The Hope Mills Board of Commissioners on Monday, June 6 will hold a public hearing on the proposed fiscal 2022-23 budget.

The board meets at 7 p.m. at Town Hall.

Town Manager Scott Meszaros has proposed a $15.5 million budget that keeps the property tax rate at 46 cents per $100 valuation.

The proposed budget also includes a tax of 5 cents per $100 of property valuation to raise the revenue listed in Parks & Recreation fees.

The board could decide to adopt the budget after the public hearing. The new budget has to be adopted by June 30.

A public hearing also is scheduled on the annexation of 6 acres in the Horner subdivision on Corporation Drive owned by Beers N Trees LLC. This would be a contiguous annexation.

Those who want to speak at the hearings should sign up with the town clerk prior to the meeting and limit their time to 3 minutes.

Under the consent agenda, the board will consider accepting a budget amendment to receive just over $5 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funding. The town has identified several projects for the funding, including nearly $2.4 million for street improvements, $1.4 million for ballfields at the Golfview property, $586,000 for police radios and $500,000 for a police real-time crime center and a license plate reader system, according to a memo to Meszaros from Finance Director Drew Holland

The board also will consider accepting a budget amendment in the amount of $97,500 for general fund expenses that include additional election costs and additional parking at the Lake Park. Of that, $9,000 is for election expenses and $88,500 is for the Fountain Lane parking lot, according to a memo from Holland.

The board also will consider a budget amendment in the amount of $16,000 for fuel expenditures as part of the consent agenda.

In general, items listed on the consent agenda are passed on a single motion without discussion.

Under new business, the town will consider the approval of the Cumberland County Joint Planning Board draft by-laws.

 

The Fayetteville City Council on Monday night, June 6 is scheduled to consider providing financial assistance to the Fayetteville Dogwood Festival, which is looking to recover from financial hardships related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The discussion has been tabled twice, including a request to drop it from last Thursday’s (June 2) budget work session.

The meeting begins at 5 p.m. at City Hall.

The 40th Dogwood Festival was held in downtown Fayetteville on April 22-24.
The Dogwood Festival Inc. board of directors has requested $15,000 to support the event’s expenses.

“As many know, the festival has been on a long hiatus since the COVID-19 pandemic, beginning in March 2020,” reads an April 7 letter addressed to City Manager Doug Hewett from festival Executive Director Sarahgrace Snipes. “Due to this hiatus, the annual festival has not been able to be held since 2019; fortunately, the festival has shown resilience.

“Throughout the pandemic, several small fundraisers were held and as mass gathering restrictions relaxed last summer, events have been able to continue.”

While the festival has been able to bounce back from the financial hardship, Snipes wrote, the support would be greatly appreciated. It is the festival’s intention to use the money to promote sustainability.

With the latest festival, Snipes said in an interview Friday, organizers were still working with some funds from 2020.

"We are still a little behind, and we would like a little bit of support to maintain financial sustainability for the next events for the remainder of 2022," she said.

The festival's overall budget for the year is close to $500,000, according to Snipes.

"All of our other financial support comes from sponsorships and grants," she said. "I would say sponsorships make up a considerable portion of our income. We do receive some grant funds from the Tourism Development Authority of Cumberland County and also The Arts Council of Fayetteville and Cumberland County. Any other funds that we don't receive from them we recruit sponsorship and ticket sales and other revenue... If we're looking to make up that money — the $15,000 or even more — we would have to add additional fundraising."

Snipes said the latest festival did not wind up in the red in terms of profit and loss.

"We have seen some profit but doing festivals like ours, it takes a lot of financial resources," Snipes said. "It sometimes comes down to cash flow."

Watershed study

In other business, staff members are expected to present the findings of a Blounts Creek watershed study. Part of the study focused on Blounts Creek into downtown.

The recommendations include improvements to the bridges at Russell and Person streets as well as stream enhancements, according to materials in the agenda packet. The estimated cost is $20.5 million, the agenda packet states.

The materials say the improvements to Russell and Person streets would keep more roads open during large storm events.

The project would require consulting and coordinating with the N.C. Department of Transportation, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality and other agencies, the materials state.

On another matter, Councilwoman Courtney Banks-McLaughlin is expected to discuss support of a proposed aquatic center.

The parks and recreation advisory board has expressed interest in an aquatic center and is requesting the council’s support, Banks-McLaughlin states on her agenda item request. No other information about the aquatic center, including where it would be located, was available in the agenda materials.

The Cumberland County Board of Commissioners on Monday, June 6 will hold a special meeting to hear comments from the public regarding the recommended fiscal 2023 budget.

The proposed budget calls for nearly $553 million in total expenditures across all funds — which includes school and capital investment funds — and has a $362 million general fund.

The tax rate would remain the same at 79.9 cents per $100 property valuation.

Cumberland County estimates it will receive nearly $171 million from property taxes this fiscal year, which makes up roughly 55% of the general fund. A penny on the tax rate earns $2.4 million.

The June 6 meeting seeks public comment regarding the proposed budget. The meeting starts at 7 p.m. in the Judge E. Maurice Braswell Cumberland County Courthouse. The meeting takes place in room 118 on the main floor of the courthouse.

Historically, representatives from outside agencies seeking county funding speak at the public hearings. This year, 17 outside agencies sought public funding. The recommended budget allocates $486,042 to outside agencies, the same amount as in the fiscal 2022 budget and $142,827 less than requested.

Initially, of the 17 agencies requesting money, the budget only allocated funds for 15 agencies. The North Carolina Symphony Society and Cumberland Health Net Inc. were not recommended for funding. However, during last Wednesday’s budget work session, board Chairman Glenn Adams requested that $30,000 of the recommended $68,000 be taken from the Arts Council to fund Cumberland Health Net, which had requested $41,000. He also asked that another $3,000 be taken from the Arts Council for the Vision Resource Center. The Vision Resource Center had asked for $10,000 but the budget allocated $7,000, the same as last year. The additional $3,000 makes the Vision Resource Center the only outside agency receiving what it had requested.

Adams said he believes because of the pandemic during the past two years, the Arts Council did not spend all of its money. Also, the Arts Council receives a portion of the county’s motel and hotel occupancy room tax, which he predicted has increased over last year.

County Manager Amy Cannon did not have those figures available at Wednesday’s (June 1) budget workshop.

The city of Fayetteville’s recommended fiscal 2023 budget allocates $75,000 for the Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County to partner for community art programs.

Members of Cumberland County’s staff unveiled their recommended budget to the public Thursday, setting up weeks of deliberation over how the county will spend its taxes throughout fiscal year 2023.

County Manager Amy Cannon and the rest of the county’s staff set the value of the proposed budget at just under $553 million, an increase of about 10% from the current fiscal year.

The property tax rate, which is 79.9 cents per $100 of property valuation, would remain the same. The county’s annual solid waste fee of $56 would also stay the same.

Property taxes, sales taxes, motor vehicle taxes and money from the federal and state governments are the county’s primary sources of funding for the budget — 48%, 17%, 7% and 21%, respectively.

Property tax revenue is projected to increase by more than $2 million while motor vehicle tax revenue would increase by more than $1 million in the new budget above the level of the current fiscal year.

For fiscal year 2023, the county is recommending that more than $60 million be collected in sales tax, a 4% increase in what is projected to be collected by the conclusion of fiscal year 2022 on June 30.

Even with these revenue increases, however, Cannon said during her presentation Thursday to the Board of Commissioners that overall growth in the budget is limited compared to expenditure increases.

“I had to make some tough decisions to balance this budget,” she said. “But our focus remained on three things: to maintain current services, to address unmet needs where possible within the funding available and to continue advancing the board’s strategic priorities.”

Those three priorities, laid out by Cannon, are the continued development of the Crown Event Center to replace the Crown Theatre and Arena, public water access for Gray’s Creek and addressing homelessness within the county.

To address homelessness, Cannon said the county had received $1 million from the N.C. General Assembly to construct a homeless shelter. She said the county is collaborating with the Cape Fear Valley Health System and Fayetteville Technical Community College.

‘The new normal’

Cannon said new realities associated with the COVID-19 pandemic have forced the county to push money in new directions to adapt.

“The last two years have been characterized by rapid, abrupt and constant change because of the magnitude of the pandemic,” she said. “Uncertainty continues as we transition to what I’m going to call this evening, ‘the new normal.’”

At the top of this list was inflation.

“The increased cost of goods and services and interest rate hikes will continue to reduce disposable income,” Cannon said. “Economic optimism nationally among chief financial officers has eroded in the first quarter of 2022.”

In the proposed budget, mandated increases from the state or those associated with health costs amount to $6 million.

One mandatory cost hike is the increased price of health insurance for county employees. Contributions that the county must make to the employee retirement fund have also increased.

The N.C. Department of Public Safety has required counties to increase their share of youth detention facility costs, Cannon said.

The state late last year also required that certain school employees in each county receive a minimum wage of at least $15 an hour. A wage increase of 2.5% of anyone already at the $15-an-hour mark is also required.

Due in part to this, the Cumberland Board of Education requested a school budget of $88.2 million, an increase of more than $5 million from last year.

Due to the new $15-an-hour minimum, the school sought the ability to address salary compression, a situation where the difference in wages between employees of different experience levels is minimal.

