T
State budget cuts hit dual enrollment program
I By Rebecca Bunch,
Staff. Writer -
*' . ,*
Economics. Communica
tions. History. Psychology.
If you’re a John A. Holmes
student hoping to take a col
| ■ lege-level course at COA’s
1 Edenton campus this year
that falls into one of these
categories, you shouldn’t
have a problem.
| On the other hand, if you
were hoping to take course
that falls elsewhere in the ed
ucation curriculum, you’re
I out of luck - for this year,
anyway.
The great pumpkin
I
I
d V.j
EARLINE WHITE/CHOWAN HERALD
Thomas Cecil Nixon, Sr. of Rocky Hock grew a 325 pound pumpkin. When asked how he grew such a large pumpkin, Nixon said,
“Well, I went out here and I grubbed me up*a little place near the garden, after I grubbed lip that little place, I put me a soaker hose
in the ground. I kept one end of the soaker hose up out of the ground with a stob so I could run another hose to it and hook on to it.
- After the plants came up I picked out this pumpkin and picked all the rest off the plant so this one could grow by itself. I watered it
twice a day four tanks of water twice a day. Then I sprayed it to keep the bugs and stuff like that off it; two different kinds of spray. I
planted the seeds the 1st of June. I could probably have got more pounds on it, if I left there another month, but I was scared it rained
so much it might rot.”
Sales tax
collections
are down
Final sales tax figures for
2008-09 show a 30 percent de
crease in collections for Chow
an County
Sales tax collections for the
year were down area-wide and
statewide. The numbers re
cently were sent to counties by
the state.
The figures for April, May
and June of this year - part
of the previous (2008-09) fiscal
year - were not available until
this most recent report.
Chowan County Manager
Peter Rascoe explained the
county already had revised
the sales tax revenue estimates
during the past fiscal year and
noted the final figures were
dose to the county’s revised
See MX on Page 2A
©2009 The Chowan hWald^
i All Rights Reserved . \J
In a budget-slashing move,
state legislators cut the funds
normally used to offer col
lege-level courses to high
schoolers, a move that many
educators believe has helped
cut the dropout rate in North
Carolina.
Offering the four catego
ries of studies listed above
was a last-minute. compro
mise to avoid doing away
with the plan entirely, said
Lynn Hurdle-Winslow, dean
of Edenton’s COA campus.
She said the change left
counselors scrambling to
help students interested in
Food pantry needs donations
Food Pantry Director Ray
Wells has an urgent message
for the community - Help!
“We are out of pretty
much everything," Wells
said Thursday
Wells said that during the
month of August, the Pantry
helped feed 215 families in
the community, 30 of them
for the first time.
“Except for the month of
December, when we prepare
and distribute baskets for
families, that is an all-time
high distribution for us,” he
added.
And donations are down
from the same time a year
ago, he said.
“That is no surprise based
on the economy, and the high
unemployment rate here,”
Wells noted.
The Pantry located on
North Broad Street beside
the Clothes Closet, is open
Monday, Wednesday and
Thursday mornings from 9
a.m. until 11:15 a.m.
Tax-deductible donations
to the Pantry may be mailed
to PO Box 643, Edenton, NC
27932. »
For more information, call
(252)482-2504.
signing up.
Dr. Men
Smith, su
perintendent
of the Eden
ton-Chowan
Schools, con
curred with
Winslow’s as
sessment of Alien
the situation.
He said only a strongly pro
active response by the guid
ance counselors at Holmes
blunted the impact of the
change.
Smith added that with the
growing popularity of online
courses, he expected that it
would only become more of
a challenge in the future for
schools like Holmes, which
works with COA and the Uni
versity of North Carolina at
Greensboro (UNC-G) to pro
vide those opportunities.
Tuition is free for the cours
es; books are paid for by the
Edenton-Chowan Schools.
Prior to the budget cuts,
Hurdle-Winslow said, the
dual enrollment program, as
it is known, provided “a wide
open opportunity” for stu
dents to take virtually any
course that interested them.
T-- .■'!..
"'v
■ /
r EARUNE WHITE/CHOWAN HERALD
Glory Morris, center, with Farmer’s Foods stands with, from left,
George Grother with Change for America and Edenton Food Pantry
director Ray Wells as Morris gives a kick start to the Change For
America food drive to support the local pantry which runs this
week. Donate at Farmer’s Foods.
Faced with a sinking
economy, though, legislators
decided to eliminate dual en-,
rollment dollars except for
those academic courses that
focused on science or math.
“Then they said that Learn
and Earn online [economics,
communications, history and
psychology], they would sup
port,” Hurdle-Winslow said.
