Newspapers / The Chowan Herald (Edenton, … / June 5, 2019, edition 1 / Page 2
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A2 THE CHOWAN HERALD, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5,2019 Briefs THE CHOWAN ARTS COUNCIL PRESENTS JRZZ CONCERT Enjoy a night of smooth jazz music by faculty of Elizabeth Cith State University JURE B, TO1B s:aopm 11S! UiSST URTE# STREET STAFF, SUBMITTED REPORTS Arts Council to host free jazz concert The Chowan Arts Coun cil Board of Directors is offering a free jazz concert at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, June 6, at the gallery, 112 W. Water St, Edenton. El izabeth City State Univer sity faculty members will present an evening of smooth jazz. Bring some friends and enjoy the music as you wander through the gallery. The Ya’ll Eat Yet? truck will be serving food during the event from 5:30-7:30 p.m. The board also wel comes volunteers. They currently are seeking sug gestions for workshops for “aspiring” artists, both young and old. Gospel group to perform June 22 The Tidewater Virginia Chapter of James Cleveland Gospel Music Workshop of America, Inc., a nonprofit organiza tion created in 1980 in Portsmouth, will perform at 2 p.m. June 22 at Eden ton United Methodist Church. Meeting several times a year in a work shop format with other gospel choirs, the group continually develops its musical skills. The concert is free, though a love offering will benefit the local Boys and Girls Club and the visiting choir. This event is sponsored by the Reconciliation Group’s choir, Sounds of Harmony, under the direc tion of Brenda Little and Yvonne Lambeth, accom panied by local musician, Tony Horton. Black bears seen in town limits The Town of Edenton wants residents to be aware that this week there have been several black bear sightings, at night, in the area of Filbert’s Creek from Virginia Road and North Broad Street to West Freemason and West Peterson Street to North Granville Street. “We want residents to take precautions and this link has several useful tips from the NC Wild Life Commission on what to do if you see a bear in your neighborhood,” the town said in an email. Link: https:// www.nc.wildlife.org/ Learning/Species/Mam- mals/Black-Bear/What-to- do-if-I-see-a-bear VIDANT Continued from Al on Thursday voted down Davis’ efforts to remove language from the Senate budget that cuts the Medi caid reimbursements that Vidant Medical Center re ceives for being the Brody School of Medicine’s teach ing hospital. Vidant’s con nection to the medical school is why the Board of Governors has nominated individuals to the hospital’s Board of Trustees. It gave the UNC System oversight of investments it made so that Vidant could function as a teaching hospital. The UNC Board of Governors have nomi nated individuals to Vidant Medical Center’s governing board since the hospital became the teaching insti tution for the Brody School of Medicine. The Pitt County Board of Commissioners, the hos pital’s board of trustees and the board of directors of Vidant Health — the hospital’s parent company — approved amendments to its articles of incorpo ration that ended UNC’s appointment powers. The hospital’s trustees will make the appointments from a list of candidates recommended by Vidant Health’s board. Shortly after the amended articles were filed with the Secretary of State’s office, UNC and East Carolina University filed suit against the hospi tal and county govern ment, seeking to reverse the action. On May 28, the two par ties agreed to enter media tion to settle their differ ences. As ajudge was final izing the order, the state Senate released its budget which contained direc tions to end Medicaid pay ments Vidant received for acting as the medical school’s teaching hospital. The legislation said Vidant would receive the same Medicaid reimbursement as other private hospitals. Senate President Pro Tem pore Phil Berger’s office confirmed there were dis cussions about building a new teaching hospital but the senators leading the discussion never were Vidant makes settlement offer BY GINGER LIVINGSTON The Daily Reflector Vidant Medical Center is offering what is calls a”reasonable settlement agreement” to end a law- suit by the University of North Carolina and East Carolina over governance changes involving the hos pital’s board of trustees. Part of the statement released by Vidant Medi cal Center at 6:12 p.m. Monday calls on the Gen eral Assembly to “immedi ately remove” a proposal that would strip the hospi tal of $35 million in Medi caid reimbursements it identified. During a radio interview, Vidant Health CEO Dr. Michael Waldrum said he believed UNC Health Care wanted to take over the hospital and Vidant Health. Several media outlets then reported receiving docu ments that showed the UNC Health Care receives for serving as the teaching hospital for ECU’s Brody School of Medicine. The agreement plan re leased Monday maintains that the Pitt County Board of Commissioners should continue to appoint 11 members to the hospital’s board of trustees. The UNC Board of Governors would appoint four members. Vidant also would appoint four members: two would be ECU physicians nomi nated by a special com mittee led by the dean of the Brody School of Medicine; the other two researched a merger with Vidant and other health care systems. A UNC Health Care spokeswoman said that while a study was con ducted to