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.’’

Volatility in the energy market and the lingering economic pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic will mandate continued fiscal caution, leaders of Fayetteville’s public utility were told Wednesday, May 25.

Rhonda Gaskins, the chief financial officer of the Fayetteville Public Works Commission, delivered a first-quarter financial recap to the board at its monthly meeting.

Before presenting her report, Gaskins reminded the commissioners that a water and wastewater rate increase would take effect July 1.

“So we’ll see increases in revenue on that end for the water and wastewater side,” Haskins told the commissioners. “We also had a bond issuance that closed in November – actually, $95 million.”

And as the pandemic has eased, PWC has ended a temporary waiver of late fees for customers struggling through the economic downturn, she said.

“Almost back to full operation there,” she said.

Bad weather could also affect the utility’s economic picture, she noted.

PWC spokeswoman Carolyn Justice-Hinson said after the meeting that the report was “kind of a snapshot in time.”

“There are some positives there. The economy and the industry are getting volatile with fuel costs and other things. There are a lot of factors we’re watching very closely,” Justice-Hinson said.

“The next report could look very different,” she added. “It’s presented every quarter for the commission to get a financial look and to see what the trends are.”

Power-supply costs are down to $100.6 million in the first quarter of this year from $104.7 million in the first three months last year, Haskins said.

According to the report, the cost of a megawatt hour of electricity is down 2% from a year ago, from $63.27 to $62.03.

"Power cost is our overall biggest expense, so this is good," Justice-Hinson said. “But as I mentioned, the economy and changes coming from our wholesale provider, Duke Energy, indicate this can change very quickly.

This is the importance of maintaining our reserves and rate stabilization funds that we can draw from them during these extreme fluctuations instead of having to raise rates to cover the cost."

Fayetteville PWC has budgeted $64 million for electric and water capital projects in this budget year. But nine months into the budget, the utility has been able to complete only $30 million worth of those projects, Justice-Hinson said.

The demand for contractors and the availability of materials are affecting the utility's ability to get the work done, she said.

In other business, PWC CEO and General Manager Elaina Ball gave her second presentation on the 2022-23 operating budget and capital improvement plan in advance of a public hearing on Wednesday.

No one spoke during the public hearing.

As first presented on May 11, the budget calls for an overall outlay of about $397.5 million, which would be a 10.9% reduction from 2022 spending.

The cost of electricity would not change next year, but water rates would increase, according to the recommended budget. In 2020, the commission voted to delay water rate increases because of the financial effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Those higher rates will take effect for 2023, Ball has said.

Justice-Hinson has said the new water rates will vary because they depend on the customer’s location and water usage.

The budget supports the financial health of PWC, keeps borrowing costs low and affords a bigger slice of revenue for the city of Fayetteville. The city would receive roughly $24 million from PWC in cash and services.

Payments in lieu of taxes would increase to $12.4 million in cash – more than $1 million a month, she said.

That rounds out to a 4.7% increase for the city.

A second person has been charged in connection with a fatal shooting May 7 on Gordon Way.

Sierra Harper, 22, was shot multiple times and later died at the hospital, Fayetteville police said.

Micaiah Henderson-Palmer, 23, was arrested Wednesday morning, May 25, outside her home on the 600 block of Volunteer Drive, the Fayetteville Police Department said. She is charged with accessory after the fact.

Jaylin Sadiq McLaughlin Jr., 22, of the 3600 block of Pickerel Street, is charged with first-degree murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, the Police Department said.

He was arrested May 10 by members of the U.S. Marshals Service.

Henderson-Palmer was arrested without incident and remains in the Cumberland County Detention Center under a $25,000 secured bond, police said.

She is accused of helping McLaughlin escape detection after the shooting, according to an arrest warrant. Henderson-Palmer knew McLaughlin had been involved in the shooting, picked him up after he left his vehicle and helped him escape detection, according to the warrant.

Harper was found on the afternoon of May 7 when officers responded to reports of a shooting on the 2900 block of Gordon way.

Police have said the homicide was not a random act. Harper and McLaughlin were known to each other, and there was a disturbance prior to the shooting, police said previously.

The case remains under investigation.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to contact Detective M. Waters at 910-635-4978 or Crimestoppers at 910-483-TIPS (8477).

Fort Bragg, home of the airborne, may soon become Fort Liberty if Congress approves the recommendations of the Naming Commission tasked with remaining military installations bearing names of Confederate generals.

The Naming Commission on Tuesday, May 24, held a virtual news conference where it announced the recommended names it will forward to Congress. After Congress approves the names, they will be forwarded to Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, who will have the ultimate authority to rename the installations.

The Naming Commission also recommended new names for eight other Army posts. Fort Bragg is the only one that would not be renamed after a person. Instead, the recommendation is to rename Fort Bragg in honor of the American value of liberty, according to retired Brig. Gen. Ty Seidule, the commission’s vice chairman.

Seidule said he served in the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg and recalled the lyrics of the 82nd Airborne song: “We’re All-American and proud to be, for we’re the soldiers of liberty.”

Fort Bragg is named for Braxton Bragg, a North Carolina native who served as a general in the Confederate Army.

It is home to the airborne and special operations forces and has more than 53,000 troops.

