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SHEPHERD pruden library
106 W WATER ST
EDENTONNC 27932-1854
\»
482-4418
Wednesday, December 30, 2015
*195 Per Person/BouWe • *245 Per Person/SInde
Price Includes
V DWinre Bus Transportation.
* 2 ftfglits at Dover Downs.
Escorted By: 40/8 American Legion, Edenton. N.C,
Cali 252-562-8114 • 252-339-6433
Money ts Due When You Sign Up.
Deadline: February 15,2016.
All Proceeds go lo the Local Nursing Scholarship Fuat
♦ *60 Casino Credit.
♦ 2 Breakfast Buffets.
All Taxes & Gratuities
Schools
look for
progress
in 2016
BY REBECCA BUNCH
Staff Writer
Edenton-Chowan
Schools Superintendent
Rob Jackson said he is opti
mistic that the coming year
will be a time of progress
for students and staff.
“I believe that 2016 will be
a great year for the school
system as we will continue
to see our positive trends
gather momentum,'’ he said.
Jackson said he is anticipat
ing that the graduating class
of 2016 will break records
set by last year’s graduates
in terms of both gradu
ate rate and the number of
scholarships received. He
added that Chowan Middle
School, which has been
deemed a North Carolina
Middle ScIkxjI to Watch, "is
fielding requests from other
middle schools and school
districts to send teams to
visit our teachers and staff
to learn from their suc
cess.”
“The elementary schools
are having tremendous
years find are benefiting
from growing parent and
community involvement,"
Jackson said. “Each of our
schools Is on a positive tra
jectory and I believe that we
will witness even more stu
dent success in 2016.''
He said that one of the
greatest challenges for the
school system and for the
community as a whole re
mains school readiness.
“This school year, 86
[>ercent of our entering kin
dergarteners were below
where they needed to be
(in terms of skilLs) to start
kindergarten," Jackson
said. “As a community we
must address the critical
issue of school readiness.
We all need to do our part
to encourage parents of
very young ctiildren to read
to them every night ;uid to
have meaningful conversa
tions with them.”
He emphasized that
recent research shared
through t 'howan ( ARES
shows that a child who is
read to 20 minutes a day
is exposed to 1.8 million
words per year as c< >mpared
to a child who Ls not read to
and Ls only exposed to 8,(XXI
words a year.
'This disparity in prepa
ration creates a difficult
barrier for children to over
come as they mast work to
catch up with their peers,"
Jackson said.
But positive steps are be
ing taken to close the gap,
he said.
“Our public library is of
fering powerful opportuni
ties for parents anti children
to meet authors and engage
in a community of readers,”
Jackson said. “We mast
encourage the parents of
young children to take ad
vantage of our tremendous
public library,” he added.
See SCHOOLS, 3A
'< 2009 The Chowan Herald
All Rights Reserved
Destination Downtown Edenton eyes growth
BY REGGIE PONDER
Edihtor
If Destination Down
town Edenton has its
way, 2016 will be a year
of growth for the town’s
already vibrant downtown
district.
Jennifer Harriss, execu
tive director of Destination
Downtown Edenton Inc.,
which is Edenton’s National
Main Street Program office,
said in a recent interview
that recruiting new busi
nesses to downtown,
helping existing businesses
expand and encouraging
public art hr the community
will be among DDEs efforts
in the coining year.
The DDE Board has an
18-month plan of work.
One of the goals hr that
plan is the development
of ;ur incentive program
for the recruitment of new
businesses and the expan
sion of existing businesses.
DDE will be working with
other organizations to see
how they might be able to
partner on that.
vvt- IILUIK IIS uupuiuuu
not only to recruit new
businesses but to assist
the businesses we have
now with expanding and
offering new goods and
services,” Harriss said.
In particular, Harriss
said, DDE is very interested
in bringing a sporting goods
component to downtown,
either tlirough a new busi
ness or the expansion of
a new business into the
spoiling goods line.
Also, a canoe and kayak
outfitter could be part of a
larger sporting goods busi
ness or could be a small
standalone business, she
said.
Market analyses have
shown a lot of leakage
when it comes to spoiling
goods, she said.
“So the board really
wants to zero in on that for
our downtown,” Harriss
said. “It’s a need and we
iiope to till it."
