“It was excitement. His little mouth was wide open. We
were told he would cry. We were told he might scream. ”
— Suzanne Bass, mother of Shane, who reacts here as his cochlear implants are turned on
SEE BELOW
Finding
good cops
is hard
Over past year, five
local officers left
squad, one hired
By Connie Sage
Contributing Writer
Even though the starting
salary for an Edenton Police
Department patrol officer
is about $30,000, Chief Greg
Bonner has not had an easy
time filling four current
openings.
In the past year, five offi
cers left the |
department I
— three were I
forced to re- |
sign and two ^
moved on to
other jobs. .
One patrol-1
man was Bonner
hired.
In January, the town paid
$6,000 for two candidates to
begin Basic Law Enforce
ment Training at the Col
lege of the Albemarle in
Elizabeth City.
But after six weeks at the
academy, both candidates
left — one was ill and missed
required firearms train
ing and the second one was
dropped from the program.
The town will not recoup
the money, Bonner said.
A COA law enforcement
training staff member said
students must receive an 80
percent score on 30 out of
35 topic tests during the 16
week academy
“There are some classes
you just can’t miss,” she
said. Had the one candidate
for Edenton not missed fire
arms training, “he would
have made it.”
To date, 11 students out of
the current class of 29 have
left the program.
♦ ♦ ♦
Currently there are
11 officers on the Edenton
police force, including the
chief.
"We don’t have a long list”
of applicants waiting to join
the police department, Bon
ner said.
But three slots out of the
department’s full 16-mem
See COPS, Page A2 ►
INDEX
A Local
Crime.. A4
Opinion.. A7
B Sports
Recreation News.B1
Nascar....B2
C Community News
Obituaries.;.C5
Church.:.C6,7
D Classifieds
Service Directory.D2
| Employment.....D4
0
©2006 The Chowan Herald
All Rights Reserved
WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN FEEDING THAT THING?
Fred and Dorothy Hill, longtime residents, of Mexico Road must have a green thumb to grow a turnip one
foot in diameter! He had never seen anything like this turnip and didn't know exactly what to do with it,
except bring it down to the local paper.
County
gets $ 10.9
million for
center
Town manager anticipates tax
increase to repay debt for
emergency operations facility
By Rebecca Bunch
Staff Writer
Town and county officials haven’t won the lot
tery, but they might have felt so after the county
received a ceremonial check for $10.95 million
made payable to Chowan County
The check, presented by U.S. Sen. Richard
Burr and USDA Rural Development State Di
rector John Cooper, represents the entire cost
of constructing the new Emergency Operations
Center here.
Housed in the center will be the Edenton Po
lice Department, the Chowan County Sheriff’s
Office and
Emergency
Management
Services as
well as the
community’s
911 Center.
“There is
no other facil
ity like this
one in all of
"I'm glad to
see a commu
nity that un
derstands the
value of part
nerships."
— Richard
Burr
North Carolina,” said Cooper in making the
presentation. “We’re going to showcase it all
over the state.”
Cooper praised outgoing County Manager
Cliff Copeland for his vision in seeing the need
for such a facility
“Some people say I have about as much vi
sion as Ray Charles,” Copeland replied jokingly
“But thank you.”
Burr said, “I’m glad to see a community that
understands the value of partnerships. I think
good things are going to come out of this.”
Also on hand to show his support for the proj
ect was Rep. G.K. Butterfield.
Costs are coming
The entire cost of the 35,230-sq. ft., two-story
building will be covered by the USDA loan that
comes with a 30-year repayment schedule at 4.25
percent interest.
See CENTER. Page A2 >
Implants successful in restoring Edenton boy’s hearing
By Vernon Fueston
Contributing Writer
When little Eleanor Bur
cham and her mother walked
into Edenton Furniture Com
pany, she said she wanted to
give something to “the little
boy who can’t hear.”
That was Carole Bass’s de
partment.
Shane is her grandson.
Since a feature article in
the Chowan Herald appeared
March 12, Carole and her
husband, Ronnie, have taken
more than a few donations.
This was the one that
touched her.
In an envelope were the
entire contents of Eleanor’s
piggy bank, $36.
Just $99,964 to go.
Eleanor, the daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. Scott Creigh
ton, was just one of many
residents whose response
to Shane’s predicament has
overwhelmed the Bass fam
ily
Shane recently received
cochlear implants that are al
lowing him to hear sound for
the first time in his life, but at
a price.
Their insurance company
will not pay the $100,000 price
for what they term “hearing
aids.”
Hearing for the first time
About two weeks ago, in a
Virginia Beach doctor’s of
fice, a switch was flipped that
changed Shane’s life forever.
Surgeons had already in
stalled the implants, devices
thatj consist of a receiver in
Shane’s skull and a wire-to
nerve connection deep in his
middle ear.
Microphones attach mag
netically to his head where
metallic receivers rest under
his scalp.
Small computers clipped
to his shirt collar, control the
signdl.
The cutting edge surgery
and device bypassed Shane’s
ears completely, sending elec
tronic signals directly to his
brain which can be interpret
ed as sound.
Shane is profoundly deaf.
The lining of his inner ear
Bass with cochlear implants
has either damaged or non
existent sound receptors.
Now it was time to see if
the system worked and watch
Shane’s reaction.
The system was powered
up and checked.
Then the volume was slow
ly increased until Shane’s
face registered recognition.
“It was excitement. His
little mouth was wide open,”
Suzanne said.
"We were told he would
cry We were told he might
scream. But there was none
of that.”
As they left the office, a jet
from the nearby naval air sta
HOW TO HELP
WHAT: $6 Pancake breakfast
fundraiser
WHEN: May 17,
6 a.m. to 11 a.m.
WHERE: Edenton Baptist
WHAT: Chicken & BBQ
fundraiser
WHEN: July 11; lunch & dinner
WHERE: Leon Nixon's Catering
tion passed overhead. “He
looked up and there it was,”
Bryan said.
“He turned to us and made
the sign he has learned for
‘airplane’.”
A noisy world
Shane has needed remark
ably little adjustment fol
lowing his implants, said
Suzanne and Bryan Bass, his
parents.
He is learning to connect
sounds with the objects or
people that make them.
He’s learned to distinguish
five of the six “ling” sounds
that are the building blocks
of speech, and the first word
he learned was “mania.”
But there has been at least
one disappointment.
Shane never paid the fam
ily television set much atten
tion, but he is mesmerized by
it now.
After the publishing of
Shane’s story of his condi
tion and his family’s strug
gles in the local newspaper,
the story has been a matter
of community interest.
Shane is the grandson of
Ronnie and Carole Bass and
Carlton and Betsy Jackson.
Paying for it all
Contributions have flowed
into a charitable fund set
up for Shane at the Bank of
America.
Many copies of the Chow
an Herald are mailed to sub
scribers around the country
Phone calls have come into
the Bass home from as far
away as New York and Flor
ida offering prayers, good
wishes, and more.
See SHANE Page A2 ►.
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