482-4418
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Paper Social Security checks ending
Electronic benefits
began last Sunday
By WILLIAM F. WEST >
Staff Writer
The days of mailing
Social Security and other
STAFF PHOTO BY KIP SHAW
Edenton Woman’s Club member Terri Fox waits to greet Pilgrimage Tour visitors at the James Ceffiel&House at 209 East King St., currently
the home of Mr. and Mrs. Keith Sorensen.
Organizers, visitors deem Pilgrimage a success
Event fetches
about $20,000 -
By REBECCA BUNCH
Staff Writer .'
i ,
About 1,000 people took
advantage of the mild
weekend weather to
visit Edenton during its Bi
ennial Pilgrimage, organiz
ers said Monday.
Tour treasurer Marilyn
Racine said the tour raised
around $20,000 putting it
on par with the Pilgrimage
held in 2009. Proceeds will
be used toward historical
preservation efforts.
“We weren’t quite sure
what to expect, given the
state of the economy,”
Racine said. “But we were
very pleased with the way
things turned out.”
This year’s tour attracted
many first-timers to the
See PILGRIMAGE, 6A
Osama bin Laden is killed; locals ‘glad he’s gone’
Most worry about
retaliation in US
By BILL WEST
Staff Writer
Willie Gorham was in
his 70s when terrorists hi
jacked four U.S. airplanes
02009 The Chowan Herald
All Rights Reserved
. A--, • V .. i •.
federal benefits checks are.
coming to an end.
In an effort to cut costs,
the U.S. Treasury Depart
ment is phasing out using
paper as a way to pay peo
ple for social insurance,
Veterans Affairs benefits
and other federal benefits.
The Edenton Carriage Company added a touch of period class to the Pilgrimage tour weekend by
providing rides around town for tour visitors.
and flew three Into build
ings and the fourth into
the ground, killing more
than 3,000 Americans in
the worst-ever terrorist at
tack on U.S. soil.
Because of. his health
problems, Gorham, now 83,
didn’t think he’d live long
enough to see the man ac
cused of masterminding
those attacks — al-Qaida
leader Osama bin Laden —
either captured or killed.
But he did.
Bin Laden was killed
Sunday by an elite team of
40 U.S. Navy SEALs during
Starting Sunday, anyone
newly applying for such
federal benefits checks is
going to have to select an
electronic option to re
ceive payments, Melody
Barrett, a Treasury De
partment spokeswoman,
said.
a covert operation in Paki
stan, ending a nearly 10
year manhunt for likely the
most notorious terrorist in
history
Gorham, who was read
ing newspaper accounts
of bin Laden’s death at the
Elizabeth City-Pasquotank
Senior Center on Monday,
said he thinks someone had
to know about bin Laden’s
whereabouts all that time.
He wonders why it took
nearly a decade to find him.
All the same, he’s glad that
bin Laden is finally gone.
; “It’s good that he’s out,”
The change to a com
pletely electronic system
is going to save taxpayers
more than $1 billion over a
decade, Barrett said.
One option is direct de
posit into a bank or credit
union account, while the
other option is a direct ex
he said.
Mary Armstrong, 72, was
also happy that U.S. forces
were finally able to find and
kill bin Laden. She credits
God for helping the U.S.
pinpoint bin Laden’s hid
ing place at a private com
pound in Pakistan.
“He was a thorn in our.
side. And I feel like the
United States is much bet
ter off ..." with bin Laden
gone, she said
Armstrong said she’s
most happy for U.S. troops
— who’ve been deployed
to fight in wars in both Af
press pre-paid debit card.
Barrett said a major
reason for the change is
more than 18 million baby
boomers are going to reach
retirement age in the next
five years.
“That’s about 10,000
people a day that are be
coming eligible for Social
Security benefits,” Barrett
said.
‘‘So, with that wave of
baby boomers coming,
we thought we needed to
get out in front of this to
See CHECKS, 2A
Planning Board
requests UDO
amendment
From staff reports
The Edenton Planning Board, by a
majority vote, agreed Monday night to
recommend to the town council that
its Unified Development Ordinance be
amended to allow fruit and vegetable
markets.
The request to amend the UDO came
from the Chowan-Edenton Environmen
tal Group that wants to see the Edenton
Farmers Market that it operates be al
lowed in the R-5 residential zoning dis
trict near the Mill Village. The CEEG
hopes to relocate its market to that site
on an abandoned railroad property
bounded by East Queen Street. That use
is not currently allowed in that neigh
borhood under the UDO.
The UDO regulates zoning and sub
division regulations, flood damage
See BOARD, 7A
County calls
for budget
public
hearing
By RITCHIE STARNES
Editor
The Chowan County Board of Com
missioners has called for a May 16 pub
lic hearing to address the next fiscal
budget.
Taxpayers will then get an opportuni
ty to speak on any concerns about Chow
an’s $16 million annual budget. During
Monday night's scheduled board meet
ing, commissioners made no changes
to the county manager’s recommended
budget for 2011-12 other than to approve
a $120,000 loan to the Emergency Man
agement Service for the purchase of a
new ambulance.
It also approved via the consent agen
da to increase the county’s revenue froit)
the state’s tax distribution from beer
and wine sales. The underestimated
revenue of $21,800 will be used to fund a
study about the county’s employee com
pensation.
Funds for the ambulance purchase will
See BUDGET, 4A
ghanistan and Iraq in the
decade ever since the Sept.
11,2001 attacks.
“I’ll be even happier if we
can get ‘em out of Afghani
stan,” she said.
At Elizabeth City State
University, sophomore Kay
anna Carroll, 21, of Enfield,
was also pleased with the
news that bin Laden was
dead.
"He (bin Laden) started
so many issues within the
United States and within
other countries,” Carroll
said. “And he just really
needed to be taken out.”
Although Carroll was
just a youngster when the
Sept. 11, 2001 attacks took
place, her father’s distant
relatives were among the
victims killed in the attack
on the World Trade Center
in New York City.
Philip Dance, 69, a for
mer longtime Northrop
Grumman shipyard work
er, called bin Laden’s death
“a blessing to the United
States.” He praised the
Obama administration’s
handling of the military
See BIN LADEN, 5A