482-4418
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
' ■
FormerwA,G§lto!Dlav«forJECU B1
JA Holmes
principal
steps down
Freshman academy
implemented during
four-year term
By Rebecca Bunch
Staff Writer
John A. Holmes High
School Principal William
“Bill” Moore is leaving.
• Moore tendered his resig
nation in a March 23 letter
to Dr. Allan Smith, superin
tendent of
the Eden
ton-Chow
an Schools.
His fi
nal day of
work will
be Tuesday,
June 30.
Moore
wrote that
he was “proud of the accom
plishments of my team dur
ing the last four years.”
“I remain committed to
always providing the best
education for high school
students so that they are
successful in the work force
and/or higher education
programs,” he added.
In an e-mail to The Chow
an Herald, Smith said that
Moore “has been an asset
to the Edenton-Chowan
Schools and has accom
plished a great deal in his
four years with us. We wish
- him all the best in the fu
- ture.”
Moore outlined some of
those accomplishments in a
farewell letter to his staff at
Holmes.
He said he was proud of
the expansion of the ad
vanced placement (AP)
courses program that cur
rently offers eight classes.
Three others — AP Spanish,
AP Music Theory and AP
World History — are sched
uled to begin in the fall.
He also praised the staff’s
efforts to increase communi
ty involvement in the school
system, and their dedication
to their profession.
, “Our staff has become
recognized for the quality
of education we offer daily,"
Moore wrote. “We have had
staff recognized as Chowan
County Teachers of the Year
for the past two years.
“One member was Re
gional Teacher of the Year
and made it to the final nine
in the state competition for
N.C. Teacher of the Year.
“Another staff member
has been selected NC JROTC
Instructor of the Year and
will compete on a national
level shortly.”
In closing, Moore said,
“You remain the finest staff
I have ever worked with and
I am confident you will sup
port the new principal in
taking Holmes to the next
level by finishing what we
started. Remember, there is
no ‘I’ in team.” '
According to Kerri Alb
ertson, school/community
relations . director for the
Edenton-Chowan Schools,
Principal Bill Moore is re
tired from the U.S. Army,
where he served as a Lieu
tenant Colonel in the Army
Reserve.
He has worked in educa
tion since 1986
©2006 The Chowan Herald
All Rights Reserved
Citizens meet on county budget
By Vernon Fueston
Staff Writer ' <
Eight citizens, members
of Chowan County’s citizen
advisory board on county
finances, sat down for their
first real working meeting
on balancing the county’s
budget, March 18.
They met once before to.
organize the committee but
their work on the budget
came to a halt when it was
discovered that sales tax
revenues and cost overruns
for electric utilities and in
surance had driven the cur
rent year’s budget $970,000
in the red.
Now the commissioners
must balance a budget that
takes that into account, an
economy in recession and
$715,000 in first-time loan
payments that will come
due next fiscal year.
Blizzard of numbers
Kenny Goodwin, chair
man of the budget subcom
mittee, and Keith Nixon
briefed the committee
members on the challenge
ahead of them.
Each member was given
a packet of basic financial
Commissioners Goodwin and
Nixon lead the committee.
information consisting of
24 pages drawn up by the
county manager’s office.
Reading the statements was
daunting for some, includ
ing those with financial ex
perience.
“It’s hard to understand,”
Goodwin said in response
Board wi
■ The objectives and priori
■ What the board consider
£ m What services the board
■ How the board wishes ti
district budgets, to be addr
to one member’s questions.
“It’s backward from what
you would see in a private
company.”
The numbers were sober
ing.
“You’ve taken on a task
that a full time salaried per
son could not take on,” one
RAISE THE ROOF FOR PRESERVATION
The Cupola House is in dire
need of a new shingled roof
to preserve its collections and
maintain its stability
by Sally Francis Kehayes
Thomas Wood, Jr., president of the Cu
pola House Association, is fast becoming
an expert on shingles — wood shingles
— something the Cupola House desper
ately needs.
According to Wood and experts brought
in to assess the damage, the building is in
dire need of a new-shingled roof to pre
serve its many collections and to main
tain its structural stability.
On a recent inspection of the Cupola
House, Laura Blokker with the Conser
vation Assessment Program of Heritage
Preservation, pointed out the complexi
ties, challenges and opportunities of his
toric preservation.
“Without a solid roof, every part of the
structure and the collections beneath are
at risk. Quality, durability and cost will
have to be carefully evaluated... ”
The house will undergo repairs once
historically accurate, and effective, roof
ing materials are identified.
♦ ♦ ♦
The 250 year-old Cupola House is an im
portant anchor to Edenton’s downtown
providing citizens a quiet spot in its co
lonial gardens to relax and reflect on the
beauty of Edenton.
The Cupola House is one of North Caro
lina’s most significant historic buildings;
preservationists often refer to it as one
of our Nation’s most important colonial
dwellings.
Citizens and tourists have a window
into the rich colonial past of Edenton
through the Cupola House.
“The value of preserving our town and
county’s rich colonial era history cannot
be understated,” Wood said.
“It is important to. our tourism as well,
drawing over 9,000 visitors annually. As
a result of Hurricane Isabel, the existing
roof leaks which in turn has damaged in
terior walls, the chimneys and the foun
dation.”
