{mosimage}During tough times, families try to make their dollars stretch as far as possible. But when the economy slows, con artists ramp up their efforts to try to get rich at your expense. They know that the lure of easy money or help getting out of debt can be tempting when money is tight. Don’t fall for their ploys.

Here are some scams to watch out for during tough economic times:

Credit Repair: Watch out for outfits that promise to fix your credit report for a fee. These scams cheat consumers out of hundreds of dollars and will do nothing to improve your credit. Under North Carolina law, it’s illegal to charge upfront fees for credit repair services.

Debt Settlement: Avoid companies č including out-of-state lawyers č that offer to eliminate or cut your debts by negotiating with your creditors. These operations typically collect large upfront fees but reach very few settlements with creditors, leaving you deeper in debt. Under North Carolina law, it’s illegal to collect any upfront fee for debt settlement services. If you need help getting your debts under control, instead consider talking to a non-profit consumer credit counselor in your community about debt management services or budget counseling. 

To find a reputable local counselor, contact the National Foundation for Credit Counseling at 1-800-388-2227 or www.nfcc.org. If your debt situation is especially difficult, you may want to consult a local bankruptcy attorney.

Foreclosure Rescue: Steer clear of foreclosure assistance or rescue companies that want you to make your mortgage payment to them, or who tell you not to talk to your mortgage company or an attorney. Also, beware if they require payment before they will “help” you. It’s illegal to charge an upfront fee for foreclosure assistance services in North Carolina. For free help dealing with foreclosure, call the HOPE hotline at 888-995-HOPE.

Sweepstakes: A sudden windfall sounds great but be skeptical of calls or mailings announcing that you’ve won a sweepstakes or lottery. Scammers use the promise of winnings to try to steal your money and your personal financial information. In some cases, they include a very legitimate looking check that is supposed to cover taxes and fees you’re told to pay before you can claim your prize. Once you cash the check and wire the money, the check turns out to be a fake č just like the promised prize.

Business opportunity and work-at-home schemes:Promises that you can earn thousands of dollars a week working from home or get rich by investing in an exciting new business that’s guaranteed to make money sound tempting. But be skeptical about such offers. In most cases, the scheme will wind up costing you money rather than helping you make any. Never pay for information about a work-at-home offer, or for any kind of start-up kit, instructional booklet or list of clients. And never invest in a new business without checking it out thoroughly with our office and the Better Business Bureau. Take the time to think it over instead of getting pressured into a quick decision. 

Free Grants:Don’t fall for ads you spot online or in your local newspaper that promise thousands of dollars in free government grants. The scammers say they can help you get a grant that you won’t have to repay and that doesn’t require a credit check. All you have to do is fill out an application and pay the company a fee. But once you pay the fee you’ll likely never see one dime of grant money.

Well, here it is.

We’ve complained about not having a role in the selection of the presidential nominees. Now the campaign of the Democrats has come to our door. We are “in play” at last.

So, what do we say about it? Do we celebrate our importance in the national decision-making contest? No. We shake our heads, frown and grumble that the ongoing, increasingly negative campaigning that characterizes the Obama-Clinton battle is annoying, counterproductive and demeaning.

Many North Carolinians agree with the sentiment expressed by theNew York Times last week. “The Pennsylvania campaign was even meaner, more vacuous, more desperate, and more filled with pandering than the mean, vacuous, desperate, pander-filled contests that preceded it. Voters are getting tired of it; it is demeaning the political process; and it does not work.” It is getting to be time for the superdelegates to do what the Democrats had in mind when they created superdelegates: settle a bloody race that cannot be won at the ballot box.

Maybe theTimes and the many others I have heard express the same view are correct. Maybe the primaries in North Carolina and the other remaining states are counterproductive for the Democrats and for the country.

But I see it another way. I think the hard fought primary campaigns, negative advertising and all, may be the Democrats’ best possible preparation for the fall campaign. Conceding, of course, the downside in bitter feelings and lowered popularity of the ultimate candidate, I think the organizational process, the fundraising experience and the challenges the candidates have faced, are good preparation for the ultimate Democratic nominee. An easy win for either Clinton or Obama would not have conditioned either of them for the political war that the nominee will have to fight this fall. Political “coronations” may encourage happiness and good feelings within a party, but the so-called campaigns that lead up to them do not build the kind of experienced organizations that Obama and Clinton continue to grow. Ask Senator McCain!

When the Democratic candidate goes to war this fall, his or her armies will have been battle tested. The candidates and their organizations will know the terrain of the entire country, and their troops will have the confidence of hardened veterans who have already fought together and learned the strengths and weaknesses of their fellow soldiers. They know who can help in every part of the country, and, more importantly, they know the people who actually can be counted on to do the job.

