482-4418
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Leaders pin recovery on tourism
PHOTO BY RITCHIE E,
STARNES
Secretary of
Commerce J.
Keith Criso
speaks at
Friday’s an
nual State of the
| Region, spon
sored by North
Carolina’s North
east Commis
sion. The event
was held at at
the Senator Bob
Martin Agricul
tural Center in
Williamston.
Etheridge
files for
seat in
District 1
Currituck official
to face Steinburg
By CINDY BEAMON AND
RITCHIE STARNES
Staff Writers
CURRITUCK — Curri
tuck Commissioner Owen
Etheridge file Monday as
a candidate for the 1st Dis
trict seat in the N.C. House
of Repre
sentatives
— a move
that will
create a
Republi
can prima
ry race.
Ether
idge said
Friday,
that four
terms as
county
commis
sioner sets
him apart
from two
other can
didates
who have filed for the
House seat so far.
“I think I have a real op
portunity to be effective
from day one,” said Ether
idge.
Etheridge joins fellow
Republican Bob Steinburg
of Edenton and Democrat
Bill Luton of Pasquotank
in seeking election to the
seat currently occupied
by state Rep. Bill Owens,
D-Pasquotank. Owens is
retiring from the General
Assembly at the end of his
term after serving since
1' - ■
See ETHERIDGE, 2A
Two more GOP candidates file for office
I from staff reports
\ Another challenger has
| filed to run in the race
for a seat on the Chowan
County Board of Commis
sioners while a political
newcomer wants to be the
| next Register of Deeds.
89076"44813
©2009 The Chowan Herald
All Rights Reserved
Albemarle eyes
National Heritage Area
By RITCHIE E. STARNES
Editor
As northeastern North Caroli
na continues its crawl out of the
national economic recession,
!look for tourism to be a major
catalyst toward a recovery.
That was the general mes
sage of Friday’s annual State
of the Region event held at
i Williamston’s Bob Martin Agri
cultural Center and sponsored
by North Carolina’s Northeast
Commission. Regional leaders
packed the arena to hear the
forecast for economic develop
ment in their respective com
Local Oytl Rights
Picketing turns 50
PHOTO COURTESY OF CHOWAN COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICE
Then Sheriff Troy Toppin supervises a 1973 demonstration near the downtown waterfront. Eleven years earlier, Eden
ton became home to Civil Rights protests whereby African Americans were denied the same access as whites.
Mitchener’s, theater targeted
By RITCHIE E. STARNES
Editor
Fifty-year-old faded-yellow
copies of The Chowan
Herald reveal only sparse
details about African American
protestors picketing segregated
businesses in Edenton. Police
reports yield less.
While the Civil Rights Move
ment was producing plenty of
newsworthy events throughout
the segregated South, local
efforts for racial equality were
kept mostly quiet.
“They wanted to keep it re
pressed. But, my daddy always
believed that he needed to keep
Republican Ronald Cum
in ings, 63, filed Monday to
challenge incumbent Dem
ocrat Emmett Winborne
for District 1, according to
the Board of Elections. On
Tuesday, Jackie Laverty,
50, filed to run as the GOP
challenger for the Register
of Deeds. Laverty said she
hopes to use her paralegal
and realtor experience as
a foundation for the office.
“I believe my broad
experience and training
both in real estate and as
a paralegal will assist me
munities and what stands to be
the fiscal catalyst for the coming
year. Much of that optimism is
pinned on the continued devel-.
opment of tourism,
Tourism continues to hail as
the area’s primary economic
driver among those that head
lined the program. State Sec
retary of Commerce J. Keith
Crisco told the crowd of a few
hundred that tourism repre
sents a $1.3 billion value, up 9
percent over the last two years,
to the state’s northeast corri
dor.
“We’re in a position to get
more out of tourism,” Crisco
said.
Before she introduced guest
speaker August R. Carlino to
discuss a tourism-related fea
the press informed in surround
ing towns,” said Goldie Frinks
Wells, whose
father Golden
Asro Frinks be
came Edenton’s
most prominent
Civil Rights
activist.
It was the
Frinks’ West
Peterson Street
home that became a makeshift
headquarters for planning and
strategies. It was there that
Golden Frinks, active in the
NAACP, began targeting busi
nesses for nonviolent demon
strations. He even summoned
Frinks
in continuing to improve
the customer service ex
perience (at the Register
of Deeds office) through
broader online capabili
ties and other measures,”
Laverty said.
Laverty will oppose in
cumbent Democrat Sue
Rountree who has also
filed for re-election.
Cummings, who is the
GOP’s precinct chairman
at Center Hill, was out of
town and unavailable for
See RUNG, 3A
sibility study, state Secretary
of Cultural Resources Linda
Carlisle took time to remind the
group that two of the region’s
tourism facilities face closure
and operational reductions.
“So many of our assets are
under attack,” Carlisle said.
Last week a staff research
panel for the N.C. General As
sembly recommended that the
Museum of Albemarle in Eliz
abeth City be closed and that
the Historic Edenton Visitors
Center hours of operation be
reduced two days a week. The
panel cited “low visitations” in
relation to overhead costs.
When Carlisle asked the
crowd if they agreed with the
See TOURISM, 2A
for police protection for his
picketers.
His daughter said Frinks re
lied more on the area’s youth to
engage in the picketing. Many
adult blacks feared economic
backlash for their involvement,
especially those dependent on
jobs and credit. So, they passed
on protesting, but they allowed
Frinks to use their children for
the cause. And Frinks accompa
nied them during the pickets.
“(Frinks) spent a lot of time
in jail,” recalled the Rev. Jerald
Perry, who at 11 years old first
started picketing. “My parents
See CIVIL RIGHTS, 3A
t n ■, j a ,i ¥>i
STAFF PHOTO BY REBECCA BUNCH
Jackie laverty gets assistance Tuesday from Board of Elections
Director Rebecca Lowe in filing for the Register of Deeds office
currently held by Sue Rountree.
Parrish
attorney:
Dismiss
filings
Maxwell: DA not
‘criminal sword’
By WIMLIAM F. WEST
Staff Writer
A month after a half
dozen citizens began fil
ing court
petitions
calling for
his sus
pension or
removal
fromoffice,
District
Attorney .
Frank Par- Parrisn
rish has filed a response
that asks a judge to dis
miss the complaints.
Parrish’s attorney,
James Maxwell of Dur
ham, claimed in court doc
uments filed Monday that
the district attorney is not
guilty of willful miscon
See PARRISH, 4A
FSA
closings
move
forward
From staff reports
The U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) plans'
to proceed with closing
more than 100 Farm Ser
vice Agency offices, in
cluding here in Edenton,
according to Congressman
G.K. Butterfield, D-NC.
Butterfield expressed
disappointment in the de
cision. He had previously
penned a letter to USDA
Secretary Tom Vilsack
urging him to reconsider
the proposal to close FSA
offices in Chowan, Hert
ford, and Warren counties
due to the high volume of
farmers who rely on their
services.
“These offices are indis
pensable to thousands of
farmers in my district,”
See FSA, 3A
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