482-4418 -
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
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Chef to
duel at
Market
Impossible
Challenge,
Page IB
50«
Marine to get Purple Heart at game
By REBECCA BUNCH
Staff Writer
Love of community
is prompting Lance Cpl.
Bobby Brown to share his
Purple Heart awarding
with family and friends in
Edenton.
Love of country prompt
ed Brown, of the U.S. Ma
rine Corps, to risk his life
to save others this spring
while serving in Afghani
stan. He suffered burns
from a grenade explosion.
Brown’s actions earned
him the Purple Heart.
A ceremony saluting
Brown will be held on Fri
day evening, Sept. 24, at
the football game between
Edenton and Bertie.
Special guests at the cer
emony will be two former
Marines who live in< Eden
ton, Tom Griffin and Ben
Rinehart. According to
Aaron Davidson,^comman
dant of the local Marine
Corps League, .Rinehart
will take part in the cer
emony.
Davidson said the last
time a Marine from this
area received a Purple
Heart was during the Viet
nam War.
“As far as there ever be
ing a ceremony like- this
held in Edenton, as far as
I know there hasn’t been
one,” Davidson said. “We
want to make it as special
as we can for Bobby.” Part
of making it special will
involve inviting all cur
rent and former service
men and women from the
area to come to the game
that night and help honor
Brown, Davidson said.
Brown requested that
his Purple Heart be award
ed during that particular
game because the yearly
event has great personal
meaning for his fam
ily, Brown said. His father,
Robert Brown, has been an
assistant coach at Bertie
for the past 18 years, and
Bobby played for the Aces
in high school.
“Edenton is my home
town,” Bobby said when
asked why he chose to have
the ceremony here rather
than in Texas where he is
undergoing rehabilitation
for his injuries.
“He could have chosen
to have it anywhere but he
wanted to do it here,” add
ed his sister Christina.
“We moved here 23 years I
ago,” said his mother, Lin- |
da Brown, “and we love it
here. This is our home. He
wanted to share this honor
with his Edenton family.”
Bobby suffered first and
second degree burns to his
See BROWN, 3A
Aces to hold 50th Anniversary
PHOTO FROM THE 1961 JOHN A. HOLMES HIGH SCHOOL YEARBOOK
A victorious Edenton Aces carry coach Bill Billings off the field after his 1960 football team defeated Hanes (Winston Salem) 19-7 for the high school
state 2A football championship, the last outright championship the school earned.
Coach Billings key to ’60 perfect season
By RITCHIE E. STARNES
Editor
If this season’s Edenton Aces
require any gridiron inspira
tion, the players might want
to skip the halftime speech
and keep their eyes peeled at '
midfield.
On Sept. 24, players from
John A. Holmes High School’s
1960 state high school 2A foot
ball championship team will be
honored at halftime. That Hol
mes team went 13-0, defeating
Hanes (Winston Salem) for the
title, the last outright football
championship that Edenton
ever claimed.
Other than Edenton’s first
football championship in 1934,
the 50s and 60s were the Aces
heyday as a perennial power
house. Edenton also earned
championship hardware in •
’54, ’56, and ’57. They shared
top honors in ’64, ’65, ’67, and
’69, during a time when no one
team held the state title.
“Back then everybody came
to the football game; It was the
only thing going,” said Jerry
Tolley, Aces’ 1960 halfback.
Ask any of his teammates
about that 1960 season and
the championship game, they
recall details as if the game was
played yesterday
“We took a 6-0 lead into half
time,” said Jack Sawyer, center
and defensive end. “They soon '
scored to start the second half
to take a 7-6 lead. That was the
first time we were behind all
year.
“Coach (Bill Billings) gave us
the devil at halftime,” Sawyer
added. “He was always good for
that.”
Carroll Forehand, the team’s
junior quarterback on a mostly
senior-laden team, remembers
game night as brutally cold
- tough for a player dependent
on his hands. He called the
game “hard fought.”