See DOWNTOWN, 4A
STAFF PHOTOS BY REGGIE PONDER
This window at Shoppes on Broad (above) tied for first place in the windows contest sponsored by Destination
Downtown Edenton Inc. Edenton Bay Trading Co. (below) was brightly decorated for the holidays and shared first
place honors in the contest. Honorable mention went to Polka Dot Palm and John Gay Studio.
Water woes top county concern in coming year
BY REGGIE PONDER
Editor
Finding-a cost-effective way to
comply with state regulations at
the comity’s water treatment plant
wliile resuming the water-softening
process tops the agenda for Chow
an County officials as 2016 dawns.
“That's our number one issue
next year," said County Manager
Kevin Howard.
State environmental regulators
have told county officials they must
stop softening the comity’s water as
long as the county continues to dis
charge the effluent from the treat
ment process into a swamp near
the treatment plant. The
county already has begun
phasing out the softening
of the water and will stop
the softening completely
by March 1.
Meanwlule, the county
conunissioners plan to
start meeting in the next
couple of weeks to discuss
how to resolve the water treatment
Issues.
County Manager Kevm'?Iowanl
said that there aLso would be meet
ings for public information and
jaiblic input on the issue.
Constructing a reverse osmosis
water treatment pl;mt would be a
HOWARD
costly solution, with esti
mates around $30 million
for a new RO plant.
A much more affordable
options, and therefore one
the commissioners likely
will focus us, is to use the
current water treatment
system but change the way
the effluent is disposed of.
Howard said it could cost $4 mil
lion or more to reroute the effluent,
depending on where the discharge
site is.
The state has to approve the
discharge location, ;uul alternate
dischar ge sites could range from as
close as three miles away to as far
away as 15-16 miles.
Howard said the timetable for
resolving the water Issues was
not necessarily tied to the budget
process since the county already
increased water rates tins fiscal
ye;ir in anticipation of needing to
upgrade the plant.
What is driving the timetable in
stead is a general sense of urgency
to resolve the water issues.
“We're going to move as fast as
possible to figure out something,"
Howard said. “Our phut is to get
back in the softening business, not
just stay the way we are now."
See COUNTY, 4A
Town infrastructure a priority in year ahead
BY REBECCA BUNCH
Editor
Looking ahead to the
coining year Town Manager
Anne-Marie Knighton says
tile town government “iias
a lot on its plate.”
And wiiile all of the goals
and priorities won’t lx- final
ized until tiie town council
meets in January to review
and update its Vision State
ment, Knighton said that
projects for 2016
would include the
future use of the for
mer Northeast Com
mission building,
the new headquar
ters for the Edenton
Police Department,
implementation of
tire redevelopment
plans tor the North Uakum
Street and Moseley Street
neighborhoods; upgrades
to the electrical distribution
KNIGHTON
system and water
mains on Peanut
Drive; and con
tinuing to help the
Edenton-Chowan
Partnership with
its efforts to recruit
a second grocery
store.
“Tlie upcoming
budget lor 2()H>/17 Ls a bud
get I am looking forward
to,” Knighton said. Thanks
to the General Assembly
giving municipalities the
authority to increase the
vehicle tag fee beginning in
July, the Town will have ad
ditional revenue to pay for
street paving work. We will
be updating our priority list
in the spring and reviewing
it with the town council as
part of the budget prepara
tion work.”
Knighton acknowledged
that one of the areas of
greatest int erest in the com
ing year would be the fu
tiuv ownership and use of
the Northeast Commission
building — the last
remaining piece of commer
cial real estate available on
the downtown waterfront.
“Our town council ad
ministrative committee
chaired by Councilman
Steve Biggs has recom
mended that Reid Thomas
See TOWN, 3A
WE DON'T EXPECT TO BE EVERYONE'S PHARMACY, !
I HUIIT’C MUTUAL BUTWE SURELYWOULD LIKETO BEYOURS.
LUU m I 0 DRUGS ^xPenence DIFFERENCE.Make that New Year’s resolution you’ve been meaning to make! '
323 8, Broad St. * PO Box 208 * EdtntOtl, NC 27932-02Q9 * (252) 482-2127 J.6. (Jim) Blount, Sr., R.PH • Jenny Blount Wiliams, Pturm.D. • Nelson Spear, Ptumi, D.