During the coronavirus pandemic, our health concerns — for ourselves and our loved ones — have been at the top of our minds. But financial worries have been there, too, both for people whose employment has been affected and for investors anxious about the volatile financial markets. And one aspect of every individual’s total financial picture has become quite clear — the importance of an emergency fund.

in normal times, it’s a good idea for you to keep three to six months’ worth of living expenses in a liquid, low-risk account. Having an emergency fund available can help you cope with those large, unexpected costs, such as a major car repair or a costly medical bill.

Furthermore, if you have an adequate emergency fund, you won’t have to dip into your long-term investments to pay for short-term needs. These investment vehicles, such as your IRA and 401(k), are designed for your retirement, so the more you can leave them intact, the more assets you’re likely to have when you retire. And because they are intended for your retirement, they typically come with disincentives, including taxes and penalties, if you do tap into them early. (However, as part of the economic stimulus legislation known as the CARES Act, individuals can now take up to $100,000 from their 401(k) plans and IRAs without paying the 10% penalty that typically applies to investors younger than 59½. If you take this type of withdrawal, you have up to three years to pay the taxes and, if you want, replace the funds, beyond the usual caps on annual contributions.

Of course, life is expensive, so it’s not always easy to put away money in a fund that you aren’t going to use for your normal cash flow. That’s why it’s so important to establish a budget and stick to it. When developing such a budget, you may find ways to cut down on your spending, freeing up money that could be used to build your emergency fund.

There are different ways to establish a budget, but they all typically involve identifying your income and expenses and separating your needs and wants. You can find various online budgeting tools to help you get started, but, ultimately, it’s up to you to make your budget work. Nonetheless, you may be pleasantly surprised at how painless it is to follow a budget. For example, if you’ve budgeted a certain amount for food each month, you’ll need to avoid going to the grocery store several times a week, just to pick up “a few things” — because it doesn’t really take that many visits for those few things to add up to hundreds of dollars. You’ll be much better off limiting your trips to the grocery, making a list of the items you’ll need and adhering to these lists. After doing this for a few months, see how much you’ve saved — it may be much more than you’d expect. Besides using these savings to strengthen your emergency fund, you could also deploy them toward longer-term investments designed to help you reach other objectives, such as retirement.

Saving money is always a good idea, and when you use your savings to build an emergency fund, you can help yourself prepare for the unexpected and make progress toward your long-term goals.

You will know someone or will have seen someone that is being exhibited at Gallery 208 in the new exhibit titled “Where the Winds Never Stops: The Hildreth Project.” How is that possible when you have probably never been to Hildreth, Nebraska? The photographer, Shane Booth, in a series of photographs, has captured the essence of part of an iconic Americana. I could go on and on about his extensive professional resume. Still, to understand how a photograph moves from a good photograph to a great photograph, I would like to share insight into his 16-year personal back story.

The portrait photographs in “Where the Winds Never Stops: The Hildreth Project” are of rural white America (it’s Nebraska!), but you can be of any ethnicity and see someone you think you may have met or have seen before … that is the genius of this body of work and has been the artist’s oeuvre for the past 20 years – to capture the essence of something beyond an individual’s identity, instead, the spirit of the many in a single portrait.
In comparison, Cindy Sherman, a historically significant contemporary photographer, has created thousands of photographs of herself, dressed in disguise, to portray an iconic American female “type” that most people, in America, would recognize — a movie star, a homemaker, a sun-burned beachgoer. Booth has done the opposite of Sherman. He has photographed a real individual who evokes the essence of a familiar type.
A powerful incentive to see the exhibit, visitors to Gallery 208 will immediately experience a sense of peacefulness and quietude as you scan the exhibit. Yet, upon closer inspection, some of the out-of-focus elements in the photograph are eerily disconcerting. The experience of calm is not by accident. It is the result of his professional history but also little-known facts about his past.

In 2002, while a graduate student at the Savannah College of Art and Design, Booth found the 1867 camera at an antique store during a visit home to Nebraska. In 2004, he graduated from the Savannah College of Art and Design with an MFA in photography. He began commuting, for a short time, from Savannah, Georgia, to teach “one” art survey class at Fayetteville Community College. Booth eventually moved to Fayetteville, worked several jobs in restaurants and a frame shop to survive. In 2005, he was hired to teach as an adjunct art instructor at Fayetteville State University. He became a full-time art faculty at FSU in 2007.

In 2013, Booth received a North Carolina Arts Council grant to have the 1867 large format camera restored. He has been using it ever since to create bodies of work. Although the camera equipment Booth uses changed, the idea of portraiture and the essence of what it means to portray an individual is not new.

The photographs in “Where the Winds Never Stops: The Hildreth Project” are the direct result of Booth’s knowledge of the art and craft of photography, his experience as an artist and an 1867-barrel lens camera he has restored. But the heart of Booth’s work as a mature artist lingers as a result of his 2004 MFA thesis exhibit. That year, Booth’s MFA thesis dissertation and exhibit focused on social photography; the title of his exhibition was “Pigeonhole.”

For Booth, coming from Nebraska to Savannah, Georgia, he is the first to admit he was a very naïve young man. “Savannah was not like Nebraska. I always felt oddly different. I was naïve about the racism I experienced for the first time, the stereotyping of people — even crime. For the thesis exhibit “Pigeonhole,” I did a series for portraits — combining my love of vintage things with the idea of how people are stereotyped.”

Unknowingly and indirectly, the heart of Booth’s work in this exhibition, and for most of his work since the 2004 MFA thesis, has always been about the essence of what it means to portray an individual. Even when Booth returns home each summer to photograph the Nebraska landscape, his landscapes are about the idea of portraiture and identity — what it means to grow up in rural Nebraska.
When you visit “Where the Winds Never Stops: The Hildreth Project,” you are seeing the work of an artist whose goal is to photograph every person living in Hildreth. When asked why, Booth said, “For five generations my family has called Hildreth, Nebraska, home. I return to the town every summer looking for familiar faces that make up my memories and the heart of this small farming community. As memories fade, people pass on, and younger generations want to live a more updated life, I feel it is important to document the members who remain in this small village. For me, they represent the identity of a group of people that are slowly being lost, a group that is defined by their strong generational connection to (their) environment.”

The exhibit will be up for three months, and the opening reception, to meet the artist and hear the artist talk about his work, was moved until August. Before August, when you visit Gallery 208, here is insight into how Booth can create the essence of the exhibition you will experience and how he interfaces with the subjects to take their portraits. “I wanted to document the spirit of Hildreth through portraiture,” said Booth. “I place the subject in their environment, which usually consists of their barn or home. … I do not direct the subject or pose them in a particular way. I simply allow them to sit in front of the camera and form a relationship with the lens. Sometimes that relationship is an easy one, and at other times it can be a bit anxious looking. Each image has a 10-second development time due to the 1867-barrel lens I use on my 8x10 studio camera. Because of this long exposure, movement and blurring of the subject or background become part of the photograph. In a land where the wind never stops blowing, it is part of their story.”

Booth’s backstory has been shared, but it’s also important to highlight a few of his many achievements. Some of his most recent exhibitions include: “Open Call,” Southeast Center for Photography, Columbia, South Carolina, in 2017; “Bridges: Sharing our Past to Enrich the Future,” Hildegard Center for the Arts, Lincoln, Nebraska, 2017; “Collective Experiences,” Chiang Mai University Art Museum, Chiang Mail Thailand, 2017; “The Abandoned Landscape,” Southeast Center for Photography, Greenville, South Carolina., 2016; and “Looking Glass: Exploring Self Portraiture,” Lubeznik Center for the Arts, Michigan City, Indiana, 2015.

Presentations include but are not limited to: “Catherland Project 1,” Willa Cather Foundation, Red Cloud, Nebraska, 2016; Musikhjalpen Oskarshamn, “HIV,” Sweden, Oskarshamn Sweden, 2014 Society of Photographic Education South East, “Vulnerabilities Groom,” Society of Photographic Education, Greenville, North Carolina, 2014.

