482-4418
Wednesday, January 5, 201T
50«
Shalom Inemational holds
first Mercy Service, PAGE 6B
FEMA, state reject funding millponds
By RITCHIE E. STARNES
Editor
Recent funding rejec
tions have Ghowan County
leaders scrambling to find
alternate monies to pay for
damaged millponds.
County Manager Paul
Parker informed the Board
of County Commission
A Holiday Gift
' v PHOTO BY RITCHIE STARNES
Malynda Brickhouse, (l-r), and her two daughters, Quas-unique, 5, and Zia-lieya, 15, stand on the porch of their new house.The
Tyler Lane house is part of the Habitat for Humanity program and was dedicated to the family on Dp*. 18.
Family gets Habitat house before holidays
Home marks
Chowan’s 5th
By RITCHIE E. STARNES
Editor
A single mother and
her two daughters
celebrated the holi
day season with a wish
come true after taking
possession of the latest
house courtesy of Habitat
j| for Humanity - the
family’s first home.
Malynda Brickhouse,
34, and her daughters,
ages 5 and 15, were
presented the keys of
their new 202 Tyler Lane
house on Dec. 18, a week
before Christmas, but
Area welcomes New Year’s baby
By REBECCA BUNCH
Sfaff Writer
A Perquimans County
couple’s first child born at
Chowan Hospital is also the
New Year’s baby for 2011 in
the Albemarle area.
Melissa and Robert
Stallings Jr. of Winfall
welcomed their little girl,
Everista Marie, into the
world at 12:25 a.m.
Melissa said the baby,
who will be known sim
ply as Eve, was named for
her maternal great-grand
mother.
"We thought that she was
©2009 The Chowan Herald
All Rights Reserved
I
i
i
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Tuesday, January 11, 2011, 7-8:30 PM
2nd Floor. Public Safety Bldg. FREE Admission
•' - ... J.
ei*s at its Monday night
meeting that the Federal
Emergency Management
Agency refused to pay any
of its $120,000 estimated
flood damages at Dillard’s
and Bennett’s millponds,
caused by the deluge from
September’s Tropical
Storm Nicole. Parker said
FEMA reported that the
plenty of time to add
holiday decorations to
the 960-square-foot, three
bedroom house.
“This was the best
Christmas present that
I ever had,” Brickhouse
said. “Words couldn’t
explain how happy I felt.
I love it because it’s my
own house.”
Her girls were equally
as ecstatic, smiles still
beaming two weeks later.
They were especially
glad to be rid of having to
use kerosene heaters for
a source of warmth, par
ticularly during Decem
ber’s frigid temperatures.
Their new house has
central air conditioning
and heat.
•' REBECCA BUNCH/CHOWAN HERALD
Baby New Year. Melissa and Robert Stallings Jr., of Winfall, are
seen with their daughter, Everista Marie, who was bom at 12:25
a.m. Saturday at Chowan Hospital in Edenton.
going to be a New Year’s
Eve baby, but Eve took a
little longer to come,” Me
lissa, 26, said. ‘“We were
damages did not qualify
for agency funding.
After next turning to the
state’s Division of Water
Quality and the Wildlife
Association, both also re
fused to allocate funding
for the repairs, Parker
said.
Although the matter
was scheduled for discus
The Brickhouses
previously lived in a
substandard rental house
for three years. Part of
the application process
requires their Habitat
house candidates live in
such quarters.
Malynda acted quickly
to become a candidate for
the new home. She was
one of three applicants
pursuing the local Habi
tat house, the ninth for
the group and the fifth in
Chowan County.
“She is quite honestly
one of the best applicants
that we’ve ever had,”
said Dick Vail, Habitat
organizer.
After applying about
a year ago, Malynda sus
just glad she waited and
came this week instead of
See BABY, 4A
sion later in the meeting,
Parker’s comments came
earlier after four residents
used the public comment
section to express their
concerns about the mill
ponds and the perceived
lack of effort to make time
ly repairs.
“The millponds are still
there. They’re not going
pected early on that she
had been selected as the
next Habitat recipient.
“I thought I must have
got the house because
they kept calling me for
information,” Malynda
said.
Habitat applicants are
required to invest 250
hours of sweat equity
into the project.
“You got to do it all,
paint, yard, floors” Mal
ynda said.
Vail added that Mal
ynda more than fulfilled
her obligation to qualify
for the house.
“She came there every
night to help clean up.
<Sk
See HABITAT, 4A
anywhere,” said Eddy
Goodwin, board chair
man.
Floodwaters washed
awaysurroundinggrounds
after levees broke at both
millponds, also damaging
boat landings and struc
tures at the parks. Nicole
dumped nearly 14 inches
of rain on Edenton-Chow
Christmas sales
improved locally
Merchants: 2010
better than last year
By REBECCA BUNCH
Staff Writer
Local merchants say
sales this holiday season
were as good or better
than last year’s.
They are hopeful the
surge of shoppers they
have seen in recent
months is a sign that the
community is finally be
ginning to climb out of
the recession that led to
gloomy sales in 2009.
Among them is Eden
ton Mayor Roland
Vaughan, co-owner of
Vaughan’s Jewelry and
Fine Gifts.
“In the months of No
vember and December
we’ve seen our sales rev
enue increase by about
20 percent,” Vaughan
said. “Obviously, we are
very pleased.”
Vaughan added that'
overall sales picked up
from month to month
during 2010 “which we
hope is a sign we are fi
nally coming out of this
long, painful recession.”
Vaughan credited his
store’s success this year
to having a good mix
of inventory at a wide
range of prices, as well
as having a skilled sales
staff that made shopping
a pleasant experience for
customers.
. “We are cautiously op
timistic we will continue
to see improvement in
our (sales figures) in
2011,” Vaughan said.
Jadelle Wagner, man
ager of Peebles Depart
ment Store, said busi
Last 2010 Sunset
4 1 "■■■■' PHOTO BY SUSAN DIXON
The last sunset of 2010 over Edenton Bay creates an image difficult to distinguish water
from sky.
an within, two days.
The speakers talked
about the millponds’ valu
able contributions to the
community, including edu
cational, recreational, ag
ricultural, and historical.
The millponds date back
to the 1600s. Because of
See MILLPONDS, 3A
“We are
cautiously |
optimistic we
will continue r
■
to see
improvement
in our (sales |
Roland Vaughan
| Edenton mayor
f and co-owner of
Vaughan's Jewelry %
■ and Fine Gifts . |
ness was also strong
at her store during the
Christmas season.
Wagner said the big
difference over last
Christmas was in the
number of last minute
shoppers.
She said that last
Christmas there was
hardly anybody in the
store the day before
Christmas.
This Christmas, .Wag
ner said, “There was a
big jump in the number,
of people who waited
until the last minute
to shop. We had a huge
Christmas Eve (when it
came to sales).”
Wagner added that
Peebles had a better
Christmas in 2009 than
expected given the poor
economy. She credited a
marketing strategy that
emphasized sales and
putting coupons into the
hands of as many poten
tial shoppers as possible.
See SALES, 2A