However, Cannon said the county is not required to address salary compression. Therefore, the recommended school budget is lower than requested, at $84.3 million.

General increased labor costs are also a cause of increased expenses in the county budget.

Cannon said increased labor costs are a trend across the country due to the pandemic.

“It’s impacted people both mentally and physically,” she said. “It’s caused employees to reflect on their priorities and life in general. Americans are seeking better pay, but even more than that, they’re seeking flexible work schedules that create a better work-life balance.

“The Great Resignation has had an impact on all organizations. Cumberland County is not immune from this workforce crisis.”

Cumberland has experienced worker resignations, Cannon said, that have resulted in an average employee age of 44 and an average of four years of experience with the county.

To help maintain its current workers, Cumberland is incorporating a 4% cost-of-living pay increase into the proposed budget.

The county is also increasing the annual pay of entry-level detention officers and deputy sheriffs to $40,457 and $44,000, respectively, both an increase of about $2,700.

Cannon said the county conducted an analysis of the salaries among Cumberland employees. The majority of workers made close to the minimum in their salary ranges.

“Our pay structure lacks a mechanism to move people throughout their range,” she said. “From a recruitment perspective, the minimum salary by many of our grades is no longer competitive in this employee-driven market.”

To address this, the county has included a $95,000 worker study in the proposed budget as a way to determine how to best retain employees.

Cannon said the city of Fayetteville had recently conducted a similar study. In Fayetteville’s proposed budget, the city is including merit pay increases for employees, Carolina Public Press reported.

Other counties, including Harnett, Durham, Guilford, Forsyth and New Hanover, are in various stages of conducting pay studies, Cannon said.

Deliberation over next few weeks

The Cumberland County Board of Commissioners plans to conduct work sessions to discuss the recommended budget on June 1, 8, 13 and 15.

Each work session will take place at 5:30 p.m. at the Cumberland County Courthouse in Room 564.

A public hearing, where residents can voice concerns over the budget, will take place at 7 p.m. June 6 at the courthouse in Room 118.

The Board of Commissioners may hold a work session immediately following that hearing based on community feedback on the budget.

Pictured above: The Cumberland County Courthouse houses meetings of the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners in downtown Fayetteville. (Photo by Melissa Sue Gerrits / Carolina Public Press)

Fayetteville police are investigating the death of a man and the wounding of two other people in a shooting at a hookah lounge early Monday.

Officers were called to Airborne Hookah Lounge in the 5000 block of Raeford Road about 2:15 a.m. Monday, according to a news release from the Fayetteville Police Department.

They found a woman with life-threatening injuries from a gunshot wound, the release said. Two other people also had been shot during the incident. One was in a vehicle on Raeford Road, and the other was at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center, the release said.

Antwain Maurice Hoskins, 22, of the 500 block of Trust Drive, died from his injuries at the hospital, the release said.

Detectives determined that there was a disturbance outside the lounge before the shootings. One victim was treated at the hospital and released. The third victim remains in stable condition at the hospital. Their identities were withheld.

The Fayetteville Police Department’s Homicide Unit is investigating the shootings and asks that witnesses or anyone with photographs or videos from the scene contact Detective S. Shirey at 910-751-3009 or CrimeStoppers at 910-483-TIPS (8477).

The prospect of a new name for Fort Bragg is getting mixed reviews from veterans and civil rights leaders in Fayetteville.

A federal commission tasked by Congress with recommending new names for military installations named for Confederate officers has suggested that Fort Bragg become Fort Liberty.

That’s fine with Jimmy Buxton, president of the Fayetteville branch of the NAACP.

“It’s somewhat mind-boggling that they came up with ‘Liberty,’” said Buxton, who was invited to share his input when representatives of the naming commission visited Fort Bragg in the fall for feedback.

“I knew it had to be changed,” Buxton said. “I think I can live with Fort Liberty - what ‘liberty’ stands for. And it’s what Fort Bragg has stood for for years. It brings a pretty good meaning to Fort Bragg.”

Buxton said he didn’t have a suggestion for a new name, but one of the men whose name he would have liked to be seriously considered was Gen. Roscoe Robinson, the first African American to command the 82nd Airborne Division.

Retired Army Gen. Dan McNeill, former commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, said he thinks the commission chose wisely, considering all the suggestions it had.

"If you named it after a person, which person would you have picked?” he asked. “If you picked one, as opposed to groups of others, you would have left others behind.”

McNeill said the commission spoke to a lot of diverse people while seeking feedback from the community.

"It was a good job of assembling a wide array of people," he said. "By the time the last meeting occurred, they all seemed to agree on ‘Liberty.’ A name is what caused this problem to start with. When someone said ‘Liberty,’ it made a lot of sense to me."

The naming commission announced its recommendations last week. They will be forwarded to Congress and, if approved, to Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, who will have the ultimate authority to rename the installations.

Fort Bragg, with more than 53,000 troops, is home to the 82nd Airborne Division and Special Operations Forces.

The post, which opened in 1918 as a field artillery station, was named after Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg, a North Carolina native. The Army artillery officer was known for his role in the 1847 Battle of Buena Vista, Mexico. He later served as a Confederate general and was a slave owner.

Troy Williams, a legal analyst and criminal defense investigator, said at this point, he doesn’t see the renaming of Fort Bragg as a big deal.

Williams served in the Air Force from 1973 through 1977.

“I don’t like the Fort Liberty name,” Williams said. “It’s not going to sit well with some people. At this point, this far into the game, it’s a moot point … to change this because they were Confederate officers.”

Williams questioned when all the name changing would end in a period of political correctness. He said some military installations are named after Union Army leaders who “slaughtered native Indians” and the buffalo they hunted.

“They were slaughtering these people. They’ve got stuff named after them,” he said. “My challenge is, are we going to change everything?”
Williams doesn’t like the proposed name.

“If we’re going to come up with a name, at least make it a name that honors people,” he said. “Fort Liberty – what the heck is that? We honored Bragg all these years, and now we can’t honor another person?”

U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., whose district includes Fort Bragg, has suggested that its association with Confederate Gen. Bragg instead be with Bragg's cousin, Union Army Gen. Edward S. Bragg of Wisconsin, as a compromise.

Most historians rate Edward Bragg as the better military leader.

William Greene, 59, the quartermaster of VFW Post 10630 in Hope Mills, served five years in the reserve before serving on active duty in the Army from 1985 to 2005.

Greene agrees with Hudson.

“To me, personally, I’d call it Fort Bragg after the Union guy,” Greene said. “The Confederate general – they’ve got to get rid of that. All the Confederate history.”

But changing the name would be costly, he said.

“You’re talking a lot of money,” Greene said. “I don’t know how you’ll raise those funds to rename the roads, all the signs. Keep it simple, anyway, so we can save money.”

The name “Liberty” would reflect “all the things going on at Fort Bragg,” he said.

“I’m just trying to save some money,” he said.

Grilley Mitchell, 67, president of the Cumberland County Veterans Council, had a 20-year Army career that ended in 1993.

“You know what? They have already made the decision,” he said. “I have no opinion. … They’re going to do what they want to do. We just get in line with the marching orders. That’s the reality of things. The military makes the decisions.”

Mitchell said he’s on record saying that the post should remain Fort Bragg but named for Edward Bragg.

“He was an ambassador, a true patriot for the Union,” he said. “I thought there was a better option. Think of the money that was going to be saved.

“The young may call it Fort Liberty,” he said. “For us, the old school, it will always be Fort Bragg. If you told anyone you were from North Carolina, they say, ‘Fort Bragg.’ They know Fort Bragg. This should be an opinion made by soldiers who served in the military and their families and not the politicians.”

The federal commission recommended new names for eight other Army installations. Fort Bragg is the only one that would not be named after a person.

As friends and family gather for the holiday to grill or enjoy the beach, Col. Scott Pence reminded people to stop and think about the families who will have an empty seat at the table on Memorial Day.

Pence, 46, is Fort Bragg’s garrison commander. He was the keynote speaker Monday morning for a Memorial Day program at Freedom Memorial Park in downtown Fayetteville.

Inside the park, “All Gave Some … Some Gave All” is posted on one of the monuments. On Monday, flags were set at half-staff for the ceremony, and floral arrangements and markers had been placed in front of a podium.

“Ever since eight members of the Lexington militia lost their lives in the first battle of the American Revolution, nearly 1.2 million service members – soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen – have made the ultimate sacrifice,” Pence told those who were seated on the bleachers and in folding chairs. “We are reminded that the world remains a very dangerous place and that our soldiers are in harm’s way all across the globe.’’

Approximately 300 people attended the service to remember those who sacrificed their lives in the call of duty. The program – organized by veteran Don Talbot, the commander of Purple Heart Chapter 2226 – incorporated patriotic music, a bagpipe version of “Amazing Grace,” wreath presentations representing World War I up to the Global War on Terror, and the Fayetteville Independent Light Infantry Company.

Pence first spoke of the family of Dalia Munoz, a teenager attending high school in Fayetteville. She remembers hearing the doorbell ring, and the men delivering the news of her father’s death, Pence said. Her father was a former Golden Knight and member of the Special Forces.

The year was 2005, just four years following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

From that day on, Pence said, Dalia’s life forever changed.

