BY MILES LAYTON

A round-up of all things from God’s country…

Chowan Perquimans Habitat for Humanity Restore is closing, according to the Board of Directors social media post.

We’ll find out more when we know more, but here’s what we know for now:

Following four months of extensive review and consideration of alternatives, the Chowan-Perquimans Habitat for Humanity (CPH4H) Board of Directors regrets to announce that the ReStore will remain closed.

We recognize the value the store has brought to the Edenton area, and it was only with the support of the community and volunteers that it was able to sustain operations for over 27 years. Unfortunately, operating the ReStore according tocurrent Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI) guidelines with volunteers is no longer atainable.

However, CPH4H will remain an HFHI Affiliate and will focus its efforts on providing safe, affordable, housing to those in need in Chowan and Perquimans County.

Throughout the past four months the CPH4H Board has reached out to other ReStores as well as various other non-profit organizations in the community in an attempt to partner in some way so the store could remain open as a new entity under local guidelines. To date those discussions have not been successful, however, the CPH4H Board is committed to working with the Edenton Emergency Aid group, a North Carolina unincorporated association, to establish a similar store for the community.

On behalf of the CPH4H Board we want to say THANK YOU to our customers, volunteers and citizens for your years of support and patience while we negotiated this difficult decision.

In other news, John A. Holmes High School juniors Maria Ambrosia-Reyes and Robert Layton have been selected to attend the prestigious NC Governor’s School that will take place for a month this summer at Greensboro College.  

This Aces’ dynamic duo were chosen from among 1,850 students from across the state who applied to Governor’s School, a four-week summer residential program for gifted and talented high school students, integrating academic disciplines, the arts, and unique courses on each of two campuses. 

This is a big honor for JAHHS to have students selected to attend Governor’s School. Layton and Ambrosia-Reyes are active in sports while earning spots on the Honor roll – it’s not the size of the school, it’s the size of the student’s character that matters most when striving for success.  

To Maria and Robert – Greensboro College is a neat place to visit – I lived in that neighborhood by campus for many years. Be sure to walk down to Tate Street – which is comparable to Hillsborough Street (NCSU) or Franklin Street (UNC).  

In other news, Perquimans Pirates’ Crishya Sellers scored her 1,000th career points on Friday in the fourth round during the 4th Round playoff game against Wake Prep Academy. A senior, Sellers is ranked nationally, statewide and among the top 5 in 1A East as well as second within the 1A/2A Four Rivers Conference for her skills on the court. According to Maxpreps, Sellers averages at least eight points a game so far this season – 7.7 rebounds/ 2.4 assists per game too. Sellers is a multi-sport athlete with good grades too. Go Pirates!

Here’s a few takeaways from local government meetings that I attended this week. 

First, Chowan County Commission approved spending upwards of $71,000 to cover the costs of skilled nursing replacement for two disabled adults under the guardianship of the county’s Department of Social Services – this has never happened before, that the county is picking up the tab.  

“In the past six years since I’ve been in office, this has never happened and all of sudden, this month we have two maybe three times – something does not jive for this guy here,” Chowan County Commission Chairman Bob Kirby said. “It defies the laws of probability.”

DSS Director Tyeshia Phelps said, “So that’s why we’re trying to get an understanding from (ECU Health Chowan) hospital because we don’t know why they stopped admitting these individuals and just taking them under observation” — which would change how/who pays the bill, be it state/federal dollars or fall back on funds from county taxpayers.

Kirby has been a strong critic of how the state’s unfunded mandates always seem to fall on the county’s shoulders. County leaders will meet March 19 with affected stakeholders to iron out what’s happening. 

“We’ll attack this from another angle because this is not acceptable,” he said. “Everybody in this room who lives in Chowan County – we’re on the hook here. And to me, being on the hook for that long just does not seem to be acceptable.”

Kirby continued, “You’ve (DSS) has requested a budget transfer and I don’t see that as an issue but I do see that we need to staunch the flow of red ink so it’s time to step up on that.”    

Speaking of federal funding, Tyrrell County Commission Chairman Nathan Everett announced that federal dollars for the Alligator River Bridge project are on hold because of the freeze going on in DC that we’ve seen in the headlines.  Everett said when Commissioner Nina Griswell was in DC this week to attend a national county commission conference, she spoke to US Senator Tom Tillis about the bridge – he’s looking into the matter.  

