Deryck Wilson

Some parents may have shorter waits to drop their kids off at school if a new plan developed by the school district works as planned.

The Pitt County Board of Education discussed Monday night an express busing plan designed to reduce traffic at Ayden Elementary, Creekside Elementary and Wintergreen Primary and Intermediate schools.

The plan would redirect all parents who normally drop their children off at the school to drop them off at a nearby location. A bus would then take the children the rest of the way.

Pitt County Schools spokeswoman Heather Mayo said officials believe the program will be popular with parents because they will know that their children would be on the bus for only a short period of time, and it will reduce wait times at schools where large numbers of children ride to school with their parents.

The program does not eliminate the traditional pickup plans the district has always used, and students can still board the bus at home, said Associate Superintendent Aaron Beaulieu.

"This is not intended to discourage a child from riding the bus from their normal bus stop," Beaulieu said.

The program likely will go into effect in the second week of school. Each school will distribute information to parents about the pick up spots and times, Beaulieu said.

The district has about a 50 percent bus-ridership rate, and that can translate to major traffic issues at schools where a large number of parents drop off and pick up their children.

The board also discussed changes to programs delivered at the Gateway Learning Center, a program initially designed to keep long-term suspended students in school.

Travis Lewis, student services director, said 60 percent of the children in the program last year were promoted to the next grade.

On the advice of administrators, the program is changing from focusing on students who have been suspended to focus on students who may be at risk of dropping out of school.

Lewis said 38 students have been identified and will attend classes at the center, which is in the old ECVC building on Staton Road.

Students in the seventh and eighth grades have been recommended to the program by their principals. The seventh-grade students, who have been retained before, are expected to be able to enter the ninth grade after the first year at the center.

The eight grade students may enter the ninth grade after half of the year, or they may remain and earn some high school credits during the second part of the school year, Lewis said.

Transportation to the center is provided by the school district.

Officials also announced the the facilities committee to the board will meet today at 4 p.m. at Ridgewood Elementary.

The committee will tour the new school on Thomas Langston Road that is set to open next week.

Uniforms REQUIRED as of August 25, 2008

THE NEW UNIFORM POLICY

THE NEW UNIFORM POLICY (SPANISH)
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Josh Humphries can be reached at jhumphries@coxnc.com and 329-9565. For more local information on Pitt County Schools, community events, festivals, news and real estate, visit www.1SearchMLS.com

Award-winning country music singer and songwriter Dierks Bentley and Bud Light will present a concert inside Minges Coliseum on Thursday, Sept. 4 as part of his Throttle Wide Open Tour. The ECU Educational Foundation (Pirate Club) is responsible for bringing the event to Greenville and it is sponsored locally by Trade Wilco-Hess, Thad's Carpet One and Thad's Flooring America.

After signing with Capitol Records in 2003, Bentley released his self-title debut album that same year as well as Modern Day Drifter in 2005. Both records went platinum in the United States. The Phoenix, Ariz. native has produced five No. 1 singles on the country music charts, including his first track What Was I Thinkin. Additionally, Bentley has received recognition as the Academy of Country Music's Top Male Vocalist in 2003 and winner of Country Music Television's Breakout Video-of-the-Year in 2004 and the Country Music Academy's Horizon Award in 2005. Opening for Bentley will be Nashville recording artist Lee Brice.

"The Pirate Club Board of Directors has discussed the possibility of hosting a concert for a number of years," Mark Wharton, Executive Director of the Pirate Club said. "We are proud to have an artist like Dierks Bentley come to ECU on a Thursday night before our opening home football game against West Virginia on September 6. This is a great way to kick off the school year and should prove to be an exciting weekend."

