\ T life lir ■ : 1 1 1 i l j 1 482-4418 v Wednesday,'September 10, 2008 50< Library opens SEE BELOW ANIMAL HOSPITAL 3 GIVES PUPPY LOVE Cl Commissioner candidate charged with felony A2 State okays county debt plan By Vernon Fueston Contributing Writer State officials approved Chowan County’s debt re structuring plan Sept. 2, eas ing its cash flow crisis and staving off a state takeover of county finances. Now that two big debt payments have been ex tended, the county is ex pected to be back in the black, start ing in November, County Manager Peter Rascoe said. This will allow the county to cover monthly expenses until next year * when two other large loans start com ing due. The approval came in a meeting of the state’s Local Government Council. Rascoe Loan extension The LGC was considering a request by the county to ex tend two loans owed to BB&T from 15 to £0 years, reducing the payment amounts and delaying the due date of the next annual payment. Getting approval from the LGC at this meeting was the reason behind Rascoe’s hot ly protested decision to push 1 a revised county budget and realty tax increase through a county commission meet \ ing Aug. 14. In that meeting the county reduced expenses by 10 per cent, eliminating most part time jobs, and raised realty | taxes. Rascoe said a balanced re vised budget was required if the LGC were to approve the debt restructuring. With a $1.04 million annual loan payment due Sept. 29 and another $391,000 due April 31, Rascoe said approval at this LGC meeting was es sential. The first loan extended was the $9.95 million loan for the construction of D.F. Walker School. Its $1.04 mil lion payment, due Sept. 29, was reduced to $710,000 and postponed until March 29. ‘ Another loan for $4.5 mil lion covered the construc tion of the Northern Chow an Community Center. Its April 31 payment of $391,000 was reduced to $258,000. Its due date will remain the same. Both loans were extended an additional five years. | ; Positive cash flow ahead _ Sarah Long, LGC spokes person, said that while the county has been operating with a negative cash flow, it has managed to avoid dip ping into its legally mandat ed $723,000 cash reserves. ,f - Those reserves include b what is left of the dounty’s $20 million “Hospital Fund,” I $566,000.' 1 * Long said she expects the ; County to begin operating in the black during the mo'nth of November and expressed optimism about the outlook | jj for the remainder of the fis ; ’ cal year after January, 2009. U : See LGC, Page A2 > ,89076m44813i 02006 The Chowan Herald All Rights Reserved An artist's rendering of the Beechwood Square condo villas illustrate possible home sites. Beechwood groundbreaking nears By Rebecca Bunch Staff Writer Construction at the Beechwood subdivi sion behind Farmer’s Foods is set to begin next month. Sumit Gupta, a developer on the project, said that non-binding reservation agree ments for condos at the site are currently being accepted. “We would like to give locals the first op portunity to get on our priority list,” he said. Those condos are to be located in what will be known as Beechwood Square, the first phase of construction for the subdivision. Gupta explained that Beechwood Square would consist of 48 luxury condo villas, which will range in size from 1,600 to 1,900 square feet. “These will not be ‘age-restricted,’ but will have access to most of the amenities offered at Beechwood,” he said. “These (will be) se nior friendly unite.” .. , . . • Library celebrates grand re-opening By Vernon Fueston Contributing Writer After more than six month’s closure, li brarian Rosalie Miller finally got a chance to show off Edenton’s re-modeled Shepard Pruden Library, Thursday night. The open house was crowded with li brary patrons, civic and government offi cials. Spotted in the crowd were County Man ager Peter Rascoe, Town Manager Anne Marie Knighton, Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Richard Bunch, and former County Manager Cliff Copeland. The library has added a two-story wing for book stacks and meeting facilities. A new, dedicated children’s room was a hit with younger patrons and comfortable sofas and wing-backed chairs graced the reading rooms. The $3.6 million renovation doubled the library’s square footage while private The next phase of the project will consist of 49 single family “Garden Homes” plus 12 duplex “Courtyard Cottages,” ranging in size from 1,700 to 2,400 square feet. Those will comprise “The Gardens at Beechwood” portion of the development which will be age-restricted, Gupta said. Long-term care Gupta said that a proposed Continuum Care Retirement Community (CCRC) is also being considered for inclusion in the Beech wood subdivision. He noted that CCRC’s “are unique to long term care” because they offer a variety of levels of care to older adults within a single community. “While permits are not in hand for the CCRC,” Gupta said, “(we) hope to obtain these permits very soon.” . Big investment 4. Town Manager Anne-Marie Knighton A See BEECHWOOD, Page A2 > contributions added artwork, upgraded furniture, a microfilm reader and wide screen television for the 'activ ity center. For library patron Joan Nizborski, seeing the new library was wonderful. But