Some of the grants he received include the following: “Portraiture with 1867 Camera,” sponsored by Minden Opera House, 2108; “Shane Booth and the Personal Photography of a Life with HIV,” sponsored by Department of State, Federal, $7,000.00, 2018; “Artist in Residence,” sponsored by Willa Cather Foundation, 2016; and “Regional Artists Grant,” Sponsored by United Arts Council (North Carolina Arts Council), 2013.
There will be plenty of social distancing for visitors to “Where the Winds Never Stops: The Hildreth Project at Gallery 208 until August 2020. There will be an opening reception in August. Gallery 208 is located at 208 Rowan St. The gallery hours are 9 a.m.-4 p.m., Monday-Friday. For information call 910- 484-6200.

This time of year, high school football coaches are usually getting ready for a long summer of conditioning workouts with their teams in preparation for the start of official practice in North Carolina on August 1.

But the COVID-19 pandemic and lingering uncertainty over what kind of, if any, football season we’ll have this fall has the Cumberland County Schools senior high school football coaches taking a far more cautious look at what a return to the sport could mean.

None are more circumspect in their feelings about this fall than veteran Pine Forest coach Bill Sochovka. Like all of his fellow coaches, his main concern is the health and safety of his players and coaches. He’d like to wait and see what goes on in states that are opening up practice faster than North Carolina.

“A later date would give us a better understanding,’’ he said, adding he’d prefer to have preseason practice no earlier than July 1.

“People forget that high school sports, particularly football, is a natural petri dish for germs,’’ Sochovka said. “Anytime a kid gets a sniffle or a stomach bug, you’re going to have six or seven kids on the team wind up getting it.’’

Sochovka said the sport of football is already under the microscope for how it handles injuries because of the recent concern for the treatment of players who suffer concussions. “We’ve got to think about kids and safety first,’’ he said. “We’ve got to be smart about it.’’

Another concern is just what kind of football we’ll be playing when the sport first resumes. Jake Thomas, coach at Cape Fear, noted that the preliminary practice guidelines set down by the National Federation of State High School Athletic Associations turn practice into more of a case of strength and conditioning than actual game practice.

“Screening every athlete and coach every time you meet with them seems not financially feasible,’’ Thomas said. “Schools already have limited budgets, and now football games without fans and a band
will financially destroy high school athletics and many schools.’’

Thomas thinks coaches may need to look for pre-determined risk factors like a respiratory condition and possibly not allow at-risk athletes to come out for the team.

“At some point, we have to go back to living life and stop hiding in fear,’’ he said.

Terry Sanford coach Bruce McClelland said his staff has already worked out a rotation of players to limit numbers in the school’s weight room, along with plans to sanitize all areas used by players and team staff.

“There are so many different professional opinions I have listened to — it’s become confusing,’’ he said. “I am honestly hoping we get some good news in the near future from the medical field that will help make this an easier decision.’’

Seventy-First coach Duran McLaurin would love to be practicing, but he’s cognizant of what that could entail. “I’m very concerned with keeping my players safe more than any reward I can think of right now,’’ he said.

Regardless of what happens, the advice given by new E.E. Smith head coach Andy Karcher is likely the wisest. “The biggest takeaway from this is to be patient, keep everything and everyone as clean as possible and don’t take any unnecessary risks,’’ he said.

Twenty-five percent of the patients of the North Carolina State Veterans Home in Fayetteville have been diagnosed with COVID-19, and officials say two residents have died, as of May 26. Cumberland County’s Department of Public Health has confirmed 36 cases at the nursing home for veterans. It is the largest of four veterans homes in North Carolina, with 142 occupants. The State Department of Military and Veterans Affairs contracts with PruittHealth of Norcross, Georgia, to operate the facility located at 214 Cochran Ave. behind the VA Medical Center. A statement on PruittHealth’s website says the facility is in ‘Alert Code Red’ status, meaning visitors and nonessential workers are prohibited from visiting.

“The company has continued to implement enhanced infection control protocols, including increasing cleaning frequency, postponing communal activities, ceasing visitation,” the company said.U.S. News and World Report has rated 15,000 American nursing homes for short-term and long-term care and noted, “North Carolina State Veterans Home in Fayetteville, North Carolina, has a short-term rehabilitation rating of Below Average and a long-term care rating of Average. It is a large facility with 150 beds and has state ownership. Overall Rating: 2 of 5 (Based on data from August 2019 and earlier.)”

Cumberland County High School graduation changes

Cumberland County Schools has updated the local high school graduation schedule after receiving feedback from graduating seniors, parents and principals. Graduating seniors will now be able to receive their diplomas between June 12 and June 19 at their schools. “I’ve heard a consistent message — students are ready to graduate and move forward with their post-secondary plans,” said CCS Superintendent Dr. Marvin Connelly Jr. This revised graduation plan, which was approved by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and the Cumberland County Public Health Director, allows graduating seniors to walk across the stage while family members look on. Graduations will be conducted in shifts with small groups of students and their guests arriving at prescheduled times. Graduates may have a maximum of four guests accompany them. Face masks or face coverings must be worn by all attendees, except children under the age of two. High school principals have shared detailed overviews of their graduation plans with families. The school district will capture students’ photos as they walk across the stage and produce a graduation video for each high school, which will include a message from each principal and senior class president, along with a photo of each graduating senior.

Medical center announces fellowship

Cape Fear Valley Health System and Campbell University have received accreditation to launch a fellowship training program in cardiovascular disease at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center. This is Cape Fear Valley Health’s s first fellowship program. The three-year cardiology fellowship will begin in July. “This is another proud moment in the health system’s history,” said Michael Nagowski, chief executive officer for the Cape Fear Valley Health system. “Cape Fear Valley Medical Center has been nationally recognized by IBM Watson Health as a Top 50 Cardiovascular Hospital for 2018 and by Healthgrades as one of America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Cardiac Care and Coronary Intervention
in 2019.”

Amol Bahekar, M.D., of Fayetteville Heart Center, has been named the fellowship program director. The fellowship program will enroll three physician residents per year, up to nine residents. Residents must complete three-year internal medicine residencies before enrollment. Now in its third-year, Cape Fear Valley Health’s physician residency program has grown to include 134 physician residents training in psychiatry, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, general surgery and emergency medicine, as well as a transitional rotating internship. The program’s goal is to address the growing physician shortage in rural North Carolina.

Obtain a library book at the curb

The Cumberland County Public Library is introducing contactless curbside pickup at all eight library branches. Curbside pickup is now available Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., by appointment only. You can place orders through the library catalog or by calling 910-483-7727. Each library branch will have curbside orders bagged and ready for pickup at scheduled times.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has required county staff to create innovative ways to continue delivering the exceptional services that Cumberland residents are accustomed to,” said library director Jody
Risacher.

Library patrons will go to the main entrance, show their library card or ID through the glass door and then step back 10 feet. A staff member will open the door and place the curbside order on a table at the entrance. Once the door closes, the customer is free to pick up the order. Staff will follow established procedures for returned items. A 72-hour quarantine of returned books is the safest and most effective way to disinfect them. The use of liquid disinfectants is harmful to the books and is not recommended.

Eagle Feather graduation honors

Cumberland County Schools Office of Indian Education has announced that 68 graduating American Indian seniors will be honored during a unique drive-thru Eagle Feather Ceremony on Wednesday, June 17, from 8 a.m.-noon, or Thursday, June 18, from noon-3 p.m., in the parking lot of the Educational Resource Center, at 396 Elementary Dr. in Fayetteville. Each senior will receive an eagle feather in a keepsake box. According to the Office of Indian Education, the feather symbolizes trust, honor, strength, wisdom, power and freedom and is revered as a sign of high honor. In Native American culture, it is believed that all things possess an inherent virtue, power and wisdom. The feather, for example, is a powerful symbol that signifies honor and a connection between the owner, the creator and the bird from which the feather came. For additional information about the Eagle Feather Ceremony, email Indian Education Coordinator Rodney Jackson at rodneyjackson@ccs.k12.nc.us.