Ticket Information

Tickets are now on sale and can be purchased online at www.ECUPirates.com, calling 1-800-DIAL-ECU or by visiting the ECU Athletics Ticket Office. Floor seating is $25 for general admission/standing room only. All other seating is reserved - VIP Purple Area ($35), VIP Red Area ($30) and Upper Reserved ($15). VIP Purple Area ticket holders may also purchase VIP/Hospitality Room Tickets for $25 (must be at least 21 years old to enter VIP/Hospitality Room). Listed prices do not include facility fee and service charges.

Upcoming Events for the 2008 Winterville Watermelon Festival

Concerts located in the Park:

www.thedmtb.com

Dave Matthews Tribute Band - Thursday August 21, 6:30PM - Free Admission

www.journeytributeband.com

Frontiers (Journey Tribute Band) - Thursday August 21, 8:30PM - Free Admission

www.chairmenoftheboard.com

Chairmen of the Board, Friday August 22, 6:30PM - Free Admission

Tickets for the Saturday Night Concert with the Stars featuring Bucky Covington and Jack Ingram are on sale now! Tickets are $10 in advance and $20 the day of the show TO ORDER TICKETS CONTACT 252-321-7701 12:00PM - 5:30PM Tickets are available at Pitt County Trade/Wilco and East Carolina Trophies & Signs - Winterville

Perhaps no one on the East Carolina football team was more upset than Brandon Simmons to hear that his camp roommate, Dominique Lindsay, was injured last week and likely lost for the 2008 season.

A fellow senior and close friend to Lindsay, Simmons did the only thing he could. He picked up the football and kept on going. While Lindsay sat in the stands for the Pirates' second scrimmage of August camp Saturday, Simmons electrified the ECU running attack.

The running back carried the ball five times in the early sequences with the top offense and barreled his way to 59 yards.

"When he went down it kind of hurt me," Simmons said of Lindsay after the scrimmage. "I'm not going to sit here and say I can carry the load (at running back) by myself. We have so much talent, so the faster some of the younger guys can pick it up, the more explosive we can be as an offense."

Simmons said he kept Lindsay posted with text messages and calls when he was having knee surgery.

Lindsay was poised to lead a crew of running backs this year all bent on trying to replace last year's superstar, Chris Johnson.

The knee injury halted that plan, and immediately changed ECU's offensive planning for the season, which starts Aug. 30 in Charlotte against Virginia Tech.

"As a whole, we're starting to do much better things," said Simmons, who transferred along with younger brother Jason from Elizabeth City State in early 2006. "The offensive line is starting to solidify, we have a lot of experience. Guys are starting to do what they're supposed to do."

Head coach Skip Holtz had hoped to try a two-back system this year, mainly featuring the bruising 6-foot-1, 225-pound Simmons and the speedy 5-10, 210-pound Lindsay. On Saturday, sophomores Norman Whitley and Jonathan Williams and junior J.R Rogers carried a good deal of the load along with Simmons.

"Brandon Simmons is really playing like a workhorse right now," Holtz. "He's doing a great job for us and he's having a phenomenal camp. We were looking at Dominique Lindsay and him carrying the weight of the running back position. With Dominique out of there, he's really going to have to step up and carry a bigger part of the load."

As for the other backs, Holtz said playing time would be based on who did the little things, mostly without the ball, the best.

The other early explosion Saturday came from senior safety J.J. Millbrook, who picked off a Rob Kass pass intended for tight end J.R. Kraemer on his own 8-yard line, spun up field and dashed 92 yards behind great blocking for a touchdown.

It was one of the few flashes of brilliance in what was, at times, a grueling afternoon in a largely situational scrimmage.

"That was awesome. The whole defense pushed," Millbrook said of the play. "The defensive line and the linebackers pressured the quarterback, and I made the play. I was tired but I made the play and got into the end zone."

The offense - which was flagged for a costly 13 penalties - accounted for a pair of touchdowns later in the scrimmage.

First-team quarterback Patrick Pinkney zipped a pass over the middle to Williams, who picked the deflected pass out of the air and rumbled into the end zone for a 34-yard score. In the late minutes, T.J. Terrell reeled in his third catch of the day and leapt over the goal line for a 30-yard touchdown.

