482-4418
Wednesday, March 14, 2012 50*
INSIDE
PROGRESS
2012
IS HERE!
Sheriff: Dispatcher mishandled call
By REBECCA BUNCH
Staff Writer
A weekend call about a
possibly rabid animal has
led to changes in the way
Chowan County emergen
cy dispatchers will respond
to such calls in the future,
Sheriff Dwayne Goodwin
said Monday
Arrowhead Beach resi
dent Chris Rusbuldt said
she was driving home
Friday afternoon when
Attorney
wants
dismissals
reopened
Judge threw out 6
petitions last week
By WILLIAM F. WEST
The Daily Advance
An attorney represent
ing persons wanting the
suspension or removal of
District Attorney Frank
Parrish is calling for a
reconsideration of six pe
titions a Superior Court
judge threw out late last
week.
The attorney, Kathryn
Fagan, of Manteo, is ar
guing that
the people
of the 1st
Judicial
District
"deserve
a voice in
the courts
and not to
be sum
Parrish
marily dismissed with no’
explanation.”
Fagan on Tuesday
filed her request with
the Pasquotank County
Civil Court. Neither the
judge, Alma Hinton, nor
Parrish’s attorney, James
Maxwell of Durham,
could be reached for com
ment. Parrish could not be
reached, but he has said
he does not comment on
matters pending before a
court.
Hinton, in a brief order
made public on Friday, dis
missed the six petitions,
which listed separate al
- legations against Parrish.
She ruled that she believed
Parrish did not break any
state laws designed to
prevent district attorneys
from engaging in prosecu
torial misconduct.
Also, she ruled that Par
rish “had conducted him
self within the bounds of
his prosecutorial discre
tion.”
Fagan, in calling for a
hearing in open court, said
she believed that the six
petitioners have alleged
much more than mere dis
pleasure with Parrish.
“They have described
time after time where
in the district attorney
agreed that crimes had
been committed and either
See PARRISH, 2A
6 b*8 9076
813
©2009 The Chowan Herald
• All Rights Reserved
she saw a fox sitting in a
clearing on a wooded lot a
couple of streets over from
her house. Rusbuldt said
that those
living in
the neigh
borhood
are used to
seeing oth
er types of
wild ani
mals such
Goodwin as rac
coons, but a fox was a rar
JAILHOUSEDEALS
PHOTO BY RITCHIE E. STARNES
Efforts move ahead"for Chowan County to contract its jail services with the Albemarle District Jail. Plans also call
for the Detention Center to become part of ADJ.
Chowan inches closer to ADJ
Leaders prefer
jail stay open
By RITCHIE E. STARNES ,
Editor
Efforts for Chowan County
to join the Albemarle
District Jail continue to
progress with a possible deal by
July 1.
Chowan and Pasquotank
County leaders are still con
ducting their respective cost
analysis to see if the deal is
financially feasible before the
start of the next fiscal year.
Closing Chowan’s jail or bring
ing it under ADJ’s authority
remains a key variable, but not
a deal breaker.
For the past several years
Chowan has eyed surrender
ing its jail system to ADJ, but
efforts have gained the most
traction over the.last year.
Long-term the move should net
NC lottery not producing school jackpots
By PETER WILLIAMS
SUrf Writer
The odds of winning the
Power Ball jackpot are bet
ter than the odds that the
N.C. lottery can bridge the
gap for school districts fac
ing shortfalls near year.
There simply isn’t
enough money available
—■ and never has — to
make a serious dent in the
education budget, state of
ficials say.
Local school systems get
a share of every lottery
dollar spent but it doesn’t
ity, so she stopped to watch
it.
“That’s when I noticed
that the fox’s face looked
funny,” she said.
Rusbuldt said the fox’s
lips were pulled back so
that its teeth were show
ing. “It looked like it was
grinning at me,” Rusbuldt
added. “I felt sure it was
sick.”
Concerned that it might
attack someone in the
neighborhood, Rusbuldt
Chowan taxpayers a savings.
“For the first couple of
years it would be a wash,”
said Chowan County Sheriff
Dwayne Goodwin. “As the num
ber of inmates increase that’s
when we’ll start seeing a bigger
savings. Anytime you deal with
volume you can get things done
cheaper.”
Chowan’s jail was built in
the late 70s and designed to
hold 24 inmates. It already
borders its 40-inmate capacity.