My heart hurt with the sad news the Fayetteville Technical Community College’s Early Childhood Education Center has permanently shuttered its doors. The loss of a 5-star day care center in a young community that needs more, not fewer, of them negatively impacts families, employees and the community at large. FTCC’s Board decided it could no longer underwrite the Center’s financial losses, especially since the pandemic forced the center to shut down more than two months ago. That left a business model with little income and ongoing expenses. Since 1996, the Center provided both high-quality daycare services and a hands-on learning laboratory for students in FTCC’s Early Childhood Education program.

On top of 100,000+ human deaths, COVID-19 is killing U.S. industries that depend on customers who show up faithfully day after day and pay to do so. Daycare is the very definition of such an industry. Working parents depend on daycare, but it is a two-way street. When COVID-19 forced closure of schools and most daycare facilities to slow the spread of the virus, the two-way street shut down. Like the FTCC center, many of those daycare businesses will not return, making high-quality daycare an even more precious commodity.

Underlying the daycare problem in the United States is that we are so two-faced about it. We profess that daycare, especially for preschool children, is essential, and then we walk away.

Daycare is indeed essential to the modern American workplace, but we do not put our money where our mouths are. We tell each other that early childhood education is important on two critical fronts — allowing parents to provide for their families and, with luck, continue upward mobility and preventing educational disparities. High falutin’ talk aside, we put next to no public investment into daycare, relegating the industry to small businesses that are at the head of the failure line when disaster, such as COVID-19, strikes. Most day cares lack financial resources to stay afloat in hard times.

Public schools, where, by far most American children head when they are old enough, are different in one critical way. Public schools, like other essential services such as law enforcement and fire protection, receive public funding. Their teachers, staffs and operations are paid with public dollars.

When disaster strikes, public schools will pick up where they left off when it is safe to do so, while daycare centers can only hang on as best they can for as long as they can. Some economic forecasts project that COVID-19 will cost the United States about half of our daycare capacity. The question then becomes whether daycare be available when parents are ready and can afford to put their precious kiddos back into day care so our American economy can get going again. The New York Times reports about 76% of mothers of children under six work full time, and 96% of their fathers do. Those percentages constitute big numbers, and marshaling the skills of those potential workers is critical to our nation’s economic recovery.

The list of troubled and needy industries suffering from the pandemic is long, and many hands are out for public support. The time has arrived for Americans not only to talk the talk but to figure out how to walk the walk when it comes to day care as support a humming economy.
Either it is essential, or it isn’t.

During the current Corona Cooties crisis, it’s time we all began to think seriously about the kind of world we want to leave behind for Keith Richards. No one, no civilization, lasts forever, with the only exception being Mr. Richards. Able to survive years of curious multiple-substances ingestion, able to fall from a coconut tree on his head without permanent damage, longer-lasting than a Twinkie or a cockroach, the unsinkable Mr. Richards goes on and on into the future. Once America is gone, once we are all gone, what kind of legacy will we bequeath to Mr. Richards? It is a question made even more timely with the two-week interval between America’s coming out party on Memorial Day and the surge of Corona, which is sure to follow.

I got to thinking about Mr. Richards when I realized that this column would disgrace the annals of journalism by appearing the week of June 3, which, coincidentally, is the anniversary of the Rolling Stones’ first American tour in 1964. Climb into Mr. Peabody’s Time Machine to go back to June 5, 1964, in San Bernadino, California, where the group had its first American concert. The Stones’ song setlist began with “Not Fade Away,” included “Route 66,” “Walking the Dog,” and finished up with “I’m Alright.” The Stones were billed by the radio station sponsoring the concert as “the ugliest band in England.” The Stones opening acts on that tour included Bobby Goldsboro, George Jones and Bobby Vee.

The combination of the Rolling Stones and Bobby Goldsboro playing the same gig boggles the mind. Bobby went on in 1968 to write “Honey,” possibly the worst song of all time. Bobby’s song mourns his lost love, a gal named Honey, who cried over movies and wrecked his car. The immortal lyrics include: “See the tree how big it’s grown/ But friend it hasn’t been too long, it wasn’t big/ I laughed at her, and she got mad/ The first day that she planted, it was just a twig … She was always young at heart/ Kinda dumb and kinda smart, and I loved her so/ (Honey then gets called home by the angels) … And now my life’s an empty stage/ Where Honey lived, and Honey played and love grew up/ A small cloud passes overhead/ And cries down on the flower bed that Honey loved/.” Gentle Reader, if you can hum these lyrics from memory and not throw up a little bit in your mouth, you are a better person than I.

The bizarre combination of the Stones and Bobby Goldsboro might only come close to being matched by a Janis Joplin concert in Chapel Hill that I attended in Carmichael Auditorium in February 1969. This concert paired Janis with the opening act of Gene Barber and the Cavaliers. Janis was wild and crazy San Francisco rock; Gene and the Cavaliers were pure beach music. The crowd was not there to hear beach music. Gene was not well received. It reminded me of the scene in the Blues Brother’s movie where the boys are playing “Rawhide” at Bob’s Country Bunker red neck bar behind a chicken wire fence dodging thrown beer bottles. Gene did not get to finish his set. Cooler heads prevailed. He was hustled off the stage before he came to bodily harm from the fans who had not come to shag to beach music.

Speaking of strange stage fellows, another odd coupling of bands that nearly rivals Bobby and the Rolling Stones was when the Jimi Hendrix Experience was the opening act for The Monkees in July 1967. Imagine a time when “Pleasant Valley Sunday” and “The Last Train to Clarksville” took precedence over “Purple Haze” and “The Wind Cries Mary.” You cannot make this stuff up.

Odd combinations are not limited to the world of Rock & Roll. In an episode of “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” Larry David has a sandwich named after him at his favorite delicatessen. The Larry David sandwich is a temptingly hideous combination of whitefish salad, smoked black codfish, onions, cream cheese and capers. Larry is greatly offended by the contents of the sandwich and tries to switch sandwich names with Ted Danson. If this plot sounds too involved or trivial to be concerned about, you are probably right. Not every sandwich can be a gem. Larry’s dismay with his namesake sandwich is what is known as a First World Problem.

But what does all this have to do with Keith Richards and the Rolling Stones’ first American concert? Not much. But lest we forget, 1964 is a long time ago. Fifty-six years to be exact. Keith was alive then. He’s alive now. He will be alive long after we are all gone. So, if you were expecting some sort of coherent point to this column, remember — you can’t always get what you want. Time may not be on our side, but it certainly is for Keith. If life offers you a Larry David sandwich, don’t eat it. Paint it black. It’s an election year, be sure to get your fair share of abuse.

Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday, who could hang a coconut on you? See you in two weeks if the Cooties don’t get us first.

Pictured: Keith Richards
Photo credit: Siebbi / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)

Westover High School’s Madison Pompey has been named the Region 4 winner of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s Willie Bradshaw Memorial Endowed Scholarship.

The scholarship, which is worth $750, is presented to winners from each of the state’s eight geographic regions, with two statewide winners getting an additional scholarship of $1,000.

The winners are chosen from outstanding minority nominees for the award, which is named for Bradshaw, a Durham native who was a star athlete at Hillside High School and a longtime coach and athletic administrator. He is a member of both the North Carolina High School Athletic Association and National High School Halls of Fame.

Pompey competed in both cross country and track and field during all four years she was a student at Westover. She was a team captain her junior and senior years and earned second team all-conference, lettering in both sports.

She also received the Distance Award and the Coach’s Award.
She is active in her church as a member of the youth group and a participant with the church’s liturgical dance team.

Pompey volunteers both at her church and with local civic organizations. She plans to pursue a degree in forensic science.

