I've been back in Kinston for a little more than a week, and in those rare moments when I can get away from the office, I've been driving around, getting reacquainted with the area.
It is a little odd to move to a town and already know where things are.
There are a few new things I've noticed since I moved away in 2003 and even since my last visit about five years ago, but first I have some questions.
1. What do you all do for Starbucks, or some reasonable equivalent? I understand the hospital has Starbucks-brand coffee and that's fine, but I don't actually drink coffee. Where does one go for the other drinks a Starbucks would provide? Where can you get a frappuccino in this town or any of the other fru fru drinks?
God, I sound like a coffee snob. Forgive me, I'm just in serious withdrawal.
2. What exactly is the Little Caesar's on Vernon Street apparently giving away every night? Whatever it is, they back up traffic into the street. Do we need to get the Kinston Department of Public Safety to post an officer out there for traffic control?
3. As I look for people I knew 11 years ago, there was a mechanic who also was a volunteer firefighter who had a shop on U.S. 258 North who kept my last car running well past the 250,000-mile mark. If I can't find him, I need to find someone else at least that good because unless I hit the lottery (and to do that I'll have to start playing) I'll be driving my current car until it literally falls apart.
4. Whose idea was it to put a median strip on the road between Walmart and the movie theater? I understand the purpose, but it results in drivers making a u-turn at the cemetery entrance, disturbing the eternal rest of those unlucky enough to be located near the gate.
In my travels around Kinston (I haven't made it out into the county just yet) I'm also compiling my "have to see it soon" list. Number one on that list, of course, is the dog park. Millie and I haven't had a chance to make it there yet and I'm losing "Mother of the Year" points on a daily basis. It just fascinates me that the town I came from in Georgia, which had every advantage, didn't have a dog park. I've already sent the mayor-elect there pictures of this one though, so I expect that to change soon. No pressure, mayor!
The Woodmen of the World Center is also on my list. I remember the Woodmen center when it was just the site of Smithfield Packing, and you can imagine my surprise when I rolled into town after almost 10 hours in the car and saw a large building and brightly lit dome at the former Smithfield site. It's also awesome to me that Kinston has such a showpiece on which to base its recreation programs. Again, I can only compare it to Georgia, where recreation programs often got a boost from a special-purpose, local-option sales tax renewed every few years. It's nice to see the programs here take such a giant step forward, and even get what amounts to a convention center in the process.
I also need to get by and see the CSS Neuse in its downtown digs. Of course, being here in 1999, I remember when the Vernon Avenue site flooded and came within a hair's breath of flooding the boat itself. Getting it downtown, although an arduous process to be sure, was the best move. It gives visitors another reason to come downtown and will help ensure the preservation of the boat and associated artifacts for decades to come.
Finally, the new Lenoir County Detention Center also is on my list — just to visit. It looks mighty impressive from the outside and is a wonderful legacy to recently retired Sheriff Billy Smith. When I visited here about five years ago, I talked to Smith, who said the jail construction was his top priority. And it was needed. When I lived here a decade ago, the Lenoir County government was my major beat, so I spent as much time there as I did at the office or at home. I remember what the old jail was like and I remember when in 1999 (like almost everywhere else in town) the basement of the courthouse got water in it and made things a little complicated for the sheriff's office and 911 center. It is comforting to know that should the unthinkable happen again, those issues won't be issues anymore.
Is there somewhere else in Kinston or our coverage area I need to check out? Let me know and I'll add it to my list.
Jennifer Shrader is the managing editor of The Free Press; her column appears in this space every Friday. If you know the answers to her questions or have a new (to her) site she should visit, you can reach her at 252-559-1079 or at Jennifer.Shrader@Kinston.com or on Twitter at jenjshrader.