Newspapers / The Chowan Herald (Edenton, … / Nov. 13, 2019, edition 1 / Page 2
Part of The Chowan Herald (Edenton, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
A2 THE CHOWAN HERALD, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2019 Mayor-elect Stallings ready to serve Edenton Newly elected councilors to be sworn in Dec. 10 BY MILES LAYTON Staff writer Mayor-elect Jimmy Stallings attributed his vic tory in Edenton’s mayoral race on Tuesday to a dedi cated base of supporters and a strong get-out-the- vote effort. “I had many key support ers who worked hard to help me,” Stallings said. “Door-to-door engagement with the citizens of Eden ton was also key.” According to unofficial results, Stallings, a current member of Town Council, won Edenton’s three-candi date race for mayor by gar nering 40.19 percent of all votes cast. Finishing sec ond was Steve Biggs, a fel low town councilor who finished with 30.94 percent of the vote. Jacqueline Hardy, a first-time candi date, finished third with 28.77 percent of the vote. Also winning election in Edenton on Tuesday were incumbent 2nd Ward Coun cilor Sambo Dixon, who de feated challenger Tray Tay lor; Roger Coleman, who won the at-large seat Biggs didn’t seek re-election to; and Hackney High, who won the 1st Ward seat Stallings will surrender when he takes the mayor’s oath during the town coun cil’s meeting on Dec. 10. The meeting will be held at 6 p.m. in town council chambers. Stallings will succeed Mayor Roland Vaughan, who did not seek re-elec tion after 24 years as mayor. “I would like to thank the citizens of Edenton for their support and confidence in electing me mayor,” Stallings said. “I am excited to move forward with this positive and energetic council.” Stallings, a 20-year vet eran of town council, does not see any rnqjor changes to how the council will operate once he takes over as mayor. “No, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it,” he said. “We have a very transparent council because, as you know, it is videotaped and run on tele vision and the Chowan Her ald is always there.” Hardy-Lassiter, who was making her first bid for elected office, thanked her voters and didn’t rule out making a future bid for of fice. “Thanks to everyone who supported this historic run for mayor,” she said, re ferring to the fact she’s African-American and fe male. “I’m still in awe of Edenton and the greatness that shall be revealed. ... Thank you for allowing me to run this race with in tegrity and character for a blessed Edenton." She also asked support ers to join her if she ever gets “this opportunity again.” Asked if there was any thing she would have done differently, she didn’t indi cate there was. “At the end of the day we fought a great fight, but it was the voters’ choice and I respect that,” she said. Biggs could not be reached for this story. Dixon, won re-election with 72.36 percent of the vote, also thanked voters for their support. “I am so excited about the future of Edenton,” he said. ‘Together we will con tinue to look for ways to make Edenton better for everyone.” Dixon said he’s looking forward to working with Stallings and other mem bers of the town’s govern ing board over the next four years. “Edenton is a special place and I will always seek out innovative solutions to the problems that arise dur ing my tenure in office,” he said. Taylor thanked his sup porters. “I would to thank ev eryone that’s came out and voted for me and the other candidates, especially to my supporters who do nated and gave me an en couraging word to stay fo cused,” he said. Taylor said if he had to do over again he would do more door-to-door cam paigning. “The number one thing I would do differently would be to put myself out there more by going door to door and telling them the reason why I'm running,” he said. Taylor said he plans to stay active in the commu nity- Coleman, who garnered 799 votes to win his first bid for office, thanked support ers who backed his cam paign and voters who cast ballots for him. Tm honored by the op portunity so many voters have given to me to serve our community as a Town Council member. I will work hard to live up to their expectations,” he said. Coleman also said he be lieves Tuesday’s election sent a message. “Five of the new Town Council members will have been on the council for six years or less when the new council takes office,” he said. “I think we all look for ward to focusing on eco nomic growth and to build ing on the wealth of re sources we have inherited from the previous council.” Although he ran unop posed, High also thanked his supporters for working hard to elect him. . “I am most appreciative of my family, friends and loyal supporters who ini tially encouraged me to run for Town Council and who took the time and effort to support and vote for me,” he said. “It is both an honor and a privilege to serve the citizens of Edenton. I think the community was looking for a fresh voice and I am truly excited about the op portunities that are ahead of us.” Parade help needed NEWS BRIEFS SUBMITTED REPORT Preparations have be gun for the annual Eden ton-Chowan Christmas Parade. Sponsored by the Edenton-Chowan Cham ber of Commerce and the Rocky Hock Ruritans, we estimated at 5,000 people attended the event last year, and hope folds are already planning for this year’s parade! This year’s theme will be “Home for the Holidays.” The parade will begin at 10 a.m. in the CVS Shopping Center on North Broad Street and end at Water Street downtown. Line up starts at 9 am. Businesses, civic groups, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, churches, schools and conununity leaders are invited to par ticipate. Classic cars, floats, costumed partici pants, clowns, school and athletic groups, musi cians and choral groups are encouraged. Cham ber Members’ businesses can enter at no charge. First-, second- and third- place prizes will be awarded for the best floats. Donations will help off set the costs involved with the parade. They can be made by calling 252- 482-3400 or mail them to Edenton-Chowan Cham ber, PO Box 245, Eden ton, NC 27932. SUBMITTED REPORTS Optimist Club selling Christmas Trees Chowan Edenton Opti mist Club is preparing for its annual Christmas tree sale, which starts Friday, Nov. 22, at the Optimist Building, 147 Old Hertford Road, formerly the VFW Building. The nonprofit will have an assortment of trees from 6 feet to about 10 feet, with most being Frazier Fir and other fir species. As a volunteer organization, hours are limited to evenings and weekends: 4- 7 p.m. Monday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturdays and 1-7 p.m. Sundays. Proceeds benefit the club’s Needy Kids Christ mas Project. Through this effort, members provide presents and a holiday meal to children who would otherwise go with out. Each year, the non- profit helps 15 to 25 chil dren experience Christmas and know that their com munity cares about them. Law to change donor registration at DIVIV Earlier this year, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper signed into law SB 210 Organ and Tissue Donation/Heart Heroes, making North Carolina consistent with the rest of the nation by including tis sue for transplantation along with organs and eyes when one says “Yes” to do nation at the DMV. Today, anyone who says “Yes” to donation at the DM\ T will make a legal first- person authorization to be come an organ, eye, and tissue donor upon death. Those who had the heart symbol placed on their drivers’ license or ID card before Oct. 1, 2019, must take an extra step to add tissue donation to their registry status by visiting DonateLifeNC.org. Aging conference held at Edenton UIVIC Practicing good nu trition, staying active both physically and men tally, and simply enjoying life more are some of the keys to successful “brain aging,” a neuroscientist says. Dr. Paul Aravich, a pro fessor at Eastern Virginia Medical School, in Nor folk, Virginia, was the keynote speaker for the annual Aging Conference at Edenton United Methodist Church on Fri day. Aravich addressed 200 people attending the con ference, hosted by the Albemarle Commission Area Agency on Aging, in partnership with the Eastern Area Health Edu cation Center. VETERANS Continued from Al “So far, 30,000 soldiers have been killed in the global war on terror,” he said. “We are losing 22 vet erans a day to suicide. We’re losing more soldiers to suicide than we have in combat. There is a sigma that prevents soldiers from getting help. We need to re move those barriers so our veterans can seek help. We must honor their sacrifice and make sure their needs are meet on the other 364 days a year.” Ward noted that by be ing part of the military, he is part of the 1% of the American population that raised their hands to serve their country. He noted that in his graduated class at Holmes, 18 other students went on to serve in the military — about 12% of his class. “Being uncommon must be more common in small towns,” he joked, noting that Chowan County has a plethora of veterans now serving as elected officials, school teachers, farmers, law enforcement officers, etc. Ward talked a bit about his time in service, which included a stint at Fort Bragg, where he became a member of the 82nd Air- borne. “If you told me a year be forehand that I’d be jump ing out of planes, I would have said I’d never do that,” he said. He noted that one time he faced a difficult obsta cle on a training course that he thought was crazy, no one could do it. The drill instructor, With a slightly Southern- drawl, made Ward come down, pulled him aside and said, “If one person can do it, it can be did.” “I learned that day that courage is being able to overcome your fear,” he said. Life in the 82nd was rough during peace-time, like “being on a sports team, always training, but never playing a game.” “Can you imagine having to write a will at 19 years old?” he asked. “Think of those soldiers, who served in World War II, Korea and Vietnam, who were de ployed right of out of basic - training.” Besides thanking those who served in the nation’s military, he thanked the families and community members that support vet erans. “We can’t do it with out you.” Also during the cere mony, wreaths were placed to honor each branch of the military and note all of the wars Ameri cans have fought in. The Edenton Tea Party chapter of the Natidnal Society of the Daughters of the Amer ican Revolution and the Submarine veterans group, along with the Sons of the American Legion and Le gion Auxiliary, also placed wreaths. NICOLE BOWMAN-LAYTON/CHOWAN HERALD Lt. Col. William “Joe” Ward speaks Monday during the Albemarle Sounds led Veterans Day ceremony. Behind him is American Le the audience in the singing