America has no shortage of heroes to honor. We remember those who were killed on battlefields, but we should also reflect on those who lost their lives and are remembered as “others.” Even during peace time, helicopters crash, training exercises at times go awry and auto accidents occur. And, what about the family members, comrades and friends who remain?

In the war against coronavirus, health care workers and first responders are the infantry. Doctors, nurses, EMTs, police officers and firefighters risk their lives by simply showing up for work. A significant number of military veterans enter second careers as first responders. Many heroes have been killed in battle, while others died in civilian life because they tried to help others.

Henry Black is a retired Marine Corps major who lost a loved one in war. His son, Army Green Beret Staff Sgt. Bryan Black, was one of the four fallen U.S. soldiers killed during an Oct. 4, 2017, firefight in Niger by militants aligned with the Islamic State. Black lives in Washington state with his wife, a surviving son, daughters-in-law and four grandchildren. He recently penned an op-ed commentary for the Military Times and gave Up and Coming Weekly permission to reprint his remarks:

“I admonish those that now lead our military, who are responsible for the well-being of our sons and daughters to honor the memory of those we have lost by supporting and protecting those who remain with every resource available,” he wrote, adding “never place primary blame for negative events on your subordinates, but realize that if a subordinate unit fails, it is your failure, also. Do not exonerate yourself for missions that go awry. Don’t look for fault only in your subordinates, look for faults in yourselves, also.”

Black continued “I also remember the teammates of those lost, who were with the lost as they gave their last full measure of devotion, and who now may carry scars from what and who they lost. I am grateful for them, and ask them not to carry grief or guilt, but to live lives that honor the memories of lost friends and teammates. Black added, “… do not look simply to assign blame, for mistakes will inevitably be made, but to learn what can be improved. Do this, and everything else in your power, so that your, and our, soldiers, airmen, sailors, Marines and Coast Guardsmen can be part of the living... and not join those whom we remember and honor for their last full measure of devotion.”

The month of May is Military Appreciation Month as designated by Congress in 1999. Although the entire month is designated to honoring past and present military members and their families, there are several military holidays sprinkled throughout the month, in addition to Memorial Day. They include Loyalty Day, VE Day, Military Spouse Appreciation Day, Mother’s Day and Armed Forces Day.

Bill,

As I read your (May 13) editorial I keep saying AMEN! You hit the nail on the head. At my age (76) it is difficult to realize that our freedoms are slowly — maybe rapidly — being taken away from us. Your opinion piece should be read by everyone. Put your piece together with the article by Karl Merritt and we have all we need to know about the path this country is taking. AMEN! AMEN! to both of you.

Thank you for your work at Up & Coming Weekly.

—Myra Parker
(Mrs. Weeks Parker)

***********************************************************************

I was stuck in traffic on McPherson Church Road at 5 p.m. Saturday. When I finally reached the intersection, I saw that the police were protecting a line of people holding signs — that was a peaceful
assembly.

Three hours later I heard on the radio about smoke and a man on fire at the Market House — that was not peaceful. Six hours later, I learned of looting and broken glass at Walmart on Skibo and
JC Penney at the Mall — that is a mob.

What happened, dear Fayettevillians? We are not Baltimore, we are not Los Angeles, we are not Minneapolis. I have lived half my life here and have embraced the city’s 230+ year history. We are black and white and brown and yellow. We are biracial, interracial, multi-ethnic. We are not Bosnia or Serbia or Croatia, where neighbors fought neighbors. We are not an underdeveloped country, although the COVID crisis almost reduced our day-to-day economy as such with toilet paper lines instead of bread lines. We are the center of the military universe and about to celebrate the 2020 graduation of our high school and college students. Is anarchy their future instead of law and order and respect for oneself and others?

My heart broke when I visited the Market House Sunday. Priceless Lafayette exhibits on the second floor were taken and now stolen from the children of this county. To see boarded up windows and doors on both sides of Hay Street was awful. These are small-business owners. A hurricane did not cause this; reckless action did.

My thoughts Sunday at midnight were where was the city’s leadership, telling the crowds: “OK, time to go home. Do not destroy your town; do not destroy our town.”

Why did the police stand down, be it at Walmart or the Market House? Was it to prevent confrontation, prevent escalation of a planned tense situation? A witness told me Sunday that cars were parked zigzag on Hay Street while their drivers were ransacking the area; that sounds like a calculated maneuver. Other Skibo Road witnesses told me of the 2 a.m. swarm of cars and people running in and out of Walmart as well as J.C. Penney’s with merchandise, egged on by others on their cell phones. With all the store cameras and the bragging Facebook posts, will the police be serving warrants soon?

Perhaps the beloved educator, Dr. E.E. Smith, can return and calm the waters. He lived in a time when the racial wounds were more fresh (1852-1933). Yet, he worked well with others to achieve his education and ministry, build up Fayetteville State University, start the first black-owned newspaper in North Carolina and represent the U.S.. overseas. Every Fayetteville child should know about him and Lafayette; mob rule should not be their model.
We cannot be going backward.

— Linda McAlister

Community Notes

Update: Republican headquarters across the state are temporarily closed. The June 13 event will still take place. 

• 2810 Bragg Blvd. will be the 2020 Headquarters for the Cumberland County Republican Party. Educational material, voter information and precinct maps will be on display. Campaign literature, and candidate signs will be available soon. The current shelter-in- place lockdown has delayed distribution of signs.

County Chairman Jackie Taylor and her Board of Officers will be hosting an outdoor Grand Opening with Ribbon-Cutting and special guests on June 13 in the parking lot. There will be a guest speaker, Mark Robinson, candidate for Lt. Governor. More details to be announced. In the meantime, doors will be open Monday through Saturday  12 p.m. to 4 p.m. as of June 1. For more information, contact jackieleetaylor41@gmail.com or call the Headquarters at 910-339-2011.

• St. Ann RC Church in Fayetteville is hosting a Blood Drive, Saturday, June 13, from 9 a.m.-noon at 357 N. Cool Spring St. The Cape Fear Valley Blood Donor Center is providing two Blood Mobiles to facilitate the collection of blood.
The Blood Mobiles can accommodate five donors every fifteen minutes. Average time it takes to donate is approximately
30 minutes.

There is an urgent need for O-negative blood.

As I write this editorial, no doubt city officials have already met to “circle the wagons” to come forth this week disseminating a consistent and coherent message, as they pat themselves on the back, proclaiming to the public what a great job they did in managing the protest, riots and unrest that took place over the weekend. Many will certainly disagree. I sit here Sunday evening with a heavy heart at the devastation and violence and destruction that has been perpetrated on our community in the name of George Floyd. His death was a travesty; however, to loot, steal, burn and pillage personal property in his name is beyond reprehensible. Fayetteville, North Carolina, our hometown, was transformed into a criminal flashpoint — as were about 30 other cities across the country.

In Fayetteville, our leadership really blew it on multiple fronts. I have written several times about the lack of vision, talent and leadership in our community. The horrifying events of last weekend only confirm this. As I watched the carnage taking place on Hay Street and across our community, my only thoughts were: Where is the mayor? Where are the police? Where is the Fire Department? Where are our community and government leaders, and why are they not present?

It is incomprehensible and unacceptable that in the city of Fayetteville and county of Cumberland, where we have people of color in the most trusted, prominent and vital positions of leadership — the mayor, city manager, city attorney, seven out of nine City Council members, the police chief, fire chief, Cumberland County Sheriff, Cumberland County Schools superintendent and three Cumberland County Commissioners — that no one stepped up to even try to address the protesters and calm the crowd for the safety and welfare of the community. Where were all the black pastors and clergy from the dozens of African American churches in the community? Where were all these encouraging voices of love, fellowship, compassion and reason? The good reverend, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., must be turning in his grave after witnessing the criminal acts being invoked in his name.

