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Troy's Perspective: Data centers could be good for community

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Tuesday, 07 April 2026

Written by Troy Williams

Cumberland County and Fayetteville often overlook valuable economic and growth opportunities, leaving residents feeling disconnected from the region's potential for development and prosperity. Identifying community leaders and stakeholders who can champion these ideas can make residents feel valued and motivated to contribute to shared progress and inclusion. Change is a natural part of life, and when we overlook opportunities, they can be challenging to reclaim. Embrace the moment and act before it's too late.
Data centers are increasingly seen as a key opportunity for innovation and economic growth in Cumberland County. Highlighting their key features can help community members see the benefits and foster pride among political and business sectors. However, understanding the investment requirements and potential risks involved can help stakeholders make informed decisions and support sustainable growth initiatives.
Environmental risks are the primary concern for those opposing data centers in our community. Recognizing established environmental issues can help underscore the significance of sustainable development. We can also highlight how data centers are implementing eco-friendly practices, such as renewable energy use and water conservation, to reassure residents and promote responsible growth.
Are there any economic initiatives we can implement in our community that are completely risk-free? The answer is likely no. This response is not intended to undermine the valid concerns expressed by individuals who have legitimate opinions about the potential downsides of introducing data center technology to our community.
We are living in the 21st century, and reverting to only using landline telephones while avoiding AI technology is not a solution-oriented approach in this global economy. The options are like a classic animated showdown: The Flintstones against The Jetsons. Which timeless tale will we choose to embrace?
There is no need to overemphasize past mistakes. However, Fayetteville and Cumberland County have historically missed opportunities, leaving residents frustrated or resigned. Now, we face a familiar crossroads again. By ensuring everyone who needs to be at the table is included, we can foster hope and motivate proactive participation to shape a better future.
Individuals over 70 years old, the baby boomers, are the most politically active group and are leading the opposition to data centers. This observation is more anecdotal than scientific, as it is based on responses from people who have completed surveys so far. The upside is that they are aware of community change; however, some seniors tend to downplay the importance of technology and are averse to using unfamiliar devices.
We need greater involvement from citizens in their 20s, 30s, and 40s in community decision-making, as these age groups are more likely to be affected by these decisions than the older generation, who tend to have a shorter lifespan.
For the record, I am also one of those baby boomers in my seventies. However, I understand that we live in a world that is constantly changing. If the community I love—Fayetteville and Cumberland County—wants to keep pace with the global landscape, we must embrace unfamiliar changes. This could include the introduction of data centers.

