Blogging with Bryan C. Hanks

The Lenoir County Schools system has started a new Web site for residents who want to discuss the proposed redistricting of the schools.

It’s located here. Schools Superintendent Dr. Terry Cline has a short video on the site that discusses redistricting and why he thinks it’s important — check it out and let me know what you think.

I’ve gone on the record several times in support of redistricting. I received several e-mails — including one very well-written one from our good friend Heelsfan — and all were against redistricting.

We’re turning up the wick at the Free Press on this developing situation and we’ll be at the point in the coming weeks (note: the TV stations will follow us … as usual!) with many stories from every angle.

I’d like to know what you think. Leave your thoughts in the comments or by e-mailing me at bhanks@freedomenc.com. We’re going to run a reader’s forum in the paper and on Kinston.com; I’d love for you to be a part of it.

This is Sherrod Hines, 32, who is registered to be living at 401 N. Adkin Street in Kinston (he moved from 1512 Lawrence Lane in Kinston). He was convicted of two counts of indecent liberty with a minor on Feb. 7, 2001, for which he served 1 year, 10 months of jail time.

This is Deangelo D. Graham, who recently moved from Nashville, N.C., to 1711-B Rosedale Ave., in Kinston (he previously lived at 1507 Liberty Heights Road in Kinston). Mr. Graham, 28, was convicted of indecent liberty with a minor on Oct. 31, 2002, for which he served 1 year, 11 months of jail time. He has used the alias  of Anthony Ray Barnes and has moved 10 times since registering as a sex offender on Aug. 30, 2005.

Got backed up with a few of these over the holidays, so here’s the first of three today:

This is Gregory Alan Scott Sr., 41, who was registered to be living at 403 1/2 College Street in Kinston. However, the announcement from the N.C. Offender Registry now has him living at 6015 Nordic Drive, Panama City, Florida.

Mr. Scott Sr. (he has a child?!?!?) was convicted of indecent liberty with a minor in Greene County on Aug. 3, 2004, for which he received 3 years of probation.

Sarah Chalke — whose TV show, “Scrubs” starts its final season on ABC tomorrow night (shameless plug from a huge fan) — won in a landslide on Friday, downing Paris Hilton, 16-5. It was Chalke’s second victory.

Today, Ms. Chalke will take on an ageless beauty — Heather Locklear, who has appeared a couple of times on “Scrubs”, which makes its season premiere tomorrow night on ABC.

First, the defending champ:

Sarah Chalke. She’s doing panty hose commercials now, she’s appearing in “How I Met Your Mother” (still haven’t seen that yet) and she’s ready to start the final season of “Scrubs”, which begins tomorrow night on WCTI ABC-12. (Too much?)

Heather Locklear. Has appeared in too many TV shows to count, but looks WAY younger than her 47 years on this planet attests.

It’s your turn now: vote for your favorite ECOTD in the comments or by e-mailing it to me at bhanks@freedomenc.com; the victor returns tomorrow, the loser won’t.

For more pictures, click on the candidate’s name; for a larger, frames-free version of the above picture, click on the picture itself.

Let’s get it on!

I’ll return to the regular MNR tomorrow; today, I decided to use this space today for a selfish version of “What I did over my Christmas vacation.” I’ve been away from The Free Press offices since Dec. 24, so imagine my surprise that when I get back, the building is still standing.

I thought Jon Dawson was supposed to take care of that.

Anyhoo, here you go:

• As you noticed, this became the official blog of the GlaxoSmithKline Holiday Invitational. It was an overwhelming success. Thanks to you and a bunch of new viewers, this blog received 16,962 page views from Dec. 26-30. That pushed the blog over 500,000 PVs for the first time in history — we finished with 501,377 PVs in 2008. THANK YOU to all of you who continued to hit “refresh” during the game updates. Also, special thanks to our good friend, J.T. Tribula, who provided — literally — second-by-second updates of the final two Kinston basketball games at the Glaxo, which generated several thousand PVs. No, I don’t receive any extra dinero for PVs, but it shows our parent organization (Freedom Communications) that a little ol’ blog from one of the smallest papers in its company can kick some ass (yes, I said it).
• I also want to give serious props out to Jonathan Massey, who was my right-hand man in Raleigh throughout the tournament. I literally ran him to death throughout the tournament in my role as the media coordinator and he didn’t complain once (although I caught him hitting on N.C. State co-eds a couple of times).
• There’s a Web site in Raleigh that is amazing — and it’s operated by two great guys. It’s High School OT.com, a site that is the baby of Nick Stevens and Tim Candon. The site specializes in everything HS sports in the Triangle. Hopefully, The Free Press’ own freepresspreps.com can raise its game to this level. Nick and Tim were at all 26 Glaxo games with me, taped every post-game press conference and were extremely helpful on 800 different levels. Nick invited me to tape a wrap of the tournament; you can see it by clicking here. A quick note: Nick is only 19! The kid has a bright, bright future ahead of him.
• At the Glaxo, I also met Eastern, who is near the top of our little football pick ‘em contest. He’s a hell of a nice guy who helps run the N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association. He lives in Northeastern N.C., and is very proud of the three NCISAA teams (Arden Christ, Raleigh Ravenscroft and Raleigh Word of God) who made it to the two Glaxo championship games.
• Speaking of the Glaxo, I still have a few nuggets I may turn into a post soon, including records that were set, etc. Look for it in the next couple of days.
• I also had a chance to see Friend of the Blog, COliver, at the Glaxo — the man who is currently leading the picks contest. Might be handing him a valuable prize package soon!
• Speaking of COliver, I had my hand smacked by his mother, who said she does NOT approve of the ECOTD. I don’t know what her problem could be with it — we’re celebrating the beauty of women!
• Speaking of the ECOTD, I have taken your advice and there WILL NOT be male ECOTDs. What the heck was I thinking?
• This was, by far, the worst fantasy football season I’ve ever had. Not only did I not make the playoffs in the HBFL (which was won by our good friend, Drew Loftis), I also failed to make the playoffs in the infamous Kinston-based Walrus Football League, which is run by David Grimes of the Kinston/Lenoir County Parks and Recreation Department. I have played in the Walrus League every year since 2003, won the previous two championships (cha-ching!), finished as the runner-up the year before that and NEVER failed to make the playoffs. I finished 8-9 this year and basically stunk up the joint. The fantasy season (in which I played in four leagues, the lowest total in 10 years) wasn’t a complete wash, though — I won the title in a keeper league I’ve been in since 1995.
• Celebrated New Year’s Eve at the RBC Center with 18,000 Carolina Hurricanes fans. I hadn’t been to a Canes game in a couple of years and I forgot how much fun watching them can be. Carolina beat Atlanta, 3-1. The Hot Blonde and I didn’t stick around for midnight to strike, though; it was a bit too crowded for us.
• For the third time this season, I worked the PA at the Kinston-Rocky Mount game. It was a blast! My Western N.C. friend, Brian “Big Papa” Rushing, does it professionally for several organizations and I now see the rush he gets from it. It’s a lot of fun (except when you call Marquez Jones, Marquez Powell).