Scrimmage notes: The Pirates spent much of the day working through kicking sequences, featuring both junior Matt Dodge and redshirt Ben Ryan. Both connected on field goals from 25 yards, then Dodge had a 42-yarder blocked and another tipped before Ryan connected from the same distance. Dodge later stroked one from 50 yards. True freshman Leonard Paulk teamed with redshirt Michael Bowman on punt returns behind starter Dwayne Harris. Kickoff return tandems included Williams and corner Jerek Hewett, Whitley and Harris, Whitley and Rogers and Harris and Rogers. The top defensive unit had one surprise, as redshirt cornerback Emmanuel Davis spent the day as a starter ahead of Hewett and across from sophomore Darryl Reynolds. True freshman defensive lineman Robert Jones spent time with the second team and was also credited with a field goal block. At linebacker, the Pirates started senior Pierre Bell in the middle, senior Quentin Cotton on the left and junior Jeremy Chambliss on the right. Junior receiver Alex Taylor spent most of the day as the No. 3 receiver on the top unit, joined by starters Harris and junior Jamar Bryant. In four-receiver packages, they were joined by senior T.J. Lee, who made a 46-yard reception, one of four grabs. Redshirt linebacker Matt Thompson was credited with a sack. Pinkney spent much of his day trying to find junior Reyn Willis, but had more success finding senior tight end Davon Drew, who also had four catches.Fullback/tight end Kevin Gidrey made his presence felt, making a handful of catches on the right sideline and delivering some crunching hits with the ball.

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Nathan Summers can be reached at nsummers@coxnc.com, or at (252)329-9595. Once a Pirate, Always a Pirate! Deryck & The Wilson Group - Team East Carolina extremely support the ECU Pirates - for local information, real estate and everything ECU - visit www.1SearchMLS.com!

The Pitt County Bookmobile parked outside the Spring Arbor nursing home
on Arlington Boulevard on Wednesday afternoon.

Sitting above Arlington Boulevard traffic Wednesday afternoon, Pete Hickey twirls the 17-inch steering wheel, turning right into the parking lot of Sterling House Assisted Living. It's 1 p.m.

"Here comes Carl," Hickey said to his assistant Katie Hall. Despite temperatures in the mid-90s, Carl Bateman, 82, was waiting outside and he soon entered the coolness of Sheppard Memorial Library's bookmobile.

"I've found some Hemingway for you," calls out Hickey.

In a time when the Internet and television provide near instantaneous information, thousands of people in Pitt County and across the world, like Carl Bateman, await a visit from the bookmobile.

Bookmobiles, or mobile libraries, were founded decades before the invention of the automobile. In the United States, libraries sent staff out in carts to ensure everyone had access to books. Bookmobiles arrived late in North Carolina. By 1940, only 12 counties used them, according to a 2006 publication of the North Carolina Library Association.

And contrary to what you may think, their popularity is still on the rise - at least in Pitt County.

Sheppard Memorial Library's 2007-08 annual report shows bookmobile circulation grew 16 percent last year, with a circulation of 18,978. That tops circulation at the library's Bethel and Carver branches.

"Use is growing because of our continuous attempts to identify productive stops and adjust the schedule to make sure the bookmobile is getting maximum use possible," said Willie Nelms, library director. "It also is increasing as we have added more new books on the bookmobile and with Pete Hickey's attentive approach to filling requests for patrons and getting books that people want to read."

Hickey, the bookmobile library assistant, operates the bookmobile on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

Before starting his route, he peruses titles in the main library to fulfill patron requests or find titles he thinks regulars will enjoy. He even keeps reading lists for his prolific readers, ensuring that he doesn't pick books they've already read.

"Picking out the books is really rewarding - seeing if I can fill their needs," he said.

