Something ominous and ugly is active in our nation once again, and it is vicious.

It is not new. In fact, it was birthed before we were a nation and stems from our nation’s original sin, slavery. It is something we have been loath to talk about publicly for nearly half a century. However, events and personalities in recent years have loosened tongues, and now some among us are once again showcasing America’s hideous underbelly. They are demonstrating — and in some instances with great pride — American racism.

Some people — we know not who—have kicked off 2022 by making bomb threats to historically black colleges and universities in at least 11 states and Washington, DC. Just last month, both Fayetteville State and Winston-Salem State Universities received bomb threats on the same day. No explosive devices were found on either campus, though FSU did suspend operations while officers from local, state and federal law enforcement agencies investigated. It is important to remember that these colleges and universities operate to educate students with the same purpose as all other institutions of higher learning.

Bomb threats against HBCUs are hardly the only racist behaviors currently directed at minorities in the United States. Hate crimes against Black people have increased by 40% since 2019, according to FBI data and by a horrifying 70% against people of Asian heritage over the same period. Anti-Semitic hate crimes have also risen, though not as dramatically; such offenses account for nearly 60% of religiously motivated hate crimes. If this is not shocking enough, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland says that many hate crimes are never reported at all, so hate crimes are under-counted.

Historians have yet to define this hateful period in our history. Still, chances are they will eventually write about segments of the American population that fear change from life as they have known it.
After the American Civil War, elements against change expressed themselves through the Ku Klux Klan and other fear-mongering organizations, through Jim Crow laws intended to disenfranchise African Americans, and, more recently, through private schools known as segregation academies and the John Birch Society and other such organizations. Such groups promote a highly sanitized version of American history in which our darker behaviors and beliefs were and are rarely mentioned. If some aspect of our past or current reality does not jive with their worldview, it did not exist.
We live in a pluralistic society with a highly mobile population, which is not going to change. Like all history, it will continue to evolve, whether some of us like it or not. The America that some people idealize never really existed, so there is nothing to which to return. We can only move forward.

When FSU shut down for the bomb scare, leaving its men’s and women’s basketball teams adrift with nowhere to play their visiting Claflin University opponents that evening on Senior Night, FSU Chancellor Darrell Allison reached out to Methodist University. Within hours, the Broncos and their visitors and fans of both teams were in the MU arena playing ball and cheering on the teams. Said Allison to those in the arena, “If the motive [of the bomb threat] was to send a message of hate based on race, those responsible lost, they lost in a big way. What evil and hatred would like to do to cause division only made us stronger in greater unity.”

The North Carolina Court of Appeals published a decision Tuesday deciding that the City of Fayetteville should have approved Dismas Charities' permit request to build a halfway house in Downtown Fayetteville.

Dismas Charities Inc., of Louisville, Kentucky, wanted to build a 14,339 square foot, 100-bed halfway house for federal prisoners at 901-905 Cain Road. Dismas Charities is a private company contracted by the Federal Bureau of Prisons to operate residential reentry centers. The BOP has the authority to place inmates in reentry halfway houses to serve the remainder of their sentences which it says is normally six months to a year. If built as proposed, the Cain Road institution would have been the company’s largest center.

However, the City of Fayetteville denied the permit by a 5-4 vote based on its conclusion that Dismas did not meet its burden of production to show that its use met a certain standard in the City’s ordinance which requires a showing that the special use sought “allows for the protection of property values and the ability of neighboring lands to develop the uses permitted in the zoning district.”

The firm appealed, and on Sept. 3, 2020, Superior Court Judge Mary Ann Tally affirmed the city council’s decision.

However, the appeals court concluded that the superior court should have conducted a de novo review, rather than applying the whole record test, to determine whether Dismas met its burden of production. Based on the appeals court's de novo review, Dismas did meet its burden of production. The court found that there was no competent, material, substantial evidence offered to counter Dismas’ evidence. Therefore the Court decided that the City Council was required to approve Dismas’ permit application.

"Accordingly, we reverse the decision of the superior court and remand with instructions to remand to the City Council to approve Dismas’ permit request," the appeals court opinion read.

Fort Bragg experienced phone outages between Monday and Wednesday, but all lines appear to be operational now.

"Throughout the outage, the emergency 9-1-1 system was operational, and most personnel on post were able to telephone other on-post personnel. Additionally, staff members on base were able to use alternate means of communication such as Microsoft Teams and mobile phones to continue to meet mission requirements," according to a spokesperson from the 7th Signal Command.

Womack Army Medical Center was one of the buildings on base that was having phone issues, causing issues for patients to make appointments, fill in prescriptions, and call the nurse line. However, phone lines are back up at Womack and are functioning.

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This article was updated on March 3 at 1 p.m.

A newly redesigned city seal won’t be official quite yet.

The City Council unanimously voted Monday to delay documenting a description of the new design in favor of making slight changes.
In late December, the council incorporated the new seal as an official insignia for the council, to be used for official Fayetteville documents, ceremonies and other uses.

If not delayed, Monday’s vote would have changed an ordinance to alter the official description of the city seal to describe the new one, which shows the image of a star with the text “CITY OF FAYETTEVILLE NORTH CAROLINA” surrounding it.

Mayor Pro Tem Kathy Jensen made a motion to return the city seal to the design team to possibly remove the “CITY OF” text.

The old seal contained an image of downtown’s Market House, a controversial landmark that saw demonstrations during 2020’s George Floyd protests due to its early history. While the site at the original city center had many uses for political meetings and conducting business transactions, this sometimes included slave trades.

Protests lead to future changes to Market House

In the days after Floyd, an unarmed Black man, was killed by a Minneapolis police officer in late May 2020, protests around the Market House escalated. Two people set fire to the landmark in an unsuccessful attempt to destroy it. Damage from the fire and sprinklers has been repaired, and the arson suspects have been charged.

Protests continued around the landmark throughout the summer of 2020, with calls for police reform.

In the aftermath of the protests, not only did the council vote to change the seal but considered relocating the Market House entirely last April.

However, the relocation, priced at $2 million, proved too costly for the council to approve, according to minutes from the meeting.

Instead, the council voted 9-1 to direct city officials to make plans for repurposing the landmark.

Council member Courtney Banks-McLaughlin voted against the plan. Earlier in the meeting, she moved to relocate the Market House, but the action failed when no other council member made a required seconding motion.

The repurposing of the landmark entails many options such as widening the occupied space to overtake the center roundabout lane or reclaiming the square entirely.

This enlarged space could accommodate art exhibits that display Black history, according to a presentation to the council. There could also be vendors each month, with a focus on Black farmers, entrepreneurs and artists.

As a part of that vote in April, the council tasked the city’s Human Relations Commission to engage with citizens to determine how to repurpose the Market House.

The council has also sought guidance from the U.S. Department of Justice. A DOJ report is expected to be presented to the council in the coming months.

Currently, the inner traffic circle around the landmark contains a mural that reads “Black Lives Matter End Racism Now.”

Masks are now optional on school buses for Cumberland County Schools. This comes as new guidance was passed from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to recommend masks but not require them.

Shirley Bolden, the director of CCS Health Services, shared this information as part of a COVID-19 update during the Student Support Services Committee meeting today.

Bolden reinstated that COVID-19 policies are still in place to include screening, physical distancing, encouraging virtual meetings, utilizing isolation rooms, recommending masking.

The Cumberland County School district has partnered with the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and MAKO Medical to provide free screening for students and employees. Students and staff can register for weekly testing at their school. Participation in the MAKO testing is voluntary and requires registration through MAKO. To learn more and register, visit the district's COVID-19 Testing for Students and Employees webpage.

The Spring Lake Board of Aldermen met Tuesday evening, Feb. 28, to discuss the town's finances.

Susan McCullen, director of the Fiscal Management Section of the Local Government Commission, gave an update and answered some of the Aldermen's questions on the town's financial plan.

