OK, before we get into the meat and potatoes of the whole Spirit deal, I have to ask:

With today’s announcement, and an earlier announcement of Sanderson Farms bringing 1,600 jobs to Lenoir County, is the area poised to turn the corner economically? Vote in the poll below, and leave comments fer cryin’ out loud!

In what has been Lenoir County’s worst-kept secret recently, all the head honchos will be gathering at the Global TransPark today to announce the arrival of Spirit AeroSystems, which is at least a $600 million investment and will bring 1,100 jobs to Kinston to start.

I’ll talk about my thoughts on this deal later, but I wanted to address the folks who are poo-pooing The Free Press for breaking this story on Saturday. For starters, that’s what we’re supposed to do … get the news, not watch it happen, which I admit this paper does way too much.
Secondly, the publisher and I have sat on this story for quite some time. Why? Because we knew breaking it earlier would hurt the deal. Trust me when I say that we would not have broken this story if it was going to kill the deal. I, for one, asked a few people involved in the deal point-blank if running the story would cause Spirit to pull out. They said no.
The folks here at the paper want to see good things happen to Kinston and Lenoir County as much as everyone else does? Why would we do something intentionally to hurt that?

Like the commentator on this video says, I’m all for responsibile parenting, but this is a bit much:

Well, I don’t know how your weekend was, but my family and I spent the entire weekend trying to rescue a litter of pups left in an abandoned barn behind our home.
We managed to get five of the what we think are six puppies that are part of the litter. There’s definitely some lab and chow mix in these dogs, and there may be some husky as well since one of the pups has blue eyes.

These pups had obviously never had human contact before, and all them were scared and hungry. Plus, we spent a lot of time trying to round the little guys up, those that managed to get out of the barn wound up underneath houses, and a few got in a nearby shed.

Here’s one of the pups we nabbed yesterday:

I dropped him off at the SPCA today. Here are his sisters, who were brought down Saturday. There is a white pup in the background (the only one of the batch), but it’s tough to see her because she’s the same color as the wall.

Our guess is these pups weren’t dumped off by a person, but born to one of the many wild dogs running around where we live (off Dawson Station Road, near Institute Road). Hopefully, we’ll be able to get the sixth puppy today.

The good folks at the SPCA told me this morning the pups brought in Saturday are still a little scared but are starting to adjust. They’re all in the good health. Don’t plan on adopting them anytime soon, however. They won’t be ready until the end of the week at the earliest.

One thing that could help prevent this kind of thing is to get the county Animal Control involved if you live out in the county and have wild dogs running all over the place. The folks at the SPCA tell me the officers can set traps, and there’s a good chance these dogs could be re-tamed and adopted out. The problem is continued mistreatment by human beings.

I will never understand how people can be so cruel to animals.

Although it’s probably not the case here, there are plenty of instances where people dump puppies on the side of the road because they don’t want to be bothered with them. I don’t understand why they don’t take them to the shelter.

Or better yet, ever hear of spaying and neutering your pets? End sermon.

By the way, while I was up there, I got to see Tweetie, the female boxer rescued in Kinston a few months back. Remember those awful pictures of her being malnourished and having cuts all over her neck?
Well, here’s how she looks now:

Tweetie says hello:

The SPCA folks say she’s doing really well and is getting used to being around people. She still has a ways to go, but it’s a big improvement over a few months ago.