If the county doesn’t transition
to ADJ, the county could be
forced to build a new facility at
roughly $8 million.
In addition to its own in
mates, Pasquotank’s ADJ
currently-houses prisoners
for Perquimans and Camden
counties. ADJ has a capacity
of 248 inmates and an annual
operating budget just under $5
million, according to Pasquo
tank County Sheriff Randy
Cartwright. Its next planned
come close to what it costs
to fund .education
in the state.
"Sara Clark, a
spokeswoman for
the Department
of Public In
struction, puts
it into perspec
tive.
Clark esti
mated the rev
enue from the lottery in
Thirty cents
o n
2010-11 was $419 million,
while the total state edu
cation budget was roughly
$7.14 billion.
“You can see it’s really a
said she called the county
dispatch’s non-emergen
cy number when she got
home to report what she
had seen.
“I didn’t want to call 911
and get in trouble, since it
wasn’t an emergency,” she
said. “But I did feel that
something needed to be
done.”
Rusbuldt explained the
situation to the dispatch
er so that someone could
be sent to the site. To her
drop in the bucket,” Clark
said.
every
dollar spent on
a lottery ticket will filter
back to education in some
fashion. The majority —
surprise, the dispatcher
told her that the local ani
mal control officers and
the sheriffs office did not
respond to those types of
calls, Rusbuldt said.
Instead, Rusbuldt said,
the dispatcher gave her the
name and phone number
of a pest control company
in the area and suggested
that she contact them for
assistance.
But Rusbuldt said that
when she called the compa
expansion calls for an extra
capacity of 240 before building
out at 600 inmates, but there
are no plans to expand in the
foreseeable future. ADJ has also
been housing between 45 and 70
federal inmates, which helps to
offset the jail’s operating costs.
At $52 daily per inmate, AD J’s
expense could improve with
more partnerships.
“The more inmates the less
the costs to house because of
the fixed costs,” Cartwright
said.
Pasquotank’s jail has already
been housing Chowan’s female
inmates. But, to avoid closing
its jail altogether, Chowan has
pitched allowing ADJ use the
facility for female inmates, or at
the least placing the jail under
ADJ’s umbrella.
“We have an interest in
keeping the facility open,” said
Chowan County Manager Zee
See ADJ, 5A
50 percent — goes toward
prizes. There is 7 percent
that goes back to retailers
who sell the tickets and 5
percent goes for admin
istrative costs like
advertising and ad
ministrative costs.
Schools get the rest.
Camden County is
in a rare position.
The Camden school
system is the smallest
of the five in the Albe
marle region but it’s also
has the largest amount of
money sitting in a pot cre
ated by the North Carolina
ny, they wanted her name
and address so they could
bill her once they made a
visit to the site to trap the
animal.
“I couldn’t believe it,”
Rusbuldt said, shaking her
head. “I was floored.”
So Rusbuldt once again
contacted the county dis
patcher who again gave
her the same answer — no
help was available from
See SHERIFF, 5A
Schools
brace to
lose Life
Coaches
$175K grant aids
dropout program
By REBECCA BUNCH
Staff Writer
With the dropout rate al
ready a perennial concern
in tiie Edenton-Chowan
Schools,
the system
now stands
to lose a
program
aimed at
addressing
the prob
lem.
Superin
tendent Al
lan Smith
said that a
state-fund
ed dropout
prevention
grant that
allowed
the local
school sys
tem to of
fer a Life
Coaches
program
would
end at the
close of
this school
year un
less other
funding can be secured.
Smith said that despite the
merits of the program he
was doubtful that would be
the case.
“That would be a size
able expense for us,” he
said of the $175,000 annu
ally that would be required
tp keep the program alive.
“I really admire the pas
sion that they (life coaches
in the school system) have
for this program,” Smith
See LIFE COACHES, 4A
lottery to pay for construc
tion projects.
What’s more unusual
is Camden doesn’t have
any looming construction’
need that would require
the funds. It’s planning
to draw down $100,000 to
rehab the media center at
Camden High School, but
it doesn’t have an imme
diate need to build a $30
million school. It’s used
$200,000 in lottery money
for debt service once, back
in 2008-09.
See LOTTERY, 4A
AMERICAN legionpost 40 BBQ Chicken Plate
Friday, March 23,2012 $8.oo donation
Call 252-482-4057 to purchase tickets