Bateman, who is legally blind, wanted audio books of Ernest Hemingway's works. Hickey found three, and tucked them into one of two plastic milk crates he uses to store special requests. Knowing Bateman also enjoys mystery and suspense novels, he added "The Maltese Falcon" and "Raising the Hunley" to the stash.

Bateman started using the bookmobile 10 years ago when he lived in Rocky Mount.

"When I had my eyesight, I read a lot of Reader's Digest, National Geographic," he said. There are few things as enjoyable as reading - or listening to - a good book, he said.

"You fantasize with them, they take you places you've never been, and, with a good writer, you can actually see what they are writing about," Bateman said.

Finishing at Sterling House, Hickey maneuvers the 30-foot-long bookmobile several hundred yards down Arlington Boulevard and pulls into Spring Arbor, another assisted living facility. Resident Beth Joyner is waiting.

"I watch for it, because I know he's prompt and is here at 1:30," she said.

Hickey steps outside to collect Joyner's bag of books. There were a few she hadn't finished, and they discuss their merits to see if Joyner wants to check them out again. She carefully walks up the steps so she doesn't aggravate a recent knee injury.

Inside, Hickey pulls two books from the recent arrivals shelf, one detailing air travel on the day of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the other about the disappearance of the world's bee colonies.

Hickey knows Joyner likes intrigue.

"I had you in mind when they came in today," he said. Joyner takes them.

"When I was a little girl and went to the library in elementary school, it was a new world to me," Joyner, 61, said. Her love of books continued and she passed it on to her children. She shares how her daughter now takes her own child to story hour, something Joyner always did.

A newcomer to Greenville, Joyner knows few people in the city and cannot drive, making trips to the main library nearly impossible. "What's better than having books come to you," Joyner said. She said she'll call Hickey on Tuesday and request certain titles, knowing they'll be ready for her when he makes his monthly stop.

Hickey met new activities directors for two local assisted living facilities Wednesday. Sterling House and Carolina House.

At Sterling House, this month's activities theme is blues music, so Hickey brought along CDs by B.B. King, Chuck Berry and others besides several books about the blues.

Hickey said he liked the idea so much he prepared similar rock and roll collections for two other local assisted living facilities.

While Hickey helps patrons, Hall, his assistant, checks in returned books and organizes the shelves. She's worked at East Carolina University's Joyner Library, and, when she isn't in the bookmobile, she works the circulation desk at Sheppard's main branch.

"This is much more fun," Hall said. "I like going places." She said she appreciates the gratitude bookmobile patrons show.

The bookmobile makes 60 stops during a three-week rotation period. Most are in Greenville, but Hickey's route goes to Pitt County's far-flung corners: west to Fountain and east to Grimesland, northwest to Porter Road and southeast to Gardnerville and Calico.

It costs about $50,000 a year to operate the bookmobile. The library expects to spend $3,700 on fuel this year, Nelms said, 25 percent more than the previous year.

When Hickey filled the bookmobile's fuel tank last week it cost $165.

"I went to Willie with expense concerns," Hickey said. He recommended cutting out a few of the more far-flung stops. Nelms told him it wasn't necessary.

"Everyone understands the cost of gas is going up, and it's an expense that can be explained," Hickey said.

Wednesday's first stop was a day camp at ViQuest Center on Statonsburg Road. More than two dozen youngsters ages 5-13 took turns crowding into the vehicle's 90-inch-wide aisle with their yellow library cards in hand.

"I want a book on snakes," said Ben, one of the younger boys. A camp mate asks for dinosaurs.

Friends Abigail, 7, and Victoria, 8, each clutch two books. Abigail's family goes to the library every Monday, but she loves bookmobile visits.

"There's more fun books than in the library," she said. - Ginger Livingston, Daily Reflector

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To Support the local Bookmobile, please call Sheppard Memorail Library @ 252-329-4580. For information about community news, education, economics and everything real estate, please visit www.1SearchMLS.com .