The leadership capacity of City Hall is meant to serve and protect Fayetteville citizens. These duties are not just reserved for law enforcement. Here, the mayor and all of the City Hall departments were derelict in their duties. Not just because our leaders were unsuccessful in their efforts — but because they didn’t even try! They were complicit to the carnage and must be held accountable.

Saturday night in downtown Fayetteville was a horrid spectacle. It was made worse by the fact that no effort was made to protect the citizens, personal property, city property or the businesses that employ hundreds of residents and have been the lifeblood of the downtown revitalization effort — the very economic revitalization that our leadership supposedly has been advocating for and the taxpayers have been generously paying for. Yet, they collectively acquiesced and sat back and did nothing.

Fayetteville and Cumberland County leaders need to rethink the vision for our future and how they are going to get us there. A good friend told me something that rang so true: “In every case,” he said, “friction eventually destroys.” He is right — car engines, marriage conflicts, employee relations, personal and business relationships — friction eventually destroys any opportunity for progress or resolution.

Our community will never be all it can be with leadership that is so self-absorbed in unilateral racial motives. This protest and rioting situation have exposed the ugly but inevitable truth that race alone doesn’t make a person a leader, nor does it make someone smart. And it definitely doesn’t keep a person from being an opportunist — especially when they yield to protest organizers and allow them and their disciples to become the pied pipers of destruction, looting and criminal intent. 

Fayetteville and Cumberland County are at a crossroads. Real leadership is the only thing that can save this community. Who will step up? More importantly, who should step down?

Thank you for reading Up & Coming Weekly.

There’s one major advantage to being involved in the recreation business at the time of something like the current pandemic.

At least that’s the opinion of Maxey Dove, assistant director of the Hope Mills Parks and Recreation Department.

“It’s one of the bigger fields for leaning on your neighbor,’’ said Dove, who has been doing a lot of that lately. He’s reached out to fellow recreation personnel from programs around the area that Hope Mills competes against, feeling them out for ideas and suggestions on what they are doing during this situation.

“There’s a lot of networking, a lot of communication in parks and recreation that’s beneficial to everybody,’’ Dove said. The problem is there’s also one consistent thing he’s been hearing when talking to his counterparts.
“It’s certainly unprecedented times and unprecedented circumstances,’’ Dove said. “Everybody is kind of learning together.’’

Hope Mills has already been faced with one difficult decision, the cancellation of its entire spring sports program that normally would have stretched well into the summer months.

Sports wiped off the spring calendar include indoor soccer, baseball, softball and wrestling.

Dove and his staff are in the process of refunding registration fees that had already been paid and said it will take roughly three to four weeks to get checks written and returned to everyone who signed up.

The Dixie Youth organization, with which Hope Mills is affiliated, also canceled its annual World Series, but Dove said that was done with good intentions.

In a normal year, teams compete first in the regular season then select an all-star team from their local league to advance into state competition in hopes of reaching the Dixie Youth World Series.

By eliminating the World Series, the Dixie Youth officials hoped to encourage local leagues to play as long a regular season as they could, if they were playing, and not cram a short season together just so they could put an all-star team on the field for the World Series and only allow a handful of players the chance for extended competition.

“It wasn’t just about the select 12,’’ Dove said of the all-star teams.
While Hope Mills is shut down for the spring, Dove said other states are further ahead in opening up their recreation programs for play and some are already on the field for baseball.

However, in talking with officials from other states where baseball is taking place, he said they are observing strict safety precautions that are making the game a lot different from what we normally see.

For example, players aren’t allowed to sit in the dugouts when they’re not on the field. Yellow ribbons are placed along the fence six feet apart to indicate proper social distancing. Each team has its own baseballs and they are bleached every inning or half inning.

Dove said he and his staff at Hope Mills had also discussed some possible precautions they may take if baseball resumes in the fall league at Hope Mills this year.

The fall league is a noncompetitive league for players ages 7-12 designed as a developmental program that doesn’t focus on wins and losses but on getting the players ready for the following spring season.

Dove said some of the ideas discussed are having teams leave the field completely after practice before allowing another team on the field, and possibly having separate entrance and exit gates to the field.

They also discussed counting spectators, and possibly limiting each player to having only a single parent able to come and watch the game. Providing hand sanitizer and disinfecting the dugouts was also considered.

Dove said other states have been trying different things to keep the games as safe as possible. Among them are not allowing players to steal, no high fives between players and coaches and putting the home plate umpire behind the pitcher’s mound to call balls and strikes.

“At a certain point, it’s still a contact sport,’’ Dove said. “They’re doing everything they can to create distance.’’

The next sports season on the calendar is fall, and Hope Mills is trying to take a positive attitude toward being able to compete then and plans to launch fall sports registration in the near future.

The good news is the recreation department has been working toward doing registration online and that will be in place for the fall season, so people won’t have to physically come to the recreation center to sign their children up for competition.

In addition to getting ready for the fall season, the recreation department is making needed repairs and improvements to the Gary Dove Memorial Building at Brower Park. The multipurpose structure was named last April in memory of Maxey Dove’s father. Gary Dove was a long-time coach and leader in the Hope Mills youth sports program.

A new roof and gutters will be placed on the building, along with repairs to the building’s sheet rock. In addition, some of the upstairs space where the Hope Mills Youth Association used to meet will be converted to office space for Dove.

The two-story structure already has a concession stand, restrooms for men and women and a multipurpose activity room used for cheerleading and wrestling.

Few people are better qualified to talk about the current state of high school athletics in North Carolina than Rick Strunk. Strunk joined the staff at the North Carolina High School Athletic Association in 1985 and spent 30 years there before stepping down in 2015.

During his early years with the NCHSAA, Strunk had a conversation with longtime NCHSAA leader Charlie Adams about what events could disrupt high school sports on a statewide scale.

Adams told Strunk one thing would be a major war that could put restrictions on travel.

The second thing Adams said was an epidemic.

Strunk said during his time with the NCHSAA, they did have to deal with a situation like that, but it was nothing on the scale of the current COVID-19 pandemic.

“There was a measles outbreak,’’ Strunk said, adding that it was confined to one area of the state. “School systems went under quarantine for a limited period of time to try and track down the source of the measles.’’

Schools in that area developed a workaround, redoing their athletic schedules and playing games against schools that weren’t under quarantine, then once the quarantine was lifted, making up all the postponed games against the schools that were in lockdown.

He thinks the NCHSAA has done the best job possible trying to make decisions within the framework of the restrictions that have been set down in North Carolina to curb the spread of the pandemic, and he thinks coaches, athletes, parents and fans need to understand that the NCHSAA lacks the freedom to make plans for the future at will.

“When the governor says something is going to happen on this date, you can’t make your own decision to run counter to that,’’ he said. “Health and safety of the participants is paramount. That is what North Carolina has focused on.’’

Strunk said he has stayed in contact with members of the NCHSAA staff during the pandemic, and hopes the public appreciates this has been a painful process for them. “They know the value of high school sports and that kids want to play,’’ he said. “I really feel bad for seniors who didn’t have a season in the spring because it was stopped so early.’’

At the same time, he had nothing but praise for how school systems and coaches are still reaching out to support both students and athletes.
“Schools have had to pivot quickly,’’ he said. “Without much run-up they had to put classes online.’’

He said coaches have had to design strength conditioning programs for homebound athletes who don’t have access to gyms or weights.

In the face of everything, Strunk is trying to be optimistic and hopeful that by this fall, some degree of normalcy will return and coaches and athletes will be back on the field.
“First is the decision about school,’’ he said. “That will drive a lot of things.’’

He’s also concerned about if fans will feel safe going to games and if small businesses will be able to provide financial support to local teams after being closed.

Instead of a light switch, Strunk thinks the return to sports will be more like a dimmer switch. “The safety of the public, the athletes, the coaches, the fans, all of those are the prime directive in this case,’’ he said.

Cumberland County’s newest Biscuitville fast-food restaurant is all dressed up and ready for opening day in Hope Mills.

