482-4418
50* Layoffs, cutbacks continue
SEE BELOW
Unemployment rate reaches 8-year high
By Rebecca Bunch
Staff Writer
Chowan County has tied two
other North Carolina counties
*— Halifax and Wilson — for the
seventh highest jobless rate in the
state.
According to preliminary data
from the North Carolina Employ
ment Security Commission, the
county posted an unemployment
rate of 8 percent for May, the most
recent month for which figures
are available.
Local ESC Director Ricky Col
train said that in checking records
dating back to the mid-1990s the
highest jobless rate he found was
in 'July 2000 when Chowan County
posted a 9.2 unemployment rate,
But, he noted, that rate dropped
to below 5 percent the next
month.
He said he did not see a possible
decline in unemployment happen
ing this time so abruptly, given all
the recent plant layoffs and busi
ness closings.
“I think we’re going to see it
hang around for a while.”
In fact, Coltrain said that state
employment staff have been pre
dicting in recent months that the
current trend could last for up to
three years.
That’s something local business
leaders are hoping will not be the
case.
Edenton-Chowan Chamber of
Commerce Executive Director
Richard Bunch said the current
situation is causing local busi
nesses to operate under some very
difficult conditions.
He added he believed the busi
nesses “would be stronger” for
having gone through this.
“We must do whatever we can
to support our businesses at this
point,” Bunch said.
With a labor force of 7,342 work
ers; 587 of those are currently
without employment, the state
ESC said.
Other area counties averaged
much lower jobless rates for May,
according to the commission.
Currituck County reported
the lowest unemployment rate in
North Carolina for the month.
Those include:
■ Bertie, 6.6%
■ Currituck, 3.3%
■ Dare,, 4.7%
■ Gates, 5.0%
■ Hertford, 6.3%
■ Pasquotank, 6.5%
■ Perquimans, 6.1%
■ Tyrrell, 6.3%
■ Washington, 6.7%
Ninety-two of North Carolina’s
100 counties reported increased
unemployment for May.
Housing one
step closer
RiverSound and
Beechwood clear
next hurdle
By Rebecca Bunch
and Earline White
' Staff Writers
By cutting the number of
lots and placing conserva
tion protection policies on
all wetlands, RiverSound on
Drummond’s Point Road has
been approved for rezoning
by the county.
The unanimous vote by
the county commission
ers came a month after the
developer’s application was
tabled following comments
from the public on flood con
trol, water quality, wetlands
and concentration.
During the commission
er’s meeting Monday morn
ing, a handful of county resi
dents continued to challenge
the developers about effects
of density on a rural area,
possible impact to schools
and timber management.
RiverSound, a water
front community along the
Yeopim River, has been three
years in the making.
Originally slated to be a
380-unit gated community,
RiverSound was approved
Monday for 299 units which
equals a loss of nearly $3
million to the Waterfront
Group developers, River
Sound bfficals said.
Roadwork and electricity
is more than 50 percent com
plete at the development.
Beechwood gets okay
Beechwood Developers
met no opposition from the
public Monday night for a
conditional use application
for a subdivision stretching
from Virginia to Paradise
Roads.
The application covers
Phase I of the project — con
struction of 48 condos at
1311 Paradise Road.
The parcel of land com
prises just over 23 acres.
Prior to giving its rec
ommendation to the Town
Council, the planning board
offered suggestions with re
gard to the project includ
ing:
r ■ The developer shall
post a bond to provide for
all necessary traffic im
provements, for utility con
nections, and for drainage/
storm-water improvements,
s ■ Storm water/drainage
shall meet state and local
regulations.
i ■ A landscape plan for
the project is to be reviewed
for approval.
> ■ Building design and
architectural details will be
reviewed by staff.
The request will go before
the Council in August.
' 6 **8 907 6"4 4 813” 0
©2006 The Chowan Herald
' All Rights Reserved
Gas prices no bonanza for local retailers
By Vernon Fueston
Contributing Writer
The sign on the pump says
it all.
Gas prices have risen so
high, so fast, that the spin
ning numbers on Douglas
Baird’s nine-year old pumps
at Westover Store in Eden
ton can’t keep up.
It can only handle prices
up to $3,999 per gallon.
It may be weeks before the
new pumps come in.
Where gas prices will be
by then, he said, are any
body’s guess.
But the skyrocketing
price of gasoline doesn’t
have him celebrating.
“I can put whatever price
I want on gasoline,” he said.
“But I have seven days to
pay for it. If I buy $6,000
worth of gasoline and I only
sell $3,000 of it, I still have to
pay for it.”
