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Skills See B1
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native Bunch
turns 100 SeeB1
Artifacts reveal historical grounds
Town worker donates
treasure to history
By Ritchie E. Starnes
and Rebecca Bunch
Editor
Staff Writer
It all started with the
fortuitous discovery of a
coin - a 1786 Connecticut
Copper.
Since then, Bobby Wil
liams, 64, has spent the
last six years consumed
with research and combing
the surrounding grounds
of Edenton’s wastewater
treatment plant, located off
Macedonia Road. Williams;
a town employee since
2004, spends his lunch hour
scouring the hallowed earth
where the Blenheim Manor
House, later known as the •
Pagett Plantation, once
stood centuries ago. Penel
ope Barker of the Edenton
Tea Party fame, was among
the heirs of the property
and once lived at the estate.
First armed with a metal
detector and an archaeologi
cal survey, dating back to
the town’s acquisition of
the land for the treatment
' plant, Williams dedicated
his spare time to roaming .
the property What followed
is a bounty of artifacts that
has drawn the interest of
historians and anthropolo
gists.
“They say ‘there must
have been a collector who
lived there,’ but I think
different,” Williams said.
"There was something go
ing on there.”
*>, Williams has unearthed
f a number of military
artifacts, dating back to
the Revolutionary War or
the War of 1812. There are
musket balls, bullet-pierced
brass buttons.
Williams points to the
fact that academicians cite
the absence of records that
would prove that the area
was once home to military
skirmishes from that era.
“They don’t have any
thing that shows there was
any military activity here,”
Williams said. “Who said
some didn’t run off. They
marched from St. Augustine
(Florida) to Yorktown (Penn
sylvania). Who knows what
“v route they took?”
Williams believes that
there are enough artifacts to
By Rebecca Bunch
Staff Writer
Next month during its an
nual retreat, the Edenton
Town Council is expected to
look at ways to increase its
reserve funds.
The town’s accountant,
Jim Winston, said that while
the town had a “clean” au
dit, meaning that there were
no areas of concern, he rec
ommended that the town in
crease its reserve funds to 40
percent. Currently, the town’s
reserves are at 33 percent.
“Several years ago the
©2009 The Chowan Herald
All Rights Reserved
Town accountant: Raise
reserves to 40 percent
CHOWAN HERALD PHOTOS BY RITCHIE E. STARNES
Bobby Williams found an assortment of artifacts, such as these pictured. Among the items are part of a
meat cleaver, fork, currency, handmade brick, and the bones and teeth of a slaughtered hog.
support the past presence of
a Spanish fort.
“I don’t think it’s a Span
ish site, but it’s interesting,”
said Charles Ewen, profes
sor of anthropology at East
Carolina University.
Williams has deferred
council set a goal to grow the
general fund reserve to thir
ty percent,” Mayor Roland
Vaughan said. “We met and
exceeded that goal as of June
30.
“(Jim Winston) has urged
us to get to 40 percent, which
is what the average reserve is
for municipalities with popu
lations of 5 to 10,000 people
and with electric systems.”
The mayor acknowledged
that achieving that goal
would require some creative
thinking.
“It will be a challenge to
increase the reserve, and this
is a goal that the council will
like discussion at our upcom
ing Vision Session (retreat).”
Town Manager Anne-Marie
Knighton said that Winston
has not made specific recom
See RESERVES on Page 2A
to Ewen for his expertise.
Ewen has sent an archaeo
logical team of students to
the site with plans for fur
ther study. Tests show that
that there are anomalies
beneath the surface. It also
confirmed that there are '
Former deputy
heads to court
From staff reports
The former veteran
Chowan County Sheriffs
deputy charged with nine
sexual offenses involving a
high school student heads
to court Monday.
William Greg Whitehurst,
48, is scheduled to appear in
Superior Court and answer
the charges related to an al
leged 2005 incident. At the
time, Whitehurst was work
ing as a school resource of
ficer (SRO) at John A. Hol
mes High School. Charges
include three counts of sec
ond-degree sexual offense,
three counts of indecent
liberties with a student, and
three counts of sexual ac
tivities with a student.
Whitehurst was recog
In the left photo, town of
Edenton employee Bobby Wil
liams points to a spot on the
ground where he found a rare
coin believed to associated
with the history of the colonial
Blenheim Manor, later known as
the Pagett Plantation. Inspired
by the discovery near the town’s
wastewater treatment plant,
Williams spent six years scour
ing the historical site.
traces of a brick structure
still underground. Williams
said his research suggests
that there’s a cellar.
