His Outreach Worldwide Ministry will host a BBQ Fundraiser Saturday, Oct. 3, to support the construction of a school building in Tamu, Myanmar. The barbecue will be held at the ministry's "log cabin," located at 2770 Breezewood Ave., from 1-5 p.m., for takeout or a picnic on the grounds. The food will be priced at $10 per plate.

“We are praying we will have a huge turn out, we need at least $5,000 for the school, and it has to be finished by January,” said Lynne O’Quinn, president of H.O.W. “We are really needing this funding now and needing it quickly.”

The barbecue will benefit over 100 children in the Tamu area attending His Outreach Worldwide School, the only government-licensed English-teaching school in the area.

The event will offer great food by Hopkins Barbeque and great music on the patio by Currie Wayne Clayton Jr., O’Quinn said.

The ministry is excited to have the accomplished musician Currie Wayne, who has played with the rock band Molly Hatchet in the past and has won many musical championships.

O’Quinn said she believes the fundraiser will be a great event that will be outdoors, and a lot of people are looking forward to it, especially since the pandemic.

“We'd love for people to come that day, purchase tickets, enjoy the entertainment and just have a great day,” she said.

H.O.W., a Christian ministry, was founded in 2008 in Fayetteville by O’Quinn and supports several activities around the world, including providing funds, food, clothes and more. The faith-based organization is founded on prayer and God’s word.

“In a nutshell, God woke me up one morning and wrote a book through me sharing Jesus to children around the world,” O’Quinn said. “That one little book is what founded this worldwide
ministry.”

The barbecue is one of its many fundraising events, including an annual 5K, which was cancelled this year due to COVID-19 restrictions.

"We are praying for a great sunny, fall day and attendees are encouraged to bring their own chairs to comply with social distancing and have a picnic on the grounds," O'Quinn said.

“Bring your own chair, grab a plate of barbecue, sit here and have great entertainment and fellowship,” she added.

For more information about H.O.W. or the BBQ, visit http://hisoutreachworldwide.org/

Pictured: His Outreach Worldwide Ministry President Lynne O'Quinn entertains children at a H.O.W. project at a day camp in Brno, Czech Republic.

Sustainable Sandhills will host its second annual "Drive Electric" event Oct. 3 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Fayetteville Area Transportation and Local History Museum.

The event, which is a part of the National Drive Electric Week, will feature various opportunities for drivers to learn about electric vehicle options in the region.

“The goal is to provide awareness to the community about electric vehicles and the benefits they have — like improving air quality, reducing our dependence on foreign petroleum, and just showing people that ‘EV’ can be very fun to drive,” said Joenelle Kimbrough, executive director of Sustainable Sandhills.

There will be multiple Teslas available at the event for the public to test-drive. Visitors can sign up online for 15 minute test-drive slots and register at https://sustainablesandhills.org/driveelectric2020/.

If anyone owns an electric vehicle, they are welcome to bring it to the car show and talk to people about the experience of driving an electric vehicle and the value of its ownership, Kimbrough said.

The family-friendly event will see food trucks and activities for children like a "build your own car" craft and a book signing by local children’s book author Alison Paul Klakowicz, author of "Mommy’s Big Red Monster Truck."

The "Drive Electric" show will comply with COVID-19 health precautions. The cars will be wiped and sanitized between each user, there will be mostly touch-free activities and children will each get their own set of crayons.

“We would love to have you come out and learn about electric vehicles and benefits they offer our community — see how fun they are to drive,” Kimbrough said.

The event will host community partners involved with "EV" infrastructure, incluuding the Fayetteville Public Works Commission, The Fayetteville Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, and Central Electric Membership Corporation, which will inform the attendees on where to find chargers for their electric cars, and of new technologies regarding "EV" that are out on the horizon, she said.

All of these organizations have charging stations throughout the area or they have electric vehicles in their fleets.

Kimbrough said the two-fold motivation behind the event was that Sustainable Sandhills is the “air quality program manager” for the region and the second being the national drive electric week.

“Electric vehicles are important to air quality because they don't use gasoline; they help cut out on emissions which can help improve the area's air quality,” she said.

Based in Fayetteville, Sustainable Sandhills started about 15 years ago with the mission of creating resilient environmental, economic and social resources. The organization has a nine-county reach, serving about 1 million people.

“Our goal is to connect with people and help them understand how natural resources affect their lives and vice versa,” Kimbrough said. “We just want people to understand that we need to be responsible with our resource use now in order to have what we need for the future generations.”

The Fayetteville Area Transportation and Local History Museum is located at 325 Franklin St. in downtown Fayetteville. For more information about Sustainable Sandhills and the event, visit https://sustainablesandhills.org

You’re probably aware this is an election year. During the next several weeks, the candidates will discuss issues that should greatly interest you as a citizen. But as an investor, how concerned should you be with the results of the presidential and congressional elections?

Maybe not as much as you might think. At different times, the financial markets have performed well and poorly under different administrations and when different parties have controlled Congress. And after all the votes are counted, outcomes in the investment markets can be unpredictable.

Consequently, you’ll be helping yourself greatly by not making big moves in your portfolio in anticipation of new legislation or political moves down the line.

Of course, that’s not to say that nothing emerging from Washington could ever have an impact on your investment decisions.

For example, if a future president and Congress decide to change the capital gains tax rate, it could affect some of your choices, such as which stocks and stock-based mutual funds you should buy, and how long you should hold them.

Overall, though, your investment results will ultimately depend on actions you can take, including these:

• Making changes for the right reasons — While the results of an election may not be a good reason to make changes in your investment portfolio, other factors can certainly lead you to take steps in this direction. For one thing, as you get closer to retirement, you may want to shift some — though certainly not all — of your investment dollars from more growth-oriented vehicles to more conservative ones.
Conversely, if you decide, well in advance, that you might want to retire earlier than you originally thought, you may need to invest more aggressively, being aware of the increased risk involved.

• Following a long-term strategy — In pretty much all walks of life, there are no shortcuts to success — and the same is true with investing. You need to follow a long-term strategy based on your goals, risk tolerance and time horizon, and you need the patience and perseverance to keep investing in all markets — up, down and sideways.

• Avoiding mistakes — Many people think of an investment mistake as failing to “get in on the ground floor” of some company that ultimately grew to huge proportions. But it’s pretty hard to become an early investor in companies like these, many of which start out as privately held businesses without any stockholders.

Furthermore, companies with shorter track records can be much more unpredictable investments. However, you do want to avoid some real mistakes, such as chasing “hot” stocks. By the time you hear about them, they may already be cooling off, and they might not even be appropriate for your needs. Another mistake: failing to diversify your portfolio. If you only own one type of asset, such as growth stocks, you could take a big hit during a market downturn. Spreading your dollars over a wide range of investments can help lower your risk exposure. However, diversification by itself can’t guarantee a profit or protect against all losses.

After Election Day, regardless of the outcome, you can help keep your portfolio on track by not playing politics with it.

What is more interesting than the debates between candidates for major political offices?

Of course, it is the debate about the debates.

Some friends, well-informed and experienced in political activities, say the importance of such debates is vastly overrated. For instance, one said the recent first debate between North Carolina U.S. Senate candidates Republican Thom Tillis and Democrat Cal Cunningham was meaningless because nobody was watching.

They reminded me about the 1992 U.S. Senate televised debate between Terry Sanford and Lauch Faircloth. Most viewers agreed that Sanford won the debate with sharp authoritative responses to questions while Faircloth fumbled. But Faircloth came out on top when it counted.

Republican campaign consultant Carter Wrenn strongly disagrees. He thinks debates are critically important. Undecided voters are the key to winning elections.

To win their votes, they have to see a difference between the candidates on an issue that is important to them or on a difference in the way they handle themselves under pressure.

Wrenn is a legendary expert on developing hard-hitting campaign materials such as the ones Jesse Helms used to defeat Jim Hunt in the 1984 U.S. Senate race.

In a recent radio interview with Wrenn, I agreed with him about the importance of televised debates. Citing the 1960 presidential debates between John Kennedy and Richard Nixon, I argued that demeanor of the candidates is a key factor.

Kennedy looked calm, cool, and collected, while Nixon was nervous, sweating, and fidgety.

A candidate who appears authoritative, courteous and nice has the edge, I said.

