News

Show time for Parton Theatre

RALEIGH — Entertainer Randy Parton, brother of country superstar Dolly Parton, says he will give his first performance at the new Randy Parton Theatre at Roanoke Rapids on July 26. City and state officials have a lot on the line: They provided 100 percent financing for the startup business venture and signed off on an annual $1.5 million “artist fee” for Parton, 53. Carolina Journal has found no evidence that Parton invested any money in the project.

Don Carrington
News

Parton to Get $1.5 Million Per Year

RALEIGH — Roanoke Rapids will pay a $1.5 million per year “artist fee” to entertainer Randy Parton, brother of Dolly Parton, for managing a new theater bearing his name, according to a contract obtained by Carolina Journal. In addition, the city is required to provide Randy Parton an “acceptable” fully furnished home and an “acceptable” vehicle.

Don Carrington
News

Public Funds Key Private Projects

ROANOKE RAPIDS — Economic development officials in northeast North Carolina put a pretty face on the groundbreaking in mid-November of one of three projects planned around Roanoke Rapids. Dolly Parton was there. So was brother Randy. But the stark reality of the projects is that so far, taxpayers appear to be the only ones paying a pretty penny for the projects, and conflicts of interest abound.

Don Carrington
News

Parton Project Off to Shaky Start

RALEIGH — A legal opinion permitting state-funded economic developer Rick Watson to simultaneously work for Randy Parton's entertainment company, which he recruited for a Roanoke Rapids project, appears to be based on the faulty assumption that Parton's company would receive no funds from Watson's state-funded organizations.

Don Carrington

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Partnership Head Helps Himself

RALEIGH — A deal arranged by North Carolina's Northeast Partnership president Rick Watson to work with country musician Randy Parton is not the first case in which Watson has tried to become involved with a company that his public agency is trying to help. Watson, who leads many variations of the partnership, has in the past sought either a personal investment stake or other benefits from the businesses he has tried to help locate in northeastern North Carolina.

Paul Chesser
News

Conflicts Surround Auto Center

RALEIGH — Rep. Michael Wray, a Northampton County Democrat, has been a strong supporter of state funding for an automotive research center to be located on land in close proximity to a tract he owns in Northampton County. Access to the 610-acre tract under option by Northampton County for the proposed Advanced Vehicle Research Center would be via a road that goes through Wray’s tract. Wray and a partner bought the property in 2001, just prior to Lowe’s Home Improvement Company purchasing a nearby tract for a distribution center.

Don Carrington
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