Billiards Parlor Racked Up for I-95 Entertainment Complex

Roanoke Rapids, N.C. — As the Carolina Crossroads entertainment complex gets ready to open, project organizers unveiled plans Thursday for a billiards center on the site.

Jeannette Lee, known to fans and members of the Women's Professional Billards Association as "The Black Widow," said she and her investment partners would open the first Black Widow Billards Center at the growing entertainment complex off Interstate 95 in Halifax County.

"What they say is (the complex) is a place where music meets fun. I'm the fun," Lee said with a laugh.

The 31,000-square-foot billiards center will feature 20 pool tables, a restaurant and a conference center. It is expected to open next year and could lead to a chain of such centers, Lee said.

"This will be my baby. This is where I'm really going to invest the time and get to know the community," she said.

Country music singer Randy Parton, the driving force behind Carolina Crossroads, said the billiards center and a planned water park are the types of developments the project needs to succeed.

"That's what we need. This is going to be a destination," Parton said.

Parton said he plans to open his own Randy Parton Theatre at the complex in July. Area officials, who financed the construction of the music theater with $22 million in bonds that they hope to pay off with tax revenue generated by the project, handed the key to the building over to Parton Thursday.

"It's wonderful. I think it turned out beautiful. We're very, very excited," he said.