But Wrenn does not go along with my reasoning.

He says a debate is the place to take advantage of your opponent, to show the differences on matters important to potential supporters, to set traps and jump on the opponent who falls into one.

It is a battle, not a beauty contest, he said.

In their first debate, Tillis turned the tables on Cunningham and tried to trap him for saying that he would be hesitant taking a coronavirus vaccine if one were available by the end of the year.

Tillis called that irresponsible.

“We just heard a candidate for the U.S. Senate look into the camera and tell 10 million North Carolinians he would be hesitant to take a vaccine. I think that that’s irresponsible.”

In the next two debates Cunningham will have the opportunity to push back on the issue of irresponsibility of the Republican president’s campaign organizing coronavirus-spreading rallies in North Carolina.

These Cunningham-Tillis events are a warm-up for the presidential debates, beginning Tuesday, Sep. 29.

Wrenn took me back to his work in the Hunt-Helms race in which Helms overcame a 25% early lead by the popular Hunt. Wrenn remembers discovering inconsistencies in Hunt’s views on controversial issues. Then the campaign developed ads and debate themes in which Helms set out his positions on the then-current issues such as the Martin Luther King holiday, busing, school prayer and the Panama Canal "give away." Then Helms would ask, “Where do you stand, Jim?”

Wrenn said again that debates give candidates the opportunity to tell voters where they differ from their opponents.

Carter Wrenn and I do not agree on lots of things, but I think he wins the debate with my friends who say candidate debates do not matter.
Debates are gold mines and minefields for candidates and important for voters searching for candidates whose views and character are worthy of their support.

“I don’t consider myself to be a Black leader. I consider myself to be a leader in N.C. who just happens to be black.”

That’s how Republican candidate for lieutenant governor Mark Robinson introduced himself at a debate hosted by the N.C. Institute of Political Leadership and Spectrum News.

The two candidates running to become North Carolina’s first African-American lieutenant governor have dramatically different views on race, law enforcement, education, economic policy and the role of government.

The election pits Rep. Yvonne Lewis Holley, D-Wake, a liberal, against conservative gun-rights activist Robinson. Both stand to make history. Both are unapologetic about their views. Both highlight contrasting visions of race in America and what it means to be an American.

If Robinson wins in November, he will become the first Black Republican elected to any major statewide office since the 1800s. He describes himself as a successful businessman who grew up as the ninth of 10 children in a poor family.

Robinson says he doesn’t believe in systemic racism. For him, many problems afflicting Black communities result from lawlessness, and police are part of the solution. Defunding the police, he said, is “a ridiculous idea.”

“Systemic racism is not the problem,” Robinson said. “We have far too many communities that are ruled by lawlessness. We need to take a good long look at that, stop putting the police under the microscope, and start putting the criminals under the microscope.”

Holley disagreed.

“We need to start protecting people, as opposed to policing them,” Holley said. “We have other ways we can do things that are less restrictive and less bullying than going in all the time with a gun and the only resource is to arrest and physically restrain and harm people.”

But the two clashed at a more fundamental level. Holley sees a world riddled with “rampant” systemic racism. Robinson doesn’t. He eschews “so-called race relations.” Where Holley decries differences, he promotes similarities.

“Every day, someone reminds me that I’m Black,” Holley said. “We’ve come a long way. But what is happening now is systemic racism that has kept us from economic development, kept Black and brown people from safety on the streets. We’re in fear of our lives from just getting a traffic stop.”

But Robinson harks back to the idea of America as a melting pot — ditching the more modern metaphor of the American salad bowl, where distinct cultural and racial identities co-exist. When identified as a Black leader, he bristled.

“The best thing we can do for racial relations in this nation is stop calling ourselves by different races,” Robinson said. “We’re all one race, the human race, and one nation, America. We start calling ourselves human, American, and I think we’ll see a lot of those issues go away.”

Robinson flipped the normal dynamic of these debates.

While conservatives often find themselves defending the past, Robinson stood for the future. He aggressively reframed questions into optimistic quips. Fear became courage, the minimum wage became “maximum talent” — always with a heavy emphasis on progress.

“North Carolinians aren’t afraid. They’re courageous, and they’re ready to move on in this state under some real progress,” Robinson said. “They’re ready to get past these issues, ready to work through this [corona]virus, and ready to see violence in the street ended.”

Holley found herself holding up the burden of history. She was a child of the civil rights era, one of the first African-American students to desegregate Raleigh’s Enloe High School. She argues that she has the experience of the past and the will to create a better future.

That vision of a better future differs dramatically from Robinson’s.

Holley supports stricter gun-control laws, including red-flag laws tagging people thought to be possible threats, higher taxes on corporations, more taxpayer subsidies to the poor, and Medicaid expansion. She opposes the Opportunity Scholarship Program, though she praised charter schools as an alternative for parents. And she rejects any voter ID requirements.

The Holley-Robinson debate was the first of this election’s IOPL Hometown Debate Series. It took place Sept. 20 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. The series continues Oct. 4 with a labor commissioner debate featuring Democrat Jessica

Holmes and Republican state Rep. Josh Dobson. The final debate is scheduled for Oct. 11, with incumbent State Treasurer Dale Folwell, a Republican, facing his Democratic opponent Ronnie Chatterji.

None will have studio audiences, because of COVID-19 restrictions.

Publisher Bill Bowman yields his space this week to former Up & Coming Weekly contributor Karl Merritt. This article first appeared at www.karlmerrit.com.

I am watching with sadness, but with a higher level of hope, as the wheels of government churn to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. My sadness regarding the general state of our country is not new, but this higher level of hope for America is a rare experience for me in the context of the past few years.

I suppose my hope comes from the fact that Republicans in the Senate have apparently awakened to the truth of something former President Obama said to a group of them years ago.

In a meeting with Republican Congressional leaders during 2009, then President Barack Obama said to them, “Elections have consequences and at the end of the day, I won.”

This was a time when Democrats had a majority in the House and Senate.

Then came 2016 and a Supreme Court vacancy during the last year of Obama’s second and final term. Republicans held the majority in the Senate. President Obama nominated Merrick Garland. Mitch McConnell, Senate Majority Leader (Rep), said there would not be a vote on a nominee until the next president was in office. Democrats were outraged. Trump won the 2016 presidential election, nominated Neil Gorsuch, and he was confirmed by the Senate that still had a Republican majority.

Now comes the current vacancy and McConnell says when President Trump submits a nominee, there will be a vote prior to the 2021 inauguration. Democrats are outraged again because they say this is hypocrisy on the part of Republicans.

As of 25 September, it appears Republicans have the votes to confirm a person nominated by Trump.

Democrats are making all kinds of threats as to what they will do if this nomination goes forward. These threats are being made even though Trump has a constitutional right and responsibility to put forth a nominee. One threat is to impeach Trump again and, by so doing, slow the confirmation of a justice. Beyond that, they are threatening to, if they win the presidency, House and Senate, add seats to the Supreme Court (making it more political); ending the filibuster (requires 60 votes to stop debate on some issues) in the Senate; making the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico states because they are very heavily Democratic areas.

As I finish this post, several Democrats are backing away from some items in this threat package and moving to talking about how health care and some other issues, by Democratic priorities, would be adversely impacted by a Trump nominated justice.

In the face of these threats, I would expect Republicans to “roll-over” and do as the Democrats say.

Apparently, enough Senate Republicans recognize that elections have consequences and they won. Beyond that, they understand that if Trump loses and Biden gets to nominate the Ginsburg replacement, it will be a liberal who believes he or she gets to make laws according to their views rather than simply interpreting the Constitution and laws legitimately passed by legislative bodies.

Forthrightly examining the facts and adjusting course is not hypocrisy. In this case, that means looking at the destruction brought on America by liberal justices making laws instead of interpreting laws that have been, by proper procedure, put in place.

Be advised, there are at least two Republican senators who apparently do not understand this argument that says there are times when one must stand up and do what is right for the country. They are Republican Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine. These two senators hold that the next president should make the nomination. Under pressure from Democrats, I expected this kind of response from more Republican Senators. So far, surprise-surprise.

Here is a closing question: Who out there believes that if Democrats were faced with the opportunity to appoint a Supreme Court justice under the conditions now faced by Republicans, that Democrats would leave the selection to the next president?

