While the COVID-19 pandemic has brought the entire athletic world to a halt, it’s done nothing to slow the recruiting of one of Cumberland County’s hottest football prospects, Gray’s Creek High School running back Jerry Garcia Jr. 

Garcia made a huge splash for the Bears during his junior season, rushing for 2,085 yards, an average of 10.2 per carry, and 23 touchdowns.

He also pulled in 10 pass receptions for another 279 yards and four scores as he earned first team All-Patriot Athletic Conference honors as running back.

This is normally the time of year when college football coaches would be showing up at high school campuses, hitting the recruiting trail as spring football games across the country wrap up.

But because of the pandemic and quarantine rules set in place across the country, the recruiting process has been reduced to a new normal of virtual recruiting, with coaches having to rely on video they’ve been sent, while they keep in contact with potential recruits via telephone and text message.

Gray’s Creek head football coach David Lovette said Garcia ranks among the three most-recruited football players in the history of the Bear program. As far as number of direct contacts from coaches and actual scholarship offers, Lovette added Garcia is in a class by himself at the school.

Late last year, Lovette sent film of Garcia to some 40 coaches. A few made stops at Gray’s Creek before the pandemic set in.

There was some buzz out about Garcia because of his performance in camps. He was timed at 4.5 seconds electronically in the 40-yard dash at a Nike camp. Before the Bears had to shut down weightlifting, Garcia maxed out with a 275-pound bench press.

There are some things about Garcia that can’t be measured in numbers. One of them is his desire to improve. When he scheduled a recruiting trip to Furman before the pandemic, Garcia had to leave at 6 a.m. for the trip to Greenville, S.C.

Lovette said Garcia rose at 4 a.m. the morning of the Furman trip, so he’d have time to get in his weightlifting for the day at a private gym in Hope Mills.“He’s a hard worker, a great kid and a likeable kid,’’ Lovette said. “He’s fun to be around and fun to coach.’’

There’s one other part of Garcia’s resume that has so many schools interested in recruiting him. Unlike some prospects, Garcia has solid numbers in the classroom, where he enjoys studying math and working with numbers. He carries a weighted grade point average of 3.75. He plans to continue working on his grades and hopes to have a 4.0 average when fall arrives.

His high grades are reflected in the types of schools that have already offered him scholarships. All three of the service academies, along with the Citadel, have made him offers. So have Princeton and Penn, as well as Dartmouth. At last count, some 13 schools have made firm offers to Garcia.

If there’s one thing about Garcia’s recruiting to date that has disappointed Lovette, it’s the lack of offers from North Carolina schools. He had none until just days after this interview was conducted when Gardner-Webb in Boiling Springs near Shelby finally stepped up and made him a scholarship offer.

“There are some good schools in North Carolina he’d be good enough to play for,’’ Lovette said. 

But even with only one offer from inside the state so far, Garcia feels he’s been getting plenty of attention in spite of the problems caused by the virus and coaches not being able to make in-person visits.

“The coaches do build a bond with me,’’ he said. “They call me on the phone a couple of times a week and check on me.’’

Garcia isn’t letting the free time he has because he's not going to school go to waste. He has weights in his garage, and he has regular workouts with a neighbor who is also on the Gray’s Creek football team. He’s hoping to gain some weight by the time football season starts in the fall.

While there’s no guarantee that’s going to happen, Garcia said he’s remaining optimistic.“I’m hoping we’ll be able to play,’’ he said.

He is in no hurry to make a decision where he’ll attend school. He had planned to decide on a school before football season started this fall. The virus is behind the reason for not rushing the process.

He said the college coaches have talked to him in detail about what their schools have to offer, but Garcia wants to pay an in-person visit to the campuses he’s looking at so he can see for himself what each school is like.

He wants to major in engineering and said that most of the schools he’s gotten offers from have an engineering program.

He doesn’t seem committed to playing running back in college, noting that some schools have told him he’ll likely play a slot position for them while others have said they may put him in the offensive backfield and use him in motion where he can get the ball on pitches and run it.

“They’ve tried to explain to me how they want to use my versatility,’’ Garcia said.

The town of Hope Mills got a piece of good news recently when it was announced the pedestrian bridge at Hope Mills Dam passed a first-ever safety inspection with flying colors.

Don Sisko, head of the Hope Mills Public Works department, said the pedestrian bridge, which is a little more than 10 years old, had never been inspected as far as he knows. Sisko added the bridge is actually not subject to any statutory requirement that it be inspected.

“We did it as a prudent measure to help ensure resident safety and make sure it is a sound structure,’’ Sisko said.The town hired the engineering firm of Vaughn and Melton out of New Bern to handle the inspection, which was conducted on April 8.

Sisko said Vaughn and Melton is a firm used by the Department of Transportation toconduct roadway bridge inspections around the state.

The Hope Mills pedestrian bridge is what’s known as a truss bridge and spans 126 feet, 3.5 inches across the creek bed below the dam.

Sisko said national bridge inspection criteria includes a variety of things like superstructure, substructure, the deck, the channel, waterway adequacy, approaches and alignments. 

The bridge is largely used by people who are visiting the Hope Mills Lake Park, Sisko said, and there’s no measure available of the number of people who walk across it during the course of a year. The bridge is meant to be used only by pedestrians, not by anyone on a wheeled vehicle like a bicycle.

The lifespan of the bridge is largely dictated by the weather and the maintenance that is performed on it, like fixing a broken weld on one of the trusses that help provide the bridge’s support.

Sisko said the engineering firm put a ladder in the creek bed below the bridge to examine it from underneath. 

All of the various aspects of the bridge Sisko listed earlier were examined by the inspectors and given a number grade from zero to nine. A nine is usually reserved for a new bridge in excellent condition. 

Sisko said the Hope Mills bridge got grades of seven and eight across the board.

Looking ahead, Sisko said the town will schedule inspections of the bridge biannually, meaning the next one will occur in 2022.

“It will help us keep on top of things,’’ Sisko said.

 Justin McClintock

Gray’s Creek  • Swimming/football • Senior

McClintock has a 3.95 grade point average. He was first team All-Patriot Conference in football and led Cumberland County Schools in tackles with 188. He also swam a leg on Gray’s Creek’s conference-winning 200 and 400-meter freestyle relay teams.

