Though I left the Havelock News last month and have since neglected this blog, I wanted to give those of you who read the Havelock Scoop a proper farewell. I’ve transferred to a sister newspaper, The Gaston Gazette, where I work as the Belmont and Mount Holly reporter.

Thank you to everyone who’s read this blog since I began posting. Double thanks to anyone who posted a comment, and triple thanks to those whose comments disagreed with me. I’m an unapologetic debate junkie, and I think more often than not, we all benefit from having our views challenged and our perspectives broadened.

Thanks for making my two years and four months in Havelock so memorable. I had some great times chasing stories, chatting with readers and taking in all that the Gateway City has to offer.

Editor Ken Buday and reporter/photographer Drew C. Wilson are doing some excellent work at the Havelock News. Please keep reading your hometown paper. Become a registered user on HaveNews.com through the Pluck SiteLife feature so you can comment on stories, post your photos and videos and write your own blog.

If any of you who know me personally would like to keep up with my work, read my new blog at GastonGazette.com. I’ll add the link in a few days when it’s all up and running. And you can always reach me via e-mail at cfriedman@gastongazette.com.

I may be 300-some miles away, but I’ll always remember — and often miss — the great folks in my former stomping grounds. Farewell!

Craven County businesspeople are giddy about the project, the Sun Journal reported today. We could see some economic benefits from the GTP’s success here — which is ostensibly why our county commissioners have helped prop up this turkey for 15 years. But, even if a fraction of Spirit’s cash comes to Craven, the lion’s share is staying in Lenoir.

I’m all for regionalism, but I don’t believe Craven County taxpayers should be forced to invest in this Lenoir County boondoggle. Craven has its own airport and industrial park — shouldn’t we be competing with Kinston for big business instead of helping a city 33 miles away sweeten the pot and lure the highrollers?

I hope Kinston does prosper, but not at the expense of New Bern and Craven County. Let’s boost our own economy before we give our western neighbor a leg up.

Eight of 19 respondents said they “gladly” show their receipts when asked. Another eight said they participate, but don’t like to do so. Just one said he or she refuses all bag and receipt checks — an answer more people should give.

Blogger David Pelfrey wrote an excellent essay on receipt checking — a growing practice among retail stores. A portion of it is excerpted below; click here to read the full post.

Here’s a scenario that is familiar to anyone who has ever set foot in Wal-Mart, CVS, Rite-Aid, or any of a dozen other major retailers. After you have made a purchase, collected your bags, or packed everything into a shopping cart, you head for the exit. Just as you approach freedom an alarm sounds (usually a sequence of ugly, electronic grunts) and a robotic voice (always female) announces: “Please return to the checkout.” Other customers immediately look in your direction, and an employee begins to approach you. What’s your next move?

If you possess an ounce of personal pride or perhaps two ounces of fortitude, then the 100 percent correct move is to proceed immediately out the door. Why? There are many reasons, chief among them being that rational adults should not instantly obey mechanical voices (unless that voice instructs us to exit a burning aircraft). Also, if you haven’t stolen anything and therefore do not require interrogation, there is absolutely nothing that should compel you to linger post-transaction. It’s depressing enough simply being there in the first place.

 Another good reason to make a quick exit is that you aren’t being paid to assist some giant retailer with its security measures. You aren’t part of the team, and you didn’t clock in. The clearest reason for leaving the store, however, is that there exists absolutely no legal obligation to remain there, and the store has no right to detain you.

Obama beat Democratic rival Hillary Clinton by more than 100 votes in Havelock’s two precincts, and New Bern native Perdue spanked Richard Moore by a wide margin. Despite a groundswell of conservative support, Republican challenger Joe McLaughlin was edged out by the incumbent Jones.

News services already are projecting that Obama will win North Carolina’s Democratic primary. Check the Havelock News online for late-breaking results tonight — Ken and I will be in the office until we have all the Havelock-area numbers.

Did you vote? Did your candidate win? Leave a comment and let us know what you thought about this year’s primary races.

Huff’s World — Sun Journal sports editor Jess Huffman shares his perspective on local and national sports — and the task of reporting on them.

Press Play — Jose Perez of the Kinston Free Press writes this interesting and insightful technology blog.

Lost in K-Town – The Free Press’ Phillip Ameling provides a newcomer’s view of life in Kinston and eastern North Carolina.

Off the Cuff — Jacksonville Daily News crime reporter Lindell Kay discusses Onslow County crime in this, ahem, arresting blog.

For a more or less complete listing of Freedom ENC’s staff blogs, click here.

The blister forming on my left heel landed with a sore thud, my calves ached, my legs chafed. I had just walked 26.2 miles in the Craven County Relay for Life, an overnight team walk that raised nearly $335,000 for the American Cancer Society.

In these pages, I pledged to walk a marathon in exchange for your donations. I kept my word April 25 and 26, completing the last of my 105 laps in the pre-dawn stillness. Because of your support, I was able to give relay organizers $547 in cash and checks.

I made the same pledge for the 2007 relay and had finished the walk at a sprightly pace, clocking in at just under eight hours including restroom and water breaks. Not bad for someone who shuffles syllables for a living; someone whose only regular athletic endeavor is listening to sports radio.

Remembering my beginner’s luck, I approached my sophomore marathon with an almost cavalier attitude. I even joked in my April 2 column that my vigorous training regimen would include limiting myself to just one pint of ice cream per day.

I later had to eat my words, and they weren’t as sweet as Cherry Garcia.

After about 70 laps, I realized that I must have been in better shape the year before. The searing pain in my calf muscles confirmed my conjecture. My swift gait slowed to a sore stroll, and I began to take frequent breaks.

My bruised ego hurt as much as my blistering feet. Running a marathon is said to test both endurance and pain tolerance, but having difficulty walking one, to me, was humiliating.

