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        What are you reading this summer? Each year about this time I give a few suggestions of new and interesting books that have North Carolina connections.
        {mosimage}I also have a personal agenda. If you don’t know what it is, I will tell you at the end of the column. Until then, here are nine books for you to consider.
        1. Frances Mayes, bestselling author of Under the Tuscan Sun, moved to North Carolina recently. Her latest book, A Year in the World: Travels of a Passionate Traveler, is a personal, reflective, and perceptive day-by-day report of her year-long tour of Europe and the Mediterranean. (July 11, 13)
        2. Jesse Helms’ death reminds us of the question, “How is it that the same state could elect both a rock-ribbed conservative like Helms to the Senate five times and a progressive like Jim Hunt as governor four times?” Rob Christensen’s new book, The Paradox of Tar Heel Politics deals with this question and many more from North Carolina’s 20th Century political history. (July 18, 20)
        3. Robert Morgan, author of Boone: A Biography, brings his story-telling skills and his poet’s care with words to this non-fictional saga of one of America’s legendary figures. His account of Daniel Boone is one of my all-time favorite books. (July 25, 27)
        4. Imagine, if you can, that you are a young African-American girl growing up in the sleepy, segregated Raleigh of the 1920s. Then you are sent away to live in Harlem. How do you adapt to an entirely different world? In Celeste’s Harlem Renaissance, author Eleanora Tate sets her readers right down in that little girl’s shoes. (Aug. 1, 3)
        5. Wake Forest professor Eric Wilson thinks that our worship of happiness is misguided. In Against Happiness: In Praise of Melancholy, he explains why times of sadness might be important seasonings for a genuinely satisfying life. If you are looking for some serious and thought provoking reading, consider Against Happiness. (Aug 8, 10)
        6. Wayne Caldwell’s first novel Cataloochee, is, like Charles Frazier’s Cold Mountain, about a Confederate veteran who returns to the mountains to make a life. But, unlike Frazier’s Inman, Caldwell’s Confederate veteran goes on to live a long life — a hard mountain life of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  (Aug 15, 17)
        7. Most of us know that North Carolina Native Americans were rounded up and sent west on the Trail of Tears in the 1830s. But a lot of what we think we know is not all true. The Cherokee Nation and the Trail of Tears by Theda Perdue and Michael D. Green is a short, manageable history that describes the political background and complicated maneuverings from the sides of both the Cherokees and the American government.  (Aug 22, 24)
        8. Bernie Harberts sailed a boat alone around the world. When he got back to North Carolina, he says that he decided that equine travel actually made more sense. So he traded his boat in for a mule and pony and rode them across America. He tells about these travels in Too Proud to Ride a Cow: By Mule Across America. (Aug 29, 31)
        9. Raleigh native Jean Anderson is the bestselling and award-winning author of more than 20 cookbooks. Her latest, A Love Affair with Southern Cooking: Recipes and Recollections, is a cookbook, a memoir, a cultural history of our region, and a celebration of southern food.  (Sept 5, 7)
        What is my secret agenda for sharing these book ideas with you? All these books will be featured on UNC-TV’s North Carolina Bookwatch during the coming weeks (on the dates noted at the end of each paragraph above). So while I want you to consider reading the books, I really hope you will tune in on the dates indicated and hear the authors talk about their books and how they came to write them.

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        I recently introduced The Alternative Energy Advancement Act (H.R. 6383), which seeks to use proceeds from domestic oil and gas production to increase the development of new alternative energy technologies by diverting all federal proceeds from future oil and gas leases, on and off shore, into a newly created Alternative Energy Trust Fund. Let me explain the legislation:
        {mosimage}Our working families are watching in amazement as the price of gas goes up daily. In the short run, I believe we need to use more of the oil and gas that is available here in our country. Over the long run, I believe we need to develop and implement new alternative energy sources. This legislation seeks to accomplish both of these goals by using the proceeds from oil and gas leases to fund alternative energy research.
        There is a lot of talk going on in Washington about energy, but not much seems to be getting done. There are some who argue that we just need to use more of the oil available here in our country, while others say we need to focus all our effort on developing alternative energy sources.
        I hope this legislation can bridge the divide between Republicans and Democrats on the energy issue. This legislation creates an alternative energy trust fund so when we use more of the oil and natural gas reserves that are available in our country, the proceeds from those leases will fund the research and development of new energy sources for the future.
        Achieving energy independence is probably one of the greatest goals we can achieve as a nation. To get there, we need a mix of conservation, alternative energy production, and greater use of the vast energy resources that are available in our country. My frustration is that there is a wrongheaded philosophy on energy policy in Washington that says we can’t fully utilize the oil, coal and natural gas resources in this country, but says its OK for American families to seek direct help from Hugo Chavez — the Dictator from Venezuela.{mosimage}
        In order to lower energy costs, we must decrease our nation’s dependency on foreign sources of oil and gas. This bill would help the United States become more energy independent, which is critical to our nation’s economic security and national security. I will continue working with other common sense members in the House and Senate on a bipartisan basis to strive to make these reforms a reality, ultimately providing more relief for the consumer at the pump.
        The Alternative Energy Trust Fund will be available to the Secretary of Energy for research and development of alternative energy to help decrease our reliance on foreign energy and ultimately decrease energy for consumers.

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        He led a peaceful march through the city of Salisbury during a tumultuous time in the 1960s and had crosses burned outside his dorm in college. He marched in protest of Winn-Dixie supermarket’s discriminatory hiring practices in downtown Asheville. His biography reads like one of his role models, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and the presence he has had in state human relations would make even the most historic civil rights activists proud. The Rev. Ron McElrath has taken a stance for civil rights and improving human relations all his life and now his tireless efforts have been rewarded by his appointment from Gov. Mike Easley as the chair of the North Carolina State Human Relations Commission. Rest assured that McElrath, Fayetteville-Cumberland Human Relations director, will continue his pursuit of human relations harmony in this state commission leadership position. {mosimage}
        McElrath was publicized in the New York Times in the 1970s when, as the director of the Asheville-Buncombe Community Relations Council, his office handled a fair housing discrimination case that led to a jury awarding thousands of dollars to a minority family. McElrath was the executive director of the Florida Commission on Human Relations from 1991 to 2000, under the late Gov. Lawton Childs and Gov. Jeb Bush. McElrath’s work to build, maintain and strengthen human relations continues to be exemplary in the Fayetteville-Cumberland community.   
        “Ron has done a terrific job as the Fayetteville-Cumberland Human Relations director, gaining national and state recognition, so he is a perfect pick for state human relations commission chair,” Assistant City Manager Stanley Victrum said. “Through the nationally renowned Study Circles program that he has developed here in Fayetteville, and in light of his work in Asheville and Florida, Ron has proven himself to be a topnotch human relations professional, who well represents the city of Fayetteville and Cumberland County and will adeptly represent our state in human relations matters.”  
        McElrath succeeds Jan Coley, who works for the Fayetteville Police Department.
        For more information on the North Carolina State Human Relations Commission, visit www.doa.state.nc.us/hrc/. McElrath can be reached at 433-1605.

    Yard Sale Permits A Part of Summer
     
        Sunny weather brings citizens out in droves for yard sales and with that, the City Inspections Department would like to remind citizens to obtain yard sale permits, which are required in the city limits. Yard sales are plentiful during warmer months — the Inspections Department issues approximately 150 yard sale permits, at $10 apiece, each month during the summertime. Three yard sales are allowed per address per year, maintaining residential aspects of neighborhoods.
        “We limit traffic and reduce the number of retail sales in residential areas by limiting the amount of yard sales per house,” said Jim Alexander, interim inspections director.
        Yard sale permits must also be acquired for sales at commercial properties and private properties and organizations, like schools and businesses. If someone wants to use commercial property for a yard sale, they must have a written letter from a manager or owner of the property.
        If a church is having a sale at the church, the fee is waived. The permit is good for one day or two consecutive days.
        Citizens may have three signs up to four square feet each on the property of the sale and five directional signs, not exceeding two square feet, on private property with the owner’s permission. Posting signs on utility poles and traffic signs is not permitted.
        For more information about yard sale permits, you may call the Inspections Department at 433-1168.

