Andy’s, a .North Carolina
chain, was started by Kenny
Moore in Goldsboro in 1991 and
now has some 100 restaurants,
including grills in Hertford and
Elizabeth City.
Food in the sit-down restau
rant is prepared to order.
“It’s the type of concept we
don’t have,’’ Williford said.
“When we lost Snookers we lost
that type of atmosphere. (An
dy’s) demographics show it’s a
perfect fit.”
chair, said the increase in
filings shows an increased
interest in the process by
Democrats.
The last Democratic pri
maries were held in 1998
and 2002.
Primaries will determine
which candidates will rep
resent the party for three
races. Keith Nixon and
Fred Spruill will face off
for the county’s at-large
The highway patrolman in
charge of the case could not be
reached for details.
Fries has lived in two mobile
homes in the same area over the
past 20 years.
His former home was de
stroyed during Hurricane Isa
bel.
“The roof was torn off — the
house completely destroyed,”
Fries said.
During the storm the wind
slammed the refrigerator into
him.
But he’s still got his sense of
humor.
“Come by during the races
— that’s when the action hap
pens,” he said.
— by Earline White
Albemarle Cleaners will keep
its plant on 209 W. Church St.,
said owner Frank Edmondson,
but the new facility will offer
customers both walk-in and
drive-thru dr op-off and pick-up
service, along with shoe repair
and alterations.
The acreage already is zoned
for a shopping center so it does
not have to have Planning Boar d
approval.
“The only thing we have to dc
now is get administrative ap
proval on the final engineers
drawings,” Williford said. “We’re
pretty much in place.” Williford
a native of Windsor, and his
wife, Teri, bought the Pembroke
Fishing Center property on Pern
broke Creek and eventually plar
to expand that operation.
“We love to call Edenton home
and we plan to be here a long
long time and help develop the
town properly and serve the
needs of the town,” Willifore
said.
seat.
Dana Soles and Darryl
Stallings will compete for
the right to run as Republi
cans for seat one in the first
district.
Bill Gardner will face
opposition from Edward
(Eddy) Goodwin for seat
one in the 2nd district. The
winner of that race wifi
not face opposition from a
Democrat.
Democrats will run a pri
mary to decide whether Em
mett E. Winborne or Harry
Lee Winslow will carry the
party banner for the first
seat in district one.
The fact that this is the
first time a full slate of Re-.
publicans has filed for the'
board reflects changes in
the political makeup of the
See PRIMARY, Page A2 >
Retirement
community
considered near
Chowan Crossing
By Connie Sage
Contributing Writer
Beech wood’s developer is exploring plans
to turn the new subdivision into a continu
ing care retirement community, which he
said would be the first of its kind in North
eastern North Carolina.
Instead, of a traditional subdivision,
Beechwood would be built as a “fully inte
grated retirement community,” said Sumit
Gupta, owner of Beechwood Developers
Inc. of Nags Head.
Located behind the Chowan Crossing
Shopping Center and its anchor stores
Rose’s and Farmers Foods, Beechwood
currently is slated to have 225 homes on 52
acres.
Pending local and state approval, the con
tinuing care community would be built on
the property’s total 80 acres.
Phase I of the project, which would in
clude 50-to-60 single family homes and
townhouses, would still be consistent with
Beechwood’s original proposals, Gupta
said.
The town approved the developer’s origi
nal plans in 2005 and state permits were is
sued last summer. A road has been cut next
to the Duck-Thru, and ponds have been dug,
Gupta said.
Construction of the first Phase I model
home, in the back section of Beechwood,
is to begin in the next 60 days, he said.
Townhome prices will be in the low-to-mid
$200,000 range, he said.
While not restricted to owners ages 55 and
over, most homes likely would be bought
by seniors drawn to the subdivision’s one
story, low-maintenance structures, Gupta
said.
If allowed by the state, Phase II would in
clude senior apartments and patio homes,
an assisted living facility, nursing home,
clubhouse, cafeteria and wellness center.
“A lot of retirees are looking past Eden
ton,” said Gupta, because there is no central
community that combines both indepen
dent and assisted or nursing home care.
“It’s a big step for us,” Gupta said. “We’re
putting our faith into what we’re hearing
people want and moving forward.”
A small clubhouse, walking and bike
paths, and one large lake also are planned,
not three smaller ponds as originally envL
sioned.
Gupta said most developers wouldn’t con
sider a continuing care retirement commu
nity, or “CCRC,” here because the town’s
population of 5,000 is too small and the,
“numbers don’t work.”
“I look at it differently,” he said. “This
will be the only community around the
| whole region,” including Elizabeth City,
Washington and the Outer Banks.
♦ ♦ ♦ .
The proposed retirement life-care com
1 plex would be modeled after the Twin Lakes
■ Retirement Com^iuhity, a 25-year-old facil
! ity on the border of Elon and Burlington,
: n.c.
1 Twin Lakes offers independent retire
ment living in freestanding garden homes,
See BEECHWOOD, Page A2 >
k Pick-up at Top Notch 1
Service Center located on
Hwy 32 near Centerhlll
[_ Cross Roads __}
proceeds to benefit h ifiruothem^mpenseB
11:00am - 2:00pm!
"Donation: $8.0®