2A THE CHOWAN HERALD, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20,2019
COA President Wynegar to leave at end of June
BY JON HAWLEY
The Daily Advance
College of The Albe
marle President Robert
Wynegar plans to resign
from the college for per
sonal reasons, COA trustee
members confirmed today.
Wynegar announced
his resignation in a called
meeting with COA’s Board
of Trustees on Monday,
board Chairman Marion
Harris said in a phone call
Tuesday. Wynegar said his
reasons for resigning are
personal, and didn’t elabo
rate, Harris said.
Harris said Wynegar is
under contract until June
30, and he will serve as
president until then. Any
earlier departure would
have to be negotiated with
the board, he said.
Harris, as well as COA
board member and former
chairman Paul O’Neal,
also said they believed
the board was satisfied
with Wynegar’s work and
wished him well.
Harris praised Wynegar
for keeping key renovation
projects moving forward,
specifically improvements
to the Performing Arts
Center and the library, and
for maintaining or improv
ing COA’s key community
partnerships, such as with
employers who rely on
the college for workforce
training.
The COA board hired
Wynegar in spring 2017,
choosing him to replace
Kandi Deitemeyer, who
left the college at the end
of .2016. Notably, Wynegar
was the only out-of-state
finalist the board consid
ered; he previously worked
as a vice president at West
ern Nevada College.
Despite Wynegar’s short
stay with COA, Harris said
he had no regrets about
hiring him. It’s easy to “sec
ond-guess” the decision
now, but COA chose the
best person for the job, he
said.
Harris said finding a new
president will take several
months. He said trustees
have already put out a “re
quest for proposals” for
search firms to aid in find
ing another president.
As before, the board will
select the best person it
finds, whether from North
Carolina or not, he said.
Wynegar was not imme
diately available today for
an interview.
PHOTO COURTESY COLLEGE OF THE ALBEMARLE
College of The Albemarle President Robert Wynegar (left) is shown in this July 2018
photo with East Carolina University Chancellor Cecil Staton signing a new agreement
between the community college and university. Both Wynegar and Staton announced
their resignations from their respective institutions on Monday. Wynegar told COA
trustees he’s leaving for personal reasons.
SOLAR
Continued from 1A
County in 2019. In February,
county commission gave its
blessing to Ryland Road So
lar, a SunEnergyl company,
for a conditional use permit
to develop the solar farm at
3448 Virginia Road, north of
the Ryland Road intersection
in Tyner. Ryland Road Solar
is proposing to build the so
lar farm on 65 acres of an ap
proximately 106-acre tract.
Gliden Solar’s application
was to be reviewed Tuesday
night by the county’s Plan-
SUBMITTED PHOTO
A division of SunEnergyl, Gliden Solar, LLC, is seeking a
conditional use permit to develop a facility at 414 Sign
Pine Road.
ning Board at 7 p.m. March
19 at the Chowan County
Public Safety Center. Pend
ing the board’s decision,
county commissioners may
be able to discuss the matter
at the upcoming April 15 or
May 6 meetings.
According to documents
from the county, the staff’s
review of the project indi
cates:
* The proposed site is in
an A-1 Zoning District where
solar farms are permitted by
a CUP
* 100 foot setbacks are ad
dressed at all property lines.
* The parcel does not bor
der adjacent residential prop
erty or a ROW, and has stand
ing timber border roughly
two-thirds of the proposed
project. Any created buffer
will not be necessary to meet
the ordinance for this proj
ect.
* Proposed placement of
panels appears to meet ordi
nance requirements.
* Proposed height of equip
ment is under the maximum
in the ordinance.
* State Stormwater permit
applications are provided.
Developer has indicated that
the county will be update,
as well as the application,
as soon as the permit is re
ceived.
* NC Department of Trans
portation driveway permit is
provided.
* Liability insurance proof
is provided.
* Third party decommis
sioning plan is provided
(Staff has spoken with devel
oper already to address what
could be a low estimate).