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        Fayetteville State University’s Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Science for Graduate Studies and Choral Director Marvin Curtis was a young man, there were two things he wanted to do. 
    “My goal when I got out of high school was to return to my high school and be a choir director. That was it,” said Curtis. “I thought that was the experience of a life time until I became one and thought. … ‘This is not it, there’s got to be more to life.’”
        His other goal was to be a world class concert pianist. “Then I decided that I wasn’t going to work that hard. I’m not that kind of competitor,” said Curtis. “Although I loved it, it just wasn’t quite what I needed.”
        Like most of us, his life took some unexpected twists and turns. Curtis made history when his musical composition, The City on the Hill, was performed by the Philander Smith Collegiate Chorale and United States Marine Band at the 1993 inauguration of President Bill Clinton. He was the first African-American composer commissioned to write a choral work for a presidential inauguration.
        {mosimage}He arrived in Fayetteville in 1996 as FSU’s choral director, and was recently named the dean of the Raclin School of the Arts at Indiana University-South Bend, Ind.
        As Curtis prepares to leave Fayetteville and FSU, his fondest and proudest memories are the experiences he has shared with his students and the difference he has made in their lives.
        “I will always cherish the fact that I took these kids to Europe. This choir had never been outside of the country, so in 1998 we embarked on our first trip, a one week trip to France and I got to live my dream out — which was to conduct in the Cathedral of Notre Dame,” Curtis recalled. “That’s one of my fondest memories. I think that is one of the most enduring things we did. We took the students out of the confines of being locked to North Carolina. A lot of these students had never been out of the state, let alone out of the country, and here I had 60 college students for a week singing in Paris and Belgium.”
        There were other trips too. “You can’t take all of them to Europe, but you find opportunities,” said Curtis, recalling excursions to Vancouver, Canada, Georgia, Washington and Florida.
        And then there is the Opera Series. “I was told ‘You can’t do opera in Fayetteville.  No one is going to come.’ Well, we had 4,000 people show up and we’ve done high-class opera,” said Curtis. “If I had just listened to everybody we still would have just had a normal choir; we went outside our comfort zone, sometimes by the seat of our pants.”
    And even though it was hard work, it was worth it. “We had a good time. We brought art to the forefront. It was my chance also to be the artist I always wanted to be. We created some new adventures. We brought artists to the campus. We turned Fayetteville State into an art oasis,” said Curtis.
        Now, the challenge is going to be different. Being a dean is a lot different from being a department chair. “For the first time in 20 years I won’t be going to the classroom; I will be going to the office,” said Curtis. “I am going to have to use my creative juices with the faculty and staff. I want to take what I have learned here to Indiana, take my show on the road and see what happens.”
        Even as that yearning for something new and different pulls Curtis in a new direction, he says what he will miss most about Fayetteville is the people. “People here have been very kind to me. They’ve been very generous to me and I guess what I am going to miss that the most.”
        Fayetteville residents have one last chance to wish Curtis well by attending the performances of The Marriage of Figaro, which will be on stage at FSU’s Seabrook Auditorium July 18 and 19 at 7:30 p.m. There will be a children’s matinee on July 19 at 1 p.m., sponsored by The Youth Growth Stock Fund. The matinee is a one-hour presentation for youth and families and tickets are free. Visit the Web site to reserve seats.
        Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for children and $8 for senior citizens and military.  Interested persons and groups can go to the Web site: www.uncfsu.edu for information on tickets for this event, or call 672-1276.

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        Although the Cape Fear Regional Theatre’s season is officially over, theatre lovers have a chance to catch one more show as the theatre reprises its performance of Lunch at the Picadilly for a limited engagement, July 25-27.
        The play, based on the novel by the same name by North Carolina writer Clyde Edgerton, delighted audiences in the 2006-2007 season. Featuring, the CFRT’s Artistic Director Bo Thorp, the comedy is expected to draw a full house. The cast is preparing to take the show on the road to Parkway Playhouse in Burnsville, for a two-week engagement, and is using the brief run as a way to prepare for the event. {mosimage}
    Lunch at the Picadilly, like many of Edgerton’s other works, is set in the small town of Listre. The residents of Listre are, as a whole, a rather comical bunch. But don’t be surprised, when you meet the residents of the town, if they remind you of your favorite elderly aunt, or perhaps the cranky neighbor who lives down the road or maybe even the bossy elderly lady at your church who always has an opinion on everything and is happy to share it with anyone willing to  listen.
        In this book, you get the opportunity to meet the residents of the Rosevahen Convalescence Center. Leading the gang is Lil Olive, who is at the home recovering from a recent fall. Olive uses a walker and sits on the front porch, chitchatting with and rocking right alongside the regulars. There’s Beatrice Satterwhite; Clara Cochran, who cusses as frequently as she takes a breath; and L. Ray Flowers, the freelance preacher who reveals his dream of forming a national movement to unite churches and nursing homes (“Nurches of America”). Chaos ensues when Flowers gets the residents fired up. It’s going to be a sight you don’t want to miss.
        The music and lyrics to the show are by former Red Clay Rambler, Mike Craver.
        Shows are at 8:15 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and at 2 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets are available at the CFT Box Office, which opens July 21. Tickets are $20 for Friday and Saturday’s performance and $15 for Sunday’s matinee. Box Office Hours:  July 21, 1-6 p.m.; Tuesday through Sunday, 2-6 p.m.
        For additional information: www.cfrt.org and for reservations call the CFRT box office at (910) 323-4233.

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        What do Cumberland County Sheriff Earl Butler and local psychologist Dr. Robin Jenkins have in common?
        {mosimage}They both agree that the county has a serious gang problem — especially youths involved in gangs — and both are working with local agencies and officials to clean up the mess before it steals the future of more children and creates more victims of gang-related crime.
        But taking up the fight hasn’t always been a priority.
        Butler said the old party line was that Cumberland County didn’t have any gang problems. He changed his mind following a summit on gangs 10 years ago that featured officials and officers from the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, as well as law enforcement representatives from such gang-infested cities as New York and Chicago.
        After the summit, Butler said he felt a need to take a closer look at the problem.
        Then came the murders.
        In 1998, as part of a gang initiation for the local branch of the nationally known Crips, Francisco Tirado and Eric Queen abducted and murdered Tracy Lambert and Susan Moore. They also abducted Debra Cheeseborugh, who was shot and left for dead on Fort Bragg Reservation, though she survived and was able to identify her would-be killers.
        The bullets were painted in the Crip’s signature blue.
        “I’ve been in office going on 14 years and that was my first real experience with a gang as creating a real problem, particularly a murder,” said Butler.
        While Butler classifies most youthful gang members as “wannabes,” living the gangster lifestyle they see portrayed by the mass media, law enforcement agencies have documented the presence of 11 verified gangs in the county, including such infamous groups as the aforementioned Crips, Bloods, Folk Nation, Gangster Disciples and MS-13.
        Butler said the sheriff’s department is utilizing several methods to identify and crack down on gangs, including enlisting the aid of the community to identify potential and actual gang members through the Cumberland Gang Hotline (433-1524) — which allows the caller to remain anonymous.
        The sheriff’s department has released Gang Awareness: A Guide For Parents & Community Members, free to the community to provide warning signs of gang involvement.
        As another answer to the growth of gangs, Butler tapped two officers to make gang investigation their primary focus. Butler said he would like to hire an entire unit to confront the problem, but economic realities make that impossible. So, standing on the thin line between gangs and the county’s residents is a pair of officers specializing in gangs: Sgt. David Dowless and Detective Nicole Poverone.
        Dowless, a member of the sheriff’s department since 1996, has steadily watched as gang influence has grown in the schools, attracting members as young as 9-10-years-old.
        “In the Spring Lake area I was called to one of the elementary schools by one of the teachers who said she never thought she’d see the day she’d be calling us out to look at one (gang member),” said Dowless. “The mother had requested that a gang officer talk to her son.”
        Dowless and Poverone said that cracking down via law enforcement helps neutralize gangs and the problems they create in the schools and communities; however, Dowless said this is only a “Band-Aid” approach — that the problem is social and must be confronted at its roots.
        That’s where Dr. Jenkins comes into the picture. As executive director of CommuniCare — a nonprofit agency under the auspices of the United Way of Cumberland County — Jenkins accepts referrals from school resource officers and legal and judicial authorities when children at risk of joining gangs or already involved in gangs are identified. CommuniCare then works with the child and the child’s family to formulate a plan to alter the destructive behavior.
        However, the trick is getting the parents to come along for the ride.
        “If they’re not court-compelled to participate, we can’t force them to do that, only recommend that they do so,” said Jenkins. “Our biggest challenges are to try and educate parents that this is not a passing fad because it can grow into something serious. We are faced with a lot of parents who are doing the best they can, working a couple of jobs, maybe with two or three kids at home — they need help supervising and structuring their children’s lives because they are relying on the older children to watch their child.{mosimage}
        “Even if they come and say ‘I agree. I want my child to have all these services,’ getting them to those services is problematic,” added Jenkins, noting that working parents often don’t have the time or can’t afford to take the time off to make the appointments.
        If the parents and suspected gang member do agree to visit CommuniCare’s office, Jenkins said behavior modification is used to try and set the child straight. The child is taught life skills and how to make ethical choices and form positive relationships. He’s also given the hard truth: Gang life ends in prison.
        But Jenkins said you have to be diplomatic when you talk to suspected gang members. “It’s not useful to try and argue a kid out of a gang,” said Jenkins. “It’s the same as if in a normally developing child who wants to grow his hair long or wants to wear the same dirty shirt for three days straight. The more you hammer away at somebody, the more oppositional they become.”
        While Jenkins said the county’s school system records “hundreds” of suspected gang activities annually, CommuniCare had just 40 youth walk through the door in about a year’s time. And even though he said the group has had some success, the final outcome is not known. What he does know is that it takes a whole community to solve the youth gang issue.
        “Parents really need to be involved,” said Jenkins. “Law enforcement and CommuniCare can’t solve this. What makes a community safe from youth crime is a very positive system of parental engagement, strong social supports, church and faith-based organizations — a real community effort. We can’t do this by ourselves.”