Among others who have fallen, Fayetteville High School graduate and Eagle Scout Henry T. MacGill barely spent two weeks in Korea before he was gunned down by North Korean forces in 1950, Pence said. Only a few years before his death, he had graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

MacGill was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross – the Army’s second-highest decoration for valor. The citation reads that MacGill repeatedly put his life at risk to save his men.

Pence evoked the names of others who died while serving their country, including Master Sgt. Ralph Joseph Reno, who went missing in Vietnam on July 3, 1966, when his helicopter crashed into the mountains of Quang Nam province.
It would be 2011 before Army officials identified his remains and declared the 38-year-olf Reno killed in action.

“Take a look around these sacred grounds of Freedom Park,” Pence said. “The memorials here are a gentle reminder of those brave men and women who raised their hand to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. These monuments represent the sacrifices of those men and women – and it represents the sacrifices of the families who are left behind.”

Pence talked about a unique bond between the military and civilian communities.

“When we lose one of our own,” he said, “our entire town mourns. We come together to support one another. … We are a community who takes great pride to be home to the thousands of men and women in uniform.”

As a final example of that empty seat at the table on Memorial Day, Pence recalled Earl G. Dawkins, who served with the Army Air Force’s 444th Bomber Squadron, 320 Bomber Group. As he and his crew were on their way to Dijon, France, in November 1944, an unexpected storm caused his Martin B-26 Marauder to crash, taking the lives of Dawkins and his crew, Pence said.

Dawkins’ name is listed on a plaque with others who died near the crash site in the village of Plottes, France. It reads: “They died far away from their country because they came to help liberate ours.”

So, Pence concluded, “As we gather with friends and family, let us remember that Memorial Day is a time to honor our commitment to never forget those who served and sacrificed for America. And today, we do that once again.”

Ann Provencher, who is with the Rolling Thunder North Carolina Chapter 1, spoke during the program on the Missing Man Table, a symbolic gesture that pays tribute to the nation's POWs, MIAs and all of those who did not return while in service.

"Their patriotism, love of country and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good makes them all true heroes," she said. "We owe them a debt of gratitude that can never wholly be paid."

Ryan Jackson, 24, of Fayetteville, attended the ceremony with his grandfather, 60-year-old Army veteran Tim Katetianes.

“It’s a day of memory. Reflection,” Jackson said from the bleachers. “A day of empathy.”

Bruce Tyson, 72, of Fayetteville, called the Memorial Day program “extra special” as he left the park.

“It’s good to see so many come out,” he said. “More people are involved in grilling and beach travel. It’s warm but tolerable. I’m here because someone went somewhere else and sacrificed.”

Cumberland County’s homeless population rose by 178 from 2020 to 2022, according to an annual count of people who live on the streets and those living in homeless shelters.

The 2021 count, which was restricted to people in emergency shelters because of the COVID-19 pandemic, was 54.

The 2022 Community Development Point in Time Count records the number of people in temporary or transitional housing in Fayetteville and Cumberland County as well as those on the streets.

Overall, 475 people were reported to be homeless.

According to the January count, the area has:
● 392 unsheltered homeless people.
● 43 sheltered homeless.
● 40 people in transitional housing.

That adds up to 475 individuals, based on the count.

The 2020 count reported a total homeless population of 297 with 165 unsheltered, 38 in emergency shelters and 94 in transitional housing.

The final report, which will be submitted to the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, will be available on Cumberland County Community Development's website at a later date, a news release said.

Neither Dee Taylor, director of Cumberland County Community Development, nor Craig Morrison, director of Fayetteville Area Operation Inasmuch, could be reached for comment on Monday.

Operation Inasmuch provides food, temporary housing and other assistance to the homeless.

The count is done each January to tally the homeless population during a 24-hour stretch, says a news release from Community Development. “It is designed to be a snapshot of both the sheltered and unsheltered homeless population in a particular area and should not be considered an exact count of homeless individuals,” the release said.

The 2022 count was conducted by 68 volunteers from Community Development and partner agencies, the release said. The volunteers included 19 Cumberland County employees.

At the time of the count, donated items such as gloves, knitted hats and hygiene kits were distributed to the homeless.

Cumberland County Community Development is the lead agency responsible for counting the homeless. Partner agencies include the city of Fayetteville Economic and Community Development and Fayetteville-Cumberland County Continuum of Care on Homelessness.

“The unsheltered homeless are those who are living in conditions that are uninhabitable for humans such as vehicles, under bridges, doorways, abandoned houses/buildings, parks and cemeteries,” the news release said. “The sheltered homeless are those who are in facilities such as emergency shelters; domestic violence shelters; motels and hotels paid by vouchers and charitable organizations; and those in transitional housing units.”

Homeless persons may live in transitional housing as long as 24 months and receive support services.

The count records demographics including race, gender, age and factors including mental illness, substance abuse and disability, the news release said.

Pictured above: Cumbrland County's homeless population rose from 2020 to 2022. (Photo by Jimmy Jones)

The Cumberland County Sheriff's Office has charged a man with throwing Molotov cocktails at two churches Sunday morning.

No injuries were reported, the Sheriff’s Office said in a release Sunday night.

On Monday, arson investigators charged Terry Wayne Raeford, 57, of Fayetteville, with two counts of manufacturing and possession of a weapon of mass destruction and two counts of malicious damage to occupied property by use of an incendiary device.

Raeford was held at the Cumberland County Detention Center on a $200,000 secured bond. His first appearance in court is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Raeford is cooperating with the investigation, the Sheriff's Office said.

Deputies responded to the first incident just after 10:30 a.m. Sunday at Grays Creek Church at 4750 Grays Creek Church Road. Deputies responded to the second incident just after 11 a.m. Sunday at New Calvary Missionary Baptist at 3862 Gateway Drive, the Sheriff’s Office said.

Arson investigators obtained video footage from both churches. Security cameras showed a four-door gray vehicle with tinted windows at both locations, the Sheriff’s Office said.

Pictured above: Terry Wayne Raeford (Photo courtesy Cumberland County Sheriff's Office

Today we shall stare into the void. Trigger warning: Before you read any further, remember what our pal Nietzsche said, “If you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.”

Let us carefully descend into the wonderful world of caves. To quote the world’s most famous rooster Foghorn Leghorn, “I say boy, holes in the ground, my boy, holes in the ground.” Today we shall spelunk into what lies beneath. The abysses into which we shall exchange furtive but tasty glances are the fabled Cheese Caves of Springfield, Missouri. What? You have never heard of the famous Cheese Caves of Missouri? Pull up an ottoman and have a seat. Today will be a learning experience. Kindly bear with me; we will get to the Cheese Caves, but first, a brief survey of two other world-famous caves.

Among the most famous group of caves is the Lascaux cave complex in France. These caves feature about 1500 wall paintings done roughly 17,000 years ago by paleolithic cave dudes and cave dudettes. According to Mr. Google, the wall paintings show people, animals and mysterious abstract drawings.

The caves remained undiscovered until 1940, when a teenager was walking his dog. His dog Robot managed to fall into a hole that turned out to be the entrance to the Lascaux caves. If not for Robot’s fortuitous clumsiness, Lascaux might have remained hidden for another 17,000 years. Who’s a good boy? Robot’s a good boy.

A most excellent cave story was in the “Andy Griffith Show,” where Andy and Helen get temporarily stuck in a cave. Barney is not a fan of caves or bats. He tells Thelma Lou why going into caves is a bad idea.

Barney: “You know what you find in caves? Bats. That’s right — bats. You know what they do? They fly into your hair and get tangled up in there and lay their eggs, and you go crazy.”

Thelma Lou: “Laughs.”

Barney: “Alright, laugh, it’s happened. You want a head full of bat eggs? I don’t.”

I agree with Barney. Even if I had hair, I would not want a head full of bat eggs. However, if you choose to have bat eggs in your hair, that is no one’s business but your own. I will not think less of anyone sporting bat eggs in their hair.

Now let us return to the Cheese Caves. America may not have baby formula, enough gas to go around or flying cars, but we have a Strategic Cheese Reserve buried in Missouri. According to no less an authority than The Washington Post, the U.S. government has 1.4 billion pounds of cheese stored underground in various Cheese Caves. The Feds began buying and storing cheese during President Carter’s time to help dairy farmers sell their products. Cheese is easier to store and keeps much longer than milk. The Feds would buy all the cheese dairy farmers could produce. Naturally, the farmers kept producing more and more cheese. Pretty soon, this added up to a lot of cheese. When Reagan became President, he gave out 30 million pounds of government cheese to the hungry masses. Some of you who are a bit long in the tooth may recall the government cheese program. If you can remember this, please don’t drive after dark.

The Springfield News-Leader says that there are seven million pounds of cheese in the Springfield Cheese Caves. The caves have been turned into a giant 3.2 million square foot warehouse. Being about 100 feet underground, the caves remain about 60 degrees year-round. They can be cooled to 36 degrees which makes cheeses very happy. The cheeses can live long and prosper at 36 degrees. Unfortunately, the Springfield Cheese Caves are not open to the public.

Here are some cheese facts which might help you forget your inability to tour the Cheese Caves for a personal look. The federal government reports that 36% of Americans are lactose intolerant. Demographically 75% of African Americans, 51% of Latinos, 80% of Asian Americans and 21% of Caucasians are lactose intolerant. The Cheese Council reports that processed cheese was originally made for wartime use as it can last almost as long as a Twinkie. Pilgrims brought over cheese on the Mayflower. The first cheese factory did not manufacture cheese until 1851. One-third of all milk in the United States is made into cheese. The average American eats 23 pounds of cheese a year. The most popular cheese recipe in the United States is macaroni and cheese.