The hard knocks Obama and Clinton have exchanged this year so far are nothing compared to what the nominee will experience in the general election.

AsTime magazine columnist Joe Klein explained last week when discussing the necessary qualities of a presidential candidate, “It helps to be a warrior, for one thing. It helps to be able to take a punch and deliver one č even, sometimes, a sucker punch.” 

With respect to Obama’s disdain for this kind of rough and tumble campaigning, Klein writes, “But the presidency will not be won if he doesn’t learn that the only way to reach the high-minded conversation he wants, and the country badly needs, is to figure out how to maneuver his way through the gutter.”

If Obama is the nominee and then is victorious in the fall, the person to whom he should be most indebted would be Hillary Clinton. As the toughest sparring partner imaginable, she will have turned Obama’s great potential as a candidate into a seasoned and solid national competitor.

The reverse is also true. If Clinton is nominated, she should thank Obama for making her stronger than she would have been otherwise.

But if Clinton is not the nominee, will this campaign have been good for her? I think so. If she loses, does it graciously, and then supports Obama 100-percent in the fall, her powerful primary campaign will have earned her an increased national leadership role. 

With her experience and solid group of supporters, she can be a serious contender again. And, if Obama is the nominee and loses in the fall, watch out for her in 2012.

{mosimage}I’m warning you right off the bat, the following is a trick question.

If I gave you a list of 12 major industrialized countries and asked you where the highest share of medical bills was paid directly by patients rather than by third parties, would you say the United States? Or at least put the U.S. in the top tier?

Most people who consider themselves well-informed about health policy would pick America as a system with relatively high out-of-pocket spending. They’d be wrong. According to a 2007 study, the U.S. ranks ninth out of 12 industrialized countries in the share of total health spending financed out of pocket, at about 13 percent. That’s slightly lower than in Canada, a dreamland for many government-monopoly advocates, where patients directly pay for nearly 15 percent of medical services. The share exceeds 20 percent in Italy, Portugal and Spain, and reaches about one-third in Switzerland. 

As North Carolina and the rest of the nation move into the thick of the 2008 political season, health care promises to be a popular topic. One good rule of thumb is to doubt those who proclaim that health care issues have simple solutions or that there is some way for reformers to score a free lunch by spending a lot less, getting a lot more and hurting no one in the process. 

Careful analysis and valid international assessments of national health systems confirm that tradeoffs are no less inevitable in health care than in other economic sectors. Governments that use taxes, regulations, and monopolies to restrain health spending end up limiting patient access to care and reducing the real incomes of medical providers č the average French physician earns the equivalent of $55,000 a year, for example, compared to $146,000 for the average U.S. general practitioner and $271,000 for the average U.S. specialist. If the goal is to slash doctors’ incomes, at least be honest about it.

To start with, it’s important to shed any preconceived notions about the American health-care system as a free market and European or Japanese health care as a government monopoly. The story is far more complicated č and interesting č than that. Obviously, given that the U.S. does not have government-run health insurance for the able-bodied, non-poor adult population, the share of health care spending that flows through government in the U.S. is lower than in Britain, which has a system verging on true socialized medicine. But the U.S. proportion isn’t zero. Nearly half of all American health spending is by governments č Medicare, Medicaid and other programs. Canada’s share is 70 percent. Most big European nations have shares between 70 percent and 80 percent.

╩Taking the share of government health care in the U.S. up by 20 points, to Canada’s level, would be a big (and in my view unwelcome) change. But it wouldn’t be quite as radical a change as some liberals and conservatives seem to think.

Moreover, the share of health care accounted for by government programs is hardly the only indicator of the extent of market control or decontrol. While America has less government insurance, we impose more significant licensing regulations on medical providers and institutions than do some of our competitors, where nurse practitioners and other lower-cost alternatives are more readily available to consumers. Furthermore, America’s generous tax deductions for health care distort markets for insurance and service provisions in ways that are not always present in Europe.

╩On the other side of the ledger, be wary of those who equate “universal coverage” with “universal care.” Plenty of people residing in European countries where they are guaranteed, by law, to have “free” health care are less able to secure a doctor’s appointment or receive a medical procedure than the average American is.

Before North Carolina or national politicians go plunging into a new round of “reform,” they should study more carefully what other countries actually do, how their policies affect the quality and availability of medical services, and whether Americans would ever accept the constraints on liberty that European-style health insurance would necessarily bring.

{mosimage}Dear EarthTalk: How is wind power faring in the U.S. now? Is more of it coming on line and becoming a larger percent of the grid? And what about some of the highly publicized efforts to build wind farms, such as in Cape Cod, Mass. Has that been approved?

