See photos from Edenton
Christmas events — 1B
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Postal workers allege employee harassment
Customers say
service suffering
By RITCHIE E. STARNES
Editor
Edenton postal work
ers say they’re the latest
victims of a beleaguered
postmaster with a reputa
tion of choking employee
morale. Now, customers
- are complaining the facil
ity no longer provides the
same quality service.
Although they say union
rules prohibit postal em
ployees from airing then
grievances to the media,
several Edenton postal
workers spoke privately
about how the facility’s
newest postmaster Cin
der Israel continuously
berates employees. Mean
while, customers allege
that since Israel’s arrival,
the level of service they’ve
become accustomed has
eroded.
Employees acknowledge
that Israel’s criticism pri
marily seems to be aimed
at improving the speed of
delivery while reducing
employee overtime. Her ef
forts to streamline duties
have also led to the elimi
nation of customer servic
es usually performed.
In addition to union
rules, employees decline
to speak out for fear of re
taliation. But, a customer
witnessed one of Israel’s
verbal attacks on a veteran
carrier Maurice Bunch in
the parking lot at the post
office. Edna Harvey said
Israel was questioning the
manner that Bunch had
loaded his mail for the
day’s delivery
“She was speaking
harshly to Mr. Bunch,”
Harvey said. “She was be
ing very inappropriate.
She said to him ‘I’m the
postmaster and you’re the
mail carrier.’ I was horri
fied.
“You don’t talk to anyone
like that. And if you have
an issue with someone,
you don’t take it out in the
parking lot,” she added. “I
was saddened for the com
munity.”
Employees allege such
verbal assaults are typical
from Israel.
One employee said Isra
el’s management style has
been counter productive to
any attempts to save time,
resulting in her proce
dures taking longer and re
sulting in more overtime.
Customers say Israel’s
new practices have come
at the expense of customer
service, especially for a
facility with a reputation
for strong community rela
tions.
A customer said when he
called the post office with a
question, he was directed
to refer to the computer.
When he asked for the
clerk that usually assisted
him without fail, he was
told they could no longer
See POST OFFICE, 2A
White
delayed
Defense attorney:
Witness unavailable
By WILLIAM F. WEST
The Daily Advance
A hearing has been de
layed again in the case of a
woman accused of sending
a threatening e-mail to Col
lege of the Albemarle and
one of COA’s faculty mem
bers in early October.
Marga
ret Monikar
White, who
is charged
with mis
demeanor
cyber
stalking,
has now.
been or
dered to
appear in
White
Pasquotank
County District Court on
Jan. 13. District Attorney
Frank Parrish said Friday
evening that White’s attor
ney, Sam Dixon of Eden
ton, has a witness believed
essential to White’s de
fense, but that the witness
was unavailable to appear
in court.
“And that was the sole
reason it was continued,’’
Parrish said. “We want
him (Dixon) to be able to
present any claims or de
fenses, obviously. And we
had the police available
and the appropriate wit
nesses from COA on tele
phone standby.”
White appeared in Dis
trict Court at 9:30 a.m., as
rescheduled back on Oct.
31. Parrish, representing
the state in court on Friday
morning, called the names
on the court docket. When
he got to White’s name,
Dixon stepped forward and
said he was representing
White.
Dixon then asked Judge
Robert Trivette whether
he could approach the
bench with Parrish. After
the three talked quietly,
Trivette announced the
hearing would be reset to
the Jan. 13 date.
Moments later, Dixon
met in the hallway with
White and her family
Dixon, White and White’s
family declined comment
afterward.
Margaret White ap
peared in court Oct. 31
See WHITE, 2A
muii
6**8 9076*44813"*
02009 The Chowan Herald
All Rights Reserved
PHOTOS COURTESY REBECCA LOWE
Richard Pearce has collected an assortment of toys and trains to create a Christmas wonderland. He
uses models to create a miniature slice of life. One setting (below) depicts Santa in his sleigh.
