2021 April

This year is full of new opportunities and the Chowan Edenton Environmental Group is excited to be involved in some challenging new volunteer work.  We hope you are also excited about some aspect of stewardship, conservation, and/or environmental literacy. 

Based on the earlier article, LOOKING INTO YOUR WATERWAYS by By Colleen Karl, Chair Chowan Edenton Environmental Group, we would like to know more about your specific talents and interests.  Please take a moment to answer the questions on the survey below. We appreciate your time and input.

By Colleen Karl, Chair Chowan Edenton Environmental Group

You live in a region surrounded by water.  The Albemarle-Pamlico Sound area is the 2nd largest estuary in the world and throughout North Carolina’s history, the Albemarle Sound has been important to the people living near its rivers and streams.  As Chowan County residents have known from the earliest days of colonization, the Sound, the Chowan River, and its tributaries generate a special sense of environmental stewardship.  The fisheries bearing local family names are plentiful along the shorelines; the ancestral acreage that parallels the river is either still active farmland or the farms have become valuable conservation lands; and for many, the sandy beach outcrops, popular as family vacation destinations for years, continue today as organized waterfront communities.   The management and oversight of this valuable natural resource will always be our responsibility.  

In North Carolina’s constitution, Article 5 Section 4, sets limitations upon the increase of local government debt and provides clear guidance concerning the need by the majority of qualified voters to approve such actions, while also providing for qualifying exemptions.

It is not clear how or even if the county can take on $35 Million of new debt without voter input, however this is an area that would benefit by more clarity and voter input should the county pursue a USDA loan to fund the Phase 2 of the High School Project, considering that last referendum was voted down. Details on the past votes are below.

One can assert that if the county reduces its debt this should enable the county to address other areas that have been in need for many years, including facilities such as the Northern Recreation Center, the county courthouse or other facilities under county management, before taking on new debt that would be paid by county tax payers for many years in the future.

Political disinformation is not new, neither are politicians who use it knowingly or unknowingly. 

On February 26, 2021, a social media post was made by Senator Bob Steinburg to his personal Facebook page where he stated that a grandparent of a middle-school student called him, the grandparent’s grandson “was asked to play the part of a transgender” in a virtual class play. Additionally, Senator Bob Steinburg wrote that “If this nonsense has already seeped into rural classrooms then what’s next.” and asked for more engagement in school boards and that “schools- get back to what we are paying you to do- teaching our students academics!” Senator Bob Steinburgs official government Facebook page does not have this issue posted nor any follow-up to the issues raised.

Based on the Tyrrell county school’s investigation into this matter, we have since learned that what was stated by Senator Bob Steinburg, was not corroborated by the school’s findings.