I am proud to have gotten through this column without a bunch of gratuitous cheesy puns. There were some Gouda ones I discarded. It could have been a Feta accompli to have riddled this column with bad puns like an overripe Swiss Cheese. But then the column would have smelled like a sweating Limburger cheese on a 100 degree-day. No dogs named Robot were injured during the writing of this column. As Mr. Spock would say,

“Live long and Parmesan.”

To quote Elvis, “I’ll have a Blue Christmas, but you can have a Bleu Cheese.” The Cheese stands alone. Got Cholesterol?

 

I was recently allowed to get a sneak peek at the Gilbert Theater’s production of “Fairview,” the 2019 Pulitizer Prize-winning play by Jackie Sibbles Drury.

Subsequently, I can say it was some of the most powerful, uncomfortable, and truly bizarre theater I have ever seen, though “experienced,” is a much better word.
The play opens into the living room of what could easily be any American’s home. Tasteful furniture, a nice rug, and a dining room table all speak to the banal existence of your average middle-class family.

“Fairview’s” take on this ubiquitous image is the Frasiers, an African American family who in their exaggerated wholesomeness, bring to mind the groundbreaking sitcom perfection of “The Cosby Show.”

There’s comically hysterical Beverly (Jacquelyne Johnson-Hill), who needs everything to be just so for her mother’s birthday dinner. Her long-suffering husband, Dayton (Shaun McMillan), works almost too hard to keep his exasperated wife happy. The arrival of Beverly’s passive-aggressive, meddling sister Jasmine (J. Ra’Chel Fowler) brings some laugh-out-loud dialogue, and the youngest Frasier, teenage Keisha (Jalani Rapu), completes a family that looks just like any other.

In her quest to “make everything absolutely perfect,” Beverly burns the birthday cake (of course), faints dramatically in poor Dayton’s arms, and the stage goes black.

At this point in the play, things go significantly off the rails.

Act II opens with the arrival of new voices, but the stage is dressed the same. A white man (Justin Gore-Pike) and a white woman (Amanda Briggs) begin a contentious conversation about race as a construct and what race they might choose if such a thing were possible.

The incredibly cringe-worthy dialogue here is uncomfortable but is one of the more interesting takes on benign racism that I’ve seen. It’s racism born of stereotype-driven ignorance that doesn’t seek to hate but is equally destructive as it seeks to paint minorities with a broad, incapable brush.
In the background of this racially charged conversation, the Frasiers repeat Act I without speaking any of their lines as another white man (Gabe Terry) and woman (Molly Hamelin) join the conversation happening in the foreground. The cast is now complete: four unnamed white spectators to comment and observe the lives of four black people, much like they’re enjoying a television show.

It’s a lot.

An increasingly angry conversation about what black people are or aren’t continues as the Frasiers go past the point of the previous action in the background. The silent blacks and the chatty whites make for chaotically fascinating theater as the audience confronts the larger conversation threading its way through the scene.
Act II ends in an unhinged monologue delivered to the audience by the play’s loud, swaggering, white, cis-male antagonist. The message, which I won’t write about here, will definitely ruffle the feathers of those listening closely.

Act III, the last in the play, is by far the most confusing. Culminating in a bizarre twist, the play arrives at its message with a shaken, disoriented audience in tow. Frankly, I was happy to see it end — I could finally release the breath I’d been holding.

Chosen for its contentious subject matter by the Gilbert’s artistic director, Lawrence Carlisle III, the play’s director, Deannah Robinson, meets the challenges of the material with a deft hand.
Creating some truly funny moments in a play that seems oppressively heavy at times, Robinson clearly understood the assignment and creates a space that’s hard to stay in but impossible to leave.
Hill, Fowler, McMillan, and Rapu do an excellent job of silently replicating their performances in Act II, while Hamelin, Terry, Briggs, and Gore-Pike commit to performances that are as grotesque as they are brilliant.

The chemistry evident between the play’s actors is a high point of the production. While the play’s commentary almost certainly made for some awkward initial read-throughs, we’re left with the feeling these actors became a little closer throughout rehearsals. It makes the tougher bits easier to swallow.

Technical director Vicki Lloyd’s tidy set and expert lighting design plunge the audience into a bizarre world of meta-theater where we, the audience, become the watchers of the watchers of a show not meant for either of us. Her skillful direction moves the play through transitions that seem simultaneously seamless and jarring. The haunting spotlight on newcomer Rapu in her closing monologue is an image that is sure to stick with audiences long after the play ends.

“Fairview” is a play of outrageous demands and unflinching permissions. It allows itself to be the crude, vulgar uncle at a family barbecue and demands you don’t dare leave the table.
I recommend that you grab a seat and settle in for a necessary conversation.

“Fairview”runs through June 12.
The Gilbert Theater is located at 116 Green St. above the Fascinate U Children’s Museum.

Tickets can be purchased at www.gilberttheater.com/ or 910-678-7186.

Sweet Tea Shakespeare will take audiences all the way back to "the rom-com that started it all" with their production of "Much Ado About Nothing" by William Shakespeare. This comedy, directed by Sweet Tea Shakespeare's Artistic Director Jeremy Fiebig, will open Friday, June 3, and run through June 26. Shows start at 7:30 p.m. Friday through Sunday, with a live music preshow at 6:45 p.m.

Written around 1598, "Much Ado About Nothing" focuses on the romantic exploits of two couples in the idyllic Italian countryside. Beatrice and Benedick are cynical individuals more interested in exchanging witty repartee than vows of love. A second romance in the story follows the maiden, Hero, and brave soldier, Claudio. A colorful cast of characters both aid and usurp the four would-be lovers, and hilarity ensues.

"I think this play is just wildly entertaining," said Jen Pommerenke, managing director for Sweet Tea Shakespeare. "It lends itself to any age group, and it's an accessible Shakespeare comedy. It's funny, witty and just a great storyline."

The play will receive a few updates — moving to the "Bridgerton" esque Empire period with some infusions of modern music. The source material has been cut down to fit a run time of around two hours. However, it's still "all Shakespeare," Fiebig assured Up & Coming Weekly.

Sweet Tea Shakespeare brings The Bard and the magic of his stories to old fans and newcomers alike. Over 500 years after changing the way humans engage with story craft, Sweet Tea Shakespeare believes Shakespeare is still extremely relevant today.

"I think Shakespeare gets humans," explained Pommerenke. "He understands our tenacious spirit and our desire for love. You can take Shakespeare and drop the story just about anywhere. We've seen Shakespeare take place in Georgia, seen it in army fatigues, and I'm sure there's one with robots," she joked. "There's a Shakespeare for everyone."

"We are all Shakespeare in a sense," said Fiebig, adding to the sentiment. "So much of [his] writing has become, over time, how we see and experience the world — how we laugh, how we fall in love, even how we think. Shakespeare has a really robust way of sticking with us — I think because there's such a depth to the ideas in the plays."
While some may be intimidated by the idea of Shakespeare and the language of the play, Fiebig feels confident no one in the audience will be left behind.

"At Sweet Tea Shakespeare, we work to make the Shakespeare as accessible as possible, and audiences will be able to follow along. We provide them some extra help on-site, too."
Pommerenke suggested the pay-off is worth it. "I think it's really good for people to be challenged by stories. You do have to pay attention to a Shakespeare play; you have to engage the head and heart; you can't go in and zone out — and it just sounds so lovely on the ears."
Sweet Tea Shakespeare strives to create a holistic experience for its audience that speaks to the mind and the celebratory spirit of theater.

"The main difference at Sweet Tea Shakespeare is that the play is part of a larger event," said Fiebig. "We have a preshow with music and other fun entertainment, beer, wine and a specialty cocktail just for the show. Our productions fold in modern music. We like to think of our work as a party where a play breaks out."
The company travels with its own playhouse set-up, and the play will be performed outdoors when weather permits. Attendees are encouraged to bring camping chairs, quilts or blankets to spread on the ground. Light fare will be for sale from local vendors.

General admission tickets are $22 in advance, and day-of tickets will cost $30. Tickets can be purchased on the website, https://sweetteashakespeare.com/tickets/, by calling 910-420-4383 or email tickets@sweetteashakespeare.com.

Information regarding performance locations can be found at https://sweetteashakespeare.com/much-ado-sweet-tea-shakespeare-rom-com/.

For 24 years, the Up & Coming Weekly community newspaper has proudly showcased the people, businesses and organizations that have invested their time, money and expertise in our community. One of the ways we do this is by publishing our Best of Fayetteville Readers Survey and asking our newspaper readers to identify and ultimately determine who is Fayetteville’s Best of the Best. They have what makes Fayetteville and Cumberland County unique, enjoyable and livable.

Well, it is that time of year, and beginning with the June 8 edition of Up & Coming Weekly and running through July 3, our readers will be able to cast their ballots for the Best of the Best two ways. They may fill out a ballot located in the newspaper and return it to Up & Coming Weekly, or they can go online to the Up & Coming Weekly website, www.upandcomingweekly.com. While there, you can sign up for a free electronic subscription of Up & Coming Weekly and receive your copy every week on your home or office computer.