Last year, the Local Government Commission took control of the town's finances after investigations were launched involving missing money and concerns about budget deficits. As a result, Spring Lake has a fiscal accountability agreement with the Local Government Commission, an enhanced monitoring strategy they use to monitor the town's finances.

According to McCullen, Spring Lake still has a fiscal accountability agreement and has not established an exit strategy. An exit strategy would include a plan for the board, the manager and the finance staff to regain control of finances.

"We need to just spend a little bit more time with it," said McCullen. "There is still some work that has to be done."

According to McCullen, she foresees the town entering its exit strategy plan sometime in the summer.

The Board of Aldermen also heard from Devin Newton from Cumberland County Community Development, who spoke about several entitlement grants and programs from Housing and Urban Development. Some of the programs are for housing rehabs, rental rehabs, first-time homebuyers and affordable housing development.

Interim Town Manager Samantha Wullenwaber discussed the fiscal budget for 2022 – 2023 and the monthly financial report.

"We're right on where we should be which is great," she said. "The town hasn't operated in the plus in a long time and it's good to see."

One man is dead and another is in the hospital with life-threatening injuries following a shooting in the Douglas Byrd neighborhood.

On Thursday, Feb. 24, officers with the Fayetteville Police Department responded to a reported shooting along the 4600 block of Fen Court around 6:17 p.m.

Officers and medical personnel arrived on the scene and located two men who had been shot. Both were transported to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries where one of them later passed away.

The circumstances surrounding the shooting are under investigation by the Fayetteville Police Department’s Homicide Unit.

Anyone with information regarding this investigation is asked to contact Detective M. Waters (910) 635-4978 or Crimestoppers at (910) 483-TIPS (8477). Crimestoppers information can also be submitted electronically, by visiting http://fay-nccrimestoppers.org

A new crypto mining facility in Fayetteville will be among the city’s top 10 power consumers when it starts operations in August.

California-based Plan C Crypto will operate an old 20,000-square-foot industrial facility near Fayetteville Regional Airport. It will operate at 5,000 kilowatts, according to the company and the Fayetteville Public Works Commission.

PWC doesn’t release specific power consumption information on businesses without consent, but the facility’s electrical draw will put it in the company of PWC’s top customers, including Cape Fear Valley Medical Center, Fayetteville State University, Fayetteville Technical Community College and Walmart, among others.

Many critics consider the industry’s high carbon emissions to be wasteful, contributing to climate change and rising global temperatures.

Lee Reiners, a researcher at Duke University who studies financial technologies such as cryptocurrency, is among those critical of a business plan for which he sees no legitimate financial utility in its future.

“Cryptocurrency provides no useful economic function,” he said. “Anything that is an input into that process is not useful. It is wasteful. That’s my opinion with crypto. There’s no there there.”

Why crypto is so power hungry
Instead of operating through financial institutions, which verify monetary transactions among other things, cryptocurrencies like ethereum and bitcoin operate outside this structure.

Cryptocurrency transactions are verified through a process called proof of work whereby multiple entities on a network will verify withdrawals and deposits in the crypto space, in essence cutting out the need for a centralized bank.

This process of verification is called mining, and once a majority of computers on the network have confirmed the transactions, it’s updated to a public ledger known as the blockchain.

“Everyone has the same exact copy of the ledger, and everyone agrees on the canonical state of the ledger,” Reiners said. “And that’s made possible by mining.”

Mining is incentivized, Reiners said, as miners, like the one coming to Fayetteville, are given a certain amount of bitcoin, or whatever cryptocurrency they are mining, for participation in the verification process.

“You need to incentivize this mining because otherwise, anyone with 51% of the computing power on the blockchain network could just make up whatever they wanted on the ledger,” he said.

“So, you impose a cost, and you impose that cost in the form of energy consumption. You have to solve this complex mathematical puzzle.”

Solving that puzzle is what requires so much energy.

According to reporting from The New York Times last year, the collective process of verifying bitcoin transactions, annually, uses up more energy than the entire country of Finland.

It’s seven times more than all of Google’s global operations.

‘There’s an opportunity cost to all this’
Plan C Crypto CEO Antonio Bestard said he founded the company as a means to provide more clean energy to the power grid. He said his company would provide an incentive for Fayetteville to buy more energy that is carbon neutral.

“I’m creating an economic need for more green energy on the grid,” he said. “We found an economic way to help the city of Fayetteville, help green their grid over time.”

When asked, Bestard would not specifically say how this process would work beyond imploring Fayetteville to find more green energy.

“We look forward to working with the city of Fayetteville on how they procure power,” Bestard said. He said he has asked the city to run the mining facility with 100% clean energy.

And it’s not just Fayetteville. By the time the miner there is up and running, Bestard said, there will be facilities in Tarboro, Wilson and Boone.

But providing exclusively green energy is not something Fayetteville or any of those municipalities can promise.

According to PWC, the city purchases almost all of its power from Duke Energy, which has a near-monopoly over the power grid in North Carolina.

While Duke Energy has a goal of 50% carbon emissions reduction by 2030 and net-zero by 2050, the company has a long way to go.

In 2020, 7% of electricity generated by Duke Energy was from wind, solar and hydroelectric sources. The company’s projections have that number at 23% by 2030.

Nuclear energy, which is also carbon free, made up 35% of electricity generation in 2020.

That still puts carbon-emitting energy at nearly 60%.

Reiners said the claim that crypto incentivizes green production has no basis.

“I hear this argument a lot,” he said. “‘Oh, cryptocurrency incentivizes the production of green energy.’ I mean, there’s no basis of fact to make that claim.”

Even if Plan C Crypto’s facility operated 100% carbon free, Reiners said, green energy could be used for something with a legitimate economic purpose.

“There’s an opportunity cost to all this as well,” he said.

More revenue for Fayetteville with no investment
While Plan C Crypto’s facility will become one of the top power consumers in Fayetteville, Bestard said the miner will not run during peak demand hours, when energy consumption and costs are at their highest.

Fayetteville PWC CEO Elaina Ball said no additional infrastructure will be needed to accommodate the mining facility. Most importantly, it won’t require any peaker plants, large power generating facilities that often use cheaper energy like coal or natural gas during peak hours.

Ball said Plan C Crypto will provide needed revenue due to the high amount of power it will purchase.

“By adding a … 5-megawatt consumer like this, what that does is our retail sales are going to go up,” she said.

“We’re going to have higher usage, 24/7, outside of that window, right, that peak window. When you generate more revenue off of our system that exists, like an industrial customer like this, it helps offset the cost to serve residential customers in the long run.”

Robert Van Geons, CEO of the Fayetteville Cumberland County Economic Development Corp., or FCEDC, said that despite criticisms of the crypto industry, the new facility will be good for the area.

“It brings jobs. It brings taxable investment, it’s beneficial for our utility system. And ultimately, regardless of how you feel about cryptocurrency, it is an emerging technology that will continue to evolve,” he said. “We’re going to continue to have newer and newer technological innovations in this country, and we want those to happen here in Fayetteville and Cumberland County.”

Bestard said the facility will initially employ 19 people, targeting military veterans. Those jobs will be in the electrical, security and information technology fields.

He said the lowest-paid employees will make $40,500 a year, while a majority will earn in the $60,000 to $100,000 range.

Bestard said he anticipates dozens more jobs in the coming years.

Van Geons said that no economic incentives were made to Plan C Crypto, and there is no financial investment from either the city or county.

Ball said that beyond the typical costs for attaching a new customer to the power grid, there will be no significant costs for PWC.

The uncertain future of crypto
In a press release introducing Plan C Crypto to Cumberland, the FCEDC cited market statistics projecting cryptocurrency to grow by more than 100% by 2028.

But Reiners said that projected growth is speculative.

“The only reason people buy (cryptocurrency) is they think they can sell it to someone else for a higher price in the future,” he said.

