Wednesday, January 21, 2009
482-4418
Leaders
outline
effort to
secure VA
Clinic
Chowan County Commis
sion Chairman Eddy Good
win and Edenton Mayor
Roland Vaughan are leading
the effort to have Edenton
selected as the site for the
proposed outpatient clinic
to serve area veterans.
The U.S. Department of
Veterans Affairs is propos
ing to establish a communi
ty-based outpatient clinic in
the Edenton/Elizabeth City
area.
The clinic is part of the
VA’s plan to improve access
to veterans in rural areas to
primary and specialty care.
Funding for the clinic is be*''
ing proposed in the VA’s FY
2009/10 budget.
According to information
obtained by the steering
committee, the community
based outpatient clinic will
be located in an area that
will greatly reduce the vet
eran’s drive time to receive
primary and specialty care
and reduce waiting times
for follow-up care, and also
improve waiting times at
main VA hospitals.
Mayor Vaughan suggested
the idea of a steering com
mittee to ensure that all
bases are being covered in
the effort to get the clinic in
daemon.
The steering committee,
co-chaired by Goodwill and
Vaughan, also includes E.C.
Toppin, American Legion
Post 40 Adjunct; Richard
Bunch, the Executive Di
rector of the Chamber of
Commerce and the Edenton
Chowan Development Cor
poration; County Manager
Peter Rascoe; Chowan Vet
erans Representative Clyde
Adams and Town Manager
Anne Marie Knighton.
The committee invited Da
vid Blomquist to also serve
as a member.
Blomquist is affiliated
with the local “Change for
America” group.
“Change for America” has
identified securing the VA
clinic as one of the group’s
goals.
Various contacts have
already been made includ
ing Senator Burr whose se
nior military affairs staffer
was invited to Edenton by
the Chamber of Commerce
when the news about the
proposed clinic was first re
leased.
The staffer met with ■
Vaughan in Edenton the
week of Christmas. Toppin
briefed the committee on his
meetings with Burr about
the need for such a clinic in
northeastern North Caro
lina.
-The clinic is proposed to
create 14 new jobs which our
town and county desperate
ly needs given that the N.C,
Department of Commerce
; < has designated Chowan
County as a Tier One “eco
nomically distressed coun
ty” with current unemploy
ment rate of a 10.6 percent.
C2006 The Chowan Herald
All Rights Reserved
REMEMBERING THE DREAM
* VERNON FUESTON/THE CHO.WAN HERALD
Members of the choir hold hands and sing "We Shall Overcome" during Edenton's ML King Celebration.
About 150 people gath
ered to celebrate the life
and accomplishments of
Martin Luther King, Jr.,
Monday at Swain audito
rium.
The event held special
Commissioners get education on school system
By Rebecca Bunch
Staff Writer
New Chowan County com
missioners say they feel a
recently held joint meeting
with members of the board
of education will yield posi
tive results in the future.
The meeting was planned
to discuss “items of mutual
interest,” according to Dr.
Allan Smith, superinten
dent of schools.
Topics on the agenda
ranged from urgent renova
tion needs at John A. Holm
es High School to state bud
Local woodworker re-creates 18th century masterpieces
By Vernon Fueston
Staff Writer
Don Jordan belongs to an
elite club.
He is one of a handful of
artisan-woodworkers who
manage to earn a full-time
living making reproduc
tions of the world’s finest
antique furniture.
Jordan started his career
working for a lumber com
pany after graduating from
l^l.C. State’s forestry and
wood technology program.
Trained to meet the needs
of North Carolina’s forestry
and furniture manufactur
ing industries, he thought
he knew where his life was
headed. Then the sawmill
he worked for closed its
doors in 1983.
Lane change
That’s when he decided
to turn his energies toward
doing something hie loved.
Jordan had always loved
working with wood, so he
decided to make furniture
himself — really fine furni
ture.
Don Jordan makes an
tique reproductions, pieces
made using the techniques
and designs common among
American furniture mak
ers two and a half centuries
ago.
It’s an exacting business
that meets the demands of
some extremely picky cus
poignancy for those at
tending as King’s birthday
fell on the eve of Barak
Obama’s inauguration.
Several speakers marveled
at the progress King’s
movement has made in
get cuts that will unpact the
school system’s budget.
Smith said that some
needs at the high school j
will not be able to wait the
four to six years it may take
before renovation funds'are
available.
(As of Monday afternoon,
board of education mem
bers were scheduled to hold
a board retreat on Tuesday
to set priorities for repairs
that must be done in the
near future.)
Commissioner Keith Nix
on said he found the meeting
“very informative” when
tomers.
“I’m not trying to make
fakes,” Jordan said, “but I
am trying to make some
thing close to the original.”
Jordan’s customers are
sophisticated connoisseurs
of fine furniture.
