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SHEPHERD PRUDEN LIBRARY
106 W WATER ST
EDENTON NC 27932-1854
482-4418
Wednesday, January 11, 2017
Food pantry to celefc
‘Day of Service’
Board to hear solar farm permit request
BY REGGIE PONDER
Editor
The Chowan County
Planning Board will hold a
special use permit hearing
later this month on a pro
posed wind energy facility
on Yeopim Road.
A renewable energy com
pany known as 02emc LLC
received a special use per
mit for a solar energy facil
ity at 740 Yeopim Road in
August 2015, but is reapply
ing for a permit because the
first one has expired. The
permit hearing is scheduled
for the planning board’s Jan.
24 meeting.
In the months since the
original permit was ap
proved the project has been
redesigned as a smaller fa
cility.
Adam Foodman of 02emc
told the county’s Techni
cal Review Committee last
month that the facility origi
nally was designed as a 20
megawatt project but now
has been reconfigured as a
10-megawatt facility.
Foodman explained that
during state and federal
environmental permitting,
questions were raised about
wetlands that led the com
pany to downsize the proj
ect and relocate it slightly
within the existing tract.
‘That’s the reason for the
downsizing,” Foodman said,
referring to the wetlands is
sue.
Foodman also told the
TRC that PJM, the regional
manager of the electric
power grid, has approved
the inter-connection for the
facility.
The company currently
is finalizing equipment con
tracts, Foodman said. But
no money will be put down
on equipment Until the com
pany gets approval from the
county, he said.
During the TRC meeting,
Scott Alons of the Chowan
Perquimans Soil and Water
Conservation District asked
whether the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers had
See REQUEST, 3A
CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS
*
Edenton photographer Jeff Knox captured this view of a snow-covered waterfront complete with nearby homes
and businesses with the use of drone following the weekend’s dusting of snow and abating of ice in Contradiction
of weather forecasts that predicted that up to 8 Inches of snow could fall here.
Ice coats trees, roads
in weekend storm
BY REGGIE PONDER
Editor
The snow event
this past weekend
wound up being a
sleet event, at least
in Edenton and Chowan
County.
The area received 1-3
inches of snow mixed with
sleet and rain.
Monday was very cold,
with a low down to 20 de
grees.
The high Tuesday was
expected to be 42 and the
high today was expected to
reach 57.
The Edenton Police De
partment reported no acci
dent related to the weather,
and only a handful of weath
er-related calls for service.
In rural parts of the coun
ty there were some minor
wrecks but no rruyor acci
dents were reported.
Icy conditions on the
roads caused a number of
closings on Monday.
The Edenton-Chowan
Schools, Chowan County
government offices and the
Shepard-Pruden Memorial
Pat Grother of Edenton captured this scene of trees
coated in icy splendor once the weekend’s winter story
passed through our community. The National Weather
Service estimates that our area received 1-3 inches of
snow mixed with sleet and rain.
Library all were closed Mon
day because of weather-re
lated road conditions.
All campuses of College
of The Albemarle also were
closed Monday.
The Edenton-Chowan
Schools also were closed on
Tuesday, with an optional
teacher workday that oper
ated on a two-hour delay.
Chowan County govern
ment offices opened at 10
am. Tuesday. The county
reported no weather-related
damage to county facilities.
Albemarle Electric Mem
bership Corp. had about 700
customers without electric
ity from 10 am. - 3 p.m. on
Saturday, according to a
spokesman.
Albemarle EMC reported
about 2,500 customers with
out power Tbesday morn
ing because of a problem
with tiie Dominion feed at
the Ederiton substation.
The outage began around 5
am. and power had been re
stored for most customers
by 10 am, Tuesday.
The Town of Edenton
had power outages for some
customers beginning at 5
am. Saturday. Additional
outages occurred through
out the day, with power re
stored to all customers by 3
am. Sunday.
Town Manager Anne-Ma
rie Knighton said the elec
tric crews worked very hard
under difficult conditions to
restore power as quickly as
possible.
Some 750-800 Town of
Edenton customers were
without power for part of
the storm period.
The town has about 4,200
electric customers.
A spokeswoman for
Dominion North Carolina
Power said more than 7,000
customers-in the Albemarle
area were without power
for 10 hours or more begin
ning Saturday. The last of
those outages was restored
Monday moming, she said.