MORE
INFORMATION
Check future editions of the
Daily Advance and Chowan
Herald for information
regarding the Chowan County
Planning Board’s decision on
this proposed solar farm.
* The proposed site has
been posted with signage ad
vertising the CUP application
and contact information.
* Adjacent property own
ers have been notified via
first class mail.
BILL
Continued from 1A
sembly.
Goodwin said of the
state’s broadband policy,
“The official definition of
broadband (where every
one is covered) — they do
not use. They don’t care
about it. They say if one per
son in a zip code is served,
then everyone has it.”
Goodwin said because of
the inequities of coverage,
there are broadband cau
cuses on either side of the
political aisle in the General
Assembly and a bill is being
drafted to expand coverage
by using a local electric co
operative’s infrastructure.
“If we can get broadband
capacity with the co-ops,
we can cover the rural parts
of the state,” Goodwin said.
Goodwin said internet
coverage is so very slow at
his house in the county that
sometimes it takes more
than a few hours, perhaps
all night, to send emails. He
was candid about Raleigh’s
political will and big tele
com’s financial reasons for
not expanding coverage to
underserved rural areas.
“It’s not financially fea
sible for the big telecoms to
run cable underground and
cover eveiy inch of eastern
North Carolina — they’re
HARRELL
Continued from 1A
lights of the landing strip.”
A native son of Chowan
County, Harrell served in
the army air corps between
May 1943 and December
1945.
“I was always interested
in flying,” said Harrell, who
graduated from high school
in Chowan in 1942.
He described flying as
“peaceful” and that aircraft
didn’t have a lot of the mod
ern technology which is
commonplace today. Har
rell said his unit was train
ing so as to be ready to con
duct bombing runs toward
the end of the war, but that
day never came because
Japan surrendered soon
after atomic bombs were
dropped on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki.
But that’s not the end
of Harrell’s story. After the
war ended, Harrell attended
North Carolina State Uni
versity and the University
1 of Richmond. His new flight
not going to do it,” he said.
“What they will say is, ‘Don’t
you have broadband in the
town of Edenton?’ — So
they can say that 27932 zip
code is served. They have
no interest in coming out in
the county and doing any
thing for us.”
Goodwin cautioned that
there ii resistance from the
big telecom companies to
the electric co-ops expand
ing coverage because any
independent and local at
tempt to expand coverage
challenges the telecom’s
market. He called the status
quo that favors telecoms, a
monopoly that runs coun
ter to the principles of a
free-market economy.
Goodwin noted how
few communication tower
structures he’s counted
during his travels between
Rocky Mount and Colum
bia, so he believes the only
way to expand coverage is
to utilize the electric co-
op’s infrastructure. He said
it’s not in the telecoms’
best interest to expand
coverage, so the law needs
to be changed to expand
coverage in rural areas.
“The only people who
can do anything are the co-
ops,” he said. “And they are
taking a chance because
you know who is the more
powerful entity — the tele
coms. So they (electric co-
trajectory was to become a
Baptist minister. Harrell
said his military service
didn’t inspire him so much
as it was “a calling” from
God to be a pastor.
Harrell may not have
been on the front lines of
any battlefield, but he was
certainly in the trenches
during the racial divide in
the 1960s. An active pas
tor who served churches
in North Carolina, Tennes
see and Virginia, Harrell
was appointed to the Good
Neighbor Council in 1966
by then-Gov. Dan Moore.
The group’s purpose was
two-fold: Tto encourage
the employment of quali
fied people without regard
to race; and to encourage
youth to become better
trained and qualified for
employment.
“I think we made real
progress from businesses
hiring blacks,” he said.
Harrell’s tenure between
1966-69 was an active one
as he recalled the racial
unrest at the time. When
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
ops) are pushing hard for
that.... The only way we’re
going to do it is that we’ve
got to change the law so
that the co-ops have got to
be allowed to do it.”