Fayetteville Technical Community College has been chosen for a project aimed at better preparing early childhood education teachers to meet the needs of children in their communities.

The project focuses on helping instructors with associate degrees to be better prepared to assist young children, including those with diverse cultures, languages and abilities, and their families. It’s guided by the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and supported by a $750,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

Beginning next spring a team from FTCC will work with the FPG Child Development Institute to enhance the department’s courses to ensure they provide practical experiences, diversity and inclusion for all students. Instructor Karly Walker will lead FTCC’s team.

“We are overjoyed in being selected to participate,” said Dr. Rondell Bennett, chair of the Early Childhood Education Department at Fayetteville Tech. “This opportunity will further enhance what we are already doing.” FTCC is one of three North Carolina community colleges selected for participation in the employee development plan.

Is it safe to donate blood right now? Marcus Plescia, MD, MPH, chief medical officer of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, said not only is donating blood safe, it’s essential. “People are scared to go to the doctor’s office right now and I really think that’s an unfounded fear.” At most doctor’s offices, you sit out in your car until you’re texted and told you can come in, so nobody’s in the waiting room. “I would think that blood donation sites are in a position where they can adopt those exact same kinds of measures,” he added.

The Cape Fear Valley Blood Donor Center, in cooperation with Up & Coming Weekly and Carolina Specialties International, is conducting a mobile blood drive Sept. 30 from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. in Up & Coming Weekly’s rear parking lot at 208 Rowan Street. Donors will receive free COVID-19 antibody tests and gift bags. Residents who pre-register will be eligible to win a door prize.

The Cape Fear Valley Blood Donor Center is a community program that serves patients in Cumberland, Hoke, Harnett and Bladen Counties through donations made by individual donors, community organizations and businesses. Dianne Carter, Cape Fear Valley’s Mobile Recruitment Coordinator, said our area is critically low in blood supplies and has been for several months. Donations from local high school students stopped abruptly in March as the result of the coronavirus pandemic. Students have historically provided 40% of the blood donated in our area, Carter said.

To qualify as blood donors, individuals must be at least 16 years old with signed parental consent. Teens 17 years of age do not need that consent. Prospective donors must weigh at least 110 pounds and be in good health. Positive proof of identification is required. Be sure to eat a nutritious breakfast or lunch. Donors should be well hydrated in the days before and after a donation. Avoid caffeine. Wear comfortable clothing with sleeves that can be easily rolled up above the elbow.

According to the American Red Cross, every two seconds, someone in the U.S. needs blood. It is essential for surgeries, cancer treatments, chronic illnesses, and traumatic injuries. Whether a patient receives whole blood, red cells, platelets or plasma, this lifesaving care begins with one person making one donation. In our community the Cape Fear Valley Blood Donor Center receive and distributes blood units, not the Red Cross. All donations made here stay here. “It is very important for the people in our community to donate to maintain a safe, sufficient supply of blood to save lives locally,” Carter said. “It can literally mean life or death.”

The American Cancer Society says more than 1.8 million people nationwide are expected to have been diagnosed with cancer this year. Many of them require blood, sometimes daily, during chemotherapy treatment. “Roughly 38% of Americans are healthy enough to donate and the national average shows only 10% of them are donating,” Carter added. “In our community, only 2%... are donating at least once a year. We need the other 98% of the community to step up.”
Officials say this area requires 1,200 units of blood per month to meet the needs of Cape Fear Valley Health System patients. The blood type most often requested is type O. Under normal circumstances, “We struggle to collect 900 units of blood a month,” Carter said. But currently only 300-400 units are contributed on average. Carter told Up & Coming Weekly the health system purchases the rest of the blood from other blood banks, but donor centers across the nation are experiencing shortages.

On the day of donation, individuals will complete a brief health questionnaire. Some donor contributions may be temporarily delayed. Tattoos and body piercings received from licensed North Carolina parlors are acceptable, if the tattoos have healed. Tattoos and piercings received outside our state will result in a 12-month deferral. Having a cold or flu or recent surgery or being under a physician’s care will result in delay. Recent or current diagnosis of cancer could result in a delay. Pregnant women have to wait six weeks after delivery to donate.

Some people are permanently rejected: Anyone who has lived in Europe between 1980 and 1996 for periods totaling five years or more or specifically traveled to or lived in the United Kingdom for more than three months between 1980 and 1996 is ineligible. Members of the U.S. military or their dependents stationed six months or more between 1980 and 1990 in Belgium, Netherlands or Germany or six months or more between 1980 and 1996 in Spain, Italy, Portugal, Greece or Turkey will be denied.

Anyone with questions about eligibility, can call the Cape Fear Valley Blood Donor Center at 910-615-LIFE or visit www.savingliveslocally.org.

We are now on the threshold of another Civil War; one misfire, one wrong word, or a suspicious look can ignite a conflict. This is not the world I want my children or children's children to inherit. We have turned our backs on our integrity and humanity. Our Declaration of Independance recognized that the Creator gave us our liberty, but we have legislated it to the point that many want the document burned.

The Creator gave our Founding Fathers the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution to be this land's law. A few have used these documents to remove the Creator from our vocabulary. Removing the Creator from the foundation that America is built upon is now making her collapse. Today, we find our country divided like a torn-up photograph.

Our country is not moving towards a perfect union but destroying justice and hijacking domestic tranquility. Our justice system, which is supposed to be blind, is now making judgments based on the color of our skin and blurred by the colors of blue and red.

Our country is not providing a common defence, nor promoting the general welfare of the people. There is no safety or defence when thugs are allowed to kill, destroy and burn the blessings of liberty and the posterity that our brave military and people have fought for over the centuries.

Many leaders no longer lead by democracy but rule by the hegemony pack because they believe their ways are the best. All of this, while other Americans are quietly arming themselves, biting their tongues and clenching their fists readying for if the government cannot or will not govern.

Broken families, population issues, poor decisions, economic hardships, addictions and misguided road maps to success have confused our abilities to seek what is righteous and sound. We have let our feelings and emotions run our lives, and we mistake the feelings of happiness with satisfaction that joy brings.

Once the "right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances," is no longer "peaceful," or done by "petition," it violates the law, and we are wrong for allowing and condoning it, no matter the issue.

Mayors and governors have handcuffed law enforcement officers who have sworn to protect us and sworn to enforce the rule of law. Many leaders have ordered their police to step away and watch while criminals assault, kill, rob, destroy property, and loot businesses. Worse, our police officers, politicians and citizens have been beat, spit on, sued, cancelled and killed by mob rule.

When those in power and who serve in high places view the world by race, ethnicity or political affiliation, they no longer serve "We the People" because their actions show us that they are the racist, the prejudice and the partisan political puppets. These actions manifest themselves by evil hearts and self-serving people who are destroying our way of life.

We need strong leaders. We need heroes … not cowards. We need more of Sherriff Buford Pusser and less Officer Derek Chauvin.

America has not hit perfection. We continue to struggle with that part of the Declaration of Independence that states that "All men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator." Yes, America does get sideways at times, but our system lets us try to correct wrongs.

Our Constitution gave us the greatest gift of all humanity. The ability to use our minds. The mind provides us with the wisdom to provide for our physiological needs — safety, belonging, self-esteem and the ability to achieve self-actualization and to improve our lives according to our abilities.

Unlike wars of the past, there will be no uniforms because there is no one side, no leaders, no geographical boundary because there is no end goal. We are faced with those who believe that education is more important than an honest day's work. Those who think that they deserve something that they have not worked for. There are those who think that invisible cash is better than real money. Some believe that a counter-revolution demanding a free ride is nobler than buying goods and services at the counter of a store.

For this, we compromise our self-accomplishments, our abilities for what is right, fruitful and honorable. We compromise our prosperity for those not willing to earn theirs. Politicians deceive us by making us believe that a strong government is better than a strong person.

We allow our pop-culture media to tell us what we should think instead of thinking for ourselves. We compromise not for man's good but to destroy our self-worth as we blindfold our own eyes and handcuff our own mind.

I ask you what is the price of war? Violence, destruction, starvation and disease? The first Civil War took one million people.

World War I was ignited over the assassination of one man. Nine million combatants and 13 million civilians died.