The only question is exactly when that will be.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the opening date for the restaurant at the intersection of Hope Mills Road and George Owen Road is generically scheduled for summer, but officials at the business’s restaurant support center in Greensboro can’t offer any more specific information on the opening than that.

Alon Vanterpool is the marketing manager for Biscuitville, which is primarily a North Carolina business with locations largely located in the Triad area of Winston-Salem, Greensboro and High Point, along with some in Virginia.

Vanterpool said Biscuitville has expanded into the Triangle area of Raleigh and Durham and is also growing in Fayetteville as the addition of the Hope Mills restaurant indicates.

Construction of the Hope Mills location was well underway when concerns about the pandemic reaching the United States started to grow.

Vanterpool said Biscuitville officials quickly realized plans for moving forward with the opening of the restaurant would be heavily influenced by following state guidelines put in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Biscuitville does have other restaurants already open in the Fayetteville area that are currently serving drive-through customers only.

The first step to get the new Hope Mills location up and running will be completing the hiring of a manager for the store along with the staff.

Vanterpool said Biscuitville typically begins the search for the top staff positions about six months before opening then hires the members of the restaurant crew four to six weeks before opening.

As of mid-May, the Hope Mills location is still looking for a manager/operator, with plans to hire approximately 40 people to work on the restaurant crew.
Vanterpool said open positions on the restaurant crew can be found at www.biscuitville.com/careers.

She isn’t sure what the status of filling any of the crew positions is at this time, but she knows the hiring of crew members was on Biscuitville’s radar before the pandemic struck.

“As soon as we get the go-ahead, we’ll be going full speed ahead,’’ Vanterpool said.

Visit the company’s website at www.biscuitville.com for any general questions about Biscuitville or the new Hope Mills location.

I say “no” a lot, especially to my toddler.

“No, don’t do that!” “No, that’s not kind.” “No, don’t touch that!” “No, don’t put that in your mouth!” “No, no, no!” So many nos have to be said for a 2 year old to learn how to do life well. But do they all need to be said?

I’ve caught myself over and over again saying no to things he wants that inconvenience me. He is full of curiosity and wonder, and I catch myself saying no to his adventures, even when there’s no good reason not to other than it makes more work for me.

“No, you can’t jump in puddles today. You’ll get dirty.” “No, you can’t get that out. I just vacuumed.” “No, that’s too loud!” “No, you can’t help me. It’s faster if I do it myself.”

“No, no, no!”

Parents with young kids, do you find yourself doing that too? Why do we say no when, yeah, it might take some extra cleaning up, hosing off, or time out of the day, but we could say yes and have some of the best memories with our kids? Why do I say no? Because its not good for him or because it's not fun for me?

I want to say yes, way more than I say no. I’m not saying give the child everything he wants at the drop of a hat, but take note of the things I’m saying “no” to just out of pure inconvenience for me. If I don’t, I’ll be robbing him of a childhood of exploration, contentment in the little things, imagination and discovery. I want him to know he’s capable, fun and smart. If he never gets to find out for himself, how will he ever know?

Proverbs 22:6 holds this age-old truth: “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” This definitely applies to training children in the ways of the Lord, but I think it applies here as well. What he learns now will serve him when he’s older. Hopefully, if I cultivate an adventurous heart in him, one that loves to learn, experience, imagine and discover, he’ll take that with him all the way through adulthood. Maybe he’ll teach it to his children one day. If I’m consistent, he’ll learn it, too. If I’m negative and self-centered, catering to my own convenience, he’ll learn it, too. But, if I seek out the needs of others, if I create experiences for him that he’ll never forget, if I let him show me what interests him, he’ll learn to do that for others, too.

So, here’s to saying yes:

“Yes, son! We’ve got nowhere to go today. Of course you can jump in puddles.”

“Yes, bud! Hop up on this chair and stir for me! I’d love your help!”

“Sure! I’ll play with you!”

And maybe, just maybe, by saying yes, I’ll come up with more adventures on my own, too.

Medal of Honor recipient and retired Special Forces medic Staff Sgt. Ronald J. Shurer died earlier this month. The U.S. Secret Service, for whom Shurer worked since retiring from the Army in 2009, announced his death. “Today, we lost an American Hero: Husband, father, son and Medal of Honor recipient, Special Agent Ronald J. Shurer II,” the Secret Service said.

Shurer, 41, was undergoing treatment for lung cancer at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, D.C.

The day before he died, he said that he would soon be taken off a ventilator, an often difficult and sometimes dangerous medical procedure. “Very upset to write this... been unconscious for a week. They are going to try and take it out in a couple of hours, they can’t tell me if it will work,” Shurer wrote in an Instagram post from his hospital bed, pictured with his wife, Miranda.

Shurer was awarded the Medal of Honor in October 2018 for his actions as a Green Beret medic with Fort Bragg’s 3rd Special Forces Group during the Battle of Shok Valley in northeastern Afghanistan a decade earlier.

“Ron was the embodiment of the Special Forces soldier, a dedicated husband and a loving father,” said 3rd Group commander Col. Nathan Prussian. “His heroic actions were an inspiration throughout 3rd Special Forces Group, Special Forces Regiment and the U.S. Army.”

On April 6, 2008, a 12-man Green Beret team from Operational Detachment-Alpha 3336 were on a mission to kill a leader of the Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin insurgent group. The Green Berets and about 100 Afghan commandos were dropped from hovering helicopters because the icy mountainside was too steep to land on.

The assault force faced scaling a 100-foot cliff to reach the enemy compound. But within minutes, heavy machine-gun fire and rockets rained down from enemy positions above. Shurer, then a senior medical sergeant, began to help wounded Afghan commandos. Capt. Kyle Walton, the operation’s ground commander, radioed Shurer to advance up the slope as casualties mounted. Shurer scaled the mountainside under fire. “We were pinned down with nearly nowhere to go,” Walton said.

While treating the wounded, Shurer was hit twice — once in the arm and once by a stunning round to his helmet. Dillon Behr, one of the Green Beret soldiers who was critically wounded, credited Shurer for his survival. “Without Ron Shurer at my side, I would have died that day.”

Shurer, a long time Fayetteville resident, last lived in suburban Washington, D.C. He regularly attended events there and in Fayetteville to help raise funds for the Special Forces Charitable Trust, a charity that supports families of Green Berets.

Shurer’s Medal of Honor was an upgrade from an earlier Silver Star Medal he received for his actions during the gunbattle in Afghanistan. A Pentagon review determined his actions warranted the nation’s highest award for valor. The Green Berets honored for their heroism represented the largest set of citations for a single battle since the Vietnam War. After the citations were read, the then-commander of Fort Bragg’s Special Operations Command, Lt. Gen. John F. Mulholland, Jr., stated, “There is no finer fighting man on the face of the earth than the American soldier. And there is no finer American soldier than our Green Berets. If you saw what you heard today in a movie, you would shake your head and say, that didn’t happen, but it does, every day.”

Numbers and statistics can be misleading. This week, our publisher, Bill Bowman, yields his space to Jimmy Jones for a more skeptical look at the statistics in the age of COVID-19.

In the last few weeks, we have heard a lot about how our government officials are “following the data” and “following the science.” Here is the problem. I do not believe the majority of people trust their data or their science. I think we have a difficulty understanding what is factual and what is theoretical, and we are letting it confuse our decision-making processes.

When the United States of America bombed Japan in World War II, it killed and wounded an estimated quarter of a million people, and the world entered the nuclear age and an atomic race. I grew up in the ‘60s. In the first grade, we watched films about what to do during a nuclear explosion. The film would tell us, “don’t look at the blast,” “hide under your desk” and “duck and cover.” I now realize that this was a theoretical test of the American population. Now I know that the shockwaves would bust my eardrums and lungs, and the thermal radiation would melt my skin. Somehow, the government knew this and convinced its citizens that this was factual. Educators across the country showed us this movie, and we practiced hiding under our wooden desk — and no one questioned it.