     

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        You would think it would be a cold day in Miami before a 40-something former jock who hadn’t skated in more than 10 years would suit up and hit the ice for the Fayetteville FireAntz.
        Or maybe you believe you’d see snow in south Florida before you’d see that same “old man” come out of retirement after a 20-year layoff to play left field for the Fayetteville Swampdogs?
        OK then, wash off the Coppertone and put on the snow parka because Miami Subs’ owner Jimmy Diamantopoulos, 41, has done both, playing with the FireAntz for four years and spending two seasons suiting up for the Swampdogs.{mosimage}
        Diamantopoulos said his involvement with the local sports teams — playing against and with young men sometimes half his age — started out as a “joke.”
        “I played hockey in Canada for a lot of years and baseball in college,” said Diamantopoulos, who sports a Greek name and heritage, but was raised in Canada. “For a promotional thing the owners said they were going to bring me out of retirement and do this and do that... Come on out and skate for us for fun. It was a promotional night.”
        While Diamantopoulos goes out on the ice and diamond to put on a show for the home fans, he’s also serious about his part-time play. As a member of the FireAntz, he scored a goal in a shootout; as a member of the Swampdogs, he’s had five-at bats, recording a sacrifice, getting on base twice via a pair of errors, and smacking one ball to the warning track.
        “We all thought it was leaving the park,” said Diamantopoulos, smiling broadly as he sat in one of the booths at the Skibo Road restaurant he has owned for four years.
        And he brings in a crowd, too. Last year, the FireAntz sold 5,000 tickets after promoting Diamantopoulos’ appearance on the ice, though a last-minute glitch kept him from skating that night.
    And you better believe Kevin MacNaught, owner and general manager of the FireAntz, knows a good promotion when he sees one.
        “A lot of the local Greek community comes here to see Jimmy play,” said MacNaught. “He’s a local businessman who has shown a great interest in hockey, both playing and coming to the games.”
        MacNaught said he had to jump through a few hoops to get the OK for him to play hockey in the Southern Professional Hockey League, but he’s glad to have him and plans on having more promotional nights featuring Diamantopoulos.
        “We raised a lot of money for the local Greek church,” said MacNaught.
    And how do his teammates react to playing with a man who in the sports vernacular is considered a senior citizen?
        “The players love it,” said Diamantopoulos. “They see this older guy coming and playing with them. Obviously, they put in their jokes — they put canes in my locker and put a wheelchair one time. It’s all fun... I like it.”
        FireAntz goalie Chad Collins also likes it.
        “He does OK for an old man,” said Collins. “It’s really fun to have him out there. And he can play.”
    In addition to his age, Diamantopoulos plays with a physical handicap: He lost 15 percent of one of his leg muscles in a car accident while living in Pittsburgh about 15 years ago. And then there are the common aches and pains he suffers through in the days after a match. However, he limits the big hurt by practicing twice a week at Fort Bragg’s Cleland Multipurpose Sports Complex with current and former FireAntz players, as well as the Army club team, the Fayetteville Dragons.
        His competitiveness on the field and ice is indicative of his drive in the kitchen. When he came to Fayetteville four years ago, Miami Subs — a southern-based franchise — had the worst sales in North Carolina. Now, it leads the state in sales; he attributes some of his success to his involvement in baseball and hockey.
        “It adds to my business but it adds to their business, too,” said Diamantopoulos. “Customers bring pictures and I’ve signed thousands of them. I keep stuff here for them. A lot of people come here with the families to see me.”
        He hasn’t played with the local indoor football franchise, the Fayetteville Guard, but he also hasn’t completely slammed the door on the idea.{mosimage}
        “Everybody’s wishing for that but I’ve never played football,” joked Diamantopoulos. “I could probably do a little kick or could get the ball and kneel down before the big guys hit me.”
    So, the million-dollar question remains: Does he intend to keep playing hockey and baseball?
        “Everybody asks me if I’m going to keep doing it and I say as long as I can still do it, let me do it,” said Diamantopoulos.

  • Details
        One has only to scan the headlines of the newspaper, turn on the TV or scan the headlines of news Web sites to know that we are deep in the midst of the political season. The American political process is one of the most vibrant and intriguing in the world. People love it or hate it. Some local residents who are on the “love it” end of the spectrum hope to share their love of the process and their passion for the system with the community on Friday, July 18, at the Obama Jam at Festival Park.                                                                 The event, organized by the Cumberland County Obama Grass Roots Committee, is designed to keep folks involved in the process and to keep their interest up, particularly in the dog days of summer before the political conventions. And while politics is usually a more serious subject, the organizers of the Obama Jam want to make it fun, so they’ve brought together some of the area’s top musicians to perform a free concert for the community.
    “The grass roots focus is really aimed at keeping people involved, encouraging voter registration, reaching out to volunteers and asking people to pledge to vote in November,” said Grainger Barrett, a member of the grassroots committee.
        Barrett definitely falls on the love it end of the spectrum when it comes to the political process. He has been and will continue to watch the unfolding presidential election with a great deal of interest. He sees the race between Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain as a turning point in the political process, noting that both candidates are working toward a move civil discourse. “They want to disagree without being disagreeable,” he said. “I think that’s marvelous. It’s what citizens are asking for from our leaders.”
        He said that choice by the candidates is making a difference in citizen participation in the process. “Participation and interest (in the political process) is higher than ever before, and I think it is attributable to that attitude that both candidates offer us,” he said.
        It is in that same vein that the committee put together the Obama Jam. It is not designed to be the political rally of the past. Candidates won’t be stumping, and there won’t be a lot of speeches. What there will be is information. Voter registration booths will be set up on the grounds of Festival Park. Organizers say they will gladly register anyone — no matter what party they choose. Democratic and nonpartisan candidates for office will have the opportunity to set up booths to hand out information. There will also be booths designed to highlight volunteer opportunities in the upcoming election. And, since it is an Obama Jam, there will be information about the candidate available, as well as vendors selling Obama gear. But again, it’s not a political rally. There will be food, and there will be music.
        “The goal of the event is to get people involved, informed and excited,” said Sharon Barrett.
        Both Barretts pointed out that there is no prerequisite to come to the jam. You don’t have to be a Democrat or even an Obama supporter. “Just come out and have fun,” said Grainger. “Get involved in the process and get a little information.”
        In Cumberland County, the need for involvement in the process is crucial. During the primaries, voter participation was high; but sadly, it still didn’t reach 50 percent of the registered voters. Peaking that interest takes more than speeches, it takes an informed electorate.
        Barrett chronicled his own interest in politics from the time he was a child watching the Nixon/Kennedy debates and later the campaign of Robert Kennedy. “There was a level of investment then that a lot of folks don’t have today, but it’s getting better and that’s great,” he said. “We’re not all supposed to be all the same or have the same ideas,” he said. “But if we can get folks talking, that talking is what makes our country greater. And we want to do our part in our community.”{mosimage}

    The Particulars

        The Obama Jam will start at 6 p.m. in Festival Park, as Rahmeka Cox, Miss North Carolina Junior Teen, sings the National Anthem. Nothing gets a political function going faster than the National Anthem, and from there, the music just keeps flowing.
        One of the bands signed on to play the event has been a Fayetteville favorite for a number of years. The Parsons, who categorize their music as “uptown hillbilly swing,” will be sure to get the party rolling. Their music is, in their own words, “just as comfortable in overalls as it is dressed up for a night on the town.” It’s a mix of ragtime, blues, bluegrass, swing and folk music. The band maintains it puts a spring in the step of its audience by offering two- and three-part harmonies, complemented by guitar, bass, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, dobro, lap steel, ukulele, spoons and the harmonica.
        {mosimage}The band is comprised of Caroline Parsons, who has been involved in a number of organizations in the city ranging from the animal protection society to the symphony; Jon Parsons, the director of Sustainable Sandhills; David Burke and Jerome Hawkes. They say they have gained their seasoning through “decades of festivals, concerts, club and radio performances, not to mention years of contented picking on the porches, tailgates and barn floors of America.”
    Their listeners couldn’t agree more. “Quality performances. True and sincere. Toe tapping and knee slapping. This is what characterizes the art of Jon and Caroline Parsons. They delightfully blend education and entertain to the joy of all audiences,” noted Leisa Brown, director, Museum of the Cape Fear.
        Dan Speller and His Bluespell will also be sure to get the audience rocking. Speller, a retired Army noncommissioned officers, plays all around the region and the local area. In June he headlined at the Pate Room at the Headquarter Library during Fourth Friday. He played to a packed house.
        Speller, a native of Flushing, N.Y., has been playing music all of his life; he maintains it all started with the “beat of his mother’s heart.” He developed an interest in music while listening to his older brothers’ records and attempting to sing and play along with them in the ‘60s and ‘70s. He moved to the mountains of North Carolina at the age of 13, where he developed his musical craft, learning to play guitar, bass, drums, keyboards and the harp.
        In 1975, he joined the Army, and spent some time seeing the world. That time was put to good use, acquiring musical inspiration from different countries and cultures. Upon retirement from the military in 1996, he committed all his time and energy to his music. His musical taste is as varied as his background — he likes blues, rock, jazz, country, beach, reggae, funk and classical. He is currently recording, composing and producing his own CD on his Bluespell record label. You’re definitely not going to want to miss his set at the jam.
        Jeff Patterson and Company, a gospel group, is also appearing at the jam. Patterson has been performing gospel music his whole life, and has traveled extensively throughout the South and on the east coast. He has performed on the Bobby Jones Gospel hour on BET and has performed in the theatre.
        Organizers believe there is a little bit of something to please everyone. So bring a blanket or a chair. Don’t worry about dinner, vendors will be on hand to feed you, and children’s games and a children’s area will be set up to keep your little ones happy.
        In case we forgot to mention it, the event is free. So bring an open mind and prepare to become informed, involved and excited!!