č Paul Howe, San Francisco, Calif.

Clean and green wind energy is the new darling of alternative energy developers, and the U.S. industry has been surging the past three years, especially as developers take advantage of government incentives č in the form of the so-called Production Tax Credit (PTC) č for erecting turbines and connecting them to the grid.

The nonprofit American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) reports that, in 2007 alone, total U.S. wind power capacity grew by a new record of 45 percent, injecting some $9 billion into the economy. These new installations provide enough electricity to power 1.5 million typical American homes while strengthening the nation’s energy supply with clean, homegrown electricity.

According to AWEA, utility-grade wind power installations are now in operation across 34 U.S. states, generating more than 16,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity cumulatively č enough to power upwards of 4.5 million homes and to generate 45,000 new domestic jobs. But even with this growth, wind energy still accounts for just one percent of U.S. electricity supply. Continued growth apace with that of recent years, though, should make it a major player in the American energy scene within a decade. President George W. Bush himself recently suggested that wind has the potential to supply up to 20 percent of the nation’s electricity.

Of course, the volatility of oil prices has helped wind energy gain its foothold. Once a wind farm is built, the fuel cost is essentially zero (as long as the wind blows), whereas fluctuating fossil fuel prices have made traditional power sources more costly and risky. Upping our reliance on wind power has also allowed us to lower our overall carbon footprint. If coal or natural gas were to be substituted to generate the electricity we now get from wind, it would put 28 million additional tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year. Wind power also saves water by not requiring the billions of gallons of water used to cool coal-fired power plants, an increasingly contentious issue in arid areas with limited access to fresh water.

As for the contentious Cape Wind project proposed for Nantucket Sound in Massachusetts, the federal agency in charge, the U.S. Minerals Management Service, is sifting through tens of thousands of public comments and expects to make a final decision on the project by next winter. But even if they give it the green light, extensive permitting demands and legal challenges will likely hold up construction for years.  

AWEA thinks that 2008 can be as much of a growth year as 2007 if Congress extends the PTC program. The Senate has already approved extending the PTC for at least one more year, but the House has yet to bring it up for a vote. Meanwhile, wind energy proponents are pacing the halls of Congress trying to persuade their representatives that what’s good for the wind industry is good for America.

  If a survey was taken, people in Fayetteville would not be surprised to find that Fayetteville probably has more runners per capita than any city in the United States. You can’t drive down the street without passing runners č in the winter, in the rain, in the hot summer afternoons. A lot of that can be attributed to our connection to Fort Bragg, but whatever the case, in addition to being an All American city, Fayetteville is also a running city.

And on Saturday, May 10, runners will get another chance to hit the streets to participate in the 7th Annual John E. Norman Cinco de Mayo 10K and 5K road race. The annual event has traditionally been held downtown, but this year will be held on Fort Bragg, with an eye to returning downtown in 2009. The run, organized by Julio Ramirez, is designed to promote the Hispanic culture. Cinco de Mayo is commonly celebrated as Mexican Independence Day, but actually it is a celebration of the Battle of Puebla in 1862. The battle saw the country engaged in a fight with France. France had loaned money to the Mexican government in its early years, and when Mexico quit making payments, France invaded. The French Army, who had not been defeated in 50 years, invaded Mexico with the finest modern equipment and with a newly reconstituted Foreign Legion (French Foreign Legion).

France used the debt issue to establish its own leadership in Mexico by installing Napoleon’s relative, Archduke Maximilian of Austria, as ruler of Mexico. France invaded the Gulf Coast of Mexico and began to march toward Mexico City.╩

Marching on toward Mexico City from the coast, the French army encountered strong resistance at the Mexican forts of Loreto and Guadalupe. Led by Mexican General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguin, a small, poorly armed militia of about 4,500 were able to stop and defeat a well outfitted French army of 6,500 soldiers, which halted the invasion of the country. The victory was a glorious moment for Mexican patriots and is the cause for the historical date’s celebration.╩

Unfortunately, the victory was short-lived. Upon hearing the bad news, Napoleon had found an excuse to send more troops overseas to try and invade Mexico again, against the wishes of the French populace. Thirty thousand more troops and a full year later, the French were eventually able to depose the Mexican army, take over Mexico City and install Maximilian as the ruler of Mexico.╩

Maximilian’s rule of Mexico was also short-lived, from 1864 to 1867, ending as the U.S. began to provide more political and military assistance to Mexico to expel the French. Despite the eventual French invasion of Mexico City, Cinco de Mayo honors the bravery and victory of General Zaragoza’s small, outnumbered militia at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. 