“It’s been around for a while. It’s been since 2009. So now we’re 13-plus years. How has it impacted a product, a service, a process that we all use, right? It hasn’t. And so, if it hasn’t happened yet, you have to ask yourself when it’s going to happen.”

He described the industry as a bubble, based solely on the speculative value of what someone else is willing to pay for a product that hasn’t proved its value, in his view.

“You’re relying on greater fools showing up, and eventually, the supply of greater fools is exhausted,” Reiners said. “And they don’t show up.”

He said cities like Fayetteville should not be encouraging crypto companies to come to their area in any way.

“Crypto is a cancer,” Reiners said. “You’re making a deal with the devil.”

He cited crypto miners buying up cheap carbon-based power in upstate New York, as reported by The New York Times.

Reiners said he wouldn’t be surprised if the facility in Fayetteville didn’t exist after five years.

Even if the company fails, though, Ball said it’s not a risk for the community.

“If I were building a power plant to support this, that would be a huge risk, but we’re not because they’re not increasing capacity,” she said.

“They’re not increasing the demand. So, this is just sales. We’re not putting in a power plant to support this because they can move out of the demand window. …

“I know other people in other communities want to have their own perspectives on the industry — that’s fine. But I wear the hat of what’s right for our community and our customers, and this is good.”

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Photo Credit: Fayetteville operates its own Public Works Commission, a public utility that purchases power almost entirely from Duke Energy. Ben Sessoms / Carolina Public Press

Editor’s note: This story was initially posted on Feb. 23 but was updated at 8 a.m. Feb. 24 to include the appeal denials.

Within hours of a three-judge Superior Court panel’s decision in North Carolina’s redistricting lawsuit, all four parties involved filed appeals spanning hundreds of pages to the state Supreme Court. 

Then, at 10 p.m. Wednesday, the state Supreme Court denied every appeal. Candidate filing was set to open at 8 a.m. Thursday. 

County elections staff worked feverishly with the N.C. State Board of Elections ​​in the 20-hour window from when they received the latest maps to the opening of candidate filing to be ready to place state and local candidates in the right districts. 

“As elections officials, we have become accustomed to adapting to quick-changing situations,” said Pat Gannon, spokesperson for the State Board of Elections.

Elections officials had to rush to prepare, not knowing if any of the appeals would be successful and if filing would start on time or be delayed yet again. 

For now, it looks as if the 2022 primaries will be held May 17. But there’s one possible legal twist yet to play out.

Republican leadership in the legislature, named as defendants in the redistricting case, are unhappy with part of the Superior Court panel’s decision, claiming it violates the federal constitution. 

Now that their appeal has been denied by the state Supreme Court, the defendants have an option to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Those appeals usually take some time, and the high court accepts very few cases. It turned down appeals based on similar federal arguments from North Carolina Republicans in November 2020.

But with one new conservative justice on the U.S. Supreme Court and a new federal hook for state Republicans, it’s anyone’s guess what will happen this time around. State Republicans have not yet released a formal statement saying they will make a federal appeal.

How we got here

The Superior Court panel, consisting of Judges Graham Shirley II, R-Wake, Nathaniel Poovey, R-Catawba, and Dawn Layton, D-Richmond, managed to upset every party with its ruling on the maps Wednesday. 

The judges were guided by three special masters — former state Supreme Court Justices Robert Orr and Robert Edmunds Jr. and former UNC System President and Superior Court Judge Thomas Ross — who were themselves assisted by four nonpartisan experts in political map-drawing. 

The state Supreme Court had tasked the judicial panel with judging whether redrawn political maps were fair under the state’s constitution after the higher court declared the Republican-controlled General Assembly’s previous maps to be unconstitutional partisan gerrymanders. 

In a unanimous decision Wednesday, the Shirley panel said the redrawn state House and Senate districts were constitutional. But the judges ruled that the redrawn U.S. congressional map was still not fair under the state Supreme Court’s new standards. 

As a remedy, the Shirley panel adjusted the General Assembly’s map to make it fair under political science measurements that the state Supreme Court had suggested, called “efficiency gap” and “mean-median difference.” This map, the panel suggested, could be used for the 2022 election, and the General Assembly could redraw the map that would be used from the 2024 elections until the state redistricted again in 2031. 

Legislative defendants appeal

Republican legislative leaders Phil Berger, Senate president pro tempore, and Tim Moore, House speaker, both among the defendants in this case for their official roles in drawing political maps, said they will challenge the panel’s decision on the congressional map. 

“Today’s ruling is nothing short of egregious,” Moore said in an official statement. 

“The trial court’s decision to impose a map drawn by anyone other than the legislature is simply unconstitutional and an affront to every North Carolina voter whose representation would be determined by unelected, partisan activists.” 

Each of the Superior Court judges is in fact elected, as are the Supreme Court justices who ruled the prior maps were unconstitutional and who will review the appeals. Judicial elections were nonpartisan for 22 years and were publicly financed for nine until the General Assembly, led by Moore and Berger, made the elections partisan again and eliminated public funding in 2018 and 2013, respectively. 

Legislative defendants think that Article 1, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution, often called the “time, place and manner restrictions,” give state legislatures exclusive jurisdiction over drawing federal election districts. 

Under this argument, the state courts cannot legally intervene when the state legislature draws maps for federal elections. The state Supreme Court previously dismissed this claim, meaning the legislative defendants will likely have to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to have a chance to win on this argument. 

Plaintiffs appeal 

Three groups sued the state in November and December to block the political maps the Republican-led General Assembly passed over Democratic opposition. Those maps were the ones ultimately overturned by the state Supreme Court on Feb. 4.

The General Assembly had two weeks to redraw the maps to seek Superior Court approval on Wednesday. 

In the mirror image of the legislative defendants, all three groups suing the state supported the Shirley panel’s intervention on the congressional map. 

One group, the good-governance and nonpartisan nonprofit Common Cause, appealed both the state House and state Senate maps. 

The group recognized that the General Assembly passed the House plan with near-unanimous bipartisan support, yet still opposed it and the Senate map, passed by Republicans on strict party-line votes, because each map still “dilutes the voting power of Black communities and relies on misleading data to cover up extreme partisan gerrymanders,” according to the group’s press release. 

The Common Cause plaintiffs were especially focused on the voting power of Black North Carolinians in the eastern part of the state, centered on Wayne County for the House map and Edgecombe, Wilson and most of Wayne in the Senate map. 

“We appreciate the bipartisan efforts of the trial court and special masters to remedy illegalities in the congressional map, but justice that is partial is no justice at all,” said Hillary Klein, senior voting rights lawyer at the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, which represents Common Cause, in the press release. 

Two other two plaintiff groups, the nonpartisan N.C. League of Conservation Voters and the National Redistricting Foundation, which is backed by the national Democratic Party, appealed only the state Senate map. 

The NCLCV plaintiffs also asked for the U.S. congressional map to last the rest of the decade, rather than allowing the General Assembly to try drawing the map again. 

In its opinion, the Shirley panel stated North Carolina’s political geography, or the way Democratic and Republican voters self-sort in where they live, explains why the Senate map favors Republicans. Even so, the panel stated in its opinion, the difference is within the fairness boundaries the state Supreme Court laid out. 

In their appeals, both the NCLCV and foundation plaintiffs disputed the panel’s analysis and claimed the map would only ever allow Republicans to have a majority in the state Senate, despite North Carolina being near a 50-50 state in partisan vote share. 

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 Photo Credit: The Supreme Court of North Carolina building in Raleigh. Courtesy of the state courts.

Fayetteville Cumberland County Economic Development Corporation has announced that California-based IT and business management consulting company, Fortuna BMC, Inc., will be coming to Cumberland County. They are expected to hire 50 call center employees, which are remote work opportunities.

