March
1 — Pink Hill World War II veteran John Worthington shares his thoughts on being knighted in France’s Legion of Honor.
2 — The U.S. Coast Guard announces the body of Lt. Cmdr. Dale Taylor, a Snow Hill native, was recovered after the helicopter he was on crashed in Mobile Bay off the Alabama coast.
3 — The Kinston High boys’ basketball team defeats Reidsville 71-61 in the NCHSAA 2A Eastern Regional tournament in Fayetteville to advance to the state finals. The KHS girls’ team is defeated 61-28 by Jordan-Matthews in its first appearance in a regional final game.
6 — Robert Earl “Hotfoot” Smith, 69, of La Grange, is sentenced to probation after pleading guilty to assault with a deadly weapon, due to his shooting of two men he suspected of robbing his in-home poker game.
10 — The KHS Vikings defeat Waxhaw Cuthbertson 58-55 to win the 2A state championship, the third state basketball title for Kinston in five years and the eighth in the history of the school.
12 — The Jones County Cotton Gin is fined by the state for safety violations, believed to have contributed to the accidental death of an employee.
12 — U.S. Marine Corps Cobra attack helicopters from Cherry Point take part in an unannounced nighttime training mission over Lenoir County, causing confusion among residents. The general in charge of the pilots’ unit later apologizes to local officials and residents.
14 — Investigators discover more than 80 dogs in an alleged puppy mill in Trenton.
15 — The N.C. State Board of Elections approves Sunday early voting for Lenoir County, despite public outcry and an intervention by Rep. Stephen LaRoque, R-Lenoir.
17 — Common Ground of ENC is awarded a grant and garden tools through the Fiskars Project Orange Thumb to help with its community garden project, one of 10 organizations in the U.S. and Canada to receive such grants.
20 — The mother of the late Melissa Platt shares her suspicions about the 2008 death of her daughter. The death was ruled accidental as a result of a fall while intoxicated, but Platt’s mother suspects her then-boyfriend, Joey Tyndall, beat her and staged the scene to make it appear that she fell. Law enforcement has investigated and cleared Tyndall, and prosecutors have declined to take further action.
22 — Longtime Free Press Chief Photographer Charles Buchanan passes away at age 63. Buchanan worked for The Free Press full time for nearly 36 years and won dozens of awards for his photographs from the N.C. Press Association. Free Press sportswriter David Hall describes Buchanan as “Kinston’s visual historian.”
23 — Marilyn Patrick takes over as executive director of Kinston ICOR.
27 — A Wake County judge strikes down changes to the state’s annexation process passed by the Republican-led state Legislature in 2011.
29 — Simeon Meadows is found not guilty of shooting and nearly killing the pregnant mother of his twin children
31 — Devin Swann of Raleigh, the consecutive four-time men’s winner of Kinston’s Run for the River 8K, is dethroned by Ryan Woods of Boone. Heather Magill of Wilmington remains the reigning women’s champ, taking her fifth straight first-place title.
April
2 — Montez Garner, Kinston’s most-wanted fugitive, is caught by Texas authorities and charged with attempted first-degree murder after an 18-month manhunt.
4 — A small group of people rallies on the steps of the Lenoir County Courthouse in honor of slain Florida teen Trayvon Martin; the rally was organized by People’s Organization for Progress.
4 — Former Jones Senior High School athletic coach Vaughn Chance is arrested for “inappropriate contact” with three female students.
7 — More than 100 local children turn out for the Kinston-Lenoir County Public Library’s inaugural Easter egg hunt.
9 — Representatives of Spirit AeroSystems and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers share their views on a vote by 126 workers at Spirit’s Kinston plant to join the IAMAW.
10 — U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., presents $2.7 million in federal grants and loans to Kinston officials to build two fire stations.
11 — Fifteen canoers and kayakers representing Hope Floats, an organization dedicated to raising funds for cancer research, paddle through Kinston on a 225-mile trek down the Neuse River from Raleigh to Beaufort.
11 — Pink Hill Police Chief Joey Thigpen gets the go-ahead to hire a part-time officer to bolster the local force.
11 — Four men are arrested in Jones County for attempting to BASE jump off of WCTI ABC-12’s 2,000-foot tower near Trenton.
14 — Local radio personality and active Republican Party member Fred “Rusty Springs” Riggs passes away.
15 — Kinston High School sweeps the annual Free Press basketball awards; Josh Dawson is named the boys’ basketball player of the year, Tisha Dixon is named the girls’ top player, while Wells Gulledge and Hubert Quinerly earn top coaches’ awards in boys and girls, respectively.
16 — Greene County residents mark one year since a massive tornado tore through the Snow Hill area.
17 — Annual six-day Grifton Shad Festival begins.
18 — Surveys are made available to local businesses to gauge their views on bringing a passenger airline to Kinston.
19 — Early voting begins for the May 2012 primary election.
19 — Kinston Mayor B. J. Murphy and the Lenoir County Historical Association celebrate the 250th anniversary of the dropping of the “G” from the city’s name in 1776.
21 — Members of the Kinston Aero-Modelers hold their second annual Fly-In, dedicated to late Free Press Chief Photographer Charles Buchanan.
22 — 17-year-old Rasheed Jones, who was killed at the intersection of Independence Street and Peyton Avenue on April 22, 2010, is memorialized on the anniversary of his death.
25 — One person is killed in a fiery collision between two tractor-trailer trucks at U.S. 258 and Albrittons Road.
26 — Former Kinston High School football star Quinton Coples is selected by the New York Jets in the first round of the 2012 NFL draft.
29 — More than 400 people turn out for Sunday voting at Vernon Park Mall, the highest number for early voting in the 2012 primary.