482-4418
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Golden LEAF slams door on Community Assistance
COA, healthcare, infrastructure could get alternate funding
By RITCHIE E. STARNES
Editor
If Chowan County lead
ers hope to receive any
future funding from the
Golden LEAF Foundation
they should scrap any
tourism-related projects,
sources say.
County Manager Zee
Librarian
leaves for
Camden
Library set to
budget extra $10K
By REBECCA BUNCH
Staff Writer
The Shepard-Pruden Me
morial Library is losing its
head librarian to Camden
County.
Linda
Va n Sis -
tine-Yost
will be
leaving
nextmonth
to oversee
a new li
brary in
Camden
County Her last day on
the job in Edenton will be
May 10.
VanSistine-Yost
VanSistine-Yost said that
the opportunity to oversee
a brand new library with
the latest technology cer
tainly played a role in her
decision.
“I think what was ap
pealing (about the job)
is that the Camden com
missioners feel libraries
are an important part of
the community,” she said,
“and even in these tough
economic times, they
wanted to go forward with
something like this (build
ing project).”
Officials in Camden are
planning a July opening
for the 6,800- square-foot
facility.
Beginning in 2009, the
Edenton library suffered
funding cuts along with
other Chowan County
departments. VanSistine
Yost said that only last
year was she able to re
store full salaries to staff
at the library.
Board of Commission
ers Chairman Keith Nixon
said he could understand
her decision.
,“I wish her well in her
endeavors,” Nixon said.
“I have heard nothing but
good things about her from
others since she has been
here.”
Nixon added that while
Chowan County continues
to recover from the 2008
economic meltdown, com
missioners also want to
see the library in Edenton
flourish but that they must
set realistic limits on their
level of support.
“We support the library
but there’s only so much
money to go around,” Nix
on said. “We understand
concemsaboutfunding.but
See LIBRARIAN, 2A
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©2009 The Chowan Herald
All Rights Reserved
Lamb and Town Manager
Anne Marie Knighton met
with Golden LEAF officials
Monday afternoon at the
non-profit’s headquarters
in Rocky Mount amid hopes
they could recoup $600,000
of the original $2 million
award from the Commu
nity Assistance Initiative.
Earlier this month Golden
Blown Away
STAFF PHOTOS BY RITCHIE L STARNES
Strong winds sheared the roof off this house in the 1500 block of West Queen Street Ext. The roof was found destroyed
and strewn across a field some 50 yards away.
Straight-line winds rip roof off house
Toppled trees crush
garages, truck
By RITCHIE E. STARNES
Editor
Straight-line winds late Friday
night are to blame for ripping the
roof off a split-level house, send
ing it airborne before disintegrat
ing along a field nearly 50 yards
away.
Residents along West Church
Street Extended discovered the
wrath of Mother Nature early
Saturday morning. Straight-line
winds toppled trees, sheared roofs,
and aluminum siding while strew
ing property from yard to yard.
Most were convinced a tornado
had caused the random damage
that seemed confined to the imme
diate area.
Chris Jenkins’ house at the 1500
block sustained the most damage
with the storm shearing the roof
off his house, leaving the interior
completely exposed. Jenkins was
out of town at the time, visiting
his parents’ farm in Virginia in
honor of his 51st birthday.
“The best birthday present was
the fact that I wasn’t here,” Jen
kins said.
Jenkins said he was awaken by
a telephone call with news of the
BOCC hires tax administrator, finance director
County nixes
live-in policy
By RITCHIE E. STARNES
Editor
County officials wasted
little time hiring replace
ments for the recent va
cancies of tax administra
tor and finance director.
On Monday the Board
of Commissioners voted
unanimously to hire Wil
LEAF awarded $1.4 million
toward four local econoihic
development projects.
Because one-thjrd of the
total award escaped the
Tier 1, or economically dis
tressed, Chowan County’s
grasp, Lamb and Knighton
hoped they could convince
Golden LEAF to reopen
funding opportunities.
Straight-line winds ripped through parts of west Edenton last Friday night, caus
ing significant property damage. Several toppled trees landed on garages and
vehicles like observed above.
destruction after utility crew at
tending a snapped electrical pole
in his front yard saw that his roof
had been peeled away.