Sometimes he’s called in
when the owner of a special
piece wants his children
to each have a copy of the
original. At other times,
he’s asked to reproduce an
antique that has finally de
teriorated beyond repair.
Tough market
Whatever the reason, his
customers want something
intangible, the look and feel
of a hand-made original.
“People prefer hand made
things,” Jordan said. “I’ve
read about studies where
people are asked to choose
between a piece of fine,
mass-produced furniture
and a handmade copy of the
same thing. They usually
choosp the handmade prod
uct.”
Just why they do that is a
complex question that Jor
dan said he can only guess
at. One reason is that peo
ple like the look and feel of
a handmade item.
Jordan pointed to one
of his works in progress,
a mahogany folding table.
He ran his fingers over the
sanded surface of its ma
hogany table top.
since the civil rights move
ment began over five de
cades ago.
Edward Goodwin, chair
man of the county’s board
of commissioners, lauded
King for “having the guts”
it came to understanding
school needs and funding
sources.
^ Nixon and two others —
Kenny Goodwin and Eddy
Goodwin, recently named to
chair the board — attended
along with County Manager
Peter Rascoe.
Nixon said he, felt it was
a very good first step in de
veloping positive commu
nication between the two
bodies.
Additional meetings be
tween the boards will prob
ably take place, he said.
Commission board chair
* ■ 'SiT** ’ yi
V- ' ’ _ - .£ :.
VERNON FUE$TON/THE CHOWAN HERALD
Don Jordan works on the carved leg of a folding table.
“All of that finished sur
face there has the same tool
marks the original had,”
Jordan said. “I use a table
saw and pofter tools, but ev
erything on the surface is
done the same way.”
Jordan said there is some
thing else that’s special
about a handmade piece of
furniture. Using hand tools
allows the maker to produce
a single piece that’s unlike
anything else.
to bring America into an
age of tolerance.
First District Court
Judge Eula Reid spoke on
King’s Legacy and Marie
Daves recalled King’s rally
in Edenton back in 1962.
Eddy Goodwin said he
learned a lot of useful infor
mation too.
Goodwin said that he is
willing to sit in on addition
al meetings to help improve
his understanding of the
working relationship be
tween the two boards.
“If you’ll let me, or some
body, sit in a corner, I’m
available,” Goodwin said.
And board of education
chair Ricky Browder de
scribed the meeting, which
lasted about three hours, as
“very productive, very cor
dial.”
Even if he makes multi
ple copies, Jordan said, the
pieces will still be individu
al, if they are handcrafted.
Jordan said he worries
that our fast-paced society
is losing its appreciation for
things that are both unique
and of high quality.
Disposable age
“This younger genera
tion, they’re part of the
See JORDAN, Page A2 >
Citizens
discuss
finances
Group ponders
bankruptcy and/or
local government
consolidation
By Vernon Fueston
Staff Writer
It was a packed conference
room at the Nothin’ Fancy
Cafe, Thurday night, as 43
citizens gathered for.an un
official town meetinpspon
sored by the Edenton Dis
cussion Group on Chowan’s
fiscal crisis.
They had a lot on their
minds. Jim Badger, mod
erator for the evening, wel
comed the group.
“This is a time when we
all have to set aside our Re
publican, Democrat and
Libertarian labels and work
together,” he said.
Defining the problem
Bob Chapman summa
rized the county’s financial
situation for the group — big
new debt payments falling
due on several recent capital
improvement projects and a
series of “balanced” annual
county budgets that chewed
through a $20 million-dollar
reserve fund in four years
time.
“Many people think the
county’s reserves were spent
on big projects like the pub
lic safety center,” Chapman
said.
“But the shocking thing is
that the money was spent on
county operations over a pe
riod of years.
“Now the citizens are be
ing asked to sustain a bud-,
get and a level of spending '
that was unlawful in the
first place.”
Finding a way out
Participants explored
several options the county
might have for dealing with
its problems. One speaker
uttered the “B-word” —
bankruptcy, suggesting the.
county simply allow banks
to foreclose on some of its
new buildings.
Chapman responded that
any bankruptcy would put
the county in receivership
with unpredictable conse
quences.
“You can get a good guy or
you can get a bad guy as a re
ceiver,” Chapman said.
“You don’t know what
he will do. He can cut ser
vices in ways you might not
want.”
Another speaker suggest- ' •
ed consolidating the county
with Edenton’s healthier
town government, creating
a metropolitan system for
the entire county.
One member of the au
dience responded, “If you
consolidate the government,
you consolidate all the as
sets. You’re still in the same
spot.”
Chapman dismissed both
the bankruptcy and consoli
dation options.
“We have only two real
alternatives,” he said. “We
can either tax ourselves out * ;
of existence, or the other
option is to lay off employ
ees.”
Services or taxes
An audience member
commented that he favored
a drastic reduction in ser
vices.
“We were told (at the coun- 1u
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> ; •