482-4418
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
50*
Holmes
EOG tests drop
leaving school’s
rating low
By Vernon Fueston
Contributing Writer
j
i
1
! • With fewer than 60 percent
of its students passing their
end of grade tests, John A.
Holmes High School had its
jrating reduced one level to
that of “Priority School” by
the state.
The rating is second from
the bottom of five classifi
cations starting with “Low
Performing”
with “School
of Excel
lence.”
The rat
ings are part
of what the
state calls its
Performance
Composite,
fa part of its ABC program.
The rating is based entirely
on test scores.
A score of 60 was required
for the high school to retain
its standing as a school of
progress. In the 2006 to 2007
school year, Holmes High
scored a 63.8. This year’s
score is 59.92.
The numbers represent
the percentage of students
who made a passing score
on the standardized tests.
The change in ratings
means that teachers at the
school will not receive state
performance bonuses.
The same end of course
tests that generate the rat
hig also determine whether
or not a student passes or
fails a course. Students
must pass the standardized
tests in order to advance.
; Bill Moore, Holmes High’s
principal, said students who
failed the tests will receive
several chances to retake it
and raise their scores.
■ He said that in the end,
80 to 90 percent of the stu
dents will pass the tests, but
that won’t increase the high
school’s rating. That initial
pomposite score of 59.92 will
stand.
- The state’s Performance
(Composite is one of two ba
sic measurements the school
system is rated by. The
father, a measurement, man
dated by the federal govern
jnent’s No Child Left Behind
program, is called Expected
Growth or Adequate Yearly
Progress (AYP).
• Holmes did meet federal
AYP targets for last year.
AYP measures a school’s
progress toward goals, re
gardless of how well or
poorly the school’s students
pcored in the initial round
of testing for the No Child
Left Behind Program.
• Moore said the school
> See SCHOOL, Page A2 >
and endmg
Moore
6 "*8 9076*44813,w 0
©2006 The Chowan Herald
^ All Rights Reserved
Here's the real bird deal
Locai organic
farmer raises 100%
all natural birds
By Vernon Fueston
Contributing Writer
Peter Kelsey loves the taste
of a good turkey, but he doesn’t
have any use for the kind you
buy in a grocery store.
Kelsey grows what he calls
the real thing, “heritage tur
keys.”
Kelsey and his wife, Tessa,
raise all kinds of livestock on
Peace and Plenty Farms, a 20
acre tract in Tyner.
Peace and Plenty is what Pe
ter calls a sustainable farm. All
of his animals live in relative
freedom and free from feed ad
ditives and pesticides.
With Thanksgiving just'
around the corner, Peter and
Tessa took a moment to share a
little of what they know about
really good turkeys and how to
cook them.
An ail-natural bird
The Kelseys raise their birds
commercially selling them at
farmer’s markets and to a wait
ing list of eager clients willing
to pay $3.99 per pound for an
all-natural bird.
• This year’s Thanksgiving
crop sold out months ago.
There is a waiting list for any
of the farm’s 20 birds that
aren’t picked up.
When it comes to turkeys, the
term “all natural” takes on a
different meaning all together
at Peace and Plenty Farm.
Peter said the bird you’re
likely to pull from the freezer
bin in your supermarket just
isn’t what the good Lord had
in mind when He designed tur
keys.
Today’s birds are bread to
provide plenty of the “white
meat” .that most mass-mar
ket consumers demand, Peter
said.
That means the birds grow
up with extra large breasts that
make it impossible for them to
fly, walk or, well, even mate for
themselves.
Peter has no use for the breed
of turkey he calls the “broad
breasted industrial white.” He
doesn’t like the way they look,
the way they are raised or even
the way they taste.
Long-time businessman George Byrum dies
By Rebecca Bunch
Staff Writer
One of Edenton’s most devoted
•public servants is gone.
George Alma Byrum, president
of Byrum Hardware Co., died
Wednesday, Nov. 19 in Chowan
Hospital’s Skilled Nursing Facil
ity.
He was 83.
Byrum spent his life doing all
he could to help the community
he loved realize its full potential.
“We’ve lost a giant,” said fel
low Edenton Rotary Club member
Livy Goodman, of Byrum’s pass
ing.
“He served in about every part
of this community’s life,” Good
man added. “He was in Rotary for
more than 50 years, I think. He’s
the kind of man you don’t see
come along all that often. We’ll
miss him greatly”
Business know-how
Chamber Director Richard
Bunch praised Byrum as one of
Peter Kelsey with one of his Bronze heritage turkeys.
ciVvT1
Ditterent taste
“You know how they have those
fast-growing pine trees third
great for growing wood fu$p, but
not much else?” he said. *
“Well, comparing a heritage tur
key to an industrial white bird is
kind of like
comparing one
of those pine
trees to wal
nut or cherry
wood.”
