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Liz White
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Chowan
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Frorg staff reports
Gov. Pat McCrory and
N.C. Commerce Secretary
Sharon Decker announced
Tuesday that Standard
Medical Acceptance Corpo
ration will locate its offices
in Chowan County. ■ The
company plans to create 32
jobs and invest more than
$562,000 over the next three
years in Edenton.
“Employers looking to
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Wind farm
developers
address
concerns
BY REGGIE PONDER
Staff Writer
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The company planning
a large wind farm along
the Chowan-Perquimans
county line sought last
week to ease the anxiety of
airport officials concerning
the project’s affect on local
aviation.
Tyson Utt of Apex Clean
Energy Inc. told the North
east Regional Airport Com
mission during its meeting
Jan. 15 that the company
would not erect wind tur
bines within six miles of the
end of the runway at the air
port and would be willing to
put that in writing in a mem
orandum of understanding
.with the airport
Utt said the company’s
goal is to build the 300
megawatt Timbermill Wind
Farm along the county line
in 2016. He told the airport
commissioners that Apex
had recently completed a
300-megawatt wind energy
project in Oklahoma near
Oklahoma City and was
able to get it built within a
nine-month period.
Utt said Apex has been
monitoring wind speeds at
the site for more than seven
months.
“That has been looking
really good,” Utt said.
Ben Doyle of Capital
Airspace Group was at the
meeting to answer ques
tions about the aviation
study that he has done for
the Timbermill Wind Farm
project Doyle said he is a
former military air traffic
controller and his firm re
fuses to take on a job that
would have a net negative
impact on aviation.
Utt explained that Apex
asks Doyle’s firm to tell the
company where it should
not build a wind turbine.
The purpose of that process
is to figure things out on the
front end to avoid running
afoul of the Federal Aviation
Administration review.
Doyle’s study looked at
numerous issues including
proximity to the Northeast
Regional Airport, effect on
navigation devices and mili
tary airspace concerns, and
concluded that the locations
being proposed for the wind
turbines — and their poten
tial 600-foot height—would
not hamper aviation safety.
When airport Commis
sioner Chuck Schmieler
See WIND FARM, 2A
©2009 The Chowan Herald
All Rights Reserved
expand or relocate their
businesses continue to
choose Eastern North Caro
lina for its strong job cre
ation climate and skilled
workforce,” McCrory said.
“The North Carolina model
is a blueprint for job cre
ation, and the investment
Standard Medical Accep
tance is making in Edenton
with more than 32 high-pay
ing jobs opens the door to
significant opportunities
Martin Luther King Jr. Day
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STAFF PHOTOS BY REGGIE PONDER
Members of the audience hold hands while singing “We Shall Overcome’ at the close of an MLK Day Celebration at Swain Auditorium, Monday.
BY REBECCA BUNCH
Staff Writer
Attorney Sherrod
Banks paid tribute
XX. Monday afternoon
to the life and legacy of
Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr. during his keynote
speech at the annual
celebration honoring
the visionary civil rights
leader.
His remarks also en
compassed the struggles
of blacks during the Civil
Rights Movement and
during the years since.
“Dr. King was here (in
Edenton) in 1962 because
he wanted me to go as far
as my God-given talents
and hard work would
take me,” Banks declared
of a visit King made to
the community that year,
one of two during his
lifetime.
And Banks did. He
graduated from the Uni
versity of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill cum laude
in 1985. Three years
later, he was awarded
his Juris Doctor degree
from the UNC School of
Law. Banks practices law
in Durham at the Banks
Law Firm. In 2001 he
Town seeks Certified Retirement Community designation
BY REBECCA BUNCH
Staff Writer
The Tbwn of Edenlon is
ready to take its next step
toward becoming a North
Carolina Certified Retire
ment Community.
The town council unani
mously agreed at its Jaa 14
monthly meeting to allow
town staff to submit an appli
cation necessary to complete
the process. The application
for Chowan County and its
families."
SMA enables health care
providers to realize the true
current collateral value of
their receivables and en
ables them to receive next
day bank funding at attrac
tive rates while protecting
the bank against overvalu
ation of their collateral
“The Department of Com
merce is committed to work
ing with existing companies
established the Banks
Foundation and since
then has helped over 40
families become hom
eowners.