The iPod shuffle (which, thanks to the Hot Blonde’s sister, is now back up to 1,494 songs!)

Stronger — Kayne West

Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses — U2

Love Me Two Times — The Doors

Your Only Friends Are Make Believe — The Bloodhound Gang

Crazy For This Girl — Evan & Jaron

The Great Pretender posted this under the previous thread, but I really thought it deserved its own post. Here ya’ go:

I saw this obituary online but do not know if it has made the Kinston Free Press yet. But I thought I would forward it so that our community would know the latest. It is so sad.

__________________________________________________

OBITUARY

Fan, Carolina

LENOIR COUNTY - Carolina Fan, age unknown, died Sunday, Jan. 4, 2009, on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill. The funeral will be held all season long or until the Heels start a fresh season. A visitation will be held at various law offices, dental practices and country clubs around the area. Carolina Fan was known for his condescension, his arrogance and his bad breath. Carolina Fan was recognized by all who knew him by his stuck-up nose, his lightly-starched-Carolina-Blue-button-down-Alexander-Julian-fag-shirt, his khaki pants and that hideous umbrella. The Blue Heaven Debutante Ball will have another wallflower for their parties this year. Weather men throughout the area predict the tears flowing down from Blue Heaven will end our drought and that is why it’s wet outside today. In lieu of flowers, relatives of Carolina Fan ask that all donations be made to the LGBT Charity of your choice or to the fund to bring back Coach Matt Doherty. No survivors have come forward!

to claim to be a relative of Carolina Fan but hopefully will if they win another game. Our hearts go out to Carolina Fan. Bless you. Bless you one and all. We love you.

Funeral arrangements by the Boston Funeral Home and Tea Party Service.

Bwahahahahahaha!

And before you Carolina apologists start taking shots at my Cava-hoos, just remember: they’re rebuilding. You were supposed to be the first undefeated national champion since 1976.

Oh yeah:

                           Conference Overall

Clemson               1-0              14-0

Duke                    1-0              12-1

Boston College    1-0              13-2

Virginia                1-0               6-5

Wake Forest       0-0              13-0

Florida State       0-0              13-2

Maryland            0-0               11-2

N.C. State           0-0                9-3

North Carolina   0-1               13-1

Miami                 0-1                10-3

Virginia Tech    0-1                  9-5

Georgia Tech     0-1                 8-5

With the “Scrubs” season premiere coming up on ABC on Tuesday (woo-hoo!!!), it’s appropo that Sarah Chalke — Dr. Elliott Reed on the show — won easily over the New Year’s holiday, 18-3, ending Teri Hatcher’s run at two days as the ECOTD.

Today, Dr. Reed, errr, Ms. Chalke, takes on Paris Hilton.

First, the defending champion:

Sarah Chalke. I didn’t even realize this until today, but she was Roseanne’s replacement daughter for a couple of years (do you remember?).

Paris Hilton. She’s famous for … well, I don’t know. Somebody likes her, though…

So there you go: leave your vote in the comments or by e-mailing it to me at bhanks@freedomenc.com. The winner returns Monday for another fun competition.

For more pictures, click on the candidate’s name; for a better, frames-free version of the above picture, click on the picture itself.

Also — I’ve had several requests for male ECOTDs. Our good friend, Sarah Campbell, was doing it for a while, but quit after a little while. Is there really any interest here for that?

And I’m not sure I could stomach having to look up pictures of dudes.

Anyhoo — back to the ladies — Let’s get it on!

Or so says his New York Jets teammates.

Thomas Jones — an acclaimed Cavahoo who is incapable of lying — said Fav-ruh should’ve been benched in the final weeks when the Golden One was deep-sixing the Jets efforts (to the tune of 2 TDs and 9 INTs over the final four weeks).

And that’s not all. Other teammates — quoted in the above ESPN link — say he was distant, wasn’t personable and just wasn’t that Wrangler Jeans kind of guy he tries to perpetrate to the public.

RETIRE for real this time, Brett. No one cares about you but you.

NO ONE.