Furthermore, World War I brought an additional 500 million people who died from the 1918 influenza pandemic. Worldwide, this was about one-third of the world's population.
World War II had approximately 85 million fatalities. Tens of millions of people died during the conflict due to genocides — including the Holocaust, starvation, massacres and disease.

In 1994, the president of Rwanda was assassinated, and unrest occurred. The United Nations pulled its peacekeepers out (the same as un-funding the police), and genocide followed, killing about 850,000 souls.

History has shown us that once the law is gone, the justice system fails, the economy collapses and the food supply chain is broken, war, both urban and countryside, will follow.

I do not want another war, another wasteland, another lost generation in my lifetime. I do not want us to repeat the horrors of our past. For those that do want war, who are you willing to sacrifice, bury and starve for these things?

I believe restoring order in our land is our fastest way to peace. The government at all levels must restore law and order because they are the only ones with the capacity and means to do so. Yes, people are wrongfully killed every day, and those who commit a criminal act should be brought to justice.

But we also have many more good people, good citizens, who are willing to help those less fortunate. But they do so because they want to help, not by force or wealth redistribution but because they find joy in doing so.

We must ensure that everyone has the right to "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." We must be reminded that happiness is a pursuit and not a right in itself. We should remember to respect one another as ourselves for harmony and peace of the land. It would be good for us to remember to practice mercy, forgiveness and love, which are the virtues we desperately need. However, we must remind ourselves that for those who cannot abide by the rules of the land, that justice must be served.

I pray that my children and my children's children never see a war on our homeland. I pray for a country abundant with beauty, opportunity and peace, for this is their inheritance.

With the national election only a few weeks away, many Americans feel antsy about the possible outcomes. Many of the people I have talked with represent a cross-section of Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians and Independents from all backgrounds, religions and ethnicities. They have one thing in common: they want a civilized and peaceful outcome that will provide the leadership that moves our nation forward.

Yes, there are significant issues under consideration with this election. The economy and the coronavirus pandemic being the two biggest concerns. Now, with the passing of the highly respected liberal Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the results of this election will have an even more significant impact on America.

With this being the case, I feel compelled to share a few thoughts with you about the hostile dialogue, riots and devastating destruction in over a dozen major cities. I believe that we need to be more sensitive to the needs and concerns of our minority populations. I also think we have a few bad cops and perhaps some questionable restraining and apprehension tactics that need to be reviewed and corrected. However, do I think we need to disband the police force and eliminate law and order? No. Should criminals go free without bail, a hearing, a fine or punishment? Of course not! Just the thought is nonsensical. What is the logic and where are the demands coming from? These are questions I can answer and debate with anyone.

I believe that the unrest and destruction plaguing America today have little to do with race, social injustice or debate about what lives matter the most. I believe demonstrators marching peacefully in the streets are exercising their Constitutional rights. However, peaceful protests are now being hijacked and infiltrated by paid hoodlums and mobsters whose only objectives are to disrupt, loot and destroy property and our American way of life. Antifa and Black Lives Matter are not about justice. They are political organizations that are all about disrupting our government, our American way of life, and turning our country into a Socialist, Marxist and Communist nation.

Socialism and the Communist Party have been active in the United States since the 1930s. We published the entire Communist Manifesto in the July 22 issue of Up & Coming Weekly and outlined in red their successful accomplishments to date. It is scary and should concern all freedom-loving Americans. This document was copied directly out of the U.S. Congressional Record. Need more proof that Marxist and Communist influences are in play? Read on.

Few people have heard of Manning Johnson (1908 – 1959). He was a unique, intelligent and influential Black man from New York who was successfully recruited by the American Communist Party at a very young age. His job as a communist community organizer was to convince Black Americans that white America would continue to suppress them and that their lives would be so much better under a Socialist/Marxist/Communist government. He was very good at his job, and rose fast through the ranks of the Communist Party until he held one of the highest positions on their National Committee. There he was trained to disrupt cities and towns, organize mobs, incite riots, attack police to include how to strategically and tactfully “throw a brick and hide.” Does all this sound familiar? It should.

Miraculously and mostly because of his Christian upbringing, Johnson had a revelation and realized the communist strategies, tactics and lies were not at all beneficial to Black Americans and only causing more hardship and suppression. He saw the deception and how the rejection of traditional American values and contempt of Christianity lowered the value of humanity and quality of life. This is when he turned government witness opposing Socialism and Communism.

Many people are not familiar with this American patriot who preceded Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Johnson loved America and loved his people and, like Dr. King, ultimately gave his life spreading the word, educating and warning Black Americans of the cruelty and diabolical strategies used by the angry liberal left in their attempt to hand over the U.S. to the Socialist and Communist Party. This was Johnson's mission and passion until his untimely death in 1959.

Johnson testified before Congress several times about the Communist plot to take over America. His testimony is a matter of record. His testimony and the threats to our democracy are as relevant today as they were then. After he left the Communist Party in 1940, he authored an amazing book titled “Color, Communism and Common Sense.” This book could have been written yesterday. He details his experiences with communist leaders and the liberal left conspiracy and the sordid tactics they use. Ending democracy and capitalism will never bring us peace and prosperity. No one can name even one country where socialism has been successful. Manning Johnson's 1953 government testimony is available:

https://unconstrainedanalytics.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Manning-Johnson-1953-HUAC-Testimony.pdf

I encourage everyone to read Manning Johnson’s book and listen to his Farewell Speech online. Remarkable! He was a great, great man. This book is extremely relevant and could have been written yesterday. Nothing happening in America today is new. Socialism and Communism are NOT a good thing for America, and in the end, the Constitution of the United States will endure. Americans will unite together regardless of religion, race, color or political affiliation. Together we will reject these un-American attempts to disrupt and dismantle our country. Thank you for reading Up & Coming Weekly.

North Carolina is a great state, and I enjoy working for the residents of Cumberland County as their District 45 representative.

We have much to be thankful for. Just this month we remembered and honored the brave citizens and first responders that lost their lives on September 11th. Let us never forget the everyday sacrifices made by our military men and women, local firefighters, EMS and law enforcement officers who dedicate themselves to protecting our lives and our freedoms so Americans we never have to live in fear, and forever continue the tradition of life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness.

To secure our freedoms, we must exercise our right to vote. There is still time for citizens to register and a number of ways to cast their ballot.

There are less than 30 days until one stop early voting begins. Early voting is available from Oct. 15-31. To find your nearest early voting site visit https://vt.ncsbe.gov/ossite/.

Many people choose early voting to avoid crowds, pick their polling location, or enjoy the convenience of registering and voting all at one stop.

Commonly known as “early voting,” one-stop absentee voting allows voters to register and then immediately vote, unlike on Election Day when voters must have already completed registration.

On Election Day registered voters can only vote at their specific precinct, but one-stop voting allows registered voters to vote at any one-stop absentee voting site in the county.

Voter resources including information on voting in the 2020 General Election can be found at https://www.ncsbe.gov/voting.

Other important dates to remember:
Voter registrations ends Oct. 9
The deadline for absentee ballots is Oct. 27
The General Election is Tuesday, Nov. 3.
I'll see you at the polls!

Representative John Szoka serves North Carolina House District 45 which encompasses Fort Bragg and much of southern Cumberland County including the Town of Hope Mills, parts of the City of Fayetteville and the Gray's Creek area. He is a retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. And has owned and several successful small businesses in Fayetteville. For more information about Rep. Szoka visit https://szokafornchouse.com/.

Pictured: Rep. John Szoka engaging a constituent.

Nicole Rivers, an English teacher at Gray's Creek High School, is Cumberland County Schools’ 2021 Teacher of the Year. From creative assignments to starting a poetry club, Rivers goes above and beyond to form authentic connections with her students.
“My job as an educator is not to just get what I deem as valuable information into the minds of my students,” Rivers wrote in her nomination portfolio, “but how to effectively and responsibly use their words to change the world around them.”

A 15-year veteran educator, Rivers graduated from Fayetteville State University. As the 2021 Teacher of the Year, she received a trophy and flowers from Cumberland County Schools, $300 from the Cumberland County Board of Education, $500 from Olde Fayetteville Insurance and Financial Services, $3,000 from Lafayette Ford-Lincoln — $2,000 for use at her school and $1,000 for her personal use — a commemorative custom Teacher of the Year ring from Jostens, an engraved desk clock from Herff Jones and a gift basket of edibles from Zazzy Treats.