“We are eager to select Fayetteville for our expansion on the East Coast due to its proximity and connection to Fort Bragg, the largest military installation in the United States by population,” said Jack Smith, CEO and founder of Fortuna BMC. “As a veteran of the United States Air Force, I can identify with the challenges presented by the military-to-civilian transition, such as fundamental career support, and helping others understand the skills I can bring to the table from serving my country in the armed forces. After our recent visit to Fayetteville, we are fully convinced that this is a welcoming community for organizations like Fortuna BMC that are passionate about connecting the military community to great job opportunities post-service.”

Fortuna BMC is an IT consulting and staffing company. They will be working with Fayetteville State University, Fayetteville Technical Community College, NCWorks Career Center, JMH Group, Center for Economic Empowerment & Development, The Small Business and Technology Development Center, Fort Bragg’s Transition Assistance Program and the economic and community development departments for the City of Fayetteville and Cumberland County to help collaborate on workforce development and hiring initiatives. 

“Creating these types of employment opportunities for and within our local community brings financial stability, and it eases the post-service transition for many veterans. We’re excited that Fortuna BMC selected our region as the place to create those meaningful connections, which will undoubtedly bridge the gap for the veterans,” stated Rob Patton, FCEDC Vice President.

The Cumberland County Department of Public Health has put out an alert saying there is a phone scam targeting citizens.

The robocall, which is mimicking the Health Department's main phone number, 910-433-3600, states they are delivering medical information. However, the Cumberland County Department of Public Health states that it would never call and leave medical information in such a manner. The Health Department's policy is to never provide a medical diagnosis or lab results via robocall, never provide a medical diagnosis or lab results without first identifying you as the patient or guardian, and they would never ask for a social security number or payment via robocall.

Anyone who believes they were contacted by one of these scammers should contact the Attorney General of North Carolina at 1-877-5-NO-SCAM or (910) 716-6000. You can also contact the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office at (910) 323-1500.

From pieces of artwork traveling across the ocean and being exhibited in international galleries to having her first solo exhibition in the United States, 2022 is proving to be the year for local art teacher Aurelis Lugo.

Lugo, originally from Puerto Rico, moved to Fayetteville two years ago with her son. She never expected to move out of Puerto Rico, especially as a single mom. But curiosity got the better of her prompting her to move to Fayetteville.

Not long after relocating, she found a position teaching art within Cumberland County Schools.

While painting murals for local Fayetteville Puerto Rican restaurants, she also submitted pieces of art to different local shows. So when she heard about the Fayetteville Arts Council mini-grants, she knew she had to apply, hoping to help extend her series or artwork highlighting Puerto Rican women.

Lugo's exhibit, "Inmarcesible," featured eleven acrylic paintings on display in Puerto Rico. These pieces highlighted Puerto Rican women.

She wanted to continue that series and highlight more Afro-Puerto Rican women who made history but still did not receive proper recognition.

"Their stories need to be visualized; they need to be brought up again," Lugo said. "Now the thing is that the women that I'm portraying, even though they did amazing stuff, they are not recognized as they should because of two main reasons, they were black, and they were women."

The exhibit received funding from the Fayetteville Arts Council and will be opening this weekend at Cape Fear Studios.

The "Fadeless" exhibition will highlight nine additional women and their stories.

Some of the highlighted women include María Libertad Gómez Garriga, the first woman to hold the position of President of the House for the Puerto Rican House of Representatives and the only woman to sign the Constitution of Puerto Rico in 1952.

Another woman highlighted in the exhibit is Carmen Belem Richardson, the first Black Puerto Rican actress to appear on television in Puerto Rico.

"Fadeless" also demonstrates Lugo's outreach into mixed-media paintings. She incorporates spray paint, glitter, molding and all types of materials into the images. She says this showcases her growth and the change she has experienced as an artist and person since her last exhibit.

"Personally, it means a lot to me because it's like, another goal that I accomplished. And also because of the kind of message that I'm delivering with this. I'm not only showing my culture; I'm showing that My people have interesting people that you should know about. And they can be an example. Mainly [for] everybody."

Lugo said that preparing for a solo exhibition is like preparing for a wedding. It's a big day, and everything needs to be perfect.

She says she visited the North Carolina Museum of Art quite a bit while preparing for the opening of "Fadeless."

"So this is my big thing, and it feels so different from the ones that I did in Puerto Rico. My first solo exhibition in Puerto Rico was in a gallery at a mall," Lugo said. "But this time, it feels very different. Because I'm outside my country and it's like a big responsibility. Because I'm bringing my culture, I'm letting others see how important these women are. And it's like a lot of pressure, but it's also it's a big accomplishment."

Lugo also has other pressures, as her artwork is currently on display in London at the Boomer Gallery at Tower Bridge. Soon her artwork will travel to Rome and then this summer it will be in Spain.

Looking to the future, Lugo is already planning her next addition to her series. She hopes to create full-length art pieces that incorporate fashion and clothing materials into her art.

"This is like a never-ending project that I will continue working on and working on it, no matter where in the world I am," Lugo said. "I'll continue working on it because there are a lot of women that did amazing things."
Cape Fear Studios & Gallery will be holding a gallery opening for "Fadeless" on Feb. 25 at 6 p.m. The exhibit will be open to the public until March 22.

Greetings,

Thank you all for serving on the Fayetteville Ethics Committee and doing your civic duty. We have proudly published the Up & Coming Weekly community newspaper for over 25 years and have never swayed from our mission and mandate to promote, accentuate and uplift the Fayetteville community while serving its residents. Those who know me personally know I am as passionate about this newspaper as the community. Consequently, I can be highly opinionated and sometimes brutally honest when it comes to the Fayetteville/Cumberland County community. Up & Coming Weekly has a reputation for always striving to be forthright and honest and never a purveyor of misinformation, gossip or drama. As a community publication, we aim to bring clarification, insight and opinion to policies, issues and matters affecting the local quality of life. Again, I love this community, and it saddens me to see our City's direction under its present leadership. This love of community is why I am writing this letter and voicing my opinion. I offer my advice and recommendations as the Ethics Committee moves forward in evaluating former City Council member Tisha Waddell's allegations of potential mismanagement and corruption, as stated in her November resignation letter.

My biggest concern is that you at the Ethics Commission may not have the full context as volunteers and Council-appointed members. You may not know what is happening at City Hall and who the people are making the decisions that raised Waddell's concerns and prompted her resignation. This lack of context could put the entire Commission at a significant disadvantage. The recently reversed and unanimous decision made by the City Council to send Waddell's allegations to the Ethics Commission has only increased citizens' suspicions that a cover-up is in the making. The reality is that the Council appoints the Ethics Committee. The assumption is that the Mayor and Council will not investigate themselves and intend to use members of the Ethics Committee as pawns to exonerate themselves and dismiss the allegations out of hand. Public opinion seems to echo that, if there is no substance to Waddell's claims of mismanagement and corruption, as the Council claims, then why not call for an independent external investigation and be done with it? If "there is nothing to see here," why not have a thorough external investigation? The Ethics Commission's previous decision to dismiss the eight charges against Fayetteville Police Chief Gina Hawkins has created even more mistrust and skepticism among citizens. It again confirmed that City Council would not investigate itself.

Most people would agree, "Where there is smoke, there's fire." We know every member of the Ethics Commission is an upstanding, law-abiding and honest community member. Still, the fact remains they are far removed from the realities of what is taking place in our city government. Undoubtedly, the Commission wants to do its best for the residents and the community. I ask that the Ethics Commission listen intently to all the concerns and allegations brought before you. If the circumstances warrant it, call for an independent external investigation of all allegations. Once the independent analysis is complete, the chips will fall where they may. If there is substance to some or all the complaints, they can be addressed individually. At least, once an independent investigation is conducted, it really will be over and done, and Fayetteville residents will be satisfied knowing that fairness and justice have prevailed. This external investigation is the only way the truth will ultimately come out, and confidence can be restored in our City government leadership.
Suppose the Commission finds no legitimacy to the Waddell allegations and dismisses the case like they did with Hawkins. In that case, I fear it will only cast dispersions on the Committee and cause more skepticism and mistrust among the Fayetteville residents proving the City Council will not investigate itself.

