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LEE MILLER
413 ELLIOTT ST
EDENTON NC 27932-2009
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
INSIDE:
today:
See our *
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Albemarle'
Magazine *
50«
Some businesses, residents wary of Walmart
BY REBECCA BUNCH
Staff Writer
The Edenton Chowan
Partnership, has offered to
help Walmart with informa
tion it may need as it consid
ers Edenton as a future loca
tion for one of its stores.
But established business
es in the downtown area,
as well as some private
Laughter, tears as Holmes High honors graduates
BY VERNON FUESTON
Correspondent
Cheers, speeches, mu
sic, laughter and a
few tears were all a
part of the celebration Sat
urday as family, faculty, and
friends honored 130 gradu
ates as their years of study
at John " A. Holmes High
School come to a close.
Like most graduation
ceremonies, the commence
ment began with a parade
by the graduates that wound
around the track to the ap
plause and cheers of par
ents, relatives and friends
and ended at their seats in
front of the stand.
But it quickly became ob
vious that something was
amiss. The graduates came
to a stop, but did not take
their seats. Assistant Prin
, cipal Dr. Todd Korbsieski
announced that the school'
had been “pranked” by the
removal of two rows of the
graduates’seats.
The missing chairs were
quickly replaced and the
ceremony went on as sched
uled.
Jennifer Loeffler, John A.
Holmes Teacher of the Year,
gave a salute to the seniors,
sharing a few memories of
things she had learned about
high school life during the
2013-14 school year, after
See GRADUATION, 4A
Locked gate at graduation upsets families
BY REGGIE PONDER
Editor
The locking of the gate 10
minutes before the start of
the graduation exercises at
John A. Holmes High School
caused consternation for
some family members of
graduates who missed the
cutoff time.
School officials explain
the locking of the gate as a
necessary precaution to pre
vent disruption of the sol
Proposed tax hike questioned
From staff reports
Only one local resident
spoke during a public hear
ing cm Edenton’s proposed
budget for fiscal year 2014
2015 during the June 10
Tbwn Council meeting.
The council is scheduled
©2009 The Chowan Herald
All Rights Reserved
citizens, are taking a more
cautious approach to the
potential impact of the retail
giant’s presence.
Jadrale Wagner, manager
of Peebles, has seen and
experienced that impact
firsthand. Wagner took a job
with Peebles and relocated
to Edenton almost a decade
ago after Walmart opened
a store in Bradford, Penn.,
emn ceremony as graduates
process into the stadium.
Gaspare Misseri, father of
one of this year’s graduates,
said in a letter to the Chow
an Herald that his sister and
her husband “had traveled
great distance" to attend
the ceremony, only to arrive
about 30 seconds after the
8:50 am. deadline and wind
up stranded outside the
gates alongside other gradu
ates’ family members.
“As I approached the
• '■ . • • ■ ' <
RELATED STORY
•
l ■Town Council extends ‘
lease for Northeast Commis- . >
sion building-3A
to vote 'on the proposed
budget at its June 23 work
session.
Rich Halbert, a Phillips
Street resident, expressed
concern that because of the
way the tax increase is be
ing described—in cents per
$100 rather than in percent
ages — citizens do not fully
realize the magnitude of the
where she was living and
working at a local Kmart
“I am where I am now be
cause of Walmart,” Wagner
said. “I have seen it have an
extremely negative effed
on a downtown in Pennsyl
vania.”
Wagner said that store af
ter store closed in the wake
of Walmart’s presence and
that even now the town’s
gate from the inside to com
municate with my sibling !
overheard this upset mother ;
loudly voicing her despair®,
and discontent,” Misseri
said in the letter. “In turn the
deputy assigned to the gate $
told her “if you don’t leave
the property I will have you
arrested."
Sheriff Dwayne Goodwin
said he was working at one
of the entrant himself
and was not present at the
other entrance when the
increase.
He said while the pro
posed tax rate would grow
from 29 to 39 cents, the per
centage of the proposed in
crease actually works out to
34.5 percent.
“That's a lot of money,”
Halbert said.
Halbert added that not
only would the proposed
budget raise the tax rate
but that there would be a 16
percent increase per 1,000
gallons to the sewer rate
charged under user fees and
See QUESTIONED, 3A
retail business community
continues to try to recover.
“I don’t think we need a
Walmart Supercenter,” Wag
ner said. “I think what we
need is a grocery store.
“Right now our down
town is our retail center,”
Wagner added. “I think we
need to keep it that way.”
Jim Blount, owner of
Blount’s Pharmacy, said he
incident Misseri referred to
occiflted.
But Goodwin said in that
kind of situation his officers
do not raise the prospect
of someone being arrested
except as a last arrest. If
a deputy ends up telling
someone they have to leave
or face being arrested, that
indicates the person has
refused repeated requests
by the officer, according to
Goodwin.
i “They have asked you to
Halbert praises Chowan
officials for budget work
: • BY REGGIE PONDER
‘ i 1 Editor
A local citizen praised
.Chowan County officials
Monday night for their
work to hold down the
county’s property tax rate.
“I applaud your effort to
hold the line for the taxpay
ers,” Rich Halbert, a local
conservative activist, said
during the public hearing
on the county manager’s
proposed 2014-2015 county
too questioned the wisdom
of courting a Walmart for
the town. Blount, who has
been a pharmacist for 45
years, said that if people
want to see for themselves
what could happen in Eden
ton all they need to do is
look at communities in the
area where a Walmart has
been built and the result
ing impact on existing retail
move before then,” Good
win said. “They aren’t just
automatically going to jump
out on that limb.”
Misseri said he asked a
deputy who had ordered the
gates locked and the officer
replied that the principal
had ordered it locked out of
respect the graduates.
“I tried to wrap my mind
around this respect excuse;
couldn’t however compre
hend how depriving parents
from attending a once in a
budget
County Manager Kevin
Howard’s proposed bud
get included an increase
in the property tax rate of
five cents per $100 prop
erty valuation. The county
commissioners have since
identified additional spend
ing cuts that would bring
the increase in the tax rate
closer to one and a half
cents.
The proposed five-cent
increase in the property
businesses.
“If you look at down
towns in places like Wil
liamston, Elizabeth City and
especially Ahoskie, I just
think it would have a delete
rious effect on the future of
our downtown,” he said.
Blount said that he real
ized there was support for a
See WALMART, 3A v
lifetime event can be viewed
as a respect act to anyone
just because, those relatives
were'just a few moments
late to this crucial deadline,”
Misseri said. *■_
Principal Sheila Evan$
said that locking the gate?;.
10 minutes before the cereC
mony begins is a policy thafc
was in place even before;
she became principal at th&
high school. 2. ‘
See GATES, 4A
tax rate would have been
below what is known as ;
the “revenue-neutral” rate '
- the tax rate that would
generate the same amount
of property tax revenue as '<
in die current fiscal year. <
So the proposed increase '*
in the tax rate would still
represent a decrease in
the local property tax ob-. |
ligation for the bulk of tax
payers, though some still
See PRAISED, 4A '
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Annual Home
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Marshals lead the John A, Holmes Class of 2014 to
PHOTO COURTESY VERNON FUESTON
r seats at the start of Commencement ceremonies on Saturday morning. .
v»r* •
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