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5HEPHERD PRUDEN LIBRARY
106 W WATER ST
EDENTON NC 27932-1854
EI^ALD
482-4418
Wednesday, July 18, 2018
75^
BOE approves interim budget
Area supports Jones
“Fundraisers held
Saturday to help Eden
ton businessman Frank
Jones raise a neces
sary $20,000 for living
and other expenses as
part of his entry into
the Duke Transplant
Program drew large
numbers of people,
organizers said. —3B
Top teachers honored
A trio of top educa
tors — Heather Terrell,
Shaunte’ Hunt and
BY MILES LAYTON
Editor
Edenton-Chowan Board of
Education approved an interim
budget resolution for 2018-19
fiscal year and learned more
about statistics, good and bad,
that have an impact on the
county and school system.
County Commission allocat
ed $3,575 million to the school
system with capital outlay at
$409,272. Food Service fund
will be nearly $1.3 million while
the state will provide almost $13
million and the federal share of
the budget will provide about
$1.3 million. The total overall
See BUDGET, 4A
MILES LAYTON/CHOWAN HERALD
Edenton-Chowan Board of Education recognized the hard work
by those Aces who completed the nursing assistant’s program
offered at John A. Holmes High School. From left to right: Health
Sciences Teacher Casey Spear, Kayla White, Maleyah Bunch,
Keshona Spivey, Courtney Ranger, Kinlee Chappell, Destiny Waff,
Alison Cooke, Board of Education Chairman Gene Jordan.
Committee
seeks balance
of town-county
BY MILES LAYTON
Editor
Edenton-Chowan Board of Education
and the County Commission have formed
appointed a joint committee to explore
whether to build a new high school or re-
pair/renovate the existing John A Holmes
High School.
During the July 10 meeting, BOE Chair
man Gene Jordan appointed himself, Paul
Clifton and Richard Browder to the com
mittee.
Commission’s members are Chairman
See BALANCE, 4A
Victoria Brinson are
teachers of the year
for Edenton-Chowan
County Schools. — 4A
Legion honors Herald
The Chowan Herald
has received a third
place 2018 News Media
Award for its coverage
of American Legion
Post 40’s events and
activities. — 4B
Phelps leads fundraising
Democrat Cole
Phelps has edged
ahead of his Repub
lican opponent, state
Rep. Bob Steinburg, in
fundraising for their
Senate District 1 race,
new campaign finance
reports show. — 6A
The one
that
didn’t
get away
BY MILES LAYTON
Editor
Forget the dolphins and
talk of sharks in our waters.
Consider this — Danny
Taylor caught a gigantic cat-
fish that reliable rumor has
it may be the biggest one
ever caught in the Chowan
River.
Sunday morning, fisher
men from Pembroke Creek
to Rocky Hock and beyond
competed in the Chowan
Catfish Challenge Tour
nament held out of Tunis
Landing in Winton.
Rather than fishing in safe
shoreline coves, Taylor took
his rod and reel cast his line
out in the deep waters of
the Chowan River. His bait
of choice was cut brim and
white perch.
A half hour after leaving
the dock, Taylor’s line began
to tug. He didn’t need a big
ger boat, but his net wasn’t
strong enough to catch the
blue catfish, the largest
species of catfish in North
America. The fish weighed
82.2 lbs and was more than
56 inches long with a girth
of 34 inches.
“I actually tried to net
the fish, but my net wasn’t
big enough,” Taylor said.
“I broke my net, but I was
able to get one hand in her
mouth and then I grabbed it
PHOTOS BY STEVE GRZANKA
Danny Taylor and John Kellett, director of Chowan Catfish Challenge Tournament,
have just weighed Taylor’s catch - 82.2 lbs., 56 inches long and with a girth of
34 inches. Taylor caught the behemoth blue catfish early Sunday morning in the
Chowan River.
with the other hand and just
pulled her in the boat on top
ofmyself.”
Though there was a huge
catfish flopping around
in the boat, Taylor wasn’t
frightened.
“No, I wasn’t scared,” he
said, “but I was scared of
losing her. That’s the biggest
fish I’ve ever landed.”