Banks also paid trib
ute to those in the Old
Hertford Road neighbor
hood who mentored and _
nurtured him as he was
growing up, as well as
teachers like former John
A. Holmes High School
Band Director Otis
Strother who had be
friended and taught him.
“I know who I am and
I know what this com
munity has done for me,”
Banks said. “And if my
life is a (testament) to his
(King’s) work, then I say,
he did a damn good job!”
Glorious Elliott, who
emceed the program and
serves on the celebration
committee, said Banks’
remarks held an impor
tant message for students
in the audience — that
they should move confi
dently into the future.
“Keep riding up that
hill,” Elliott, a member
of the Edenton-Chowan
Board of Education, said.
“Don’t look back. If Sher
rod Banks had looked
back he wouldn’t be
must be completed and sub
mitted to tjie N.C. Division of
Travel & Tburism by Jan. 31,
according to Tbwn Manager
Anne-Marie Knighton.
“An enormous amount of
work has gone into prepar
ing this application," Knigh
ton told the council
Councilman Bob Quinn
led the effort to complete
the lengthy application. He
was assisted by Edenton
Chowan Partnership board
to grow jobs,” Decker said.
“We congratulate Standard
Medical Acceptance Cor
poration for its success and
for investing in Chowan
County.”
Salaries will vary by job
function, but the average an
nual wage for the new jobs
will be $63,906 plus benefits.
1116 Chowan County aver
age annual wage is $31,646.
Frank Miglorie, director
of the Edenton Chowan
m
M
STAFF PHOTO BY REGGIE PONDER
Sherrod Banks, an Edenton native and Durham
based attorney, who was the keynote speaker for
the Martin Luther King Day Celebration Monday at
Swain Auditorium, accepts a plaque from Celebration
Committee Chairwoman Angela Taylor Welch.
where he is today.
A heartwarming mo
ment during the program
came when the Emerg
member Jeny Climer and
Chowan Tburism Director
Nancy Nicholls.
Knighton said that along
with the application the
town is also required to send
in a $10,000 fee. Those funds
are being provided by the
Edenton Chowan Partner
ship, the Chowan Tburism
Development Authority and
the Edenton Historical Com
mission.
According to the applica
Partnership, said what he
thinks was ideal about this
particular effort was the lev
el of collaboration from the
governor to the commerce
department to local offi
cials, with assistance from
the Golden LEAF Founda
tion and the N.C. Support
Center.
“I look at this as a first
step toward this vision
we have of revitalizing the
community with a stronger
mg Young Leaders from
Chowan Middle School
recited sayings from Dr.
King and explained what
tion form, the primary ob
jective of the program is to
encourage retirees and those
planning to retire the chance
to make North Carolina their
home and promote the state
as a desirable retirement des
tinatioa Other goals of the
program are to assist com
munities in their efforts to
market themselves as retire
ment locations, assist in the
development of retirement
communities and continuing
economic base and more
job opportunities,” Miglorie
said.
Chowan Board of Com
missioners Chairman Keith
Nixon said Miglorie and Cy
Rich had done a great job
on the project and both de
serve a lot of credit
“This is a good win for
Chowan County and for ,•
Edenton,” Nixon said. \
See BUSINESS, 2A
they meant to them.
For instance, LaMya
Holley said, Dr. King -
once said, “A man can’t
ride your back unless it’s
bent.”
“I believe he was try
ing to tell us to stand
tall and have confidence
in ourselves,” Holley
said. “People may tty to
put you down or upset
you. Don’t help them by
bending down. Plant your
feet on solid ground and
stand tall.”
Chasity Pate shared a
comment Dr. King made
about love — “Love is
the only force capable of
transforming an enemy
into a friend.”
Pate said, “I believe he
was trying to tell us that
our enemies are not ex
pecting us to love them.
If you give an unexpected
gift or show an act of
kindness, an enemy can
become a friend. Love
and kindness are very
powerful forces that
can lead to forgiveness
between enemies who
can now start the heal
ing process to become
friends.”
See MLK DAY, 2A
care facilities and to encour
age mature market travel
and tourism to the Thrheel
State to evaluate the state’s
desirability as a retirement
locatioa
- Climer prepared a
quired narrative about
community designed to
company the application
As part of the narra
tive, Climer explained why
See RETIREMENT, 2A i
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