' \ 482-4418 Wednesday, April 15, 2009 RESURRECTION CELEBRATED B6 County to close on properties By Vernon Fueston Staff Writer .. The County is expected to close soon on the sale of its former Chowan Community Center, located across the street from Chowan Middle School, and is advertising for upset bids before accepting an offer on another property The community center building sold to a Chowan County qouple for $51,000, but is subject to a lease held by the Chowan Rifritan Club, which uses the building as a meeting hall. The community center building is not the more re cently constructed Northern Chowan Community Center located on the same side of Virginia Road as Chowan Middle School County Manager Peter Ras coe said the club will stay in the building for now and will negotiate with the new own ers about any arrangements after its lease runs out., Rascoe also said the county is looking for upset bids after receiving an offer of $5,000 for a 1.1 acre wooded lot lo cated in Yeopim at 306 Indian Trail Road. Interested parties have un til April 11 to place their bids for the property. Proceeds from the sale of both properties will be used to rebuild the county’s gen eral reserve fund. VERNON RJESTQN/THE CHOWAN HERALD Worth Hare stands in front of the Bandon Kitchen’s brick hearth, safely nestled on a flat bed truck and awaiting its journey to the James Iredell House in Edenton where it will be restored as part of the historic compound there. By Vernon Fueston Staff Writer As workers secured the old brick hearth from the Bandon House kitch en to a flat bed truck, Robert Turner was watching with more than casuai interest. Turner, who used to own the build ing, said he was glad to see the struc ture finally get the treatment he had hoped once to give it himself. The kitchen joined its former neigh bor, an old smoke house from the same plantation, at the James Iredll house in Edenton where it will be restored as a companion structure to the for mer Supreme Court justice’s home. Back when Turner bought the structure, he had hoped to renovate it personally “When I bought it about 25 years ago, the property was in pretty bad shape,” Tinner said. “The right wall was separating and leaning outward. I needed some braces and support to keep the wall from falling out and the ceiling from falling in.” M The 20 by 20 foot kitchen and nearby smoke house were originally part of the Bandon plantation complex, but the main building burned down some time in the mid 1960’s. As the neighborhood of Arrowhead Beach grew up around the property, vandals took their toll. Kids used the kitchen as a hangout and party place. When Turner boarded it up, they knocked a hole in the hearth’s brick to get in. Finally, Turner sold the ■ »• • ■ *■,,jc •--* . *•’ * property to the James Iredell Founda tion, which planned to restore both structures. Linda Eure, site manager for the Ire dell house complex, said the kitchen would help complete the Iredell house 51 site. Most homes of the well to do dur mg the early nineteenth century had separate kitchen structures as a fire precaution. She said the kitchen was built some time around 1827 and is an uncommon find. “It’s one of the very few surviving kitchen buildings in North Carolina,” she said. “Hope plantation construct ed a kitchen on their site based on its design. We’re very pleased to have it.” ,, Pilgrimage nears; thousands expected to attend By Rebecca Bunch Staff Writer Organizers of the Biennial Pilgrimage say they’re expect ing a nice turnout despite the downtown in the economy. c “We’re doing quite well with pre-ticket sales,” said Marge Soper, co-chair of the event scheduled for April 24 25. r “With the economy the way it is, we weren’t sure what to expect but response has been very good,” she added. : Part of those visitors will Foundation to hold seminar on taxation at Edenton’s 1767 courthouse By Vernon Fueston Staff Writer ** * A major constitutional Seminar is scheduled to take place in Edenton’s 1767 Court house, The event, featuring scholars and activists, will examine the North Carolina constitution and the powers it «6. 89076"44813 ill L318 0 * 02009 The Chowan Herald All Rights Reserved be coming in tour buses, hold ing about 55 passengers each, Soper said. Three of them have so far confirmed they will be here. Twelve private properties, nine public buildings, three churches are scheduled to be part of this year’s tour which is sponsored in odd-num bered years by the Edenton Woman’s Club. According to the Albemarle magazine, the oldest home on the tour will be Greenfield, circa 1752; the newest, the C.S. Vann House, built around \ ' v . ■ ' i * , . gives the state when it comes to taxation. A film crew will be on hand to record the event for a docu mentary. The forum, titled “The North Carolina Constitution and the Power to Tax,” is ex pected to attract hundreds of participants from around the state according to its organiz ers. The John Locke Founda tion’s North Carolina History Project and the North Caro lina Institute for Constitu tional Government, sponsors 1910. First-timers on the tour will be the Pack House at Shelton Farms, Long Beach, the Folk Taylor, C.W. Vann and John Branning houses. Those who love outstand ing architecture alortg with local history will find some outstanding examples of Federal (Shelton Farm, Mul berry Hill), Victorian (Zeigler House, home of the Historic Edenton Visitor Center), and Georgian (the Cupola House) styles on the tour. For hours, tour headquar of the event, had considered New Bern for the conference. The selected Edenton instead because of its historic roots as a