Schools want return of pre-fiscal woes funding
Superintendent
asks for $730K
By RITCHIE E. STARNES
Editor
Edenton-Chowan
Schools has requested that
Chowan C6unty fund an
additional $730,000 over
last year’s budget en route
to restoring the system’s
allocation to 2008-09 fig
ures, or before the county’s
fiscal crisis.
With the school system
facing state and federal
shortfalls of roughly $1.5
million that has already
forced the elimination of
more than 40 local teach
mg positions and various
programs, Superinten
dent Allan Smith hopes
to absorb the hit with an
•increase from the county.
But, before the county will
entertain his request to
return to the budget days
that sent Chowan to the
brink of bankruptcy and
state takeover, Smith will
have to explain why the
schools are not first dip
ping into its own fund bal
ance of $1.3 million.
An audit shows that as
of June 30,2010 the schools
carryied a fund balance of
$2.7 million. Smith said,
however, half of that sum
is already allocated for the
2011-12 school year.
School systems are not
required to carry a fund
balance whereas coun
ties are forced to keep a
minimum of 8 percent of
its annual budget in re
serves: On Monday, Smith
commended the Board of
Education for its prudent
practice of keeping an an
nual fund balance.
“We have allocated mon
ey from our fund balance
for the last several years
to balance the budget,”
Smith said. “Fortunately,
we’ve had the reserves.
If we had not, reductions
would have been sharper.
This economic downturn
^ See FUNDING, 2A
Smith
named
extension
director
By REBECCA BUNCH
Staff Writer
Wheij Tim Smith heard
that the job of county ex
tension director would soon
be vacant, he didn’t have to
think long about whether
to apply
Last week, Smith, a
Chowan County native, be
gan work
as the new
county di
rector for
the N.C.
Coopera
tive Exten
sion Ser
vice. And
he says he
couldn’t Smith
be happier
about being back home.
“One reason the job was
so attractive to me was be
cause it gave me a chance
to come back home and
work with people I’ve been
around all my life,” Smith
said.
Smith, 33, said he already
knew some members of the
staff. He and fellow Chowan
County Extension Agent
Katy Shook met while both
were attending North Caro
lina State University
And Smith said other
members of the local ex
tension staff have already
done their best to make
him feel at home.
“Another thing I was re
ally excited about (in tak
ing the job) was the quality
of the staff,” Smith said.
Smith added that he liked
the mix of relatively new
staff members and more
experienced agents who
had been working in the
community for a while.
As far as what kind of
director he expects to be,
Smith said he wouldn’t be
one who spent a lot of time
behind a desk.
“I’d rather be out talking
with farmers, finding out
what questions they have,
what challenges they’re
facing and how I can help
them,” Smith said. “That’s
what I think this job’s
about.”
Shook, whose major fo
cus is horticulture, said
* she wasn’t surprised to
hear that.
Shook said that Smith
was not the type of person
who thought he had all the
answers, but that he was
diligent about trying to find
them.
•X:
See SMITH, 6A
89076h44813
02009 The Chowan Herald
All Rights Reserved
Memorial Eluded Redcoats
STAFF PHOTO BY RITCHIE STARNES
The Blount-Leary House in Edenton as it appears today. The house, circa 1772, served as the West Customs House
during the Revolutionary War and was the temporary home of the nation’s first monument for 10 years before it was
it was shipped to its final destination New York.
Franklin,
Memorial stored in
Edenton customs house
By RITCHIE E. STARNES
Editor
m s New York workers currently toil
over the restoration of America’s
i^»first national monument, there
was a time the marble and limestone
memorial of Gen. Richard Montgomery
remained hidden here in Edenton for
nearly a decade.
With New York and Philadelphia
swarming with redcoats, the monument
was shipped here in nine crates at the
paid expense of Benjamin Franklin.
Here because Edenton was one of the
few ports with customs houses that
would likely elude British seizure
while the Revolutionary War waged
on. Edenton was also home to Joseph
Hewes — one of Franklin’s most trusted
friends, signer of the Declaration of
Independence and regarded as the
country’s first Secretary of the Navy
“Hewes was extremely reliable. I
think he and Franklin were very close
and (Franklin) trusted him with his
life,” said Sally Webster, a professor
emerita at Lehman College of City
University of New York who has studied
the monument.
In 1776, -the then Continental Con
gress wanted to pay homage to the first
PHOTO COURTESY LEAH REDDY/TRINITY WALL STREET
See MONUMENT, 2A The marble and limestone memorial of Gen. Richard Montgomery.
Relay
for Life
set for
kick off
By REBECCA BUNCH
Staff Writer
For more than 10 years
the Z.T. Evans Family
Team has been a fixture at
Chowan-Perquimans Re
lay for Life in Edenton. But
this weekend there will be
no team.
Leon Evans and his wife
Joyce, who lead the team,
said they were not able to
do so this year because of
family-related health prob
lems.
Leon, who has been di
agnosed with prostate can
cer, is facing surgery in a
few weeks. The couple has
also been dealing with the
illness of their daughter
in-law who is experiencing
a heart-related ailment as
well as cancer.
“We have really had our
hands full,” said Joyce Ev
ans.
Absent from this year’s
Relay will also be the
“johnny house” fundraiser
established by Leon for
last year’s Relay. For a $20
donation, anyone in the
community could have the
old-fashioned outhouse,
complete with corncobs
and chicken wire, deliv
ered to the home or busi
ness of the person of their
choice, courtesy of Leon.
But this year, Leon said,
he just hasn’t been up to
moving the outhouse from
place to place.
Last year, the “johnny
house” ftmdraiser brought
in $3,600 in donations for
Relay And the Z.T. Evans
team has consistently been *
one of the top fundraisers
for Chowan-Perquimans
Relay for Life as well. It
came in second last year
for most money raised with
donations totaling $16,000.
Leon and Joyce said they
expect that their team and
the “johnny house” will be
part of Relay again next
year. And while they won’t
See RELAY, 6A
Owens, Spear vote for NC House budget
Bill restores bridge
funds, cuts fee for ferry
From stuff, wire reports
Area legislators Bill Owens and
Tim Spear were among the five
Democrats who joined House Re
publicans in voting Wednesday for
a budget bill that contains no tax
increases and includes deep cuts
in education and other programs.
The House approved the $19.3
billion spending
plan for the next
two years by a
72-47 margin. The
margin is signifi
cant because it’s
large enough to
withstand a po
tential veto by
Democratic Gov. Owens
Bev Perdue.
Owens, D-Pasquotank, and
Spear, D-Washington, were among
the five Democrats who joined
all Republicans
present in back
ing the measure
in a preliminary
vote Tuesday
night and voting
for final passage
Wednesday after
noon.
Reached
Wednesday be
fore the final vote, Owens said he
had decided to support the budget
crafted by House Republicans be
cause their leadership had worked
with him on several amendments
he supported, including funds
for the Mid-County Bridge and
N.C. Seafood Industrial Park. The
House leadership had also agreed
to include an additional $43 mil
lion in lottery funds for school con
struction and not impose a toll on .
the Knotts Island Ferry, he said.
“They were more than reason- ‘
able with me," Owens said. ■
See BUDGET, 3A
SSI., HSf tt till IWW* $8.00 MT pMl
a
mmm
For Tickets: Lynn Perry 331-5393, Frank
Jones 482-0305 or Greg Bonner 331-5213