Last year, hurricane Dorian came. We watched as officials, scientists, meteorologists and that guy from the Weather Channel tell us that Fayetteville was in the path of a Category IV storm. Factually, the storm did come. Theoretically, it could have hit land as a Category IV and come to Fayetteville. Factually, it hit near Jacksonville with tropical-storm-force winds. These predictions are not done blindly but with thousands of sensors, satellites and Air Force C-130 airplanes flying into the storm. There are so many factors that you cannot accurately predict the course of nature. Often, we take theoretical information and try to make factual predictions, usually to save lives.
As we hear the “breaking news” on the coronavirus showing us the data, people are starting to discover that the data does not seem to make sense. If you have had the coronavirus or lost someone from this, I am not discounting your pain, grief or loss.

Nature is running a course, and we cannot see it. There are only four factors that we all have to understand. We will get the virus, or we will not. If we do get it, we will live or die.

Every day the news flashes with the numbers of COVID-19 cases, the number of new cases and the number of deaths. These numbers mean nothing because they cannot be collated because not everyone has been tested nor are there enough tests. To make it useful, the entire population would have to be tested at the exact same moment while separated six-feet apart. Then we would need to check everyone across the world for a two-week period. We might then get an accurate count. Many deaths of high-risk people — those who were already in jeopardy of dying from some other health issue — are often included in the COVID-19 statistics, but that is not reported. I don’t know if these numbers are continually being blasted to us because the government and media think we are stupid or because we are dumb enough not to understand.

The chance of getting hit by lightning is one in a million. In 2017, the U.S. population was 327 million. That year, 2.7 million died. That is about 0.8% of the population. Thus far, there have been 90,694 deaths due to COVID-19 in the U.S. That is one in 3,605 people or 0.027% of the people that die each year in the U.S. In North Carolina, as of 2018, there were about 10.4 million people in the state. Last week, there were 695 deaths in North Carolina contributed to COVID-19. That is one in 14,694 people or 0.0066% of the population that have died in the state. Sadly, as we move forward, these numbers will get worse.

The number of cases that the government report on COVID-19 does not report how many people are contagious at a time. That is a number we could use to make educated decisions. Symptomatically, this is hard to diagnose because the list of symptoms continues to grow. It is hard to tell if someone has COVID-19, the flu or allergies without a test. We use to look at someone who sneezed and say, “God bless you.” Now, we may say, “God bless you,” but we are thinking, “Run!” “Don’t get me sick,” and, “I hope you don’t die.”

Social distancing is not going to work. This is the same as having to hide under your desk in a nuclear explosion because we are a community of people. We are social beings. From birth to death and in between, we long to be in touch and interact with people. In my opinion, I do not want the government to tell me what to do, where to go and who I can see in a free society. I prefer our leaders to recommend, “stay safer at home,” but the king of our state ordered us to “stay at home, close our businesses and wreck our economy while bureaucrats pick who can do what in the name of social distancing. No person or representative in a free society should ever have this kind of power over the people.They are elected to represent us, no matter the circumstances. These people either do not understand the Constitution, or maybe they just decided to run rampant over it to protect their kingdom.

Looking at the blame game of where it started is just a waste of time for the common person. The United States government could not find who released anthrax in Washington, D.C., in the deadly attack in 2001. After that event, the government told us to use plastic and use duct tape to seal our doors and windows. They should have just told us to put plastic bags over our heads and say, “Good luck.”

The government needs to work on its credibility. It is your responsibility, and the right thing to do, to protect yourself as you see fit. If you are sick, stay home. If you are high risk, don’t go out. If you go out, I recommend that you have your will updated and have a “do not resuscitate” order in place, if that is what you wish.

Until there is an effective vaccine, there are risks, and nature will run its course. The numbers are in our favor to survive.

Motorcycle helmets save lives. Nothing is more precious than your life, and nothing is more important to keeping it than your head. Although it may be considered more fun to tour the roads of the Tar Heel State with nothing on your head and the wind in your hair, that is also a good way to fall victim to careless drivers, poor road conditions and other unseen hazards.

Does North Carolina require motorcyclists to wear a helmet? Yes. The law in this state requires all active bikers to wear a helmet. This applies to riders of mopeds and any similar kind of open motorized vehicle.

What kind of helmet meets the requirement in North Carolina? This is a standard set by the U.S. Department of Transportation called Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 218. This sets the manufacturer’s minimum standards for how motorcycle safety helmets can be made and the protections they have to offer. It is best to have a helmet that meets or exceeds the standards. There are novelty helmets out there that may look cool, but they are not safe and do not provide the protection required by Standard 218. 

Some of the details of Standard 218 include the exterior of compliant helmets must be made of material that can withstand the force of a sudden collision. To protect the head and brain, there must be a polystyrene foam liner at least an inch thick within it and sturdy chinstraps and solid rivets that will not break or become loose while riding. Helmets that meet the standard typically have some heft, weighing in at around 3 pounds. A full-face design is also a good indicator of a safe helmet. Helmets that meet Standard 218 are built so that nothing extends further than two-tenths of an inch from the surface of the helmet — so spikes on the helmet don’t cut it with DOT. 

How can you tell if a helmet meets Standard 218 aside from looking for the above criteria? Manufacturers of helmets that meet Standard 218 have a sticker on the outside back of the helmet with the letters “DOT.” Standard 218 also requires manufacturers to place a label on or inside the helmet stating the manufacturer’s name, model, size, month and year of manufacture, construction materials and owner’s information. Beware of DOT stickers being sold separately for motorcyclists to place on noncomplying helmets. A separate sale of a DOT sticker is a sure sign that the helmet does not meet safety criteria.
In the end, a safe helmet indicates a smart motorcycle rider who has a much better chance of survival if the unexpected happens. Here’s to safe riding.

Physical education teachers do a lot more than roll out the basketballs for their students and make sure everybody is wearing the proper attire for running laps or playing volleyball.

Especially physical education teachers like Jeff Nance at Gray’s Creek High School. In addition to regular physical education classes, Nance teaches what’s called an adaptive physical education class for students with special needs.

It was partially because of his work with this group of students that led the North Carolina High School Athletic Association to single Nance out as one of the winners of this year’s Homer Thompson Memorial Award called Eight Who Make A Difference.

The award is presented annually by the NCHSAA to one person from each of the state’s eight regional districts. The winners were honored as excellent role models to student athletes through a positive and dedicated approach to coaching. Nance was nominated by Gray’s Creek athletic director and NCHSAA Board of Directors member Troy Lindsey.

The press release from the NCHSAA called Nance a special person who comes around once in a blue moon, describing him as gregarious, passionate, outspoken, humble and larger than life.

Earl Horan may have offered an even better description of Nance. Horan is a special needs teacher on the faculty at Gray’s Creek. His son, Earl “Early Bird” Horan, was one of Nance’s special needs students during his four years at the school.

“Jeff has the patience of a saint,’’ Horan said. “He’s got such a good heart.’’

Every morning during school, the two self-contained special education classes at Gray’s Creek come to the school’s atrium where Nance is on duty. “They’ll ask permission to come over there and give him a quick hug,’’ Horan said. “He goes out of his way to tell them he loves them.’’

Nance said the adaptive physical education class he teaches is easily his favorite. “It’s for kids who need a little extra help in a controlled setting,’’ he said. “We have to modify some of the games and the techniques we teach them. A lot of the kids are nonverbal.’’ He treats each child as an individual but does it in a class setting.

“They are just a pleasure to be around,’’ he said of his adaptive students. “They take everything in stride and they’re not judgmental of each other. They’re always happy to do what you ask them to do.’’

Nance said his exceptional children are blessed with what he calls a double dose of love and compassion. “I don’t think they are tainted by wanting to be in the pecking order,’’ he said. “I don’t think they are worried about being popular. They love life for what it is.’’