center for tax protests. Edenton was the scene of the nation’s first political action by women when Pe nelope Barker hosted a “tea party” to boycott English tea there in 1774. ■“We’re just so lucky to have this here,” said Bob Steinburg, the chairman of Chowan County’s Republican Party. “I think that with all that’s If you go What 2009 Pilgrimage When: Friday & Saturday, April 24 & 25 Where: throughout county Cost: $25 per person ters and ticket information, call (252) 482-3400 or 1-800 775-0111, e-mail nancy.nich olls@ncmail.net or visit www.visitedenton.com. gone on today, with govern ment seizing powers that are not theirs, we need to be fully aware of the rights we are pro vided under the United States and North Carolina constitu tions,” Steinburg said. A reception on the court house grounds will precede the seminar, beginning at 5 p.m. The program will begin inside the courthouse at 6 p.m. Overflow seating is planned in the upstairs ballroom for those unable to fit into the courthouse chambers. . Speaking at the forum will By Vernon Fueston Staff Writer Chowan’s commissioners have received their final draft of the county’s audit for the year in which it determined that its reserves, including over $20 million received from the sale of Chowan Hospital, had been depleted. The figures show the state of the county’s finances for the period beginning June 1, 2007 and ending June 30,2008. News of the depleted reserve funds was released 'July of 2008: The .commissioners had passed a resolution promis ing not to spend money from the hospital fund and allow ing the option to spend only 75 percent of the interest. Between 1999 and 2008 the county’s Web site shows 20 transactions taking money from the hospital account to taling almost $19.6 million. Those moneys were apparent ly, used cover budget deficits in the general fund. The fuhd, listed in the audit as Health Care Reserve 1 and Health Care Reserve 2, had a current balance of $585,000 on April 1 of this year. According to the audit, the commissioners had crafted a balanced budget calling for $18 million in both revenues and expenditures, but figures Commissioners hire new auditing firm By Vernon Fueston Staff Writer Chowan’s commissioners hired a new auditing firm for annual reviews the county’s books, replacing a long-stand ing relationship with J. P. Timberlake, a local firm, and selecting Martin Starnes and Associates of Hickory. The county sent out 42 bid requests to firms around the state but only two companies submitted bids for the job. Timberlake elected not to bid for the contract. In the end it came down to a choice between Starnes and the firm of Pittard, Perry and Crone of Belhaven. Finance Officer Lisa Jones recommended the commis sioners select Starnes even though the company’s $48,000 contract was $7,000 higher than it’s competitor. Jones said she based her recommendation on Starnes’ expertise in the area of local government accounting. The firm handles 27 county and municipal governments around the state. be Gene Boyce, an attorney who has represented citizens in fights against the state re garding tax matters. Dr. Jeff Broadwater, a historian from Barton College and Dr. John Dinan, a political scientist from Wake Forest University will also speak. Robert Orr, Executive direc tor of the North Carolina In stitute for Constitutional Law and Former North Carolina Supreme Court Justice, will also speak and John Hood,, the Locke Foundation’s presi dent, will moderate. Financial snapshot Deficit for '07-’08 — $3.28 Previous Deficits at the end of the year showed a $3.28 million deficit for the county’s general fund. A shortfall in revenues ac counted $2.6 million of that deficit. Expenditures exceed ed those planned in the bud get by only $25,000. Also listed in the audit were Chowan County’s 10 largest payer's of property taxes to the county. All of them were businesses. Among the 10 were four manufacturers, two shopping centers, two real estate com panies, one logging company and a farm supply firm. The largest taxpayer was a shop ping center. A review of past audits shows Chowan County has operated with a deficit for all seven of the years that audits have been posted on the coun ty’s Web site. 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 $3.33 $2.89 $2.37 $2.98 $1.40 $1.84 (in millions) She said Pittard does the au dit work for only one county ' Regionally, Camden, Pitt and Nash counties are served by Starnes. Jones said the fact that only two firms bid on the county’s work was not unusual. She said many firms replied that their workloads would not allow them to take on the contract. Commission Chairman Eddy Goodwin asked if the price quoted included per sonal appearances before the commissioners to answer questions. Jones said the firm’s quote allowed for unlimited consul tatipns on site. County Manager Peter Rascoe said the state’s Local Government Commission suggests counties rotate ac counting firms every three years. The county has used J. R Timberlake as its auditing firm since 1985. Before that, Chowan had used Timberlake’s prior partnership, Timberlake and Sykes, going back to 1978. Steinburg said he, hopes the seminar, as well as the tea party demonstration planned for April 15, will put Edenton on the map as a center of po litical activism. “If this goes well and we have strong support, Edenton will be a starting point for eyents like this in the future,” he said. Interested persons can reg ister for the program at the Locke Foundation’s Website, www.johnlocke.org/events, or call them at (866) 553-4636.

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