Before the partisan media loses its head over the spending freeze after reading this, I’ll say this — everyone must remember that the money to build the bridge has been awarded. However, President Trump/DOGE wants to check the books to ensure the contract’s dollars are spent on the project, not funneled to pay for sex changes for mice or Sesame Street in the Middle East. 

The $450 million contract, awarded to Skanska USA, will replace the 65-year-old swing-span bridge with a modern, two-lane fixed-span bridge just north of the current one, according to the NC Department of Transportation. Funding is aided by a $110 million grant from the Federal Highway Administration under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed in 2021.

Work began on the bridge in February and is expected to be completed in the fall of 2029, with the bridge’s demolition in the spring of 2030. 

In other news, Tyrrell and Hyde commissions have unanimously approved resolutions regarding limits on crabbing – see our related story. They’ll be sending these resolutions to the state folks in hopes that something can be done to change the situation – one that could be very hard for watermen and seafood companies across the region.  

Speaking of Raleigh, NC State Senator Norm Sanderson will be the guest speaker at the Chowan County Republican Convention – meeting starts at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Nixon’s Catering.  I’ll probably ask Sen. Sanderson about the crabbing issue — what can be done to stop an unelected bureaucrat from killing the crabbing industry and screwing over Columbia’s struggling economy.

Tyrrell County Commission approved around $18,000 toward clearing a 2,000 foot long canal – I forgot where, but I can testify that those canals, many of which were built by slaves before the Civil War, are still serving the county – that’s amazing!  

Random takeaways – I wonder how much Chowan County and the Town of Edenton have paid lawyers to deal with lawsuits surrounding the Confederate Memorial. I wonder how much the plaintiffs have paid out of their own pockets to wage this lawfare.   

Has there been any engineering site plan to locate that statue at Veterans Park? I ask because the sandy soil in that park feels very squishy, more so after a good rain. That area used to have a creek flowing through it – area still serves as a drainage basin of sorts — water flows toward Claudia Dodson’s house on Court Street during a “big” rain.  Sewer lines flowing all through that area too to help with drainage, maybe those lines flow beneath Veterans Park.

Once upon a time, Edenton United Methodist Church was located nearby in the parking lot beside the US Post Office. That beautiful brick church was torn down in April 1983 — someone once told me that it may have been sinking in the back close to the creek but I’m not sure. Church was moving to a brand new $1.2 million building where the Methodists still worship on Virginia Road.

Thus, I wonder if a 12-ton Confederate Memorial is suited for that spot of dirt nearby – if – it is placed Veterans Park someday. If an engineering plan hasn’t been done, maybe it might be good to consider one before moving the monument.

Nearby, very close by, is the Chowan County Courthouse — that opened to the public in recent days after months and months of renovations so that’s good news. All told, I think it was $750,000 in renovations.

That big Lego exhibit for the upcoming Harry Potter celebration March 28-29 at Shepard-Pruden Memorial Library — Carolyn Ayers built that. Check out the Hogwarts Castle! If memory serves me correct, Carolyn’s grandmother told me that she is doing well at UNC-Wilmington.

In other news, there are 34 days til Pilgrimage that’s April 11-12. 

For folks who don’t know what Pilgrimage is, well, it’s a pretty cool tour of grand homes and historic sites in Edenton. As soon as we have information about the homes that will be toured, we will gladly share that information onto our readers.  

Pilgrimage is on my mind because this is one of Edenton’s signature events that will take place in the spring — Check out the cool video!

Pilgrimage proceeds support local scholarships and grants. Applications are due March 28. And there’s this — so submit a grant application to the General Federation of Women’s Clubs Edenton Woman’s Club that organizes the tour — a lot of work goes into making this tour happen.  

For more ticket information – tickets are reasonably priced – see this webpage.  The event supports historic preservation and education – scholarships!

In other business, women in Perquimans County are invited to apply for the Albemarle Plantation Women’s Club (APWC) Women in Transition Grant program. The APWC will award the grant to eligible women based on character, ability and desire to further their career or business. Financial aid need will also be taken into consideration.  

These grants are open to all women over the age of 18 who reside in Perquimans County. This financial assistance is to help a woman advance her educational opportunities or to assist a woman-owned business in developing resources. The application must demonstrate need and have a specific plan to further her career, education or business in the coming year with clear and attainable goals set. Application deadline is March 22.  

Applications are available at:

Chamber of Commerce Office, 118 W. Market Street, Hertford

Perquimans County Library, 514 S. Church Street, Hertford

Send email to lmkelling@yahoo.com 

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