i
4824418
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Edenton welcomes the
Christmas season, IB
raises county’s
Improved unemployment rate prompts change
By REBECCA BUNCH -
Staff Writer
An improved jobless rate
prompted the N.C. Depart
ment of Commerce to reclas
sify Chowan County as a Tier
2 county for 2011.
The county was ranked Tier
1 last year based on its high
jobless rate. Last October, for
example, the unemployment
rate stood at 10.8 percent. This
October, the rate had dropped
to 9.4 percent.
Richard Bunch, executive di
rector of the Edenton-Chowan
Chamber of Commerce, said
the news was a welcome sur
prise.
“It’s a direct reflection on
our business community be
ing able to continue keeping
people employed even in this
tough economy,” Bunch said.
“We’re not out of the woods
yet but at least we’re beginning
to see some light at the end of
the tunnel and that’s some
thing that hasn’t happened for
awhile.”
A reminder of how far the
community still has to go came
from Ricky Coltrain, who man
ages the local office of the state
Employment Security Com
mission.
“Things are still tough out
there for people who are look
ing for work,” Coltrain said.
Coltrain said that his of
fice currently only has 21 job
openings and 12 of those are
for part-time positions. Not all
of those jobs, he said, are in
Chowan County. His offlpe also
serves Gates and Perquimans
counties.
Tier 1 counties represent
the 40 most economically de
pressed counties in the state
and tier 3 counties, the 20 least
depressed; tier 2 counties rep
resent the middle 40 counties
in the state.
Tier 1 counties receive a
See ECONOMY, 6A
Collaboration
seen as key to
development
| By RITCHIE E. STARNES
;! Editor
' Collaboration remains
i| key to bolstering the
region’s tourism, espe
cially during a sluggish
economy that has the
state eyeing budget cuts,
i according to Secretary
Linda A. Carlisle, N.C.
Department of Cultural
Resources.
Carlisle visited Eden
ton last Tuesday morn
ing while attending
a Historic Albemarle
: Tour meeting here that
; included 34 representa
tives from 26 sites among
17 counties. The meet
! ing served as an inter
j nal rally for the Historic
i Albemarle Tour as the
’ organization continues
efforts to expand on its
cultural, historical, and
natural sites.
“We have so many
sites in a fairly concen
trated area that we need
that collaboration,” Car
lisle said. “We need to
bring together all of our
assets.”
Connie Townsend,
Historic Albemarle
Tour administrative co
ordinator, echoed that
New commissioners
take office on board
Board retains
GOP chairman
From stuff reports
Monday night’s Chowan
County Board of Commis
sioners meeting marked
the start of a new board
makeup and a familiar
chairman.
Commissioners-elect
Jeff Smith, John Mitchen
er, and Lawrence Ellis were
sworn into office as outgo
ing commissioners Kenny
the group’s marketing
strategy lies within the
power of numbers.
“We’re trying to in
corporate all the history
that we have,” Townsend
said. “By us grouping to
gether, we can get more
bang for our buck.”
In addition to encour
agement, Carlisle chal
lenged the Tour to in
crease its membership
and revenue. She of-,
fered a $5,000 matching
grant to help the cause,
Townsend said.
“I get more excited
about helping a group
that’s helping them
selves,” said Carlisle
in a meeting with the
Chowan Herald.
She said projected bud
get cuts mean the Tour
needs to become more
creative with marketing
its sites, particularly in
the Tidewater, Va. area.
“We have so many as
sets here,” Carlisle said.
“But, how do you make
that known? How do you
market that - not as a
specific location, but to
a region?”
In 2012, the Tour will
See CARLISLE, 6A
Goodwin, Jimmy Alligood,
and Louis Belfield bid fare
well.
“We’ve had to make some
tough decisions along the
way and I hope we made
the right ones,” Goodwin
said.
“I do think the board is
headed in the right direc
tion,” he added.
Belfield agreed that the
county is poised for corn
tinued improvement.
“I think we’ve made
See BOARD, 4A
SUBMITTED PHOTOS
Edenton's Christmas tree moments after the annual lighting held Friday evening (top photo). Santa Claus listens as area
children greet him at the annual tree lighting ceremony Friday night (above photo).
TOU
et
By REBECCA BUNCH
Staff Writer
The owners of 10
of Edenton’s loveliest
homes will open their
doors to the public dur
ing this weekend’s 29th
annual Christmas Can
dlelight Tour.
Tour co-chairwoman
Susan Creighton said
organizers have a great
tour planned with eight
of the 10 homes appear
ing on the tour for the
first time this year.
Creighton said that
tremendous interest has
been generated. “Pre
sales for this year’s tour
are larger than we’ve
ever had,” she said.
“And the weather is
supposed to be just per
fect with temperatures
in the 50s.”
In addition to the
homes, the tour, which
takes place this Friday
See TOUR, 2A
Town leadership nixes pursuit of trail system
By REBECCA BUNCH
Stuff Writer
Town leaders nixed plans
that Edenton would pursue
©2009 The Chowan Herald
All Rights Reserved
a combina
tionbicycle
and hiking
trail any
time soon.
At its
Nov. 22
committee
meeting,
the Town
Council
declined to endorse a reso
Knighton
lution that would have
allowed Town Manager
Anne-Marie Knighton to
apply for a planning grant
from the N.C. Department
of Transportation. ^
The planning grant
would have enabled the
town to hire a consultant
to work with the Planning
Board, the Recreation Ad
visory Board, and citizens
■to come up with a plan
for an accessible bicycle
and walking system that
would connect established
and newer neighborhoods,
Knighton said. x
It would also have pro
vided an opportunity for
the town to work collab
oratively with the county
to develop a bike path and
trail that would have con
nected rural parts of the
county with Edenton — for
instance, from West Queen
Street to the new fishing
pier at the Chowan River
Bridge.
Knighton noted that ev
ery time she talked with
DOT about getting a bicycle
path established, “they say,
you need a master plan”.
If funded, the town would
have received $28,000 in
grant funds and would have
been required to contribute
$7,000 in matching funds.
The town had already
received an endorsement
from the Albemarle Com
mission’s Rural Trans
portation Planning Or
ganization in support of
See TRAIL, 3A
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