Using time-tested and enforceable voting rules and guidelines, such as one ballot per reader, we have elevated the honor, integrity and prestige of the Best of Fayetteville designation. This process continues to be a respected, well-organized, informal and non-scientific survey. By monitoring and auditing the ballots, eliminating the nomination process and conspicuous ballot stuffing, our survey has proven to be incredibly accurate and extremely valuable to residents and the businesses and organizations that have earned the honor of being voted the Best.

No doubt about it, this has been a challenging year. Businesses continue to operate in full recovery mode. This makes the Best of Fayetteville recognition even more relevant and valuable by highlighting those who have managed their businesses through high gas prices, supply chain shortages, a challenging labor market, confusing COVID-19 restrictions and rising inflation. Under these circumstances, operating a successful business is a real challenge, and achievement deserves recognition. Your vote is very important to your favorite business or organization. The winners will be recognized and celebrated on September 27 at the Crown Coliseum Complex. The Best of the Best will congregate to celebrate their achievements and contributions to our Can-Do community.

Our newspaper has changed immensely over the past 26 years, especially in the last nine months. However, the Best of Fayetteville reader’s survey has not. It continues to reflect the best aspects and amenities the Fayetteville community has to offer. Annually, we receive thousands of ballots and painstakingly record the comments and sentiments of our readers. This process allows us to get to know the who, what and why our readers value these businesses. We showcase these people, businesses and organizations to Fayetteville, Fort Bragg and Cumberland County residents. Your vote is important! Our readers will determine who the 2022 Up & Coming Weekly Best of Fayetteville winners are.

For area newcomers and those not familiar with the Best of Fayetteville format and guidelines, this is a sanctioned, time-tested reader’s survey. The survey is designed and audited to provide residents, local businesses and organizations the recognition they deserve for their dedication, expertise, trustworthiness and perseverance in their quest for excellence.

And we make it easy to participate. Participants must vote in at least 15 categories to validate a ballot. Since the survey began more than two decades ago, the Up & Coming Weekly newspaper has successfully told the stories of our Best of Fayetteville winners. Then we invite the winners to join the Up & Coming Weekly staff, and our 2022 Best of Fayetteville sponsors at a very special recognition celebration party. This begins the Best of Fayetteville winners 24/7, 365-day exposure in the Fayetteville/Cumberland County community, and year-long presence on our official website www.upandcomingweekly.com.

Thank you for supporting local businesses and for reading Up & Coming Weekly.

 

What were the two most used new words in the news last week?
The term “Great Replacement.”

I admit that I had never heard of the term until the recent attack in Buffalo by a white 18-year-old man that left 10 people dead. A long document, found with the attacker’s property and presumably written by him explained his motives and concerns about the "replacement" of the "white race" and "white culture."

CNN reported that, “The author also writes about his perceptions of the dwindling size of the white population and claims of ethnic and cultural replacement of whites.”
In an article published by CNN, Dean Obeidallah, a former attorney and a columnist for The Daily Beast, writes that what the document found with the shooter “espouses is, in essence, the white supremacist concept known as the Great Replacement Theory. This ‘theory' is meant as a warning to white people that soon, people of color — typically immigrants, Latinos and African Americans — may outnumber white people and in essence ‘replace’ them.”

A recent article in The Wall Street Journal gave the following summary: “The great replacement’ is a conspiracy theory that asserts elites — politicians, business executives, media — are using immigration and other policies as a tool to reduce the white population.”

The Journal article continues. “Interest and belief in the idea has increased in the U.S. in recent years, researchers say, as the percentage of white Americans, compared with nonwhite people, shrinks. The nation’s non-Hispanic white population dropped 2.6% between 2010 and 2020, according
to the Census Bureau. Projections by the bureau indicate that the total population of nonwhite people in America will exceed the white population by 2045.”

The replacement theory is not new. The idea got its modern start in France in the early part of the 20th Century. More recently, a 2011 article by French writer Renaud Camus and titled “The Great Replacement” is used by white supremacists in the U.S.

According to the Journal, Camus wrote that “white Europeans will eventually be extinct because of immigration and since some nonwhite populations, particularly those of Africa and the Middle East, have higher birthrates. People from Africa and the Middle East have emigrated to France from former French colonies in increased numbers in the postcolonial era.”

The increase of immigrant populations in Europe and the U.S. is fact, not a theory. There are consequences in terms of a rise in influence of immigrants and their children in Europe and the U.S. and the corresponding loss of power and influence of white Americans.

But there is more to the theory than these facts.

Versions of the theory allege a conspiracy among some people to replace the long-time white residents of Europe and the U.S. with people from Africa and Asia. The conspirators, it is said, are politicians, elitist people and institutions. They promote policies that open the doors to immigrants and empower people of color and other minority groups. These people would become voters who would do the will of the conspirators.

I could find no credible evidence about the “elites” exerting control over the votes of immigrants and minorities.

I confess that I have hoped that the changing makeup of North Carolina’s population that is under way would help my political party more than the other party.
Does that make me part of some conspiracy?

I don’t think so.

Taking what you see and reversing its concept of form — that’s the basic description of Reverse Reality art. Turning organic items like people and trees into geometric shapes and turning man-made objects into more fluid shapes. This type of art made by Jonathon Shannon will be on display at Dirtbag Ales throughout June in the new exhibit, Bringing It Back.

Shannon lives in New York City but has roots here in Fayetteville, growing up in a military family. He spent much of his childhood in our local city before graduating from Savannah College of Art and Design.
Shannon traveled to France and Hong Kong during his college years to expand his understanding of art. He moved to New York City afterward and currently works as an art handler outside of being an artist.

His work has been featured in art shows and exhibitions in New York City, North Carolina, Savannah, Atlanta, Miami, Hong Kong and France.

However, Fayetteville is home. Shannon still has family in the city and came back to live here in the early months of the pandemic.

Bringing it Back is inspired by Shannon’s desire to bring his art in New York City back to his hometown to inspire his friends, family and community to dream big.

“This series is based on me living in New York City at the time. I basically go around the area within Brooklyn Manhattan area, just walking around and just painting on-site throughout the city,” Shannon said. “I do my own interpretation. Where in the past, I used to paint the way I see things, more like impressionists, and then that kind of coupled with that style. But I just kind of thought I was just repeating history. I developed a style called reverse reality.”

This isn’t the first art exhibit Shannon has had in Fayetteville. In 2016, his exhibit, NightLife: A Reversed Reality at Gallery 116th, was on display, and it was during this exhibition that Shannon met the owners of Dirtbag Ales for a sponsorship.

“So I reached out to them and see if they would be open to doing like a small sponsorship, or like drinks at my show. And they agreed to it, and it worked out amazing, and they really enjoyed the interactions with all my friends and family,” Shannon said. “I just enjoy that collaboration so much that when I came back down to visit, probably like, three months ago, I checked out their new location because they expanded because they’re doing so well and opened a new location from the ground up. And they wanted to keep that art theme to have some art in there. So I reached out to them after seeing their available space to have a show.”

The exhibit will be free to the public. The opening reception will be on June 3 from 5 to 10 p.m. Bringing it Back will be on display at Dirtbag Ales until June 30.

“Everyone’s welcome. Don’t feel judged. Art should be for the masses... that’s kind of why I did it in more of a public area instead of a gallery,” Shannon said. “Galleries sometimes could make people feel a little bit secluded or cut off from society.”

More information about the gallery and the opening reception can be found at bit.ly/3wSQTqd.

The Gallup Poll first measured LGBTQ data within communities in 2012. At the time, the population who identified as LGBTQ was around 3%. In the latest poll, Gallup reports the number of people who identify as LGTBQ has risen to 7.1%, with higher percentages among those born from 1981 to 2003.

“If you take in the population of Fayetteville, that means there’s about 15,000 people in Fayetteville who identify as LGBTQ,” said Katrinna Marsden, president, Fayetteville PRIDE. “In Cumberland County, that’s like 24,000. If you look at the surrounding areas, that’s around 60,000 people who identify as LGBTQ, and that’s just the general percentage.”
Fayetteville PRIDE began in March 2017 with a PrideFest interest meeting at the Cliffdale Library. Previously, a Facebook group had been what connected LGBTQ individuals in the area, but during the meeting, it became clear to attendees a nonprofit group could really help the community.

By April 2017, a board was set up; Marsden, a founding member, wrote the bylaws, and they were signed into action. The organization achieved nonprofit status in October 2017.
According to its website, Fayetteville PRIDE’s mission is “to instill pride, celebrate unity and embrace diversity and inclusiveness in our LGBTQ community and allies, and provide a support network and educational advocacy group dedicated to increasing awareness and acceptance.”

“We sat down as a board and decided that yes, having a PrideFest was a goal, but we didn’t want that to be our only emphasis. We knew pretty quickly that we wanted to have community service projects, we wanted to have events for the community, we wanted to be involved in more ways than just putting on a party,” Marsden said.
Community projects for the organization have helped groups such as Seth’s Wish, a homeless center in Fayetteville. They organized a uniform drive for school uniforms. This year, the focus of Fayetteville PRIDE’s community project will be to help feed the hungry.

Fayetteville PRIDE also has a youth engagement group. Meetings are on the third Saturday of every month and are open for kids aged 12 to 19. The meetings are run by a board member who is also a social worker.

