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- PHOTOS BY VERNON FUESTON
Clockwise from top, the crowd awaits
the arrival of country music star Jason
Aldean; Aldean performs to more than
4,000 anxious fans; Ed “Calhoon” Jor
dan at the grill during the Hog Fest
cook-off; of course, some pulled pork
forjudging; and HannahTyraWood with
her 1999, custom built Night Train, Hog
aka Harley Davidson at Hog Fest’s mo
torcycle show.
Concert a big hoe-down I
Between 4,000 and 5,000
fans turned up at the Chowan
County Fair Grounds to hear
up and coming country star
Jason Aldean at a concert
following Edenton Hog Fest,
Saturday.
. “It was by far the best show
we’ve done in Edenton,” said
Jason Vick of Radio Media
Productions, the promoter
who brought the show to
town.
“Art of a Woman” opens Friday at arts council
By Rebecca Bunch
Staff Writer
As a young child, Rebecca
Lowe recalls, she began learn
ing how to paint from her
mother, Rebecca Askew.
In the process, her mother
opened up a whole new world
for her.
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©2009 The Chowan Herald
' *l\ All Rights Reserved
*
Aldean, a native of Macon,
Ga. and a phenomenon on the
national country music scene
for three years now, has pro
duced three albums.
Also appearing was Mikele
Buck.
Among the songs performed
at the concert were the title
song for his current album,
“Wide Open,” “Keep the Girl”
and “My Big Green Tractor.”
— by Vernon Fueston
Now, Lowe, of Edenton, and
Askew, of Ahoskie, are going
to be showing their work to
gether for the very first time.
The pair is among the gifted
local artists who will be par
ticipating in the new Chowan
Arts Council exhibit, “Art of
a Woman."
The opening reception for
the show will be held at 5:30
p.m. this Friday evening at
the C AC Gallery in Edenton.
A little ‘me’ time
Over the past few months,
Lowe said, she has spent time
By Vernon Fueston
Staff Writer V
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As the American Legion’s Post
40 wrapped up Edenton’s third
annual Hog Fest Saturday, it was
clear the event had been a hit.
The event collected 1,565 pounds
of food for Edenton’s Food Pantry .
along with over $500 iivcssh do
nations form the public ana $348
raised from its Motorcycle Ride-in
Show.
Winning the overall, barbeque
championship along with the title'
for pork barbeque was Checkered
Pig, a team from Martinsville, Va.,
Tommy Houston, chief cook.
A local team, Tarheel Smokers
II from Hertord with Louis DeVine
as chief cook, took the honors in
Chicken.- Chix, Swine and Bovine
BBQof Jessup, Md., Mike Richter,
chief cook, took title for both pork
ribs and brisket while Yeopim
Callers of Edenton, Ed “Calhoon”
Jordan chief cook, took the whole
hog category.
Po’ Boyz BBQ of Grifton, North
Carolina, Matthew Sparrow, chief
cook, took the honors for dessert
and non-dessert.
Gerald Rahal, the events chair
man, didn’t have an attendance
number, but he characterized the
public’s response as overwhelm
ing. He said much of the credit
goes to the cook teams, Holmes
ROTC program, the Post 40 Legion
family and community volunteers
who made the program possible.
' /
Cook-off winners at Hog Fest
Spirit Award — Po Boyz BBQ
Peoples Choice — Old Dominion Smokehouse
Anything Butts — both non & dessert —t Po
Boyz BBQ
Whole Hog — Yeopim Callers
Chicken—Tarheel Smokers II
Pork — Checkered Pig
Ribs & Brisket — Chix, Swine & Bovine BBQ
Reserve Grand — Chix, Swine & Bovine BBQ
Grand Champion — Checkered Pig
with her mother in Askew s
art studio getting ready for
the show.
“We’ll paint a little and
draw a little in mother’s stu
dio which is just off of her
kitchen, and every once in a
while one of us will go into
the kitchen and stir a pot
of whatever’s on the stove,”
Lowe said, laughing. “We’ve
had a good time together.”
Lowe, perhaps best known
for her outstanding nature
photography, said her paint
ings also reflect her love of
the outdoors. Oil is her pre
ferred medium and she takes
photos of what she s planning
to paint.
“One of my favorite paint
ings that I’ve done lately is a
magnolia looking like it was
caught in the wind, that has
shades of pink and purple in
it,” she said.