Feeling both strained and sheepish, I made my final circuits around the track, pausing more often than I would have liked for a swig from my water bottle and a momentary rest for my legs.

When I passed the balloon-filled archway that marked the end of my journey — more than nine hours after walking my first lap — I felt more grateful than proud. It wasn’t pluck or machismo or strength that kept me going, it was the encouragement of friends, acquaintances and donors.

Several people joined me for portions of the walk. Havelock Commissioner George Liner put in three swift miles, my friends Cody and Rachel and my sister Kim walked a couple laps each and William, my good friend and former business partner, stuck it out for almost 12 miles.

Those of you who donated money to the relay on my behalf deserve special thanks. Because of you, the American Cancer Society has $547 more for research and treatment. Contributors to this year’s Relay for Life marathon were:

- Ken and Judy Nebraski
- Shirley Selepes
- Ken and Melinda Davis
- Susan G. Coleman
- Harold and Michelle Adams
- Tenille from Coastal Carolina Imaging
- Lisa L. Downey
- Jim and Hunter Bretzius
- Ted and Judy Bird
- Jim and Kathleen Muse
- Gloria M. Miller
- Ed and Connie Stoermer
- Sandra Parker
- George Griffin
- William and Patricia Jones
- Betty Gurganus
- Colly Beck, in memory of Ralph Roberts and Ken Cobb
- Mary DeRosia, my aunt
- Kathleen Friedman, my mother
- George Smith, my mother’s fiancé
- Margie D. Fritze
- Jeremy and Jodi Blalock
- Stephen and Kim Allison 
- Three anonymous cash donors

Thank you all for your support. It wasn’t my steps and stumbles that made this a success, it was your concern for cancer patients and your willingness to chip in.

As for my overly sore legs and disappointing finish time, I’ll work on getting into better shape for next year’s relay.

A little less ice cream ought to help.

Corey Friedman is the Havelock News’ staff writer and photographer. He can be reached at 444-1999 or via e-mail at cfriedman@freedomenc.com. Read his blog, the Havelock Scoop, at http://cfriedman.encblogs.com.

 We live without the benefit of cosmic second chances, do-overs, fresh starts. Each decision we make is frighteningly final; without the ability to rewind time’s relentless spool, we must choose and discern without comparative wisdom. Once we’ve made a choice, we can’t take a mulligan and test alternate outcomes — Robert Frost’s “road less traveled” may take form in the rearview mirror as an eight-lane interstate of regret.
 
That’s the premise of Franco-Czech novelist Milan Kundera’s “The Unbearable Lightness of Being,” a neat bit of philosophical fiction that left its imprint on at least one more addled mind this month. The theme of whimsy’s painful permanence resonates here at the intersection of roads not taken, paths unmapped and forbidden freeways where the fortunate cruise contentedly.

 If life only happens once, every day is divine, every choice vital, each word echoes with the sober sagacity born of the realization of our fleeting existence. This is no trial run, no practice test. It’s the final exam — the only one we’re going to get.
 
It’s become my goal to live passionately, to savor euphoria and goodness at every turn and to fiercely pursue wise, noble and worthy desires.
 
A sizzling carton of Chinese takeout is bliss. A stand-up comedy show is wry enrichment for the mind. A full-mouthed gulp of chilled orange juice is rejuvenation. The anthemic chorus of a power ballad is delightful defiance.
 
At the considerable risk of seeming prosaic, life is what happens when we’re waiting for life to happen. The cotton candy future may or may not arrive, but dinners, day trips and hours-long conversations in parking lots are the glittering moments that make our stay on this swirling sphere truly meaningful.
 
Take off the training wheels and live life unrestrained. This is it. Let’s make it worth remembering.

State lawmakers are considering a ban on replica bull testicles on car and truck trailer hitches, according to this AP story. Some lawmakers say the accessory is obscene, and an amendment to a highway safety bill would allow police to give out $60 tickets for displaying the plastic hitch covers.

Tastelessness shouldn’t be illegal. I hope the Legislature doesn’t have the ba — er, the guts — to pass this asinine amendment.

A request from the school administration to adopt a uniform policy is included on the Craven County Board of Education’s consent agenda, Chairman Carr Ipock said today. Consent agenda items are usually approved in a single vote with little discussion.

I’ve always opposed student uniforms in public schools because they stifle expression and creativity. It was heartening, however, to see that this compulsory conformity was confined to elementary and middle schools. Now, the same rules that apply to children will be foisted on young adults with driver’s licenses and jobs.

But, to quote comic and social commentator George Carlin, “it’s not a new idea.”

“I first saw it in old newsreels from the 1930s,” Carlin said in his act. “But it was hard to understand because the narration was in German.”

UPDATE (April 21, 10:05 a.m.) — The school board postponed its vote on the West Craven uniform policy Thursday, according to the Sun Journal’s coverage. Uniforms have not (yet?) been adopted for the 2008-09 school year.

The column asserts — correctly — that bikes have the same rights as cars, but drivers usually throw their four-wheeled weight around, hogging the road and failing to yield the right of way. However, the latest installment describing a close call between the writer and a motorist gives me pause.

Justin writes that a woman driving an Acura made a left turn without yielding to his right turn, but his narrative indicates he wasn’t giving up an inch: “…when I kept going as if she hadn’t just failed to pay tribute to my existence on the road, she proceeded to give me a dirty look.”

Having the right of way doesn’t magically absolve us of the responsibility to exercise caution. I can’t count the number of times I’ve yielded to someone barreling through an intersection when it’s really my turn to turn. You can shout, scream, stew, fume, honk the horn if you’d like, but challenging someone to a game of tandem-turn chicken is just plain irresponsible.