482-4418
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
'BailoutTnoney
will help with
JAH repairs
By Rebecca Bunch
Staff Writer
Depending on the final
stimulus package okayed by
Congress, the Edenton-Chow
an Schools could receive as
much as $800,000 from the
proposed bailout funds, local
officials say
And if they do, they want
to be ready to put those
funds to use
* quickly and
efficiently,
making the
most press
ing repairs
at John A.
Holmes High
School.
Key pri
orities identified include a
conversion to natural gas,
replacing a faulty electric
panel in the gym, repairs to
masonry and windows on
the front of the building.
I “Our intent is not to use
the funds for cosmetic pur
poses,” Smith said.
• He added that the school
system had tried to wait un
til funds for a major renova
tion were available, “but we
can’t put them (repairs) off
anymore.”
Outlining needs
Last Monday night Brad
Bass, maintenance director
for the school system, briefed
the school board on the most
pressing needs at Holmes.
Bass divided the needs list
into four categories:
■ Efficiency — Replace
broken kitchen dishwasher,
lighting (retrofit through
out), improve energy man
agement systems, conversion
to natural gas
- ■ Health and Safety—Re
place electrical panel in gym,
fedo front classrooms, up
grade restrooms in perform
ing arts area, replace carpet
in band room, improve park
ing and accessibility in front
of the building
- ■ Integrity — Deal with
serious problems with ma
sonry, windows on the front
pf the building, gym roof,
jmd underpinning in porta
ble classrooms
■ Security — Reinforce
doors, improve surveillance,
and upgrade fire alarm sys
tem.
- Following-up
Dr. Smith agreed, at the
board’s request, to find an
architect to assist with those
portions of the project that
could not be handled in
house.
Smith said that a major
renovation effort at Holmes
is most likely five-plus years
away due to the downturn in
the economy.
In other action, the board:
I ■ Learned that James
Bell, a former N.C. Teacher
of the Year from the Eden
ton-Chowan Schools, has re
signed to accept a state-level
education job.
©2006 The Chowan Herald
- - All Rights Reserved
Louis Belfield tells of his participation in one of the
Civil Rights Movement’s pivotal demonstrations
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VERNON FUESTON/THE CHOWAN HERALD
Louis Belfield once participated in the 1960 Greensboro lunch counter sit in. The demonstration was
one of the earliest and most pivotal of the Civil Rights movement. Today, he serves on Chowan County's
Board of Commissioners.
By Vernon Fueston
Staff Writer
It was 49 years ago
this month when Louis
Belfield, a college stu
dent at North Carolina’s
Agricultural and Techni-.
cal State College, got the
chance to help make his
tory.
Belfield said he recalls
sensing something ex
traordinary was happen
ing when four A&T stu
dents decided to occupy
seats at a Woolworth’s lunc
boro.
It was something he wanted to be a part of.
Growing movement
“It was a feeling that this was the time to change
things,” Belfield said. “It was an old system that
needed to be done away with.”
The demonstration wasn’t anything planned by
civil rights leaders. Four young men, Ezell Blair,
David Richmond, Joseph McNeil and Franklin
County to sell surplus property
By Vernon Fueston
Staff Writer
The county’s annual surplus
property sale takes on a special sig
nificance this year as the county
struggles to balance its budget and
adjust its cash flow to meet $881,000
in new debt payments this fall.
Going on the auction block are
three pieces of real estate, 11 ve
hicles, a mobile generator, boat mo
tors, lockers, exercise equipment,
office equipment, office furniture
and even an ATM machine.
The real estate, valued at $450,000
consists of a rescue squad building
on Gliden Road, the Chowan Com
munity Building located across the
strqet from Chowan Middle School,
and the County Agricultural Build
ing site, 2.26 acres of land inside the
town limits that was once the site of
Chowan Hospital.
Officials said the property will be
sold at auction with a 10-day upset
period following the sale. No bids
for less than the tax appraisal will
be accepted.
The county will also sell 11 vehi
cles including two buses, a convert
ed ambulance once used for drug
abuse education programs, an in
mate transfer van and two vehicles
seized in drug cases.
DEFIANCE
ON THEIR
McCain, simply took ac
tion themselves.
Inspired by the teach
ings of Dr. Martin Luther
King, they decided to
stage a non-violent pro
test that would both shock
and prick the social con
science of a nation.
Their plan was simple.
On Feb. 1, after making
a purchase at the stand up
lunch counter designated
for black customers, the
four simply walked over
and sat down on stools re
served for whites.