While not generally held
face to face, the electronic
classroom sessions allow
elective credit for students.
Unlike academic courses,
all technical and vocational
offerings are still available
Town, coun
togetherfo]
By Earline White
Managing Editor
Meeting for the first time
since questioning of the Eden
ton-Chowan Development
Corporation’s viability came
to light months ago, leaders
of the town and county met
in a private, two hour meet
ing last week.
“Finger pointing and back
biting” between the town
and county has ceased since,
according to
commission
chairman
Eddy Good
win.
Goodwin
who in a
county meet
ing days pri
or said that
he had no in
Goodwin
terest in the county continu
ing to fund the ECDC, said
“months ago when the crisis
hit no one knew where the
money was... now they do? We
[the commission] are respon
sible for the county’s money
That’s my main concern.”
The county pulled its share
of annual finding from the
decade-old entity in July. The
two commissioners who sat
on the board on behalf of the
county were told by Goodwin
they no longer needed to at
tend ECDC board meetings
“until the smoke clears.”
The town threw the ECDC
a lifeline last month, voting
State jobless rate
decreases in August
Raleigh - North Caroli-.
na’s unemployment rate
decreased to 10.8 percent in
August, according to statis
tics released Sept. 18 by the
N.C. Employment Security
Commission.
“A small loss in the labor
force led to the decrease in
the rate,” said ESC Chair
man Moses Carey, Jr. “Much
like previous months, we
have not experienced a lot
of change in the labor force
one way or the other. These
small changes have resulted
in slight decreases through
out the past months.
“However, we are still
dealing with a high unem
ployment rate and contin
ue to assist our customers
throughout the state dur
ing these tough economic
times.”
Seasonally adjusted em
ployment decreased by 8,330
workers to 4,031,573. Unem
ployment decreased by 6,534
for college credit, These in
clude such courses as elec
trical, HVAC, culinary and
automotive.
The automotive courses
are taught at Holmes, the oth
ers at COA.
And Hurdle-Winslow said
the results of the cuts are al
ready being felt on campus.
“Enrollment among our .
adult students is up, I. think
due to the economy and job
layoffs,” she said, “but high
school enrollment in courses
we offer is down/’
See PROGRAM on Page 2A
ity to work
: growth
to continue its annual $36,000
appropriation. The vote was -
3-1.
A statement posted jointly
on the town and county Web
sites last week said the two
had agreed to hire an inde
pendent consultant, paid for
with grant money, to recom
mend how a development en
tity might be set up.
Plans initiated by the town
to have a peer review by the
Sanford Holshouser Eco
nomic Development Consult
ing group from Raleigh were
struck down.
“The county prefers not to
use Sanford Holshouser be
cause of the firm’s prior rep
resentation and association
with the Northeast Commis
sion,” Town Manager Anne
Marie Knighton said in an e
inail.
“I have asked Electrici
ties for recommendations of
other firms or entities that we
could consider to do the anal
. ysis. Peter [Rascoe] and I will .
also check with other entities
such as the Institute of Gov
ernment, the N.C. League of
Municipalities and the N.C.
Association of Counties,”
Knighton said.
In the meantime, the town’s
contribution for ECDC will be
used for loan payments and -
property taxes for the agency.
The future of the ECDC as
it has been known is uncer
tain.
workers, to 488,974. Since
this time last year, unem
ployment has increased by
189,252 people. Employment
is down by 217,761 workers
since August 2008. The state
rate in August 2008 was 6.6
percent.
Seasonally adjusted,
total non-farm industry
employment, as gathered
through the monthly estab
lishment survey, increased
by 7,000 jobs over the past
month and has decreased
by 214,000 since August
2008 - to 3,916,600. The larg
est over-the-month increase
occurred in Government
(+20,100). The largest de
crease was in Trade, Trans
portation and Utilities (•
4,400).
The next unemployment
update is scheduled for Fri
day, Sept. 25, when the coun
ty unemployment rates for
the month of August will be
released.
Chowan Hospital Foundation - Bembridge Insurance Agencies
€% 8” Annual Amateur Golf Charity Classic
^October 8,2009 @ Chowan Golf & Country Club
■
Bembridge Insurance Agencies
“Servicing Hertford, Edenton, Gatesville, Camden, and Moyock"
Eastern Radiologists
Chowan Hospital
Tri-County Anaesthesia
Edenton Urology / Edward Jones / UHS,
Albemarle Plantation / Chowan Co. Farm Bureau / BB&T
Chowan Herald & Daily Advance / Coastal Meetinu & Event Moot.
Nucor / John E. Bassett, Inc. /The Sackrisons / Vogedks Insurance, Inc,