What I See: Voters the real winners in primary

I’m sure four incumbent elected officials are still scratching their heads wondering how in the world they were beaten in Tuesday’s primary elections. In the same token, the victors are relishing the fact that they’ll go on to November’s general election, or have won their seat outright.
But the real winners in Tuesday’s primary were the voters. Instead of just talking for change, they went out and made it happen.
Those who still have their seats should stand up and take notice. Apparently, Lenoir County’s voters are mad as hell, and they’re not going to take it anymore.
The same could be said for Greene County’s voters, too. Last November, a proposal to increase the sales tax by .25 percent failed by a mere 33 votes.
The tally was close, so commissioners there put it up again on Tuesday’s ballot. This time, the measure was shot down by 1,128.
I guess no really does mean no in Greene County.
The sales tax increase likely played a role in the defeat of Lenoir County Board of Commissioners Chairman Paul Taylor Jr. and Commissioner Earl Harper. Last year, the sales tax measure was shot down by a 2-1 margin, but commissioners were considering putting it on this year’s ballot.
I’m thinking county lawmakers may want to rethink that, or they could suffer a similar fate as Taylor and Harper.
There are other issues that probably played a role in their defeat as well.
One that immediately comes to mind was an ill-fate proposal to spend up to $20,000 of public money on an invitation-only luncheon set to be a part of a groundbreaking ceremony for a new veterans nursing home in Kinston. Fortunately, no public money was spent on that luncheon, but the whole ordeal left a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouths.
The defeat of two Lenoir County School Board incumbents — Chairwoman Connie Mintz and Garland Nobles Jr. — is an indication that people are dissatisfied with our public school system.
With declining enrollments — particularly in the city schools — and continued poor performance on tests, who can blame them?
But beyond these issues, many voters apparently felt their representatives lost touch with their constituents and were not looking out for their best interests.
Nobles is one who admits it. “In retrospect, I guess I should have been in better touch with my district,” he said a day after his primary defeat.
Taylor was apparently unaware that the public was unhappy with him as well. “I thought I’d done a better job than that,” he said shortly after the results were posted.
Voters in Tuesday’s primary sent a clear message to their representatives. They obviously believe Lenoir County’s government and schools are broken, and they want them fixed.
This time, voters didn’t rely on their mouths to get that message across. They did it with their vote, which is loudest voice they have.
Hopefully, those who are still in power listened.

Charlie Kraebel can be reached at (252) 559-1074 or ckraebel@freedomenc.com. Check out Charlie’s blog at http://ckraebel.encblogs.com.

From an e-mail sent to me from a friend:

Your house as seen by:

Yourself:

Your buyer:

Your lender:

Your appraiser:

Your tax assessor:

Every day, reporter Jon “Big Wheel Keep On Turnin’” Dawson makes his rounds to local law enforcement agencies to pick up the arrest records and crime reporters you see posted every day on Kinston.com and in the print edition.

In most cases, the reports are pretty vague when it comes to details of the crime and seem to be written in a code C3PO would have trouble translating, and he’s fluent in 6 million forms of communication, including bocce. A report Jon handed to me today was not the norm.

Kinston police took a complaint of intimidation from a woman. The report looked pretty standard.

But if you look at the line filled in a box titled “How Attacked of Committed,” the officer put down the following (warning, rough language ahead):

“By telling victim she was going to beat her ass.”

Guess you can’t get more specific than that.

I found out today that Boys & Girls Club of Lenoir County Executive Director Charlie Smith is leaving at the end of the month for a similar position in Minnesota. Charlie’s been with the club for two years.
Check Friday’s paper for more details, or see Kinston.com.

My take: I’ve gotten to know Charlie fairly well over the past year or so due to him getting club news in the paper and we’re in the local Lions Club together (actually, Charlie got me in). Kinston and Lenoir County is losing a great guy who really cares about kids.

With Barack Obama thumping Hillary Clinton in North Carolina Tuesday and almost beating her in Indiana, now is the time to question whether she should stay in the race, or should she bow out gracefully.
Vote in the poll below, and leave your comments. Please. Pretty please with sugar on top.

Here’s a few quick thoughts on last night’s primary election:

* I think the biggest winners of the night were the voters. Talk about letting your voices be heard.

* I think it’s pretty obvious that people in Lenoir County are not happy with the direction the county or the school district is taking. Considering that nearly every incumbent for county commissioner and school board got beat, voters said they wanted change.

* Wanna bet Greene County voters were ticked that commissioners put up another sales tax increase so soon after a similar proposal was defeated in November? During the first vote, the proposal lost by only 33 votes. On Tuesday, it got beat by 1,128. Lenoir County ought to reconsider putting a sales tax increase on November’s ballot.

* No real surprises in the presidential primary, as most people, including myself, fully expected Barack Obama to have a solid win in North Carolina while Hillary Clinton eked out a victory in Indiana. I think it’s pretty much over for the former first lady, but I think she’ll stay in the race until the end.

UPDATE: Thanks to Jim for clearing something up for me. Bruce Hill is still in the hunt for his seat on the school board. My bad.