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        One of the most popular art shows of the year is here! This Fourth Friday, the Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County opens Public Works!, an exhibition sponsored by the Fayetteville Public Works Commission. The Arts Council building at 301 Hay St., will be bursting at the seams with works of art from around the region. All two-and three-dimensional art will be displayed regardless of the age or ability of the artist. If they made it, we are showing it and it all starts at 7 p.m. on April 25. {mosimage}  
        With such a broad range of work, we know you will have something to say. So, what is better than expressing your opinion as you vote for your favorite work of art?  Everyone is encouraged to cast a ballot for the Public’s Choice Award.
        For the third year, the Arts Council has partnered with PWC for this exhibition. Communications and Community Relations Manager Carolyn Justice Hinson of  PWC says, “We enjoy sponsoring this Fourth Friday and the Public Works exhibit, both are a wonderful reflection of our diverse community.”
    PWC representatives will be on hand to talk about water usage and to offer tools to help with water conservation. “When you buy a product, you usually get an owner’s manual. With utilities, PWC is your guide to the most efficient use,” Hinson explains.
        Kids can meet Willy Water Drop and Art the Public Works Guy who will be offering kids their very own hard hat.
        Who knows what you may learn or what undiscovered masterpiece you may be able to acquire at this Fourth Friday. Just think… that new artist that no one has ever heard of could be tomorrow’s phenomenon. It’ll be fun and fantastic. Don’t miss it.

    April Fourth Friday Venues
        Arts Council – Public Works Exhibit sponsored by PWC. Live entertainment by Ethan Hanson. Refreshments.
        Cape Fear Studios – Annual Member’s Anniversary Show celebrating the 17th anniversary of Cape Fear Studios. Works from our over 40 local artists including paintings, pottery, jewelry, stained glass, and more!
        City Center Books & Gallery – New art exhibition by WINHOUSE (Lisa Lofthouse and Suzie Godwin). Photographs and multi-media pieces of our revitalized Downtown.
        C.J. Designs – Enjoy the smooth jazz of Fayetteville’s own national recording artist Reggie Codrington. Refreshments.
        The Cotton Exchange – Live music inside The Cotton Exchange and in the courtyard to kick off the grand opening of The Livery. Refreshments.
        Cumberland County Headquarters Library – In celebration of The Big Read and The Dogwood Festival, The Parsons perform their brand of “uptown hillbilly swing,” a combination of ragtime, old-time blues, bluegrass, swing and folk music. The evening will also include dramatic readings from Fahrenheit 451 and recognition of The Big Read essay contest winners. Refreshments. 
        Fayetteville Area Transportation Museum – Exhibits and artifacts of transportation from days gone by.
        Fascinate-U – Create and decorate your own kites using construction paper, fabric, ribbons, yarn, markers, and glitter. All materials will be provided and refreshments will be served.
        Green Light Gallery – Beyond Borders 2 featuring the works of Robyn Gahr and Eric McRay. Enjoy the soft jazz stylings of keyboard player Edward Protho, and refreshments. 6 – 10 p.m.
        Market House – View the latest exhibit The Freedom of Religion: Fayetteville’s Early Historic Churches on the second floor of the Market House.
        Olde Town Gallery – Presents Beholder of Mine Eye, their first annual photography competition.  Winners will be announced at 8 p.m.
        Rude Awakening – Dogwood art by Greg Hathaway.
    sfL+a Architects – Eugene Wright - On The Road with Sketchbook, Graffiti Art, & Photography. Live entertainment. Refreshments.
        White Trash – Collage pendants by Sally Jean Alexander.

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       {mosimage} In the old days, people called them “military brats.” Today, it seems more appropriate to call them heroes. In war time, military children carry a heavy load. While their parents are away, they are left to wonder and worry. Just as their parents sacrifice, they sacrifice as well.
        So it’s only fitting that they are celebrated and Fort Bragg knows just how to do it. In celebration of the Month of the Military Child, Fort Bragg’s Child and Youth Services, along with the Special Events Division, is hosting the 16th Annual Children’s Fest on Saturday, April 26 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Fort Bragg Fairgrounds off Bragg Boulevard.
        “This event is geared toward children in a very safe environment,” said Gudrun Blackmon, event coordinator. “Last year we had 4,200 people in attendance for this event.”
        The festival is an annual event in honor of the military child. More than 1.7 million children under the age of 18 have at least one parent serving in the military. Secretary of Defense Casper Weinberger and the U.S. Department of Defense established April as the Month of the Military Child in 1986, underscoring the importance of military children and their role in military families.
        “Military families are unique and the children deserve recognition,” said Blackmon. “They are important to us.”
    Carnival rides, specialty acts, face painting, a climbing wall, kiddie rappel and jump tower, live entertainment, static display, artillery equipment and a  parachute packing demonstration will be highlighted.
        “The kiddie rappel and jump tower gives the children an idea of what mom and dad do in the military,” said Blackmon. “The whole experience includes activities that are educational as well.”
    Toddlerville includes developmentally age-appropriate activities such as sand art and water games that will be held underneath a huge tent. Local food vendors will sell food items such as funnel cakes, fish plates, tacos and a variety of other foods.
        The Fort Bragg Fire Engine and Smokehouse will be on site to teach the children about fire safety. The Provost Marshal’s office will set up a traffic simulator, discuss seat belt safety and several police vehicles will be on display to inform the students about crime prevention. A.C. Moore will do arts and crafts activities with the children.
        There will be prizes, with items including a computer, an iPod Shuffle and four Carowinds Tickets. The winner must be present to win.
        “Our sponsors have been really good to us,” said Blackmon. “We encourage everyone to come out and support our event.”
        The event is open to the public. Admission is $2 for non-riders and $5 for riders. The first 400 paid children will receive a T-shirt. For more information, visit www.fortbraggmwr.com or call 396-8110 or 396-1278. 

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        Braving cooler temperatures and threatening skies, members of Manna Church turned out en masse to support their pastor, the Rev. Michael Fletcher, at a recent Fayetteville City Council meeting. The pastor was on hand to address concerns he has about a policy by The Dogwood Festival that limits participation by churches.
        The controversy surrounding The Dogwood Festival and its policy has been swirling in the community for several weeks. Fletcher maintains that festival organizers told him and others on his staff that the policy does not allow participation by churches in the festival at all. Festival staffers differ, noting that churches can participate as vendors or as sponsors of sanctioned events. They cannot, however, participate in the festival strictly to dispense information. The festival has two types of booths: those for vendors and informational type booths. Vendors pay $750, while informational participants pay $55.
        Fletcher, the senior pastor at the church, said that the price of the booths was not a point of contention. He noted that his church has participated in a number of festivals as vendors, and has paid the price. He told the council he has the documentation in the form of registration and canceled checks to prove it.
        “I know you are aware of the controversy surrounding The Dogwood Festival,” said Fletcher. “Our intent is never to cause hurt. I do not support any type of boycott. I think everyone should go.”
        {mosimage} He added that he had encouraged his church members to participate and attend in festival activities.
    He explained that the council and the community have received a significant amount of misinformation. Fletcher said that Carrie King, the festival director, told him that the board had decided not to let churches participate in any way.
        “This policy is unconstitutional,” said Fletcher. “This is America. It could be said that our community is the cradle of freedom. How can we tolerate such an unconstitutional stance?”
        He added that if other church groups in the past have offended festival goers, it is those groups that should not be allowed to participate. “Wisdom dictates that the offending party should not be allowed to participate,” he said. “Some Christians are embarrassing and weird. They give the rest of us a bad name. Whoever called and told Ms. King she is going to hell should be put in a box and be shipped far away.”
    He called on the council to use its influence to have the board consider a change in its policy. Fletcher said his church will not try to participate in this year’s festival in any form, and asked that the community not do anything to mar the enjoyment of the festival.
        “I love The Dogwood festival,” he said. “It is a great community event, and I urge people to support it.”
    He hopes to be able to attend a meeting of The Dogwood Festival board in May, when it will take up the issue.
        “It is our hope that they will reconsider this policy,” he said.
        The council took no action on his request, and The Dogwood Festival board has declined further comment until after its May meeting.

