482-4418
Wednesday, April 27, 2011 50c
RACING FOR
SUCCESS
No county tax hike expected
Latest structures
debt service due
By RITCHIE E. STARNES
Editor
Chowan County taxpay
ers are not likely to face a
property tax increase for
the next fiscal year.
“We’re looking good. We
should have money left on
the table this year,” said
County Manager Paul
Parker, offering his opin
ion of the county’s next
fiscal year budget diming
Thursday’s Board of Com
missioners’ meeting held
at the Northern Commu
nity Center.
County leaders dissect
ed a $16 millioh annual
budget that appears free
of any sharp revelations
that could lead to a tax
hike. That doesn’t mean
this year’s budget expens
es are spike free. In fact,
county taxpayers must be
gin paying principal pay
ments on the debt service
for the Shepard-Pruden
Memorial Library and
the Public Safety Center
in the amount of $200,000.
Employee benefits for
county personnel also in
creased 25 percent for an
extra $130,000.
Before now, the county
had been paying only
interest for the library
and public safety center,
Parker said. Principal
payments are due for the
first time during the next
fiscal year.
A sudden increase in
county employee benefits
means the county must
offset the increase so the
take-home pay for person
nel will not change. Previ
ous talks included requir
ing employees to share the
pain of the increase with
See TAX HIKE, 2A
Relief workers
fan out to help
tornado victims
Volunteers, donations
amass in Bertie
By VERNON FUESTON
Bertie Ledger-Advance
ASKEWVILLE — Relief workers’
vehicles were so plentiful that
many were parked along the
street near the Askewville Assembly
of God church, Wednesday.
Workers from the Baptist Men,
Samaritan’s Purse, Salvation Army
and a host of other organizations,
companies and individuals, came to
man a feeding station, organize to
clear debris and distribute needed
supplies to storm victims.
About 450 volunteers were working
in the Askewville area alone Wednes
day, with many more working in the
hard-hit Colerain area.
Out in the church parking lot, a
long black and white semi and trailer
from Samaritan’s Purse served as
a nerve center for volunteers who
were arriving from all over North
Carolina and beyond, its generator
throbbing to power the offices and
communications facilities inside.
See RELIEF, 4A
Milly Jemigan of Bertie County picks through the bulldozed debris that was once her home, picking put useable video tapes from a ruined
dresser drawer. Residents are still cleaning up the mess left when two tornados ripped through Bertie County, killing 12.
Chowan joins
disaster relief effort
By REBECCA BUNCH
Staff Writer
From clearing debris to preparing
meals, Chowan County locals have
extended a helping hand to the tor
nado victims of neighboring Bertie
County.
Among them is Gary Swanner, a
retired Edenton firefighter who is a
member of the Baptist Men’s Group
at Edenton Baptist Church. He and
Gloria Voigt, another EBC member,
are volunteering to cook meals for
workers and survivors at the Coler
ain Fire Station.
“We have been cooking as many as
900 meals a day,” Swanner said.
See DISASTER, 4A
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SUBMITTED PHOTO
Deborah Lee joins
Steven Brown, both of
RBC Bank in Edenton,
in showing some of the
items collected for the
Bertie County tornado
relief effort. Lee said
the bank will continue
to serve as a drop-off
point for donations
locally as long as the
service is needed.
Owens downplays district rumors
Owens: 1st District
already leans to GOP
By REQQIE PONDER
Stctff Writer
State Rep. Bill Owens last
week downplayed specula
tion that Pasquotank might
be joined with Perquimans,
Chowan and Gates coun
ties to form a new House
district.
“No,” Owens said when
asked if he was aware of
plans to join Pasquotank,
Perquimans, Chowan and
813'
©2009 The Chowan Herald
All Rights Reserved
Gates in a House district.
“That puts the cart way be
fore the horse.”
Public hearings ^on N.C.
General Assembly redis
tricting
will be
held May
7 at 4 p.m.
in three lo
cations in
northeast
ern North
Carolina:
Room 111
at the John Owens
Wood Fore
man Center oh the campus
of College of The Albemar
le in Elizabeth City; Room
DC201 at the Technol
ogy Center on COA’s Dare
County Campus in Manteo;
and the Information High
way Room at John A. Holm
es High School in Edenton.
Owens, D-Pasquotank,
represents a.district that
includes Camden, Curri
tuck and Tyrrell counties
as well as Pasquotank.
He* said the only person
he has heard talk about
a district encompassing
Pasquotank, Perquimans,
Chowan and Gates counties
is Earl Rountree, a former
member of the N.C. Board
of Transportation.
Owens said neither he
nor Rountree would have
any say in the drawing
of House districts since a
“handful” of Republican
leaders would be making
those decisions.
There are no definite
plans now and the GOP
leadership is still getting
public input in a series of
See OWENS, 3A
Museum Opens Friday
PHOTO BY KIP SHAW
Gerald Lassiter (left), Cotton Mill Museum Board member, talks with museum visitors,
Thursday. Friday at 10 a.m. marks the official grand opening of the museum.
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