Ryan Dukes

Gray’s Creek • Swimming/soccer/track • Senior

Dukes has a 4.35 grade point average. He is in the Academy of Information Technology, the National Honor Society and the Academy of Scholars. He does volunteer work for a number of community organizations.

 Is it time to reopen America? This week, Publisher Bill Bowman yields his space to our contributing writer, Jim Jones, to discuss just that.

Did Bernie Sanders win? He ran on a platform for a socialist society. Webster defines socialism as “Any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods.” Although Sanders has dropped from the race, he did influence a majority of our traditional thinking. Then just like that, here comes COVID-19, which brought a socialist society in the name of public safety.

March 13, President Donald Trump declared a national emergency in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The origin of the order was to have hospitals and medical facilities surge capacity and capabilities and take additional measures needed to contain and combat the virus. We are living in the Dark Ages with the lights on. Since that declaration, the six-foot “safe zone” has been forcefully defended as the cure — at the cost of civil liberties and almost every constitutional right we are supposed to have — by power-hungry politicians. Government leaders and agencies have decided who can go where? Whose business can open? Who can work and who gets government assistance? Who can get health care? Who can get a stimulus check? Whose business is deemed blessed, I mean essential, to be operated with restricted hours and operational processes.

We are essentially making them government-sponsored monopolies. All of this leaves the rest of the people to juggle work, kids, bills and rents and find food, find money and keep something called our sanity.

 Our society is moving an inch a month while COVID-19 spreads at the speed of a sneeze, a cough or a touch. In the name of “public safety,” we deal with isolation, self-diagnosis, long lines, food and toilet paper shortages and an unemployment crisis. All of these factors increase crime, violence, suicide, drug use and mental health crisis rates. All of these things are enforceable by force. Our leaders have taken advantage of us and this crisis for their agendas. The U.S. Congress loaded extra spending for their pet projects in the COVID-19 CARES Relief Bill while most small businesses did not get any relief. Facebook is pulling down rallies as “safety concerns.” In concert with the government, Apple and Google have agreed to work together to build contract-tracing technology into their phones that will work with both platforms. In May, they will roll out updates to our phones that will send location data to servers and cross-reference your location with someone who has COVID-19. Of course, they said, all of this information will be protected, and you will never get another spam email again. 

Why are American’s becoming impatient? America was founded by rebels. It is in our DNA. We come from forefathers who left Europe to find a new land to worship and prosper. We are the country that threw down with the king of England over a tax on tea. We howl, “Give me liberty or give me death.” Except COVID-19. We are a nation of crazy people who swim with sharks, pet bears, land on the moon and can land a plane on an aircraft carrier in the middle of the night. We are the home of the brave!

If you are alive, you are here because it is your time to be alive. In Bill Bryson’s book, “A Short History of Nearly Everything,” he said, “Not one of your pertinent ancestors was squashed, devoured, drowned, starved, stranded, stuck fast, untimely wounded, or otherwise deflected from its life’s quest of delivering a tiny charge of genetic material to the right partner at the right moment in order to perpetuate the only possible sequence of hereditary combinations that could result — eventually, astoundingly, and all too briefly — in you.” 

Americans seem to believe that we are immortal. It is true. We are, but for a minimal time. Whether we stay quarantined for another day or years, we have not faced the fact that we will either get this virus or we will not. Not until a vaccine is discovered. Anything short of that is just ideas. We have been scared to death that everyone is going to die or cause everyone to die. This is just silliness. Yes, people have died and that is sad. People die every day. Heart disease is the No. 1 cause of death in America. Not one person has recommended that you cut your heart out to avoid your own heart from attacking you. Not one! 

As much as we think we own our life, we do not. If a thug can walk up to you and kill you, your body is not yours. Let’s face it; you can die from a mosquito bite. There are 8,000 ways a human can die. We only get one of them. Our life’s Earth-clock started ticking the moment we took our first breath. Whether we think we deserve something or not, that is the way it is. When it happens to someone we love, we only have our beliefs and experiences to hold on too. This virus is getting passed around, and it appears that everyone’s body is affected and reacts differently. Knowingly or unknowingly. 

With each declaration and law, those orders are backed by force with a person with a gun. Is that socialism or communism? The Philippine President, Rodrigo Duterte, has told his country that “the police will shoot you dead for defying stay-at-home orders.” Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya police have killed more people enforcing stay-at-home orders than the coronavirus has killed in their country.

The virus will continue to spread until we build our immunity or die. Our best course of action to bring America back to a thriving and free country is to let individuals be individuals. Let them start to rebuild their businesses, jobs, careers and lives. Let us learn to mourn the dead, care for the sick and move forward with our lives. You have the power to choose to rejoice in life or live in fear. How you live should be your choice. At least I still believe that.

April is Child Abuse Awareness Month, but one local organization, the Child Advocacy Center, works tirelessly all year long to serve children in the Cumberland County community.

 Headed by longtime Fayetteville resident Roberta Humphries with support from a well-trained and compassionate staff and many capable volunteers, the Child Advocacy Center is a nonprofit organization that provides multidisciplinary services for children and families affected by sexual abuse or severe physical abuse across the county. It is accredited by the National Children’s Alliance and adheres to 10 established national standards. 

The beneficial impact of the work of the Child Advocacy Center is tremendous. In 2019 alone, the Center received 730 reports of suspected sexual and/or physical abuse for children under 18. The Center conducted 416 forensic interviews for children between the ages of 3-17. 

The organization is on the frontlines, fighting abuse in several key ways. “The CAC brings together, in one location, child protective services investigators, law enforcement, detectives, prosecutors, and medical and mental health professionals to provide a coordinated, comprehensive response to victims and their caregivers,” Roberta Humphries, the executive director of the Child Advocacy Center, said. 

“The CAC also provides professional and community education related to child abuse prevention and interviention and is active in raising awareness in the community around the issue of child abuse through various community events.” 

The Center partners with numerous agencies to accomplish their objectives. “We work with all of the following agencies: Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office, Fayetteville Police Department, Hope Mills Police Department, Spring Lake Police Department, CID from Fort Bragg, State Bureau of Investigation, Federal Bureau of Investigation,  Child Protective Services with CCDSS, District Attorney’s Office, Cumberland County District Court, Medical services at Southern Regional AHEC, Womack Army Medical Center and Cape Fear Valley Hospital, Rape Crisis, Alliance Health, Guardian ad Litem Program, Army Community Services and the Family Advocacy Program,” said Humphries. 