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        This 4th Friday, people participating in the downtown gallery crawl will be able to view the new work of Robin Gahr and Eric McRay at Green Light Gallery on Hay Street. This particular exhibit is an example of how a collaborative effort and networking can work for artists, musicians and businesses.
        It all began with the opening, less than a year ago, of Green Light Gallery on Hay Street. A full-service frame shop, Green Light, like most framing businesses, has both fine art and commercial art; but framing is their main source of income. Nancy Studer and Garry Dixon opened their business in the downtown area in an effort to be a part of the wave of creativity that exudes in the downtown art venues. In short, Studer said, “When we were looking at different areas to open our business we decided on the downtown, we wanted to be involved in the community, we loved what was going on downtown, and we just wanted to be a part of it.”
    Entering Green Light you first go through the front part of a narrow space that extends to the rear of the building, two bubbly fountains and greenery are near the exit. That long narrow space has become Nancy Studer’s effort to be involved in the arts downtown. The space has been converted into a gallery where she has made a commitment to exhibiting artists. {mosimage}
        Then Studer’s path crossed with Starr Oldorff, the president of the Fayetteville Art Guild. Oldorff is not only an individual who passionately seeks out new venues for members of the guild to exhibit, she has also been exploring the possibility of representing artists and networking with galleries to show their work locally and in the region. For Green Light Gallery it was a perfect match. Oldorff was looking for a venue to show the new work of Robin Gahr and Eric McRay; Studer was open to exhibiting new artists.
        Being familiar with both artists, I was very interested in seeing new works by Gahr and McRay. Neither artist disappointed me; their new work is upbeat, colorful and full of energy.
        After returning to Fayetteville several years ago, Gahr has exhibited in several of the downtown art venues. In this exhibit Gahr’s subjects are varied, but the dominant theme is music. Drums and guitars swing in patterns of color and movement; images are inundated with color and energy. Her familiar style of line, shape and the overlay of shapes and often symbols have emerged into even more movement and energy than her past works.
        So where did the musical theme come from? Gahr addressed this question with ease. “After taking the time to attend the local music venues regularly, and having a passion for music, the theme emerged. I love music and I enjoy the variety of live music being played in the area during the week and on weekends.”
        Knowing Gahr is such a music fan; it seems predictable that she would team up with a musician for the reception on 4th Friday. Musician Edward Protho will be playing new age sound-scape on the keyboard, along with some soft singing.
        An eclectic musician, Protho moved to Fayetteville from Atlanta to perform with a local band. The band disbanded, but Protho stayed to try and make a living as a musician in the area. Protho commented he is “happy to be participating in an event that celebrates the visual arts and Robin Gahr.”
        McRay is an artist from Raleigh who is widely known for his Jazz paintings and depictions of the North Carolina landscape; he can be seen regularly working at Artspace in downtown Raleigh. A fulltime artist, McRay is represented by several galleries in North Carolina, and has exhibited locally at the Architect’s Gallery. He has been featured in Southern Living Magazine.
        McRay is exhibiting a new body of work that incorporates the heart as an icon, as well as exhibiting a selection of small mixed-media works. Double VV Heart is an example of his style of mixing pop with abstraction.
        Similar to Double VV Heart, the hearts in each painting are a dominant shape that fills the canvas, the negative space around its contours creates a curvy boundary between the foreground and background. His line is ink on paper, press type is obscured inside the heart from brush marks; acrylic and metallic paint are oozy contrasts to the hard edge black vinyl ellipses which have been glued onto the surface. McRay commented, “I am always trying to build a special foreground, middle ground and background with textures and forms.”
        Being familiar with his success at painting in a larger format and how popular his Jazz series continues to be, I wondered if the shift to incorporating such a large iconographic symbol in a much smaller scale work was a new direction for the artists. Not so for McRay, he commented, “I have been working on the heart theme for several years. I work on various themes simultaneously to avoid creative block, so I switch up painterly abstraction with other themes, and mix collage and painting at times.”
        Gahr is similar in her approach to painting. In the small mixed-media titled Vibes, she uses mixed media to express an idea through the use of abstraction and the use of symbols. For Gahr, the moon, sun or both are always present symbols in her work, yet subordinate to the energy, movement and color around it. Gahr commented on how the symbols represent a time element in her work. She stated, “I paint motion and movement and energy, yet I am also mindful of the cycles of day and night. We have to go to sleep in order to be able to get up – constant time.”
        Gahr reflected on influences in her work, “What people say and do are my influences. Although the relationship I have with people is in my work, you won’t see the representation of a person in the work. As well, the act of creating is a very physical activity for me; those that see me at work in the studio are somewhat surprised at the pace at which I work. While in the moment of the work, I don’t think about similarity, each area is complex and different for me.”
        {mosimage}The energy in Gahr’s work is similar to the energetic style of McRay; an exhibit by these two particular artists is a perfect match by Oldorff. Gahr refers to the physical when she works and how her relationships with people influence her. McRay addresses his moments of painting as self discovery.
        He stated, “Abstract painting is self discovery, you must tear down mental barriers and prejudices before you can feel the sensation that comes from good abstract painting. One should get a surge from a painting just as you get a sensation from making love or a spiritual awakening.”
        Join the artists this 4th Friday gallery crawl in downtown, it starts at 7 p.m. and ends around 9:30 p.m. Green Light Gallery is two doors down from the Huske Hardware building on the 400 block of Hay Street. For information on the artists call Nancy at Green Light Gallery, (910) 321-1542.

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        It has been literally painful for me to watch the women from the polygamist Mormon sect in Texas plead on television for the return of their many children. As a mother of three, I cannot help but be moved by their obvious, though highly orchestrated public display of distress over the state’s removal of more than 400 children under allegations of sexual abuse of girls and young women. These mothers, in their homemade high-necked, long-sleeved, floor-length prairie dresses with their hair in modest buns or braids, seem to be speaking to us from another, simpler, perhaps even purer time when life was less pressured and less complicated than ours in the 21st century. {mosimage}
        I do believe their distress is real, but I am not so sure about the simplicity and purity of their lives. I suspect life in the cult is darker than it seems on the freshly scrubbed faces displayed by the women selected to be on camera.
        Among the greatest blessings of our nation is our freedom of religion. Each of us is free to practice religion as we find it meaningful — or to practice no religion at all. What we are not free to do is to impose our version of faith on other people, including our own families. That is the issue here. The adults in that Texas compound are legally free to choose for themselves, even if some of those women do exude a distinct zombie-like or robotic quality.
        As this sad and disturbing drama plays itself out in Texas courts, we need to keep in mind several facts. Polygamy is illegal in our country and has been disallowed by the official Mormon church for more than a century.            
        Having sexual relations with children is also illegal. If the allegations of adult men having sex with adolescent girls are true, even under the banner of a “religious” marriage, then the men should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of Texas law. If the pioneer-clad mothers were unable or unwilling to stop any such abuse and did not call Texas authorities, then they are complicit in the abuse. They deserve at least the scrutiny of Texas law enforcement authorities, if not prosecution.
        Welfare fraud and Medicaid fraud are also illegal, a form of taking public undeserved public monies. News reports speculate that the many children born out of legal wedlock to women engaged in polygamy are supported by various government programs instead of by their fathers and mothers. These are not new allegations, having been made before by a number of sources, including, Jon Krakauer’s book about fundamentalist Mormon polygamy, Under the Banner of Heaven. I do not know whether children born to “religious wives” not legally married to the fathers are being supported by public dollars, but I do think Texas authorities are correct in looking into the questions. This is not where I want my tax dollars to go, and I expect many readers feel the same way. {mosimage}
        All of this being said, it is impossible not to feel for the children who have been removed from their families. Children need stability and the assurance of love and physical and mental well-being. The situation has got to be difficult for many of them. Nevertheless, authorities in Texas acted in response to allegations of abuse, and properly so. Given the numbers of children involved, sorting it all out is going to take some time. No one, however, wants these children returned to a situation in which their physical and mental safety is not assured, and so patience from all parties is required
        Tearful and grieving adult mothers are hard to resist, but our first thoughts and deepest concern has to be for the children and young men and women whom we do not see crying and beseeching us on television if, they in fact, are doing that at all.
        My guess is that some of them are deeply relieved to be out from behind those walls.  
        Mea, mea culpa.
        Some columns generate more mail than others, and a recent column on a new and improved GI Bill brought several well reasoned and well written responses, which I sincerely appreciate. While I am well aware that our nation currently has a GI Bill and that thousands are using it to further their educations, my understanding of that apparently did not come across in the column. So intent was I in advocating for more benefits under a GI Bill that I did not acknowledge adequately enough the benefits available today.
        I am delighted that many members of Congress are also interested in improving our current GI Bill. One effort which stands out to me is S.22, introduced on the first day of the 2007 term of Congress by Senator Jim Webb (D-VA). This legislation would provide veterans who have served since 9/11 with the same level of benefits as veterans who served in World War II. It is still pending.

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        I have to admit, I was a little bit nervous when I passed that Fayetteville City Limits sign on my first day of work at Up & Coming Weekly.
        I was born and raised in Robeson County, so that makes me practically a kissing cousin to y’all, but still, crossing that county line gave me just the slightest of chills — a shiver born out of childhood fairy tales of the boogeyman living down on Hay Street.
        A child of the 70s, I grew up in the shadow of the Dark Ages of “Fayettenam,” as everybody called it in those days.
        While Robeson County’s reputation wasn’t exactly spotless — more like Lady MacBeth’s bloody hands in overdrive — driving through Lumberton or Pembroke didn’t raise my hackles nearly to the heights a trip to Fayetteville did. The streets, Hay Street specifically, were notorious for prostitutes and pimps and red-eyed soldiers giving passersby a broken beer bottle salute.
        In those days, Fayetteville was the place you came if you wanted to have a very bad time, or a very good time, depending on your disposition and criminal record.
        Not that my family wasn’t closely associated with Fayetteville.
        My Uncle Tommy was a bouncer at Rick’s Lounge, while my Aunt Saundra worked there as a waitress. They both quit the same day a man standing on the street next to them was gunned down.
        My dad worked as a “jewelry hawker” on Hay Street, standing outside a pawn shop and trying to lure GIs inside to drop their paycheck on diamonds and gold. Talk about your tough jobs.
        My mom was a saleswoman for awhile at the old Tart’s TV, until someone attempted to carjack her on — you guessed it — Hay Street, by trying to climb through the T-top of her ‘76 Corvette.
        Personally, I have nothing but wonderful childhood memories of Fayetteville.
        My entire family would load up in the old LTD station wagon every Sunday for a trip to eat at a now defunct Chinese restaurant where my mom and grandma always got a little too tipsy on Mai Tais and wore the little paper umbrellas in their hair.
        After lunch, we’d go down to Treasure City for a shopping spree, and then off to a store that traded coupons from packages of Sir Walter Raleigh cigarettes for toasters and tents and lawn darts, sort of like Green Stamps for the black lung set. And grandma always had a stack of coupons as big as a New York crack dealer’s bankroll, since she smoked somewhere between four and 4,000 packs of Sir Walters’ finest every day.
        It was my grandma who told me the scary tales about Fayetteville and put the fear of Hay Street into me. In retrospect, I guess she figured she had lost four children to the evil pull of North Carolina’s version of Sin City, and she didn’t want me to get caught in the gravity of that evil orbit, eventually pawning gold ID bracelets alongside my father while picking the pockets of privates and corporals like some modern day Oliver Twist.
        But surprise, surprise, as I cruised through Hay Street, circa  2008, on the first day of my new job, I couldn’t find a prostitute or pimp or switchblade-wielding sergeant anywhere.
        No topless joints.
        No broken windows.
        No juke joints pumping up the volume and the danger level.
        The boogeyman had been replaced by a businessman in a three-piece suit.
        People waved and grinned at me as if I were a prodigal son.
    Why didn’t you folks tell me y’all had transformed the downtown from a sow’s underbelly into a silk purse?
    I think my wife is on the phone; she’s found a house in Gray’s Creek.
        Imagine that — me living in the once upon a time most dangerous city on Earth.
        And loving it.

