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.” iihhmi j jaumMUiMuMii—■

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