gion Post Commander Maureen Sobulefsky, who of several patriotic songs. served at the master of ceremonies. POST Continued from Al and hamburgers that were quite tasty. Post 40 and the Amer-ican Legion’s birth day party was the place to be leading into the Veter ans Day observances held near and far on Monday. Chartered-in November 1919, Post 40 has served Chowan County and re gion for the past 100 years “We have a 100 years of history in Edenton, also the 100th anniversary of the nation’s American Le gion,” Post 40 Commander Maureen Sobulefsky said. “For some nonprofit orga nizations to last 100 years - that in and of itself is re markable. For an organi zation that works for the veterans and the commu nity, it’s an exception. We’re glad to be here in Edenton, glad to be able to help in any way we can. We are very proud to be here for 100 years and hope to be here for 100 more.” A few of the programs Post 40 supports for our community and region are the American Legion Base- ^ bay (two teams), Boys State, Student Trooper, Boy and Cub Scouts Troop 164, Kids and Cops, Emer gency Services Apprecia tion Banquet, Hampton VA/Disabled Veteran Fish ing Outing, Memorial Day and Veteran Day services, collects cloths and per sonal items for veterans, collects pull taps for Ron ald McDonald Houses, col lects and properly disposes of flags that have become torn and tattered and the Chowan County Regional Fair. More than 300 veterans know Post 40 on a first name basis. “We are an older post — 100 years old — so a lot of our members are above the age of 70,” Sobulefsky said. “Now that President Trump has signed the American Legion Act this past, summer, we’re hop ing to get more veterans that are eligible that weren’t before. Now, any body who was honorably discharged from the mili tary from Pearl Harbor to the present and beyond, when Congress says we are no longer at war, is eli gible to join the American Legion.” Former Post 40 Com mander E.C. Toppin, who also served on the district and state levels, took a long look back at the American Legion’s history in Edenton. “There’s a lot of history. I’ve been here for 48 of those years,” said Toppin, who served in the U.S. Air Force between 1961 and 1965. “I’ve seen a lot of change. When I came here, we were very in volved in the community then and we still are — fair, Boys State, baseball, Scouts and more.” Toppin, who served as the state commander be tween 1981 and 1982, said he is the oldest living ac tive past commander in the Tarheel state. Toppin described his time with the American Legion as “being enjoyable, fulfilling and its been my calling.” Toppin reminisced about how Post 40 has changed over time from a simple place to hold the fair, to the 35-acre multi- building complex that it is today. “When the front build ing was built in 1955, it had four walls, a roof and a dirt floor - built as a live stock building,” he said. “They put in the cement floor in the early 60s. Then after that, they built the bam out yonder in the 60s. Built an exhibit building in the 80s and fixed it up. Then we added onto the barn — built the pavilion too. Canopy came from an old Exxon station that had been at 5-mile-Y. I’ve seen a lot of changes. It was just one thing after an other. We just kept grow ing-” The Chowan County Re gional Fair was first held in 1947 as the American Le gion Fair. Since that time, it has grown into one of the most respected fairs in the state, winning many awards. The Fair is spon sored by Post 40 and is run by the Chowan County Re gional Fair Association. “Fair has grown from 3,000 folks attending to several, several thousands in a week’s time,” said Toppin, who is fair board president. “We’ve grown it and given back to the community through the funds we get.” Toppin recalled a bit of the fair’s long history. Started in the late teens or early 20s, the fair was very popular until the Great Depression hit the region hard. Following WWII, the fair rebounded and is flow the biggest fair anywhere. “A group of WWI guys from Chowan County — they started a tradition and we just kept going,” Toppin said. “When WWII was over, the guys came back and they just re-ener gized a lot of things. One of those things — they restarted the Chowan County Fair which had stopped in the Great De pression. I remember as a young child going to the fair at the old armory in town. Fair Board today does a great job — it gets the community involved and that’s what we want. That’s what its all about — the community.” Bringing it back to Veter ans Day and 100th anniver sary of Post 40, Toppin said, “It is an important anniver sary for us. It gives us time to set goals for the future an HEALTH INSURANCE OPEN ENROLLMENT NOVEMBER 1ST - DECEMBER 15TH MEDICAL - DENTAL - VISION PRUDEN INSURANCE AGENCY CHIP PRUDEN 252-482-2673 ^^ opportunity to invite all other veterans to come on out, give us a look, give us a chance, because everything we do is for all veterans, not just American Legion veterans.” 208 S. Broad St. Edenton Taylortheater.com»(252) 368-1595 NowShowing Midway (based on real events rated PG-13) Last Christmas (drama/romance rated PG-13) 7pm shows EVERY NIGHT Matinees Friday-Sunday We can’t wait to watchwithyou!
The Chowan Herald (Edenton, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Nov. 13, 2019, edition 1
2
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75