Pictured: Nicole Rivers

They did.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect every aspect of our daily lives—who we see, where we go, what we do or do not wear, what activities feel safe to undertake.

For North Carolina families with school-age children, the upheaval and uncertainly is magnified many times over by concerns over education.

Initial virtual education efforts were well-intended but largely a mess, because schools were unprepared for the sudden shift.

Educators and families have mixed feelings about the current virtual and occasional on-site learning efforts as COVID continues, but the consensus appears to be that the fall is more organized and will be more effective than the spring.

Truth be told, though, our schools were in trouble long before COVID struck.

Education Week, a news and analysis organization covering K-12 education in the United States earlier this month ranked North Carolina 33rd out of 50 states, with a solid “C” for the quality of our educational efforts. This is despite the fact that our state Constitution guarantees that every child have access to a “quality” education.

What is more, Ed Week ranks North Carolina 44 of the 50 states in school funding, which translates into an embarrassing “F” for our funding efforts.

It has not always been this way, and it does not have to be now. North Carolina has traditionally been considered a leader in public education, particularly in the South, but over the last decade, we have squandered that reputation.

Since 2011, the General Assembly has systematically cut public education funding, shifted public education dollars to private schools, including private religious ones, and put a greater funding burden on counties. This shift has resulted in inequitable schools, with high-wealth counties like Wake and Mecklenburg spending far more per pupil, and low-wealth counties like Cumberland and most rural counties spending far less.

This funding inequity was the basis of the long-running Leandro lawsuit which went on for the better part of three decades and in which Cumberland County was a plaintiff. Courts finally ruled that, yes, school funding in North Carolina is unfair, but remedies remain elusive.

Layer COVID and virtual school on top of an already problematic public education system, and we have what one of my former neighbors, an educator herself, would call a “pluperfect mess.”

Even if you do not have school-age children, you likely know that schools are woefully short of nurses, counselors and other support personnel, that “frills” like art, music, and physical education are long gone from many schools. You have likely heard that we now expect our teachers to buy their own classroom supplies. The General Assembly actually considered a $500 stipend for this purpose.

The decline of public education over the last decade, crowned by the plague that is COVID, is an exacting lesson in “elections have consequences.” Our General Assembly has betrayed the people of North Carolina with its mean-spirited and stingy approach to education. Its short-sighted and tight-fisted decisions are hurting our state’s more than 1.5-million public school students and damaging our state’s economic potential well into the future.

As you ponder your votes for members of the North Carolina General Assembly this fall, look carefully at who and which political party moved us down to C, D, and F territory in public education and who and which party wants to lift us back up.

Vote accordingly.

Fayetteville’s largest health and wellness center is up and running again. New, temporary hours and safety precautions are in place at Cape Fear Valley’s HealthPlex off Skibo Road because of COVID-19. Hours of operation are 5 a.m.–8 p.m., Monday – Friday.

The pool closes at 7:30 p.m. Saturday hours are 7 a.m.–5 p.m. Sunday hours are 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Temperature checks are performed at the main entrance as members check-in. The rear entrance is closed. Members are required to wear face masks when not exercising, and physical social distancing is requested. Modified group fitness classes have resumed with limited capacity. Massage services have been suspended. Pool lanes provide for one swimmer at a time for a maximum of 45 minutes. Whirlpools and steam rooms are off-limits.

Learn more about new safety precautions at www.capefearvalley.com/healthplex/index.html.

Gunfire ripped through the air and explosions rattled the ground as then-U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Thomas Patrick Payne peered into a burning building where dozens of ISIS hostages were locked in cells in the northern Iraqi city of Hawija. He knew he had to act or the hostages would die. Payne entered the building, exposing himself to machine gun fire. He used bolt cutters to free the prisoners. For his actions in the Oct. 22, 2015, raid, which ended with the first American service member killed by ISIS since the U.S. return to Iraq in late 2014, now-Sgt. Major Payne, 36, was presented the Medal of Honor by President Trump. The award is an upgrade of the Distinguished Service Cross that Payne initially received in 2017.

He is “one of the bravest men anywhere in the world,” Trump told an audience in the East Room of the White House, which was filled with senior Pentagon officials and Payne’s family.

Master Sgt. Joshua Wheeler, who was killed by enemy fire during the raid, posthumously received the Silver Star for his actions that day. Payne received the Medal of Honor on the 19th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the primary event that convinced him to join the military, as thousands of other Americans did.

In 2007, Sgt. Major Payne joined the Army’s most elite unit in Special Operations at Fort Bragg. He has since served several deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq and in support of counterterrorism operations in Africa. Payne is now an instructor at Fort Bragg, having earned numerous valor awards for battlefield heroics. He is also a Purple Heart recipient.

“I still want to serve to this day,” Payne said. “We're still a nation at war, and I still want to serve my country.”

Pictured: President Donald Trump presents the Medal of Honor to Sgt. Maj.Thomas Payne.

The financial crisis of little more than a decade ago masked a technological revolution, and everyone shelled out small fortunes for smartphones. The scientific fantasy embodied in "Star Trek’s" tricorder had become everyday overnight.

Today, the revolution has been digital rather than technological. This time, the revolution is coming for your job and staging its coup in your home. And it’s happening faster than we originally predicted. Only a decade ago, we were still struggling with what to call the phenomenon of working while not being at work. Telecommuting? Teleworking? E-work? Flex work? Virtual work?

Eventually, what the job market collectively settled on calling “remote work” was something that 44% of global companies didn’t allow as recently as 2018. Contemporary predictions estimated that by 2020, around 50% of the United States workforce would clock their hours from home. An UpWork study from 2017 postulated that more people will work remotely than not by 2027.

Little did they then know that their predictions would be realized before the end of 2020’s Q1. According to a Gallup study, by midMarch, 49% of workers in the U.S. reported having worked from home in the past seven days. Mere weeks later in April, that statistic leapt to 63% — even while some states announced plans to reopen.

Shortly thereafter, several companies announced that they would be shifting most if not all of their workforces to remote or in-office/remote hybrid arrangements.

This means that if your role is a good candidate for remote and flexibly-scheduled work, then you’re potentially competing against 7.8 billion other people for the job. Potential employers will be sizing you up online well in advance of ever offering an interview. Here are three skills to become a digital-based, remote working master and maintain an attractive digital portrait:

Mastering Communication Channels
If nothing else, the sudden shift to remote work has illuminated how time-intensive, in-person meetings could be replaced by a well-written email. There are now means far beyond email for keeping up (Slack, Zoom, Google Meetings, Jira, even video games like Red Dead Redemption), not to mention calendar, content and project management platforms.

Knowing When to Switch Platforms
When it comes to the platforms, apps or software you use to do your work, one size rarely fits all. This became clear to me when my students and I had to make the shift from face-to-face classes to “online-only.” Blackboard served us very well for some remote-based learning but not for everything or everyone. In the end, we added several other digital platforms as satellite learning channels to Blackboard. We shifted to an environment where coursework could be completed as long as you had an internet connection. Our virtual classroom worked because we took stock of what needed to be learned and achieved and then asked what tools work best for achieving those goals.

Designing Your Digital Self to become Discoverable
Search engines favor accounts which publish frequently and regularly. Engagement via likes, shares and external links is also important. To appear in the first page of a search engine’s results involves an amalgam of algorithms, web crawlers, cross-linking, keywords and content.

Maintain your dominance by picking a topical lane (or two) and staying in it. Be consistent, use the same photo for each online account, find a reference guide for what types of content perform best, and make meaningful connections with others online.

Speaker of the House Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, says nearly 50 N.C. Democratic House lawmakers and candidates have backed a dangerous pledge to defund the police, but House Minority Leader Darren Jackson, D-Wake, says that’s a lie.

During a Monday, Sept. 14, news conference, Moore attacked Democrats for signing a pledge to accomplish a list of policy goals by 2030 as outlined by the left-leaning advocacy group Future Now. Joining Moore’s news conference were Rep. Carson Smith, R-Pender; Rep. John Faircloth, R-Guilford; and a handful of county sheriffs who shared Moore’s concerns for what they considered a radical agenda.