While this Cinco de Mayo 10K is not a battle, it does challenge its participants to give their best. This year’s run will follow the same route as the annual Jingle Bell Jog. Runners come from across the state and at least three or four other states to participate in this event.

The race, which will start on Ardennes Street beside the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Museum will begin at 8:30 a.m. Runners in both the 10K and 5K will start at the same time, with the 10K runners taking the lead. The event will be timed and prizes will be awarded to the top finishers. Entry fees are $20 in advance and $25 on the day of the race. Ball caps will be given to all runners. Registration for the race starts at 7 a.m. Runners will be issued a timing chip. Failure to return the chip results in a $30 fee.

A Mexican-style cookout will be held following the race. All runners will receive a steak fajita plate. Non-runners will be charged a $5 per plate fee.

The Green Beret Parachute team will jump into the cookout following the race. If you do not have a sticker to access Fort Bragg, allow an extra 30 minutes to get on post. 

For more information, visit www.cincodemayo10k.org.

Contact Janice Burton at: editor@upandcomingweekly.com

This co-worker guy, who I hardly know, has been stalking me at work. I don’t want to cause trouble for him, but...he’s creepy. He’s been asking co-workers about me and finding me on my breaks. Today, as I was leaving for lunch, he said, “I haven’t stopped thinking about you.” The hairs on my neck stood up. The shower music from Psycho came into my head!! I (like an idiot) said, “Shoot me an e-mail.” (I don’t have the guts to tell him, “Screw off, you ugly, creepy, uh, expletive.”) Of course, he e-mails me č inviting me to lunch or dinner, saying he wants to get to know me better. Since I love your “tact,” I’d love to respond using your words. Something that says: 1. You’re creepy. 2. You obviously live with your mother. 3. Never in your lifetime. 

--The Hunted

Alfred Hitchcock might’ve retired to some sleepy town in England after a career as an elementary school filmstrip operator č save for his wise decisions while directing “Psycho.” Imagine Hitch weighing the dramatic possibilities: “Let’s see, shall we have a shadowy figure slipping into a motel bathroom, opening the shower curtain and raising a big knife to stab a terrified naked woman č or should some lad drop in at the woman’s office to tell her ‘I haven’t stopped thinking about you’ as a lead-up to asking when she might be free for lunch?”

Come on, a guy at work gives you reason to believe he has a crush on you and the shower music from “Psycho” comes into your head? When you see sheep nibbling on grass in a pasture, do you hear the theme from Jaws? Your complaint that this guy is “stalking” you reminds me of the old joke: It’s only sexual harassment when the guy asking you out is ugly, broke and works in the mailroom. Actual stalking is a willful and malicious form of intimidation č persistent, unwanted pursuit after the pursuer has been informed that his or her attentions are unwanted. Stalkingvictims.com reports that most U.S. states define stalking as behavior that would instill fear in a reasonable person. Sorry, but what are you afraid of, getting cooties by association? The stench of loserhood lingering in your hair? 

You take the post-modern approach to saying no, ditching “No means no” for “’Shoot me an e-mail’ means no.” Unfortunately, most people, including Dorky Boy, are probably working off the old definition. To make matters worse, if a guy really likes you, when one door fails to close, another 10 doors open. So, while you’re waiting for him to read your mind about what a “creepy, uh, expletive” you think he is, he’s probably laying out his dinner clothes, researching fine wine and wondering whether you should name the children after his late grandma or yours. 

It didn’t have to get to this point. All you had to do was be kind enough to say something the first time he expressed interest č nothing cutting about his looks or living arrangements č just “Thanks for asking, but I’m not interested.” You might also try squeezing out a little respect for guys who get up the nerve to go after what they want č especially as a girl who doesn’t have the guts to speak up about what she doesn’t. If you “No, thanks!” a guy a few times, and he fails to back off, sure, call for reinforcements. Until then, do your best to avoid crying wolf while being pursued down the halls of your office by a quivering, three-legged Chihuahua.

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

(c)2008, Amy Alkon, all rights reserved.

Lawyer confidentiality rules kept one man improperly on death row for 10 years and a probably innocent man in prison for 26, according to news that surfaced in January (in Virginia) and March (in Illinois). Daryl Atkins (sentenced to death in 1997) was the victim of probable prosecutorial misconduct, according to his co-defendant’s lawyer, Leslie Smith, who said he witnessed the misconduct but could not report it because a lesser sentence for Atkins would have exposed his own client to greater punishment. In Illinois, Alton Logan was convicted of a murder during a 1982 robbery. However, shortly afterward, Andrew Wilson admitted to his lawyers that he was the murderer, but bar association rules prohibited them from revealing that. When Wilson died in 2007, the lawyers went public, and Logan’s case has been re-opened. 

