482-4418
EDENTON NC
Chamber honors optimists,
TOURISM BOOSTERS —18
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
50<
Children’s Workshop
STAFF PHOTO BY REBECCA BUNCH
Alishia Simpson (left) joins White Oak School Principal Michelle White (right) in admiring the creativity of Amahni Norman, 5, and
Walter Norman Jr., 4, during a children’s workshop at the Shepard-Pruden Library, Saturday. The workshop was co-sponsored by
Friends of the Library and the local Smart Start. See more pliotos from event at DailyAdvance.com.
Biz upbeat about prospects for growth
BY REGGIE PONDER
Editor
The crowd at the sold-out
Edenton-Chowan Chamber of
Commerce’s annual meeting and
banquet Thursday was mostly
upbeat about the prospects for
growth and prosperity in 2015.
The program featured prog
ress reports on Chamber activi
ties by April Layton, who served
as the 2014 Chamber president,
and Scott Noble, the 2015 Cham
ber president.
Awards were presented in six
categories: Business Person of
the Year; Volunteer of the Year;
Humanitarian of the Year; Main
Street Champion; Excellence in
Tourism; and Organization of
the Year.
Organization of the Year was
a new category for 2014.
Business people who attended
the event were mostly optimistic
about the current business cli
mate in the area and the oppor
tunities for growth in 2015.
Noble said his own business
is doing well.
“We’re quite busy at this
point,” he said.
Bill Gardner, who has started
selling cars at Edenton Motors
after 25 years in the insurance
business, said auto sales seem
to have picked up significantly
in recent months.
“The last four months have re
blAN- rHUI U bY KhUCilt rUNUtn
April Layton, the 2014 president of the EdentorvChowan Chamber of Commerce, presents the president’s
gavel to 2015 president Scott Noble during Thursday’s annual Chamber meeting and banquet at the
Chowan Golf and Country Club. See more photos on Page SB and at DailyAdvance.com.
ally been great, Gardner said.
Dr. Stephen Benkusky of
Edenton’s Eye Care Center said
his fellow business people in
the community help make this a
good place to do business.
“For a small community,
Edenton has got a good core of
business-minded people,” Ben
kusky said. “The future hope
fully will be bright.”
Edenton Town Manager
Anne-Marie Knighton presented
Vidant Chowan Hospital Presi
dent Jeffrey Sackrison the 2014
John A. Mitchener Jr. Business
Person of the Year Award.
Sackrison has been promoted
to division president at Vidant
and will be moving into that new
role*early next month. Jeff Dial
will take the reins as president
of Vidant Chowan Hospital.
Knighton said she admires the
work Sackrison does. He grew
up in a hardworking family that
instilled in him the habit of giv
ing 100 percent to everything he
See CHAMBER, 4A
Barrow headed overseas for National Guard mission
BY REBECCA BUNCH
Staff Writer
Edenton Town Planner Sam
Barrow will soon leave to be
come part of a NATO peace
keeping mission in Eastern
Europe.
Barrow, a captain in the
North Carolina Army National
Guard, serves as company
commander for Company A, 1st
Battalion 252 Armor Regiment,
30th Armor Brigade Combat
Team based in Williamston.
He and the 130-man infantry
©2009 The Chowan Herald
All Rights Reserved
company will mobilize in the
near future to the Balkans to
support ongoing peacekeeping
operations.
Barrow has been a member
of the North Carolina National
Guard for the past 10 years,
and is a veteran of the Iraq and
Afghanistan wars.
“I’ve been told it’s a pretty
secure area,” Barrow said
of Kosovo. Barrow said that
FILE PHOTO
First Lt. Sam Barrow of the
N.C. National Guard, offers a
tribute to military servicemen
and women during the 2012
Veterans Day ceremony at
the Chowan County Veterans
Memorial in Edenton.
while this will be his third de
ployment with the National
Guard, it would be his first
outside of the Middle East.
Overseas deployments with
the National Guard became
commonplace after Sept. 11,
2001. At that point in addition
to its traditional domestic role,
the National Guard assumed a
federal role supporting Opera
tion Enduring freedom, Opera
tion Iraqi freedom and others
See BARROW, 3A
Resolution:
Restore NC
tax credit
From staff reports
Chowan County officials have joined
their town of Edenton counterparts in
backing the restoration of the state’s
historic preservation tax credit
The Chowan Board of Commission
ers unanimously adopted a resolution
in support of the preservation tax credit
| at its Feb. 2 meeting.
The state’s historic preservation tax
! credits ended Dec. 31.
Commissioner John Mitchener told
his fellow commissioners that the Des
tination Downtown Edenton Board
had adopted a resolution in support of
restoring the state tax credit for historic
preservation, and had asked the county
commissioners to adopt a similar reso
lution of support
Commissioner Keith Nixon made the
motion to adopt the resolution.
A resolution backing the state histor
ic preservation tax credit also has been
adopted by the Edenton Town Council.
Rep. Bob Steinburg, R-Chowan, is an
outspoken supporter of the preservation
tax credit in the House. But Steinburh
has acknowledged that the tax credit
faces an uphill battle in the Senate.
Senate leaders have been very strong
ly opposed to all tax credits as a matter
of principle, according to Steinburg.
At the town council’s Jan. 13 regular
monthly meeting, Town Manager Anne
! Marie Knighton noted that with support
voiced by Gov. Pat McCrory and Secre
| tary of Cultural Resources Susan Klutz
I has come “a groundswell of support” for
the tax credit to be restored.
“We’re also asking citizens to sign
the petition that’s online and will be
taking to social media to help spread
See RESOLUTION, 3A
Howard
outlines biz
| challenges
BY REGGIE PONDER
Editor'
County Manager Kevin Howard told
a gathering at American Legion Post 40
1 last week that Chowan faces the, kinds
of economic development hurdles that
all rural counties deal with but is work
ing to overcome them.
] uurmg a quesuon
j and-answer session
j following Howard’s
| remarks, Post 40 Com
mander Max Graybill
I talked about the need
j forjobsinthecommu
I nity.
HOWARD ()ur y^g people
are not staying in the
town, because there are no jobs for
them,” Graybill said.
Howard acknowledged it’s a chal
lenge to bring jobs to the community.
“It’s a struggle for most rural counties
to get jobs to come,” Howard said. He
added that’s not an excuse; county of
ficials are working to attract new busi
ness and industry to the community.
Boatbuilding is one of the industries
that local officials are focusing on in
cooperation with the N.C. East Alliance
and other groups, according to How
ard.
Howard also said the county is work
ing with College of The Albemarle on
using more of the Edenton-Chowan
Campus and offering more programs
here.
Economic development is an impor
tant part of what the county does, with
the county participating in the Eden
ton-Chowan Partnership, Howard said
during l\is remarks.
“We have several tilings in the
works,” Howard said, referring to in
dustrial recruitment. He said he wasn’t
able to talk about any of those things at
this time.
See HOWARD, 4A
ng Valentine