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        Aaaah... the days of parachute pants, big hair and spandex.{mosimage}
        I’m talking about the 1980s, when MTV still played music and such bands as Culture Club, the Cars and A Flock of Seagulls ruled the roost of FM radio.
        You’ll get a chance to revisit the music of that decade on Thursday, July 17, when ‘80s cover band Suicide Blonde plays Festival Park as part of Fayetteville After Five.
        Suicide Blonde, a Raleigh-based band, has a long and diverse set list of music from the ‘80s, ranging from AC/DC’s “Back In Black” to Rick Springfield’s “Jesse’s Girl.”
        But don’t think this is just a nostalgia act for burned out Yuppies who spend their night’s watching reruns of Magnum P.I. while sipping Bartles & Jaymes — bassist Warren Sumner said the band attracts a broad range of listeners from across the age spectrum.
        “I’ll look into the crowd and see teenagers singing along with the songs,” said Sumner. “They know all these songs. There’s been a resurgence in the popularity of music from the ‘80s.”
        Sumner said the band formed a little more than four years ago and that he joined up about three years ago when his old band, Sugar Daddy, broke up. As fate would have it, Suicide Blonde’s drummer, Lane Moss, had been a member of Sugar Daddy during Moss’s tenure; almost to the day that Sugar Daddy broke up, it lost its bass player and Moss called Sumner to fill the void.
        “I’ve played a lot of different music,” said Sumner. “All varieties, really, and this is my favorite music to play. And we don’t play just the best-known songs from back then; we do some more obscure songs such as ‘China Girl’ by David Bowie and ‘Tempted’ by Squeeze. I mean, everyone knows Bon Jovi’s ‘Living On A Prayer,’ but we also want to play the songs that have a little more edge to them.”
        When asked where the inspiration came for an ‘80s cover band, Sumner had a simple answer: The girls.
        “We get so many girls at our shows who love this music,” said Sumner with a chuckle. “We decided we could either play alternative rocks for guys in black T-shirts or we could perform in front of a bunch of cute girls.
        “Actually, it’s just the type of music we love to play,” added Sumner. “There’s so much good music from that era.”
        The band’s lead singer, Dave Adams, saw some big success of his own in the decade of big hair, earning a Top 40 hit called “On a Carousel” with the band Glassmoon. He also visited England to record an album with producer David Lord, who worked with such musical legends as Peter Gabriel and Tears for Fears.
    “Dave’s just a great singer who really belts it out,” said Sumner.
        Sumner also has praise for his other band mates, saying guitarist Dustin Askew is one of the “best” he’s ever played with.
        “There are other musicians who are individually better than each of us,” said Sumner. “But as a group I don’t think anyone’s better.”
        And Sumner said the band gives the fans their money’s worth, playing for two to three hours, taking “very small breaks.”
        Sumner says he loves all the songs Suicide Blonde performs, but he has a special place in his heart for the band’s cover of the aforementioned Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer.”
        “That song really gets the crowd moving,” said Sumner.
        You can hear a demo of “Sledgehammer,” as well as other covers by Suicide Blonde on the band’s Web page, www.suicideblonde.com.
        Though mostly hired to play corporate gigs, Sumner said the band loves playing in clubs and at frat parties.
        “You’d be surprised at the reception we get at frat houses at places such as the University of Virginia,” said Sumner. “They love this music. And nothing beats the intimacy of playing a club.”
        However, Sumner is equally inspired about the prospect of playing in the great outdoors of Festival Park and for the Fayetteville After Five crowd.
        “I played Fayetteville a number of times with previous bands,” said Sumner, “but this is the first time Suicide Blonde has played as a group in Fayetteville; we’re really excited and looking forward to it.”
    If you’re a fan of bands such as INXS — which had a big hit with the band’s moniker, “Suicide Blonde,”  though that song isn’t on the eponymous band’s set list — make sure you show up at Festival Park on July 17 to check out the band.
        Fayetteville After Five serves as a fund-raiser for the Fayetteville Museum of Art and features food vendors and purveyor’s of adult beverages, as well as other artists on site.
        The event runs from 5:30-9:30 p.m. Bring a chair or blanket to relax on the lawn as Suicide Blonde takes you back 20 years on a roller coaster ride of ageless pop and rock.

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        “It is through this communication whether visual or conversational that we grow as a person. This is what the museum seeks to do for the citizens of Fayetteville,” explained Tom Grubb, executive director of the Fayetteville Museum of Art. He was referencing the premiere parties celebrating each changing exhibit that the museum hosts free of charge to any art lover who wishes to join them.
        The Fayetteville Museum of Art’s latest exhibit, Forsaken: Edifice & Landscape brings together three different artists who communicate a singular theme in stunning ways. The exhibit features artists’ Joyce Fillip, Rachel Herrick and Rudy Rudisill as they explore themes of abandonment through rich textures from architecture and nature.
    Joyce Fillip studies waterspouts, earthquakes, tornadoes, tidal waves and waterfalls, all of which suggest the awesome majestic power and force of nature. They communicate energy, uncertainty, threat, tension and fear. As Fillip translates these forces of nature to paper and into art, the images become “read as metaphors for psychological states of mind.” The large scale of her drawing and their dramatic contrasts of dark and light reinforce the galvanic impact of nature that inspired the work.
        Rachel Herrick’s mixed-media work focuses on cultural landscapes and communication or lack contained therein. Her antiquated look at towns forgotten strikes any person who laments the convenience of the modern life, and finds that the convenience somehow has stripped society of its simplicity. Her muted tones of forlorn townscapes remind in an eerie way what modern society has forsaken and abandoned. This sense of seclusion but idealized past might be an indication of where the artist calls home — the isolated winters and picturesque summers of Maine.
        {mosimage}The only sculpturist featured in the exhibit, Rudy Rudisill also communicates forgotten townscapes, but addresses each forgotten shed, barn and house with his detailed galvanized steel and copper. He brushes each with acid for a corrosive effect that is quite effectual. Born in Gastonia, N.C., Rudisill conjures a building lost and abandoned, excavating it from memory. The work is simultaneously contemporary and traditional, industrial and pastoral as Rudisill explores the relationship of physical elements to their symbolic implications. By bringing together various textures and architectonic forms, personal, cultural and historical elements bind together in and homage to the changing landscape. In the artist’s own words, he feels his pieces are homage to the “vague overtures to the psychosexual ramifications of good bourbon and long drives in the country.” In addition, his pieces offer a unique sense of science fiction to the viewer by “freezing time, each image - specific to itself - a fragment of the continuum of production. Light scatters, gathers, darkness comes and goes. Eyesight, hindsight, blind sight, upside down banana.”
        The premiere party is on July 18, from 6-8 p.m., and will feature the live band Suncoup from Chapel Hill. The duo’s atmospheric fuse of Shoegaze and Indie Rock is a perfect addition to the subject matter at hand — the lonely and turbulent and altogether beautiful world of abandonment. Get a sneak preview of their delicate rock at www.Myspace.com/Suncoup. Should you miss the chance to expand your horizons on  the 18th, the exhibit will be showcased until September 7, free of charge. For more information call the Museum of Art at 910-485-5121 or visit the Web site at www.FayettevilleMuseumArt.org.

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        I recently had a delightful conversation with my father’s first cousin who lives in the western part of the state. A retired doctor with an interest in genealogy, George wanted to talk about a family cemetery in Sampson County, now barely accessible even though he knows the way and has a key to the gate.
        We agreed to visit later this summer once I can round up my three children to go with us.                                                A few days later George sent me a copy of an old newspaper article about an elderly fellow in Wade who had been named for my grandfather, whom I never knew. The man recounted what his parents had told him about his arrival on this Earth. My grandfather, a doctor in then small-town Fayetteville, had delivered the baby. His parents, it seems, had simply run out of resources to pay the hospital bill and asked my grandfather if he had any ideas. The family’s legend has it that he said, “Well, I can’t put him back, so name him for me.” {mosimage}
        So they did.
        All families have their stories, and I am looking forward to our time with George, one of the remaining members of the same generation as my father, who would have been 90 this month. I also relish time with my own children sharing our stories of their pasts and building new ones.
    That may be why a recent article in Newsweek caught me by surprise, flying in the face of what I have always thought of as conventional wisdom that having children is one of life’s greatest rewards.
    Writer Lorraine Ali, however, reports both data and anecdotal evidence that childless couples are “happier” than those of us who are parents.
        Well!
        Like you, I hear young parents moan about sleepless nights and no time to themselves, and I confess to having said the same things myself during the ‘80s and ‘90s. Being a parent is stressful at all stages, from wailing infancy to high stakes school testing to surly teen years to the struggles of young adults making their way in the real world. It is also expensive. Newsweek quotes these figures just for starters: $414.42 a year for school supplies and lunches in public school, $16,440 for private day school, $35,087 for private boarding school, $13,589 for public college and $32,307 for a private college.
    Those eye-popping numbers do not include ordinary living expenses like clothes and transportation during the years at home or away at school.
        So, what is the evidence regarding happiness or a lack thereof?
        Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert whose book Stumbling Toward Happiness made him a bestselling author cites several studies which indicate that marital satisfaction goes down significantly with the birth of the first child and creeps up again when the last babe leaves the nest and that parents prefer chores like going to the grocery store to being with their children. Robin Simon, a sociologist at Florida State University, is even more blunt. She has analyzed data from 13,000 Americans and has this to say: “In fact, no group of parents — married, single, step or even empty nest — reported significantly greater emotional well-being than people who have never had children. It’s such a counterintuitive finding because we have these cultural beliefs that children are the key to happiness and a healthy life and they’re not.”
        Have parents always felt this way?
        Who knows, but I suspect not. In prior generations, having children was less of a choice than it is today, and children were needed and expected to contribute to the family by working in whatever ways they could. Today, becoming a parent is often an emotional choice, and who among us is going to ‘fess up that such choice may have compromised our own lives in some way?
        Perhaps we expect too much from becoming a parent as well.
        I know of no human relationship that is without strain. Even the most beautiful and perfect bundle of joy can shriek and drive you to distraction. Even the smartest and most accomplished and promising student can mouth off to his parents, or, more painful still, do something that is deliberately disappointing. Even the seemingly happiest family life can pale compared to the perceived glamour of a successful career with a handsome paycheck. While we may romanticize and fantasize cherubic babies and smart, beautiful children, the daily reality of parenting is daunting, gritty and life-long.
        {mosimage}As the mother of three young adults, I have no idea what my life would have been like without them nor have I ever thought about it since, as my grandfather reportedly said, I cannot put them back. I do know, though, that the three of them have provided my life’s most exhilarating, most terrifying, most frustrating, most boring, most challenging, most surprising, most elated and saddest moments. I know of no emotion I have not experienced through them and for them.
        And, yes, for me, the primary emotion has been happiness.