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        Heather Faber, a student at Fayetteville State University, is the first to admit that when she was a teen she didn’t talk about sex with her parents. {mosimage}
        “We talked amongst our friends. Nobody wanted to talk to their parents about sex,” she said. “And I can’t even remember what we heard about sex in class.”
    Faber believes this knowledge vacuum is leaving America’s teens in a lurch. On Tuesday, April 29, she and some of her schoolmates at FSU are putting the topic on the table for discussion by the community at the Let’s Talk About Sex Community wide Forum.
        The idea for the forum came about after the group’s policy class researched the Abstinence Only Sex Education curriculum that is currently in place throughout North Carolina.
        “The Abstinence Only curriculum isn’t working,” said Faber, citing the upswing of teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases across the state.
        The group decided that a good place to start affecting a change was within its own community, so they planned the forum.
        “We aren’t crusading to do away with Abstinence Only, because obviously, teenagers should not be having sex, but we think they need to know how to protect themselves if they are. Our country is spending millions of dollars on teen pregnancies,” she said.
        The forum, which will feature N.C. Representative Rick Glazier, will present the current curriculum along with the statistics; then, attendees will be break into small groups to discuss the issue.
        “We want to have school administrators, social workers, parents and teens,” she said. “Then we want them to discuss these issues and talk about what they think should be taught. We want to hear everybody’s voice because this is too important, we can’t just sweep it under the rug.”
        The group has its own ideas about what they think should be taught. Faber said first and foremost, abstinence should be the central theme. But that should be coupled with information. “We don’t want to teach them to have sex, but if they are, they need to know about STDs and contraceptives,” she said. “But it remains a parent’s choice. Parents can opt out of that portion if they do not think their children are mature enough to talk about it.”
        Faber faults the current program with providing faulty statistics.
        “When they talk about condoms, they only talk about their failure rates — not what they prevent,” she said. “The message is ‘Don’t have sex, if you do, you are going to get pregnant and get an STD.’ We are not giving them valid options, and the truth is, a lot of these kids are already having sex. If you’re going to teach condoms, teach effectiveness — not just failure.”
        Faber said that most teens don’t think about the repercussions of sex.
    “They don’t think about how an unplanned pregnancy will affect their whole life,” she continued. “That one act can stop them from becoming who they are supposed to be. They might have to drop out of school, which will result in their inability to get a good job, which may lead to them getting on welfare. Armed with knowledge, they won’t make the mistake of getting pregnant in high school.
        “Definitiely 14, 15, 15, 17 and 18-year-olds don’t need to have sex,” she said. “They are not mature enough to handle that kind of relationship. Even at 24, some people aren’t.”
        “We invite anybody and everybody to come out — not to talk about sex, but about sex education,” she said. “We aren’t encouraging teens to have sex, but rather a fact-based curriculum that teaches abstinence plus safe sex.”
        The forum, held in Shaw Auditorium in the Business and Economics Building, will begin at 6 p.m. and is open to the public. Organizers hope parents will come with their teens. Representatives of Planned Parenthood, as well as the Department of Social Services will also be on hand.

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    China’s societal self-improvement in preparation for the 2008 Olympics continues. The Beijing Tourism Bureau ordered hotels to re-translate English signs, hoping to avoid such notorious past gaffes as “Racist Park,” which is now “Park of Ethnic Minorities,” and a cafe’s attempt to salute Western visitors with “Welcome, big nose friends.” And the Beijing Olympics Committee has been training hostesses for months to stand in military-like precision, straight enough to hold a sheet of paper between their knees, and to smile continuously, showing “six to eight teeth” (even if placing a chopstick in the mouth sideways is necessary for practice). There are height and weight requirements for the hostesses, and each must have an upper- to lower-body ratio of no more than 11-to-13, to eliminate, according to local newspapers, “big bottoms.” 


    Too Much Time on Their Hands


    It struck Leo Hill, 81, of Lakewood, Colo., that he was being shorted sheets of toilet paper (in the 12-pack, whose rolls allegedly yielded fewer sheets than similar rolls in the 4-pack), and he earnestly counted 60 rolls, sheet by sheet, concluding that the shortage amounted to enough paper to service one sit-down session per roll. He took his complaint to the Denver Post (and even to the Better Business Bureau), but the reporter, trying to replicate Leo’s work, found no shortage, in Leo’s brand or eight others. 

    Jonathan Lee Riches is believed to be the most prolific lawsuit-filer ever to operate from behind bars. His “docket” now includes more than 1,000 cases in just over two years (with eight more years to go on a federal sentence for fraud), including claims totaling several trillion dollars from “injuries” inflicted on him by such people as President Bush, Martha Stewart, Steve Jobs, Britney Spears, Tiger Woods (luggage theft), Barry Bonds (illegal moonshine production), and football player Michael Vick ($63 billion for allegedly stealing Riches’ pit bulls and selling them on eBay so that Vick could in turn buy missiles from Iran). 


    Inexplicable


    Prison reformer James McDonough revealed in February the extent of the mess he inherited when taking over the Florida Department of Corrections in 2006 (40 officials charged with crimes, 90 fired, 280 demoted) and said much of the problem centered on inter-department softball. Even though former officials had admitted to contract kickbacks and frequent taxpayer-funded “orgies,” McDonough said, “I cannot explain how big an obsession softball had become. People were promoted on the spot after a softball game... to high positions in the department because they were able to hit a softball out of the park... The connection between softball and the parties and the corruption and the beatings (of prisoners) was greatly intertwined.” 

    Making artistic, themed scrapbooks is a $2.6 billion industry in the U.S. (nearly one-fifth as large as the adult-video industry) and has a “Hall of Fame” as protective of its morals as baseball’s, which has shunned gamblers and steroid-users. According to a January Wall Street Journal report, one “superstar” scrapbooker, Kristina Contes, was recently kicked out of the hall for violating etiquette by displaying another’s photo inside her scrapbook in a competition. Contes said the oversight was inadvertent but that she is now shunned within the community for her grave offense and called “labelwhore.”


    COPYRIGHT 2008 CHUCK SHEPHERD   

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    {mosimage}Restrictor plate racing takes center stage this weekend as NASCAR invades Talladega Superspeedway for a weekend of white-knuckle racing. 

    At 2.66 miles in length, Talladega is the largest speedway that the stock cars race on and one of two tracks where power sapping restrictor plates are used. The plates are used to reduce horsepower and therefore speed in the cars. What’s left is minimal throttle response for the drivers and large packs of racing for the fans. Hence the term “White-Knuckle Weekend.”

    Jeff Burton arrives at Talladega as the Sprint Cup points’ leader. New, or casual race fans, should not be surprised by the Richard Childress Racing driver’s success. In the late ‘90s he was dominant as a team member with Roush-Fenway Racing. His #99 car was always a threat.

    Then there were the lean years. His car went unsponsored. He battled to stay in contention, but he never seemed to get back on top. Burton chose to leave and start over at RCR.

    Burton’s experience was just what RCR needed while the team was trying to pick up the pieces from the death of Dale Earnhardt. He was a mentor to Kevin Harvick. He provided technical expertise in the shop. And now, he is on top of the heap looking down at the rest of field. His team knows it needs to get better. But if they keep finding ways to end up in the Top 10 at the end of each race, the 31 bunch will be hard to beat.

    This weekend will be the second race on the high banks of the Alabama track for the new car. It debuted there last October to mixed reviews. The car has proven to be very durable on the short tracks č tracks in length of one mile or less. It performed well at Daytona in February. 

    Talladega is a different place all together. As mentioned above, it is the longest track the teams race on. It is wider and banked higher than Daytona. Drivers can ride around all afternoon with the pedal stuck to the floor. 

    Teams have been vocal about changes in the car almost from the beginning of the season. Series competition director John Darby says no way. 

    “We still call it the new car, right?” Darby said. “But it’s looked at as an old car, one that’s been around forever, and that’s not the case. There’s nothing broken, there’s nothing that we need to jump in and fix. It’s just a matter of continuing to race them and let the teams do what they do best.”

    Drivers always want more than what they have and NASCAR wants everyone singing from the same sheet of music. It could be a long season for some drivers and teams.

    NASCAR continues to say that it has an effective drug-testing policy. This, in spite of the revelation that former Craftsman Truck Series driver Aaron Fike admitted to using heroin before races. Several drivers have said that NASCAR needs to step up its policing efforts.

    Sprint Cup drivers Kevin Harvick, Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne say they never have undergone a drug test as NASCAR competitors. 

    “In the 10 years that I’ve raced, I’ve never been drug-tested,” Harvick said. “To me, that’s not a proper drug policy for a professional sport. We haven’t made any headway whatsoever on the drug-testing policy.” 

    This is a serious issue for NASCAR. The sport has enjoyed enormous success during the last decade. More money is flowing in than ever. And at most tracks, there are no empty seats. 

    As baseball has found out the hard way, play straight or the fans will make you pay. It’s time for NASCAR to step up and be the innovator it has always been.

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    {mosimage}As people begin putting their motorcycles back on the road, it’s time to do a little preventive maintenance. With today’s modern technology and proper care of your bike, only a few things can leave you stranded. Number one thing: the wheels and tires. If something goes wrong with the tires on your car you will probably be all right. However, on a motorcycle, a bad tire can make it a whole lot worse. All there is between you and the pavement is a thin piece of rubber, so you must take care of your tires. 

    To properly check your wheels you should put the bike on the center stand and then put the bike in neutral. This will allow you to rotate both tires 360 degrees. You will also need to check the bike from both sides. Check the wheel for cracks or damage. If your bike has spokes, make sure they are tight. You should grab the tire on opposite sides and try to move the tire back and forth. This action will tell you if the bearings are loose.

    Continue your inspection by looking at the tread. Treads are affected by a variety of factors. These include mileage, road condition, temperature, speed and riding style. Next you need to check your tread depth. This is an important factor when riding in the rain. The less tread you have, the greater the chance of hydroplaning.

