Show Choir Auditions

The Bertie County Arts Council is planning a junior "Show Choir" for students in grades 4 to 8, male and female. Mrs. Fonda Sanderlin and Mrs. Marsha Smithwick will be the instructors.

Auditions for the Show Choir will be held:
Wednesday, August 31st at 4:00 PM
Thursday, September 1st at 4:00 PM
and Thursday, September 8th at 4:00 PM
at the Bertie Arts Center, 124 S. King Street, Windsor, NC

Practices will be on Monday from 4-6 PM beginning on Monday, September 12, 2005. The practices will also be held at the Bertie Arts Center.

If a student is successful in the audition there will be a $20.00 participation fee. These funds will be used to offset the costs of costumes, musical scores and instructor fees.

If you know of any students interested in this activity, please have them contact the Arts Center by calling 794-9402 or email at bertiearts@earthlink.net.

If you or your business would like to be a sponsor for this group, please contact Judy Overton at 794-3093 or joverton@mchsi.com.

Rotary Governor Visits Windsor

Brenda Tinkham, Rotary International District Governor from Murfreesboro, visited Windsor to congratulate Buneva Everett on her recent election as Presdient of the Windsor Rotary Club. Don Johnson, Assistant District Governor from Hertford joined Brenda and Buneva on the visit.

Brenda Tinkham, Buneva Everett and Don Johnson

The Rotary is a civic organiztion that does great things for our area. The Windsor club has donated several scholarships to worthy students in our area in the last year. The club meets every Thursday at noon in the Carolina Country Restaurant in Windsor.

Windsor-Bertie County Press Day

You should be seeing Windsor all over the news for the next couple of days. A large group of Newspapers, TV and Radio stations joined in for the Windsor-Bertie County Chamber of Commerce Press Day Tour held today.

Gathering At The Freeman Hotel

It was an all day event that started in the morning at the Freeman Hotel where the offices of the Chamber Of Commerce are located. LuAnn Joyner greeted everyone and made sure that we had our name tags and got a chance to meet everyone.

Arriving At Gray's Landing In Our Bus

We loaded up on the Press Bus provided and headed out. First stop was a chance to get coffee and sweet rolls at the Inn at Gray's Landing and see this magnificent bed and breakfast built in 1790. It is located at 401 South King Street. Holly Mack Bell gave some of the history of the famous (and infamous) people who have lived here. This includes John Johnson, attorney, who sued a certain Dr. Lennox of Edenton (known as the Seducer of Edenton) for alienation of affection of his wife.

Scalpi's Restaurant At Gray's Landing

We then took a tour of the Roanoke Chowan River Center. Phil Patrick explained the numerous activities they are involved in. They are focused on promoting environmental education and nature based tourism in our town and throughout the area.

Roanoke-Cashie River Center

Phil also led a tour of the faciility showing the many fascinating exhibits, including a live bee hive which has a window so you can see the bees at work. Even though it was the hottest day of the year (over 103 degrees I believe) we all went outside and enjoyed their boardwalk on the Cashie River with its amphitheater for special events.

Roanoke-Chowan River Center View From The Boardwalk

Next stop was the Bertie County Arts Council. This is a great location to get to know our local artists ...... and we have some great ones. We were told about an upcoming event for crafts and details of that event will be posted on the blog shortly. To see what the Arts Council events are like check out the previous story on Dr. Fred Saunders, or the story on Peggy Brinkley, Jacqueline Perry and Nancy Spruill. There is always something interesting to see at the Arts Council Center at 124 South King Street. It was at this stop that WCTI Channel 12 from New Bern conducted their interview of Mayor Bob Spivey. I hope you are able to see it when they show it on TV.

Bertie County Arts Council Hosts The Press

We then visited Powell and Stokes, the home of Bertie County Peanuts. They make the greatest jumbo peanuts in the world. Check out this earlier story on their great peanuts for details on how they make them. We got to see a great video of how peanuts are grown on this visit. While talking about some history Jack Powell showed us the safe that clearly shows the high flood level for hurricane Floyd. You can see the rust line on it below.

The Safe At Bertie County Peanuts

We then toured the Roanoke-Chowan Heritage Center at Historic Hope Plantation. Because it was a press tour, we were treated to lunch. At the time I was thinking that this was the first thing that happened all day that was different than anyone else visiting Windsor would have expeienced, only because it would normally cost. Everything else was free, just as it would be for you. Of course being in Windsor, they had to feed us Bunn's Barbecue. It is great barbecue!

Stopping To Admire The Hope Plantation View On The Way In

The tour of the David Stone mansion was conducted by Glen Perkins, who provided a great orientation for the entire facility. His interesting anecdotes included a story on the Sitting Room where it is thought the ceremony for David Stone's second marriage was held.