Baird said there is fierce
competitive pressure on
fuel merchants to keep a lid
on the prices. Everybody is
watching that price careful
1 ly. Then they go where gas
is the cheapest.
All that pressure has led
to stagnant or even shrink
ing profits for retailers as
they, struggle to keep cus
tomers coming in.
“You basically make 8 or
12 cents per gallon,” Baird
said. “It’s the same amount
you were making when gas
was two dollars per gallon.
Sometimes the margins are
even less.”
With the profit on a gad
ion of gas the same as it
was when it was selling at
half the price, the percent
age Baird makes on a dol
lar’s worth of gasoline has
dropped in half as the price
has doubled.
The bottom line — rising
gas prices have not created
a bonanza for retailers.
For most, their bottom
lines have remained stag
nant since the days of two
dollar gas. That means re
tailers like Baird have had
to use the same dollars to
meet the .rising cost of do
ing business.
Baird said all that has
forced independent dealers
to look elsewhere for the
profits that will keep their
1 i liW' jUnffl
| jf*
., 14
| fel jH
Vernon Fueston
Douglas Baird, owner of Westover Store in Edenton, stands next to his gas pump. The pump
can only register prices to $3,999 per gallon, so he must set the price at half and calculate the
true charge at his cash register.
businesses running. In
Baird’s case, he depends on
a brisk traffic in deli sand
wiches. f
He looks at gasoline sales
as a sideline.
“My (gasoline) operation
is a convenience for the cus
tomer,” Baird said. “I don’t
have to sell a thousand gal
lons of gasoline per day to
get by.”
It’s not only small inde
pendents who have weaned
themselves from their de
pendence on gasoline prof
its. The big chain gas sta
See GAS, Page A2 ►
Local employers cut costs and some employees
By Rebecca Bunch
Staff Writer
The downturn in the local econ
omy is prompting more layoffs and
closings.
Some agencies are looking at cre
ative ways to cut expenses as well.
On Thursday Regulator Ma
rine trimmed 14 jobs as a result of
changes in its production schedule,
said Human Resources Director
Rex Anderson.
Anderson cited “the general na
tional economic downturn and spe
cifically the malaise in the boating
industry” as the primary reasons
for the reduction in staff.
On Friday, Albemarle Regional
Health Services will eliminate the
Adult Day Health Care that has
been carried out since 2002 at the
Chowan Life Center in Edenton.
ARHS Public Information Officer
Jill Jordan described the move as
difficult, but added that “due to fi
nancial situations, (we) cannot con
tinue to subsidize the program.”
She said that five employees would
be “affected” by the situation.
Jordan said families currently
being served by the program were
being assisted by‘staff members
during the transition and given the
option of being transported to the
DayBreak' Adult Day Health Care
Center in Elizabeth City.
She said that the Environmental
Health, Albemarle Home Care and
Albemarle Hospice staff currently
housed there would continue to be
based at the center. Clinical servic
es, she said, will be relocated to the
site in the near future.
Cutting costs
The Edenton-Chowan Recreation
Department announced Monday
it will close the Northern Chowan
Community Center on Saturdays
during August.
Recreation Director Robbie
Laughton said the action was be
ing taken as part of an effort to cut
expenses and to conserve energy at
the center.
He said that typically Saturdays
during the summer is when the
smallest number of people come to
the center.
“We are looking for ways to cut
our operation costs and this seems
like a logical choice,” he said.
Laughton said the center would
still'open on Saturdays for special
events and rentals and would be
open during normal hours the re
mainder of each week.
He said the center would resume
opening on Saturdays after Labor
Day.
Cutting hours
Also, the county’s trash con
venience sites will be closed on
Wednesdays as a cost-cutting mea
sure according to Chowan County
Finance Officer Lisa Jones.
Jones said the move is expected
to save the county $20,000 annually.
She said that the closing may well
become permanent but added that
county officials would be monitor
ing the situation “to see how things
go.”
The four sites will stay open dur
ing regular operating hours the re
maining six days a week.
FIRST COTTON BLOSSOM SPOTTED IN COUNTY
Mike Williams
Neal Bass, Beechfork Farms, shows off the first reported cotton bloom of the 2008 season
on June 30 with sons Hunter, left and Michael, right. Dry weather had held back the
cotton crop earlier this season, but a timely shower the night prior was all Bass' cotton
plants needed. Kenji and Kaz Goodwin brought in a cotton bloom to the Herald office.
£arline White/The Chowan Herald
About 6,000 people turned out for the Chowan Edenton Op
timist Club's Fabulous Fourth of July fireworks show.