1' s A n T A. SAY * .... IDS1D1 • SHOP LOCAL man 482-4418 Wednesday, November 21 > 2012 300 Years of Fashion STAFF PHOTO BY REBECCA BUNCH Anne Rowe welcomes guests to the “Top Hats to Petticoats: 300 Yeats of Fashion in Edenton” exhibit on Sunday afternoon. Audit brings good news County has $4.4M in proceeds available By RITCHIE E. STARNES Editor Only four years removed from the brink of bankruptcy, Chowan County’s fiscal recov ery continues to make tremen dous strides. The auditing firm of Martin Starnes & Associates, which has been handling the county’s auditing since its potential state takeover, issued another clean bill of health during Monday morning’s Board of Commis sioners’ meeting. Among the accounting highlights, Martin Starnes’ accountant Matt Bras well revealed that Chowan con tinued its annual commitment School board to weigh term changes Calls to reduce terms from 6 to 4 years By REBECCA BUNCH Stuff Writer When Glorious Elliott is sworn in next month as the school board’s newest mem bers one of the first votes she’ll make will be on a possible change from six to four year term limits. The change would impact Elliott as well as all of the board members, including the two others just re-elected. It’s not the first time that Elliott, 61, has been affected by term rules. Prior to this election, El liott had served 13 years on the board after she was appointed to the board in 1987 to fill the unexpired term of Billy Nixon and subsequently re-elected to two consecutive terms on the ©2009 The Chowan Herald All Rights Reserved to replenish its fund balance. As of the fiscal year ending June 30, Chowan had added another $1.6 million, or 10 per cent of its total annual budget, toward its fund balance. Pro ceeds available in the county’s $5.2 million fund balance stand at $4.4 million. “In this day and time, that is a large amount,” Braswell said. Chowan presently carries a fund balance that is 29 percent of its general fund. The state recommends the board have at least three months of operating income on hand in case of an emergency “There was a time when that figure was in the negative,” Commission Chairman Eddy See AUDIT, 2A board. “Under state law at the time, that’s ah the time I could serve,” Elliott said. “I would have run for a third term if I could.” That law was changed in 2002 to allow school board members to serve an unlimit ed number of terms, according to school officials. See TERMS, 3A Wright Guard Bunch Dale Group touts tourism for Golden LEAF Pursuit of $2M underway By RITCHIE E. STARNES AND REBECCA BUNCH Staff Writers Tourism figures to be critical toward Edenton Chowan’s future econom ic development. Count on a few local entities to strongly pitch the idea as they pursue coveted fund ing from the Golden LEAF Community Assistance Ini tiative. With $2 million hanging in the balance, stakehold ers are jockeying to put together a series of ap plications to secure their fare share of Golden LEAF funding. Education and workforce development are also considered paramount to building a sustainable foundation here that can pay dividends for a promis ing economic future. But, the value of future tourism keeps rearing its head as a means to cultivate revenue and jobs. “Tourism contributes over $17.4 million in revenue to county merchants and $1 mil lion in tax revenues employing 140 peo ple,” said. Cy Rich, chair man of the Edent.on Chowan Partner ship. “Those tax revenues are signifi cant and of course offset what residents would need to pay to obtain the same level of services. We have Vaughan Quinn the opportunity to increase tourism revenues by 50 per cent if we only increased our tourism by the annual increase experienced state wide in recent years.” At its Nov. 13 meeting, the Edenton Town Coun cil officially entered the sweepstakes by voting unanimously to submit proposals seeking a portion of Golden LEAF’S $2 mil lion proceeds earmarked for Chowan County Those projects would benefit tourism. The projects are part of an overall $885,000 waterfront revitalization program developed by the Partnership, according to Councilman Bob Quinn, also a member of the Part nership board. Projects identified by Quinn include creation of a Colonial wharf at the Bark er House site, expansion of the building that houses the Town Council cham bers to allow for a meeting room, restoration of the forj mer county jail and jailor’s house, improvements to Pembroke Creek Park and identification as a partici-' pant in the state’s Certified Retirement Community program. See LEAF, 2A Chowan County Official Results By Precinct precincts E. Eden. W. Eden. R. Hock C. Hill W’ville V’pim A’tee Early Vote Total PRESIDENT Barack Obama (D) Mitt Romney (R) Gary Johnson (L) 273 105 254 232 120 373 10 115 174 102 226 146 208 110 190 2391 2372 1 'x. 16 3556 3891 45 NC GOVERNOR Walter Dalton (D) Pat McCrory (R) Barbara Howe (L) 260 108 .248 218 11 121 330 30 125 147 112 210 142 202 109 176 12 2379 2253 56 3538 3658 134 US HOUSE DISTRICT 1 GK Butterfield (D) Pete DiLauro (R) . Darryl Holloman (L) 270 86 13 280 177 12 162 107 83 62 2039 1057 43 2864 1496 81 US HOUSE DISTRICT 3 Walter Jones (R) Erik Anderson (D) 352 117 227 98 213 131 108 38 984 489 1888 887 NC HOUSE DISTRICT 1 Bob Steinburg (R) Bill Luton (D) 100 269 214 262 334 147 152 128 206 116 194 154 180 116 2156 2475 3548 3711 NC SENATE DISTRICT 3 Clark Jenkins (D) 297 310 221 169 180 199 159 2942 4522 NC SECRETARY OF STATE Elaine Marshall (D) 258 245 143 122 118 156 119 2468 3673 Eddy Goodwin (R) 111 228 341 160 205 194 176 2215 3641 BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS, AT-LARGE Keith Nixon (R) 151 265 375 172 225 237 206 2583 4228 BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS, DISTRICT 1 SEAT 1 Emmett Winborne (D) 261 196 185 40 673 1365 Ron Cummings (R) 238 90 143 67 418 962 BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS, DISTRICT 2 SEAT 1 Alex Kehayes (R) 65 193 223 90 1371 1947 BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS, DISTRICT 3 SEAT 1 Greg Bonner (D) 192 108 30 906 1252 Earl Willis Jr. (R) 47 55 23 340 467 BOARD OF EDUCATION, AT-LARGE Glorious Elliott 226 254 141 151 108 155 107 2613 3785 Bill Moore 103 180 243. 114 142 141 122 1645 2703 BOARD OF EDUCATION, DISTRICT 1 SEAT 2 Jean Harrell Bunch 310 192 109 58 l 759 | 1440 BOARD OF EDUCATION, DISTRICT 2 SEAT 2 Ricky Browder 81 I 198 193 80 1355 1917 REGISTER OF DEEDS Susan S. Rountree (D) 294 300 257 178 194 211 157 3263 4902 Jackie laverty (R) 76 178 237 105 134 140 140 1436 2454 SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT SUPERVISOR Richard Saunders 189 282 271 162 181 203 151 26S2 4093 SOURCE: CHOWAN BOARD OF ELECTIONS RELAY FOR LIF^ ROCKy HOCK FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 301H, 7:00m Ticktti , $10,001 E.A. SWAIN AUDITORIUM KKRTOH. M SATURDAY, DECEMBER Ist, 7:00pm Tickets Available at various locations or call 252-221*4875 or 252-340-3438. Email rockyhock opry@live.com