Taylor of Gates County
is not a professional fisher
man, though he does spend
a lot of time on the water.
“I’ve been fishing pretty
much my whole life,” said
Taylor, 47, who works at
Ashton Lewis Lumber of
Gatesville.
See FISH, 8A
Though Taylor didn’t need a bigger boat to net this catfish,
he did break his net trying to haul in this trophy fish.
BBQ pro to appear on TV
A local pitmaster
will compete on Food
Network’s Chopped
Grill Masters this sum
mer. Adam Hughes of
Edenton is one of four
North Carolina pitmas
ters competing on the
show. — 3B
Albemarle Loop offers voyage of discovery
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BY MILES LAYTON
Editor
Edenton, the town by the
bay tends to attract a lot of
boaters and sailors.
In recent weeks, sail
boats associated with
the Albemarle Loop were
moored in our waters to
embrace Chowan County
hospitality.
The Albemarle Loop was
organized to promote mari
nas and tourism growth in
the Albemarle Sound area.
This boating route encircles
the calm waters of Albe
marle Sound and into the
fresh water estuaries of the
mainland.
A dozen town docks and
commercial marinas have
pitched in to offer free
docking, discounts at local
restaurants and attractions,
MILES LAYTON/CHOWAN HERALD
Boaters seeking close and distant shores recently docked
in Edenton as part of the Albemarle Loop tour, which hits
marinas up near and far throughout local waters.
including the historic town
of Edenton, Dismal Swamp
State Park, Civil War sites,
museums, galleries, winer
ies and the “boaters’ resort”,
Albemarle Plantation. One
stop, Elizabeth City, was
just named a “Certified Re
tirement Community” by
the state of North Carolina,
a distinction it shares with
Edenton.
The Albemarle Loop can
be a 3-week discovery.
“We’re proud of this area,
and proud of how the Loop
brings new visitors to the
area,” said Gary Lico, a key
organizer of the Albemarle
Loop.
A “Passport” ties it all to
gether, with awards for cer
tain levels of visits. A more
extensive story about the
Albemarle Loop will be ap
pearing in a future edition.
For more information
about how to acquire a
passport and learn more
about the Albemarle Loop,
please contact Lico at 203-
570-7753.
What do
heroes
look like
now?
By Jonathan Tobias
Tuesday July 10, Tham
Luang Cave in Chiang Rai
Province: On the far side
of the world in Thailand
— from a dark flooded
cave with rising monsoon
waters ... through nearly
three miles of twisting con
stricted crawlspace (much
of which was completely
underwater) so squeezed
in that it would send any
sane adult into flailing
claustrophobia.
Divers led out twelve
young boys and a young
coach, an' ex-Buddhist
monk, out of the dark
waters and into the free
space of daylight. They
had been trapped in the
dank, cold and wet dark
ness for almost two arid a
half weeks.
The rescue process
seemed exceedingly slow.
But unseen by the watch
ing and waiting world,
each member of the Wild
Boar Soccer team was
taken, one by one, by a
diver in front and a diver
behind through the treach
erous passage. The front
diver carried the air tank
of the boy between. Spare
. air tanks had been stashed
along the way. The boys
were given a sedative by
an Australian physician
who had entered the cave
along with four Thai Navy
SEALS. The doctor and
the.SEALS stayed with the
coach and. the boys for a
week, not leaving the cave
until every boy and the
coach were rescued.
Joy and exultation
greeted the soccer team,
now weak and frail, as
they emerged from the
cave. Triumphant cries of
“Hooyah” rang out from
the SEALS at 6.30 pm lo
cal time (7:30 am here
in Edenton) on Tuesday
when coach Ekapol Chan-
thawong, 25, was the last
to be pulled from the cave.
But, as in all stories of
redemption (for that is the
meaning of “rescue”), there
was tragedy, too. One of
the Thai Navy SEALS, Sa
man Gunan (38), lost con
sciousness while placing
spare air tanks along the
rescue passage, and died
shortly after.
And the Australian doc
tor, an anesthesiologist
See TOBIAS, 2A
©2018 The Chowan Herald
All Rights Reserved
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