Nance coaches the Gray’s Creek baseball team and has exceptional children involved in his program as managers for the team. “Our players take our managers in as their little brothers or teammates,’’ he said. “Baseball is a kid’s game played by young men and adults, and they (the exceptional children) bring a child’s-like view to the game.’’
The managers wear baseball helmets in the dugout for safety and help with a variety of duties like sweeping out the dugout, chasing foul balls or keeping up with pitch counts. “They are so happy to be part of it,’’ Nance said. “I hope it rubs off on the players that no matter what your role is, just being part of the team, everybody is equal. You don’t have to be the superstar.’’

Nance thinks he gets as much from the experience of working with exceptional children as they do. “They bring me back to center,’’ he said. “They
 relax me.’’

He thanked both his immediate family and the countless coaches he’s worked with since his youth for helping to foster his love for young people.
“I’m happy to have role models like my mother and brother and former coaches,’’ he said. “It motivates me to try and do better.’’

Column Gist: In any circumstance, only giving part of an account of some happening, that benefits the storyteller, can prove dangerous — even destructive. The possible consequence of danger or destruction is normally faced by others but can also negatively impact the narrator of the partial story. These partial narratives, and the accompanying danger or destruction, seem present in abundance in our current political climate. We had better address it.

“Narrative” is defined in a Google search as: “… a spoken or written account of connected events; a story.” We live in a time when hardly anybody voluntarily tells the whole story regarding anything. We only tell what benefits our argument, our position. That might be expected where there is no negative consequence, as when two fellas are in discussion regarding which of them is the better fisherman. However, narratives or accounts that impact decision-making and affect matters resulting in serious consequences, must not be addressed with partial narratives. What follows is some examination of one instance illustrating how use of the partial narrative plays out in our current political climate.

The situation started when Governor Larry Hogan, R-Md. and Governor Andrew Cuomo, D-N.Y., called on Congress to approve billions of dollars in unrestricted aid to states. Their argument is that states need this funding for state-funded functions not directly related to addressing COVID-19 but for suffering shortfalls because of the pandemic. Other elected officials voiced agreement, but President Donald Trump’s response started the partial narratives. These segments from an article by Sahil Kapur and Allan Smith titled, “Trump’s state ‘bailout’ swipe prompts pushback: Who’s really getting rescued.”

It states, “President Donald Trump is expressing skepticism of federal relief for ‘Democrat-run’ states battling the coronavirus. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell’s office bashes the idea as ‘blue state bailouts,’ and has proposed to let cash-strapped states declare bankruptcy.

“Three of the four biggest ‘taker’ states lean Republican: Kentucky, Mississippi and West Virginia, according to a 2019 study by the SUNY Rockefeller Institute of Government that looked at how much states get from the federal government per year and how much they send to Washington. New Mexico was the exception. All four receive twice as much money as they give.

“The four biggest ‘giver’ states, according to the study, all lean Democratic: Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York.”

Trump’s framing of his concern opened the door for a discussion on what dollar amount states contribute to the federal government and what they receive. The information above shows New York in a good light. Gov. Cuomo seized that point. Following are segments from an article by Morgan Phillips titled, “Cuomo: New York has been ‘bailing out’ other states for decades.”

“While Cuomo said it was ‘not the time to be talking about dollars and cents,’ New York’s federal tax contribution has been ‘bailing out’ other states for years.

“’If you want to look at who gives, we are the No. 1 giver — no one puts more money into the pot,’ Cuomo continued.

“Cuomo said the state has paid $161 billion more than it received in federal spending since 2015, and for every $1 New York state gives to the federal government it receives 91 cents back.”

With a partial narrative, Cuomo scored points. Left with his response and the earlier information regarding other states, New Yorkers likely feel entitled to a bailout. Other Americans who delve no further into the matter will probably agree. However, the question is not whether New York deserves a bailout solely because of its financial contributions to the federal government. The bigger question is should we bail out a state that is in financial trouble because of mismanagement and unwise decisions? If financial contributions are to be considered, then it is reasonable to factor in the totality of New York’s contribution to America and the totality of what the state receives from being a member of this union.

Regarding financial mismanagement, consider New York’s spending on illegal immigrants. By any measure, the state has set conditions that make it a magnet for illegal immigration. One of those conditions is the focus on sanctuary status for cities. Following is from an article by ProCon.org titled, “Sanctuary Cities: Top 3 Pros and Cons”:

“While there is no official legal definition of ‘sanctuary city,’ the term generally refers to towns, cities, or counties that decline to cooperate completely with federal detention requests related to undocumented immigrants, often with a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy.”

A report by the Center for Immigration Studies, as of March 2020, shows the following cities or counties in New York as having sanctuary policies: Albany, Franklin County, Ithaca, Nassau County, New York City, Onondaga County, St. Lawrence County and Westchester County. That reference also lists New York as a sanctuary state. Sanctuary areas clearly behave in a fashion contrary to federal policies and priorities for keeping the nation safe and secure.

An article by Seth Barron titled “Is there anything New York won’t do for immigrants?” presents another relevant piece of information. The writer reports: “Earlier this year, the Trump administration announced that it would expand the list of government benefits it considers when defining a person as a ‘public charge.’” Public charge provisions seek to ensure that persons who immigrate to America are able to financially support themselves and will not be a burden on society. To this end, they should thus secure local sponsors who could guarantee their expenses until they got settled. Barron states: “Progressive localities have responded furiously to Team Trump’s directive. New York City and state have joined a lawsuit to prevent the expansion of public-charge criteria, alleging that it reflects animus against nonwhite immigrants.”

Even further, Barron reports that in 2012, under Mayor Michael Bloomberg, 580 persons who had sponsored single immigrant adults were notified that they were to reimburse the city for cash assistance that those immigrants received from the city. Two hundred fifty individuals paid $996,000 to the city to cover those costs.

Then Barron says, “On taking office in 2014, however, de Blasio canceled the collection efforts, which he had opposed in his prior position as public advocate, when he had demanded that HRA ‘stop punishing sponsors when immigrants seek assistance from the city.’”

Mayor de Blasio also refunded all the money paid by the 250 sponsors. Opposition to the Trump changes, coupled with de Blasio’s cancellation of collection efforts and refunding payments, was an unwise use of funds. It also points to making New York a magnet for illegals. The magnet creation goes on with New York now issuing driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants and offering undocumented students access to state financial aid and scholarships for higher education.

The kinds of actions addressed above result in unreasonable governmental expenses that adversely impact legal citizens. https://www.fairus.org/sites/default/files/2019-05/newyork2017.pdf provides information that supports this conclusion: An estimated 873,000 illegal aliens live in New York; illegal aliens add 251,000 students to local schools; in 2017, illegal immigration cost New York taxpayers $7.5 billion. That’s a huge amount of money that would be far better used to provide for the legal citizens of New York.

The benefits to New York run much beyond the dollars returned to the state by the federal government. In the current COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government: sent military personnel in to set up temporary hospitals, converting the Javits Center to accommodate pandemic victims; provided ventilators, protective medical gear and other items; sent a hospital ship, USNS Comfort, to New York City. None of these actions would have been possible in support of the state if other states in this nation were not, even when less than New York, financially contributing to the federal government.

Given that military personnel are so heavily involved in supporting New York during this pandemic and providing for ongoing national defense, which includes the state, New York’s level of support for the military is relevant. An article by Adam McCann titled “Most Patriotic States in America” gives an overview of a study done by WalletHub. Under “Military Engagement,” New York State is rated 49th among the 50 states. This category measures each state’s support of the military by way of military enlistees between 2012 and 2017, veterans living in the state, active duty military personnel and participation in the military reserves. All of the states that Gov. Cuomo points to as financially contributing less to the federal government than they receive outpaced New York, by a long shot, in this assessment.

The lesson here is simple: invest the time and effort to get the whole story because partial narratives abound.