ACES ROUNDUP, 7A
Bullet pierces 86-year-old woman’s bedroom
Shots fired two
straight nights
By RITCHIE STARNES
AND REBECCA BUNCH
Staff writers
An 86-year-old woman remains
shaken but not hurt after a bul
let pierced her house and became
lodged in her bedroom last Tues
day, marking the second straight
night gunshots riddled an Edenton
neighborhood.
Police are still looking for Skyler
Holley, 27, a suspect in the shooting
of Berry’s home> according to po
lice Chief Jay Fortenbery. Holley
is also wanted for a parole viola
tion in Pasquotank County He was
paroled in January after serving
more than five years for assult
with a deadly weapon with intent
to kill and two other shootings in
2007 and 2008.
Sarah Berry called 911 after a
bullet struck her 406 North Oakum
Street residence around 9:30 p.m.
She was home at the time of the
shooting, but not in the bedroom
where police later , recovered the
bullet believed to have been shot
from a handgun, Fortenbery said:
“The bullet went right over her
bed,” Fortenbery said. “If she had
been in bed it might have hit her.”
About 10:30 p.m. Monday night a
bullet struck the driver’s side of a
1996 Grand Cherokee belonging to
Latonya Cofield of 408 North Oa
kum Street and Berry’s next door
neighbor. A resident there for the
past five years, Cofield said she
and her 12-year-old child had just
gotten home prior to the shooting.
Her other children, ages 6,11, and
17 were not home at tfye time.
Cofield has no doubt who is re
sponsible.
“It’s gang related, it’s not peo
ple from the neighborhood. They
(gang members) just hang out here
(on North Oakum Street), and it’s
getting worse,” Cofield said.
In addition to confirming Mon
day night’s shooting, Fortenbery
said Cofield hiay be right about
those responsible.
“It possibly could be,” he said. “I
can’t rule that out. We found a lot
of bullets shot into the ground.”
Meanwhile, police have beefed
up patrols of the neighborhood
and walking door-to-door to talk
with residents.
“Due to the shots fired calls, we
See SHOOTING, 6A
STAFF PHOTO BY REBECCA BUNCH
An Edenton police officer keeps watch on North Oakum Street activi
ties on Sunday afternoon. Greater police presence has been beefed
up in the neighborhood following two shootings last week.
f
i
birthday
differs by
: decade
By REBECCA BUNCH
Staff Writer
* A proposed 300th anni
versary celebration for the
town of Edenton has hit a
mathematical snag - or a
difference of a decade.
As Councilman Bob
Quinn prepared to explain
proposed activities for
the planned yearlong cel
ebration at Monday night’s
committee meeting, fellow
Councilman Sambo Dixon
pointed out that a 250-year
anniversary celebration
had taken place in 1972
based on the year that the
town was officially incorpo
rated.
That year, 1722, is the one
that appears on the town
seal.
Quinn sfaid that the idea
for the celebration had been
based on the year the town
was actually established,
1712.
Dixon said he thought
the town ought to follow the
incorporation date since
it had done so in planning
other celebrations such as
the 250th anniversary.
“I just think it’s wrong, it
(dgte) needs to be accurate,”
Dixon said. “Whatever we
do, it needs to be accurate.”
In the end, administra
tive committee chairman
Steve Biggs decided to send
the matter to the full Town
Council for more discus
sion at its April 10 regularly
scheduled meeting.
- Quinn said Tuesday
morning that while there
might be disagreement
over the date that should be
celebrated, he still felt the
Idea had merit and could be
marketed as a Colonial His
tory Days celebration. 7
' “1 don’t think we should
lose this opportunity to
{ell Edenton’s story, to let
people know who we are,”
Quinn said.
| Quinn’s proposal in
cludes everything from an
art show where students
Jvould win awards for the
best drawings of historic
sites to a Colonial Ball at the
3767 Chowan Courthouse.
fc
l
• ©2009 The Chowan Herald
* All Rights Reserved
89076"44813l
BIRTHING HERRING
STAFF PHOTOS BY RITCHIE STARNES
Blueback herring collected from Chowan River tributaries swim in a holding tank at the Edenton National Fish Hatchery
for a spring spawn as part of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s pilot program to bolster their population.