     Tire pressure is something that needs to be checked often. Tire pressure changes with temperature, altitude and weight. Motorcycle tires are not like car tires where you can often look at them and tell if they are low on air. Today’s motorcycle tire can look normal with little to no pressure in it. To check the pressure, take the bike off of the center stand and keep the pressure at the proper pounds per square inch (PSI). If your bike is like mine, you will need a light and a magnifying glass to find the recommended pressure on the side wall of the tire. Remember that each tire may require different pressure.

     Getting a flat can be a scary event if you are driving. You may not know what is going on when it happens. There are several things that can happen. The bike is hard to control. If so, ride through it. Stay in control and keep your cool. Slow the bike down and get off the road. If the bike feels heavy or sluggish you probably have a flat. Again, take control. When you check your bike, check the tire pressure.

    I always carry my own tire gauge, tire repair kit and CO2 pump. I know a lot of people who debate the pros and cons of riding with a patch in their tire. I have done it after a flat, but only until I can get a new tire on it. For me, I go for the new tire. Although a patch may be OK for some, I would rather pay for the peace of mind of knowing I have good tread underneath me.

     If there is a topic that you would like to discuss, please send your comments and suggestions to motorcycle4fun@aol.com. PLEASE RIDE SAFELY!

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    {mosimage}I wanted to loveSmart People (95 minutes). 

    Ellen Page is adorable, whether she is seeking revenge on child molesters or playing a sarcastic, pregnant teen (I will politely forget to mentionX-Men 3). Thomas Haden Church, star of what is possibly the single most underrated comedy of the past 10 years,The Specials, is always good for a laugh. Even so, there is something missing from this full-of-potential romantic comedy. 

    While director Noam Murro seems competent enough, perhaps writer Mark Poirier failed to give the script the kind of acerbic wit it so desperately needs. All the actors seem afflicted with frostbite, and even though there are attempts to create something profound, the entire movie comes across as a fast food version of an independent film.

    Professor Lawrence Wetherhold (Dennis Quaid) inhabits his job with the kind of depressed indifference you can only find in the middle-aged former idealist. One of his children, Vanessa (Page), desperately tries to fulfill the household duties of her late mother while seeking her mentally absent father’s approval and supporting the Republican Party. The other, James (Ashton Holmes), is building a life apart from his father. The professor’s adopted brother, Chuck (Church), enters the picture, disrupting the household and shaking up the suppressed, overachieving Vanessa. Meanwhile, over in the “B” plot, Wetherhold meets an emotionally stunted doctor named Janet (Sarah Jessica Parker).  

    There are several awkward scenes between the professor and the doctor; unfortunately for the movie, Quaid and Parker don’t share much chemistry. Uncle Chuck, who seems like an OK guy, exercises some poor judgment in relation to Vanessa, and though their relationship develops realistically up to about halfway through the movie, the film lacks the courage of its convictions. If the writer wished to make something of the sexual tension that can develop between a post-adolescent in need of a daddy figure and a bad boy uncle who lacks boundaries, a more daring approach is really called for.  

    The best scenes take place on the Carnegie Mellon campus in Pittsburgh, Pa. In fact, the campus scenes read as one long inside joke regarding the current state of academia. For instance, the professor’s failure to remember his students’ names or any details about their lives, coupled with his attitudes towards committees and office hours, will cause the college students in the audience to laugh (or groan) and everyone else to look blankly at the screen.

    This film, which looks so good on paper, does not live up to its potential. Even so, some will find its cerebral tone and focus on the mundane worth a Saturday afternoon at the theater. Fans ofRiding in Cars with Boys (2001),Juno (2007) andThe Squid and the Whale (2005) should give this one a quick peek while maintaining low expectations.  


     

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    WithThe Mighty B, (Saturday, 10:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon has created another cartoon masterpiece on the level ofJimmy Neutron,SpongeBob SquarePants andThe Fairly Oddparents. Unlike those, it’s girl-oriented-man, is it ever. Amy Poehler of Saturday Night Live is the co-creator and voice of 9-year-old Bessie, a badge-crazy member of the Honeybee scout troupe. Bessie is a ball of tweener energy and desire, with maniacal round eyes, a toothless grin and excitable pigtails. She speaks with a lisp so juicy that you can practically feel the spittle flecking your cheeks. She’s relentless, as is the series itself.

    {mosimage}Bessie is bossy and confident, scarcely noticing that she’s an outcast among the more normal girls. When thwarted, however, she melts into a puddle of neediness. Her mercurial nature is mirrored in the animation, which morphs time and space with a Tex Avery-style glee. Bessie’s eyebrows pop off her head; her head rolls off her neck; her whole body shrinks and stretches to match her many moods.

    The Mighty B is one of the rare cartoon series that appeals to all ages. Kids will relate to Bessie’s runaway id; adults will appreciate the echoes ofLooney Tunes,Ren and Stimpy andThe Simpsons, along with Poehler’s deft voice work. She renders Bessie ridiculous while also conveying an affection for the li’l oddball.

    If the Honeybees gave a badge for artistic brilliance, Poehler would deserve a dozen of them.


    Today

    Friday, 8 a.m. (NBC)

    We’ve all watched Paula Abdul talk the talk as a judge onAmerican Idol. Now she must walk the walk by singing herself on Today’s concert series.

    I predict that her performance will be a little pitchy at first, but yo, check it out, she’ll start to do her thing, and when she goes up into her falsetto it’ll get crazy-exciting, y’all! DA BOMB, baby! Yii-ah!


    Duel

    Friday, 9 p.m. (ABC)

    This game show doesn’t rely on gimmicks-no over-the-top set, obnoxious host or seamy concept. Two players simply square off for $500,000, answering multiple-choice questions and betting with chips. The well-written questions move beyond the usual pop-culture piffle to cover history, geography and science, so that by the end of an episode you’ve actually learned something.

    IsDuel(a) a refreshing change of pace or (b) not tawdry enough for the American public? With trembling hand, I’m betting on (a).


    Robin Hood

    Saturday, 9 p.m. (BBC America)

    The American entertainment industry spends billions of dollars to create thrilling popcorn entertainment and usually comes up short. But the BBC’sRobin Hood gets the job done with just a few cloaks, inexpensive castle sets and bow-and-arrow props.

    Oh, and brilliant writing and acting-the two things American studios usually forget to add.

    The second-season premiere is so exciting that I had to keep repeating “I’m not 11.” Otherwise I was liable to put on a pair of tights myself, jump out the window and join the fight to save England. Robin (Jonas Armstrong) and his band must battle not only the Sheriff of Nottingham, a smiling sadist; and Guy of Gisbourne, an unsmiling sadist; but the sheriff’s deliciously evil sister, who makes Cruella De Ville look like an old softie.

    Robin isn’t conventionally handsome, with his scruffy beard and Beatle ‘65 haircut (Beatle 1165, that is). But he’s outrageously sexy when escaping from certain death over a snake pit, or shooting the ax out of an executioner’s hand. He stares down danger with style and wit.

    And when he waxes inspirational, Robin can make the hair stand up on the back of your neck. “We are not just outlaws in a forest,” he tells his band in a tense moment. “We are the spirit of England, and that is this country’s only hope!”

    I’m not 11... I’m not 11.....

     

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    {mosimage}In Fayetteville, most of us, while making a trip to the mall, the grocery store or even the gas pump, have seen some eager artist or artists trying to sell their CD. Many of us have even been approached with the proposal, “Yo, check out my CD, it’s hot, it’s only such and such dollars.”

    Oftentimes, it’s not that you don’t want to support the artist, but it’s just that you really don’t know what you’re getting yourself into when buying, because many times you don’t know anything about the artist.

    No one wants to waste their money on a bad CD from MC I Have a Dream any more than they want to waste it on a new bad CD from Snoop Dogg. I have come to the conclusion that while listening to commercial music is always worthwhile and rewarding, at times, the independent scene is where it’s really at.

    I will still cover mainstream music, but also make more of an effort to cover independent rap through reviews and interviews. Of course, a written article can only do so much, because your ears will be the final judge if the music is hot or not. However, this column will form the “bridge between” your ears and that unknown artist in the street.

    With that being said, here is my first local hip-hop artist review featuring Kenansville’s own Felony Knowledge. His gift to the streets is titled,Real Life is Stranger then Fiction. First , Felony Knowledge (or FK for short) is a conscious rapper with somewhat of an edge. Vocally, his tone is deep and at times preachy, but not in a way that was boring like your high school chemistry teacher. Lyrically, his content resembles the subject matter of ╩Native Tongues artists De La Soul, Mos Def and Jungle Brothers. 

    FK focuses on his love for the music, the negative aspects of the street and hip hop, and elevating your thinking. No talk of big rims, shiny chains or chasing skirts on this one. Speaking of Native Tongues influence, FK’s delivery sounds a bit like Talib Kweli. Both tend to spit a rush of hurried lyrics bar for bar, which at its best keeps you engaged and gives energy to the tracks without sounding monotone, but at its worst, is too hurried and sounds like jumbled up rhymes in a line. 

    The first track isDeclaration Intro, where FK lets off some steam about ignorant rappers and everything that is bad in the game that he is not. The beat will have your head nodding, and the repetition of drums at the end of FK’s bars fit his voice like a glove. One of the songs that shows FK at his best is the thought provoking and searingStand Behind Me, where he drops lines like: “Bad boys never talk we still move in silence/success is the best revenge that’s resort come to violence/ you get rained on if you’re not under the umbrella/ I make moves like a king while most possess the four devils/ greed, hate, jealousy and envy╔ .”

    The weaknesses of Felony’s album revolve around his flow being too energetic and packed with words and meaning. He seems to put as many words into each bar as possible and it doesn’t ride the beat as well as it could. “Doin’ His Job” is a stellar track with a hypnotic neck-snapping beat by Cardiair Geezus, and verse-for-verse FK does his thing, but the words to the hooks sound rushed together. If Felony’s words were food for thought, sometimes his wise words would come off as too-big spoonfuls. His words come off much better when he takes his time on tracks such asI Wanna Talk To You, which features a laid back melodic beat and some a capella breaks where Felony does his thing and gives you time to listen.

    Overall, Real Life is a worthy buy, and if you catch Felony out in the streets pushing his disc or at a show performing, pick it up and give him a listen. What Felony represents is a voice of the hip hop generation that actually has something to say rather than obsessing over the usual cars, drugs and money you often hear on the radio. 