Having made a purchase, they .weren’t tres
passing. There was no law concerning blacks at
the lunch counters, only longstanding custom.
The. waitresses refused them service and noti
fied the store’s manager, C.L. Harris. Harris de
cided to leave the protestors alone, but called the
police as a precaution. He assumed the protest ^ -
would run its course.
It didn’t:
See BELFIELD, Page A2 >
On the block
Gliden Rescue Squad bldg
Chowan Community bldg
Agriculture building site
2 buses, 2 vehicles
Converted ambulance
Among the other items headed
for the auction block are the kinds
of things one might expect to find at
a government auction.
There is industrial and mainte
nance equipment like a John Deere
front-end loader and a mobile gen
erator, as well as office furniture
and machines.
But other items probably come
with a story, like the courthouse’s
old jury box chairs and a set of
1,500-watt stadium lights.
And there is the unexpected, like
eight boat motors and an ATM ma
chine (yes, the ATM machine is
empty).
The commissioners are still decid
ing whether or not to hold a public
auction or use one of several on-line
services devoted to selling govern
ment surplus.
An announcement is expected
in the form of a published public
notice sometime in the next few
weeks.
‘Beach Plan’
may bring
higher rates
Chowan County received
6.5% increase by state
insurance commission to
cover hurricane damage
By Vernon Fueston
Staff Writer
Chowan’s commissioners are being
asked to help fight a dramatic increase
in coastal insurance rates by a state-run
insurance program called “The Beach
Plan.”
The Beach Plan was originally conceived
as a place of last refuge for coastal prop
erty owners seeking insurance against
hurricane damage, said Bobby Outten, the
attorney for Dare County
He spoke to the commissioners at their
monthly public meeting, Feb 2, urging
them to join a lawsuit filed by Dare County
and Nags Head. The suit seeks to force the
state’s insurance commission into new
hearings, reconsidering the increases.
Outten said the rates unfairly target
coastal residents, hitting them twice for
the same risk.
He said the state first levied a 10 percent
increase on policies covering wind and
hail damage, a move he said was intended
to force property owners out of the state’s
Beach Plan and into private insurance.
Then in December, the insurance com
mission approved increases on the poli
cies of between six and 29 percent in or
der to cover the growing cost of hurricane
damage.
Chowan County received a six and one
half percent increase.
But Outten said things are not working
quite the way the state intended. He said
the cost of private insurance outside the
Beach Plan is still so expensive that the
plan remains virtually the only game in
town.
That leaves the vast majority of hom
eowners with two price increases. But
Outten said those owners will also have
to contend with an important rule change
shielding insurance companies.
Those new rules raised the deductible
for storm damage from $1,000 to $2,000
See BEACH, Page A2 >
Many support euthanasia bill
By Rebecca Bunch
Staff Writer
Local animal rights activists are
mixed about the new proposed bill
in support of humane euthanasia
in the state’s animal shelters.
More than 40 area animal lovers
have signed a petition at the Sound
Pet store in Edenton in support of
the bill.
The legislation, HB 27, known as
the Humane Euthanasia for Family
Pets act, or Davie’s Law was intro
duced last week in the state House
of Representatives.
The measure requires that home
less dogs and cats being kept in
shelters in the state be put down by
lethal injection.
More than 30 shelters across the
state, including the Tri-County
Animal Shelter in Tyner, still use
gas chambers except in the case of
puppies and older animals.
State law prevents the use of car
bon monoxide gas in those cases
because those animals are too
young or too old to be able to inhale
a sufficient quantity of the gas for
the practice to be effective.
Other measures
Advocates of the bill say it would
not only be more humane but less
dangerous for staff in these shel
ters due to chronic exposure to the
toxic gas.
And, they point out, the bill un
der consideration would not re
quire that ccSunties dismantle or
destroy the existing gas chambers,
resulting in additional expense to
communities that have them.
But in published reports, N.C.
Coalition for Humane Euthanasia
board member Alice Singh says
that may not be enough to get the
measure the consideration it de
serves.
“I would love to see it pass, but I
think it will get held up in commit
tee ... North Carolina just doesn’t
move that quickly on animal issues
for some reason.”
Signing up
Among those in Edenton who’ve
supported the proposed law by
signing the petition are Terri Fox
and her husband Richard.
The Foxs currently own a dog
and a cat, and said that every ani
mal they’ve ever taken into their
home “has come from the street or
the shelter.”
Terri Fox said that while she un
derstands homeless animals can
See BILL, Page A2 >•
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