Hatchery assists spring spawn
Population not
rebounding
By RITCHIE E. STARNES
Editor
For the last week U.S. Fish
and Wildlife officers at the
Edenton National Fish
Hatchery have been doing what
the law prohibits area anglers
- fishing for herring.
Part of a first-time pilot
program aimed at bolstering the
population of the blueback her
ring, Hatchery officials have been
busy fishing Indian Creek and
Bennett’s Creek, tributaries of
the Chowan River and where her
ring spawn every spring. They’ve
been catching the herring by
electro shock, which stuns the
fish and keeps them still for a few
seconds for easy capture or what
seasoned anglers might find akin
to fishing in a barrel.
Albemarle region’s jobless rate up in January
Pasquotank, Chowan
rates over 11 percent
By BOB MONTGOMERY
Assistant News Editor '
Eight hundred forty-eight work
ers in the five-county Albemarle
region joined the ranks of the un-,
employed in January, pushing the
area jobless rate up a whole per
centage point to 10.9 percent.
PHOTO BY RITCHIE STARNES
Stephen Jackson, project leader U.S. Fish and Wildlife, ensures that the holding
tanks contain the proper water balance to keep the captive fish healthy and
relaxed for optimum spawning.
“We’re having trouble find
ing the females. They appear to
stay in deep water until ready
According to the N.C. Division
of Employment Security, month
ly unemployment rates were up
from December in Pasquotank,
Perquimans, Chowan, Camden
and Currituck counties, as a total
of 5,049 workers reported being
out of work. The total labor force
in the five-county region in Janu
ary was 46,223.
Pasquotank and Chowan coun
ties showed the biggest jumps in
joblessness, 1.3 percent and 1.1
to spawn whereas the males just
hangout and wait in shallow
See HATCHERY, 3A
percent, respectively.
Pasquotank’s unemployment
rate rose from 10.4 percent in De
cember to 11.7 percent in January,
while Chowan's jumped from 10.7
percent to 11.8 percent.
“I’m disappointed) I’m not
surprised,” said Wayne Harris,
executive director of the Albe
marle Economic Development
Commission, Pasquotank Coun
ty’s industry-recruiting and
business-development agency.
Crews lay
cable for
‘middle
mile’
From staff reports
Crews laying fiber optic
cable for MCNC in Raleigh
have been highly visible
in the community in re
cent days. /
That cable will bring
broadband access to
Chowan and 20 other coun
ties in northeastern North
Carolina.
over 8,500 miles and more
than 146,500 households.
This “middle mile” fiber
optic connectivity will
lead to important connec
tions between hospitals,
libraries, schools, govern
ment offices and other
public access points to lo
cal homes.
“That is an extremely
important part of this,”
said Bob Quinn, who is
a board member of the
Edenton Chowan Partner
ship.
The Partnership is ac
tively involved in bring
ing broadband access to as
j much of the county as pos
J sible. Eventually, Quinn
said, 90 percent of the
county will have access.
“There is so much that
we will be able to do with
this,” Quinn said. “The
possibilities are endless.”
Quinn said, for example,
that heart patients who
need monitoring would
one day be able to have the
hospital do that while they
remain at home.
“Just think how won
derful that would be,” he
said.
The “middle mile” part
of the project is expected
to be completed by the end
of the year.
system will serve
Harris said he was not aware
of any recent large layoffs. But
the decline in seasonal employ
ment following the December
holiday season could have been a
factor in the jump in the jobless
rate, he said.
Pasquotank County Manager
Randy Keaton said he, too, wasn’t
aware of any recent significant
layoffs.
See JOBLESS, 2A
l
▼ ■
RELAY
FOR LIFE
ROCKy HOCK
Sponsored by the Rocky Hock
Ruritan’s Relay for life Team
FRIDAY, APRIL 20'", 7;30>«
Tickets
$10.00
E.A. SWAIN
AUDITORIUM
SATURDAY, APRIL 21st, 7:30pm
i»UTON, M
Tickets Available at various locations or call 252-221-4875 or 252-340-3438. Email rockyhock opry@live.com