    Check Felony out at www.myspace.com/FK72884.

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    Rated 4 Stars

    {mosimage}Every time I drive by Georgia Brown’s restaurant on Raeford Road, I am puzzled. I am puzzled by the fact that the parking lot is packed with cars. I am puzzled by the fact that it is still operating after so many years. Why? Because the first time I ate there, not long after it opened, I didn’t like it. I didn’t like the service. I didn’t like the sweet iced tea. I didn’t like the shrimp and grits. In all fairness to Georgia Brown’s and to satisfy my own curiosity as to why it still operates after my first less-than-stellar experience, I decided to go back.

    On a Monday night, just after 5 p.m., my party and I arrived, went inside and waited to be seated. We waited... and we waited... and we waited. Strange, I thought, as a waitress walked past and gazed at us with a glazed over look in her eyes.

    Finally, the owner came over and kindly informed us that Georgia Brown’s is not open for dinner on Monday nights, only for special functions. He politely invited us back on Tuesday night to possibly partake in the popular weekly special of all-you-can-eat baby back ribs. As he looked at my eyes, he must have seen the debate going on inside my head. Georgia Brown’s already had two strikes as far as I was concerned and I was thinking of going somewhere else.

    “I tell you what,” he said. “If you come back tomorrow night, dessert is on the house.”

    That was it. The deal was done. He had me. I will not pass up the possibility of a rich, decadent dessert and for free! At that moment, I decided that the owner of Georgia Brown’s knows how to do business.

    In the exchange that followed, I found out that Georgia Brown’s does not have a head chef, instead counting on all line cooks. Given that slight disadvantage among the world of restaurants, I found out one of the secrets (not really a secret) that more than makes up for that deficiency: They invite their customers to share their favorite Southern recipes. How can you go wrong?

    The following evening we came back, very much looking forward to our free dessert. It had been decided ahead of time that we would all get something different, so we could try everything. We arrived just after 5 p.m. It wasn’t busy yet. Our hostess seated us in the second-to-the-worst seat in the house, back in the corner with a straight shot view into the kitchen. The worst seat in the house was across from us back in the corner č you can see nothing from that vantage point.

    As we stared into the kitchen and discussed having to sit in the worst seat in the house when the place wasn’t even packed, our waiter came over. He had noticed from across the restaurant that something was amiss.

    “Is something wrong? I noticed you all staring into the kitchen.”

    Well, I don’t like to complain, but he did ask. 

    “Well, yes. Our hostess seated us in the worst seat in the house and you are not even busy yet.”

    “Would you like another table?” the young man kindly asked.

    “If you don’t mind, we would like that very much.”

    “It is not a problem at all. We just want our customers to be happy.”

    Now that’s what I’m talking about: GREAT service! I was hooked. 

    The waiter had me.

    Georgia Brown’s had me.

    Writing a restaurant review is not for anyone who wants to be pencil thin. A variety of food has to be consumed to really get the scope of the food quality. Georgia Brown’s has so many tempting dishes to choose from: Savannah grilled shrimp on baby crab cakes; Florida salad; fried green tomatoes; tomato pie; crawfish; catfish; and the list goes on.

    The drink of choice would have to be the iced tea. It is a Southern restaurant, after all. The tea is quite good, not my mother’s, mind you, but it is good. It’s hard to find good iced tea in this town.╩

    The cuisine can be described as Southern classic, circa 2008. The offerings are not just based on rural North Carolina food, but much of the Southeast region, including Louisiana and even touching on some African influences.

    For appetizers, we ordered wings, Brunswick stew and fried green tomatoes. The wings were big and meaty. They were fried to tender, crispy perfection and the sauce was finger-licking good.

    Brunswick stew is a southern comfort food that is reminiscent of times past. It is traditionally made with a combination of chicken, pork and beef, lima beans, corn and tomatoes. It is a big deal when a family decides to cook it the old-fashioned way. It has to be cooked overnight for many hours. Everyone has to take turns stirring the pot so that the thickening goodness doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot. If it does, the whole batch is ruined.

    Georgia Brown’s has avoided that problem with a stew that is not as thick at the traditional stew. It has more of a soup-like consistency, but people seem to like it that way. The flavor is exactly like the original, yet delicious and light.

    The fried green tomatoes are a signature dish of Georgia Brown’s. The batter is crispy, light and airy.The flavor is slightly sweet at first and then a little salty. One can never tire of this delicious dish.

    The ribs with a side of corn on the cob and collard greens were my choice of entree. The meat was tender and plentiful. It fell off the bones. The sauce was... uummmm! The corn was reminiscent of summer. As I took the first bite, my mind created a picture of just picked silver queen corn, each kernel bursting with creamy white goodness, purchased off the back of a local farmer’s old pickup truck. I knew it had to be frozen, but it just did not taste like frozen.

    At this point, I couldn’t really eat more, but dessert could not be overlooked. We ordered the fried Twinkies, the peach cobbler and the chocolate pecan pie. They were all very good, but the Fried Twinkies were great! They tasted just like a crisp fall day with Carolina blue skies at the North Carolina State Fair.

    After dessert, we were all full and satisfied. I couldn’t leave, however, without trying another famous staple at Georgia Brown’s:╩the tomato pie. In times past, in some of the more rural areas of North Carolina, almost all of the older women made tomato pie for special occasions. Most of the children never tried it because it sounded gross! Well, let me tell you that this tomato pie is the best I have ever eaten. For those of you who have been treated to this southern delicacy, it is much like quiche. Try the tomato pie!

    After dinner, the owner, Ron Brewington, came over and engaged us in a pleasant conversation as he does with all of his customers. His passion for food and people is readily evident. He conveys this passion to those who work for him. 

    Georgia Brown’s serves tasty and satisfying Southern cuisine with a touch of pure and simple Southern hospitality.

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    {mosimage}Have we come to a time in this country when we are ready to deal upfront and honestly with our grievances and hopes concerning the burden of racial misunderstanding that is woven into the fabric of American society? 

    Our recent public discussion of portions of Jeremiah Wright’s sermons reminded us that race can still pop up anywhere when we are thinking about politics and national leadership decisions. Then Barack Obama’s speech on race in America last week gave many of us hope that we can face these complexities and emotional minefields more openly and positively. But others, with despair or cynicism, assert the hopelessness of ever dealing with this confounding national burden. 

    Coincidentally or providentially, I have been reading book about the struggle of another group of Americans to overcome discrimination and suspicion to find a secure and welcome place in this country. 

    Durham native Eli Evan’s classic memoir and study of Southern Jews,The Provincials: A Personal History of Jews in the South, was recently reissued in an updated and expanded version by UNC Press. (Evans is returning home this weekend to appear at the Triangle Jewish Film Festival in Cary. 

    Originally published in 1973 when the Civil Rights revolution was still painfully readjusting the legal framework of southern race relations, Evan’s book chronicled the special challenges that Jews faced throughout their history in our region. More specifically, his personal memoir deals with the North Carolina experience of his family. 

    Evan’s parents were the children of immigrants from Eastern Europe who came to North Carolina as house-to-house to house peddlers, then storekeepers, then successful business owners and finally respected civic leaders. 

    His father, Mutt Evans, eventually won election as mayor of Durham, crafted a role as a progressive and gained respect and affection from his community. His uncle, Monroe Evans, served as mayor of Fayetteville. Other members of the family took on important community leadership positions. 

    Eli Evans also achieved political success in high school and at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where in 1957 he won election as president of student government. 

    The political and civic contributions and successes of the Evans and of other Jewish families in North Carolina could be compared to the later political successes of African Americans. Similarly, those successes did not bring with them total acceptance or complete inclusion in southern society. 

    Jews continued to be viewed as different, and barriers to acceptance as “one of us remained.” 

    Evans’ poignant descriptions of his struggles to find a comfortable place in his Bible Belt homeland evoke tears and laughter. As a youngster, he joined his non-Jewish friends at the numerous revivals that were important social events in his growing up years in Durham. Enjoying the music and rhythms of the service, he was caught in a panic when the preacher called for uplifted hands to signify salvation. “Lift it high,” the preacher said. “Lift it high as you can. Lift it and say ‘I am saved.’ Higher. You can do it. Let Him in your heart. If you can’t lift it, something is wrong.” 

    When someone lifted Eli’s hand, “Wild-eyed and afraid, I jerked my hand away and bolted out of the tent as fast as I could, heading for home.” 

    Christmas and Easter seasons presented special problems for the young Eli, seeking acceptance but trying to remain true to his family’s religious heritage. What was he to do during the Christian devotionals in his public school classrooms? How was he to participate in the Christmas pageants? When a teacher assigned him the “best” part, Joseph, he respectfully and firmly declined, only to be given the part of the evil tax collector, “the heartless representative of King Herod.” 

    Constantly having to explain to his non-Jewish contemporaries why he was a little different from Christians, he acknowledged his uncomfortable confusion. “Deep down, Jesus still worried me.” 

    Like Obama’s recent speech, Evan’s book is an open and personal invitation to step into the shoes of others, to discuss and explore our real divisions, and then to find in those differences a basis for respect and celebration of the kind of unity that is the best of America’s potential č and promise.

     

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    I don’t know precisely when the infection started, but it’s been evident for years that North Carolina’s political class suffers from a disease one might call the Quicken Pox.

    In a constitutional government such as ours, where power is separated into competing institutions, the intended result is not to make change easy or rapid but instead to make it challenging and deliberate. The founders of our state and nation believed that we were more likely to suffer from the ravages of herky-jerky legislation and bureaucratic busybodies than we were to benefit from bold, persistent experimentation.

    Of late, though, impatient North Carolina political and governmental actors have gotten themselves into trouble by running up against the constraints of law, finding them irritating, and ignoring or circumventing them. For example, when Jim Black wanted to be the N.C. House Speaker again, but discovered that his party had lost the elections, he chose to bribe an impressionable lawmaker to switch parties so he could retain power. When Black and other legislative leaders wanted to enact a state-run lottery but discovered that it wouldn’t pass either chamber if they followed the rules č such as the one requiring separate votes on separate days for bills raising revenue for the state č they chose to break those rules.