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        Actors and comedians know it. Accomplished cooks know it. Athletes certainly know it. Timing is everything. Responsible political leaders know it, too, which is why the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners chose not to place a bond referendum for parks and recreation capital projects on the ballot this November.
        To have done so would have doomed the initiative. Local residents are weary of taxes and they know with a certainty that passage of the bond referendum would involve a property tax hike.
    Furthermore, aspects of the proposed joint bond issue concerned commissioners. It had been agreed at a joint city council/county commission meeting on April 8 that both governing bodies needed to know the staffing requirements and operational costs for each project and the plan for marketing the bond issue, as well as an agreed upon time for a bond issue.
        {mosimage}None of this information was presented to the board of commissioners. Nor was there any discussion about which jurisdiction would have responsibility for issuing bonds.
        Also, there was disparity between the projects as outlined in the Five Year Action Plan approved by the county commission in June 2006 and the projects outlined in the 2008 Parks & Recreation Advisory Commission recommendations. Cost estimates were significantly higher and the 2008 recommendations included projects that were not in the master plan.
        It is necessary now to take the time to address the important operating costs for each separate project, to resolve the disparities between the current recommendations and the master plan, to come to consensus on the marketing plan for a bond issue, and to determine the jurisdiction to have responsibility for issuing the bonds.
        Another alternative is for the City of Fayetteville to put the matter on the November ballot. That option is open until Aug. 6. All but one of the projects is within the city limits, and it would be entirely their prerogative to move forward with a bond issue, should the city council choose to do so.
        Cumberland County commissioners want an enhanced Fayetteville-Cumberland Parks and Recreation. We are aware of the disappointment felt by certain constituencies with the decision not to proceed with a bond referendum in November. However, when the due diligence has been completed, and the timing is right for success — that’s when the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners will act on this matter. To have acted precipitously on this important community initiative would have been irresponsible and would have doomed the issue to failure.

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        Editor’s Note: Bob Cogswell has been an important member of our city’s landscape for quite some time, and a great friend of UCW. With his first efforts at commentary for UCW, we inadvertently gave him the nom de plum Bill Cogswell. Our apologies Bob.

        Ticketgate (Jones v. Knight) has spurred considerable public comment and debate in recent months relating to ethics of elected, appointed and employed public officials. This event occurred last fall, and yet it still generates significant media and back-office political attention each time something occurs as it methodically proceeds through the legal system, the latest being pleadings filed in the lawsuit between the two drivers involved. Unless it is settled, the lawsuit will eventually reach a decision on who is to be believed — Ms. Knight or Mr. Jones. By the way, try to find 12 jurors in Cumberland County who can say they have not heard or read about the incident.
        Little comment has been made regarding existing city policies, and the fact that initially they were followed, in that the mayor contacted the manager, who in turn contacted the police chief. Chavonne/Iman/Bergamine have all made public statements about the night in question and it is what it is — nothing is going to change what happened, and what each one did.  {mosimage}
        The proposed new Ethics Panel and guidelines being developed will once again generate debate and certainly bring out the ghosts of Ticketgate past.  What good will that do? Let’s confine the debate to the future, and not beat the drum of “shoulda’, coulda’, woulda,” regarding the conduct of Chavonne/Iman/Bergamine past tense as applied to any new ethics code. There is already one in the city code, and if it was violated back in the fall, it was for the folks in charge then to deal with.
        Legislators can debate, draft, enact and pledge to follow an ethics code.  However, ethics is not a piece of paper, but an indwelling attitude that we acquire early on in life. Our sense of right vs. wrong is learned from our parents, teachers and life experiences, but first and foremost, it is matter of the heart.  A former council member, Curtis Worthy, said it best: “You cannot legislate ethics.” Ask yourself, when confronted with an ethical choice, do you consult the rules or go with your conscience first?
        Such events and the ongoing attention they receive are not unusual or unique to any community, but there comes a time when it is best to lay the coffin to rest. Unless the waters part and some divine message from above makes everyone all of a sudden an ethical role model, what good does it do to keep harping on the issue?
        As a whole, our community has been blessed for years with right-thinking and honest leaders that did not need a set of rules to do the right thing. Rules are important and have a place, but the place is in the heart. If we need rules, try these, which are on tablets in the old Cumberland County Courthouse:
        “Thy shalt not lie, cheat, steal, or covet what is not yours.”

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        Few people know that I have a secret desire to be on reality TV. I don’t want to be a contestant. I want to have my own reality show called What Were You Thinking? Recent headlines relating to the brouhaha between Cumberland County Schools Superintendent Bill Harrison and Fayetteville City Councilman Charles Evans have given me a slew of candidates for my show – the obvious Evans and Harrison – the less obvious the parents of the students at the school, T.C. Berrien, that started the discussion between the two.{mosimage}
        So, let’s avoid the elephant in the middle of the room for a few minutes and start with the less obvious problem. Evans maintains that the parents and faculty at the school were afraid to speak up about the roach problem at their school. Really? People are really afraid to talk about a roach problem? What has the school system been doing – executing staff at dawn and expelling children to the far reaches of Siberia? I think not. If, in fact, there was a raging cockroach problem at the school and no one said anything, and needed Mr. Evans to take a stand for them, then the entire staff needs to be fired and the parents all need to go to parenting classes.
    No one speaks louder or better for the rights of children than their parents and the teachers and administrators who are in the school every day. I cannot believe that everyone sat silent for fear of retribution and didn’t tell anyone in the principal’s office, the maintenance office or the superintendent’s office that bugs were more numerous than teacher work days. Had anyone stepped up to the plate, we wouldn’t be where we are now. Shame on them.
    Now to the elephant.
        I have to say up front, I like both these guys. Dr. Harrison is responsible for bringing the Cumberland County Schools system out of the dark ages. He has, and continues to work diligently and passionately, for the children of our community. He is a capable educator with a proven track record. Councilman Evans, during his tenure on the council, has tackled some tough issues and taken some unpopular stands — and that’s commendable. So, it makes this a particularly tough column to write; however …..
        Without a doubt, Dr. Harrison, who is usually a man of great tact, spoke out of school. When I read the article, where Dr. Harrison compared Mr. Evans to D.C. Mayor Marion Barry, I turned to my friend Jerry and asked, “What was he thinking?”
        I can’t imagine what was going through Harrison’s mind or thoughts when he made the comment. It was, and remains totally out of character for this respected educator. But, it has to be said, he was out-of-line.
    I was not surprised to read that Harrison apologized for his comments. That is in line with the gentleman I know. Harrison will suffer from his mistake — he’s doing it now — in the newspapers and in the court of public opinion. It’s my hope that he can weather this storm and continue to do what he does best — build a better school system for our children.
        Now the ball is in Mr. Evans’ court. Without a doubt, he was done wrong here, and Harrison has admitted it. But Mr. Evans now has to step up to the plate and do the right thing. Headlines aside and newsprint be darned, Evans needs to look at the bigger picture and see that in the end, taking this issue to the mat will benefit no one. Had the issue of bugs been discussed through proper channels instead of on the front page of the newspaper, this would, again, have been a non-issue. Mr. Evans has fallen into the trap of many people new to the political arena — he’s quick to play to the media before working the issue quietly. But that’s something he’ll learn over time.
        Back to the issue at hand. There are not many people who, once involved with drugs, make the kind of turnaround that Mr. Evans has made. And I, along with every other Fayetteville citizen, should commend him. But, he has to understand that the bad thing about having a past is that it will sometimes rise up and bite you. This is not the first time Charles’ past has been raised. It was, in fact, raised during a city council meeting by employees of a homeless shelter when that issue was front and center. That reference did not make headlines. It didn’t sell papers.
        Evans must face the unfortunate truth that many in public life have had to face — you can’t escape your past.
        When I read Evans’ comments in reference to Harrison’s apology, I again had to ask, “What was he thinking?”
        Instead of manning up, taking the high road and accepting Harrison’s apology, Mr. Evans took the low road, turning the issue into one of race. It was never, and has never been one of race, and there was no need to go there. Playing the race card benefits no one — not Evans, not the school system and its staff or the children they serve.
        From where I stand, there have been a plethora of mistakes made. That’s the past. Where we go and what we do from here is what counts. It is my hope that Evans will show our city that he is the type of man who can show grace; that Dr. Harrison will think before he speaks; and that the parents and the staff of our school system will use their voices when they need to be heard.