The Aristocrats! 

Mayor Art Madrid of La Mesa, Calif., apologized in February for an incident the week before when police found him, along with a female city employee, passed out about 10:30 p.m. Madrid was lying on the sidewalk near an SUV; the woman was in the driver’s seat with her legs sticking out the open door; and vomit littered the area. 

A patient reporting for an appointment with dentist Norman Rubin in Smithtown, N.Y., in March told the New York Post that Rubin was in the otherwise-empty office, passed out, drooling, with a gas mask on his face. (Rubin later told the Post, in defense, that it was, after all, his lunch hour.) 

Family Values 

Sheila and Paul Garcia of Northfleet, England, acknowledged to London’s Daily Mail in February that they invited their 16-year-old daughter’s boyfriend to come live with her in her bedroom, despite the fact that he is 36 and divorced, with one child. The parents said they weren’t thrilled with the situation, but that it was preferable to the daughter’s running away with the man. 

Cutting-Edge Parenting: Sheriff’s deputies in the Orlando area were on the lookout in March for two women who, according to surveillance video from the Magical Car Wash, had pulled into a stall and deposited coins but then proceeded only to scold and then pressure-wash a small child. 

Aron Pritchard, 27, was convicted of child endangerment in March in Hutchinson, Kan., after a jury declined to accept his explanation for his girlfriend’s kids, age 2 and 3, being burned in a hot clothes dryer. Pritchard said he was just trying to show them they could have fun without necessarily spending money. 

Least Competent Criminals 

Not Ready for Prime Time: Two boys, 12 and 14, were quickly arrested in Port St. Lucie, Fla., in March when they tried to rob a woman who was working at a counter behind protective glass in an office, by picking up the convenience phone and threatening her, implying that they had a gun. The woman was in no danger because of the protective glass, but besides that, the place they had chosen for the hit was a regional office of the Port St. Lucie police department. 

Donald Baker, 51, was re-arrested in March in Peterborough, Ontario, when he called the police department to request a wake-up call for his court appearance the next morning; amazed at his audacity, police ran a records check and found an additional arrest warrant on him. 

COPYRIGHT 2008 CHUCK SHEPHERD   

{mosimage}NASCAR races for three consecutive Saturday nights in May, beginning this weekend in Richmond, Va., when Crown Royal presents the Dan Lowry 400. 

Always an exciting place to watch a race, Richmond International Raceway produces some of the best racing anywhere. Measuring three-quarters of a mile in length, the track is short enough for the drivers to do plenty of beating and banging, yet wide enough for drivers to race different paths all the way around. The result is a short track with superspeedway characteristics. Schedule the race on a Saturday night and you’ve got all the ingredients for some of the best action of the season.

Jeff Burton continues to do what he has to do to stay on top of the point standings. His three top-five finishes and six top 10’s, along with his win at Bristol have all the other competitors looking up at the wiley veteran. The fact that he is squeaky clean and has the best-looking wife of any driver makes Burton a great choice to stay in the lead.

Kyle Busch continues to impress everyone with his start this season. He has won in each of the top NASCAR series. In 21 races, Busch has six wins, 12 top-five finishes and has led an incredible 1,100 laps. And it is just the first of May, folks. A couple of weeks ago, Kyle was within a few points of becoming the first driver in history to lead all three series at the same time. The kicker in all this? The kid is only 22 years old. Could he be the next boy wonder?

The national economic woes that all of us are facing continue to take their toll on team sponsorship. Both of the Fords at Yates Racing are unsponsored. And that’s with both drivers solidly in the top 25 in points. These are teams that are guaranteed to race every week. And yet no one has been found to pony up any dollars to put their logo on a 200 mph billboard. 

Another team struggling to find sponsorship is the #01 of DEI driver Regan Smith. Armed with only an associate sponsorship, the fourth team here has made things work. They are in the top 35 in points, albeit barely. 

So what gives? With a team sponsorship price tag in the range of $10 - $15 million per season, there is only a small pool of companies that can afford to stroke that kind of check. Throw in the dreaded “R” word č the recession that our economy is facing č and it forces many companies to stretch all the dollars that are available to spend. 

Granted, NASCAR fans are the most loyal in all of sports. But some people believe that the air is slowly seeping out of the NASCAR balloon. The recent unification of open-wheel racing could have an effect on the sponsorship pool. And if Danica Patrick wins Indianapolis, watch out. The entire space-time continuum as we know it could skew. Bottom line, if NASCAR does not do something to control costs, then the pool for sponsors will get even smaller.

If you are looking for something to do this weekend, then check out the ARCA race at Rockingham Speedway. The first race at The Rock in almost four years will have the richest purse in ARCA history and feature a historical name, the Carolina 500. This was the name of the first race ever run at Rockingham in the early 1960s.