    Another outbreak of the Quicken Pox has regulators and judges enacting new laws, though they aren’t empowered to by the state constitution, because they truly believe the law to be so necessary or beneficial that it can’t wait for legislative approval. The pattern is commonplace now in environmental regulation, where unelected regulators oversee large swaths of the private economy as if they were commissars just arrived from the Kremlin. In our criminal-justice system, new “rights” have been created, old rights destroyed, and a state medical board recently tried to halt executions in the state, contrary to the majority sentiment of North Carolinians and their duly elected representatives.

    Which brings me, of course, to the topic of interior design.

    As one can readily judge by a quick visit to my tacky office or my child-infested home, a talent for interior design is not part of my birthright. This is the first and likely last time I’ll have anything to say on the subject. As it is, the matter at hand is not whether a certain mauve curtain clashes with a certain aquamarine chaise lounge, but instead whether the advice an interior designer might offer should be subject to the state’s sales tax.

    Over the years, several different panels of prominent North Carolinians have convened to study the issue of tax reform. A common recommendation has been for the state to expand the scope of its sales tax to include services sold at retail. The reform could be revenue-neutral, at least in the short run, by cutting the tax rate to offset the projected revenue gain from expanding the tax base to include medical, legal, financial and personal services. So the proposal need not necessarily raise the hackles of fiscal conservatives.

    Whatever you think of the merits of expanding the sales tax to cover services, it must be admitted that the idea is a political nonstarter in Raleigh. The professions whose bills would include the new tax are among the most powerful lobbies in the state. Faced with the prospect of advocating a tax change that would both aggravate key elites and alarm the masses, the governor and general assembly have shied away from it.

    Officials at the N.C. Department of Revenue have taken it upon themselves to expand the sales tax via bureaucratic dictate. As theTriangle Business Journal recently reported, they have audited some 20 interior-design firms across the state and sent overdue notices for between $8,000 and $200,000 in uncollected taxes that, they allege, should have been charged for consultation. Interior designers already, properly, charge their customers sales tax for any furnishings they might supply as part of their service. But the revenue department claims that designers should have been charging a service tax, as well.

    The state’s claim is not decorous, to say the least. But I suppose that the officials in question truly believe it should be the law, if only that pesky legislative process weren’t in the way. Pity them. They, too, suffer from the Quicken Pox.

     

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    {mosimage}Dear EarthTalk: Is it true that the carcasses of whales that wash up on shore are considered dangerous to humans because of the amount of toxins and chemicals in their blubber?

    -- Michael O’Loughlin, Tigard, Ore.


    Whether wildlife officials in a given region consider a dead, beached whale a biohazard or not is a local decision; however, experts agree that only trained professionals should go anywhere near a dead wild animal to prevent the spread of bacterial infection, no matter whether any industrial pollutants might be oozing out. Regardless, it is true that some types of whales, given their spot at the top of the marine food chain, do harbor chemical pollution in their fatty tissue and organs.

    Researchers have found, for instance, that PCBs, dangerous toxins notorious for polluting New York’s Hudson River and long banned in the U.S., are present in the blubber of beluga and orca whales, among others, in amounts - some 80 parts per million - that could kill a person. DDT, a pesticide banned in 1972 in the U.S. for wreaking havoc on bird and other wildlife populations, also still shows up in measurable amounts in whale blubber around the world.

    Beyond such well-known pollutants, newer ones are starting to show up in large amounts in the carcasses of beached whales and other top marine predators. Today, biologists are most worried about the marked increase in flame retardants (PBDEs) and stain repellents (PFOs) in dead marine mammals. Flame retardants are particularly troublesome because they “seem to travel over long distances in the atmosphere, and some studies have shown that they can be toxic to the immune system and can affect neurobehavioral development,” according to a recent report by the Arctic Council, a multilateral international body in charge of overseeing Arctic law and development. The report also notes that PFOs do “not seem to break down under any circumstances,” meaning they are passed up the food chain to whales and other top predators, and then in some cases consumed by humans, especially indigenous Arctic people still hunting marine animals as part of their subsistent lifestyles.

    According to the Humane Society of the U.S. (HSUS), whales aren’t the only wild animals carrying around large amounts of toxic chemicals. Bottle-nosed dolphins, manatees, polar bears, seals, sea lions and other marine wildlife also have PCBs, DDT, PBDEs, PFOs and the other pollutants in their tissue and blood streams. 

    “The large-scale die-off of bottle-nosed dolphins along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States in the mid-1980s may have been the direct or indirect result of increasing levels of toxic waste from industrial sources,” HSUS reports, adding that “such pollutants can depress the immune system of marine mammals, making the animals susceptible to diseases they could normally fight off.” 

    Another example: Polar bears in Norway have been exhibiting serious congenital abnormalities; HSUS blames exposure to toxic pollutants in the bears’ otherwise pristine environment. 

    Environmental and health experts worry about such contamination because many of the chemicals in question are known “endocrine disruptors,” meaning they can impair reproduction in both wildlife and humans by mimicking or altering natural hormonal activity. Such chemicals can also cause neurological problems and developmental or skeletal abnormalities.


    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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        Just like singer Randy Newman, I love L.A. We recently flew there to attend the wedding of my cousin Nancy’s daughter. I think that makes the bride my first cousin once removed. It’s a Southern thing that requires attending weddings of your relatives no matter how distance is measured — either by geography or blood lines.
        U.S. Air provided air miles to get us there. I thought my air miles would end up as part of my estate because flights were always unavailable when I called to try to redeem the miles. Finally, I figured out how to use the computer to reserve tickets, and voila, California here we come.
        Modern air travel is a symphony of ethereal pleasures: lots of room on the plane, no waiting, and careful screening of your socks by the Fatherland Security Administration. Always wear clean socks so your dirty feet don’t appear in a government dossier. Unless you are into anorexia, you must bring food with you. I packed a classic elementary school bag lunch of ham and cheese sandwiches, apples, chips, and pecans to torment our seat mates with the exotic smell of room temperature ham and stinky cheese. It was great. Next time I’ll make sardine and clove sandwiches. That will really add to the cachet of flight in the 21st century.
         We stayed in L.A. with my niece, Lisa, who is a member of Ghostwriters Anonymous. Lisa is quite colorful. She has ghostwritten several books which have made it to The New York Times bestseller list. A Russian studies graduate of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, she worked as a nanny in the American Embassy in Moscow, was a singer in a French restaurant in Japan, worked as a writer for www.thewashingtonpost.com and ended up being a ghost writer of nonfiction books. She is also an excellent softball pitcher. Her most excellent apartment in West Hollywood looks like something out of a Raymond Chandler novel or a movie set in the 1930s. Her neighborhood is filled with bizarre California plants that could only be grown in a greenhouse back here. It is interesting what banyan tree roots can do to sidewalks. {mosimage}
         I woke up early and wandered the streets. West Hollywood is not a morning kind of town. It is filled with colorful stores, nightclubs and restaurants that claim to serve breakfast but are not really open until noon. One store front had a neon sign that read “Free HIV Testing.” Who knew HIV Testing had been arrested? Lisa took me on a walking celebrity tragedy tour. We saw the Chateau Marmont Hotel on Sunset Boulevard where John Belushi snorted his last drugs before sloughing off this mortal coil. Nearby was Barney’s Beanery, which is a lounge where Janis Joplin allegedly was last seen alive in public consuming a beer. Also in the neighborhood was the Viper Room where River Phoenix breathed his last. Sic sempter celebriti.
     We spent one day at the Getty Museum, which is a quaint little place that old J. Paul Getty built on the top of a large, spectacular hill. The museum grounds are huge with multiple futuristic art castles which could be in Star Wars. Very spiffy art — Van Gogh, Monet, Cezanne and a cast of thousands. It is remarkable what you can do with several billion dollars if you put your mind to it. I was disappointed that there were no paint-by-number displays. But you can’t have everything.
         The wedding itself was outstanding. It was held outside in a beautiful park on a beautiful California afternoon starring Wendy the beautiful bride.
        We arrived about 15 minutes early and no one was there.
        The almost 200 guests drifted in about 30 minutes later. It must be a California thing. Everyone was laid back. Even the bride’s mother Nancy was calm. She had all the family over for dinner the night before the wedding. Astounding.
         Nancy, and Wendy’s father Bob, have been divorced for many years but they are still good friends. Nancy’s husband Andy is also friends with Bob. The ceremony ended with a beaming Nancy walking off arm-and-arm between Bob and Andy. It was a beautiful.