Calling for an external, independent investigation into Waddell's allegations is the only way to put these issues behind us and restore citizens' confidence and trust in the integrity of the City government and the Ethics Commission process.

There is much to learn from talking to residents out in the community. The unsolicited comments from city residents, city employees, downtown businesses, Fayetteville police officers and first responders speak of significant concerns with city leadership as well as concerns over escalating homicide and crime rates, the suspicious dealings surrounding the Prince Charles project and the parking deck fiasco, the halfway house Dismiss Project on Cain Rd. and the Barnhard Capital Partner's clandestine bid for Public Works Commission.

Again, I thank you for your service to our City and community. I write this as a friend and concerned citizen. You are not obligated to heed any of the advice. However, keep in mind that the City of Fayetteville today is nothing like when most of us started building our businesses and raising our families. We must do everything possible to maintain the integrity of our local government for the sake of those who will come after us.

A call for an independent external investigation will assure this.

Thank you for reading Up & Coming Weekly.

Best Regards,
Bill

Rick's Place has planned an afternoon away for the families dealing with the stress of last-minute deployments, a way to connect with other military families and to take a break.

The Rick Herrema Foundation focuses on strengthening relationships and building community for military families through fun, quality activities. They host events and fun days at Rick's Place, a 50-acre park, to offer children a place to have fun and a place to support military families, so they know they aren't alone.

This weekend they are supporting families by hosting a Meet Us at the Park event specifically for families dealing with the rapid deployments occurring over the past three weeks.

"We wanted to do something extra," Vicky Jimenez, director of programs at RHF, said. "We wanted to do an event that would be dedicated for those families who have been impacted by the recent deployment."

From 2 to 5 p.m., there will be activities, inflatables, games for kids and local organizations offering resources to families. In addition, the food truck, Hot Dog Central, will be at the event feeding families in attendance.

Jimenez told Up & Coming Weekly that while families are at Rick's Place, they can set aside the stressors that deployment may have placed on them, at least for a short time.

"The importance of having these events is to connect people to these other families that are going through the same challenges as them," Jimenez said.

The Meet Us at the Park event will be followed by the monthly scheduled event, Family Fun Day, which is open to any military family. This month, RHF will be hosting a drive-in movie screening.

"This will be our first drive-in movie. So we wanted to try and give it a chance and give families different activities here at Rick's Place," Jimenez said.

The 2000s family classic, "The Chronicle of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," will be playing on the big screen. Families can enjoy the movie from the comfort of their warm vehicles or pull up a chair with blankets to watch it outside. RHF will give out free popcorn and hot cocoa to families. The movie starts around 5:30 p.m.

The two events take place on Saturday, Feb. 26. Registration to both events is required. Jimenez said that she is expecting 100 to 150 people to be at the two events, but they know there are countless more families who are impacted.

If families find out about the events after registration is closed, they can contact RHF by calling 910-444-1743 to see if space is available.

To pre-register for the event, visit rhfnow.org/event/meet-us-at-the-park-rapid-deployment-impacted-families-event/. To register for the movie night, visit rhfnow.org/event/february-family-fun-day-evening-drive-in-movie/.

The next Family Fun Day is scheduled for March 26 and is planned to be a Physical Fitness Family Challenge.

Families will have a change to compete against each other in several activities and lunch will be provided at no cost. Registration for that event is open.

Rick's Place is located at 5572 Shenandoah Drive.

For more information, visit rhfnow.org/events or call the Rick's Place team at 910-444-1743.

Unless you have been hiding from a Balrog under a moss encrusted rock, you have seen ads for Amazon's new TV series on the "Lord of the Rings." Several moss-encrusted decades ago, I read the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy during college. The new series takes place thousands of years before Frodo and pals graced Middle Earth. It also takes place without the guiding hands of J.R.R. Tolkien, being created from whole Mithril by writers living in the second decade of the 21st Century. Since Professor Tolkien sailed off in 1973 to the Gray Havens to join Bilbo, I am pretty sure he had nothing to do with the upcoming series. Feeling grumpy about his story being assumed by lesser writers than Tolkien, I decided to investigate the back story from whence Middle Earth emerged.

Norse mythology is as colorful as Greek mythology is convoluted. Tolkien was a fan of Norse mythology. Today we shall wander through and mangle Viking theology.

My first exposure to the Norsemen came in the form of an excellent 1958 movie called "The Vikings" with Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis and the star of McHale's Navy, Ernest Borgnine. The Vikings were a rough bunch with an equally tough bunch of gods. The opening of "The Vikings" recites a line from the "English Book of Common Prayer": "Protect us, oh Lord from the wrath of the Northmen." So, hop on board Mr. Peabody's Way Back Machine to head back to the 11th Century when the Vikings were doing their thing.

Tolkien's Lord of the Rings saga was inspired by the Norse story of Andvari's magic ring. According to Mr. Google, Andvari was a dwarf who enjoyed humidity and lived under a waterfall. Andy, as his friends called him, could turn himself into a fish on demand. Why he wanted to become a fish is beyond the scope of this column. Andy owned a magic ring called Andvaranaut, which allowed him to find gold at will. One day when Andy was swimming about as a fish, he had the misfortune to be caught by the Norse god Loki. Loki strong-armed Andy into giving him the magic ring and all his gold. Naturally, Andy was not happy by this turn of events.

Andy put a curse on his stolen ring that whoever had it would come to a bad end. It's not nice to steal from dwarves, even if they are in the form of a fish.

Loki's background is nontraditional. When Loki was male, he was the proud father of a daughter named Hel, the goddess of the Underworld. Loki also had two sons. Loki was a bit of a jokester. Being bored one day, he turned himself into a mare and managed to get in the horsey family way by a stallion. While in his mare form, Loki gave birth to an eight-legged colt. Loki enjoyed shape-shifting and appeared as a number of critters, including a fly. He used the stolen ring to bribe Odin to give Loki a pass for killing the son of a god. A whole bunch of sword fighting, dragon-slaying and talking birds ensue from the curse of the ring. Lots of Viking folks end up with the ring, with each coming to a bad end. In one version, Queen Gurun ends up with the ring. Gurun then marries Attila, the Hun who succumbs to the ring's curse, losing his war with Rome.

Loki's bribe to Odin ultimately led to the death of one of Odin's sons. When Odin discovered Loki's role, he and his buddies are sorely vexed. Trigger warning: Don't upset Odin. Odin turned Loki's son Vali into a wolf, who then chowed down on Loki's other son Narfi creating shredded Narfi. The gods plucked out Narfi's unchewed organs and turned them into iron bands. Odin used the iron bands to fasten Loki to a rock. Some might consider being chained to a rock with the vital organs of a child to be a pretty harsh punishment. But not the Norse gods. Oh, no. Like Karen Carpenter once sang, they had only just begun. The goddess of the moon, a lass named Skadi, wanted to get in on the action.

She caught a giant drooling poisonous snake. Skadi tied the snake over Loki's head where it would drip venom right onto poor Loki, causing him pain and great mental anguish. This punishment lasted for quite a while until Loki's sweet wife Sigyn found Loki. She brought her favorite Calphalon pot to catch the venom as it dripped down on Loki. Sigyn is still sitting by Loki, catching venom even as you read these words.
Unfortunately, Sigyn must empty the pot when the venom fills it up periodically.

When she takes the pot away, the snake drool keeps hitting Loki while the pot is being emptied. The impact of the venom makes Loki shake in pain. The Vikings explain that Loki's shaking causes earthquakes.

So, what did we learn today?

Even if you can turn yourself into a fish, don't do it.

Don't anger the Norse gods.

And always be nice to your wife if you don't want venom dripped on your head.