Not too familiar with ARCA? Well, remember all those cars that used to run in NASCAR? They will be running on Sunday, May 4. Kenny Shrader will be running, along with Joey Logano of Joe Gibbs Racing and Bobby Hamilton, Jr. Call (910) 205-8800 for tickets.

Harley Davidson riders are pretty loyal to their bikes. So it seems only fitting that the Cape Fear Harley Davidson would be just as loyal to their customers. On Saturday, May 3, the Fayetteville business will sponsor its annual customer appreciation day to show just how much their customers, and the men and women of the U.S. military mean to them. 

The day-long event will feature a bike show, a fashion show, a Dyno Shoot-Out, a stunt show, free food and a mini-carnival for kids. And that’s not even half of what the staff of Cape Fear Harley Davidson has planned. 

Duke Durham, the parts manager, said the open house is an annual event that not only the community, but the staff of Cape Fear Harley looks forward to. The first event was held in May of 1991, when the dealership moved into its headquarters on Sycamore Dairy Road. Since then, the first Saturday of May has been dedicated to telling the community how proud Cape Fear Harley is of being a part of the community and to thank the community for its continued support.

“It’s a really big event,” said Durham. “We have something for everyone and it’s just our way of saying thanks.”

One of the big events of the day is the annual bike show. The show is open to the public. There is a $10 entry fee. Bikes will be judged in seven classes and there will be a Best of Show title awarded as well. The bike show will run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

If your bike isn’t quite up to show standards, you might want to stop in at the bike wash sponsored by the Steel Angels, a women’s motorcycle organization. Funds raised by the bike wash will benefit charity.

Of course, even if you are not a biker, you might want to check out the Ill Conduct Stunt Show, which features bikes performing jumps, wheelies and burn-outs. The show is scheduled for noon and 2:30 p.m. Or, if you do own a bike, you might want to participate in the Dyno Shoot Out. The shoot out, sponsored by Cape Fear Harley Davidson Racing č the store’s in-house drag racing team č would be a favorite of TV’s Tool Man, because it judges the bike with “more power.” There is a $25 entry fee for this event, and the bike with the biggest pull takes it all.

And of course, we did mention food č hamburgers and hot dogs will be served from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. There is no charge for the food. Kids playing in the carnival area will also be offered the sugar rush of cotton candy. 

Everyone knows that any bike event is not complete without music, and the Cape Fear Harley staff has you covered there, as well. Fayetteville rockers Motorjunkie will be on hand throughout the day to get your motor running. The band will perform at 11 a.m. and again at 1 and 3 p.m.

There will also be a bike giveaway, as well as other smaller giveaways throughout the day. So what are you waiting for? Head down to Cape Fear Harley Davidson where they won’t only tell you they appreciate your business, they’ll show you.

{mosimage}The trailers for Forgetting Sarah Marshall (112 minutes) did not offer much in the way of originality.  They looked exactly like every other Judd Apatow movie, with a little bit of classic Steve Martin thrown in for flavor.  But then I discovered that Apatow regular Jason Segel scripted this particular rom-com, and relative newcomer Nicholas Stoller directed.  Without Apatow, is Sarah Marshall worth paying money for?  After the first fifteen minutes in the theater, my answer is yes, absolutely!  This is one of the movies that will appeal to groups of guys, groups of women looking for something to do after lunch, and couples looking for the middle ground between Harold and Kumar and 27 Dresses.  Everyone in the theater laughed in most of the right places (although the guys behind me seemed focused on working out their ex-girlfriend issues, using less than polite terms to describe Sarah Marshall, played by Kristen Bell).

We begin with composer Peter Bretter (Segel) waiting for his girlfriend, television star Sarah Marshall (Bell) to arrive home.  He is a guy’s guy, starting his mid-afternoon with a mixing bowel full of cereal, which he claims is salad when Sarah calls to tell him she is coming over.  After the break up scene (which will either read as unsettlingly real or patently false, depending on what kind of relationships you get involved in), Peter has a series of one night stands culminating in hysterics at his day job. He decides to head to Hawaii, only to find out Sarah is already there with the man she left him for, the pretentious Aldous Snow (Russel Brand).  He stays, and gets to know a simply gorgeous Rachel (Mila Kunis╔was she always this pretty?), who is working on some bad relationship issues of her own.  Amidst several worthy subplots, Wyoma and Darald (played by Maria Thayer and Jack McBrayer) are the standout.  They play repressed and naĢve just marrieds, and the scene where Aldous uses oversized chess players to demonstrate to Darald what he should be doing with Wyoma is hysterical.  The real winner of the movie is A Taste for Love, the Dracula puppet musical that Peter is shown working on throughout the movie.  The Jim Henson Creature shop supplied the puppets and Segel the lyrics, which must be heard to be believed.  In fact, Sarah Marshall almost received the coveted five star rating on the strength of the puppet scenes alone.    