Hope Plantation Sitting Room

Numerous amazing pieces of period furniture and artifacts are on display. The great information on antiques and history is one thing that makes Hope Mansion so special. Fascinating history is a key aspect of their current exhibit on "Material Wealth In Bertie County" that was the subject of a recent article in this blog.

Holly Mack Bell Checks Out The Liquor Cabinet

David Stone was an amazing person. He graduated from Princeton, top in his class, and passed the Bar to become an attorney at the age of 20. He was a Superior Court Judge, spent 7 terms in the North Carolina House, was a State Senator, Governor of North Carolina, U.S. Representative and U.S. Senator. A prolific reader, he had an amazing library. The Hope Plantation foundation is trying to recreate the library by gathering copies of all the books listed in his estate records.

David Stone Library

The day ended with a great tour of the beautiful Wetlands Walk behind the Freeman Hotel. For kids there is also a Zoo across from the hotel that is simply amazing for a town of Windsor's size. All in all it was a special day touring things that we all enjoy. Windsor is a great place. Try some of these sites yourself! Take a friend.

Cashie River Wetlands Walk

Chamber of Commerce Elects New Board Members

The Board of Directors of the Windsor / Bertie County Chamber of Commerce has four new board members. The new members elected for a three year term are:

Rhonda Cobb, she is an insurance agent for Bertie County Farm Bureau in Windsor;

Rhonda Cobb

Mike Dail, he is the Manager of W. H. Basnight & Co. in Windsor;

Mike Dail

Reggie Russell, he is the co-owner and operator of PostNet in Williamston,

Reggie Russell

Bobby Harmon, he is the owner of Triple A and Associates in Windsor.

Bobby Harman

Please join me in congratulating them on this honor, and thanking them for their service to our community.

Online News Consumers Become Their Own Editors

By Anick Jesdanun - Published: Jul 24, 2005 - The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) - J.D. Lasica used to visit 20 to 30 Web sites for his daily fix of news. Now, he's down to three - yet he consumes more news online than ever.

Lasica is among a growing breed of information consumers who use the latest Internet technologies to completely bypass the home pages of news sites and jump directly to articles that interest them.

Welcome to the world of Internet News. It is a world driven by bloggers, that group of technically savy news hounds that have revolutionized news dessimination here in America and around the world. The most recent poll says that 37% of Americans now get their news primarily from the Internet. This number is growing rapidly.

We are only a short time away from a world where the majority of people will avoid the MSM. What is MSM? That is the blogger term for Main Stream Media, the leftist dominted world of the New York Times, Washington Post, ABC, CBS and NBC, etc.

This new Internet world of news is being supported by more and more of the intelligent computer processes that make finding out what is happening in the world easier. I have been using MyWay.com for some time (the link is on the right column of this web site). However the article linked above made me aware of another great site, topix.net, that I had not seen before. One more example of how quickly the Internet keeps improving.

Reading newspapers is rapidly dying, since the news that you get there is filled with bias and lies. (See stories about Dan Rather's attempt to fix an election) The end result is that newspaper revenues are plunging nationwide. If you get your news primarily from newspapers, you cannot honestly argue that you really care about the truth since their bias has been so well proved. The number of people watching "network" news is also plunging. Ratings are being followed by advertisers who are also abandoning these entities. Fox News is an exception, since it is still the rare non left wing site.

As the movement to the Internet continues though, there are even some who wonder, what is going to happen to Fox News (and CNN)? They still have a bias. Even worse, they both dispense news in a sound bite format that wastes a lot of time and provide little real information. If you want the truth, a broad spectrum of input from both left and right sources will allow you to get there sooner and with less time invested. That makes the Internet the best choice if you want to know the truth.

Since most people really do want the truth, the Internet is growing rapidly. Welcome to the 21st century.

Windsor Rotary Installs New Officers

The annual dinner for "Installation Of Officers" for the Windsor Rotary Club was held this evening. The event honors both the newly elected officers, and the outgoing officials. It was held this year at the Carolina Country Restaurant.

There Was An Excellent Crowd On Hand For The Social Part Of The Program

It was still light when people started gathering for the cocktail party which preceded the dinner. It was an opportunity to see old friends and catch up on news.

District Assistant Governor Don Johnson Was On Hand For The Installation Ceremony

Mary Davis, outgoing President introduced Don Johnson who opened the event with a few comments. Mary then gave a summary of the Windsor Rotary accomplishments for the last year. The important part of the ceremony was the installation of new officers. First came announcement of the new President, Buneva Everett of Wachovia Bank.

