Roanoke Rapids to Remove Randy Parton's Name From Theater

Roanoke Rapids, N.C. — The Randy Parton Theatre is just a memory – not the building, but the name. The Roanoke Rapids City Council voted Tuesday night to change the theater's name to the Roanoke Rapids Theatre.

City leaders have banned Parton from performing at the theater and have taken down photographs of the performer. Theater management replaced Parton's photos with images of his band, Jerusalem Ridge.

“I think that will be a positive thing for the theater,” said Jim Garrett, a long-time critic of the city's contract with Parton.

“Well, I guess we just got thrown out of the place. What do you think?” Parton said.

The night of Dec. 6, the city asked Parton to leave the theater. The mayor said he was under the influence of alcohol.

“We had to move quickly and be fluid to change the direction of the theater,” said Jim Craig, an official with UGL Unicco, the company the city hired to manage the theater after it relieved Parton of that duty.

The theater has moved on without Parton. Parton's star, where he performed on-stage, is gone.

The band is working on a new show that should be ready by February. The theater also plans to host local talent competitions and has more than a dozen new acts booked through May.

Legally, the city still has a contract with Parton and is negotiating with his attorney to cut those ties.

The new theater managers said they will continue to move forward, booking performers, no matter what the name of the theater is.

When WRAL spoke with Parton in December, he maintained he had fulfilled all his agreements with the city.

The city borrowed $21.5 million to build the 1,500-seat complex. Parton, brother of country music singer Dolly Parton, managed the theater, but it had trouble generating revenue.

Under the new management contract with Boston-based UGL Unicco, the city wiped clean a $475,000 debt Parton owed and took on $220,000 in unpaid theater expenses.

Parton's original contract called for him to be paid $1.5 million a year to perform at the theater, plus a car and a house.

Roanoke Rapids City Attorney Glynn Rollins also resigned Tuesday night. Rollins said he wants to focus more on his private practice.
The city hired Gilbert Chichester as his replacement.

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Latest Comments

Randy will probley end up owning the place.

richard2
January 9, 2008 4:06 p.m.

They didn't accept my new name nomination! I proposed "Hazzard Opry".

Justin T.
January 9, 2008 3:36 p.m.

That last line should read:

Or did they have one specific local resident in mind as LIGHTLY regarded?

Flip99
January 9, 2008 3:02 p.m.

Sad that Carolina Crossroads got off to such a rough start. I see through internet archives that the groundbreaking for the project was absolutely electric, with none other than country superstar Dolly Parton in attendance. Dolly and Randy joined 10,000 other spectators and dignitaries for the launch on a sunny day in November 2005.

A News & Observer story by staff writer JERRY ALLEGOOD (ALLEGOOD: like ALL, "everyone in", socialist theme) says: The Partons sang "God Bless America" and "The Star-Spangled Banner" and took turns at the microphone with the other performers for "I Saw the Light."

Was that “I Saw The LIGHT” a foreboding predictor of the LIGHT attendance the theater would see under Randy’s stewardship? Or some other manifestation of LIGHT related to being substandard or not up to snuff?

Were they slickly calling local civic leaders LIGHT for “selling the store” in Randy’s sweetheart deal? Or did they have one specific local resident in mind as LIGHTLY regarde

Flip99
January 9, 2008 3:01 p.m.

More on "menace of the state / U.S. Highway 64" theme:

STEPHANIE, 64 also matches the amount of RAM loaded into primitive home computers of the 1980s. The COMMODORE 64 is one example (lots of Jersey girls probably had one), but I owned an ATARI 800 XL, which also came with 64 kilobytes of RAM.

U.S. 158 winds West from Roanoke Rapids toward WARrenton, which begins WAR--like the "coming armed conflict" theme. Sadly, WARrenton more recently has been known as home to disgraced former congressman, Democrat FRANK Ballance. He succeeded EVA CLAYton (like Gabrielle UNION's 2003 film, "Deliver Us From EVA") and hails from “royal” WINDSOR in Bertie County.

Flip99
January 9, 2008 2:46 p.m.