Publisher's Pen: Keeping Fayetteville powered: The quiet excellence of PWC

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Tuesday, 31 March 2026

Written by Bill Bowman

In an era when utility costs across the nation seem to rise faster than household incomes, it’s easy for frustration to overshadow facts. But every once in a while, it’s worth pausing to recognize the people who work tirelessly behind the scenes to keep our community running — and to keep our rates among the lowest in North Carolina.
That’s exactly what the Fayetteville Public Works Commission has done, and continues to do, for the residents of Fayetteville and Cumberland County.
In a meeting in late February, PWC held a public hearing and adopted a two year electric rate adjustment. No utility enjoys raising rates, and PWC is no exception. But the truth is simple: the cost of providing safe, reliable electric service has risen sharply, and PWC has absorbed those increases for as long as possible. Now, to keep pace with unavoidable expenses, modest adjustments are necessary.
And here’s the part too often overlooked — PWC has done an extraordinary job protecting its customers from the worst of national price increases.
A Local Success Story
According to J.D. Power, average utility prices nationwide have surged 34% since 2020. That’s the reality facing families from coast to coast. However, PWC has kept electric rate increases to just 16.5% over the same period — less than half the national average. That didn’t happen by accident. It happened because PWC’s leadership, engineers, lineworkers, accountants, and support staff have spent years cutting costs, tightening budgets, and finding efficiencies long before asking local Fayetteville/Cumberland County customers to pay a penny more. Over the last four years, PWC has reduced operations and maintenance costs by an average of $15.8 million per year, and deferred or reclassified another $7.6 million annually in capital projects. That is responsible stewardship.
The Real Costs PWC Must Address
Even with these savings, some increases cannot be avoided:
• Duke Energy rate increases
• Debt service for capital improvements
• Rising electrical system and operating expenses
These are not optional costs. This is the price of keeping the lights on, our water clean, and the wastewater system safe — 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Still Among the Lowest Rates in North Carolina
The average residential customer will see about an $8 a month increase, and even with these unavoidable adjustments, most PWC residential customers will be less than the state average and less than every other electric provider serving Cumberland County.
Without a doubt, rates matter, but so does reliability, and our PWC ranks among the best in the entire state. Google it! Fewer outages. Faster response times. Better infrastructure. That’s the result of decades of disciplined investment and a workforce committed to excellence.
When storms hit, when temperatures spike, when the grid is strained, PWC’s crews are out there — often before dawn, often in dangerous conditions — making sure our community stays powered and protected.
Unlike other towns and cities, our rate adjustments were not made in a back room or rushed through without scrutiny. This is another way PWC reflects commitment to the trust of the people it serves.
This editorial was chosen and needed because it’s important to give credit where credit is due. Many communities feel powerless against rising utility costs. Here in Fayetteville and Cumberland County, we have something very special: a public utility that works relentlessly to keep rates low, reliability high, and service dependable.
PWC’s board, management, staff, and employees deserve recognition for their hard work and discipline, foresight, and dedication. They have done what many utilities across the country have not done. They have protected their customers from the worst of national inflation while continuing to deliver exceptional service.
That’s not just good management. That’s good stewardship. And it’s one more reason Fayetteville remains a strong, resilient, and forward looking community.
Thank you for reading Up & Coming Weekly.

Facts must come before explanations

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Tuesday, 07 April 2026

Written by John Hood

Who is to blame for North Carolina losing its industrial base over the past two decades? Misguided federal lawmakers who passed free-trade agreements? Foolish state policymakers who refused to invest in new infrastructure? Overzealous local regulators?
I’ve heard each of these explanations before. Perhaps you have, too. But none constitutes a valid explanation for North Carolina’s shrinking industrial base — because, contrary to popular belief, our industrial base hasn’t been shrinking!
In the latest year for which all the data are available, 2024, facilities in North Carolina produced nearly $104 billion worth of manufactured goods. Adjusted for inflation, our manufacturing output in 2004 was about $100 billion. If we broaden the scope to goods-producing industries — including not just manufacturing but agriculture, forestry, mining, and other resource extraction — North Carolina’s output in 2024 was $154 billion, up from $144 billion in 2004.
Of course, the state’s overall economy grew by far more than 7% during the period. Manufacturing made up 12% of North Carolina’s GDP in 2024, down from 21% in 2004. Goods production was 18%, down from 27%. When people claim we have “deindustrialized,” these are the statistics they cite, along with the undeniable truth that a smaller share of North Carolinians work in manufacturing and other goods production today than was true for past generations.
While these statistics are valid, the gloom-and-doom conclusions drawn from them are invalid. That manufacturers produce as much or more annual output with fewer workers indicates productivity gains, not sectoral declines. Indeed, the investment in plants, machines, hardware, software, and robotics required to be competitive in 21st-century manufacturing is pretty much the opposite of deindustrialization!
And when health care, finance, recreation, entertainment, and other services grow more rapidly than good-producing sectors, that doesn’t mean the latter are shrinking, or inadequate to supply what consumers demand.
When the vast majority of North Carolinians worked in farming, the vast majority were, by today’s standards, grindingly poor. This was no coincidence. As new techniques and devices revolutionized agriculture, producing much more food and fiber with much fewer human and natural resources, workers shifted to higher-value labor, including manufacturing. The process has continued throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, with the shift from goods to services accompanied by a rising standard of living.
I know the deindustrialization myth won’t go away anytime soon. In part, it reflects a fundamental insight from classical economics: that people often form conclusions based on what they personally witness, fail to recognize the significance of things they don’t, and then resist attempts to convince them otherwise.
In our state, factory closures have been readily apparent. Most of the furniture plants that employed my grandfather and great-grandfathers in Caldwell and Burke counties no longer exist. Neither do many factories that once produced textiles, apparel, and tobacco products. Indeed, the output of North Carolina’s non-durable manufacturing sector did shrink by 17% from 2004 to 2024.
During the same time, however, the manufacture of durable goods shot up 48%. We currently produce machine tools, appliances, buses, tractors, trucks, trains, planes, engines, and much else. These plants aren’t necessarily in the same communities where prior generations produced towels, socks, or cigarettes.
“Between a good and a bad economist this constitutes the whole difference,” wrote the French analyst Frédéric Bastiat, in that “the one takes account only of the visible effect [while] the other takes account of both the effects which are seen and those which it is necessary to foresee.”
Some accept these realities but argue that such economic changes have ruined the prospects for young men. This claim is also invalid. Women have enjoyed larger income gains than men, but most of the latter also gained. Scott Winship, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, estimates that median pre-tax earnings of men aged 25 to 29 rose 24% from 1973 to 2024. Their median post-tax compensation rose 40%.
I’m all for making North Carolina more hospitable to investment and industry. But let’s stick to the facts.