“The group focuses on learning about empowerment and living authentically,” Marsden said. “They explore that through artistic expression, and they work with a local artist.”

A long-term goal of Fayetteville PRIDE is to open a community center. Marsden expressed the desire to have a library with LGBTQ reading materials for all ages, spaces to have meetings more often than once a month and space more available for walk-in hours.

“It can be hard for people to find resources,” she said. “We are increasing awareness and acceptance for the community. It has been our goal since the beginning to have a community center. We’d use that as an umbrella for other LGBTQ organizations to use that space and for people to have meetings.”

Fayetteville PRIDE helps out the local civilian community and the soldiers of Fort Bragg. One of the very first events for the organization happened on the military installation. The group was invited to a panel discussion of transgender rights in the military during Fort Bragg’s LGBTQ observance day in 2017.

The organization has put on PrideFest every year since 2018, with the exception being 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, PrideFest will be held at Festival Park on June 25. PrideFest is the largest fundraiser in the Fayetteville PRIDE calendar, but Marsden wants the community to know Fayetteville PRIDE is more than PrideFest.

“We aren’t just a festival, we are an organization that is year-round, and our mission is about embracing diversity. It’s about being a support network and being an educational advocacy group,” she said.

“I think that most people who are LBGTQ have spent some part in their lives, and that time varies for everybody, where they’ve wondered how they fit into the definition of what normal is. I think that when you are kind of figuring yourself out, finding out that there is a group of people who have a similar experience to that makes you feel like you have a place in the world,” she said.

For more information, or to donate to Fayetteville PRIDE, visit www.fayettevillepride.org/. For more information about PrideFest, pick up the next edition of Up & Coming Weekly on stands June 8.

Free live music, food trucks and southern summer nights come together every second Friday evening of the month for a concert series starting on June 10.
From 6 to 10 p.m., Fayetteville After Five, held at Festival Park in downtown, will open its gates to couples looking for a fun night out or families looking to beat the summer doldrums.
While outside food and drink, canopies and coolers are not permitted on-site — camping chairs, blankets and service animals are more than welcome as attendees experience an evening of good vibes, good food and good music.

A summer staple for the last decade, Fayetteville After Five has the successful summer bash down to a science. Park gates will open at 5 p.m., followed by an opening act at 6.
For those coming to rock, the live music offering will not disappoint. Fayetteville After Five will feature a range of tribute and cover bands. From the Eagles to Led Zeppelin, there’s a little something for everyone.

Opening acts taking the stage this summer include Southern Haze, Throwback Collaboration Band and 10 O’Clock High.

A rotation of five to seven food trucks will be on-site with plenty of options, including dessert and several types of beer.
At 8 p.m., the night’s headlining act will grace the stage, and the lineup this year features crowd favorites such as On the Border, Rivermist and Zoso.

As an extension of the Dogwood Festival, Fayetteville After Five offers those still crowd-shy after the precautions of the past two years an opportunity to get out and have a good time. Sarahgrace Snipes, executive director of the Dogwood Festival, sees it as a great way for people to reengage without battling the overwhelming crowds often present at other events.

“It’s a bit more relaxing,” she told Up & Coming Weekly. “This is a great event to not be right on top of people. We’ll have lawn games; kids can run around, people can interact with each other and enjoy live music without a huge crowd.”

While Fayetteville After Five will have a lot to offer those looking for something free, fun and local to add to their summer plans, Snipes is most excited to share good live music with the public.

“I am most excited about On the Border,” Snipes admitted. “It is the ultimate Eagles tribute band, and people love them. They usually bring in the largest audience, and it’s very fulfilling to see the park full, people having fun and seeing the happiness our events bring to the community.”

The concert series will take place over three dates throughout the summer: June 10, July 15 and August 12.

“I hope to hear that everyone had a wonderful time,” Snipes said. “And I hope to hear that they’re coming out to the next event, and they’re excited for the Dogwood Festival in October.”
Festival Park is located at 335 Ray Ave. in Fayetteville.

For more information regarding vendor and music lineup, visit the event website at www.thedogwoodfestival.com/fayetteville-after-five.

 

Youth from the Boys & Girls Club have a chance to play baseball thanks to the Fayetteville Woodpeckers’ recent donation of $10,000. The newly formed “Junior Woodpeckers” will be showcased at the team’s home game against the Fredericksburg Nationals on Saturday, June 18, at Segra Stadium.

The initiative is part of the Fayetteville Woodpeckers Community Leaders Program, which generates donations through corporate partnerships with area businesses and through fundraising events throughout the year. Their goal is to provide support to youth sports and military service members and their families.

The Junior Woodpeckers were formed to give children the opportunity to participate in youth sports without having to worry about the costs usually associated with extracurricular activities.

“The Junior Woodpeckers initiative was something I wanted to put in place to be able to give children in Fayetteville the same opportunities and kind of level the playing field,” said Kristen Nett, Fayetteville Woodpeckers community relations manager. “I saw that it was harder for some families to be able to pay for their children to be involved in sports.”

The donation to the Boys & Girls Club pays for uniforms, equipment, registration fees and other expenses related to playing in a baseball league. Junior players will receive a custom jersey with the Fayetteville Woodpeckers logo on the sleeve.

The “Junior Woodpeckers” is a 12U team that can compete in the Fayetteville Parks and Recreation youth baseball league. This year’s team formed in April.

“The goal is to have it be a yearly (opportunity),” said Nett. “My goal is to form a totally free baseball league in Fayetteville. So, this is just the start.”

“The Woodpeckers are really excited. I feel it’s our responsibility to be able to come into this community and give back and do everything we can to help others.”
The Woodpeckers minor league baseball team was established in Fayetteville in 2019 as a Single-A affiliate of the Houston Astros. The team was formerly known as the Buies Creek Astros and played on the campus of Campbell University.

When the franchise moved to Fayetteville, they got a new name and a new home at Segra Stadium. Fans were invited to suggest a new name for the team, and the Woodpeckers was selected in honor of the red-cockaded bird that was once found throughout Fayetteville but is now an endangered species.

For more information on the Fayetteville Woodpeckers or to buy tickets for the game, visit www.fayettevillewoodpeckers.com.

According to the latest estimate from fiscal analysts at the North Carolina General Assembly, our state government will take in about $6.2 billion more in General Fund revenue over the 2021-23 budget biennium than was originally projected last year.

That’s a huge number. It represents nearly a quarter of the entire General Fund budget for the current fiscal year. And it’s not even the full amount of funds available. As of April 30, there’s $8.2 billion in unspent and undesignated money sitting in the General Fund.

Now that state legislators have returned to Raleigh for their 2022 short session, we are about to hear a spirited debate about how to spend the revenue bonanza.
Democrats are insisting that the General Assembly fully fund a court-ordered settlement on education funding.

Republicans are looking at infrastructure needs and tax relief.

Both parties are telegraphing a desire to increase compensation for public employees.
I favor some of these ideas. But may I offer a few words of caution?

Our broader economy is in trouble. America’s real GDP shrank by an annualized rate of 1.4% during the first three months of this year. And in an attempt to bring down rampant inflation, the Federal Reserve is raising interest rates.

That’s the right response, to be sure, but everyone needs to be mindful of the probable tradeoffs.

Eight of the past nine periods of monetary tightening by the Fed were followed by recessions. Although a “soft landing” is theoretically possible, then, there’s a very real possibility that the GDP will contract sometime over the next year. If the contraction happens in the second quarter, that would constitute a recession by the standard definition.

I know North Carolina’s economic fundamentals look pretty strong right now. Our labor markets improved markedly in April, with the headline unemployment rate falling to 3.4% (down from 5.1% a year ago) and our labor-force participation rate topping 60% for the first time since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Other states in our region posted good jobs numbers last month, too (in fact, North Carolina’s unemployment rate is the highest in our neighborhood, though it’s low by historical standards).

Still, it doesn’t require Eeyore-level pessimism to worry about a possible recession and its effects on state revenues and expenditures. It only requires realism.
It also requires looking more closely at that surplus-revenue figure of $6.2 billion cited earlier. Most of it, $4.2 billion, is occurring during the first year of biennium, and involves one-time shifts in the timing of reported income. The pandemic produced some rather weird financial patterns in both the public and private sectors. It would be a mistake to assume these patterns will continue into future years.
If even a modest recession follows the Fed’s actions on interest rates, that will both reduce revenue collections and increase state expenditures on Medicaid and other forms of public assistance. The projected surplus would shrink. It might even become a deficit.

Thanks to years of conservative budgeting, North Carolina has accumulated a large rainy-day fund and other reserves. Unlike some states, we wouldn’t have to close a fiscal gap by raising taxes, canceling contracts or laying off employees. Indeed, the state could actually play a countercyclical role by giving teachers and state employees a pay bump.
That argues for a balance between addressing immediate needs and hedging against future risks — which is precisely what I think House Speaker Tim Moore, Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger, and other legislative leaders are likely to do during the short session.

They know that if a recession occurs, they can’t (and shouldn’t) rely on another round of massive federal borrowing to paper over state and local deficits. They also know that their steady and disciplined approach to state budgeting is a big reason why North Carolinians have become increasingly comfortable with GOP majorities in the General Assembly.

We should all hope the Fed can engineer a soft landing. But hoping is not governing.

