unemployment Aces JV football team on a hot streak
tin Chowan was Mack Leary caught a 55-60 yard passforthe
5.8% in July A2 game-winning touchdown against Gates 14-6
A long-standing
tradition — Happy
Home Camp Meeting B6
Matador crew takes first
in EC sailing tourney B1
4
- V
Holmes
project
on hold
School officials
respond to
fiscal crisis
By Rebecca Bunch
Staff Writer
: After spending $57,000 on
plans to renovate John A.
Holmes High School, the
school system has put the
project on hold, for now.
Superintendent Allan
Smith, said that all conver
sations with the architec
tural firm that created the
plans have come to a halt.
Smith said he felt the ac
tion was appropriate given
the county’s current budget
shortfall.
County Manager Peter
Rascoe said, “Obviously
right now, due to the finan
cial situation of the county
and due to the current bud
get situation, the county
would be challenged with
funding capital needs.”
Smith said he took the ac
tion due to the extreme pres
sure the county is under to
pay for new construction
already completed.
That new construction in
cludes the library expansion
and the new public informa
tion building which houses
local law enforcement and
related offices.
The county will have to
begin paying for those build
ings next year.
Drawings done
The school system spent
$57,000 to obtain drawings
from an architect, showing
different options for carry
ing out the renovations.
Smith said that no dollar
figures had yet been attached
to any of the options.
Of the proposed ideas, he
said, Option 5 was the favor
ite at the time.
Smith said that option
would have allowed for con
struction of a new audito
rium and a new gymnasium
at the high school, among
other things.
Reviewing plans
Funds for the architect’s
drawings, prepared by
Moseley Architects of Ra
leigh, were included in last
year’s budget, Smith said.
“It would be my desire
that we come back to this
project sometime in the
near future but that is going
to depend on local financial
circumstances,” he added.
». Smith said that the school
hoard, administrators and
teachers were reviewing
plans for the renovations at
the time news of the coun
ty’s budget shortfall came to
light.
See HOLMES, Page A2 >
0
©2006 The Chowan Herald
All Rights Reserved
RESIDENTS REACT TO PROPOSED EDENTON BYPASS
Vernon Fueston
Tommy and Robin Skittlethorpe of Butternut Lane say a proposed highway bypass would
cut off access to their home, forcing them to abandon it for lack of access.
Tommy and Robin Skittlethorpe vow
to keep their home despite bypass
By Rebecca Bunch and Vernon
Fueston
Staff Writers
Tommy and Robin Skittletho
rpe could lose the home they’ve
lived in for 22 years to Edenton’s
proposed Soundside bypass route.
Their home won’t be plowed
under by the construction. They
just won’t be able to have access
to their land if the route is se
lected.
The Soundside route is one
of three being proposed and is
backed by the Town.
Their home will simply be aban
doned for the lack of an onramp
to the only road near their house.
“We were both in shock after
the meeting,” Robin said of the
DOT hearing Aug. 19.
“Nobody told us there would be
no access to our home. We just as
sumed they would pave Butternut
Road where we live and widen it.
It was definitely a surprise.”
Tommy literally found their
home while hunting on land
owned by Dr. Leibert DeVine back
in 1986.
Behind the undergrowth, he
noticed a single-wide trailer and
outbuildings he believed would
Town taking steps to ensure
future financial security
By Vernon Fueston
Contributing Writer
Edenton’s town coun
cil is reviewing a new
financial management
guide to prevent fiscal
problems like those fac
ing Chowan County.
The guide, still a work
in progress, spells out
a series of financial
policies, some new and
some long-standing.
Town Manager Anne
Marie Knighton said
the policies need tq be
understood by everyone
in town government.
"I guess what moti
vated us was that many
make a great home and workshop
for his construction business.
The couple rented the property
from DeVine and later purchased
it, replacing the single-wide trail
er with a double-wide in 1997.
Today their home has a deck,
vegetable garden and plenty of
room for the couple’s three dogs
to run.
'Tommy’s business operates
from the outbuildings behind his
home.
He’s started building a new
workshop structure, but wonders
now whether or not to bother
completing it.
Tommy said he couldn’t under- *
stand why the DOT would ask him
to leave his home rather than pro
vide access to the bypass.
He said it particularly galled
him to hear that the bypass will
be widened for bicycle access
and then to learn his home would
have to be abandoned because of
the lack of access.
“We just can’t start all over
again,” Robin said. “I’ve been
here half my life. It’s too late in
life for us to start a new 30-year
mortgage.