“All of the games up until
then were easy, but that cham
pionship game was by far the
toughest,” Forehand said.
Defensive end Alex Kehayes
remembers he warmed the
hench that night. The preced
ing playoff game, however, he
played.
“Coach Billings played me
when we played teams that S
liked to sweep,” Kehayes re
called. “If it was a run it up the
gut team, I didn’t play
“I didn’t come away with woe
is me I didn’t play,” he added.
“I came away happy that I
was part of the championship
team.”
See ACES, 2A
Hospital’s bid rejected for Mental Health site
By RITCHIE E. STARNES
Editor
Efforts to sell the former
Mental Health building hit
a snag after the Chowan
County Board of Commis
sioners voted unanimous
ly Monday night to reject a
purchase bid from Chowan
Hospital.
Commissioners agreed
©2009 The Chowan Herald
All Rights Reserved
that the hospital’s offer
of $250,000 was too low to
seriously consider. Tax
records show the value of
the building alone is worth
$831,947. The property is
part of 22 acres contigu
ous to the hospital.
“As low as the bid was,
the enterprise committee
would not entertain it,”
said Commissioner Keith
Nixon.
Interim County Manag
er Paul Parker advised the
board that Jeff Sackrison,
hospital president, visited
county officials earlier
Monday indicating that
the hospital would enter
tain a counter offer. .
Nixon said between the
difference of the low bid
and the building’s tax
value as well as deter min-,
ing the value of the land,
more time would be re
quired before considering
a counter offer.
“I can’t see us making a
counter offer to the hospi
tal,” Nixon added.
He also pointed to the
county’s recent sale of
land on Virginia Road that
fetched $300,000.
In a July 26 letter to
Chowan County Com
mission Chairman Eddy
Goodwin, Sackrison miti
gated the building and
property’s value because
of its site location and
the structure’s founda
tion. He wrote that be
cause the building is too
close to nearby Filbert’s
Creek, the structured had
sustained “visible cracks
in the exterior wall and a
slope in the interior hall
ways.”
“The only way to pre
serve the foundation is
through costly slope stabi
lization measures, which
are not recommended for
a building of this size,”
Sackrison wrote.
Sackrison also ex
pressed concerns about
the building’s. electric
heat pumps and interior
renovations due to mois
ture damage.
He stated the hospital
would use the building
and property for hospital
office use.
Another option includes
the Health Department
using the property, a move
currently being evalu
ated.
Before attempting to
sell' or lease the build
ing and property, county
leaders waited for months
See SITE, 2A
Chowan
adopts
state
plan
Commission wants
prayer ban reversed
By RITCHIE E. STARNES
Editor
County commissioners
adopted a series of new
policies Monday night, in
cluding a new Water Short
age Response Plan.
The Chowan County
Board of Commission
ers unanimously adopted
a resolution that imple
ments a Water Shortage
Response Plan as required
by the state. Chowan’s new i;
plan has already met the
approval of the N.C. De
partment of Environment
and Natural Resources. It
had to be formally adopted
by the commissipners.
In the event of a water
shortage, the plan calls for
specific for ms of water cus
tomer notification, levels
. of response, enforcement,
public comment, effective
ness, and opportunities for
revision.
See PLAN, 3A
New EHA
director j
is hired
By REBECCA BUNCH^
Staff Writer
Deborah Davis of
Charleston, S.C. has been
named new director of the
Edenton
Housing
Authority.
Davis is
replacing
longtime
director
Mary Har
rell who
resigned
recently
due to health concerns.
Davis, who holds a Mas
ters degree in counseling,
is a graduate of Virginia
Commonwealth Univer
sity and attended graduate
school at The Citadel.
After college, Davis
worked in the public hous
ing sector in a variety of
roles including becoming
a certified housing coun
selor who helped tenants
repair their credit.
Davis
See DAVIS, 2A