Eure house home
to wonderland
By RITCHIE E. STARNES
Editor
EURE —A railroad
crossing sign stands
conspicuously out
of place. No iron rails are
in sight. The track that
once dissected the sleepy
community
of Eure
has long
been gone.
Instead,
the caution
sign stands
in front of
tall trees
and fallen
leaves on
a lawn of
dirt - foreground for an
otherwise plain two-story
dwelling. .
What lies inside this
simple dwelling is anything
but plain and beyond any
Pearce
wordsmith’s just descrip
tion. It’s where imagination
and nostalgia collide every
December, when faces of
young and old distort, but*
never tire, from wide-eyed?*
amazement and ear-to-ear
grins. Between toys of
yesteryear and the time
lessness of imagination,
visitors of all ages partake
in the annual pilgrimage.
“Kids don’t want to
leave,” said owner Richard
Pearce, 70. “They (parents)
have to drag them out.
They’ll (children) do some
hollerin’ sometimes.”
Over the last 24 years
Richard and wife Peggy
See TRAIN, 3A
Dr. Devine,
64, succumbs
to cancer
Devine was founder of
Chowan-Edenton Optimist
By REBECCA BUNCH
Staff Writer
Dr. Leibert Earl DeVine, 64, founder of
the Chowan-Edenton Optimist Club, died
peacefully at his Edenton home on Dec. 7,
surrounded by family members.
Chowan County Clerk of Superior Court
Mike McArthur, a close friend of DeVirte,
was among those who spoke at DeVine’s fu
neral on Saturday afternoon at the Edenton
United Methodist Church.
Devine, a highly regarded general practi
tioner and civic leader, succumbed to stom
ach cancer. After surviving the disease’s
first diagnosis four years ago, the cancer
had returned three months ago.
Dining his eulogy, McArthur shared the
story of the first July 4 celebration carried
out by the Optimists in 1980.
Finding nothing of a patriotic nature
planned for Independence Day in Edenton,
DeVine, who had moved here a year earlier,
convinced a group of friends, including
McArthur, to join him in organizing the
festival with the assistance of the Evening
Optimist Club of Wilson. That early group
formed the nucleus of what’s currently re
garded as the Chowan-Edenton Optimist
See DEVINE, 3A
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Dp. Lei DeVine shows off his “catch" as he indulg
es in one of his favorite hobbies, fishing on the
Chowan River.
Resolution backs return of Teaching Fellows
Edenton-Chowan
relies on program
■ .. 'X
By REBECCA BUNCH
Stuff- Writer
At its Dec. 5 meeting, the
school board unanimously
.voted to back a resolution
asking the North Caro
lina General Assembly
to restore binding for the
North Carolina Teaching
Fellows Program.
The resolution stated,
in part, that Teaching Fel
lows “have been observed
to be a much more able
group of students and
have higher SAT scores
than any other group of
teachers." And, it said that
Teaching Fellows gradu
ates are “much less likely
to exit NC public schools
in their first three years
of teaching.”
Faced with a $2.5-billion
shortfall, state legislators
cutthe program by $210,000
for the fiscal year starting
July 2011. The budget calls
for stripping $3.4-million
from the program for the
2012-2013 school year. And
while somfe lawmakers
have said they would like
to find a way to continue
the program, current lan
guage in the state budget
calls for the program to be
phased out.
The 25 year-old program
provides scholarships for
high school students that
agree to teach for four
years in the state’s public
schools once they gradu
ate.
Two local educators
who graduated from the
program said they whole
heartedly support all ef
forts to save it.
Vann Lassiter, Region
I Teacher of the Year for
2009-2010, said, “I cannot
imagine not having this
program for future gen
©rations. Without this pro
gram, I would not be the
educator I am today.”
Lassiter, who was a
classroom teacher at John
A. Holmes High School
and is now an instruction
al technologist with the lo
cal schools, said that it was
because of the program
that he had found success
in his ability to reach and
motivate students. .
See PROGRAM, 4A