  • Details
        I still remember the first time I ever watched Luhrman’s Romeo and Juliet. In the last scene, Juliet is guffawing in a very pained way over Romeo’s dead body. I laughed. I cupped my hand over my mouth after I did, surprised at my own coldness. Her grief seemed so real, and I, like many, am one of those folks who doesn’t know how to respond to those that are grieving. It’s one of things you never know how to respond to — it’s just... uncomfortable. {mosimage}
        If you’ve dealt with losing a loved one, you know all the “sorrys” and the condolences from concerned family, friends don’t really amount to anything. How you wished the people would just go away and stop asking how you are. And then you remember what it’s like to be on the other side, and that their intentions are good, and they just desperately want to help, but don’t have the right words to say, and you forgive them.
        Rabbit Hole, by David Lindsay-Abaire showcases both sides of that grief — the griever and the consoler — for two-and-a-half hours, minus the intermission. If you wince at grief and have a hard time “coping,” this is not the play for you. If, however, you love delving into the human psyche, (ahem, myself) delve away. 
    The play starts with delightfully funny Izzy (Paige Collins) recounting a rather raucous bar encounter to her sister, Becca (Rhonda Brocki). Becca ends up chastising Izzy, telling her she needs to get her “shit together.” Izzy gets defensive, and makes an offhand comment about how it has been really tough for her to get it together since Danny died. We learn that Danny was Becca’s four year old son, who died in a blameless and unfortunate accident. Izzy just acknowledged the rather large elephant in the room, which remains throughout the play. Danny might as well be listed as a character — for his absence is just as much a character as Izzy is with her sarcastic ways.
        The play paints a portrait of the grieving family realistically and accurately. The father, Howie (Gary Clayton), just wants to move forward, make love to his wife and return to normal, but later realizes he might have just been showing a brave face for the family and himself. The mother, Becca, is a tiny woman full of grieving spite, anger, love and pastry making. The sister, Izzy, offers comic relief with her mess-of-a-ife and baby on the way. And lastly, the mother, Nat (Joyce Lipe) talks a lot, trying to fill up the empty space her grandson left, to help her own daughter deal with the grief, the grief she has already experienced with the loss of her own son, all the while being hugely entertaining.
        As this portrait is realistic and accurate with no glossy overcoat, we see the family share funny, sad and angry moments — idle and amusing chit-chat about the Kennedy’s, tearful encounters over lemon bars, and tense arguments about VHS tapes. Each actor in this play really deserves a hand. It’s easy to make grief a soap opera, and thankfully, there is no soap opera here. Each actor’s journey with grief is authentic.    
    The superb director of this fine cast, Evan Bridenstine, described it best when he said, “Rabbit Hole is pure Lindsay-Abraire, a mixture of laughter and pain that creates hope without sentimentality. This is good stuff, but it’s far more dynamic than I’d expect a meditation to be.”
        Come check out Rabbit Hole, playing at the Gilbert Theater through April 20. Call 678-7186 for tickets and show times or visit www.GilbertTheater.com. You’re likely to walk away from this play being the most comfortable at being uncomfortable you’ve ever felt. And if, like many, you console yourself with food, don’t fret, the Gilbert is offering Carrot Cake after the show.

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        When Michael and Deborah Jaenicke returned to North Carolina last year, the North Carolina Children’s Theatre wasn’t something they had anticipated coming into their lives.
        “My husband actually talked me into it,” said Deborah Jaenicke, North Carolina Children’s Theatre creative director. “I’d had a theatre school and a touring company in Rhode Island and when I decided I was going to move back down here, (I) had just finished two movies.”
         They are in post production right now and Jaenicke just got notification that one of them is going to go to all the film festivals. 
        “When I moved down I thought, I don’t know (to run a children’s theater), and he said ‘Look — you are so good with children. You love the theatre so much.’ And I said okay,” Jaenecke laughingly explained. “The second I started I knew. This is my passion.”
        And it has been her passion and her husband Michael’s enthusiasm that have delivered productions like The Wizard of Oz last fall, which drew 1,100 people.
        April 17-18, the North Carolina Children’s Theatre will perform Oliver Twist, based on Charles Dickens book of the same name. Don’t come expecting to see a cutesy pie event though. That is the last thing either Jaenicke wants. Deborah has spent hours and hours bringing the realities of industrial England to the young actors. Their training included learning to speak with a Cockney accent, reading the novel Oliver Twist,
        “I didnt want to do children’s theatre that they (the audience) went ‘Oh,aren’t they cute.’ I wanted to do something that had quality and substance to it and that the children had to strive to be better than ‘oh, aren’t they cute,’” said Jaenicke. “I wanted them to learn to be talented and even if they didn’t have the capability to sing or to dance that they had to strive to be in the companies when we did shows.”
        The production boasts a cast of 40 with an array of performers including New York trained performers, local actors and students from Robeson, Bladen and Cumberland Counties. “Our cast is outstanding. They are just tremendous,” said  Executive Producer Michael Jaenicke. “It’s going to be so good.”
    The production will take place at Lu Mil Vineyard in Dublin. The show starts at 7 p.m. both nights. Tickets are $12 for adults and $10 for those 12 and under.
        For more information or tickets, call (910) 866-5819 or visit www.lumilvineyard.com.

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        “If you’re interested in the stock market, if you want to make money, if you want to double or triple your money or even if you want to lose it nicely,” said Dr. Sid Gautum, director of Methodist University’s Center for Entrepreneurship, “then you simply must come down to the Stock Market Symposium.” This year, the center’s 31st annual event will take place on Tuesday, April 22, and will feature international executive manager Ajit Dayal as the keynote speaker.
        “We were very lucky this year,” Gautum said concerning Dayal. “We’ve been trying to get him for a long time.” Having access to Dayal’s insights on the emerging market, is what he believes will be “the opportunity of a lifetime” for symposium attendees. “The last time we had this kind of a speaker hear was back in 1997,” he recalled.
        In addition to founding India’s first equity research house in 1990, Dayal has worked with leading United States and United Kingdom financial advisory and asset management firms. After obtaining his bachelor’s degree in economics from Bombay University, Dayal earned a master’s degree in business administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has spent nearly 22 years working in investment management and researching equity.
        {mosimage}Gautum said that the title of this story and the title of the keynote speakers address should be “Stock is On Sale …cheap” He explained that the best way to make money in the stock market is to “buy low and sell high,” which basically means: don’t buy stock when it’s expensive — wait until the price comes down. And don’t sell your stock when it’s cheap — wait until it goes back up. “This is one of the lowest times I’ve seen in the last several years,” said Gautum. “So this is a very good time to invest and become rich.”
    A major emphasis of the symposium, however, is not the New York Stock Exchange. This year’s focus will be on emerging markets, such as China, India, Mexico, much of Southeast Asia, countries in Eastern Europe and parts of Africa and Latin America.
        “Twenty to 30 years ago, the only place we could invest was in America,” explained Gautum, “but today we are living in a flat world.” Or, a world where everyone and everything is connected, all the time. Up until just recently, he continued, “The only opportunities were in the American market. Then, it was the European market… But, believe it or not, nowadays there are better and more opportunities in the emerging countries.”
        To demonstrate the success of the emerging markets, Gautum gave the following example: “In the last five years, if you had invested money in the emerging market, you would have made as little as 50 to 70 percent [on your investment] and in some cases, as much as 200 percent.”
        In short, Gautum said that the purpose of the Stock Market Symposium is to “try and revive and reconfirm that the stock market is a very vital institution in a market economy.” He argues that the market economy cannot work without an efficient stock market. “A stock market is a very efficient as well as a very attractive and useful place for investing your resources,” he concluded.
        “In simple English,” he said, “anybody who comes up with a very good idea, the people will love it and buy.” He pointed out Google, Microsoft and Apple as household names that were once “nobodies.”
    In addition to the presentation by Ajit Dayal, the Center will honor five local business leaders with the Small Business Excellence Award, the Silver Spoon Award, the Outstanding Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Award and the Business Ethics Award. The Stock Market Symposium will take place at 6:30 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Bordeaux. Tickets are $50 per person, or $375 for a table of eight. For more information, visit the Center for Entrepreneurship on the Web at www.methodist.edu/cfe.

  • Details
        The public, in general, has a tendency to stereotype artists. Myths have been perpetuated about the sullen suffering artist, the artist as a misfit, the artist as anti-intellectual and even the idea that having money is not important to artists. This famous quote in the early part of the 20 century “Don’t talk painter, paint,” further perpetuated the idea that artists should not concern themselves with the verbal, only the visual.
    The truth is that artists today are as diverse as the many styles you see in galleries. There is no one temperament; there is no one purpose for why an artist immerses themselves in the creative process. Mohammed Osman, who’s work is on exhibit at the Architect’s Gallery, is the best example of breaking all the rules about how we stereotype artists. {mosimage}
        Not only is Osman a prolific artist, he is one of the most talkative, open and upbeat individuals I have ever meet. Whereas some artists don’t like to talk about their work, he loves to engage in the art of talking and discussing his work at great length. With ease, he can describe or write about each of his works. His passion is ever present in his work and evident while in his presence.
        A physician by profession, Osman’s paintings express states of being; color, scale and figurative expression exude meaning about the human psyche and the human experience. The subject of his paintings range from emotional disorders to the supernatural — the overriding theme is the art of healing.
    Osman is very clear about art and healing. He stated, “Over 3,000 years ago the ancient kemetic (Egyptian) physicians suggested that healing is an art that addresses a level of being: body, mind and soul. This notion still holds true today. Art is a complementary medicine, capable of healing patients in conjunction with conventional medicine.”
        A native of Merka, Somalia, (now practicing and residing in Fayetteville), Osman is very clear about the direction his work has always taken. “My works of art follow a continuity of traditional African art, further advanced to capture the psychosocial, political, cultural, ethnical and medial concepts that are deep, difficult to express in words and philosophically intriguing. Like any other African artist in the world today, I strive in my work to rediscover the definition of contemporary African art.”
        His statement above best describes his clear purpose in why he is involved in the creative process of being an artist. Anyone interested in seeing his work online and interested in his extensive explanation of each of his paintings, should go to his Web site: www.osmanart.homestead.com/onlineartexibitionbyhuandmo.html. He explains each painting in the manner of a healer. Medical information and references to the medical are blended with prose, poetry and personal philosophy. His subjects vary and range from themes of isolation, disease, states of being and the supernatural.
        In the painting titled Loneliness, a lone female figure stands in profile, her hands raised to her head as she faces the bare wall in front of, her shadow is created by the open window behind her, another opening in the wall is located at the end of the room, painted in yellow and crimson red. Emotion exudes as the blue shape of a landscape pushes against the outside of the wall.
        Like all of Osman’s work, Loneliness is painted in a classical expressionistic style. “Loneliness affects everyone indiscriminately. Refugees and immigrants are not excluded. I was raised in Africa. Loneliness lives far away in the West. Here people care. People communicate. People talk. Family ties are strong. Loneliness becomes a matter of choice.”
        If you don’t have time to see his work at the Architect’s Gallery on Burgess Street in downtown Fayetteville, then the above Web site extensively represents his work. The website is linked to an online exhibit titled The 2nd Annual African and American Sketchbook 2008: Works by African and African American Artists born in 1930-1961.
        What you will be seeing in the Architect’s Gallery exhibit are examples of what inspires Osman — what he “sees, feels, thinks and remembers.” Just be mindful, the Architect’s Gallery is only open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., closed on Saturday and Sunday. The exhibit closes the end of the third week in April.

