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‘Homeboys’ helping out their
hometown —6B
482-441 &
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
50«
Pulp mill expansion offers promise for region
By REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
Expansion at the Domtar
pulp mill across the Albe
marle Sound from Chowan
County offers economic
promise for Chowan and
all of northeastern North
Carolina, according to
economic development of
ficials.
Lignin just might be the
most valuable commod
ity you’ve never heard of
— and northeastern North
Carolina is on the ground
floor in producing it for an
embryonic market.
The Domtar pulp mill in
Washington County held a
ribbon-cutting Thursday
for a new lignin separation
plant, which will separate
and refine lignin for sale to
Man
pleads
in sex
offense
From staff reports
A former Chowan Coun
ty resident is in prison af
ter pleading guilty to first
degree sex offense with a
child, according to court
and prison records.
David W. Bryant, 50, en
.tered-a-guilty plea to> th/ft ■
charge in Currituck Supe
rior Court on May 22.
Bryant was sentenced to
300-369 months in prison
and given credit for 932
days served, according to
court records.
The projected release
date for Bryant is Oct. 25,
2040, according to informa
tion on the N.C. Depart
ment of Correction web
site.
The incident that led to
the conviction occurred in
November 2005, according
to Department of Correc
tion records.
Town
council
mulls
sign rules
By REBECCA BUNCH
Staff Writer
An increased use of signs
that are in violation of the
town’s Unified Develop
ment Ordinance has led to
a discussion among town
officials about enforcement
issues.
Town Planner Sam Bar
row requested during the
town council’s May 28 com
mittee night meeting that
the council consider imple
menting a 30-day education
program aimed at making
local residents and busi
ness owners aware of what
are and are not appropriate
signs under the UDO.
At press time the council
was scheduled to vote on
See SIGNS, 4A
\ |
©2009 The Chowan Herald
All Rights Reserved
'
external customers.
The plant already em
ploys more than 400 work
ers.
“Obviously as they ex-,
pand their product lines
it helps ensure employ
ment in the region and also
provides an opportunity
where maybe we can get
some companion compa
nies that would have an
interest in the products,”
Vann Rogerson, president
and chief executive officer
of the Northeast Commis
sion, said this week. “So it’s
positive for us.”
Normally, lignin is found
in the pulp mill by-product
sometimes known as black
.liquor. Because it is highly
combustible, pulp mills for
some time have used the
substance to help fire their
STAFF PHOTO BY REGGIE PONDER
John A. Holmes High School 2013 graduate Kayla Ann Warren gets a congratulatory hug from Principal Sheila Evans after receiving her diploma during the
school’s graduation ceremony, Saturday.
Holmes graduates class of ‘lollipop children’
By REOOIE PONDER
Editor
John A. Holmes High
School on Saturday
graduated a class of
150 that valedictorian
Ashton Copeland said had
earned the moniker “lol
lipop children” because of
its optimistic outlook.
That optimism appar
ently was not dampened
Farm service agency seeks local leaders
By PETER WILLIAMS
The Perquimans Weekly
Starting this month more than 2,200
farmers in Chowan and Perquimans
counties will be asked to nominate
new leaders for the farm service agen
cy that helps set local policies.
The two county farm service agen
cies were merged in October as part of
an effort to cut federal spending. Four
other North Carolina offices that were
within 25 miles of another agency and
had two or more employees faced the
same fate last year.
The office in Chowan County was
closed and consolidated with a FSA of
fice at 512 S. Church St., in Hertford.
Now Denise Gregory is the county
executive director for those two coun
ties plus Camden, Currituck and Pas
own furnaces.
But now Domtar—boost
ed by a $7 million grant
from the U.S. Department
of Agriculture — is sepa
rating and refining lignin
into a powder form and will
package it for market.
U.S. Agriculture Secre
tary Tom Vilsack said in a
phone interview last week
that the department made
the investment in the lignin
separation project because
of lignin’s potential value
as an alternative fuel, sol
vent, ink and adhesive.
USDA is working to ex
pand the variety of end uses
in the forest products in
dustry and to increase the
value of those uses, which
in turn will create incen
tives for forest landowners
to be more resourceful in
even by the rain and wind
that postponed the cer
emony from Friday night
to Saturday morning.
Copeland encouraged
the class of 2013 to hold
fast to the upbeat mind
set that has become its
hallmark. She said that ;{
she has been told she sees
the world through rose
colored glasses.
“But our optimism has ?
managing their timber
lands, Vilsack said.
“That’s an exciting as
pect of it,” Vilsack said of
the opportunities the forest
products industry presents
for landowners.
The USDA forest prod
ucts lab in Wisconsin has
been developing a Kevlar
like vest using wood fiber,
Vilsack said.
“There are really unlim
ited uses,” Vilsack said.
Northeastern North Car
olina has a long history as
a source of timber for both
lumber and pulp.
Vilsack said not only can
large timber companies
benefit from the expanding
market created by lignin
and other high-value wood
. See PLANT, 2A
gotten our class to be
labeled as the ‘lollipop
children’ since early in
our high school career,
so I think that might be
a good thing,” Copeland '
told her classmates.
One of Saturday's grad
uates, Joseph Fain, who
holds the rank of sergeant
first class in Army Junior
ROTC, plans to serve in
the Army now that he
quotank. The first consolidation hap
pened in 1995.
“The Perquimans and Chowan Coun
ty farm communities, of course, are
vital to North Carolina’s agriculture,”
Gregory said. “This new arrange
ment enables the Perquimans-Chowan
County Farm Service Agency to serve
producers more effectively.”
Consolidating Chowan and Perqui
mans into one district required chang
ing.the boundary lines of the districts.
FSA’s are required to have an odd
number, so the new district has five.
Two $re purely Perquimans districts,
two are Chowan districts and one has
parts of both.
Representatives of four of the five
district are up for election this year.
/• . » ■/; 1 ■ ; !-•.
See FARM, 4A
STAFF PHOTO BY REGGIE PONDER
John Williams, president and chief executive officer of Domtar,
cuts the ribbon Thursday at the company’s new lignin separa
tion plant in Washington County.
has graduated from high
school.
But Saturday morning
he was taking one last
opportunity to enjoy John
A. Holmes High School.
“I’m just so happy to
have this moment,” Fain
said. “So happy. There’s
no feeling greater than
graduating from your
first stepping-stone.”
Fain intends to go to
Officer Candidate School
in the Army
“I plan to do a full 30
years in the U.S. Army,”
Fain said.
He explained that his
father is retired military
and he also learned a lot
from military recruiters
who visited the school.
Fain said his mother
See GRADUATION, 2A