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    It's that time again... the annual Best of Fayetteville Issue. Tell us which is your favorite restaurant, sports pub, etc., and we will tally the votes and announce the winners in September. Please print out the ballots below, follow the instructions included on the ballots and mail to the attached address. And don't forget... Rock The Vote!

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    The Joy Of Ex
        My boyfriend stays in touch with many exes, including one he was wild about who calls as his “friend” to tell him why I’m wrong for him. How do I know? He tells me. Can I ask him to put his past in the past? He tells me not to worry, but how can I not when she’s a woman with whom he had an intense sexual thing?                                          

    —Disturbed

        As far as one’s current partner is concerned, there are three kinds of sex one’s had with one’s exes: Bad sex, boring sex and really bad, really boring sex. And then there’s your current partner, hanging up the phone and announcing: “Hey, just talked to my ex, the one I had all that mind-blowing sex with, who keeps insisting I can do better than you. And how was your day, Honey?” Sorry, but why is he telling you this? He’s immature? Insecure? Passive-aggressive? Or just a blithering idiot? You don’t tell a guy who he can talk to, but you can tell him what you do and don’t need to hear. Do that, and see whether he comes around — and with more than a “Why Your Girlfriend’s Not Good Enough” pie chart from his ex.

    SOME LIKE IT DOT COM
       My boyfriend stays in touch with many exes, incluAfter my boyfriend moved in with me, he basically started “playing dead” when I made advances. I discovered he’s engaging in online sex chats. I’m thinking this is why he never had anything left for me. I asked him to leave, and he did. Now, he’s apologizing and begging me to take him back. Do you think he was just being greedy and feeling trapped by commitment? Or, do you think this is a serious addiction?
                                                                                     —Reconsidering

        {mosimage}As far as one’s current partner is concerned, there are three kinds of sex one’s had with one’s exes: Bad sex, boring sex and really bad, really boring sex. And then there’s your current partner, hanging up the phone and announcing: “Hey, just talked to my ex, the one I had all that mind-blowing sex with, who keeps insisting I can do better than you. And how was your day, Honey?” Sorry, but why is he telling you this? He’s immature? Insecure? Passive-aggressive? Or just a blithering idiot? You don’t tell a guy who he can talk to, but you can tell him what you do and don’t need to hear. Do that, and see whether he comes around — and with more than a “Why Your Girlfriend’s Not Good Enough” pie chart from his ex.

    Got a problem? Write Amy Alkon, 171 Pier Ave, #280, Santa Monica, CA  90405, or e-mail AdviceAmy@aol.com (www.advicegoddess.com)

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        Most people like gadgets. Admit it, even though when you jump on your bike you’re thinking about the open road, your mind might still wander to some cool gadget or accessory that you saw that just might make your ride a little more enjoyable. And there’s no shame in that.
    Here’s a list of a few gadgets that just might catch your eye. They aren’t necessities, but they just might make your ride a little more fun. 
        {mosimage}The Throttle Rocker. The throttle rocker allows you to rest your wrist, keeping the throttle at a constant speed for long distance highway rides.. Once you put a throttle rocker on the throttle, you can forget that it is there, and use it as a cradle for your right wrist. So cheap and so useful!
        There are other cruise control “systems” that can you let you cruise long distances without using your right hand to keep the throttle rolled at a constant speed.
        Battery Charger. Nothing is more irritating or dampens the joy of the open road more than a dead battery. So a small, inexpensive, battery charger is almost a necessity, after all, you don’t want to get stuck on the side of the road, you want to own it. There are various type of battery chargers, you just need to make sure that it is a low voltage charger.
        Hydration system. Another very useful of the many motorcycle gadgets, particularly for long trips, is some sort of hydration system. A long tube connected to a bag of fluid, that you can use when you need some water.
        A hydration system has a dual function during really hot weather. You can fill the reservoir with ice cubes and water, for an “air conditioning” system and a source of refreshing cold water. You’re still going to need to stop for bathroom breaks, but you are going to be cooler on the road. Many in the military are well acquainted with the Camel Back system — not only does it come in handy in the sanbox, it’s also great when you get a chance to play.
        Another”must have” motorcycle gadget relates to tires — you should really carry a pressure gauge, as well as a tire repair kit.
        Finally, taking a first-aid kit on the road is just common sense. You never know what you are going to encounter on the open road, and you don’t know where you are going to be when you might need that band-aid or dab of antiseptic.

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    Dear EarthTalk: How is it that hydrogen can replace oil to run our cars? There seems to be a lot of controversy over whether hydrogen can really be generated and stored in such a way to be practical?                                
           — Stephane Kuziora, Thunder Bay, Ontario

        The jury is still out on whether hydrogen will ultimately be our environmental savior, replacing the fossil fuels responsible for global warming and various nagging forms of pollution. Two main hurdles stand in the way of mass production and widespread consumer adoption of hydrogen “fuel cell” vehicles: the still high cost of producing fuel cells, and the lack of a hydrogen refueling network.
    Reining in manufacturing costs of fuel cell vehicles is the first major issue the automakers are addressing. While several have fuel cell prototype vehicles on the road — Toyota and Honda are even leasing them to the public in Japan and California — they are spending upwards of $1 million to produce each one due to the advanced technology involved and low production runs. Toyota hopes to reduce its costs per fuel cell vehicle to around $50,000 by 2015, which would make such cars economically viable in the marketplace. On this side of the Pacific, General Motors plans to sell hydrogen-powered vehicles in the U.S. by 2010.
        {mosimage}Another problem is the lack of hydrogen refueling stations. Major oil companies have been loathe to set up hydrogen tanks at existing gas stations for many reasons ranging from safety to cost to lack of demand. But obviously the oil companies are also trying to keep customers interested in their highly profitable bread-and-butter, gasoline. A more likely scenario is what is emerging in California, where some 38 independent hydrogen fuel stations are located around the state as part of a network created by the nonprofit California Fuel Cell Partnership, a consortium of automakers, state and federal agencies and other parties interested in furthering hydrogen fuel cell technologies.
        The benefits of ditching fossil fuels for hydrogen are many, or course. Burning fossil fuels like coal, natural gas and oil to heat and cool our buildings and run our vehicles takes a heavy toll on the environment, contributing significantly to both local problems like elevated particulate levels and global ones like a warming climate. The only by-product of running a hydrogen-powered fuel cell is oxygen and a trickle of water, neither of which will cause any harm to human health or the environment.
        But right now 95 percent of the hydrogen available in the U.S. is either extracted from fossil fuels or made using electrolytic processes powered by fossil fuels, thus negating any real emissions savings or reduction in fossil fuel usage. Only if renewable energy sources — solar, wind and others — can be harnessed to provide the energy to process hydrogen fuel can the dream of a truly clean hydrogen fuel be realized.
        Stanford University researchers in 2005 assessed the environmental effects of three different hydrogen sources: coal, natural gas, and water electrolysis powered by wind. They concluded that we’d lower greenhouse gas emissions more by driving gasoline/electric hybrid cars than by driving fuel cell cars run on hydrogen from coal.
        Hydrogen made using natural gas would fare a little bit better in terms of pollution output, while making it from wind power would a slam-dunk for the environment.
    CONTACT: California Fuel Cell Partnership, www.fuelcellpartnership.org.
    GOT AN ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTION? Send it to: EarthTalk, c/o E/The Environmental Magazine, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; submit it at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/thisweek/, or e-mail: earthtalk@emagazine.com. Read past columns at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/archives.php.