Buneva Everett Elected President Of The Windsor Rotary Club

This was followed by announcement of the new Vice President, Ned Heckstall of Le Bleu Bottled Water.

Ned Heckstall Elected Vice President Of The Windsor Rotary Club

The ceremony concluded with presentation of a plaque honoring outgoing President Mary Davis for her outstanding service over the last year.

Jody Presents Outgoing President Mary Davis With Award

The Rotary Club is a great contributor to our community. Everyone should come by and get to know the people and learn more about the many fine activities that the clubs performs for the area.

Adams Family Reunion

Bertie County has long been a place where family is paramount. Though they are falling out of favor in other parts of America, family reunions still remain a special occasion for people from our area. The Soloman and Fannie Adams family had one of their regular get togethers this weekend, and it was a special time.

The Old Days

The reunion started at Riverside Baptist Church, a place where "Sol" (as Soloman was called) is revered as one of the founders of this local institution that has long served the community. As we entered the fellowship hall, dedicated family members had set up an exhibit of family mementos, photos and documents with the family genealogy.

Members Of The First Generation

All the living children of Sol and Fannie were present, Josephine, Ben, Frank, Margaret, Mildred, Jack, Truett and Phillip. John, Max and Spencer were in everyone's thoughts and were missed.

Sharing Family History

Larry Adams (Spencer's son) introduced the special presentations, which included discussions of the family history, poems about the family, special music (including both hymns and patriotic songs) and stories about the family. Josephine, Frank and Phillip, children of Sol and Fannie, provided remembrances of previous gatherings going back until early in the previous century. This included some "notorious" happenings that have become family history that were being shared with the very young for the first time.

Frank Shares Some Fishing Stories

People had gathered from as far away as Scotland, California and Idaho.

Members Of The Second Generation

Matt (son of Bonnie Adams) and Jenny Simons took photos of all the Adams clan, both as a group and as individual families. They distributed the copies of the photos on CDs to everyone who was there. I thank them for the photos for this article.

Before The Presentations Everyone Was Fed

On Sunday morning there was a special service to memorialize the family graveyard on the family homestead, where Sol's parents, William S. Adams and Mary Ann Farless are buried along family members and friends. Cheryl Moody (one of Spencer's daughters) served as master of ceremonies for a moving service. Jessie Mae, Max's wife, has gone to great trouble to restore the graveyard to honor the family patrons.

Homestead Graveyard Ceremony

The weekend was completed when the family gathered one final time for a picnic at the new home of Truett (one of Sol's sons) and June Adams. Truett has recently returned after nearly 60 years away from our area, spent mostly as a farmer in Kansas. The picnic ended with the classic southern specialty, ice cream.

Feeding The Adams Clan

Everyone had a great time. I did especially. Family reunions are part of what makes this area so special.

Truett's Picnic Grounds

Ahoskie - Gallery Theatre Spotlight

The 39th Annual Summer Youth Theatre Workshop will be held July 15 and 16 at 8 PM each evening. This summer’s productions are Once Upon A Lily Pad and Disney’s Aladdin, Jr. [the Broadway Junior version].

Ticket prices are $10 at the door and $9 in advance for adults or $8 at the door and $7 in advance for students.

The Gallery Theatre's 40th Anniversary season will be something special for everyone. The season will consist of two musicals and two plays and will begin September 23-25, 2005, with the musical Forever Plaid, written and originally directed by Stuart Ross. The Plaids are a four-part harmony group from the 50’s on the way to their first big gig [the Airport Hilton cocktail lounge] and to pick up their custom-made plaid tuxedos. The group is broadsided by a school bus filled with eager Catholic teens on their way to see the debut of the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show. It is at this moment, when their careers and lives ended, that the story of Forever Plaid begins.

By some cosmic intervention, the Plaids are allowed to come back to perform the show they never got to do in real life and must return to their astral home when they finish. Songs like Three Coins In The Fountain, Moments To Remember, Chain Gang, and Love Is A Many Splendored Thing take us back to a simpler time when kids and grownups danced to the same music, of proms & chaperones, dreamy romance, and Ford Mercury convertibles!

The Gallery Theatre, Inc. is located at 115 W. Main Street, Ahoskie, NC.

For information about this event and others on the schedule, please call (252) 332-2976 or email gallerytheatre@gate811.net For more detailed information check out the web site at www.gate811.net/gallerytheatre

Bertie County School Audit Provokes Controversy

Nearly 3 months after the "Financial Review of Bertie County Public Schools" was discussed at a joint session of the Bertie County Commissioners and the Bertie County Board of Education, the MGT Audit Report controversy is still causing heated discussions.

