Newspapers / The Chowan Herald (Edenton, … / Dec. 17, 2008, edition 1 / Page 1
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I 482-4418 I CANDLELIGHT RAISES $30,000+ FOR HISTORICAL COMMISSION Cupola House Association member Liz Will serves Candlelight tourgoers Wassail at the Edenton Historical Commission's annual fundraiser. One thousand three hundred tickets were sold during this year’s tour. $ Cupola House receives $115,000 grant From staff reports U.S. Senator Richard Burr an nounced last week that the Cu pola House in Edenton has been awarded a $115,000 Save Ameri ca’s Treasures grant The purpose of Save America’s Treasures grants is to preserve sites of cultural and historic sig nificance associated with ideas, events, and individuals that shaped our national history. “I am very pleased to con gratulate the Cu pola House for be ing awarded these funds,” Burr said. “This is a highly competitive grant, and the Cupola House should be Quinn proud of the work they did to se cure these funds. “This money will help pre serve a location that has his toric and cultural importance, to North Carolina and the entire United States.” Cupola House Assocation pres ident Bob Quinn spent nearly two years working on the grant for the much-needed funding for repairs. Funds secured through the Save America’s Treasures grant will be used to help repair the roof, brick chimneys, fire boxes, and foundation. Built in 1758 and overlooking the bay, the Cupola House is a National Historic Landmark. It is known for its historic and architectural importance, and is considered the finest example of Jacobean design in the South. The grant received by the Cu pola House represents one of 31 grants chosen from 340 appli cants. Since 1999, 454 competitive grants have been given out through the Save America’s Treasures program to preserve historically important build ings, art, structures, artifacts, and historic places. Citizens promised early access to budget process By Vernon Fueston Contributing Writer Citizens will have unprecedented oppor tunities to comment on the county’s budget process as the commissioners try to hammer out a balanced budget by July 1, County Man ager Peter Rascoe said. Rascoe said the budget process would start in January, months earlier than in previous years. , He said the county would hold several hear ings late this winter and early in the spring where public input will be welcome. The hearings could be contentious; consid ering the stakes involved. With its reserve funds below state-man dated levels, new loan payments coming due for the first time and shrinking revenue from land transfer taxes, meeting the state’s re quirement of a balanced budget looks to be a daunting task. Commissioners passed an unpopular nine cent property tax increase in August. Rascoe told the commission at the time that combined pressures on the next year’s bud get could require another 6.5-cent increase if cuts or other new revenues were not found. Since then, things have only gotten worse. In November the commission had to reduce its estimate of the money it anticipates from land transfer taxes as receipts fell by 50 per cent. While the town has reduced its estimate of sales tax revenue for the year, the county is still keeping an eye on the situation. Citizens angrily rejected cuts in county services during a hearing held in August, but also rejected a quarter-percent sales tax increase aimed at filling county coffers by a wide margin. Rascoe said he’s putting the numbers to gether on costs and revenue, and will pres ent them to the commission, where final decisions will be made with input from the public. Commissioners meet the first Monday of each month at 6 p.m. Herald publisher resigns, management reorganized i 1 I & I' I From staff reports ' Bob Piazza, publisher of The Chowan Herald, will be leaving at the end of the month to accept a position with Evening Post Publishing Co. in Charleston, S.C. . Piazza joined The Chowan Herald two years ago after work ing for more than a decade as a reporter/editor for the Rich tnond-Times Dispatch. • “I’ve been very lucky,” Piazza said. “I’ve worked with extreme ly talented co-workers. “And I’ve made many, many friends in Edenton and Chowan, many of whom give selflessly to this community “I’m leaving with a lot of fond memories. I’m going to miss it here.” “During his tenure, Bob worked diligently to improve the operations of editorial content of the Herald and elevate the editorial coverage,” said Ann Hoffman, publisher of The Daily Advance. "He initiated a successful destination magazine, Discover Edenton, worked closely with the Chamber on their directory and oversaw improvements in the Albemarle Magazine.” With Piazza’s departure, The Herald’s management structure will be reorganized. Hoffman will assume pub lisher’s respon sibilities. Herald man aging editor Earline White will oversee the editorial functions, working with Mike Goodman, editor of The Daily Advance in Elizabeth City Ashley Misseri will continue in her role as advertising man ager, reporting to Gene Fowler, sales and marketing director of The Daily Advance. In addition, Susan Harris, editor/publisher of The Perqui mans Weekly, will assist with. Herald operations on an interim basis. “The staffs of the daily and non-daily newspapers have been working collaboratively on an informal basis for some time,” Hoffman said. “We are taking this opportuni ty to make that process formal. “Working as a group allows ■ us to deploy our resources more effectively, tap a larger pool of talent to improve all of our prod- , ucts for our readers and custom ers, and gain operational effi ciencies.” t. , ' In other Herald news: Office manager Sue Bunch was recently honored for 40 years of service at the local newspaper. Production manager Debbie Collins received an award for her 26 years of service. Staff writer Rebecca Bunch was honored for 31 years with The Chowan Herald. proposes funding change Ideas including hiring a full time economic development director for community By Rebecca Bunch and Vernon Fueston Staff Writers ■f . • v ■ ;s Rascoe The Edenton-Chowan Development Council receives $50,000 annually for its economic development efforts. But that could soon change. County Manager Peter Rascoe is pro posing that the town and county consid er other ways of using the funds. However, Mayor Roland Vaughan says he doesn’t see that happening. Ideas proposed so far include hiring a full-time economic development director or turning those re sponsibilities over to the Chamber of Com merce. But the best op tion, said Vaughan, who chairs the ECDC board, involves giving the ECDC full control Rascoe over its operations, including its budget. Vaughan said the ECDC board is cur rently drafting a proposal calling for that to happen. That agreement would need the ap proval of the town and county govern ments, as well as the Chamber board, to go into effect. Vaughan said he could not foresee any circumstances un der which the town would agree to help the county fund a full-time economic development posi tion, although he em phasized the decision Bunch would be the town council’s to make. Deep impact With high unemployment and the need for more jobs, whatever decision is made could have a significant impact on the lo cal economy. Rascoe said the decision “is a politi cal (one) for the commissioners and the town to make.” Chamber Director Richard Bunch, who also serves as director of the ECDC, opposes the idea of making the econom ic development office part of county gov ernment. Like Mayor Vaughan, he sup ports making the ECDC an independent body Higher costs Bunch said that hiring a full-time economic development director would most likely cost local government in the neighborhood of $100,000 to $200,000 an nually One town councilman, who asked not to be identified, said he thought having a full-time economic developer on the county payroll could be an efficient way to handle those needs. “I don’t see anything wrong with it,” he said. Rascoe said his goal is to let the public “see this process is as open and trans parent as possible.” Ssiart.ifsgtl “Yh« Sfe«rg* at th*'8itik«f.&<>sc.* v: - s , - .■IMAGES of America .I Ek via \m> Chowan CawYfi AS ptKhssss-at Ac jk^r Hasi^ ritaois kat'ftil % gf&pfflts of 3 Siertl HMMCMmM '^^jaM-ics
The Chowan Herald (Edenton, N.C.)
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Dec. 17, 2008, edition 1
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