Another way the Center helps the communinty is through education, providing child abuse prevention education to 2,325 adults.

Additionally, more than 2,000 children received body safety instruction through storytimes that were held at 60 different locations during November 2019. 

A whopping 401 families received victim advocacy services. Children and caregivers received 315 mental health therapy appointments. The center also held group counseling for girls that meets every week and for boys every other week. Twenty-six case reviews were held with 242 reviewed by the full multi-disciplinary team. 

Even during tought times, the Center continues to serve the community. In keeping with the orders from Gov. Cooper, and in efforts to work safely, the Center has  limited the number of people that can be in the Center at any one time maintaining recommended safety and cleaning procedures.

“Currently our Center is still open, responding to requests from our partners to provide the forensic interview for children with allegations of abuse,” Humphries said. “We also continue to provide victim advocacy and counseling services.”

 Like many organizations, the CAC has taken advantage of available technology to accomodate as many people as possible. “We are offering counseling services via FaceTime or through Zoom meetings,” said Humphries. 

 The Center’s services are always in demand and there are many ways to help. While the numbers of reports of abuse in the community are staggering, the amount of people who have received assistance from the Center speaks volumes about the people who serve through the Center. The Child Advocacy Center has volunteer opportunities available throughout the year. “(In 2019), 1,283 hours of service were contributed by volunteers,” Humphries said. 

Some of the tasks of volunteers include providing clerical support to the center or making no-sew blankets, which are made from tying two pieces of fleece fabric together, and assembling care packages. 

Generous donations, whether they are monetary or commodities, are helpful. “We need individually wrapped snacks and juice boxes. Donations of office supplies, gift cards to Chick-fil-A, Biscuitville, Panera Bread, Krispy Kreme, Dunkin Donuts, Harris Teeter, Staples, Lowes, etc. are always beneficial,” said Humphries. Additionally, the CAC needs volunteers to assist with fundraising and special events throughout the year. Fayetteville’s Ultimate Lip Sync Showdown and the Pinwheel Masquerade Ball & Auction are two of the CAC’s most popular events. The Lip Sync Showdown invites members of the community each year to compete for titles by lip syncing their favorite tunes. There will also be a drawing for a smart TV, an Apple iPad, and a weekend getaway in Fayetteville with hotel and gift cards valued at $500. Tickets are $5 each or 5 for $20 and are available at the CAC. The fundraiser accounts for about 20% of the CAC’s funding each year. The event has been postponed until June 20 and will take place in the Crown Ballroom. The Pinwheel Masquerade Ball, which offers an evening of fun at the Cape Fear Botanical Garden, is scheduled for Sept. 26. Visit https://www.childadvocacycenter.com/ for more information about the events

 In particular, the Center currently has a need for cleaning supplies like disinfectant spray, as well as masks for adults and children. Thanks to the Cumberland County Community Foundation, the Center has some emergency funding, but more support is always appreciated to fund the operations of the Center. In the midst of the current pandemic, experts have predicted that added stressors will lead to more abuse. With that being the case, the CAC is continuing their work to help alleviate the potential problems. 

For more information about the ways that the Child Advocacy Center serves the community, or to support the center, visit https://www.childadvocacycenter.com/ or call 910-486-9700.

In his role as emergency management director and fire marshal for Hoke County, Bryan Marley spends his typical work days in front of a computer dealing with planning and coordinating emergency-related matters.

But as a career firefighter who has worked in close proximity with fellow fireman and other first responders, the member of the Hope Mills Board of Commissioners appreciates the challenges his peers in the field are facing now as they cope with the COVID-19 pandemic while serving in frontline roles.

“You don’t know what’s happening day to day,’’ he said. “Stuff changes. Numbers fluctuate. You get executive orders handed down.’’

The biggest problem for rescue workers in the field is the nationwide shortage of what’s called PPE, personal protective equipment.

“Nobody can get their hands on masks, gloves and gowns,’’ Marley said. “You call your suppliers and they don’t have it and don’t know when they will be able to get it. Everybody is sold out of everything. It’s a crazy time.’’

With protective gear in short supply, Marley said first responders have been forced to reuse what used to be disposable items, learning how to disinfect masks and gloves so they can be worn in multiple situations. 

In some cases, first responders may resort to unusual alternatives, like punching armholes in large garbage bags and using them as gowns, or wearing coffee filters as breathing masks.

While this may not be perfect, Marley compared it to the difference between eating a steak sandwich versus a bologna sandwich.

“When you’re hungry, a bologna sandwich is like a steak sandwich,’’ he said.

Concerns over COVID-19 have changed the way fire departments are handling emergency calls these days. There was a time when a fire truck routinely accompanied paramedic rescue vehicles on calls. Because of the virus, calls are handled differently now and fire trucks often don’t respond.

When someone calls 911, Marley said, the dispatcher asks a series of questions. If the caller replies yes to them, they meet the protocol for a COVID-19 response and the fire truck won’t be dispatched on the call. 

Marley said this is to prevent the amount of people exposed to someone who may be infected with COVID-19. The dispatcher will also warn the paramedics going out on the call that they need to take all necessary precautions for working with someone who may be carrying COVID-19.

But as big a challenge as dealing with the virus directly is, Marley said that’s only part of he problem for first responders. “You listen to this stuff all day long, then you go home and everything is closed down,’’ Marley said. “You can’t go anywhere or do anything. 

“Everything you used to do to relieve your stress levels when you get off, you can’t do. You’re cooped up at the house.’’

There’s also the anguish of loading a COVID-19 patient onto the ambulance and watching them say goodbye to their family, who can’t even go to the hospital to be with them and could be saying goodbye to that person for the last time.

“Stuff like that weighs on you after awhile,’’ Marley said.

Marley’s advice to everyone is to follow the orders of Gov. Roy Cooper and stay home as much as possible. “Limit where you go and what you do, and we’ll get through this thing a whole lot quicker,’’ he said.

“Listen to what the experts say.’’

Column Gist: The way politics is practiced in America threatens the survival of our nation.

Without a doubt, the American form of government has proved to be amazingly effective. The measure of that effectiveness shows in what the nation accomplished in a relatively short period. The political component, as designed, is an asset to our form of government. A Google search yields this definition of politics: “…the activities associated with the governance of a country or other area, especially the debate or conflict among individuals or parties having or hoping to achieve power.” Our problem is that the current practice of politics is an existential threat to this nation.