Overall, this is a lighter movie than Knocked Up, but has wider appeal than Superbad.  Stoller does an impressive job of capturing the honeymoon tourist side of Hawaii, and exploring the dynamics of the service industry there.  Plenty of fun, more than a little bit of nudity, and the cast plays well off of each other.  However, the script does seem a little bloated with subplots, and if Segel had trimmed some flashbacks, and completely left out surfer dude Chuck (Paul Rudd), the pace would improve immeasurably.   

{mosimage}On May 31, at 11 a.m., Festival Park is going to come alive with the sound of music. This day-long music festival, sponsored by Chapter C of the Special Forces Association, is going to go far to show that art isn’t the only thing that lives in Fayetteville. For one day, music will not only rule, it will reign.

The association, which is comprised of current and former members of the United States Army Special Forces, has put together a lineup of local talent, as well as international talent, that is sure to please just about everyone. Local musicians have volunteered their time and talents to raise funds to help take care of injured soldiers and to take care of the families of those who have fallen in the line of duty. All proceeds from the show will go into the association’s benevolent and scholarship funds, which are used to support Special Forces families.

One of the performers who has volunteered his time is fairly young, but he’s already made quite an impression on the Fayetteville music scene. Ethan Hanson, a hugely talented singer/songwriter, is a regular on the Fayetteville music scene. He has been playing in the area since he was 15. His first gigs were at the Coffee Scene and other area open mic nights. 

Ethan (as he is known on stage), made his first professional appearance at the Highlander Pub, a Haymont institution, the summer after he completed his sophomore year in high school. Armed with homemade business cards and a demo CD, he played his first gig and found that he truly liked life in the spotlight. 

That love of performing has seen him move out of the Fayetteville music scene, relocating to perform in Chapel Hill, Raleigh and at festivals all over the state. But, he still has a loyal following in Fayetteville.

Known for a bluesy, acoustic rock sound, Ethan plays popular songs, but he also fills his lineup with his own songs. He said that he uses a lot of different elements to create his own blend of music. His writing style is not ordered, instead, it’s more free-flowing. When he comes up with a melody he likes, he runs with it.

His music can be found on two self-released CDs, and he is currently working on a third, which is due to be released this year. In an interview with Roy Barnes last year, Ethan noted, “If you feel good about yourself, you don’t need to be famous. It would be nice to get my message out to a lot of people, (but) I wouldn’t want to take anything away from what I do with my own music. The most important thing is the journey, not where you end up.”

In recent years, Ethan has shared the stage with some people who know a little about fame. In 2006, he was one of the acts that opened for Hootie and the Blowfish at The Dogwood Festival. In 2007, he opened the show for JoJo, and at the 2008 festival he appeared on The Rock Shop stage along with a number of national bands.

Ethan is one of six local acts that will perform at the SF Association event. The headliners will be Bad Company. Tickets for the event are on sale now for $17 at www.specialforcesassociation.org. They can also be purchased the day of the show for $20. Enjoy a day packed full of music and fun and show your support for the men of the Special Forces.

{mosimage}Dear EarthTalk: What makes those so-called “new urbanism” housing developments popping up around the U.S. more environmentally friendly than regular old suburban neighborhoods? -- Rusty Spinoza, Galveston, TX

The husband-and-wife team of town planners AndrÄs Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk are typically credited as the founders of new urbanism, a style of community design that embraces mixed use (commercial and residential) development in pedestrian-friendly and green space-rich neighborhoods č much like the old neighborhoods many baby-boomers remember before suburban sprawl made us all slaves to our cars.

Duany and Plater-Zyberk formulated their new urbanism principles while living in one of the Victorian neighborhoods of New Haven, Conn., while they attended graduate school in architecture at Yale. Their neighborhood included corner shops, front porches and a variety of attractive and well-designed housing and commercial structures č planting the seed of an idea that has now swept the U.S. and beyond.

The prototypical new urbanist community is Florida’s Seaside, which Duany and Plater-Zyberk began designing in 1979 for the 80-acre coastal parcel’s developer, Robert S. Davis. Their plan took the best elements of a handful of graceful southern cities like Key West, Charleston and Savannah to create a community based on the tried-and-true concept of walkable, self-contained neighborhoods. Besides 300 homes, Seaside contains a school, a town hall, an open-air market, a tennis club, a tented amphitheater and a post office č everything anyone could ever need in a town, and all within a five minute walk.