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        The Women’s Center of Fayetteville usually operates behind the scenes. So much so, that a lot of people don’t even know about the facility.
        “We like the people that we serve to be the heroes,” said Stephanie Kennedy, the Women’s Center marketing director.
        That’s all well and good, but now this organization that, by its own calculations, has brought close to $100 million in federal money to this town in the past eight years, is feeling the pinch themselves. Long story short — a computer glitch (on someone else’s computer) is costing them $50,000. That’s half their budget and money that would have been put to use helping to better Fayetteville.
        The Women’s Center is a resource center for the entire community, not just women. It has been in town for over a decade, and in 2006-2007 alone it  worked one-on-one with 354 (business) clients; offered 83 workshops which had 473 participants; assisted 70 clients in applying for financing; assisted 16 clients in opening new businesses; and assisted 25 clients in expanding their businesses.
        Their largest program and the one that Kennedy believes makes the biggest impact on our community is the Women’s Business Center; and again, don’t let the name fool you — it says Women’s Business Center, but it serves everyone. Kennedy points out that there are a lot of places a person can go in Fayetteville for help starting a business.
        “Where I think we’re different is that one-on-one relationship factor that a lot of places don’t give you,” she said. “We don’t teach you how to write a business plan and send you on your way. When you come in to us we educate you through classes, we walk you through a business plan, financial plan, we make sure and go over it with a fine tooth comb so that if you need funding, if you  need loans before that business plan goes before the loan officer we know it’s going to pass.”
        The center has a number of programs designed to help those interested in starting a business, with programs ranging from loans to credit counseling and marketing. To offer the wide array of programs, the center obviously needs financing.
        {mosimage}And to help earn money to support these programs, the Women’s Center has opened a business of their own. The store front formerly known as Unruly, is now Downtown Décor. “The store is just part of what we are doing,” said Kennedy. “Downtown Décor is one avenue that we are trying to make ourselves self sufficient.” 
        The idea sprang up out of a “You know what this town needs...” conversation between the Women’s Center Executive Director Sylvia Gray and C.J. Malson.  “She (C.J.) had mentioned what Fayetteville was lacking was a very upscale resale consignment and home décor store — and not just furniture — not just lamps; we’re not talking knick knacks or anything like that,” said Kennedy
        “But a place where people who want nice furniture can go to and buy it and it looks very nice and looks new but not have to pay an arm and a leg for it.” 
        It’s been open since the end of May, and Malson is the manager and decorator for the store.     “You can go to any store and purchase furniture or home décor items and that money is going in their pockets,” said Kennedy.
        “If you come to Downtown Décor, the money that you’ve given to the store goes right back into the Women’s Center.” 
        The store operates as a non-pofit, so any donations to the facility are tax deductible. 
     

  • Details
        As the heat of an eastern North Carolina summer has settled in, my thoughts are often relaxed and wandering. Here are some of them.
        Just a few weeks ago, Americans were digesting the riveting news that a group of teenaged girls in Massachusetts may have made a pact to become pregnant and raise their babies together. I and other opinionated writers worried in print about what lies ahead for those too-young mothers and unsuspecting infants.
        Now comes word about babies whose lives are going to be much different from those of the New England bundles of joy.
        As I write this column, celebrity extraordinaire Angelina Jolie is ensconced in a French hospital suite overlooking the Mediterranean Sea awaiting the birth of her twins, fathered by her partner actor Brad Pitt. Television trucks camped outside the hospital to beam images around the world of Pitt and the couple’s other children as they come and go from visits with Jolie. Public relations experts report frenzied bidding for the first photographs of the Jolie-Pitt twins, bandying about numbers as staggeringly high as $20 million.
        Clearly, these children will not need to worry about college expenses.
        These yet unborn babes may be the objects of the highest dollar media attention ever, but they are hardly the only ones to receive it. Remember baby Suri, the child of actors Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise? Somehow, she managed to be publicly unphotograhped for her first several months of life, and media speculation abounded that something must be wrong with the child for her parents to keep her under wraps.
        Blessedly, the child is fine, and I see plenty of her on tabloid covers as I stand in the grocery checkout line. Likewise, I have also learned about the potty training progress of other celebrity tots and which ones are given to temper tantrums.
        The question which comes to mind now is why in the midst of a presidential campaign year and a war on foreign soil are we interested in infants and toddlers we will never know.

    That
        A recent interview with author Barbara Ehrenreich on National Public Radio caught my attention. Ehrenreich gained national attention with her book Nickel and Dimed in America in which she attempted and ultimately failed to make ends meet with low-wage service jobs all across our country. She, of course, was able to return to the world of a successful writer but was clearly torn to leave her former co-workers behind in the world of minimum wage.
        Ehrenreich has published a new book of essays, This Land is Their Land: Reports from a Divided Nation, in which she tackles the growing gap between the haves and the have nots and other topics. Among them is the fiscal acumen of America’s young people, which is not stellar. My own observation is that too many of them view balancing a bank account as sticking their debit card into the ATM machine to get their current balance and that few can pass up an attractive purchase in favor of a savings account.
        That being said, Ehrenreich offered some thoughts for young Americans college bound for the first time.
        To paraphrase, she says that over the next few years they will become more in debt than they ever imagined, that they will drink more alcohol than they ever imagined and will regularly regret it on the morning after, and that, if they happen to bring their virginity to college with them, they will have lost it by the time they leave.
        I have no idea whether those notions apply to all college students, but they almost surely fit some.

    The Other Thing
        {mosimage}And, finally, this, reprinted in my latest Kiwanis Club bulletin in memory of George Carlin, a truly original and funny fellow. Carlin died last month, but he left us many wonderful and intriguing thoughts.
        “Don’t sweat the petty things and don’t pet the sweaty.
        One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor.
        The main reason Santa is so jolly is because he knows where all the bad girls live.
        Isn’t it a little unnerving that doctors call what they do practice?
        If a parsley farmer is sued, can they garnish his wages?
        Why do they lock gas station bathrooms?  Are they afraid someone will clean them?
        Why don’t sheep shrink when it rains?
        What was the best thing before sliced bread?
        Where are we going? And what’s in this hand basket?
        If the “black box” flight recorder is never damaged during the plane crash, why isn’t the whole d*** plane made out of that stuff?”
        Happy musings of your own, and stay cool.

  • Details
        {mosimage}When I was younger (and a lot less wise), I had what some would call “quite a mouth” on me. My speech was liberally laced with profanity. It became a habit — one that I dropped upon hearing that I was pregnant. I realized the words coming out of my mouth were not words that I ever wanted to hear come out of my child’s mouth.
        Having dropped the habit (although like everyone else, I occasionally slip up), it disturbs me to hear people let loose with profanity without any regard to those around them. This past week, I was reminded just how much it disturbed me. I had an appointment with a friend, and, having arrived a little early, I took the time to sit outside in the sunshine in front of the shopping area where we were to meet.
    Sitting there, watching the people walk by, I was shocked to see what was written on one guy’s T-shirt. Right there for anyone and everyone to read were the words “overworked and under (insert the F-word here).” That’s right. That’s what was on the guy’s shirt.
        For a mother of a child who having learned to read now reads everything — signs, T-shirts, billboards — all I could think of was sitting there hearing my little boy read that T-shirt out loud to me. That was enough to make my blood boil.
        It was only compounded by the guy’s next action. He got on his cell phone and called one of his friends. Standing on a public walk way, with families with small children walking by, he started a conversation with his buddy. If you thought his T-shirt was shocking, his phone call was over the top.         Every other word was the “f-bomb.”
        It seemed to be his adjective of choice. Actually although it usually doesn’t work this way, it was also his verb, adverb and noun of choice. And he wasn’t talking quietly. He was loud and his conversation was long. I wanted to go over, rip the phone from his hand and do what mothers of old have always threatened — wash his mouth out with soap.
        I know, I know. First Amendment Freedom of Speech. But there has to be a line drawn somewhere. What’s appropriate in our homes, is not always appropriate in public. Sometimes, it’s never appropriate in public. And when that happens, then the merchants who are seeking business have to take a stand.
    If dance clubs can enforce a dress code on the people who they allow to enter their facilities, then eateries and shopping venues can do the same. The management of the facility I was at should not have allowed that “gentleman,” and I use that term very facetiously, entry into their place of business. Not only was his shirt inappropriate, but every person entering the place of business during that 15 minutes was met with his blue streak of profanity. It was unacceptable.
        I’m sure if the man in question spent more time with Mr. Webster and his friend Mr. Thesaurus, he could wear a shirt that would express the same sentiment without offending everyone he met. Not to mention the fact that his telephone conversation would probably have made a lot more sense.
      Publisher Bill Bowman had a similar experience recently, and he pointed out the problem to the manager of the establishment, who quietly asked the patron to leave. If people cannot act in an acceptable manner in public, then they can always eat at home, where they are free to express themselves anyway they want.