It seems that “existential” shows up everywhere now. From grammarist.com, “An existential threat is a threat to something’s survival.” The indicators as to how the practice of politics, not the system as designed, threatens our survival as a nation, are present in abundance. However, how most politicians are responding to the horrendous challenge of COVID-19 lays bare the existential threat posed by America’s current practice of politics.

In the big picture, governors of many states, members of the House and Senate, mayors and liberal media personalities are railing against the Trump administration for allegedly not providing, in a timely fashion, sufficient ventilators, personal protective gear, virus testing capability and other actions needed by states to combat COVID-19. All of these entities and individuals present their outrage with total conviction that the federal government has a responsibility to provide these items, and other actions, in support of a health threat. Further, they have citizens — voters — convinced that doing all of this is a federal responsibility and, therefore, any failure to deliver can and should be blamed on President Donald J. Trump. None of these people bother to tell the American public that health care is not a federal responsibility under the United States Constitution. 

I contend that this refusal to tell the people the “real story”— when doing so works against one’s political security and advancement — is the political norm in America. This political practice sets us up for exactly what we are experiencing in America: division, distrust, back-stabbing and far less effectiveness than should be the case. 

The truth is that, under the Constitution, individual states are responsible for health care in their state. In a federal system, as in the United States, the states and federal government have some powers that are held by one, but not the other. Then there are concurrent powers that are held by both states and the federal government. Article I, Section 8 details the powers of the federal government. There is no mention of health care or any broader category that would include it. The 10th Amendment to the Constitution states: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” Again, health care is the responsibility of states … not the federal government.

A bit of looking back shows that states being responsible for health care was understood and applied. Following is from a research article titled, “The Role of State and Local Government in Health” by Drew E. Altman and Douglas H. Morgan:

State and local government involvement in public health began with the great epidemics of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The first of these, the yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia, struck in 1793, and epidemics of cholera, small pox, and yellow fever were frequent occurrences over the next fifty years. Initially, the government responded to these epidemics by instituting quarantine measures and efforts to improve community sanitation. Generally, these were directed by physicians appointed by the city or state government.

Note that the yellow fever plague mentioned above occurred after the U.S. Constitution had been ratified on June 21, 1788. The event was addressed by state and local governments. 

Far more recently, an effort by Michael Bloomberg, while serving as mayor of New York, points to his understanding of local and state responsibility for health care. The following segments from an article by Justin Elliott, Annie Waldman and Joshua Kaplan titled, “How New York City’s Emergency Ventilator Stockpile Ended Up on the Auction Block” summarize what happened:

In July 2006, with an aggressive and novel strain of the flu circulating in Asia and the Middle East, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg unveiled a sweeping pandemic preparedness plan.

Using computer models to calculate how a disease could spread rapidly through the city’s five boroughs, experts concluded New York needed a substantial stockpile of both masks and ventilators. If the city confronted a pandemic on the scale of the 1918 Spanish flu, the experts found, it would face a “projected shortfall of between 2,036 and 9,454 ventilators.”

The city’s department of health, working with the state, was to begin purchasing ventilators and to “stockpile a supply of facemasks,” according to the report. Shortly after it was released, Bloomberg held a pandemic planning summit with top federal officials, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, now the face of the national coronavirus response.

In the end, the alarming predictions failed to spur action. In the months that followed, the city acquired just 500 additional ventilators as the effort to create a larger stockpile fizzled amid budget cuts.

I contend that this action by Bloomberg makes his understanding clear that health care is a state, and even local, responsibility.

Given that, by the Constitution, health care is a state responsibility, the reasonable question is, how did the federal government get so involved? An article at www.khanacademy.org titled, “The relationship between the states and the federal government” opens the door to an answer: “As we noted above, the balance of power between states and the federal government has changed a great deal over time. In the early United States, the division between state powers and federal powers was very clear. States regulated within their borders, and the federal government regulated national and international issues. 

“But since the Civil War in the 1860s, the federal government’s powers have overlapped and intertwined with state powers. In times of crisis, like the Great Depression, the federal government has stepped in to provide much-needed aid in areas typically controlled at the state level.” 

Point blank, the answer is that the federal government has repeatedly stepped in to help states when it did not have a constitutional responsibility to do so. As is human nature, especially over years and generations, people came to expect much more from the federal government than is required of it by the U.S. Constitution. 

COVID-19 comes upon us in this condition where the federal government is expected to solve problems for which it is not constitutionally responsible, not adequately funded and not sufficiently manned or organized to routinely address. States are constitutionally expected to be prepared for health emergencies such as this. The quickness with which so many governors and mayors started calling at the Trump administration to provide equipment and materials that states and cities should have been stockpiling, as Michael Bloomberg attempted to do, screams that they were not nearly prepared for this (or an even lesser event). 

This is where the existential threat of America’s practice of politics shows through. It is in the actions of governors, such as Andrew Cuomo of New York state and mayors like Bill de Blasio of New York City. These leaders, and others at the state and local level, failed to prepare for a COVID-19 challenge. These people of influence do not acknowledge failure nor educate people as to state and local responsibilities and then work in unity with all who might contribute to solving the problems at hand. Instead, they complain vociferously about the federal government in general, but specifically about Trump’s performance in this crisis. There is an unbelievably high level of finger-pointing at Trump. Granted, as of April 20, Cuomo did make some positive comments over the past few days regarding Trump and federal support. However, this was done while insisting the federal government must provide more funding and support to states.

This is the state of political practice in America. It divides Americans, including politicians, into destructively, even hate-filled, competing groups, the result of which is a country that finds itself unable to, in an orderly manner, respond to a crisis. More importantly, we are losing the ability to carry on the routine functions of government. All of this poses an existential threat to this nation.

Earlier this month, medical professionals seemed to be getting a handle on COVID-19. No cure yet, mind you, but they seemed confident in saying who is most at risk and how the novel virus affects the human body. It was beginning to feel like if we all social distanced, stayed close to home, wore masks when we were out and washed and disinfected frequently, COVID-19 infections would peak and begin a slow decline.