The other eight recommendations call for:
• Fort Benning, Georgia, to become Fort Moore, named after Lt. Gen. Hal and Julia Moore. Hal Moore commanded the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment at the Battle of Ia Drang Valley in 1965 in Vietnam. His wife, Julia, was behind the Army's revamping death notices to family members.
• Fort Gordon, Georgia, to become Fort Eisenhower, named after Dwight Eisenhower, the Army general and president. The U.S. Army medical center at Fort Gordon already bears his name.
• Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia, to become Fort Walker, named after Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, the first female Army surgeon and only woman awarded the Medal of Honor.
• Fort Hood, Texas, to become Fort Cavazos, named after Gen. Richard Cavazos, the first Latino promoted in 1982 to four-star general.
• Fort Lee, Virginia, to become Fort Gregg-Adams, named after Lt. Gen. Arthur Gregg and Lt. Col. Charity Adams, the first African-American female officer in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps.
• Fort Picket, Virginia, to become Fort Barfoot, named after Tech. Sgt. Van T. Barfoot, a WWII Medal of Honor recipient.
• Fort Polk, Louisiana, to become Fort Johnson, named after World War l hero Sgt. William Henry Johnson.
• Fort Rucker, Alabama, to become Fort Novosel, named after Chief Warrant Officer 4 Michael J. Novosel Sr. who received the Medal of Honor for his service as a helicopter rescue pilot during the Vietnam War.

The Naming Commission is also looking at more than 750 Department of Defense assets, including street, school and building names. Other items include Navy vessels, monuments or military items that it deems to commemorate the Confederacy.

Congress last year enacted legislation creating the Naming Commission and gave it the task to rename military installations by 2023.

Austin, who previously commanded units of the 82nd Airborne Division, released a statement saying, "I am pleased to see the Naming Commission's progress as mandated by Congress in the FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act."

“Today’s announcement highlights the commission’s efforts to propose nine new installation names that reflect the courage, values, sacrifices and diversity of our military men and women,” the statement said. “I thank the members of the commission for their important, collaborative work with base commanders, local community leaders, soldiers and military families. And I look forward to seeing their complete report later this year.”

Seidule, who led Tuesday’s virtual news conference, reiterated several times that the commission took into account "local sensitivities" when arriving at a proposed name.

In a release, the commission said it visited the installations last year for listening sessions with military commanders and community leaders to get feedback on the process and to hear preferences for new names.

Seidule said post commanders determined the stakeholders, post and community leaders, and others involved in the renaming process. He said the sessions were not open to the media because the commission wanted "unvarnished opinions" from the participants.

The commission said it received more than 34,000 submissions related to naming activities, including 3,670 unique names of individuals, locations, values and more.

The Naming Commission developed a short-list of potential names for the nine installations before reconnecting with the community groups through virtual listening sessions and gathering more input.

The commission said it met earlier this month and came up with its recommendations.

“This was an exhaustive process that entailed hundreds of hours of research, community engagement and internal deliberations,” retired Navy Adm. Michelle Howard, the chairwoman of the Naming Commission, said in a release. “This recommendation list includes American heroes whose stories deserve to be told and remembered; people who fought and sacrificed greatly on behalf of our nation.”

Assault, domestic violence and vehicle theft cases rose in the first quarter, but homicides and rapes decreased, according to Fayetteville Police Chief Gina Hawkins.

Hawkins presented a report on crime to the City Council on Monday night, May 23, comparing figures for January through March with those from the same period last year.

Hawkins noted that the city has seen a decrease in overall personal and property crimes reported over the past six years.

“The department crime trend is going downward,” she told the City Council during its regular monthly meeting at City Hall. “This is a reminder of where we’re at over the last six years.”

But in the first quarter of 2022, she said, crime is increasing in some areas compared with the first quarter of 2021.

Reports of personal crime increased from 941 in the first quarter of 2021 to 971 in the same period of 2022. Property crime was up from 2,458 reports in 2021 to 2,864 in 2022, according to Hawkins’ presentation.

Felony crimes also were up from 348 reports in 2021 to 357 in 2022.

“We saw a larger increase, especially in January and February, in motor vehicle thefts,” Hawkins said. “We spent a lot of resources doing that.”

Citywide arrests climbed slightly from 1,043 in 2021 to 1,099 in 2022. That’s an increase of 5.4%, according to her figures.

From January through March, the number of homicides dropped from 12 to 11 over the same period a year ago. The number of rapes reported decreased also, from 27 to 19, Hawkins said.

But aggravated assault reports rose 27.6%, from 225 to 287, she said.

Overall, death investigations were up 38.6%, from 101 in 2021 to 140 this year, according to Hawkins.

Domestic violence also saw a big increase, she noted. Though misdemeanors dropped from 23 to 22, felonies doubled from 10 to 20. Overall, domestic violence assaults were up by 27.3%, from a total of 33 to 42.

Drug cases involving cocaine, methamphetamine and fentanyl rose. Police made 28 arrests on drug charges, an increase of 20.

Hawkins said drug dealers are lacing a lot of drugs with fentanyl.

In terms of staffing, the Police Department has 383 officer positions filled, Hawkins said. The department is budgeted for 431 officers.

“We’re up this year in hiring,” Hawkins said. “Up 13 from the previous last year, but down in nonsworn (officers).”

The council voted unanimously to accept the report from Hawkins.

Pictured above: Fayetteville Police Chief Gina Hawkins.