According to the non-profit Smart Communities Network, Seaside works as a community because of its design: “Mandatory porches are set close enough to walkways to enable porch sitters and passersby to communicate without raising their voices. The streets are all interconnected; creating a network that eliminates ‘collector’ routes and reduces congestion.Walkways crisscross the development to encourage walking and biking, while narrow streets serve to reduce traffic speed.” Building fronts are a uniform distance from the curb and all streets are tree-lined to further the community’s “sense of place.”

Other examples of new urbanist communities include: Stapleton on the outskirts of Denver, Co., Seabrook on the southern coast of Washington State; Melrose Arch in Johannesburg, South Africa; Alta de Lisboa near Lisbon, Portugal; and Jakriborg in southern Sweden. Meanwhile, the idea has caught on in New Orleans, where developers are styling new communities in the wake of Hurricane Katrina based in part on the principles of new urbanism.

According to the Web site NewUrbanism.org, being green is central to the concept of new urbanism, where houses tend to be compact and on small lots. And many developers are incorporating green building design and alternative energy generation into their plans for these communities. Furthermore, proponents say that building densely settled, walkable communities instead of road-intensive suburban developments cuts down on the need to drive, thus further reducing the carbon footprint.

{mosimage}Farmer Wants a Wife (Wednesday, 9 p.m. CW) cooks up a reality-show fantasy about city women finding true love with a hunky farmer. Matt is right out of central casting, with a square jaw, chivalrous manner and 200 acres in the middle of Missouri. The women clomp through his fields on high heels, hoping to be the fish-out-of-water he chooses. They take hay rides, engage in farmwife competitions and giggle inanely. None of them can fairly be called a city slicker. Even Matt’s chickens seem more urbane.

If all of the contestants are stupid onFarmer Wants a Wife, one of them is stupid and scary. 

“I fight for men like they do in the Middle East,” says Josie. “Before someone blows me up, I blow them up.”

Even suicide bombers might find that a sick metaphor for courtship. But Josie is just getting warmed up. She calls the lone black contestant “low class and ghetto,” suggests that the farm be burned down for the insurance money, and urges Jews and Christians to band together to bring on Armageddon.

Farmer wants a psychopath?

Secrets of the Dead

Wednesday, 8 p.m. (PBS)

Escape from Auschwitz details one of the most extraordinary tales of heroism from World War II, and I’d wager few people have heard it. Rudolph Vrba and Alfred Wetzler were Slovak Jews imprisoned in the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz. Escape was impossible, as had been proven many times, but these two had the brains and guts to beat impossible odds.

The Germans had fooled the world about the death camps’ purpose, and Vrba and Wetzler wanted to get out and broadcast the truth. Their ingenious plan involved hiding inside a woodpile in a work area outside the camp gate. They smeared themselves with gasoline-soaked tobacco to mask their scent from the Nazi dogs. They stayed still for three days of intense searching, imagining the torture in store for them if discovered. Then they snuck out of the woodpile and headed south through occupied Poland, dodging Nazis for 85 miles. Miraculously, they crossed the Slovakian border and revealed the horrors of Auschwitz to the authorities.

No one believed them.

Folks, if you’re ever approached by two desperate men with shaved heads, prison garb, the stench of gasoline and numbers tattooed onto their arms, please give them the benefit of the doubt.

Ringo Starr: Off the Record

Friday, 11 p.m. (HBO)

Every second of the Beatles’ career has been chronicled in innumerable books, articles and documentaries. But now, 40 years later, someone has just thought to ask Ringo Starr for his view of the matter. The underachieving drummer tells fellow English rocker Dave Stewart what it was like to sit behind three of the most important men in rock.

Will Ringo shed light on the Beatles’ greatest music? No, but he will take us deep inside the two songs he wrote for the group. “I’d like to be/under the sea” č how did he come up with that?

The Shell Seekers

Saturday, 9 p.m. (Hallmark Channel)

It’s your basic Hallmark Channel movie about an old woman coming to terms with her life. But this one stars Vanessa Redgrave, and that makes all the difference. Redgrave redeems the sentimental story of Penelope, who tries to make peace with her selfish children following a heart attack. First, there’s the actress’ sheer presence. Just standing in the middle of the screen, Redgrave commands your full attention. Then there are her glances, which speak volumes. Then there are her line readings, which reveal all the subtle shadings of the human heart.

If you were a third-tier TV movie director who’d lucked into Vanessa Redgrave in your cast, wouldn’t you train the camera on her at all times? Maddeningly,The Shell Seekerskeeps cutting to flashbacks featuring some wooden actress as the young Penelope. I’ve never hated the past so much in my life.