examine the state’s health care services market, there are no plans to seek a merger. Davis’ amendment to would be made by the hospital board. The proposal said the medical school dean also would serve on the board. There are currently two open seats, traditionally appointed by the gover nors. A restraining order issued May 24 prevented the hospital from making the appointments under the amended governance policy. The proposal also says the General Assembly must include $28 million in its final budget to begin planning construction of a new building for the medi cal school. remove the change in Med icaid reimbursements died when a substitute amend ment was entered and ap proved. The vote on the substitute motion fell along party lines, with only one Republican, Sen. Rick Horner, voting against it. Davis, in his speech from the Senate floor, anticipated such a maneu ver. “They didn’t fail to disap point with a maneuver that they believe people won’t see through it,” he said Fri day. The vote on the substi tute amendment that killed his amendment was a test for senators representing eastern Carolina counties, Davis said. The Demo cratic senator argued “Eastern North Carolina again is under attack” be cause of the proposed bud get cut. “This was a very test of the heart, the soul of all of us and not putting politics and maneuvering over the people of eastern North Carolina,” Davis said. “Every member had a choice, had an option. I tried to make a plea to al low their hearts, their souls, their conscience to guide them.” Steinburg said people should not read too much into one vote. “Sen. Davis, who is a great guy, I love Don Davis, his impassioned plea did not fall upon deaf ears,” he said. CANDIDATES Continued from Al crowded a classroom at Pitt Community College’s Walter and Marie Williams building to hear the two hour debate that also fo cused on abortion, immi gration and other topics. “The people of the 3rd District are people of in tegrity and honesty — they do not like being lied to,” Murphy told Perry in refer ence to an attack ad by WFW Action Fund that calls Murphy a tax-and- spend politician and uti lizes a truncated and out- of-context quote from The Daily Reflector in an at tempt to paint Murphy as anti-Trump. Murphy’s campaign is fil ing suit to stop the attack ad, Murphy said Monday prior to the debate. He then asked Perry, “Do you speak for honesty and integrity? Is that what’s important? Do you re nounce that ad and the group that did it? It is full of lies.” Perry said she was not aware of the ad until Mon day afternoon. “Indeed, it did not come from my campaign,” Perry said “It came from an inde pendent expenditure. I would be happy to agree with you, Greg, that we have no negativity, but I first need to mention that I began to set the record straight 12 hours after the election when a group affil iated with you came out with an attack on me with complete untruths,” Perry said. Perry added, “I’m not go ing to renounce something that I haven’t investigated myself.” After the initial fire works were over, the can didates got down to busi ness answering questions on topics including border security and abortion. When it came to border security, both candidates lauded President Trump and pledged support for a border wall. “We literally have people running over the border ev ery day with drugs,” Mur phy said. “Our president was 100 percent spot on to declare a national emer gency. And I declared that and I supported that from day one. We need a physi cal border that prevents physical objects from mov ing one point to another — be they drugs, be they peo ple, be they human traf ficking,” Murphy said. Perry called immigration an escalating crisis. “The immigration crisis is doing nothing but esca lating,” Perry said. “And we have to support the presi dent in building the wall. I have supported the wall — I have supported the wall from the very beginning. Clearly it is an emergency and clearly, an emergency declaration is in order. Where the money would come from — we need to find the money to come from any place but in any way hampering our mili tary,” Perry said. On abortion, both candi dates were asked if Roe v. Wade should be over turned and if abortions can be allowed in cases of rape, incest and other emergencies. “Now we have ultra- sounds, that draws out the question of when does life begin? Now we see the is sue going to the states, and I think that’s appropriate,” Perry said. Murphy praised Alabama and other states that have some of the strictest abortion policies in the country. “It is states like Alabama and other states that are dealing with abortion that actually make me optimistic that our moral compass has not gone completely away, that we care about the sanc tity of life, that we care about the mother. Just be cause an abortion occurs doesn’t mean any healing occurs,” Murphy said. Both candidates agreed that no exceptions should be made for abortions and that life begins at concep tion. “Life starts at concep tion without exception and that is the rule,” Murphy said. He continued, “We have horrible tragedies in our world. We have child abuse, we have incest, we have human trafficking. But a conception taking place in all of those horri ble instances does not change the fact that every life is ordained by God,” Murphy said. Perry shared Murphy’s views. “I do not believe there any circumstances in which abortion should be