We were looking at only the tip of the iceberg. We are now learning the hard way what we did not know when COVID-19 first emerged in China and zipped around the world in a matter of weeks. It traveled at a pace unknown in the flu pandemic of 1918 before people routinely traveled between and all over continents. Estimates are that COVID-19 is about five times more lethal than seasonal flu.

We initially thought COVID-19 appeared at nursing facilities in Washington in late February. Turns out the first death may have been a California woman with no connection to China who died of COVID-19 in early February. Few of us will be surprised if more early victims are identified. We thought the elderly and people with respiratory issues were most at risk. Still, much younger people are dying of it as well, and asthma patients are less affected than initially feared. If more people than originally thought have had and survived the virus — with or without symptoms, could it be more contagious than we imagined and spread more quickly? A reopening of commerce would hasten the spread.

COVID-19 may have long-lasting effects on some who survive the initial infection. Medical professionals are reporting damage to lungs and other vital organs and finding that while some people emerge on the other side of infection feeling back to normal and with presumed immunity, others have a long recovery to reach their former “normal.” And, perhaps most worrisome of developments so far is what COVID-19 does to the blood of some patients — clotting that can move into the heart and lungs and block blood and extreme bleeding in other patients.

While we are watching the curve of infections and hoping to bend it in the right direction, we are also watching the course of the disease and working to understand it as quickly as we can.

Meanwhile, the death toll in the United States and North Carolina continues to mount, affecting families of the well-known and families of ordinary folks just trying to make it through this bizarre and scary time. The pandemic is complicated by the collapse of the U.S. economy and its dire financial toll on individuals and businesses. Intense pressure faces policymakers to let up on some social distancing restrictions and allow certain businesses to reopen — at least partially. Not surprisingly, that pressure is falling along partisan political lines, as does so much in American life these days.

Blessedly, not all the news is bad.

Our air and water are cleaner because we are using less fossil fuel and generating less garbage. Wild animals are reportedly rebounding with less human contact in their daily routines. Millions of Americans are learning to cook at home again and are probably healthier for it. Families are spending more time together, and while that is not without tensions, many are getting to know each other in new ways. Millions of American students may be falling behind in academic areas, but so are students in other parts of the world. On the plus side, students and their families are learning flexibility, resilience and creativity, qualities that will help them in ways book learning cannot.

Very likely, we still see only the tip of the iceberg, but the waters are clearing to give us a fuller picture of what lies ahead.

 Sabrina Brooks and Major Gifts Officer Marge Betley from the Cape Fear Valley Health Foundation were on hand April 22 at Cape Fear Valley Hospital to greet Bragg Mutual Federal Credit Union CEO and President Steve Foley and District 45 State Rep. John Szoka as they delivered 200 lunches to dedicated and hardworking hospital staffers and nurses.

 Bragg Mutual has three locations in Fayetteville and Cumberland County and is a full-service financial institution dedicated to helping local residents better their financial status through education and thrift. According to Foley, Bragg Mutual and its employees wanted to recognize the health service workers and thank them personally for their sacrifices during this COVID-19 crisis. 

The very next day, Foley and Bragg Mutual Volunteers took another 200 lunches to the VA Medical Center on Ramsey Street, where nurses and hospital staffers are working around the clock taking care of our veteran military service members who have served our country so gallantly.

 That was 400 meals in two days. Bragg Mutual met the challenge with the assistance of local catering company The Vine/Two Brothers Catering owners by Brad and Kelley McLawhorn. Despite their current hectic schedule fulfilling a massive and demanding daily contract for Fort Bragg, the McLawhorns collaborated with Bragg Mutual to prepare the 400 healthy individual boxed lunches for the hospital and the VA staffers and nurses. Each prepared lunch included a fresh deli turkey sandwich, macaroni salad, potato chips and for dessert, a slice of Two Brothers’ special carrot cake. Also, credit union members from Up & Coming Weekly and Rocket Fizz Soda Pop and Candy Shop also included an extra special gift — a sweet treat packet of candy. This heartwarming gesture was the near-perfect example of the people helping people philosophy that has made Bragg Mutual Credit Union such a valuable asset to the Fayetteville community for over seven decades. 

Rep. Szoka, chairman of the board of Bragg Mutual, encourages such local community involvement. “Bragg Mutual Federal Credit Union has always been focused on helping our community, and we’re glad to show our appreciation to our hardworking health care professionals throughout the area,” said Szoka, an appropriate statement coming from the man who was chosen the 2019 National Volunteer of the Year by the National Association of Federally Insured Credit Unions. This prestigious award honors credit union volunteers who demonstrate leadership, dedication to Credit Union members, commitment to professionalism, service to Credit Union staff, and uphold the values of the community. Both Szoka and Foley demonstrate those qualities every day and work to bestow them in everyone they come into contact with the Credit Union.

We salute all our community health care workers serving the hospitals and medical clinics, along with the work, commitment and dedication of businesses like Bragg Mutual Federal Credit Union and people like Foley and the staff of the credit union. Our community is made better because of their presence and support. The same can be said for Cape Fear Valley Health Foundation and the McLawhorns of The Vine / Two Brothers Catering company. No doubt, heroes work here in Fayetteville and Cumberland County.

Want to give back time, money or words of encouragement?

Bragg Mutual Federal Credit Union: www.braggmutual.orgSteve Foley, CEO: sfoley@braggmutual.org

The Vine/Two Brothers Catering: 910-584-9892

Brad McLawhorn: twobrotherscatering06@gmail.com

Kelley McLawhorn: twobrotherscatering06@gmail.com

Cape Fear Valley Health Foundation: www.cfvfoundation.org/

Marge Betley, Major Gifts Officer: mbetley@capefearvalley.com 910-615-1358

VA Medical Center: 910-488-2120

Life’s been weird, right?

I don’t know how else to start this article. What do you say? What is there left to say? I don’t even want to really talk about it any more, if I’m being honest.

Quarantine has been weird; social distancing has been weird. The world — the literal whole world — being shut down has been weird. I guess since this is being published, I should use a 50-cent word and say its “unprecedented,” but let’s be real.

This. Has. Been. Weird.

And heartbreaking. Devastating. Frustrating. Intimidating. Scary.

There will most likely never be another time in our generation — so we pray — where doing absolutely nothing can help save the world.In a society that is used to things changing in an instant, we’ve gone from moving a hundred miles an hour to moving at a snail’s pace as we’ve waited for COVID-19 to pass us by. Waiting is not our strong suit. 