Tessa said the
INSIDE
Tessa Kelsey’s pe
can stuffing recipe
A2
meat on a heritage turkey is a little
darker and also more flavorful than
industrial birds. She said most peo
ple can tell the difference.
The turkeys roam free on the
Peace and Plenty Farm most of
the year. But right now the turkeys
are in pens. Because the birds look
too much like wild turkeys, Peter’s
afraid hunters might shoot them.
Cooking the bird
When asked how they cook then
own Thanksgiving bird, Peter said
the community’s strongest busi
ness leaders.
“His vision and understanding
of retail and the overall business
climate was an asset to our busi
ness community,” Bunch said.
And Alton Elmore, owner of
Edenton Furniture, recalled
meeting Byrum over 46 years ago
during his first week in Edenton
when he went by the hardware
store to introduce himself.
He and Byrum found over the
years they shared a mutual inter
est in helping the downtown area
continue to prosper, and became
blends, Elmore said.
“He was a good organizer, a
good leader and a good business
man,” Elmore said.
Community service
Byrum served as mayor dur
ing the 1970s and on the Edenton
Town Council for 16 years.
Current Mayor Roland Vaughan
said he would miss Byrum on a
personal, as well as professional,
level.
he s pretty particular.
First, he suggested soaking the
bird in a brine solution for two
hours to insure the turkey is moist.
From that point, Kelsey said pa
tience is a virtue.
“I’m into the slow food move
ment,” he said. “I’m not into throw
ing a bird into the oven at 400 de
grees and leaving it there. Cooking
a bird slowly makes it more flavor
ful and moist.”
Peter suggested browning the
turkey in a hot oven at 450 to 500
degrees for about twenty minutes.
Then he bakes it slowly at 225 de
grees for as long as four hours.
He likes to put strips of bacon on
the bird to provide oil that moistens
and crisps the skin.
He suggested wrapping the bird
in tin foil and putting a little wine
in the bottom of the pan for mois
ture and flavor.
Tessa, a native of England, said
no southern bird should be cooked
without a pecan stuffing. Her recipe
with her holiday wishes are on A2.
“George
Byrum was
not only a
great person
al friend but
a mentor in
many ways
through his
devotion to
Edenton as
both a mer
chant and as a
town council- Byrum
man and mayor,” Vaughan said.
Another former mayor, John
Dowd, also served on the Edenton
Historical Commission with By
rum.
He described Byrum as “a mod
el for how someone should be in
volved in their community.”
Highlights of Byrum’s career
in public service included helping
with the relocation of the Barker
House to its current downtown
waterfront location.
As chairman of the Edenton
Historical Commission, Byrum
See BYRUM, Page A2 >
assxnm£sp& wsmst
Walgreen’s
Pharmacy
proposed
for town
By Vernon Fueston
Contributing Writer
A Walgreen’s Pharmacy employing
up to 50 people is planned for a vacant
lot at the corner of Broad Street and
Virginia Road in Edenton.
Gordon Kolb, spokesman for the GHK
Development Co. said the store will be
14,820 square feet in size and should
take eight months to construct, employ
ing about 150 construction workers.
Before the process can begin, obtain
ing all the permits required for con
struction can take as much as a year,
Kolb said.
But he said the pharmacy is set to go,
pending approval by the town.
“We’re definitely moving on it,” Kolb
said.
“We have approval on the deal from
the Walgreen’s committee.
One hurdle the company will face is
cleaning up the site’s soil. Kolb said the
lot, which was occupied by a warehouse
that was destroyed by fire, has some
chemical contamination.
Those chemicals will be removed dur
ing construction.
Kolb said the company has not settled
on a design, so cost estimates on the
project weren’t available.
He said the pharmacy would have a
drive-through window.
The development company will pres
ent its application for a conditional use
permit to the town planning board Dec.
1,
Help feed
the hungry
By Bob Piazza
The Chowan Herald publisher
The Chowan Herald and two of its
sister papers are teaming with the Food
Bank of the Albemarle
to feed the hungry.
Far too many people
in Albemarle commu
nities struggle daily to
find enough to eat, and
we are asking for your
support.
In today’s Herald,
you will find a self-ad
dressed envelope to
make donating easy. Envelopes will be
inserted in the newspaper again Dec.
Piazza
10.
No'donation is too small to make a dif
ference. For every dollar collected, the
Food Bank can provide about 5 pounds
of food, or four meals.
The campaign is being called Albe
marle Food Relief: Hunger Hurts, Giv
ing Heals. The Daily Advance and Per
quimans Weekly also are participating.
Donations can be made online as well.
Go to DailyAdvance.com and click on
Albemarle Food Relief.
Thank you in advance for your gener
osity.
THE CHOWAN HERALD
OFFICES WILL BE CLOSED
THANKSGIVING DAY.
WHAT ARE WE THANKFUL r
FOR?
YOU, OUR LOYAL
READERS, FOR YOUR
SUPPORT OVER THE YEARS.