The 40th annual Fayetteville Dogwood Festival hosted a media event at the Cape Fear Botanical Gardens on the evening of Wednesday, Feb. 16. Run by a nonprofit by the same name, the Fayetteville Dogwood Festival group says that they “aim to entertain the members of our community, promote and sustain new and existing business. Enhance a positive community image, and attract out-of-town visitors, while sharing the cultural and recreational opportunities available in the Fayetteville Area.” While the organization supports and plans multiple events throughout the year, none is larger or more expansive than the Dogwood Festival.

And, after two years of pandemic-driven cancellations and rescheduling, according to Dogwood Festival Executive Director Sarahgrace Snipes, attended can expect a “full-fledged dogwood festival.”

“We are back,” Snipes proclaimed on Wednesday evening.

And back they are, with a record-setting five national acts slated to perform across the three-day festival beginning on April 22 and ending April 24.

On Friday, April 22, national acts Marcy Playground and Hoobastank will take the stage. On Saturday, April 23, Dillon Carmichael, Kameron Marlowe and Tyler Farr will perform an evening of country music. Sunday, April 24, will finish off the event with headliners The Purple Madness – A Tribute to Prince. Throughout all three nights, local talent will perform alongside these headliners.

At the media night, festival organizers assured attendees that all of the tried and true Dogwood Festival favorites would be back in full force and “better than ever.”

Attractions will include: Airborn Aerials performances, Boom & Bloom fireworks on Friday night, King BMX bike shows, the Cork and Fork event will return, there will be a silent auction, Lafayette Ford will present the Car, Motorcycle and Truck Show, there will be a performance area on Hay Street in front of the Market House, a street fair in the downtown area, the Midway with a mix of rides and attractions for all ages and finally the KidZone will be back as well.

In addition to these attractions, the Dogwood Festival has added new events for visitors this year. The Downtown Stage powered by Piedmont Natural Gas will offer country music on Saturday and Sunday, beginning at noon on Gillespie Street. Ring Wars of Carolina will be hosting a wrestling tournament on Saturday and Sunday at the intersection of Ray Avenue and Hay Street. Local attraction Sweet Valley Ranch will also be out with a mix of entertainment on offer as a new addition to this year’s attractions.

Sweet Valley Ranch Owner Fred Surgeon spoke at the media event and shared an impressive list of options Sweet Valley Ranch will bring with them to the Dogwood Festival. They will set up on Green Street, where visitors can enjoy a petting zoo with a broad mix of animals, carnival games and even take a ride down the street on a dinosaur.

Surgeon was particularly excited about the variety of animals with which festival-goers can meet and visit at the petting zoo.

“It’s about engaging with nature and with our animals,” Surgeon said.

In addition to these activities, the Surgeon explained that they would have their food truck on site. According to Surgeon, the Sweet Valley Ranch Giveback Food Truck partners with local nonprofits, and in November and December last year, the food truck program raised $25,000.

Snipes also announced continued support with annual events that, while not directly affiliated with the Dogwood Festival, are sanctioned by the organization. These include the annual Crimestoppers BBQ and the All American Tattoo Convention.

Close to 5,000 Fort Bragg troops are in Eastern Europe amidst a Ukraine-Russia standoff. Many of these soldiers are from the 82nd Airborne Division - an infantry division that is ready to go anywhere in the world within 18 hours.

Last week, the deployment of the second round of 3,000 paratroopers began to leave Fort Bragg. Several hundred soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division Air Assault from Fort Campbell on the Kentucky Tennessee border are also headed to Eastern Europe.

Several commercial jets graced the runways at Pope Army Airfield last week, waiting to take several hundred soldiers overseas. While the paratroopers were waiting at Green Ramp, the final springboard for deploying soldiers, pizza, fried chicken and all types of food were being given out. The Religious Support Office had religious texts and books ready to go if anyone wanted, and there was a long line for stations set up to handle last-minute paperwork.

Many of the waiting paratroopers were socializing, rechecking their gear or catching a few moments of sleep.

Specialist Bryan Flores was laughing with the men next to him. He has been in the Army for almost four years and moved to Fort Bragg three months ago from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska.

Flores said this will be his first deployment and going out and serving on a mission is exciting.

"From the human's perspective, I'm really nervous. But as a soldier, I'm prepared, and because I know what to do, I know my job."

Flores is stationed at Fort Bragg with his wife, Marta, and her two children - ages 10 and 7 years old. He said he didn't want to tell the two kids he was leaving.

"I didn't want to tell them to their faces that I'm leaving because, of course, they would be very upset and really scared," Flores said. "It's hard to tell kids goodbye; I'm leaving somewhere, especially if it's in regard to conflict."

He says it's especially hard to leave his family as they just moved to Fort Bragg and were still getting adjusted to the base.

"I certainly didn't expect it to happen; it was more of a last-minute thing. But of course, that's what we're here to do," Flores said. "When we are ready to go, we're supposed to go and confront the enemy and protect the citizens of the world because that's what the United States is about; we protect."

Flores said that if he could bring something home from his deployment, he would try and find a figurine of a historical monument or something that represents liberation from World War II.

On the other hand, 27-year-old 1st Lt. Alex Blankenship said he would want to bring home a magnet for his unadorned fridge doors. Blakenship, who's been serving in the Army for almost three years, says he was able to see his family a week before his deployment orders came in. They took his cat and wished him a happy birthday before he left. For his family, deployments are just part of the military lifestyle.

"My parents went through this stuff with my dad being in the Navy," Blankenship said. "So, it's not anything new."

According to White House officials, these soldiers are not being sent to fight in Ukraine officially; they will support the allies of the United States. Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said the 82nd Airborne Division was chosen because they were already on heightened alert and multi-mission capable.

"I think their versatility, their ability to move quickly and to conduct a range of missions across a range of contingencies which is well-proven, that is why the Secretary has ordered them to go," Kirby said.

One of those missions might be to help support American evacuees fleeing Ukraine into Poland.

On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops to deploy to the two separatist regions of Eastern Ukraine.

More troops could be mobilized to Europe as the Russia-Ukraine crisis continues. The Pentagon put 8,500 troops on "high alert" in January for possible deployment if NATO's response forces are activated.

Fort Bragg’s Lt. Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla will take responsibility for all U.S. military operations in the Middle East and neighboring nations in the coming weeks.

The U.S. Senate voted unanimously to confirm Kurilla’s nomination to lead U.S. Central Command and be promoted to a four-star general.

According to the Pentagon, he will soon replace Gen. Kenneth McKenzie of the Marine Corps, who has commanded CENTCOM since 2019. McKenzie is retiring in April.

Kurilla is the commander of the 18th Airborne Corps and Fort Bragg. He is a West Point graduate who led special operations and conventional forces in Panama, Iraq and Afghanistan. He previously commanded the 82nd Airborne Division, the elite 75th Ranger Regiment and its 2nd Battalion. He has also served as the assistant commander of Joint Special Operations Command and as the Pentagon’s deputy director for special operations and counterterrorism.

Kurilla is currently deployed to Germany, leading a task force of troops helping NATO allies in the unfolding Ukraine-Russia conflict.

Army Maj. Gen. Christopher Donahue was confirmed by Senate to be promoted to lieutenant general and take command of the 18th Airborne Corps in Kurilla’s place. Donahue, the current 82nd Airborne Division commander, is also deployed to Europe in response to the Ukraine crisis.

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Photo Credit: Lt. Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla, commander of the XVIII Airborne Corps, gives a speech at the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) change of command, March 5, 2021, at the division parade field, Fort Campbell, Ky. Kurilla spoke on the great work that Maj. Gen. Brian Winski achieved and how he’s excited to see what Maj. Gen. JP McGee will accomplish.

Eligible Cumberland County residents at risk of spreading COVID-19 will be provided isolated shelter for the foreseeable future.

The county Board of Commissioners unanimously approved the renewal of the N.C. Non-Congregate Sheltering program on Monday.