Editor’s Note: John Hood is a John Locke Foundation board member. His books Mountain Folk, Forest Folk, and Water Folk combine epic fantasy with American history (FolkloreCycle.com).

Redeemed Pieces: Faith lessons in leftover scraps

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Tuesday, 24 March 2026

Written by Dan DeBruler

I recently added a new table to the WCLN studios. Nothing fancy. It’s made from rough, flawed walnut boards I picked up somewhere along the way. I left many of the imperfections untouched and finished it with raw steel hairpin legs—a quiet nod to my oldest son, an artist whose medium was metal before he passed not long ago. Seeing that table each day has caused me to think again about what craftsmanship really means to me.
Like a lot of people I know, life stays busy. My calendar would be packed with every kind of gathering if I let it. I’ve even learned not to act too surprised when I’m reminded of a birthday, anniversary, recital, or event I should have remembered—that’s become something of an art form. And as much as my wife and I can, we show up. But I’ve also learned the value of stepping away.
For me, retreat doesn’t usually mean the beach or the North Carolina mountains. More often, it’s a short walk to the workshop behind our house, with the dog tagging along.
In that quiet space, away from the noise of daily life, I make things. Sometimes it’s silent except for my thoughts; other times I turn the music up just to quiet them down. I work with different materials, but wood is my favorite. Most of what I use would be considered scraps—leftovers from other places that saw no value in them. Exotic hardwoods, common lumber, small pieces others discard. To them, it’s waste. To me, it’s treasure.
Woodworking has become more than a hobby—it’s a reflection of the life I’ve been given. I’ll take on a project now and then, but I rarely sell what I make. Selling changes something. This, for me, is about recognizing the beauty and usefulness in each piece—no matter the size—and beginning the careful work of preserving it, preparing it, and giving it a new purpose. In a word, it’s redemption.
Without the grace and redemption I found in Jesus Christ, my life would be nothing. There was a time I might have been considered a castoff, but when Jesus found me, He saw something worth shaping. Since 1981, He’s been doing just that—preserving, refining, repurposing. And even in seasons when I feel like I have little to offer, He reminds me there is still purpose. Not just for me—for every life.
It’s hard to put all of that into words when I hand someone a simple piece made from reclaimed wood. But to me, it’s never just an object. It represents time, attention, and care. Every piece carries its flaws. Every piece is one of a kind. Just like you.