P8/C8**‘***CAR-RT LOT**C 002 D0112 lll,,,lllllll,lllll,l,llll,llll,,l,lll,ll,llllllll,ll,lll,ll,lll, SHEPHERD PRUDEN LIBRARY 106 W WATER ST EDENTON NC 27932-1854 482-4418 Wednesday, August 10, 2016 Hearing on TimbermiU permit set for Ang. 22-23 BY REGGIE PONDER Editor The Chowan County Board of Commissioners will hold a hear ing on the application for a condi tional use permit for the proposed Timbermill Wind Project Aug. 22 and 23 at the Northern Chowan Community Center. The hearing is slated to begin at 6 p.m. each of the two days. Charlottesville, Va.-based Apex Clean Energy Inc. has proposed the 300-megawatt wind energy fa cility in Chowan and Perquimans counties. The county held an informa tional meeting for the public Aug. 2 at its office building on Freema son Street At that meeting County Attorney Lauren Arizaga-Womble explained the process that will be followed at the board’s quasi-judi cial hearing on the permit applica tion. The hearing will generally fol low the rules of evidence, Arteaga Womble told the audience at the meeting. Arizaga-Womble said that so far the county had not been con tacted by any attorney represent ing opponents of the application. Any attorney representing oppo nents of the application should contact the county as soon as possible to aid county officials in planning the logistics of the hear ing, she said. HDR, the company that Chowan County has hired to assist county ' * t r > s RELATED STORIES I; ■ Attorney: Apex application is now ready for hearing-2A ■ ■ Perquimans Planning Board backs TimbermiD permit - 2A Tbnbermill Wind Project - 3A m ' i m staff in reviewing the Apex appli cation, will have staff present at the hearing, according to Arizaga Womble. As the hearing progresses the board will be able to examine wit nesses and attorneys for the ap plicant orfor an opponent of the application will be able to cross examine witnesses, she said. There will be an opportunity for the presentation of rebuttal testi mony, she said. In order to participate in the hearing you must be found by the See TIMBERMILL, 4A k STAFF PHOTO BY REBECCA BUNCH Steve and Betty Tyler and their son Kelsea enjoy the view from the historic 1&86 Roanoke River Lighthouse on the downtown Edenton waterfront Sunday afternoon during the National Lighthouse Day celebration. The Tylers were visiting from Dunbar, SC near Charleston. Many tour historic Roanoke Lighthouse BY REBECCA BUNCH Staff Writer Logan Gilbert got to cel ebrate his fifth birthday in an unusual place on Sunday - in Edenton’s Colonial Park in the midst of large num bers of families coming to the historic 1886 Roanoke River Lighthouse to celebrate Nation al Lighthouse Day. At the end of the day, officials said, 147 adults and 32 children had toured the lighthouse. While Logan was more inter ested in ei\joying his party, his dad Eric took a few minutes to talk about his family’s love of lighthouses. “We've climbed the light house at Chincoteague,” he said, adding that his family was excited to have the chance to learn more about Edenton’s lighthouse. James and Abigail Stanbeiy and their nephew Zac Bare of Miller’s Creek in Wilkes County said they had been on vacation See LIGHTHOUSE, 4A Environmental group partnering with NOAA BEBECCA BUNCH Staff Writer Volunteers from the Chowan Edenton Environmental Group have begun a unique partner ship with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra tioa The effort, designed to pro vide the agency’s Charleston, S.C., office with valuable in formation about the presence of blue green algae in Chowan County waters. To provide the information, CEEG members have received special training to identify five of the more com mon species of blue green algae in these waters that will allow them to continue year-round sampling of the water that they begun doing last Wednesday. Colleen Karl is one of those leading the effort “Every week we will be tak ing samples and using a special digital microscope to view the images which we will be able to transmit as photographs along with a report concerning the samples we took,” she said. The microscope was pur chased by the CEEG using grant funds from the North Carolina Community Foundation. Each See ALGAE, 4A PHOTO COURTESY OF CEEG This digital picture taken with the CEEG microscope shows Anabaena sp. (Genus and species) observed from a water sample taken at the Edenton town dock on the morning of Aug. 3. The magnification is 400x. Lost Colony Center seeks OK to dig BY REGGIE PONDER Editor A nonprofit that investigates the history of the Lost Colony has requested