The background to this effort is a recognition that money is at the heart of much of the anger on all sides of the issues surrounding our schools. Those who complain that education is not receiving enough money always react angrily when it is pointed out that some of the best schools in America spend a fraction of the money spent by most public school districts and yet turn out much better students. We need to find out how.

Two significant anomalies stand out for Bertie County.
1. Since 1995 the gap between Bertie County and North Carolina SAT scores has grown from 10% below to 20% below. Why are we slipping behind?
2. Bertie County spends $7,544 per student to educate our children while Chicago Public Schools spends $5,366. Is there any credible argument that the costs in Bertie County exceed the costs of Chicago?

Dismissing this and other statistics that indicate a problem simply allows changing the subject to something other than how poorly we are doing overall.

Though this blog is a community service blog and tries to avoid politics, this issue is one of such importance that I felt it desirable to start some discussion in this forum of what is at stake for our children. (For those who disagree with anything I write, please feel free to comment below. The purpose of this article is to start an open discussion.)

Thus I went to Windsor three weeks ago and purchased a copy of the MGT audit report. Since then I have interviewed a number of people in the system, and critics of the system. What I hope to present here is a synopsis of what is contained in the report, and reactions to the report, as a starting point to a discussion of what can be done to help our students achieve a more effective education. That is what our school system exists for.

Having some experience with audit reports (doing them as well as reading them), the first reaction that I had to the report concerned the implications behind the counties to which Bertie was compared. There are many variations in the way the expectations of a report are set up but they usually reflect the implied goals of the organization being audited. The two broad expectations usually reflect either a desire to be the "best of the best" or not to be below the "average of the average". The first method generally means that you will look for the best reasonably similar counties to compare (for example; based on success in educating students). The second generally means that you will merely look for similar counties in size and demographics with no effort to exclude based on accomplishments, good or bad.

In the MGT study no selection criteria included any concern for how successful were the comparison counties in educating students. They were somewhat randomly chosen based on size and proximity. It is thus clear that we were measuring Bertie on the basis of "average of the average", not "best of the best". The general reaction from the school system has been that "this is too hard for us".

That perception must not be left to stand. Right now today there is a young Condoleeza Rice in Bertie County, attending our schools. A poor person who can rise to the highest levels in our nation. The quality of our school system will determine whether that person, male or female, white or black, reaches their potential, or is never heard of.

With that expectation in mind, let's take a look at the responses to the recommendations made by the auditors. (The individual recommendations are listed at the bottom of the article.)

There are 33 specific recommendations made in the study. Of those, 14 provide specific cost savings. Let’s look at the cost saving issues first.

The total five year costs savings is estimated at $7,700,000, of which $1,900,000 is for technology funding. The actual amount of technology funding being lost is probably greater, and does not address effective uses of technology to save money in other areas. I want to focus on that issue. Our Bertie County school web site was so dated and useless that the new superintendent has shut it down. This at least is a good sign. "Distance learning" and "Internet search capabilities" are just two of the numerous fantastic new technology capabilities that dramatically increase the ability to impart knowledge at a fraction of the cost. Why are we failing to take advantage of using technology and getting all the funding available for it?

Does it have anything to do with the fact that our previous superintendent did not himself have a computer and avoided using computers? You cannot teach today without the powerful learning assistance provided from the resources at your finger tips you get from a computer. You cannot manage today without the proper use of computers to document and communicate. Sometimes anecdotal evidence is key to the problem. Every teacher and administrator in our school system must be comfortable with technology if it is to teach our students effectively. We need to make sure other Bertie County school leaders are not avoiding modern technology.

Are our teachers being trained on effective use of computers? Do we have a plan for how to expose our teachers to the best methods to upgrade their own skills using low cost computer training instead of travel? Are questions from students that the teacher cannot answer available through quick research over the Internet? Do we have a plan to implement "distance training? Are we using the most effective course materials? What are we doing to get students access to the new Internet based course materials online? Are we doing a good job with technology or just using technology by rote?

Failure to secure nearly $2 million in technology funding does not indicate we are heading in the right direction. Anecdotal opinions from teachers on what tools they have do not indicate we are heading in the right direction.

If we are spending 50% more than Chicago, is there any reason to believe we are spending the taxpayer's money wisely? All of these money saving recommendations must be implemented, and the school system needs to find other areas where we can do better.