Future Now’s Pledge to Achieve America’s Goals includes promises to provide affordable health care, boost education spending and ensure equal opportunities for all. Dozens of N.C. House Democrats and Democratic candidates have signed the pledge since 2018.

While the pledge doesn’t explicitly call for defunding the police, such a proposal can be found under the subsection for “Equal Opportunities For All” on the America’s Goals website. Included is model legislation to create a commission to study taking money from police departments and giving them to other community programs like youth shelters.

“Right now, law enforcement officers across our nation are being targeted and attacked,” Moore said. “I consider signing this pledge a direct attack on North Carolina law enforcement too.”

Rep. Marcia Morey, D-Durham, told Carolina Journal that when she signed the Future Now pledge in 2018, defunding the police was not part of the stated goals. She told CJ the police proposals must have been added this year and she doesn’t support defunding law enforcement.

Carolina Journal sent an email to Jackson asking him if he would pledge his support today now that a proposal to defund the police is listed on the America’s Goals website. Jackson didn’t respond.

Instead, Jackson sent out a news release challenging Moore’s statements.

“Speaker Moore has given us another set of blatant lies. No, we didn’t pledge to defund the police but we did pledge to invest in quality Health Care and Education for all North Carolinians,” Jackson said.

If House Democrats don’t agree with the proposal to defund the police then they should come out and disavow Future Now, Moore said. They can also give back the money that Future Now gave them.

Future Now has given thousands to Democratic candidates in 2020, including incumbent Reps. Christy Clark, D-Mecklenburg; Sydney Batch, D-Wake; Joe Sam Queen, D-Haywood; and Ray Russell, D-Ashe.

While some House Democrats may have signed the pledge in 2018, Democratic candidates running in 2020 likely signed this year. Future Now has given money to challengers, too: House Democratic candidates Nicole Quick, Kimberly Hardy, Brian Farkas, Aimy Steele, Dan Besse, Frances Vinell Jackson, and Ricky Hurtado have received campaign donations from Future Now.

The America’s Goals pledge is not an endorsement of any specific bill, Future Now Executive Director Daniel Squadron said in a news release following Moore’s news conference.

Future Now funds America’s Goals, which on its website says it is a policy library with model legislation, 50 state report cards, and everything needed to turn a bill into a law.

The Cumberland County Board of Elections is in urgent need of voters who are registered as unaffiliated or Republican to work at precincts during the Nov. 3 General Election and the early voting period in October.

The General Assembly has allocated additional funding to the State Board of Elections to increase election day worker pay by $100, and precinct officials’ unemployment benefits will not be affected by the compensation received for working the polls during the 2020 General Election.

The Board of Elections will follow state guidelines to protect the health and safety of election workers and voters.

Social distancing measures and routine cleanings will be put into place and precinct workers will be provided appropriate personal protective equipment. Duties include setting up and breaking down voting enclosures, checking in voters, issuing ballots and assisting voters upon request.

Interested individuals must be registered voters in Cumberland County and available to attend required training.

You may check your registration status at https://vt.ncsbe.gov/RegLkup/. To register to vote, go to https://www.ncsbe.gov/Voters/Registering-to-Vote.

Precinct workers are compensated for attending training and for working during early voting and on Election Day. Interested registered voters can complete the online application by going to electionready.net.
State Employees Can Get Paid Leave to Help During Elections

The N.C. Office of State Human Resources announced on Sept. 10 that State employees may use up to 24 hours of Community Service Leave (CSL) to serve in roles needed by their County Board of Elections during Early Voting (Oct. 15-31) and on Election Day (Nov. 3). For additional information about using CSL to volunteer as a poll worker, please review the FAQs posted to the Office of State Human Resources website or contact your Agency Human Resources Office.

Absentee Ballot Requests
Absentee ballot requests must arrive at the Board of Elections office by 5 p.m. on Oct. 27. On Sept. 4, the Board of Elections mailed more than 14,800 absentee ballots to voters who had requested them.

To obtain an absentee ballot you must complete an Absentee Ballot Request Form, which can be printed at www.ncsbe.gov. If you have any questions or are unable to print an application, please call the Board of Elections Office at 910-678-7733 to receive one in the mail.

The State Board of Elections announced on Sept. 11 that North Carolina voters who vote by mail can now track the status of their absentee ballot with a new online service called BallotTrax. The service is available through links on the State Board of Elections’ website, NCSBE.gov.

For more information, go to co.cumberland.nc.us/election-board. The Board of Elections is located at 227 Fountainhead Lane. The office is now open to the public. You may call 910-678-7733 or email boardofelections@co.cumberland.nc.us Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. for assistance.

It’s that time of year again, where, if you work for a medium-to-large employer, you’ve got some decisions to make because it’s open enrollment time. Of course, depending on your situation, you may have been working remotely for a while, but, even so, you will likely have the opportunity to review your benefits package and make changes. And you’ll want to make the right moves because your choices can have a big financial impact on your life.

So, take a close look at these key areas of your benefits program:

Health insurance — Think about your health care needs over the coming year — will you or someone in your family be coping with a chronic illness or facing a surgery? Will you need to at least consider testing and possible treatment for COVID-19? In any case, make sure you’re choosing the right plan for your needs. And pay close attention to any changes in your health insurance, such as whether the plan’s provider networks have changed — you may want to make sure your own doctor is still in-network. Also, check to see if you can reduce your health care premiums by taking part in a wellness program or health-risk assessment.

Life insurance — Your employer may offer a group life insurance policy for free, or for a small amount. It’s probably worth your while to take this coverage, but it may not be enough for your needs. If you only had this group policy, but your family situation has recently changed through marriage or the addition of a new child, you may well need to add some private insurance.

Disability insurance — In addition to offering group life insurance, your employer may provide short-term disability insurance. Like group insurance, this disability coverage may not cost you anything, but it may not be adequate — typically, short-term disability only replaces part of your income for three to six months. And while you may never need to miss work for an extended period of time, you never can tell — after all, more than one in four 20-year-olds will become disabled before they retire, according to the U.S. Social Security Administration. You may want to consider purchasing your own long-term disability policy on top of the coverage offered by your employer.

Retirement plan — You can probably make changes to your 401(k) or similar employer-sponsored retirement plan at any time, but why not look at it now, when you’re reviewing all your benefits? If you can afford to increase your contributions, you probably should, because a 401(k), with its tax advantages and ease of contribution through paycheck deductions, is a great way to save for retirement. At a minimum, put in enough to earn your employer’s match. You’ll also want to review your 401(k)’s investment mix. Is it still providing you with significant growth potential within the context of your individual risk tolerance? You may need to make some adjustments, either because an investment is underperforming or because you’re getting close to retirement and you need to reduce your risk exposure. In any case, it’s a good idea to check up on your 401(k)’s investments at least once a year.

Your employee benefits are an important part of your overall financial picture — so do what you can to get the most from them.

Do you believe in Corn Dogs in a young tree’s heart? Apologies to the Lovin’ Spoonful. The world is full of wonders if you know where to look. Many wise men have said this better. Yogi Berra said: “You can observe a lot by just watching.” The 18th Century English poet William Blake wrote, “To see the world in a grain of sand/And a Heaven in a wild flower; Hold infinity in the palm of your hand/And Eternity in an hour." The baseball player Satchel Paige opined: “Don’t look back. Something might be gaining on you.” Today’s stain on world literature will ponder what you can see if you stop watching Netflix to pay attention to the wide world around us.

A friend of mine who shall remain nameless (John Bantsolas) sent me a picture of a Corn Dog in a tree. Someone had sent the picture to him. John’s friend did not know how the Corn Dog got into the tree but he realized it was something special. He immortalized it with his handy smart phone. And now you, Gentle Reader, will also get to marvel at the spectacle of a Corn Dog sitting in a tree.