The program provides shelter for those eligible who need to isolate due to exposure or contraction of COVID-19 and don’t have another way of safely quarantining.

Among those included are first responders and health care workers who need to isolate from family members because of exposure and those who test positive or were exposed and need to quarantine.

Those who need to socially distance as a precautionary measure are also eligible. It’s up to the discretion of public health officials, but it typically includes high-risk groups, such as people over age 65 or those with underlying health conditions.

The county, in partnership with local nonprofits and religious organizations, pays for shelter in a hotel along with other needs such as food, medicine and transportation, among other things.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency and N.C. Emergency Management then fully reimburse the county.

The county reported that it has provided shelter and food to more than 70 people in Cumberland and transportation to 35.

Over 92% have been for those at risk of severe COVID-19, according to the county.

The program will operate as long as the federal government approves it or the governor’s state of emergency order stays in effect, or for one year, whichever date comes first.

Those who don’t have a safe way of quarantining due to their living arrangements and think they are eligible can email county Emergency Management Coordinator Garry Crumpler at gcrumpler@co.cumberland.nc.us.

Latest COVID-19 data for Cumberland

The national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention classifies Cumberland as a high transmission county, along with all of North Carolina and a wide swath of the rest of the country.

That designation is made based on new case counts and percentage of positive cases in the past week. New case counts over 100 per 100,000 people and a positivity rate over 10% are considered high transmission.

As of Monday, Cumberland has seen more than 350 new cases per 100,000 people in the past week, according to the CDC.

Among all tests in the past week, 19% have returned positive.

But that number has gone down. Earlier in the month, the positivity rate was more than 31%, according to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.

Based on the high transmission, the CDC recommends that anyone indoors in a public setting in Cumberland County wear a mask to reduce transmission.

But that will be by personal choice, as the county ended its indoor mask mandate on Sunday.

The county still recommends mask-wearing, and businesses can still require them if they choose to.

As of Monday, 548 people in Cumberland County have died due to COVID-19 during the pandemic.

After a two-week sprint, the state Supreme Court’s deadline looms for North Carolina’s General Assembly to submit revised political maps after justices ruled the prior maps to be unconstitutional partisan gerrymanders favoring Republicans.

On Thursday afternoon, the General Assembly passed the new map for the state House with bipartisan support. Later that night, the legislature passed the state Senate and U.S. congressional maps on party-line votes.
Earlier Thursday, state Sens. Paul Newton and Warren Daniel, the Republicans responsible for drawing new state Senate and U.S. congressional maps, presented them to the House redistricting committee.

“We believe that if either party runs good candidates and good campaigns and touches the issues that people care about, either party could have a majority at the end of the next election,” Newton said about the Senate maps.

Daniel presented the U.S. congressional maps and described them as highly competitive. Both senators described the maps as passing the mathematical measures for partisan fairness that the state Supreme Court laid out as potential tests for constitutionality.

But Democrats protested, along with one Republican.

“Boy, I’m really not sure how this map is going to pass constitutional muster,” said Rep. Pricey Harrison, D-Guilford, during the floor debate.

The constitutional standard for these maps was only set earlier in the week, when the state Supreme Court released its full opinion on Monday. The court previously released an order Feb. 4 that gave some guidance about what it would look for in constitutional maps.

Harrison based her analysis of metropolitan counties, such as Guilford in her district, that were split in the proposed congressional map.

Rep. John Szoka, R-Cumberland, a 20-year military veteran, voted against the congressional maps for splitting up Fort Bragg, the largest military base in the county. The maps followed the court’s mathematical standards for fairness at the expense of keeping communities of interest together, he said.

Rep. Charles Graham, D-Robeson, partially agreed with his Republican colleague. Graham had hoped to see more preservation of communities of interest, namely a U.S. congressional district encompassing all of the Sandhills region of the state. An early proposed version of the map included such a district, but in this passed version, the region is split into three districts.

On Friday, the maps will be filed with the three-judge panel at the trial court to review the maps for compliance with the state Supreme Court’s order on what counts as constitutional political maps. The court may also consider maps from the three groups that sued the Republican legislative leaders in December to stop their first attempts at redistricting from going forward.

As it stands now, the 2022 primaries are scheduled for May 17. Here are the court and election deadlines leading up to Election Day, and the ways it could all get delayed again.

Trial court to decide, again
When a plaintiff raises a constitutional question in North Carolina’s courts, it goes in front of a panel of three Superior Court judges. The panel appointed in this case, of two Republican judges and one Democrat, previously said the Republican maps drawn in November were constitutional.

Plaintiffs appealed that decision to the state Supreme Court, which overturned the decision. The higher court laid out some standards by which the partisan skew of a map, or how much it favors one political party over another, can be measured for constitutional compliance and sent the case back to the three-judge panel.

Now, Judges Graham Shirley II, R-Wake, Nathaniel Poovey, R-Catawba, and Dawn Layton, D-Richmond, will have until noon Feb. 23, to decide which maps the state will use in its 2022 primaries.
Each of the plaintiff groups in the case — the N.C. League of Conservation Voters, the Democratic Party-affiliated National Redistricting Fund and the nonpartisan good-governance group Common Cause — can submit their own maps for consideration.

If no party appeals the decision, the primaries would likely proceed as planned. Candidate filing would open Feb. 24 and close March 4. Then, absentee-by-mail ballots would go out at the latest on April 1. Early in-person voting would start April 28, and the primary election day would be May 17.

But an appeal of the trial court’s decision from any party by 5 p.m. Feb. 23 would likely delay all that, according to Catawba College political science professor and redistricting expert Michael Bitzer.

“It’s an extremely tight window that we’re operating under right now, and any further delay will have an effect on the primary date,” Bitzer wrote in an email to Carolina Public Press.

That’s even before considering the potential complications of an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court or the legal fight over the eligibility of U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R-Hendersonville, to run, both of which could further disrupt parts of the elections.

How voters are affected
Redistricting “​​is the most political activity in American politics,” and North Carolina’s voters are watching it play out in real time, Bitzer said.

As a consequence, voters have seen their voting districts split, zipped back together and recombined in ways that could change who is on their ballots. The primary was delayed from March and could be delayed again. Guilford County has seen some of the most dynamic proposed changes to its political maps.

But for voters who may be confused or frustrated with the redistricting process, the county’s election director, Charlie Collicutt, wants voters to remember there’s so much more on the ballot.

Voters could see county commissioners, sheriffs, school board members, bond issues or municipal offices on their ballots come May. Each of those elections is important, so even if voters are throwing up their hands with the state legislature or congressional elections, their votes can still make an impact in other races, Collicutt said.

Once candidate filing is complete, elections officials like Collicutt will have a couple of weeks under the current schedule to create ballots for each precinct in their counties. When that happens, voters can use N.C. State Board of Elections website to look up sample ballots to see the candidates and races that will be on their ballots to help them prepare to vote.

Voters can already request an absentee-by-mail ballot, which will be mailed out at least 45 days before the election. Even if they request an absentee ballot, voters can still choose to vote in person but may not do both.

“​​I’m a voter, too, and I don’t want it to be hard and confusing,” Collicutt said.

What’s next
Redistricting lawsuit schedule
Feb. 23: Noon deadline for the trial court to approve the General Assembly’s maps or adopt maps from plaintiffs

Feb. 23: 5 p.m. deadline for an emergency application of a stay with the state Supreme Court

If no party asks for a stay, the elections will likely follow the schedule below. If a party asks for a stay and the state Supreme Court grants it, every step below will likely be delayed.

Election schedule
Absentee-by-mail ballot portal is open.

Feb. 24-March 4: Candidate filing. Candidates who filed under the previous districts and want to move under the new maps can ask to have their first filing negated and refile.

March 28: County boards of elections will start mailing out absentee by-mail ballots. The State Board of Elections could delay this to April 1 if some counties need more time.

April 22: Civilian voter registration deadline for the primary.

April 28: One-stop, in-person early voting period begins.