The greatest number of recommendations in the MGT Audit Report are on controls, not money. 19 of the 33 recommendations address this area of importance. The most depressing reaction to the report is the response from the school system on some of the specific recommendations that are intended to improve controls. These are procedural recommendations concerned with managing the expenditure of your money in a professional and competent manner. For example, there was criticism of our controls on credit cards. With the general lack of attention to proper controls in the Bertie County school system, MGT recommended canceling the credit cards. The response from the school system was anecdotal evidence that other counties had credit cards without addressing the issue of whether they had adequate controls in place. This is not an acceptable answer. The issue is CONTROLS.

The general response to all recommendations on controls was either grudging acceptance of the recommendation, or anecdotal evidence dismissing why controls were needed. This does not indicate any acceptance by the school system that controls are a fact of life in any modern government organization. When we are spending 50% more than Chicago, a more willing acceptance of the need for controls would appear desirable. Only time will allow us to know if this concern has been addressed. Controls are an area that must continue to be addressed since lack of controls is traditionally used to hide problems in every organization. Just ask Ken Lay of Enron. In the meantime we must watch closely to see that our money is being wisely spent.

My overall impression from the reactions to this "average of the average" report? That is all that is being planned for your children. "Average of the average". Is this really what Bertie County parents want as the goals of their educational system? How do we change this reaction to an expectation that there is absolutely no reason that Bertie County cannot be "best of the best". We can. The Board of Education seems sincere in their desire to improve education. We need to get past defensiveness about this report and set that as our goal.



List of MGT audit recommendations
Specific recommendations on how to implement good management controls. 4.1 - 4.5
Reduce two nursing positions. 4-6
Eliminate Assistant Finance Officer. 4-7
Reduce travel costs. 4-8
Implement control and approval of travel. 4-9.
Cancel district credit cards. 4-10.
Control cell phones and eliminate 8 of current ones. 4-11.
Review house built for teachers. 4-12.
Prepare budget document. 4-13.
Address the level of unreserved fund balance. 4-14.
Appropriate funds based on a budget. 4-15.
Include key performance and service delivery measures. 4-16.
Establish financial planning process. 4-17.
Develop asset management plan. 4-18.

Reduce staff by 5 admin positions and 5 admin support positions. 5-1.
Clearly define supplements and bonuses for Superintendent. 5-2
Create and update job descriptions. 5-3. Implement a position control system. 5-4.
Stagger school start and end times to allow for multiple bus routes. 5-5
Consolidate transportation and maintenance. 5-6.
End lease purchase of 3 cars. 5-7.
Eliminate 10 cars. 5-8
Develop policy regarding Child Nutrition. Discontinue non-price lunch program. 5-10.
Separate profit and loss information for food service programs by school. 5-11.
Charge all indirect costs to Child Nutrition's Fund. 5-12.
Eliminate 2 skilled maintenance positions. 5-13.
Ensure the technology funds meet the E-rate matching requirements. 5-14.
Pursue areas of grant funding related to technology. 5-15

Lewiston-Woodville Independence Day Parade

The First Annual Independence Day Weekend Parade was held today in Lewiston-Woodville. It was sponsored by the Charity Temple Ministry and drew entrants from several local counties in addition to Bertie County groups.

The Parade Forms Up On A Street Near Woodville

Bertie County Commissioner Norman Chery Gets An Explanation Of "The Children's Place" From Kiara Powell While The Parade Was Forming

The Parade Started On Time With The Parade Honorees Leading Out

The Best Dancing Group Was The Fantastic "Raize da' Praize" From The Carpenter's Shop Church In Ahoskie

There Were Plenty Of Refreshments Along The Parade Route

The Children's Place Was Well Represented

The Reviewing "Stand" Next To The Charity Temple Ministry Offices

A Military Presense Is Always A Must For Independence Day Parades

End Of The Parade

Sandra O'Connor Retires - AP Blows The Story

This is from Opinion Journal about AP coverage of Sandra O'Connor's retirement. Someone from AP needs to learn a little about our courts!

Associated Press, we noted yesterday, flatly stated O'Connor would retire:

Sandra O'Connor, Baltimore County's state's attorney for more than three decades, has said she will retire, her office said Wednesday.

A Republican, O'Connor said she would retire in December 2006 when her eighth term ends, according to a release from Baltimore County State's Attorney's office.

O'Connor grew up in Catonsville and obtained her law degree at Indiana University School of Law, according to a biography on the office Web site.

Actually, O'Connor is a U.S. Supreme Court justice, not the Baltimore County state attorney; she has served for just under 24 years, not more than three decades; she is retiring as soon as her successor is confirmed, not in December 2006; Supreme Court justices serve for life and thus cannot have an "eighth term"; and O'Connor grew up outside Duncan, Ariz., not in Catonsville, and went to law school at Stanford, not Indiana University.

Other than that, the story was accurate.