Lack of broadband
coverage is a major issue
outside Edenton so much
so that a story Steinburg
tells has been making the
rounds in Raleigh. Stein
burg said one day when
there were some kids out
side his house on South
Granville Street, he asked
them what they were do
ing. They told him that the
were looking for the clos
est hot spot needed to link
up to the Internet so that
they could do their home
work.
Goodwin hopes the
story will spur legislation
action.
“You got to find that one
thing that will prick some
one’s conscience and their
heart. I think everyone is
ready now,” he said. “We
got to put a bill forward
and see how far it gets. We
got to take that chance to
put sometliing forward,
keep doing it and keep do
ing it.”
County Commissioner
Ellis Lawrence said dis
cussion about broadband
has gone on for years but
with little result. He said
without broadband access,
was assassinated in 1968,
a wave of civil disturbance
swept the nation.
“When we heard the news
about Dr. King’s death, we
were all shocked,” Harrell
said.
Harrell recalls how after
ward, a lot of places across
the country were “burning”
but he did what he could to
calm tensions wherever he
was sent.
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Chowan County would not
be as attractive for indus
trial development.
“What industry would
come to this county if you
don’t have broadband,” he
said.
Lawrence asked for a
more definitive timeline to
which Goodwin responded
that he, Steinburg and oth
ers and doing all they can
to push this issue in the
General Assembly.
“Here’s the deal,” Good
win said. “I think the law
is going to be changed and
the co-ops will be allowed
to do it for this reason — a
primary reason in my opin
ion — a few years from
now, the state will not be
buying one single text-
book. All school work will
be done with broadband
capability. We’re offering
a solution to it. I think it’s
closer now than it’s ever
been and ever will be. The
only way we are going to
get it is through a co-op.”
Steinburg added that
with the enthusiasms the
co-ops have for changing
the law, once it is enacted,"
“You are going to begin
to see things moving rap
idly.”
Steinburg said he and
Goodwin recently met
with Bunny Sanders, a for
mer mayor of Roper who
has been championing
Many years later, Harrell,
now 92, looks back on his
life with a sense of pride
and accomplishment. Har
rell said he’s glad to have
helped as many people as
he could by serving the
Lord. When Harrell was
asked if he would re-enlist
— do it all over again — he
said, “Oh yes. We were at
war at the time and I felt I
had an obligation.”
expanding broadband for
many years.
“Modern broadband
infrastructure is a funda
mental requirement for
economic development,
education and telehealth.
But it is also a fundamen
tal right of all citizens of
North Carolina, regard-
' less of zip code,” Sanders
wrote in an opinion piece
that was published in Feb
ruary within the Chowan
Herald and Daily Advance.
“Rural communities can-
not be sustainable without
policy and funding deci
sions that reflect the real
ity that commerce runs on
the internet. Therefore, it
is highly unlikely that the
economies in North Car
olina’s Tier I counties will
change without broad
band.”
Steinburg noted how
Washington state spent bil
lions to create statewide
access to broadband.
C. A. Felton
Welding Shop
is closing to the public after
over 50 yrs of dedicated
service to the community.
Mr. Felton would like to thank the
community for its loyal support all these
years, especially all of his loyal and
dedicated customers. It has been a pleasure
and he will sincerely miss everyone.
CHOWA^HERALD
(USPS 106-380) Vol. 84, No. 12
Published Every Wednesday
Adams Publishing Group
Entered as a second-class matter August 30,1934 at the Post Of
fice of Edenton, North Carolina, under Act of March 3, 1870.
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“They made the invest
ment and they did it,” he
said. “I think ours will be
a more gradual approach,
but when I see gradual,
please, let’s keep this in
perspective. I’m not talking
five or 10 years — we need
to have a definite plan ...
We’ve done this with the
co-op, now what’s next?
Broadband access is one
of the things that is hold
ing our region back and
other rural parts across
the state.”
Chowan Perquimans
Habitat
for Humanity
Restore
Open Tues., Thurs., Sat.
9:00 am to 1:00 pm
We pick- up large donations!
only Flat Screen TVs will be accepted.
1370 N. Broad St., Edenton
482-2686