The Corn Dog in the tree raises more questions than it reveals answers. How did the Corn Dog get there in the first place? Can Corn Dogs climb trees? Did someone put it there? If so, why didn’t he finish eating it? Had the Corn Dog escaped from a county fair and run away to the country to socially distance from other Corn Dogs who might have The Rona? How long will the Corn Dog remain in the tree? Do the semi-eaten remains of a Corn Dog prove there some things that even Turkey Vultures won’t eat? Will it be there until the end of time? Had the Corn Dog been placed there by Ozymandias, the King of Kings of the desert? Did Ozzie put the Corn Dog in the tree and recite the words of Percy Shelley’s poem chanting: “Look on my Works, (My magnificent Corn Dog), ye Mighty and despair!” Did Ozzie think the Corn Dog would be an eternal monument to his greatness? Who knows? But we shall try to puzzle out why the Corn Dog was in the tree and what it may mean to we poor inhabitants of the ugly year 2020.

First a bit of Corn Dog history to set the stage. The origin of the species of Corn Dogs is shrouded in the mists of time and conflicting folk tales. According to legend, Corn Dogs originated millennia ago in the lonely plains of the Dakotas, when a native warrior stuck a deer sausage on a cat tail to cook it over an open fire. The warrior fell asleep and dropped the cat tail/sausage into a puddle. Upon hitting the water, the cat tail/sausage spontaneously generated and became the first Corn Dog. A phenomenon like when a horse hair falls into a puddle and morphs into a snake. The Corn Dog rolled away from the warrior’s camp into the night. Fun Fact: Corn Dogs do not have legs; they can only move by either rolling on the ground or curling up and stretching out like a Slinky. Once safely away, the Corn Dog reproduced itself into the millions of Corn Dogs that you can still see growing in gently undulating fields along the High Plains and Bad Lands of the Dakotas. Modern agricultural methods have revealed that annual crop rotation between Corn Dogs and Dental Floss will keep the land arable and the yield of both Corn Dogs and Dental Floss profitable.

As JFK said: “Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan.” This is evident with the many cooks claiming to have invented the Corn Dog. Boring tales of the origin of Corn Dogs from Mr. Wikipedia credit German sausage makers with inventing the stickless Corn Dog consisting of a sausage dipped in corn meal deep fried in oil. In 1926, Albert Barth marketed in his restaurant supply catalogue a “Krusty Korn Dog” baking machine. A U.S. patent was issued in 1927 for a “Combined Dipping, Cooking, and Article Holding Apparatus” for cooking this tasty snack. Carl & Neil Fletcher birthed Corn Dogs at the Texas State Fair in the late 1930s. Mr. Wikipedia says the “earliest known preparation of Corn Dogs was in 1937 during a high school baseball game in Iowa when the ballpark vendors ran out of hot dog buns in the third inning. Roger Newman took the remaining hot dogs and breaded them in cornmeal, which he had prepared for a fish fry.”

Another pretender claimed to invent Corn Dogs as the Pronto Pup at the Minnesota State Fair around 1941. A culinary genius at the Cozy Dog Drive-In claims credit for being the first to put Corn Dogs on a stick in 1946. The rest is Corn Dog history.

So, what have we learned today? A Corn Dog by any other name would smell as sweet. Ask not for whom the Corn Dog in the tree tolls, it tolls for thee. Never look a gift Corn Dog in the mouth. Beware of trees bearing Corn Dogs. One Corn Dog makes you larger/And one Corn Dog makes you small/And the Corn Dogs that Mother gives you/Don’t do anything at all. A Corn Dog is only perfect for a very short time. Carpe diem — seize the Corn Dog.

As Joyce Kilmer once almost wrote: “I think that I shall never see/A Corn Dog sitting in a tree/Corn Dogs are made by fools like me/But only Roger Newman can bread a hot dog.”

Pictured: The Corn Dog in the tree raises more questions than it reveals answers.

When Billy West is not prosecuting cases as the district attorney of Cumberland County, he is trying to win golf tournaments.

When Gary Robinson is not building houses or working at the golf course he co-owns, he, too, is seeking victories on the links.

West, 46, and Robinson, 61, have been the two best amateur golfers in Cumberland County for decades. They have each won the county golf championship eight times, far more than anyone else.

They will renew their friendly rivalry when the 52nd annual Cumberland County Golf Championship is held Oct. 9-11 at Gates Four Golf & Country Club.

Time would appear to be on West's side to eventually win the most titles since he is 15 years younger than Robinson.

“I hate the fact I'm 61 and he's 40-something,” Robinson laughed. “It's not a fair fight. I've enjoyed playing with Billy throughout the years. He's a great competitor and it means as much to him as it does to me. We might both say the proper things but we both want to win more than the other guy. I want to have the most titles and I'm sure he feels the same way. I need to get one or two more because I know Billy is going to.”

West shrugs off the age difference.

“Gary is kind of ageless,” he said. “He still hits the ball a tremendous long way and the rest of his game is solid. I would love to win this year and break the tie but I'm very aware that Gary may not be finished adding championships either.”

Robinson holds the amazing record of winning the county championship in four different decades. He won it the first year he played in the tournament in 1982. He added titles in 1987, '89 and '90.

Then he didn't play in the event again until 2001 and, naturally, won again. He added titles in 2002, '13 and got his last victory in '15. Five of his championships have occurred at Gates Four.

“I have an incentive this year to win in five different decades,” Robinson said. “That's a pretty lofty goal. That would be something special. I still feel I can be competitive. I wouldn't play if I didn't think I could win.”

West said, “One thing that has made Gary so fantastic is winning titles in four different decades. He certainly has the game to win it in a fifth decade. He is one of the best senior players in the Carolinas.”

To reinforce that, Robinson shot 3-under to tie for third place in the Carolinas Senior Amateur Championship early in September.

If West wins this year, it would give him county titles in four different decades, as well. He first played in the event in 1990 and won his first title in 1994 at the age of 19. His other wins came in 1997, 2004, '05, '10 and '11, '17 and '19. He has won five of the last 10 county tournaments including last year with a 7-under total of 209. Twice, he has won back-to-back titles. Three of his wins have come at Gates Four.

He has missed only one county tournament since he started playing in them 30 years ago. That came in 1993 when he was a golfer at N.C. State and he had to play in a collegiate tournament.

“I hate that I missed it,” West said. “I regret that kind of broke my streak.”

The tournament clearly means a lot to West, who has lived in Cumberland County his whole life.

“For me, this is my favorite tournament,” he said. “It's always the one that meant the most to me through the years. If you win it, you are your county's champion for a year.”

The tournament is recognized as one of the longest running county golf championships in the state. Its most famous champion is Chip Beck, who went on to a storied career on the PGA Tour. He won in the early years of the tournament in the late 1960s.

“We've always had great players, great champions and a great history,” West said. “It's always been the most special tournament to me. It's been the one I've always wanted to win the most. One reason is the tournament has kind of followed me through my golf life. When I won it in 1994, I was a young 19-year-old kid. When I won it last year, I was 45 years old with a wife and two kids.”

West holds the distinction of winning the tournament at all four public golf courses in the county where the tournament has been held. Besides the three titles at Gates Four, he has won three times at King's Grant and once each at Baywood and Cypress Lakes.

For West, the tournament is about more than golf. It's about friendships made and the sense of community that he feels by playing in it.

“Life has changed a lot but one thing that hasn't changed is competing every year against the same group of golfers who I became very close friends with,” he said. “I really believe it's the premier county championship in the state. It has a special feel to it that other tournaments don't have.

“I often say when I'm in the drug store or the grocery store the week after the county tournament, everybody's going to say, 'Hey, Billy. I saw where you played well or I saw where you came up a little short.' There's not another tournament all year where you get that kind of reaction from the public. A lot of people in the community follow it year to year and that's what makes it special.”

Another strong contender is Thomas Owen, who won the title in 2016 and has finished second the last three years. Originally, Owen had decided to skip this year's tournament because a jammed fall golf schedule caused by COVID-19 would have forced him to be away from his family for six straight weekends.

“I just had to pick and choose which ones I'm playing in,” he said. “It's just a matter of balancing everything between golf, family and business.

“Coming in second three years in a row leaves a bad taste in your mouth. I need to get back out there and see if I can Billy and Gary a run for their money. I like my chances. I'm playing pretty well, I've just got to make more putts.”

Owen has won the county match play championship for the last five years and is ranked among the best players in the Carolinas Golf Association.

West and Robinson know that at some point their stranglehold on the tournament will end and they both feel the 31-year-old Owen may be the player to take over.