We’ve lived seemingly invincibly for so long, thinking nothing will touch us here in America — no wars on our turf, no major catastrophes, no major economic downfall — yet here we are, stuck with the great equalizer — rich or poor, tall or short, young or old, no one is immune. 

For me, it has been a break. I’ve been very fortunate to have the privilege to work from home, and my husband has been able to continue his job. My son has been at home with me instead of daycare, and my dog now favors me over my husband because I get to take her outside so much more and give her treats. For me, it is a big win.

For others, this pandemic has hit them hard — so hard, they may not recover for a  long while, which brings me back to my first thought. What do you even say?

 Just one piece of dumb advice, if you haven’t done it already — don’t cut yourself quarantine bangs. Put down the scissors, Judy. It just isn’t worth it. You’ll end up looking like you feel and right now — that is, unreliable. Just wait for your stylist or barber, not that I know from experience. Dear God, help me.

But on a more serious note, I had a realization in all of this that I don’t want this not to change me. I want to remember and honor the elderly. I want to remember that everyone is going through something, so I mind my words and my impatience. I want to spend more time at home. I want to spend less money on nonessentials. I want to cook more at home. I want to remember that whether I realize it at the time or not, my actions do affect the people around me, even people I don’t know.

I want to remember that just because someone is famous, it doesn’t make them a hero, and that advertising and Hollywood don’t own me. I want to remember what it's like not to hug my family so I’ll never pull away or take another hug for granted. 

 What is normal anyway? Whatever it is, it's overrated, overexpected and just plain over. I’m done with normal. I want keep some of this weirdness and be changed for the better.

From the beginning, the North Carolina Civil War & Reconstruction History Center has been about inclusion and transparency. The wheels were set in motion in 2007 with a planning grant from the N.C. General Assembly. While the ground has not yet been broken for the facility, plans are moving ahead, and it’s to the benefit of many historically underutilized businesses in North Carolina. This category of businesses includes companies owned by women, African Americans, Native Americans and others.

“The State of North Carolina believes highly in small businesses, which is what drives our economy,” said Tammie Hall, assistant to Machelle Sanders, the Secretary of HUB and the HUB Division Director. “It is important to get them engaged in what we do.”

According to nccivilwarcenter.org, once complete, the four-acre History Center site will include a 60,000-square-foot main museum built outside the U.S. Arsenal’s archaeological footprint, protecting the remnants of the asset seized by Confederate forces in 1861 and leveled by William T. Sherman’s engineers four years later. The existing 1897 E.A. Poe House and three Civil War-era structures are incorporated into the larger, interpretive plan. This project offers the public a repository, not merely of artifacts, but of information and a context for it.

Three Civil War-era houses, known as the history village, were moved to the southern end of Arsenal Park in October 2018. Work on the three houses is on schedule for completion later this month. A total of $2.5 million was budgeted to move and renovate the houses and the job has come in under budget.

In a recent press released, the History Center announced that work on the buildings include: 

•  The Arsenal House was renovated primarily for K-12 students. It includes a classroom, a distance learning studio and a technical support room, all part of the Digital Education Outreach Center. The Outreach Center will be an online educational resource to teach the history of the period before, during and after the Civil War to public school students across North Carolina.

•  The Culbreth House was renovated for higher education purposes. It will become the Center for the Study of the Civil War and Reconstruction in North Carolina. A catering kitchen and upstairs offices were added, as was a library, which will house an extensive collection of Civil War and Reconstruction books. It will be used as the offices for the Center’s Foundation.

•  The Davis House required extensive renovation following damage from the move, including adding structural elements, new floors, walls and updated rewiring and heating and air. Plans are for it to be a support building for the buildings and other developments for that end of Arsenal Park.

The next project will be an educational outdoor pavilion area, which is scheduled to be completed next year. Also planned for the site is the 60,000-square-foot building, which will replace the Museum of the Cape Fear and house large scale exhibits, an auditorium and the Center’s operations going forward.

The Center’s use of historically underutilized businesses as contractors is at 82.09%. “It is a huge accomplishment to receive 80%,” said Hall. “It’s a huge plus for our economy.  … (The) state recognizes it as investing in small businesses, which are the ones who grow our communities, and which grow our school systems. Small business is what grows our North Carolina economy.” 

“ … Our goal with the Center is to be inclusive with all North Carolinians, not only with our present and future programming, but with our operations and construction, as well.” said John M. “Mac” Healy, chair of the North Carolina Civil War & Reconstruction History Center Board of Directors.

Find out more about the History Center at http://nccivilwarcenter.org/, or call 910-491-0602 to learn more.

What is the big news in North Carolina?

For some, it is not the bad news that the coronavirus has shut us up in our homes for weeks and weeks and undercut the economic lives of so many.

It is, instead, the good news that, starting April 21 with the release of Lee Smith’s latest book, “Blue Marlin,” there will be something to ease the discomfort of our confinement.

“Blue Marlin” is short, about 120 pages, each filled with Smith’s warm and sympathetic storytelling gifts and characters who reach out and remind us of people we knew growing up.

Smith confesses in an afterword that for all the stories she has ever written, “this one is dearest to me, capturing the essence of my own childhood — the kind of unruly, spoiled only child I was; the sweetness of my troubled parents, and the magic essence of Key West, ever since January 1959, when these events actually occurred.”

Smith then explains that not all the events in her book happened. The book, she says, is “autobiographical fiction, with the emphasis on fiction.” She explains, “I can tell the truth better in fiction than nonfiction.”

In the book, the “Lee Smith-like” character, Jenny, age 13, discovers her small-town lawyer dad — think Atticus Finch — is having an affair. Soon everybody in town knows. Her dad moves out of their home. Her depressed mom seeks treatment at a hospital in Asheville. Jenny is sent to stay with her mom’s cousin Glenda in South Carolina. Jenny fights this placement. Glenda is tough and deeply and out-front religious. Soon Jenny feels at home, adjusting and then thriving under Glenda’s no-nonsense orderliness.

Meanwhile, her parents decide to try to put their marriage back together on a trip to Key West. When they pick up Jenny at Glenda’s, Jenny brings a white New Testament that Glenda gave her, a necklace with a cross that Jenny stole from Glenda’s daughter and a growing interest in Jesus and boys.