  • Details

        You might not think about Christmas in July, but some local motorcycle enthusiasts have made the Christmas in July Toy Run a part of the Fayetteville landscape for the past six years.
        The event, which raises funds for the Children’s Miracle Network and the Duke Children’s Hospital, is the brainchild of two local men — Joe Cook and William Winford, both associates at the Wal-Mart Logistics Distribution Center located in Hope Mills. Their goal is to make the event the largest charity motorcycle event in the state.
        Wal-Mart has long been a corporate sponsor of the Children’s Network, signing on in 1988. Since that time,        Wal-Mart/SAM’sClub associates and customers have raised and contributed more than $300 million to the Children’s Network. Locally, the event has raised more than $46,000 in cash and toys for the hospital.
        The Children’s Miracle Network is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to helping children by raising funds and awareness for 170 nonprofit hospitals throughout North America, serving more than 17 million children with all types of illnesses. Research funded by the Children’s Miracle Network helps give babies a chance for happier, healthier lives.
    Held each July, the event raises cash and collects toys for use in the hospital. Each rider who participates in the event pays a $15 entry fee and brings one toy. Each additional rider must pay a $10 fee. Last year, the event brought in more than $9,000 in cash, and more than $4,000 in toys and gifts.
        The gifts are used to fund the hospital’s “treasure chest” for the children. Items needed include: rattles, stackable rings, lullaby tapes/CDs, stack and sort blocks, musical toys, Legos, playing cards, dinosaurs, trains, Barbie dolls, Playdoh, journals, craft kits, disposable cameras, magazines, door basketball goals, gift cards to restaurants, and other items for the playroom, which includes DVDs, Nintendo game cube games, bubbles, crayons, construction paper and CDs.
        {mosimage}This year’s event is slated for Saturday, July 19, with the rally point at M&M Leather and Custom Cycle, one of the many corporate sponsors of the event. Registration is from 7:30-9:50 a.m. While waiting for the ride to start, participants can purchase raffle tickets and take part in an auction. At 9:50 a.m., the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Department will give riders a safety brief prior to their departure.
        The brief is important, as riders will travel through four counties and nine cities on the run up to the Duke University Children’s Hospital. The ride will officially kick off at 10 a.m., with riders heading out Bragg Boulevard on their way to Durham. With an expected 300 riders and almost a mile in length, it is important that riders obey the safety rules and are aware of the route the ride is taking.
        Riders are expected to arrive at Duke University Children’s Hospital at noon, where they can enjoy a great lunch provided by Texas Roadhouse. At 1 p.m., the money and gifts will be presented to the hospital in a special ceremony that involves the families whose children are being treated at Duke. At 1:30 p.m., riders can head back down the road to Fayetteville to prepare for the closing ceremonies.
        This year, as in past years, a cookout will be held at M&M Leather. There will be a 50/50 drawing, as well as drawings for various gifts and prizes. In addition to the great fun and prizes, there will also be some awesome entertainment, featuring Gasoline, Wicked Lizard and DD Productions.
            On Friday night, a pre-event Kick-Start Party will be held at Legends Pub from 6-8 p.m. Participants can pre-register for the ride at that time.
    Corporate partners include: Double D Productions, JEB Designs, Legends, M&M Leather, Up & Coming Weekly, Texas Roadhouse, The Custom Edge, Inc. Wal-Mart Logistics TO 6840 and DC 6040 and Arctic Fox Video Production

     

  • Details

         If you’re under the age of 6, you probably don’t need to be introduced to the Backyardigans, but since our reader’s survey tells us our readers are a little older than that, you might want to take your kids over to the Crown Theatre, July 11-12, to meet some of their favorite cartoon friends. The Backyardigans will come to life for you and your preschoolers in their brand-new live show, The Backyardigans Live! Tale of the Mighty Knights!
        The Backyardigans have been a staple in children’s television since 2004. Since its debut on Nickelodeon's preschool weekday lineup, the show has become the number two rated show for preschoolers on television. The program, which features five preschool friends — Pablo, Tyrone, Uniqua, Tasha and Austin — combines music and dancing to build your child’s imagination, just as the friends build their daily backyard adventures. Each episode features a different genre of music (big band, reggae, polka, Motown and disco), with at least four new songs appearing in each episode.
    In their latest adventure, the friends go on one of the greatest adventures of all.
    Uniqua and Tyrone are knights on a quest to protect King Pablo’s egg. Along the way they meet some interesting characters — Grabbing Goblin Austin and Flight Fairy Tasha — who join in on the fun. They all wind up chasing the unpredictable egg, which hatches feet and dashes all the way up to Dragon Mountain.
        {mosimage}Of course, as strong as the knights are, they are going to need some help. And that help come from the audience. The audience is asked o join in the singing and dancing to give the knights the courage they need to face the dragon who rules Dragon Mountain. Of course, don’t forget, they are going to need a little imagination.
        The show runs a little over 75 minutes, with two 30-minute acts with a 15-minute intermission.
        All five Backyardigans appear in the live show. Similar to Dora and Diego Live, the characters are portrayed by actors in costumes, with their faces revealed. The creators of the live show chose to use this approach so that the audience see and hear the expressions of the characters and really relate to them. Kids easily suspend their disbelief and experience the magic of the live theatre while playing along with their backyard friends.
        "We’re excited about our latest live theatrical endeavor for families,” said Stuart Rosenstein, senior vice president, Resorts and Theatricals, Nickelodeon Recreation.  “The Backyardigans has proven to be a huge hit with Nickelodeon families, and based on the enormous success of the Dora and Diego Live shows, we’re confident The Backyardigans Live!will have the same fantastic response from kids and parents across the country.”
        Show times are Friday, July 11 at 7 p.m., and Saturday, July 12 at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Tickets are $18 to $38. Tickets may be purchased at the Crown Center Box Office, all Ticketmaster outlets, Ticketmaster.com or by calling (910) 223-2900. The Crown Center’s main box office is located at the Crown Coliseum and is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

     

  • Details

        The Fayetteville State University Summer Opera Series is staging a performance of Mozart’s opera,The Marriage of Figaro, on July 18 and 19 at 7:30 p.m., at Seabrook Auditorium on the campus of Fayetteville State University.
        There will be a children’s matinee on July 19 at 1 p.m., sponsored by The Youth Growth Stock Fund. The matinee is a one-hour presentation for youth and families and tickets are free. Visit the Web site to reserve these free seats.       
        “We wanted to bring a new kind of cultural aspect to Fayetteville,” said Dr. Marvin Curtis, producer and musical director of the production, assistant dean of the graduate school and choir director of Fayetteville State University. “We have been fortunate to receive two grants in the last three years from the National Endowment for the Arts.”
        Curtis added that this year they received $64,000 in grants.   
        This performance will be a memorable one for Curtis because he is leaving FSU to take a position as dean at another university. The artistic director of the production is Phoebe Hall, director of theater at Fayetteville State University.      
        The Marriage of Figarois a cornerstone of the operatic repertoire. It is based on a stage comedy in which the plot recounts a single day in the palace of Count Almaviva in Spain.{mosimage}
        “It is a story of love, potential infidelity, masquerade and finding one’s true love,” said Curtis. “I call it all that with music.”
    Rosina is now the Countess; her husband, the Count, is seeking the favors of Susanna, who is to wed her love, Figaro, the Count’s valet. When the Count detects the interest of the young page, Cherubino, in the Countess, he tries to get rid of Cherubino by giving him an officer’s commission in his own regiment. Figaro, Susanna and the Countess conspire to embarrass the Count and expose his infidelity. They find themselves on the palace grounds where a comic series of cases of mistaken identity result in the Count’s humiliation and then forgiveness by the Countess.    
        Four international singers have been chosen for the lead roles: Ivan Griffin, Louise Toppin, Dr. Frank Ward Jr. and Gregory Gardner. The cast members include Kristen Campbell, Johanna Young, Ashley Kotz, Gail Morefesis, Bruce Cook, Clayton Riddle and Michael Jones. 
        The production will be accompanied by local musicians from the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra, students and other area musicians.
        “We are using a 28-piece orchestra,” said Curtis. “There is also a chorus of nine singers.”         
        The production has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts Challenge America Program, Cumberland County Tourism Development Authority and The Arts Council of Fayetteville Cumberland County.            
        “People told me that we could not do opera here in Fayetteville,” said Curtis. “The first year we had 2,000 people during a three-day period and this year I expect a full house.”
        Ticket cost is $10 for adults, $5 for children and $8 for senior citizens and military. Interested persons and groups can go to the Web site, www.uncfsu.edu/fah, for information on tickets for this event, or call 672-1276.

  • Details

        The Friends of the Library do a lot to enhance the Cumberland County Public Library system. Perhaps one of the greatest contributions they bring to the table is bringing noted authors to our community to share their works. Over the course of the year, the organization brings a nsumber of authors to the community, and on Tuesday, July 15, it will host noted North Carolina author Lonnie Busch.
        Busch, who resides in western North Carolina, has gained acclaim for both his writing and his illustrations, but during his visit to the Headquarters Library, he will focus on his latest work,    Turnback Creek, the winner of the 2006 Clay Reynolds Novella Prize. The book focuses on the life of Cole Emerson, a retired heavy equipment operator in a small town.
        By day, Emerson cooks, cleans and tries to make the last days of his dying sister comfortable. But the night belongs to him. Unlike others in his situation, he doesn’t seek out bright lights and large crowds to remind him that he is still alive. Instead, he seeks the solitude of Hardman Lake, where he fishes for bass and puts his own thoughts on mortality and life in order. His routine is suddenly and irrevocably shattered one night on    Turnback Creek when he meets a mysterious girl who reminds him that while he might spend his day surrounded by death, that he is, in fact, still alive, and still has dreams and desires.
        {mosimage}The book has received rave reviews, having been called “a bittersweet tale of a confrontation of one old man with mortality, his own and that of those who love him.”
        Author Jubal Tiner noted that the book is “Part ghost story, part love story, all with the bite of loss, grief and redemption.    Turnback Creek has it all, and Busch’s deft prose brings it palpably to life. It is not to be missed.”
        This offering is departure for Busch, who up to this point has focused on short tories. His works have appeared in several publications, having been a finalist in the World’s Best Short Story Competition in 2004 and earning The Tobias Wolff Award for Fiction in 2005.
        More in the realm of popular culture, his illustrations have found their way into Americana, having been chosen for U.S. postage stamps honoring the Olympics in 2004 and a series of Wonders of America stamps in 2006. His most recent, and probably most talked about illustration, was for the cover of Jimmy Buffet’s novel,    A Salty Piece of Land.
        Busch will be reading from his works, as well as talking about them during his appearance at the library. The event begins at 7 p.m. at the Headquarters Library and is free and open to the public.

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