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Wednesday, September 7, 2016
Walker alumni urged to mull building buy
BY REBECCA BUNCH
Staff Writer
The keynote speaker at a D.F. Walker
Alumni Association dinner on Saturday
evening suggested that the association
consider developing a strategy for pur
chasing the former high school building.
The building is currently owned by
Chowan County and houses classroom
space leased by College of the Albemarle.
But it remains a source of pride within
the community as the site of the county’s
African American high school prior to in
tegration.
On the occasion of the 10th biennial
alumni school reunion, Dr. C.H. Johnson
emphasized that there was nothing the
xts:
group couldn’t do if they put their minds
to it and overcame what he called “a
grasshopper mentality.”
“Our hope rests in God and we have
a daunting task set before us,” he said.
“Here we have an opportunity to over
come a grasshopper mentality-”
Johnson said there were enough profes
sionals in the audience who had attended
D.F. Walker to help come up with the
money to buy their former high school.
He said their only enemies in achieving
that goal were fear and indecision.
“We’re paralyzed by our own thinking,”
Johnson, an Edenton native and Baptist
minister, emphasized. “There’s nothing
See BUILDING, 4A
STAFF PHOTO BY REBECCA
BUNCH
Baptist minister
C.H.Johnson was
the keynote speaker
at the D.F. Walker
Alumni Association
dinner held Saturday
evening as part of the
reunion weekend's
activities. Johnson
urged the group’s
members to get
behind an effort to
explore the possible
acquisition of the old
school building by the
alumni association.
Hermine causes power outages, sewer discharge
PHOTO
COURTESY
MELISSA
OLIVER
Crews
work to
restore
electric
service
after
strong
winds
Saturday
morning
damaged
power lines
in parts of
the town’s
service
area.
From staff reports
lthough little damage was report
ed from the effects of Hermine
i. JLin Edenton and Chowait County,
the Town of Edenton experienced scat
tered power outages from high winds
early Saturday morning.
The town’s electric crews began
making repairs around 2 a.m. Saturday.
Outages in the downtown area on
the west side reportedly were caused
by a large tree limb falling on a power
line at South Granville Street and West
Water Street.
Crews repaired outages jn East Gale
Street, a portion of the circuit on West
Queen Street Extended and Hickory
Fork Road, and also responded to an
outage in Cape Colony, according to
Town Manager Anne-Marie Knighton.
Low-lying areas experienced minor
flooding, including Pembroke Circle,
West Carteret, East Water Street., West
Water Street, and South Broad Street
near the Barker House. The weather
station at the waterfront recorded 5.19
inches of rain. ,
Some spots on low-lying roads in ru
ral parts of Chowan County were under
water for a time on Saturday, according
to county officials.
The extremely heavy rains caused a
sanitary sewer overflow on the 900 block
of North Granville Street near Virginia
Road. Public Works crews responded to
See STORM, 2A
Ross to
speak in
Edenton
Thursday
From staff reports
The Democrat who is chal
lenging Sen. Richard Burr
for a Senate seat from North
Carolina will be in Edenton
Thursday.
Deborah Ross will be mak
ing a campaign stop at the
ROSS
I opening of
| the Chowan
County
j Democratic
Headquar
ters at Oak
Leaf Elks
Ixxlge. Ross
Ls slated to
speak and
to meet supporters during the
opening of the headquarters,
which is scheduled for noon
to 1 p.m., according to the
Chowan County Democratic
Committee.
The Oak Leaf Elks Lodge
is located at 202 E. Carteret
Street, on the comer of (Oa
kum and East Carteret There
is no admission charge for
the event and refreshments
will lx- provided, Burr, R-N.C.,
has held the Senate seat since
2005. Ross served in the N.C.
House of Representatives
from 2003-2012.
Ross has promised to be a
voice for the state’s citizens.
“North Carolina’s voices
have been ignored in Wash
ington too long,” Ross said in
a statement published on her
campaign website. “As your
senator, I’ll work for the peo
ple, not tire powerful.”
Chowan grad rate up, some school scores still down
From staff reports
Edenton-Chowan Schools of
ficials found in the state schools
report released last week both
reasons to celebrate and evidence
of a continued need for improve
ment.
D.F. Walker Elementary School
experienced the highest growth
rate among the district’s four
schools, moving from not meet
ing expected growth in 2014-2015
to exceeding expected growth
in 2015-2016 and moving from a
school performance grade of D
to a performance grade of C. Stu
dents at the school increased their
growth and percent proficient in
nearly every tested area.
Students at Chowan Middle
School met expected growth but
missed earning a school perfor
mance grade of C by one point
- the school earned a school per
formance grade of D.
John A. Holmes High School
earned a school performance
grade of C but did not meet ex
pected growth.
A rrayor cause for celebration in
Chowan is that Edenton-Chowan
Schools’ four-year cohort gradu
ation rate is die highest gradua
tion rate in the district’s history
at 90.5 percent - an increase of 8.3
percent from 2014-2015. The four
year graduation rate is 4.7 percent
above the state’s average of 85.8
percent
Edenton-Chowan Schools Su
perintendent Rob Jackson said
school officials would use the data
to improve student performance
in the schools.
“The School Performance
Grades issued by the state are an
imperfect measurement of the
complexity of the work, the in
tensity of the challenges, and the
depth of the dedication of our
teachers and staff,” Jackson said.
“They do more to identify areas
of high-poverty in our state than
actually measure the performance
of the school, the staff, or the stu
dents. However, we will use this
information to guide our efforts to
See SCHOOLS, 2A
Foundation is poured for the new Edenton police station
BY REBECCA BUNCH
Staff Writer
With the pouring of its
foundation last week, con
struction of the new Eden
ton Police Department on
North Oakum Street contin
ues to move ahead.
According to Adaip
Hughes of A.R. Chesson
Construction, who is serving
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6 "*8 9076'
C2009 The Chowan Herald
All Right* Reserved
t
as project manager, work is
progressing right on time.
“Construction activity at
the new police department
continues to meet schedule
expectations,” Hughes said.
“Many of the initial site im
provements are currently
in place. Site utilities have
been installed as well as
storm water drainage and
the storm water detention
pond.”
Hughes said that medal
stud framing is expected
to take place in mid-Sep
tember after structural col
umns, beams and joists are
put into place.
“The next construction
milestone is to have the
structure complete with the
roof in place by the end of
2016,” Hughes said. “This
will allow interior plumb
ing, electrical and mechani
cal rough-ins to be installed
without winter weather in
terference in order to begin
interior finishes.”
Hughes added that turn
over of the building to the
police department is sched
uled to take place in May
2017 and an on-time com
pletion is anticipated
*
See STATION, 4A
PHOTO
COURTESY
A.R. CHESSON
COMPANY
Workers
pour the
foundation
for the new
Edenton
Police
Station.