legal. I also believe that ev ery life is ordained by God and life begins at concep tion.” Also during the debate, the economy, the Second Amendment, health care and other topics came up. Both candidates vowed to repeal the .Affordable Care Act, to cut spending and stop Medicaid expansion. They said they would not ban assault weapons or im pose gun restrictions. BUDGET Continued from Al increase, the commission unanimously approved a proposed FY 2019-2020 budget that includes a $0.01 property-tax in crease. The total tax will be $0,755 — it was $0,745 for Fiscal Year 2018-2019 — per $100 of property value. As an example, someone owns a property that is val ued at $1,975,000. He or she would pay $14,911.25 in county property taxes, a $197.50 difference from $14,713.75 owed at the FY 2018-19 rate of $.745. Commissioners Patti Kersey, Lany McLaughlin, Greg Bonner and Bob Kirby all made comments on the budget before it was approved. “I’d preferred no tax in crease — we cannot price ourselves out of our ‘neigh borhood,’” Commission President Kersey said. “While we tried very hard not to increase the tax rate (a full cent), and paired down the county man ager’s recommended 3- cent increase, we still had to address the Rocky Hock Emergency Rescue Volun teer loss, plus we wanted to let our employees know that we recognize their ef forts by budgeting a 2 percent COL increase.” Kirby called the modest tax increase prudent and justified. “Generally, I believe the county commissioners hammered out a budget which does a great job of balancing needs against available resources. It was not my desire to raise taxes, but given the needs of the county, and espe cially the burdensome and increasing pressure of un funded mandates heaped upon us by the state of North Carolina, our move to raise property taxes by 1 cent per $100 value is pru dent and justified,” he said. Kirby offered praise to Edenton-Chowan Schools Superintendent Rob Jackson who has been patiently seeking a budget increase for the school system for many years. “During the public hearing for the budget, it is noted that the only speaker was our School Superintendent, Dr. Rob Jackson. As always, he presented a well thought out, articulate and pas sionate plea for more funds for the school sys tem,” he said. “Education has historically been and will always be a corner- stone of our annual bud get. Notwithstanding Dr. Jackson’s salient points, I do note that we are finally in a position to retire some long-term debt as we prepare to fund a po tential major high school project, so prudence was our compass. To Dr. Jack- son I say, ‘Patience, my good man.”’ Bonner echoed much of the sentiment offered by commissioners, but added one element that taxpayers may like down the road. “I really thank the ad ministration for ajob well done on this budget,” he said. “The current debts that we had, soon that will be paid off, so it may be possible that we are looking at a tax decrease down the road. At the same time, we don’t want be stagnant and not move forward, but we have to be competitive not only in terms of growth but when LEARY’S & Rocky Hock Produce 1327 Virginia Road • Edenton, NC 27932 For T^e Best Deal Call EEL or Ann 252-312-1009 or 252-312-7933 8:30AM TIL 5:30PM we hire people along with better salaries that we of fer. I commend the com mission for all us working together for the better ment of Chowan County.” Commissioner Larry McLaughlin said though it was his first time through the process, it was very informative. He was in tent on keeping tax in crease to a minimum. “We kept the tax in crease as small as possi ble,” he said. “When doing the budget, you don’t have much room to move around — not a lot of money. When you hear politicians say things like — how spending will af fect our children and grandchildren’s future — well, we’re seeing the ex act results of overspend ing from previous years — multiple building that the county has built that have debt service on them.” Much of the county’s debt service will be paid off within the next few years, so there’s more room to be flexible. “And beginning next year, the library’s debt ser vice will be retired, so we will have some more flexi bility,” McLaughlin said. “By 2024, all of our debt service will be taken care of, so we will be able to do more. At the same time, we have a high school that needs renovation — so we have to be prudent with any tax increase now so CHOWA^HERALD (USPS 106-380) 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. SUBSCRIPTION RATES Daily Advance home delivery area $30* (Chowan, Perquimans, Pasquotank, Camden, Currituck, parts of Gates) Elsewhere in continental United States $47 ♦Plus applicable sales tax. Activation fee of $2.99 will be collected with all new subscriptions. Deactivation fees may apply for early cancellation. To place a classified advertisment, call our Customer Care Center at 252-329-9505. POSTMASTER: SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO: The Chowan Herald • P.O. Box 207 • Edenton, NC 27932 Telephone: (252) 482-2623 Fax: (252) 482-4410 n layton@ncweeklies.com that when the the time comes for the incurring any school debt, we will be in a better position.” Chowan Perquimans Habitat I I 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. NO Paint is accepted 1370 N. Broad St., Edenton 482-2686
The Chowan Herald (Edenton, N.C.)
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