Several homes sustained dam
age. Across the street from Jen
kins’ home a tree fell atop a ga
rage and pickup truck, crushing
the vehicle. Another large tree
fell across a large garage located
on Countryside Drive. Several
utility buildings sustained dam
lie Mack Carawan as
Chowan’s finance direc
tor. Last week, the board
voted unanimously to hire
Hosea Wilson as its tax ad
ministrator. Prior to the
hirings, commissioners
reversed a policy adopted
two years ago that re
quired department heads
to reside within Chowan
County
Wilson, 44, has been
working as the tax admin
istrator in neighboring
“They let us know right
out of the gate that there’s
no way to recover any
funds from the Commu
nity Assistance Initiative,”
Knighton said Monday af
ternoon.
“That’s about what we
expected,” Lamb added.
Nonetheless, both said
they asked for the meet
ages. Property from surrounding
homes was strewn abput the yards
of neighbors, prompting residents
to theorize that only the twisting
motion of a tornado could have
been responsible for the scattered
materials.
“I’ve got an extra pine tree in
my yard that I don’t know where
it came from,” Jenkins said. “It’s
See WINDS, 3A
Bertie County since 2006.
Wilson worked there in
2006 and under County
Manager Zee Lamb for
five years. Lamb fully en
dorsed Wilson’s creden
tials as‘the state’s only
tax administrator with a
certification in property
appraising.
Chowan is currently
undergoing its property
revaluation, which occurs
every eight years.
“The value added for
ing to lay the groundwork
for future funding oppor
tunities. The meeting also
served as a fishing expe
dition to learn what types
of projects might qualify
for other Golden LEAF
grants.
The majority of the coun
ty’s 11 projects were tied to
tourism, which proved to
(Wilson) is that he just
went through a revalua
tion in Bertie,” Lamb said.
“He’s strong in that area.”
It became clear that
Chowan’s current revalu
ation also appealed to Wil
son.
“It would be a benefit
for me from a professional
standpoint as well as for
Chowan County,” Wilson
said.
Lamb also said that
tax collections increased
Knighton ,
Lamb
be a tough sell to Golden
LEAF board members.
See GOLDEH LEAF, 3A
Former
Bostonians
mourn
bombings
Nicholls: ‘It can
•happen anywhere’
By RITCHIE E. STARNES
Editor
Former Bostonians now
residing here said last week’s
marathon bombing and man
hunt for those responsible
cut too close to home.
As most Americans
cringed at the sight of two
bombs exploding at the finish
line of last Monday’s famed
Boston Marathon, a few
New Englanders that trans
planted to Edenton took the
terrorist attack a bit more
personal. Because of their
intimate connection to the
multi-cultural city that they
once called home or place of
work, the bombings ignited a
personal pain and weeklong
fixation.
The bombings that killed
three and maimed more than
170 along Boylston Street,
the marathon’s final route,
left Edenton Town Manager
Anne Marie Knighton espe
cially heart sickened. At that
the site of the bombings were
some tenderly cured mo
ments from her childhood.
“1 have many fond memo
ries of Boylston Street, of
going to work with my dad,
on Saturdays, and school va
cations,” Knighton said. “ I
sort of grew up on Boylston
Street, it’s where my dad
taught me to be ‘city smart’.
I learned how to take the
train, the subway, walk safe
ly in a parking garage, how
to walk assertively but po
litely on city sidewalks - all
by going to work with him on
Boylston Street.”
She further described the
vibrancy of that thorough
fare of busy traffic integrat
ed with incredible architec
ture, art galleries, boutiques,
churches and sidewalks wide
enough for pedestrians and
treescapes to coexist.
But, suddenly those
See BOSTON, 3A
in Bertie under Wilson’s
leadership, a trend also on ,
the rise in Chowan.
Wilson, a graduate of
the University of North
Carolina, called Chowan
a progressive county amid
plans to move his family
here. He is married with
twin 10-year-old sons.
Carawan, 47, has been
serving in a dual capac
ity with Tyrrell County,
See HIRING, 3A
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