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 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®