May 10: Last day for civilians to ask for an absentee ballot.

May 14: Last day for one-stop, in-person early voting period.

May 17: Election Day for the primary and delayed municipal elections. All absentee-by-mail ballots have to be in the mail and postmarked by this date.

Cumberland County will be lifting the indoor mask mandate beginning Feb. 20 at 5 p.m. This comes after the Cumberland County Schools Board of Education voted to lift their mask mandate earlier this month.

The mask mandate for the county went into place back on Aug. 27 when the Delta Variant of COVID-19 was rising in the county. However, the latest data shows that the COVID-19 infection positivity rate peaked in North Carolina at 36.3% on Jan. 22 and has decreased to 14.4% as of Feb. 15. Cumberland County’s positivity rate has decreased from 37.8% on Jan. 31, to 25.5% on Feb. 15. The Cumberland County Department of Public Health says that the number continues to decline.

“The COVID-19 landscape looks different than it did two years ago. We know what works and what stops the spread of COVID-19,” said Dr. Jennifer Green, Cumberland County Public Health Director. “Masks remain an effective strategy for preventing the spread of COVID-19. Despite the recension of this formal order, we continue to recommend masking in public indoor spaces, particularly and in settings with lower vaccination rates.”

Masks will still be required in all Cumberland County government buildings, including the Cumberland County Department of Public Health and the Judge E. Maurice Braswell Cumberland County Courthouse. Residents should continue to comply with mask requirements in businesses, healthcare and long-term facilities, educational settings, and other institutions as appropriate.

The Federal CDC Order requires face masks to be worn by all people at indoor transportation hubs and while on public transportation, including school buses and vans, remains in place.

The City of Fayetteville held a Race in America roundtable discussion between public servants who have managed Fayetteville-Cumberland Human Relations efforts since the Commission's creation in 1965.

Town Hall Panelists included Former State Representative Elmer Floyd, Ron McElrath, Dr. Anthony Wade and the current Commission Vice-Chairwoman Milette Harris as the moderator.

Panelists spoke about where Fayetteville came from and where the future is heading.

"When it comes down to planning for the future, you have to understand where you come from," said Wade. "When you speak to these issues going forward, you speak to them based on your reflections of the past."

The panel said they could use the past as a launching pad to push Fayetteville to a better future. Many panelists believe the roadmap to a more progressive future is through the youth.

The human relation commission has discussed having a youth commission so the young leaders of the community can talk about the issues in their city and schools.

"It's never too late, and it's never too early to get involved," said Harris.'

The vice-chairwoman said the key to impact change is to educate, communicate and listen to everyone in the community, no matter the perspective.

McElrath says to work toward a more inclusive community; they need to look at where the decision-makers are and make sure that everyone is sitting at the table. He said constant dialogue is essential to ensure everyone is on the same page and understands everyone's perspective.

"We must never assume that what progress we've gained, we can't lose," McElrath said.

When we first meet someone, we're often taken by their accomplishments, the way they dress or speak or even the way they enter a room. Rarely though, do we consider the forces of life and nature which made them this way. Similarly, when we see the beauty – or even the desolation – in nature, we rarely consider the long-term change or forces by which it was created. Consider for a moment the steep, multifaceted walls, stunning colors and sheer magnitude of the Grand Canyon.

For as much beauty as it offers any beholder, it has obviously made it through a very violent past. It is living to tell the story of ice and raging waters, wind and time, which have made it the breathtaking beauty we see today. As humans, though our experiences alone do not define us, we are surely shaped, to various extents, by the waters of experience that have flowed through us, and maybe more so by our responses to them. Every one of us has a past. Measured in hours, days or years, the events of our lifetime have gradually developed us into what others see today. Our tendency is to see objects we consider beautiful without any consideration for the process of its creation. I enjoy giving gifts to family and friends that extend from one of my many hobbies (many, because I am 'blessed' with a short attention span). One of the hobbies I particularly enjoy is woodworking.

Rather than furniture or items that require great precision levels, I prefer to make small things where the appreciation value comes from their uniqueness. If I really dug into my psyche, I'd probably discover that this actually comes from a sense of inadequacy and that unique, one-of-a-kind gifts leave less room for judgment. But more than that, I believe there can even be a somewhat redemptive quality to woodworking. One year I wanted to do something special for the people I work with at Christmas and decided to make wooden Christmas ornaments. I first pulled a few pieces of firewood from the stack near the edge of our property. After cleaning them up, I began shaping them into rectangles about eight inches long and three to four inches across. After some preparation, I secured each piece on a lathe, which causes the wood to spin at rotations up to thousands of revolutions per minute. At first, they wobble. So, I spin them a little more slowly and introduce a large chisel to take off the rough edges, causing them to be unbalanced.

As the wood becomes a little more stable, I can increase the speed and use smaller chisels to begin the process of refining and shaping each piece into a definable shape. Eventually, I'm able to use sandpaper to make the newly formed shape smooth to the touch. This is us. This is the Grand Canyon. We are, over time, shaped with cuts both deep and shallow at the hands of a Creator. And just as one can see the beauty in one, or the wonder in another, so is the beauty of our uniqueness. We have all lived a story worth telling, and when we do, we can point people back to the Creator, who had a plan from the beginning of it all.

Gerrymandering.

It is a word only a sitting legislator in the majority party can love. For everyone else, it is a word that can send us into a deep sleep lasting the duration of any given election year. Yes, it is a boring concept for most of us, but make no mistake. When it comes to gerrymandering — you snooze, you lose.

Here is a quick tutorial. The US Constitution requires an actual count of how many people live in our nation taken every ten years, and that count is called a census.

The first census was taken in 1790 and found just under four million newly minted Americans. The 2020 census found almost 334 million of us. Census data has many uses, but their most important role is determining representation in the US House of Representatives and state legislatures.

For example, our least populous state, Wyoming, has only one member of the US House, while North Carolina, the 9th most populous state, now has 14 members of the House to represent us in Washington.
Redistricting based on census data is done in all states, mostly by partisan legislatures, including the NC General Assembly.

The idea is that each citizen has roughly equal representation — that no state’s and no citizen’s political clout is appreciably greater than any other’s based on population.

It is a simple stab at fairness that has been polluted from the birth of our nation. Simply put, the party in power at any given moment manipulates the census information to ensure that more candidates representing its point of view get elected than candidates from other parties and points of view. It has been done by political parties that no longer exist, and more recently, by both Democrats and Republicans.

At its basest definition, gerrymandering means politicians select their voters and not the other way around.

And why should you care? Isn’t gerrymandering just politics, as usual, no matter who is doing it? You should care because the people doing the gerrymandering may well be taking your vote away from you.

Consider this. If you are a Democrat in a congressional or legislative district heavily gerrymandered to be Republican, there is really no reason for you to make an effort to vote. The Democrats you support are not going to be elected. It works the other way, as well, for Republicans in heavily gerrymandered Democratic districts. Gerrymandering is a theft of a basic right of citizenship — your right to vote and choose who represents you.

But it is complicated. Over time, various and sometimes conflicting court rulings have made the redistricting process consider the rights of minority voters, the wholeness of communities both by geography and culture and other factors.

These are often difficult to assess and balance and are virtually impossible for average voters to grasp, which translates into a national sleeping potion.

Complicated though it is, legal redistricting and its ugly twin, gerrymandering, are facts of American life that affect each and every voter and those they love. You should care because not caring and opposing gerrymandering essentially gives your vote to others whose viewpoints and goals may well be the exact opposite of yours and may promote policies that harm you and your family.

More cynically, if you agree with the current gerrymanderers, legislators in North Carolina and throughout the nation, the political pendulum always swings. They, and you, will eventually be on the receiving end of gerrymandering, and you may not like that — not one little bit!

Much less painful and much more palatable is redistricting reform to rein in out-of-control gerrymandering birthed by vicious and out-of-control political partisanship.