Cook hanging up apron after 56 years of serving hot dogs

Posted 8:29PM on Monday 10th June 2002 ( 23 years ago )

COLUMBUS - After serving chili dogs at Dinglewood Pharmacy for 56 years, Lieutenant Stevens has finally hung up his ladle. Admirers came and went Sunday during a three-hour tribute to Stevens, a local celebrity of sorts for his signature ``scrambled dog'' chopped-up hot dogs covered in onions, cole slaw and chili. They asked for his autograph, posed for pictures and reminisced about the first time they tasted one of his specialties Jane Wiley was a customer for all of Stevens' years at the pharmacy. ``We've always hung out here,'' she said. ``There were other drug stores in the neighborhood, but they weren't sweet to us. This place has been a big part of our lives.'' She came back Sunday with her daughter, Cordy Arnold; together they started a ``Friends of Lieutenant'' retirement fund and assembled a scrapbook in which other longtime customers shared their memories. Arnold also brought a chili pot to the pharmacy for the event, but this one was filled with money. ``Oooooh, this is the kind of chili I like,'' Stevens said. ``It's been a wonderful 56 years.'' The Kinnett family attended the tribute as well. John Kinnett Sr. used to bring his sister-in-law and many of his grandchildren to Dinglewood on Saturdays, and about a dozen of them would scramble for seats around a table for four. Owner Terry Hurley eventually added a marble table that sat six, and it was reserved for the Kinnetts each Saturday. ``It would embarrass daddy,'' Katherine Kinnett Adams said. ``They would write reserved on a paper sack and daddy would hurry and hide it so folks wouldn't see it.'' Other customers shopped around for T-shirts honoring Stevens' career at Dinglewood. ``We've eaten so many (scrambled dogs) we need an extra large,'' Dexter Jordan said.

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