As a school resource officer, James Mizelle said he understands the importance of young people having activities to keep busy and stay out of trouble.

He and business partner McKeith Myrick have decided to be a positive influence in this respect, reopening Hot Wheels Amusement Park at 2451 N. Wesleyan Blvd.

Closed for 10 years, the park will be re-opening with new arcade and video games, a prize ticket counter, go-karts, bumper boats and an inflatable bounce house.

The arcade already is open, and they hope to have everything else opened on June 8 after a state inspection of the go-karts.

“All the equipment is new,” Mizelle said, adding that this is just the beginning. “We’re going to be bringing in specialty rides, maybe virtual reality.”

Mizelle, a Rocky Mount police officer who also works as the school resource officer at Edwards Middle School, said he hopes the business venture will pay dividends in more than one way.

“The kids are not really having much to do around here,” he said.

Mizelle and Myrick have been friends for years. In their younger days, they used to travel to Raleigh to arcades and amusement parks.

After receiving his associate degree in computer engineering from Nash Community College, Myrick started up an arcade and vending machine business in which he splits the profits from his machines with the owners of the businesses.

This experience allows him to be able to repair most arcade games and buy used ones to fix them up to save money, he said.

He is also an aficionado of the arcade games.

“Basically, all my life I’ve been going to arcades,” he said. “Back when Tarrytown Mall had Starcade, I would go there. When Golden East (Crossing) had Tilt, I would go there.”

His appetite for the business was whet when he was 11 or 12 years old, he said.

He had befriended the manager of Starcade at Tarrytown Mall and was there on a day when he was emptying change from the machines.

“I said, ‘Man, this is pretty cool,’” Myrick said.

Over the years, Myrick has worked many disc jockey jobs, including one at Star City roller rink.

In that job, he said, he’s heard many young people complain that Rocky Mount is boring and needs more activities.

“So many people from this area drive to Raleigh to go to Adventure Landing or Frankie’s Fun Park,” Myrick said.

They have added 1,000 square feet to the building for rooms for birthday parties, office space and additional arcade games.

“We definitely have a lot of titles (of arcade games) that kids haven’t seen before, which is the key to it,” he said. “The bumper boats they had in the past, but they didn’t have squirters.”

Xbox and PlayStation has hurt revenues for arcade games, but there are certain games that do better than others, Myrick said.

“Everything is going to redemption now — games with tickets,” he said. “That is what kids love to play. That is where the money is in this business. The driving games still do well. But fighting and shooting games, unless you’ve got a real good one, it’s not going to do that well.”

The park will be open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. until closing Friday and Saturday, and noon to 10 p.m Sunday.

The closing hours on Friday and Saturday will be flexible and based on the crowd, Myrick said.

He said they don’t want to stay open after midnight when people who might have had too much to drink are out.

“We don’t want that type of environment,” he said. “We want this to be a family-oriented entertainment facility for everybody.”