“I think Thomas Owen is the guy,” Robinson said. “He's the guy who is going to play in the most number of them if he doesn't move. He definitely has the game. He's got a couple of bad breaks the last couple of years where he finished second. He's just got to get comfortable in that last round.”

West likes Owen's chances to be their successor, too.

“Thomas has been incredible,” he said. “He's either won or been the runner-up the last four years. Thomas is not only one of the best players in the area but he's one of the best in the state. He doesn't have any weaknesses. He hits the ball a long way and he has a good mental game. He's going to win many more county championships.”

But whoever takes over as the best golfer in Cumberland County won't do it overnight. It will take decades for anyone to beat West and Robinson's accomplishments.

“It's going to take some serious golf over quite a bit of time to catch up to what they've done,” Owen said.

Robinson agreed.

“There will be somebody to come along at some point to beat us,” he said. “But they're going to have to play for a long time. You don't win eight, nine or ten times by just playing in it eight, nine or ten times.”

One top player who will be missing from the field is Spencer Oxendine, who won in 2018 when he was a senior at Jack Britt High School. Now, he is a sophomore on the golf team at N.C. State. Although the Wolfpack fall season has been cancelled because of COVID-19, Oxendine still has team activities and school work that will prevent him from playing.

This marks the fourth straight year the tournament will be held at Gates Four. Bill Bowman, the publisher of Up & Coming Weekly and a major sponsor of the event, took over as tournament director in 2016 and has staged it at his home course.

Gates Four has a large clubhouse to host the pre-tournament Champions Dinner and pairings party and an outside pavilion for the awards presentation after the tournament. Of course, the pre-tournament events have been cancelled this year because of COVID-19 and the awards ceremony has been scaled back.

“We're going to do everything virtual for the awards on Sunday,” said Gates Four general manager Kevin Lavertu. “We don't encourage everybody to hang around and we're taking all the precautions like trying to provide single-rider carts.”
Bowman is attempting to build up the tournament participation to where it was years ago when nearly 200 golfers played and two courses were used to accommodate them. Last year, there were 88 players.

Lavertu is hoping for at least 100 players this year.

“Because of Covid there hasn't been the event fatigue like we've had in years past,” he said. “People have not been traveling and playing in a lot of events so I'm thinking registration and participation might be up. The rounds are up all over the county this year because golf is one of the only things you've been able to do during the whole pandemic.”

West and Robinson like the Gates Four course but they would like to see the tournament rotate to Cypress Lakes, King's Grant and Baywood as it has in the past.

“I think Gates Four is a great competitive test, particularly from the back tees,” West said. “But I would like to see it rotate. Each course presents its own challenges. I think that is one thing that makes the tournament special, the fact that it has moved around. Gates Four has been a great host while we have gone through a transition period with some of the other courses doing some renovations.”

Robinson is a co-owner of King's Grant and said he would like to host the tournament “but not every year.”

“I've won a lot of tournaments at Gates Four and I think it's one of my favorite courses in the county, other than King's Grant,” he said. “ But holding the tournament in one place is not how the tournament was founded and I don't think that's how it should be. I think it should be spread around at all the courses and let them enjoy it.”

Lavertu said, “King's Grant and some others have shown some interest so I don't know what the future holds. I think some of the players would still like to see it rotate around, so whatever works the best for everybody.”

The tournament was pushed back from September to October this year because of COVID-19 and Lavertu thinks that will make playing conditions at Gates Four even better.

“We've always played the tournament the second week in September, historically, but that's really the worst time for the golf course coming out of the heat of summer,” Lavertu said. “We've usually just aerified and it takes two or three weeks for the greens to heal. The green speeds will be up a little bit. It actually worked out better this year to have a delay with all the uncertainty. It seemed to be a natural fit. It should be a tough challenge for three days.”

Any golfer who lives in Cumberland County and is at least 16 years old is eligible to play. There are divisions for championship, men's open, senior men and super senior men (65 years old and up), women's open and senior women (age 50 and up). The super seniors and women will play 36 holes on Oct. 10-11 and the entry fee is $145. All other divisions are 54 holes and the entry fee is $175. The deadline to enter is Oct. 2 at 5 p.m.

Players can register online at cumberlandcountygolfclassic.com or return an application to Lavertu at klavertu@gatesfour.com.

Toni Blackwell won the women's title last year when she was a senior at Cape Fear High School. But she will not be able to defend this year. She is now a freshman on the UNC Pembroke women's golf team and their season starts in October.

 

Pictured above: Gary Robinson and Billy West

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gary Robinson playing in the U.S. Amateur Fourball at Winged Foot

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Gary Robinson

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Billy West

Many of us do not know life without social media, cell phones, texting, Facebook posting, tweeting, etc. As a baby boomer, social media, let alone cell phones, did not exist when I was a teenager or even in my 20s. One thing that is clear, however, is that no matter what age bracket you may fall into, everyone who uses social media tends to forget the permanent nature of it. While we have many reasons for posting, tweeting, etc., some of which includes getting likes, loves, cares and comments from our friends, what we have, after the fun and/or comfort fades, is a post, tweet, or picture that lasts forever … on the internet.

Let’s put this into the context of litigation. When you bring a civil lawsuit as a plaintiff or are being sued as a defendant, your social media activity will be something that insurance adjusters, lawyers and paralegals on both sides will want to review extensively. There is a process in civil litigation called “discovery,” where both sides are entitled to seek documents, information and ask written questions that require written answers from each other. This process also includes “depositions,” where the other side’s attorney can ask you questions under oath before you ever get to court. Part of this discovery process will include asking you about your social media posts that are or may be related to the claim and/or litigation. If you put the information out there, you may have to explain it and answer questions about it and, possibly, watch and listen to the other side use it against you.

I often advise people to limit their social media to “friends only,” which at least can help prevent someone who is not your friend from freely rifling through your content at will to use it against you. In the setting of litigation, however, the discovery process (or a judge) may require you to produce your social media content — or at least any content that may be related to your claim — to the other side. “Post regret” is not a good thing to have when it comes to litigation.

If you are involved in litigation or an event from which you may bring a claim or end up in litigation, keep these three social media tips in mind:
1) Do not post anything about it.
2) If you are going to post something, do not post anything that you would not want the other side or a judge or jury to see.
3) Really, do not post anything about it.

It is far too easy to overshare information that, at first, seems innocent, but that can be used, misconstrued or misinterpreted against you later. The best course of action is to keep all information about any claims or litigation off social media.

An increased reliance on virtual home instruction has many students rethinking their organizational strategies and daily school schedules.

Learning at home is different from being in a traditional classroom environment, but with some effective strategies, students can persevere without missing a beat.

Stick to a schedule. Many students are successful because they follow a schedule. The Center for Social and Emotional Foundations of Early Learning says that routines and schedules are important because they influence a child’s emotional and cognitive development. Children feel secure with schedules, which may help them recognize what’s expected of them.

When learning at home, students should strive to maintain as consistent a schedule as possible, including bedtimes, wake times, hours devoted to learning and time to get outside or engage in downtime activities.

Connect live if possible. There are many free tools and resources available that enable teachers to provide live video lessons or to record them so students can watch them later.

Similarly, social networking apps and virtual meeting programs enable students to connect digitally. This can be helpful for collaborative learning assignments or just to see a familiar face.

Stick to tools that work. Once students find apps or systems that work, they should stick with them, offers Khan Academy, an educational tutoring resource. There are many factors outside of one’s control during virtual instruction, but maintaining consistency with tools and schedules is one way to feel more confident and secure.

Check student accounts frequently. Just like students, teachers may be learning as they go in regard to remote learning strategies.

Students should be sure to check school email accounts or other places where teachers post assignments a few times per day so that they stay on top of all assignments and are aware of due dates.

Reach out to instructors. Allegheny College suggests students contact their teachers if they are unsure of how to participate in remote learning environments.

Ask questions about assignments, get clarification on key topics and be sure to tune into any remote chats or virtual “office hours.”

Stay in touch with guidance, if needed. Remote learning is a new experience for many students, and there may be certain struggles or road blocks. It can be easy to grow frustrated with equipment failures or lack of in-person interaction.

Schools employ qualified therapists and guidance counselors who are just a click, call or email away if issues need to be talked through.

Students should utilize all resources made available to them.

Virtual home instruction can be made even easier with some extra assistance and guidance.