Fayetteville Police Chief Gina Hawkins will tell you upfront that crime is inevitable. Yet, she will also point to recent data showing that Fayetteville’s overall crime has been down for the past six years.

Hawkins earlier this week presented her department’s first-quarter crime report of 2022 to the Fayetteville City Council. The report primarily compared data from January through March 2021 to data from January through March 2022. However, for three major crime categories — crimes against persons, combined person and property crime and property crime — the comparison data covered six years.
Hawkins showed that in a six-year period, combined persons and property crimes were down. In 2016, the department reported 19,345 crimes against persons and property. In 2021 that amount dipped to 14,699.
However, when comparing the first quarter of 2021 to 2022, aggravated assaults rose 27.6% from 225 to 287. Burglary rose 8.5%, from 236 to 256; larceny 32%, from 441 to 582; motor vehicle theft 75.6%, from 86 to 151; and robbery 38%, from 50 to 69. Domestic violence rose 27.3%, from 33 to 42.

On the plus side, homicides dropped by 8.3%. In the first quarter, Fayetteville saw one less homicide compared to last year’s 12. Suicides and overdoses also dropped significantly. Suicides dropped from nine to five, a 44.4% reduction, and overdoses declined from 19 to 16, a 15.8% drop.

During a recent one-on-one interview with Up & Coming Weekly, Hawkins said crimes against individuals or persons are lower now than six years ago.

In 2016, there were 4,769 reported incidents of crimes against persons. In 2021, there were 4,039 reported incidents. Only in 2019 was the number of reported incidents lower, at 3,889.

Aggravated assault had one of the most significant increases compared to the 2021 first quarter. Hawkins said that category has a unique reporting system. One act of assault can result in more than one reported aggravated assault charge. For example, if someone shoots into a home yet no one is injured by the bullet, the law still counts the number of aggravated assaults based on the number of people occupying the house. The same rule applies to shooting into an occupied vehicle. Shoot into a car with four people, and you are charged with four counts of aggravated assault.

“We’ll never be at zero in crime. That’s the first education the public has to have. We know that crime is going to happen. We know people are going to do things; people are going to commit crimes. Our objective is to determine how we can use as many tools and resources to minimize that happening in our community. And that is not the responsibility of one entity at all,” she said.

Hawkins said the community bears some responsibility for deterring crime, especially for crimes involving illegal weapons, which are often stolen from homes and vehicles.

“We know people break into cars. And people leave all kinds of things in their cars, and they also leave their weapons in the car, which is absolutely crazy,” she said. “In 2021, there were 267 weapons stolen out of vehicles. Why would you leave your weapons in vehicles,” she said.

For example, in 2021, there were 1106 motor vehicle break-ins, of which 69% or 762 vehicles were left unlocked. That year, 218 handguns, 23 rifles, nine shotguns, and ammunition were taken from motor vehicles. Only 58 were stolen from homes and two from businesses.

So far in the first three months of 2022, there have been 307 motor vehicle break-ins, of which 64% or 198 were from unsecured vehicles. The result is 67 illegally owned handguns, and three rifles are on the street, probably used in criminal activities.

Hawkins said the department’s narcotics unit, during its investigations alone, seized 45 guns in 2021 and seven during the first three months of 2022. Department-wide, the police seized 212 guns in the first quarter of 2021 and 215 guns in the first quarter of this year.

“We as a community have a responsibility and are capable of preventing weapons from getting into the hands of people doing illegal activities,” she said. “We as a community are going to have to say: What are we doing to prevent guns getting into the hands of people doing illegal activities?”

“Criminals know people don’t lock their cars. They don’t break windows; they just pull the door handles,” she said.
Crime-fighting has become more sophisticated than ever. From analyzing what makes someone a repeat victim to what makes someone a repeat offender, Hawkins credits her officers with using technology as a key resource in fighting crime.

The department uses 118 city-owned surveillance cameras and another 289 contract cameras in a citywide network. The cameras are along major thoroughfares like Skibo Road, Owen Drive and the All-American Expressway, and in the Bonnie Doone and downtown area, among others. The contracted cameras are mounted on city buildings, she said.

“We have a camera system that captures people (doing illegal activities) quickly. We have LPR (license plate reader) cameras,” she said. “We have 52 new ones deployed throughout the city now,” she said. The new

LPR cameras come with an AI element (artificial intelligence) that can provide additional information about a vehicle, not just the license plate numbers.

The goal is to see who comes into the city and who leaves the city after committing a crime.

Another area that plays a significant role in deterring crime in Fayetteville is the need for a full complement of officers. Despite a significant number of retirements or simply resignations to follow other pursuits, the department later this summer expects to have about 50 recruits in two separate academies, one conducted in July and the other in August.

Hawkins said the department has been actively recruiting for both lateral entries (experienced officers from other departments) and new cadets. The department recently sent recruiters to Puerto Rico. The U.S. island territory’s pension system for its police officers does not compare with the retirement and benefits provided by the Fayetteville Police Department.

During the recruiting drive earlier this year in Puerto Rico, the department received 60 applications on-site, of which 25 passed the test given to everyone who wants to be a police officer, Hawkins said.

Most are lateral entries. Hawkins called them “heavy hitters who are everything you want in an officer.”
There was a recent criticism on social media for sending a delegation to Puerto Rico and spending $18,000. Hawkins said she is unaware of any opposition to the department’s recruiting efforts. She said even rounding up the alleged amount to $20,000 would still have been worth it.

“What’s the cost of going without an officer?” she asked. “How much money is spent on overtime when we are short 50 officers?” “We are recruiting everywhere.”

The reality that Fayetteville and the state of North Carolina will soon have a world-class history education facility nestled atop the city’s historic Arsenal Avenue is becoming more concrete as the civic organization behind the effort will hold its third and final ground-breaking ceremony on June 2.

A panel of Civil War & Reconstruction History Center Board members assembled on May 24 at Fayetteville Technical Community College’s Tony Rand Center to speak with members of the media about the Civil War & Reconstruction History Center, its purpose and curriculum and the upcoming ground-breaking.

Mac Healy, chairman of the Civil War & Reconstruction History Center committee, was flanked by Vice-Chairwoman Mary Lynn Bryan, a noted Fayetteville philanthropist who since 2006 has advocated for the center; Board Member and former Fayetteville State University Chancellor James Anderson, and Board Member Demetrius Haddock, a life-long educator, retired math teacher and education advocate.

The panel had much to say about the format and purpose of the center, which will serve not only the local community but the state. The center, while located in Fayetteville, will be a state-run facility. The representatives repeatedly spoke to the power of story and the importance of creating a dialogue centering around the difficult subjects of the civil war, enslavement and the post-civil war reconstruction.

Haddock, who was initially skeptical of the center’s curriculum, has since become a member of the board and assists in planning for the center. He has been focused on supporting the educational components, specifically concerning students in the 4th, 8th, and 11th grades studying North Carolina history under the state’s school curriculum. He explained at a recent meeting focused on curriculum at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington that many teachers were unaware of and cautious about how to present much of the difficult content that the center will focus on.

“Those concepts, especially enslavement and just the idea of people owning human beings and you know how do you have a conversation with students about that, and there are so many dimensions around that time period that people just kind of stay away from, especially the Reconstruction or afterwards," said Haddock.

Despite the committee’s efforts raising private funds, securing state and local money for the project, and, more importantly, educating the public about the project, there has been concern the center will be a museum honoring the Confederacy.
Anderson reiterated that the center would focus on the history before the Civil War and the Reconstruction era, which was often a difficult period for formerly enslaved people.
Anderson explained that the board of advisors and the board of directors working to build the center and its curriculum are both “replete with scholars.”

“The History Center is not a museum. I want to make that clear,” Anderson said. “It will use the power of storytelling and interactive technology to educate youth about that specific time in history,” he said. “Those who constantly demonize the proposed project are ignorant of the facts.”

Bryan invited anyone concerned about the center’s purpose to engage with the committee.

“Every time we have been challenged, if the people who challenge us will meet us, we are willing to sit down and talk about our plan and what we have in mind and why it is significant not just for our community but for our state,” Bryan said.

“The story we have to tell about this very, very difficult period in our history is a true story. It’s a story based on fact developed by a group of scholars known worldwide. They want to present an accurate picture, and so do we,” she said.

Bryan reiterated the museum’s purpose and asserted the center would not focus solely on the story of the Confederacy.

“It’s very disconcerting when we hear, for example, that we are going to develop a Confederate museum, which we have no intention whatsoever of doing. The flags that will fly, if flags fly in our history center, will be the state flag and the U.S Flag. We will have no statues or monuments.”

Bryan noted that an organization offered the committee money in the center’s early planning stages if it agreed to house all statewide Confederate statues at the center.

“We said no. We will get the money a different way,” Bryan said.

Healy explained the center would feature cutting-edge interactive storytelling, and Anderson elaborated on that concept focusing on the power of those stories.

“This is a history center. We are not going to be a collecting museum. We will have several artifacts in there, but only if they continue further telling the story,” Healy said.

“The history center will allow us not only to be interactive, as Mac [Healy] says but to tell a story; to use the power of stories that come from people who have a generational contact with all of this,” Anderson said. “The history center will allow us to make people feel emotionally connected.”