Wood reports that the “Funding has to
be in place and decisions made that are
best for the Cupola House and its future.
It is not an easy task exploring all the
shingle roof options. Fortunately, I’ve
had advice from a wide variety of very
knowledgeable individuals including
Blokker and Reid Thomas of the North
Farmers pleased to end wait for contracts
Feanuts may continue
to be big cash crop for
Chowan County
By Rebecca Bunch
Staff Writer
Leonard Small, Jr. just got the con
tract he’d been hoping for.
Small, of Chowan County, is a pea
nutfarmer. He also operates Virginia
Fork Produce.
He’s been farming peanuts and
other crops for years but said wait
ing to get that sales contract had
been one of the most stressful times
in his life.
V “The money won’t be nearly as
good this year for peanuts as it was
last year,” he said.
MARY KAY COYLE
Cupola weeders hard at work in the garden, inset, interior wall damage.
Carolina state Historic Preserva
tion office.
Major preservation work on a
historic house, such as the Cupola
House, provides an excellent op
portunity to educate the public
about appropriate preservation
techniques.
. Wood hopes the public will attend
the first sharing of information
at the April 15th Garden Party and
begin learning about this unique
preservation undertaking — and
wood shingles.
Once the decision on roofing ma
terials is made, the Board of Direc
tors will utilize the matching grant
from Save America’s Treasures
($115,000.00}.
As the project will total $300,000,
the Cupola House Association con
tinues to seek grant funds and pub
„ “It will be about $115 a ton less than
we got last year.”
Small said the salmonella scare
that caused people to stop eating
peanuts had also made contracts for
growers slower to arrive.
And, he said, a big crop of pea
nuts last year in North Carolina and
South Carolina did not help the situ
ation, either.
The demand, he said, just would
not be there this year.
Small said he normally plants 400
acres of the tasty goobers, but only
250 were planted this year.
Taking everything intp account, he
said, peanut farmers would be lucky
to break even this year.
Cotton and soybeans, he said, “are
not looking too good right now, ei
ther.”
lie support.
“Rural communities have a his
tory of helping one another, for
example, barn raisings. This is a
modern version.
“We hope the community will
come out and enjoy raising the roof
of the Cupola House through the
first of several gatherings to raise
funds for the roof,” said Thomas.
♦ ♦ . ♦
“The Raise the Roof-Springtime
in the Garden Party” will be held
at 5:30 p.m. on April 15. Everyone
is invited.
Wine, food, music by Glenn and
Anita Andersen, and a live auction
make up this first community-wide
event. Tickets are $10 and avail
able at the garden gate. Children
are welcomed at no charge.
This wait has been pretty much the
same for other farmers in the area,
officials said.
In published reports, Bob Sutter,
the N.C. Peanut Growers Associa
tion’s executive director, has said
that the nationwide salmonella out
break and resulting product recall
has “severely” affected state peanut
growers.
He said that many of the state’s
growers should have already re
ceived contracts from processors for
their crops so they could begin plan
ning for planting season that begins
in May. But, he said, only a few con
tracts have been received so far.
The situation might be different,
Sutter told the Daily Advance, if
those recalls had taken place during
summer months.
I outline:
ties for the year,
s "vital services."
desires to preserve,
e school district and fire
»ssed.
committee member told
Goodwin.
“You are not supermen.
You can’t go pulling mason
jars out of the backyard to
fix that budget. You took on
a headache, no doubt about
it.”
The goal
Goodwin explained that
after adjusting the county’s
general fund downward,
reflecting cuts made last
month to balance this year’s
budget, the current year’s
revenues amounted to $16.3
million.
He said next year, with
higher expenses and lower
revenues, they have $15.1
million to work with, a drop
of $1.2 million even if the
cuts made in February are
continued.
Those figures assume a
recession that lasts all the
way through June 30, 2010,
an assumption recommend
ed by the Local Govern
ment Commission, Good
win said.
What's essential?
Another document given
the committee members
was a list of county govern
ment services divided into
two columns, those the law
requires the county provide
to its citizens and those that
are optional.
Goodwin said the list was
given to them during a train
ing session at the School of
Local Government.
Functions like law en
forcement and the medi
cal examiner are required
while fire protection and
solid waste disposal are op
tional.
“So, we could just shut
down the water department
and say, ‘too bad?’” asked
one member.
“Yes,” said Goodwin, add
ing that though everything
is on the table, not every
thing can reasonably be
cut.
Keith Nixon spelled out
the big question that the
committee will have to an
swer in making their rec
ommendations to the com
missioners.
“We’re going to have to
decide, are we going to say
no to any tax increase?” he
said.
“I say no,” said one mem
ber, "not until you prove to
me you are living within
your means.”
Brainstorm
The next hour could best
be described as a fhe^ flow
of ideas, some that seemed
good, some not.
As the evening drew to a
close, Goodwin tried to put
the county’s troubles in per
spective.
"We’ve looked at a lot of
area counties and every
body’s in the same boat,” he
said.
Most committee members
seemed reassured by the
openness of the process.
As everyone rose to leave,
one member asked where
they could dispose of the
plastic yater bottles each
had been given at the start
of the meeting.
"Put them in the basket
over there,” Goodwin said.
“We’ll take care of it. For
every ton of plastic we keep
out of the landfill, we save
$60.”
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