Riding to Key West in the back seat of her dad’s new Cadillac, Jenny begins a list of good deeds she will do on each day of their monthly trip “which ought to be enough,” she thought, “to bring even Mama and Daddy back together.”

But the question is, will the time in Key West do the job?

Things get off to a good start. Their hotel, the Blue Marlin, is a positive, not just because of its swimming pool and water slide. The motel is full of a movie crew, including actor Tony Curtis. 

“Mama and I were crazy about Tony Curtis,” says Jenny. Both were big movie fans and read the fan magazines together. About Curtis, they “squealed together.” Then they learn Cary Grant is part of the movie’s cast, and things are off to a good start.

Jenny settles into Key West. She walks the streets, visits the old Catholic church, reads the texts in the graveyard, gets to know a group of strippers, and does her good deeds every day. Still she asks whether they were working. “My parents were endlessly cordial to each other now, but so far they had never slept in the same bed. I knew this for a fact. I checked their room every morning.”

To find out whether Tony Curtis’s help and Jenny’s good deeds can bring about real marital reconciliation, you will have to read the book.

But, here is a clue from Smith’s afterword. After the real trip to Key West to help her real parents’ troubled marriage, Smith writes that the Key West cure worked. “Mama and Daddy would go home refreshed, and stay married for the rest oftheir lives.”

The COVID-19 economic shutdown is taking a toll on government finances as a dramatic downturn in sales tax revenues is expected to disrupt the financial health of local government. The city of Fayetteville has asked the Public Works Commission to contribute millions more than it usually does in the fiscal year ahead to offset an expected reduction in revenues. PWC annually transfers $12 million to the city in lieu of taxes.

 Fayetteville Budget Director Tracey Broyles told City Council she anticipates a significant loss of sales tax proceeds and other revenues in FY21. She predicts the city could lose about $7.7 million. City Councilman Johnny Dawkins, who represents the city on the North Carolina League of Municipalities, said actual losses could be a lot more. PWC’s charter allows the utility to provide additional funding to the city in emergency situations. “We have a once in a lifetime issue here,” said city manager Doug Hewett. Councilmember Chris Davis made the motion to ask PWC for as much as $11 million — the first $8 million covering budget shortfalls, with the additional money being set aside for unforeseen COVID-19 issues. The motion passed unanimously. 

Pope Army Airfield infrastructure neglected

A recent audit found Fort Bragg’s Pope Airfield to be among the Army’s worst maintained facilities. Pope Airfield is a staging area and launch site for the 82nd Airborne Division’s Immediate Response Force. Paratroopers can deploy anywhere in the world within 18 hours of notification. Lawmakers are worried Fort Bragg’s lift capabilities are being underfunded, The Army Times first reported. The airfield is now part of Fort Bragg. The Army took it over from the Air Force in 2011. “These infrastructures serve as primary training airfields for USASOC — United States Army Special Operations Command, JSOC — Joint Special Operations Command and others, including the immediate response force,” said Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C.Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville and Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy said funding has already been planned for the airfield, and more is on the way. “We have an approved project of $25 million for airfield lighting repair, and in the 2021 budget we plan to spend $65 million to repair the runway and taxiways,” the secretary and chief said in a joint statement.

Local electricity rates decline 

Fayetteville’s Public Works Commission has approved a reduction in electricity rates for residential customers as well as small and medium business customers, effective May 1. The off-peak rate was reduced from 9.1 cents to 8.4 cents per kilowatt-hour. Off-peak rates apply during 88% of the average week. On-peak rates, which remain the same, occur four hours a day during weekdays. A typical PWC residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours of power per month would see a decrease of $5.20. The rate reduction comes after a renegotiation of PWC’s contract with electricity provider Duke Energy, resulting in $33 million in savings. “We will not begin to see the financial savings of the contract changes until January 2021,” said PWC CEO/general manager David Trego. “However, it’s important to note that providing these savings to our customers was of the utmost importance, and the PWC Board wanted customers to receive the savings benefit as soon as possible and set the decrease to begin May 1, 2020.” 




Rental housing scam
Fayetteville police are seeing a resurgence of cases involving real estate fraud involving social media and classified rental property ads. The listings are not from established property management companies and are usually listed as for rent by owner. “This fraud scheme may even involve a written “lease” that appears legitimate, but the communications and paperwork will not be done in person,” said police spokesman Sgt. Jeremy Glass. The suspect will ask prospective tenants to send the rent money through a cash application, like PayPal or the United States Postal Service, usually before written leases are provided. Glass said scammers will not be available to meet in person. They will ask you to mail, wire or using a cash-sending appl to send money. Listings often include poor grammar, typographical errors and excessive punctuation.

Every day for the past few weeks, we’ve all awakened to a new way of life. We continue to navigate our days with modified lifestyles, including staying at home as much as possible to protect ourselves and others during this COVID-19 pandemic. Over the past weeks, I have found myself often being reminded about the incredible accomplishments that are occurring as a result of everyone moving together in harmony to follow the important health and safety guidelines currently in place. This spirit of comradery and teamwork seems to make things that are heavy feel much lighter and things that are rough feel much smoother. It’s always good to focus on positivity and look for opportunities to help us strike a healthy balance between optimism and the realities we face, and now is a time for us to stay connected to something positive in our lives.

At Fayetteville Technical Community College — even during this pandemic, our faculty and staff members have not stopped performing their jobs to continue the mission of our college: to serve our community as a learning-centered institution to build a globally competitive workforce supporting economic development. I am very proud of our faculty and staff who share the belief that education changes lives in positive ways and continue to effectively serve our students through distance education to prepare students for their futures.

FTCC ended the first week of April with two great pieces of news: 1.) The college provided thousands of items of personal protective equipment to Cape Fear Valley Health System and donated gloves to the North Carolina State Veterans Home, and 2.) the college was awarded a $961,200 grant by the Golden LEAF Foundation to renovate and equip an existing space into a dedicated simulation suite for training nursing students. The Golden LEAF grant will help FTCC train more nurses and represents a wonderful opportunity for FTCC to contribute significantly to our community by increasing access to high-quality healthcare — a vital area whose importance has been highlighted during this pandemic. Our healthcare providers are the heroes working the front lines, and we thank them most sincerely and are very proud of them.