  • Details
        Spring is in full bloom and, as are many local area businesses, the Cape Fear Botanical Garden is gearing up for the Dogwood Festival, and its third annual plant sale during Fayetteville’s quintessential springtime event.
        “The plant sale used to be part of  our May Day event, and we would sell the plants there,” explained the garden’s development officer, Angela Dennis. “We had such a high demand for things that we decided to branch off and make it its own event.” {mosimage}
        Since that time, the garden has held the plant sale in conjunction with the Dogwood Festival.
    Each year, the garden’s expert grounds staff propagates plants for the sale in their own greenhouses. “We also partner with local gardens, nurseries and plant societies, and they too will bring out plants,” said Dennis. She said that, while some of the local nurseries can’t be at the event, they will often donate flowers or shrubs to increase the plant offerings. Each year, the sale has a huge selection of plants, including a variety of annuals, perennials, herbs, shrubs, trees and tropical plants. “It’s a real conglomeration of local offerings,” she added.
        The garden’s talented staff of plant specialists, as well as master gardeners who volunteer at the garden, will be roaming customer service experts. They are there to help people select plants, answer questions about particular plants and to offer free, helpful advice as to where to plant them.
        This year, because of the drought, the theme of the plant sale is “Waterwise Gardening.” There will be a special emphasis on drought tolerant plants, including many native to the area. “Not only will there be experts around to answer questions,” Dennis said, “but we will also give out educational materials about water wise gardening.”
        The garden will also have a DVD demonstration for sale on how to build your own rain barrel. “You can buy the DVD, which comes with a supply list so you know exactly what supplies and parts to buy and it’s very easy to follow,” said Dennis.
        Roger Mercer, a local horticulturalist well known for cultivating day lilies, is going to give away one of the flowering plants to everyone who signs up for a garden membership at the plant sale. “That’s a big deal,” Dennis exclaimed, “His day lilies are prized and very unique. Last year, 60 people signed up, just for the day lilies.”
          “The plant sale meets with our mission of educating and promoting environmental awareness,” explained Dennis. “We’re very lucky because a lot of the people who will have plants for sale here will donate a portion of their proceeds to the garden. So it really helps us out.”
        The annual plant sale at the Cape Fear Botanical Garden is not a part of the facility’s Campaign for Natural Growth, which was launched during the Fall ’07 season. She said that the plant sale is “a great way for us to get out into the community and reach a group of people that we normally might not reach.”
    So far, funding for the Campaign for Natural Growth has been steady and successful. About the Campaign for Natural Growth, she said: “Things are going really well and we’re excited about the progress.” Dennis stated. “We’re looking forward to what the future holds for the garden.”
        The Spring Plant Sale is slated for Saturday, April 26, from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. As one of the Fayetteville Dogwood Festival’s official sanctioned events, it is free to the public and will be held rain or shine. For more information, contact Cape Fear Botanical Garden at 486-0221 or on the Web at www.capefearbg.org. The Cape Fear Botanical Garden is located at 536 N. Eastern Blvd.

  • Details
        Have you ever wondered what happens when blood donor centers and hospitals don’t have blood to give to trauma victims in emergency situations? Probably not. The truth is, most people don’t think about what would happen in those types of situations because the outcome is, for many, too unimaginable. But when hospitals don’t have an adequate supply of blood, people die. {mosimage}
        Recently, the Cape Fear Valley Blood Donor Center was forced to send out a mass appeal to local businesses and donors in the community for Type O Negative blood donations because the center’s current stock has reached critically low levels. While the center normally has a three-to four-day supply in reserve, the current supply has fallen below a single day’s worth of O negative blood on hand.
        “Right now we’re really short on all blood types,” said Mary Fisher, a representative of the Blood Donor Center. “However, the need for O Negative is critical.” She explained that, just for the patients in the areas served by Cape fear Valley and Highsmith-Rainey hospitals, the center needs to bring in at least 1,300 donors a month — from all blood types, but very specifically O negative. O negative can be used for trauma victims when there is no time to type the victim’s blood.
        Fisher suggests there may be a number of reasons that blood levels have gotten so low — including ineligibility of donors. Several factors make a person ineligible to donate bloods, such as: anyone who has traveled or lived in Europe for more than three months between 1980 and 1996 is permanently ineligible, and anyone who has recently had a body piercing or tattoo outside of North Carolina in the past year is also disqualified from donating for one year.
        She said, “Some people think everybody else is doing it, so they don’t really need to. And they’re not.” But added, “We’re just fortunate that every time we go into this critical situation, that there isn’t an accident or trauma that comes in that we don’t have blood.”
        “The same donors always pull through for the center,” Fisher reported, “but we need new people to come in, especially the type O’s to start supporting.” As much as the Blood Donor Center loves and appreciates their regulars, Fisher looks forward to the day when “…we don’t have to keep calling the same donors all the time or making them feel guilty when they can’t come.
        At Womack Army Medical Center, the outlook isn’t much better. “Levels at Womack are not quite as critical as the Cape Fear Valley’s Blood Donor Center, but we still need donations,” said Shannon Lynch, of the Womack Public Affairs Office. “We are constantly trying to find ways to keep our blood donations up.”
    She explained that the hospital maintains a “wartime contingency of blood products,” which are either used to supply the need at Fort Bragg or sent to support Army initiatives abroad.
        Womack does a number of blood drives on post, to which anyone can donate. “If you can get on post, you can donate,” Lynch added.
        One area of confusion, however, is that “People think that if they donate at Cape Fear, that soldiers benefit and that’s not the case,” she clarified. “If a person wanted to donate blood and make sure that a soldier or their family benefited from donating the blood, they should donate at the Fort Bragg Blood Donor Center.” She said that the blood collected at the Fort Bragg Donor Center and the Cape Fear Valley center are really only shared in the event that one purchases blood supply from the other.
        To donate blood at the Cape Fear Valley Blood Donor Center, stop by 3357 Village Drive, Suite 150, in the Bordeaux Shopping Center between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m., Monday through Friday. For questions, or to make an appointment to donate, call 609-6300. All blood donated to the Blood Donor Center remains in the community to serve the needs of patients of Cape Fear Valley Health System.
        The Fort Bragg Blood Donor Center can be reached by calling 907-WAMC. (907-9262.)

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    A couple of years ago when the President was looking around for a Drug Czar and an Education Czar, Fayetteville Mayor Tony Chavonne was looking for a Litter Czar, and he found him in Bobby Hurst.
        Hurst, a Fayetteville business owner and current member of the city council, stepped up to lead the fight against littler in our community through the start-up of Fayetteville Beautiful — a committee of concerned citizens dedicated to encouraging others to take greater responsibility for improving their environment. That’s a job neither Hurst, nor the volunteers who pull on their gloves and grab their trash bags to walk our city roadways, takes lightly.
        Since September 2006, the organization has been taking a hard look at our community, and what they’ve seen hasn’t been pretty. Using the Litter Index, which was created by Keep America Beautiful, Fayetteville’s streets rang in with a 2.95 on the litter scale. Doesn’t sound too bad? Wait, the index goes from one to four, with four being the most littered.
        The organization decided to tackle littler on several fronts — the first being citywide clean-ups, and the second being education aimed at changing personal habits. “We can clean up the roadways, but if people’s behaviors don’t change, then the trash will wind up right back out there again,” explained Hurst. “So we really have to focus on education, because that’s what brings about behavioral change. It has to do with individuals chaning their behaviors..”
        Part of that education is getting people to take ownership of the city. “We believe that if we get rid of the accumulation of litter out there, people are less likely to throw it out again,” he continued. “And the way that works is to involve our citizens. If they don’t feel a sense of ownership, then the litter isn’t going to bother them —  a lot of people take that ‘as long as it’s not on my property’ approach. But if they take a couple of hours of their time to pick up other people’s trash, then they’ve taken ownership.”
        That theory seems to be working. In April 2007, the organization hosted the first citywide cleanup. Ninety-one groups, with more than 1,100 people hit the streets to tackle the litter. Volunteers were to target the trash along the major entranceways into our city. Some volunteers went above and beyond the call of duty, not just picking up the trash along the side of the road, but the trash on the other side of the guard rails along the Martin Luther King Expressway as well. What they found was shocking: stacks of old tires; bags of trash; rusted out bicycles and much more. Working in recently annexed areas of the city, volunteers found illegal dump sites loaded down with old furniture and appliances. In total, they picked up several tons of trash.
        A follow-up clean up in September saw 125 groups and a few more people than the initial group, and they worked just as hard. In total, both cleanups netted 52 tons of trash and covered more than 237 miles of roadway.
        Hurst has equally high expectations for the Spring Pickup, which is scheduled for Saturday, April 19, with the kickoff at 9 a.m. at the entranceway of the Dr. Martin Luther King Freeway and Ramsey Street. The goal of the cleanup is to make sure our city sparkles for the upcoming Dogwood Festival. This will be the only cleanup this year. Hurst explained that people were more excited about the spring cleanup. “It’s that time of the year when people are cleaning up, planting flowers,” he said. “They really are excited about a fresh start.”

         Somelocal residents got a head start on the project, as they gathered on Saturday, April 12 to replant the Hurley pots downtown. The pots, named in honor of former Mayor Bill Hurley, are all spruced up and read to grow thanks to the help of volunteers who didn’t let the torrential rainfall of the weekend damped their enthusiasm. “A lot of people came out to help plant,” said Hurst. “They managed to get 70 pots done despite the rain.” {mosimage}
        Lending a hand to that effort was Chavonne. “Tony really sees this as an important effort,” said Hurley.
    Volunteers who want to participate in the cleanup can contact Jerry and Sue Dennis at 425-4353 to sign up, or they can show up at the kickoff. They will be able to pick up their bags, gloves and vests at 12 of the city’s recreation centers the week prior to the event so no one will need to stand in line to get what they need. Hurst said that a number of people pick up their supplies early, and instead of coming to the official kickoff over on Ramsey Street, they go straight to their assigned area and start cleaning up.
        The results of their work brought about a reduction in Fayetteville’s litter index. It has now dropped to 2.4.
    For more information about Fayetteville Beautiful or to volunteer, contact the group’s Web site at www.fayettevillebeautiful.com. Remember, it all starts with you.

     

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