Smith-Ingram to
speak at annual
MLK Day event
From staff reports
The annual Chowan
County Rev. Dr. Martin Lu
ther King Jr. Day Celebra
tion will be held Monday,
Jan. 16, at John A. Holmes
High School Auditorium
at noon.
Erica Smith-Ingram, a
member of the N.C. State
Senate representing Dis
trict 3 — Bertie, Chowan,
Edgecombe, Hertford,
Martin, Northampton,
Tyrrell and Washington
counties — is the guest
speaker.
Prior to serving in the
State Senate, Smith-In
gram was a member of
the Northampton Board
of Education.
§mith-Ingram earned
Vk# bachelor of science
degree in mechanical en
gineering from N.C. Agri
cultural & Technical State
University in 1994 and her
master of arts in religious
studies from Howard Uni
versity School of Divinity
in 2000.
Smith-Ingram worked
for Boeing as a senior spe
cialist engineer from 1993
to 1997; for the IJ.S. Pat
ent & Trademark Office
SMITH-INGRAM
as a pat
ent exam
iner in the
Chemi
cal Engi
neering
Technol
ogy Cen
ter from
1998 to
ZUIW; and works as a high
school math, physics and
chemistry teacher.
Smith-Ingram is an or
dained member of the
clergy and serves as as
sociate servant at Cool
Spring Missionary Baptist
Church in Gaston.
Smith-Ingram is mar
ried and lives in Henrico.
She and her husband
share four sons.
Conering herself privi
leged to be chosen by
God in this ministry of
social justice and recon
ciliation, Smith-Ingram is
committed to living out
Erma Bombeck’s quote:
“When I stand before God
at the end of my life, I
would hope that I would
not have a single bit of
talent left and could say, ‘I
used everything you gave
See EVENT, 3A
Altman sentenced
to more than seven
years in fatal crash
■ Altman was convicted
in the August 2014
drunk-driving crash that
killed his son.
BY REGGIE PONDER
Editor
A Chowan County man
was sentenced to a mini
mum of seven and a half
years in prison Thursday
after a jury convicted
him of involuntary man
slaughter, felony death by
vehicle and driving while
impaired in the August
2014 drunk-driving crash
that killed his son.
Superior Court Judge
Cy Grant imposed the
sentence on Richard An
thony Altman, which in
cludes a maximum prison
term of nine and a half
years.
William Crowe, Alt
man’s defense attorney,
gave notice of appeal.
Grant ordered Altman
held without bond during
the appeal process.
Altman had faced a
charge of second-degree
murder in the case but
was found guilty of the
lesser included offense of
voluntary manslaughter.
Altman’s 9-year-old son,
Briar James Altman, was
killed when the truck his
father was driving ran off
the road and overturned
in a field off River Road
in the Rocky Hock com
munity on Aug. 30, 2014.
After court adjourned,
District Attorney Andrew
See ALTMAN, 3A
Commissioners appoint new planning board members
BY REGGIE PONDER
Editor
TTte Chowan County
Board of Commissioners
6 "*89076*44 813
02009 The Chowan Herald
All Rights Reserved
last week appointed three
new members to the coun
ty planning board.
Commissioner Patti
Kersey nominated Jim Ro
bison for reappointment to
the board, but a majority
of the commissioners opt
ed for new member Nancy
Morgan. Morgan was nom
inated by Commissioner
Greg Bonner.
♦
Voting for Morgan were,
in addition to Bonner,
Commissioners Don Fair
cloth, John Mitchener, Jeff
Smith and Ellis Lawrence.
Joining Kersey in vot
ing for Robison was Com
missioner Ron Cummings.
The vote fell along party
lines, as Kersey and Cum
mings are the two Republi
cans on the board.
Kersey, Cummings and
Faircloth were elected to
the board for the first time
in November and Bonner
was reelected.
Robison is chairman of
the Chowan County Re
publican Party. He has at
times been a controver
sial figure on the planning
board because of his con
sistently skeptical stance
*
toward wind and solar
energy.
Kersey acknowledged
Robison’s controversial
role on the board, saying
she hoped his leadership
on the planning board
subcommittee that recom
mended major revisions to
the county wind energy or
dinance and his sometimes
“rough" (jemeanor - which
she said might come from
his Navy background -
would not be held against
him as the commissioners
made their decision.
' For the planning board
seat representing area A
in the northern part of the
county, the commissioners
appointed Kevin Cook.
See MEMBERS, 3A
i
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