Askew, who will soon turn
88, prefers watercolor and her
art reflects that love.
She has had her own one
woman show on the UNC
campus in Chapel Hill, and is
a past member of the North
Carolina Watercolor Society
See CAC on Page 2
Commissioners
consider hike
in water rates
By Vernon Fueston
Staff Writer
Chowan’s commissioners
will consider a water rate
increase that would boost
monthly bills for a typical
homeowner by 56 percent and
increase the fee for new resi
dential water hookups by 40
percent.
The proposal was includ
ed in the county’s proposed
2009/2010 budget.
According to memos in
cluded with the proposal, the
rate hikes were recommended
to more accurately reflect the
cost of adding water capacity
for new hookups and to en
courage water conservation.
Monthly rate hike
If accepted, the hike in
monthly water fees would in
crease the bill for a typical res
idential customer using 4,000
gallons of water per month
from $18 to $28. That would
be a 56 percent increase.
The fee is calculated in two
steps. Customers who cur
rently pay $9 for their first
1,000 gallons of water would
now pay $10.
The second and subsequent
1,000 gallons would cost $6.
Customers currently pay
$4.50 for each additional 1,000
gallons, a 33 percent increase.
Offsetting the increase will
be a change in metering, mea
suring customers’ usage in
100-gallon units instead of
1,000 gallons. Customers cur
rently pay $4.50 for any frac
tion of 1,000 gallons they use
above the first thousand.
Those changes, the pro
posal said, are to encourage
conservation. The proposal
notes that 25 percent of the
system’s customers use less
than 2,000 gallons per month.
Increase connection fees
A memo from the county’s
consulting engineers, Diehl
and Phillips, P.A. of Cary, said
the county should raise the
County officials
muirmiddle’
budget proposals
By Vernon Fueston
Staff Writer
As the commissioners re
viewed five different budget
proposals presented to them
by their county manager, Pe
ter Rascoe, it seemed there
was little appetite for adopt
ing either of the two options
at the extremes.
One of those two propos
als, Option A, seeks to keep
the county’s tax rate at its
current 0.65 per $100 levels.
But the cuts that-plan would
require weren’t drawing fans
on the commission board.
Among the reductions op
tion A would require are the
closing of the county’s recre
ation department, the elimi
nation of- 36 full and part
time jobs, and the closure of
both campuses of COA.
But an increase of 41 per
cent in property taxes to
“development fee” it charges
a typical new residential cus
tomer for a new water connec
tion from $2,500 to $3,500.
That fee is intended to cov
er the cost of expanding the
county’s water system as new
customers come on line. The
department charges a $1,000
connection fee in addition to
the development fee.
Engineers said the increase
Was based on the replacement
cost of the county’s $10 mil
lion water plant and its 300
miles of pipelines worth $40
million.
The engineers cited , the
county’s present 10 inch main
running along highway 32 as
an example -of the county’s
need to plan for, expanding its
facilities to meet increasing
demand.
They said the line current
ly runs at near capacity but
suggested that building a new
treatment plant in the south
ern end of the system could
delay replacing or paralleling
that line. .
Why and how
Peter Rascoe, Chowan’s
county manger, said the wa
ter system currently operates
with a negative fund balance,
leaving it insufficient re
serves. He said that the sys
tem has operated at a small
loss in the past but expects
revenues to meet or exceed
expenses this year.
Rascoe said that increas
ing the water department’s
reserves will not make mon
ey available to the county’s
general fund and that the in
creases are not related to the
county’s efforts to balance its
budget.
The increase in monthly
rates is expected to expand
the department’s revenues
from $1.25 million to as much
as $1.7 million.
Also included in the pro
posal are provisions for in
creasing the reconnection fee
for delinquent account from
$25 to $40.
0.915 per $100 under Option A
wasn’t winning any support
ers either.
That leaves the commis
sioners looking closely at the
middle three options for a
balanced budget.
They paid particular atten
tion paid to the service levels
spelled out under the coun
ty’s second most stringent
budget proposal, Option B.
Here, beginning with the
option that proposed the least
painful reductions, is what
the three middle-of-the-road
options both cost and cut:
Option D - light cuts
In exchange for cutting
$776,000 from the budget by
rolling back school money
to this year’s spending levels
and cutting county mainte
See BUDGET on Pa* 2
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