Anderson went on to relay an anecdote about seeing a Ku Klux Klan robe at the Civil Rights Museum in Greensboro.

“Wouldn’t it be nice if there were a story attached to this that people could really understand what the power of the Klan robe is?” Anderson said.

The narratives in the center’s curriculum will represent and belong to everyone in the state.

“The critical issue is this is going to tell the story of everybody located in the state of North Carolina during a certain designated period,” Bryan said.

The center’s goal is to collect 100 stories from each of 100 counties; while they have not yet achieved this, they are still actively collecting and vetting stories from North Carolinians.
According to Healy, the public does not want to go to a museum and read storyboards anymore. They want interactive museums.

“This is going to be that,” he said.

The “touch and feel” aspect of the center contributes to the overall costs of the project, explained Healy. In addition to the cutting-edge technology and content, nationwide increases in materials and supply chain issues have contributed to increasing costs.

Initially, the cost to build the center was estimated at approximately $65 million, but since has been estimated at about $80 million. Last year, the North Carolina General Assembly appropriated $60 million for the project. Before that, the committee raised money from private contributors and secured a commitment from the City of Fayetteville City Council and the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners for $7.5 million each.
According to Anderson, the center will help make Fayetteville a destination city.

Ralph Huff, a local philanthropist and former owner of H&H builders, a residential construction company, attended the news conference and echoed Anderson’s remark. Huff said Fayetteville could become a weekend destination where visitors spend several days walking from one venue to another. Huff referred to visitors walking to the proposed downtown Arts & Entertainment Center, Segra Stadium, the Airborne and Special Operations Museum, and, finally, atop Haymount Hill to the proposed History Center.

The committee expects the center to be an economic boon for Cumberland County. A study predating the building of Segra Stadium projects that the center will have an $18 million annual economic impact and secure about 200 jobs. Healy explained that this positive impact might be even higher with added amenities such as Segra Stadium, increasing the draw for visitors to downtown Fayetteville.
Healy described the center as a ”world-class one-of-its-kind history center located in Fayetteville for the state of North Carolina.”

Among those scheduled to participate in the third ground-breaking ceremony is Spencer Crew, Ph. D., emeritus director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Crew is among a half dozen history scholars that Anderson noted are associated with the center. The scholars are writing and designing a curriculum covering the years 1835 through the early 1900s for the history center.

Healy said the 11 a.m. ground-breaking ceremony marks the start of construction for the center’s main building. For additional information on the Civil War & Reconstruction History Center, its curriculum or the ground-breaking, visit www.nccivilwarcenter.org.

Several community Memorial Day events are scheduled through Monday. Here are a few:

Friday
Spring Lake: A Memorial Day ceremony is scheduled for 10 a.m. at Veterans Park on Ruth Street.

Saturday
Concert: The Southeastern Gospel Music Association will present a Memorial Day weekend concert at 6 p.m. at Mt. Gilead Baptist Church, 6248 Cliffdale Road. Admission is free. The concert will feature the Port City Quartet and G. Vern Adams Jr. The master of ceremonies will be Larry Chason. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.

Monday
Fayetteville: The Fayetteville area will honor Cumberland County veterans who died in wartime during a ceremony at 10 a.m. at Freedom Memorial Park at Hay Street and Bragg Boulevard. There is limited bleacher seating. Attendees may bring a lawn chair. Parking is available at the Airborne & Special Operations Museum or at the Medical Arts Building. The keynote speaker is Col. Scott Pence, garrison commander at Fort Bragg.

Hope Mills: The town’s ceremony is scheduled for 4 p.m. at Veterans Memorial Park, 5766 Rockfish Road. The guest speaker will be Charles Lee, deputy director for Veterans Affairs with the North Carolina Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. Light refreshments will be served after the ceremony.

Cumberland County Manager Amy Cannon on Thursday, May 26, presented the county's fiscal 2023 recommended budget to the Board of Commissioners during a special called meeting.

The county's tax rate remains unchanged at 79.9 cents per $100 of assessed property value. Each penny on the tax rate produces $2,427,268. The budget is balanced, as required by the North Carolina Local Government Commission, Cannon told commissioners.

The budget takes into account the board's priorities established in fiscal 2021, which include the Crown Event Center to replace the Crown Theatre and Crown Arena, public water access for Gray's Creek and mitigating homelessness.

The recommended budget calls for $552,930,111 in total expenditures across all county funds, and a General Fund of $362,177,033.

In her budget message to the commissioners, Cannon outlined the issues facing the county government in the upcoming budget cycle. First among those is what she termed "the new normal," a COVID-19, pandemic-induced altered work environment. The pandemic resulted in new organizational structures where employees were forced to work from home and adapt to new technology.

"The uncertainty remains. Remote work still remains," she said. The new normal also includes providing services electronically, erratic economic recovery, and the potential of a new COVID-19 variant that can affect the delivery of services.

The budget also takes into account the prevailing economic uncertainty. Cannon said another important factor affecting county operations is inflation, currently at 8.5% and eroding the spending power of county residents and county government. Along with inflation, the county must adjust to ever-increasing fuel prices and supply chain issues.

Cannon projected General Fund revenues from ad valorem taxes at $170,695,791, a $2 million increase over fiscal 2022. Motor vehicle tax revenues are budgeted at $23,242,940, a $1 million increase over 2022.

She said the ad valorem taxes are the largest revenue source at 55% of the total budget revenue. These taxes are based on the combined values of real property, personal property, and motor vehicles of about $194 million. Real and personal property taxes are budgeted at $170.7 million, an increase of $2 million over last year.

Some of the county's major spending highlights include:
● Unfunded mandates, including increased health insurance rates, increased employer contributions to the retirement system, increased property and cyber security insurance, and funding an N.C. Department of Public Safety plan to align the county share of youth detention facility costs with operating costs.
● Additional commission priorities identified in fiscal 2021 about mental health and public health.
● A pilot program that develops a proactive prevention program addressing the social detriments of health.
● Another pilot program for patient transportation for public health clinics using either Uber of Lift.
● A volunteer coordinator for the Animal Services Department.
● An assistant manager for the Emergency Services Department.
● Replacing 19 Sheriff's Office vehicles and two detention center vehicles.
● A public health educator and a public health office assistant
● A Social Services program manager and an in-home case management and care coordination pilot program with 16 employees, and two vehicles.
● A child support quality assurance program training specialist.

The recommended budget also includes $84.3 million for Cumberland County Schools, an increase of $1.3 million from fiscal 2022. There is also an additional $3.9 million for the school system for school health nurses, school resource officers and crossing guards.

Cannon ended her hour-long budget message talking about the great resignation, a national phenomenon whereby workers are leaving their jobs in droves. Cannon said employees are leaving for better pay because they are mentally exhausted, want a flexible work schedule and a better work-life balance. She said Cumberland County government is not immune from that.

The commissioners will digest the recommended budget and begin their work session on June 1 at 5:30 p.m. in Room 564 in the Judge E. Maurice Braswell Cumberland County Courthouse. The public hearing on the budget is scheduled for June 6 at 7 p.m. Thereafter, the commissioners will have three more work sessions.

The recommended budget is available on the county website at cumberlandcountync.gov.

The Fayetteville City Council on Thursday, May 26, held the first of three scheduled budget work sessions. The meeting focused on city salaries and an update on American Rescue Plan Act funding.

The council must finalize the city budget by June 30. The fiscal 2022-23 budget year begins July 1.

City Manager Doug Hewett has proposed a budget with no significant increases in taxes or fees. The total budget is $248.25 million, which represents a 3.3% increase, city officials said.

The tax rate would remain at 49.95 cents per $100 property valuation.

The city is struggling to hire new people in a highly competitive job market, said Mark Holcombe with Evergreen Solutions. The company was hired to conduct a salary survey for the city. The City Council talked about an allocation of $6 million to make salaries more competitive.

“You are trailing the market but not by much,’’ Holcombe said.

The council also talked about paying people $15 an hour, including seasonal and temporary employees. That includes eight positions with Fayetteville-Cumberland Parks & Recreation.

“A lot of what we are talking about tonight is investing in our employees,’’ said Jerry Clipp, the human resources development director for the city.

Mayor Mitch Colvin said it is important that all city employees make at least $15 an hour.

Councilman Chris Davis concurred.

“The labor market is incredibly tough. It means a lot that we remain employee of choice,’’ Hewett said.

The city plans to leverage its ARPA money to fill in the gap on capital projects as well as take care of some community needs.

“We’re talking about workforce development, which is traditionally not a city function per se, but we are going to have to find partners to help us like the child care assistance grants,’’ Hewett said. “We don’t do the childcare, but under the ARPA rules, we believe we can go out and work with children’s centers that help them provide better programming by helping them with their staffing.’’

Hewett said the city has six years to expense the money.

Hewett said he hopes the early briefing on the budget pays dividends.

“We look forward to guidance from council as we prepare the budget for public hearing on June 13,’’ he said.

The next meeting will cover capital and transportation projects.

“We put that together in January and February, and so we have those projects and will go back over them with council to show them how we use the federal funding (ARPA) to cover those projects,’’ Hewett said.

The next budget work session is scheduled for 5 p.m. on June 2.

Hewett said,“You have done the heavy lifting, you’ve done that. … We thought we captured exactly what you wanted. Now that we have it, we have to come up with details.’’