Williams also solicited the
assistance of the University
of Nofre Dame, who identi
fied the original coin that
set the town employee in
motion.
Other artifacts from the
early 18th century through
the early 19th century
include buckles, a wine tap,
a pocketknife, blacksmith
tools, upholstery tacks,
horse tack, spurs, latches
and assorted pieces of ce
ramics, pottery, and earth
enware.
Ewen acknowledged that
the artifacts suggest that the
home was one of wealth and
that the families enjoyed
affluence. It’s that affluence
and the types of recovered
artifacts that also indicate
that the people of the
See WILLIAMS on Page 2A
nized as the
‘04 Law En
forcement
Officer of
the Year by
the Ameri
can Legion
Post 40.
The com- 1 i i 1
plaint was Whitehurst
originally
reported directly to the State
Bureau of Investigation in
Elizabeth City in 2008. At
that time, Whitehurst was
placed on administrative
leave, pending the probe.
Whitehurst was dis
missed from the Sheriffs
Office earlier this year after
21 years on the job.
Prior to working as a SRO, *
Whitehurst worked in civil
processing and patrol.
CHOWAN HERALD PHOTO BY RITCHIE L STARNES •
Edenton native Adrian Backus addresses hundreds at Monday’s
Martin Luther King Jr. observance at Swain Auditorium.
Backus calls for
By Ritchie E. Starnes
Editor
“I don’t look at the color of
opportunity, I look for the op
portunity”
Those were a sample of the
words Edenton native Adrian
Backus delivered at Monday’s
Martin Luther King Jr. ob
servance. Backus encour
aged the hundreds that filled
Swain Auditorium to stay
King’s course of seeking so
cial improvements.
“Don’t be crying about
what you don’t have,” Backus
added.
He reminded those in at
tendance that blacks have
been conditioned to resist
opportunities, adding a few
personal anecdotes from his
days living in Edenton whei’e
King once visited and spoke
in 1962.
Despite Backus profes
sional and personal success,
he said that he still feels the
emotional scars that cause
him anxiety when mingling
with whites in contemporary
settings.
, He warned those of his
generation not to succumb to
such scars and transfer their
roots of hate to their chil
dren.
“We have been conditioned
to sit where we are and say
‘why should I get involved,”’
Backus said.
Backus encouraged the
Thieves strike two
downtown businesses
From staff reports
Thieves broke into two
downtown businesses and
stole assorted items, includ
ing cash, according to Eden
ton police.
Employees arriving to
work Friday morning at
Blount’s Drug Store and
Eye Care Center of Edenton
found that their respective
businesses had been broken
into sometime after closing
Thursday, police say.
Police were first called
to Blount’s at 8 a.m. Friday
where thieves had pried ajar
bar-covered windows at the
rear of building and entered,
said Jim Blount, storeowner.
Blount said his store was
“trashed.” He declined to
specify what had been stolen,
but a police press release in
dicated that drugs and undis
closed amount of cash were
among the items taken.
Police Chief Jay Forten
bery said he believes that the
suspects targeted the busi
nesses because of drugs.
‘‘Don’t be crying
about what you
don’t have”
Adrian Backus
Speaking at Monday’s
Martin Luther King
observance
youth in attendance to stop
with their insolent behavior
and, instead, become produc
tive citizens in their commu
nity
“This is not the time to sit
on our backside and do noth
ing,” he added.
“I don’t want to hear an
other black man tell me they
don’t want to work. You find
work!”
Backus pointed to the im
portance of building commu
nities without racial barriers,
using the current plight in
Haiti as a reminder that much
needs to be done throughout
the world. He urged everyone
to work to improve relation
ships regardless of race.
“You can’t go your own way,.
you have to do it with others,”
Backus said.
Backus is a ’72 graduate of
John A. Holmes High School.
He currently serves as the
vice president of information
$nd technology at Princeton
Theological Seminary
While no drugs were tak
en from the Eye Care Cen
ter, thieves made off with a
laptop computer, a medical
optical device, and an undis
closed amount of currency,
according to police reports.
As with Blount’s, the sus
pects entered through a bro
ken window.
“They had a busy night,”
said Blount, referring to a
number of other downtown
businesses that he learned
were unsuccessfully targeted
during the night.
“It’s very frustrating,”
Blount added. “I feel thor
oughly violated.”
Blount said that the break
in marks only the second af
ter hours crime at the store
in his 41 years of operation.
Police have no suspects at
this time, but evidence was
collected from the crime
scenes and forwarded to the
State Bureau of Investiga
tion for analysis, Fortenbery
said. Anyone with informa
tion is asked to call Edenton
police at (252) 482-5144.