permission to conduct archaeological research on county owned land at Bennett’s Millpond. “This is the most exciting unsolved mys tery in North America,” Fred Willard of the Lost Colony Center for Science and Research Inc. told the Chowan County Board of Com missioners at the board’s Aug. 1 meeting. Willard appeared before the board to ask permission to begin negotiations with the county attorney on the details of a contract between the county and the Center. At the urging of Commissioner Keith Nix on, the board tabled the matter. Nixon said he would like to look closely at how much the county has spent so far this year on legal expenses before agreeing to authorize addi tional county attorney time to work on this project Willard explained that research on the Eleanor Dare Stone, which he has come to believe is authentic, has determined that the message on the stone .indicates the remains of Eleanor Dare’s husband, Ananias, and daughter, Virginia, were buried at what is now a county-owned site at Bennett’s Mill pond Willard said he works closely with Phil McMullan, who has written a book about the Lost Colony, and with other volunteers. The message of the Dare Stone is that Ananias Dare and Virginia Dare were buried four miles east of the mouth of Rocky Hock Creek, which falls on county-owned prop erty at the millpond, Willard said. Willard emphasized that the research is very longterm and it is likely to be years before anything substantial comes of an ar chaelogical dig at the site. Archaeology is very slow and very hit or miss, Willard said This dig is a very longterm project, he said Under Willard’s proposal the county would own any artifacts found but the Cen ter would require the artifacts to be curated in a way that would make them accessible to researchers. The Lost Colony Center for Science and Research would have rights to movies and other productions based on the research, Willard said. Willard asked for permission to begin ne gotiations with the county attorney on the details of a contract between the county and the Center. Commissioner Alex Kehayes asked how the archaelogical dig would affect access to the millpond for fishing and picnics. Willard said there would be no effect at all on those recreational activities at the mill pond State senator enjoys up-close glimpse of history BY REGGIE PONDER Editor Sea Erica Smith-Ingram was excited to be among the cheering throng when Hillary Clinton accepted the Democratic Party’s nomina tion for president week be fore last in Philadelphia. Smith-Ingram, the Northampton County Democrat who represents Chowan and seven other northeastern North Carolina 6 "*8 907 6*4 4 81311 0 02009 The Chowan Herald / Alt Rights Reserved counties in the N.C. Senate, was a delegate to the Demo cratic National Convention and participated in the his tory that was made there. “It was awesome to be there and see history being made,” Smith-Ingram said last week of her role as a delegate at the convention, which marked the first time a major party in the United States had selected a wom an as its presidential nomi nee. Smith-Ingram was in Edenton Aug. 2 to visit the Summer Reading Program for children at the Shepard Pruden Memorial library. She said she also found it exciting to be present as people from acros? the country became aquainted with the Rev. William Bar ber – already famil iar to North Carolinians because of his leadership of the state’s NAACP and the Moral Mondays movement “He preached to the na tion,” Smith-Ingram said, grinning. Because Smith-Ingram faces no Republican oppo sition on the ballot in No vember she does not have to campaign in order to re main in the General Assem bly. But she will do plenty of campaigning between now and the General Election on behalf of Clinton and the Democratic Party’s candi dates for other seats in the General Assembly. Smith-Ingram said she believes Clinton’s historic campaign for president will energize voters and work to the advantage of Democrat ic candidates in the state. She said she expects the Democrats to pick up seats this year in both the N.C. Senate and the N.C. House of Representatives. “This presidential cam paign will help us up and down the ballot,” she said. Because North Caro lina is regarded as a criti cal background state in this year’s presidential election, Smith-Ingram said she ex pects Clintion and vice pres idential nominee Tim Kaine See SMITH-INGRAM, 4AA STAFF PHOTO BY REGGIE PONDER Sen. Erica Smith Ingram, D Northampton, visits the Summer Reading Program at the Shepard Pruden Memorial Library. '*