“It’s just wrong to think the
DOT can just come in one day and
of the councilmen were
getting a lot of ques
tions from citizens on
what our policies were,”
Knighton said.
During a meet
ing Monday evening,
Knighton pointed out
areas where the town’s
finances were in good
shape and where im
provement was needed.
She said the town haS
done well in avoiding
debt. The town current
ly owes $646,000, well
below the limits advised
by the state.
Knighton also said the
town has kept to its goal
of keeping a 30 percent
reserve fund, but said
the town’s audit was
suggesting 40 percent.
Among the policies
suggested by Knighton
in the guide are:
■ The town will con
tinue to budget based
on the previous year’s
books for revenue rath
er than projecting for
growth.
■ When estimating
tax collection rates, the
town will use figures
from the previous year’s
books.
■ The council will
not use bond financing
to cover expenses.
See TOWN, Page A2 >
“In this day of uncertainty with
he economy, you want to put a road
hrough homes and farmlands, why
ion’t you just shoot us now and put us
n the ground?"
— Robin Skittlethorpe
Steps business, homeowners will be taking:
■ The minutes of a closed DOT meeting will be post
' ed on the Albemarle Commission’s Web site within the
next 60 days.
■ A team of state and federal agencies will write an
environmental study The study should be finished by
September 2010.
■ ’ The state’s acquisition process will begin some
time near September 2010. Letters will be sent to.
property owners and a hearing planned.
■ Plans for the exact route will be firmed up after
the hearing and another meeting held 12 months later
to address individual property issues.
■ ■ The state will pay “fair market value” for all prop
erty taken. Damages may also be paid when property is
not purchased but its value is decreased.
■ Construction on the bypass should begin in Sep
tember 2012.
then you’re
INSIDE out.”
People write let- “We’re not
ters about DOT going down
bypass meeting without a
AS . fight,” Tom
—-—i- my said.
Losing land
For his part, DeVine said he
stands to lose part of his front
yard but thankfully not access to
his home.
He said the proposed road would
take part of his front yard, putting
it 400-500 feet from his front door.
DeVine, who is living with in
curable cancer, said he has no
plans to move away from the home ,
he and his late wife, Cyndy, shared
together.
His wife died several years ago
from cancer and is buried behind
their home. He said he plans to be
buried there as well.
DeVine, who helped build But
ternut Lane, which remains a
private road, said he sympathized
with the Skittlethorpe family’s
situation.
“If they were doing that to me,”
he said, “somebody would have
to pufi my dead, lifeless body off
a tractor because I’d be out there
Some unhappy with new
proposed subdivision
By Rebecca Bunch
Staff Writer
A 15-lot area on Athol Lane
in the Cape Colony community
known as Revell’s Cove could be
come the county’s latest subdivi
sion.
Other subdivisions in the
works in Chowan County are
Beechwood, RiverSound and the
Refuge at Drummond’s Point.
Wes Haskett, planner for Edeh
ton and Chowan County said his
office thinks Revell’s Cove “is a
great plan.”
Not so enthusiastic about it is
property owner Christi Basnight.
She and her husband, Robert,
have lived in their home on Athol
Lane for the past 10 years.
trying to keep them off my land.”
Other options
Two Chowan County farm
ers are among those questioning
the proposed bypass for another
reason — they say it’s no longer
needed.
Leonard Small Jr. and Frankie
Parrish both say that while large
truck traffic was a big problem for
the community back in 2005 when
the DOT survey used to justify the
bypass was done, that’s no longer
the case.
Their argument is that time,
and the economic downturn, have
already solved much of the prob
lem.
Small and Parrish said that a lo
cal lumber company that ran large
log trucks through town has closed
in the intervening years, and that
Mi-Tek, which replaced another
company with large trucks, uses a
barge system to bring in the steel
beams it uses, bypassing the local
roads altogether.
Both agree that if another sur
vey were done today, it would show
that the majority of large trucks
coming down the streets of Eden
ton now are actually delivering to
See BYPASS, Page A2 ►
“I would hate to see it happen,"
she said of the proposed subdivi
sion. “We have a lot of wildlife;
and it’s so nice and peaceful.”
“Having 15 more homes back
here would create a lot more traf
fic,” she added, “and that’s some
thing we don’t need.”
Proposed plan
If approved, the- subdivision
would be used for single-fam
ily homes, according to property
owner Bill Revell.
Revell and his project engineer,
Bob Farris of Elizabeth City, pre
sented plans for a preliminary re
view at the Aug. 19 meeting of the
Chowan County Planning Board.
The Revell’s Cove property is
See REVELL'S , Page A2 ►
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