having ' it open again was even better. She said she saw the library as an important part of the town’s social fabric. “The library staff were the first people who welcomed me to the town when I moved here fifteen years ago,” she said. “It’s more than just the building.” Lou Rogers was impressed with the new children’s room. “I’m just going, wow!” she said. “I see such a change. I love the doll collection. I’m sure the children are going to love it.” WHAT IS IT? WHO DID IT? L mumsMSiak mm Vernon Fueston ! ... •: . ‘ ' ■ ' . . I. It appeared overnight. A four-sided structure in the Edenton Bay that appears ■ to be a duck blind has local officals curious. The trouble is no one knows who put it there. Officials with the N.C. Wildlife have said that legally the blind can stay, but think that it is a bad location. . If you have any information about the structure or who put it up, call the Town of Edenton at 482-7352. ■ ' , \4& % New maps may change town’s flood zones Officials do not .know how many properties will be affected By Vernon Fueston Contributing Writer Some town property own ers may need to purchase flood insurance because of new revised maps rec ommended for council ap proval. Kent Pierce with the plan ning and inspections office, said he does not know how many properties are af fected or if more properties will be considered to lie in a flood plain than before the changes. ♦ ♦ ♦ One benefit to homeown ers of the new system will be an easier determination of a property’s flood plain status. The new maps are based on aerial photogra phy. Before the new maps were available, property own ers had to hire a surveyor to determine a property’s status. Property insurance does not pay for flood damage, whether a property is lo cated wit’.'in £ flood plain or not. 'T Only separately pur chased flood insurance will cover flood damage. But property owners whose land is determined to be in a flood plain may be required to purchase flood insurance by their mort gage companies. Piexxe said the changes are part of a standardiza tion x-equired by FEMA and the state. Localities are required to adopt the new language Local 6-year-old dies in automobile crash By Earline White Managing Editor White Oak student Mag gie Bunch has been very quiet the past few days — ever since she was told her best friend Ryan was killed in a traffic accident. Ryan, a quiet 6-year-old with golden blonde hair, was killed and his grand mother injured Friday in an car accident. Ryan, who lived with his family on Drummond’s Point Road was a first grader and attended Rocky Hock Baptist Church. He played soccer with the Edenton-Chowan Rec reation Department, and was the son of Ethan E. and Tabitha Chappell Benfield. Grief counselors were, at school Monday to talk to students about the acci dent. The accident happened on N.C. Highway 32 about three miles north of Eden ton just before 3 p.m. Fri day The road was slippery due to heavy bursts of rains brought by Tropical Storm Hanna. Inez Perry Chappell, of Edenton, lost control of her 2007 Toyota Corolla on the rain-slicked road, skidded Property owners can vievy the new flood plain maps in the Planning and Inspections Department offices, 108 E. King Street or on line at www.ncfloodmaps.com. and terminology, revamp ing the way flood planes are labeled and defined, by Oct. te. * + * Town Manager Anne Marie Knighton said she will insure the town coun cil meets before the dead line to insure compliance. The date of the next coun cil meeting — Oct. 14 — may be subject to change, she said. Knighton said public no tice will be limited to a half page ad in local papers to conserve costs. Failure to comply with the new flood plain map ping system could make the town’s property owners in eligible for flood insurance. In other business, the planning board recom mended council approval of the installation of an ATM machine at 232 Vir ginia Road. The property, located next to Burger King, is dwned by Southern Bank. ' 1 Charles Britton, spokes man for the bank, said the ATM will be a temporary measure. He said the bank has defi nite plans to build a branch on the property within three to five years. The board recommended approval with several con ditions, including one re quiring the ATM be placed in the back third of the property. sideways and crossed the center lane into oncoming traffic, a trooper with the N.C. Highway Patrol told The Daily Advance. Chappell was then struck by a 2000 Chevy S-10 pickup driven by Marshall Jordan Jr. William Ryan Benfield who was seated in a booster seat behind Chappell, was killed. Ryan and Chappell, his grandmother, had just spent the afternoon together at the annual Grandparents’ Day Celebration at White Oak. They were headed back to town when the ac cident happened. Chappell was transported to Pitt Memorial Hospital in Greenville, where she re mains as of press time with severe internal injuries. The other driver, Jordan, suffered a broken right wrist and a deep cut in his left shin. He was treated and re leased at Chowan Hospital. Jordan told authorities that the rain, caused by Tropical Storm Hanna, was moderate at the time of the crash. Ryan’s funeral was held yesterday. ► M

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