Saylor wins essay contest

Matt Saylor, a student at Graham A. Barden Elementary School, won the Havelock 50th anniversary essay contest.

For winning, he earned a pizza party for his classmates and will receive a $100 savings bond. Major Jimmy Sanders as well as Dave Smith and A.D. Brady were on hand Friday for the pizza party at the school. Saylor's essay is below.

This year, Havelock turns 50. Wow, that's pretty old. That's half a century old.

Havelock doesn't look that old to me. I mean, we just got a new Wal-Mart.

You know what I like the most about Havelock? It's easy to have fun here. Trust me. I know what I'm talking about. My buddies and I spend our time out of school doing neat things around town.

One thing we like to do is ride our bikes around the neighborhood. In school, I learned that some can't ride bikes to their friends' houses because they live in a place with a lot of crime and mean people. I'm happy Havelock isn't like that. I like how everyone knows everyone and taking a walk in the afternoon with my best friend isn't dangerous.

In school and Boy Scouts, I've toured the police station and fire department so much that I almost know the officers by all their names. You know, Havelock has some good fishing places, too. Once in Slocum Creek last summer, I caught a 20-inch puppy drum. If you go beside the Hampton Inn, that's a good place to feed turtles, but watch out: Some of those turtles get pretty big.

My favorite birthday of all time was at the city park where the big Harrier jet is with all the American flags. That park is so awesome. It has a wooden plane that you can go inside and play around in. We pretend we are pilots.

I spend my summers on the baseball field at the Havelock athletic complex. Those are my favorite fields in the world where I scored home runs for my team and learned how to play baseball with my awesome coaches and teammates. I love that place.

Another neat place is the Havelock Tourist Center. My dad and I go in there sometimes to look at the planes and other models. Did you know they have pilot seats from an actual jet that you can sit in? It's awesome.

My mom and I went once to the old Trader store on Miller Boulevard. It has a giant Coca-Cola sign outside of it with old gas pumps like that had in the old days. Inside, they got some pretty neat stuff to look at like old photographs of the Havelock railroad depot, which helped with building the Marine base here called Cherry Point. It's a cool place to check out.

But my absolute favorite thing to do in Havelock is ride my bike with my friends in the Croatan forest, which is all around Havelock. We find interesting bugs and jump logs and maybe play in a puddle or two.

See, that's why Havelock suits me, because I can be a kid here and feel safe, but I still have to wear my bike helmet. That's why I hate when people say there's nothing to do in Havelock. There's plenty to do in Havelock. Just ask a 10-year-old.