The pandemic is a crisis situation unlike anything we’ve experienced before — certainly not in recent years. It’s important for us all to remain optimistic and follow up with positive actions. It is uplifting to see how this experience is bringing us closer together, not only in our local communities but also across the globe. Even though some of the news stories now may cause anxiety and uncertainty, we have opportunities to balance our mental health and awareness by staying connected to something positive. At the heart of our mission at FTCC lies an important objective, to remain — during good times and difficult times — the smart choice for education. As we continue to navigate life each day with new challenges, we at Fayetteville Technical Community College stand committed to serving you and thank you for this privilege.

The coronavirus crisis has unsettled every age group, as we are all worried about our health and that of our families and communities. And if you’re in the millennial generation, generally defined as anyone born between 1981 and 1996, you might also be concerned about your financial future, given the sharp decline in investment prices. How should you respond to what’s been happening?

Your view of the current situation will depend somewhat on your age. If you’re an older millennial, you had probably been investing for a few years when we went through the financial crisis in 2007-2008. And you then experienced 11 years of a record bull market, so you’ve seen both the extremes and the resilience of the investment world. But if you’re a younger millennial, you might not have really started investing until the past few years, if you’ve started at all, so you’ve only seen a steadily climbing market. Consequently, you may find the current situation particularly discouraging, but this is also a lesson in the reality of investing: Markets go down as well as up.

But no matter where you are within the millennial age cohort, you might help yourself by taking these steps:

• Enjoy the benefit of having time on your side. If you’re one of the younger millennials, you’ve got about four decades left until you’re close to retiring. Even if you’re in the older millennial group, you’ve probably got at least 25 years until you stop working. With so many years ahead, you have the opportunity to overcome the periodic drops in investment prices, and your investments have time to grow. And, of course, you’ll be able to add more money into those investments, too.

• Invest systematically. The value of your investments will always fluctuate. You can’t control these price movements, but you may be able to take advantage of them through what’s known as systematic investing. By putting the same amount of money at regular intervals into the same investments, you’ll buy more shares when the share price is lower — in other words, you’ll be “buying low,” which is one of the first rules of investing — and you’ll buy fewer shares when the price rises. Over time, this strategy can help you reduce the impact of volatility on your portfolio, although it can’t ensure a profit or protect against loss. Plus, systematic investing can give you a sense of discipline, though you’ll need to consider the ability to keep investing when share prices are declining.

• Focus on the future. You’re never really investing for today — you’re doing it to reach goals in the future, sometimes just a few years away, but usually much further out. That’s why it’s so important not to panic when you view those scary headlines announcing big drops in the financial markets, or even when you see negative results in your investment statements. By creating an investment strategy that’s appropriate for your risk tolerance and time horizon, and by focusing on your long-term goals, you can develop the discipline to avoid making hasty, ill-advised decisions during times of stress.

As a millennial, you’ve got a long road ahead of you as you navigate the financial markets. But by following the suggestions above, you may find that journey a little less stressful.

The local sports scene took another hit last week as state American Legion baseball officials announced there would be no season for the sport this summer in North Carolina due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

That followed an earlier announcement by the American Legion that regional and national playoffs were also canceled.

Mark Kahlenberg, who coaches the lone Cumberland County entry, the Hope Mills Boosters, said discussions had been ongoing about the fate of the season in recent weeks, with state Legion officials announcing they would reach a decision on baseball this summer somewhere around April 13.

While no official American Legion baseball season is planned, there has been talk among coaches of some of the teams coming up a non-Legion baseball alternative that would provide those programs around the state that wanted to participate a chance to have something.

Kahlenberg said he’d seen a list of some 10 to 12 teams interested in the alternative season. He also said some teams from the northern part of South Carolina had expressed interest in joining the North Carolina teams if South Carolina should decide to cancel its American Legion baseball season.

But Kahlenberg had multiple reservations about the possibility of a non-Legion baseball league. To begin with, he’s not certain the backer of the Hope Mills Boosters, the Massey Hill Lions Club, would be willing to fund something not affiliated with American Legion baseball.

Further, there would be more expense involved than just paying for officials and travel. Any Legion teams that played in the alternative league would not be allowed to use their official American Legion baseball uniforms or even the official baseballs stamped with the American Legion logo.

Another big concern would be providing for insurance for the players. Kahlenberg said he’s almost certain any policy the teams could purchase would be unlikely to include coverage for the COVID-19 virus. “If something did come up with the virus, I don’t think I would want that on my plate,’’ Kahlenberg said.

Finally, he expects there will be a problem for many teams finding a place to play. The Boosters traditionally play their home games at South View High School. As part of the Cumberland County Schools, South View’s facilities are closed because of the virus, and Kahlenberg doesn’t think they will be opened just for a team that’s not affiliated with American Legion baseball.

The Boosters were also scheduled to play two games at Campbell University, which is also currently shut down.

Kahlenberg is about a month away from the time he would normally have been organizing this year’s team for its first game. According to longtime American Legion baseball coach Doug Watts, who retired in 2018 after 51 years with the program, this will be the first time since 1965 that Cumberland County hasn’t fielded an American Legion baseball team.

Kahlenberg had planned an ambitious 25-game schedule, about five or six more regular season games than Hope Mills normally plays.

A change in the enrollment numbers meant Hope Mills might have been able to add another school to its base this season.

The thing he will miss most, Kahlenberg said, is the camaraderie with the players.

“You have your late nights on the road,’’ he said. “That’s a lot of stories we still talk about. That’s the fun part of it.’’

Restaurants aren’t the only food-related enterprises who’ve had to change the way they operate because of COVID-19.

The ALMS HOUSE ministry in Hope Mills has had to alter how it helps the underprivileged in the area and is in need of extra support during this difficult time.

Delores Schiebe, executive director of the ALMS HOUSE, said people are still coming in to get food, but new restrictions have been put in place to safeguard both the staff and the clients.

The only part of the ALMS HOUSE that is completely shut down is the organization’s clothes closet.

Another major change involves access to the ALMS HOUSE’s popular food pantry.

Clients can no longer just show up to browse the shelves. The food pantry is only open Tuesday through Friday from 9 a.m. until 11 a.m., and all those planning to visit must call ahead for an appointment.

They will need to bring their Social Security card and proof of residence, preferably a current utility bill that includes their physical address.

The ALMS HOUSE can still only be accessed by people who live in the general area of Hope Mills. Schiebe said that basically covers what she described as a big circle around the town, except for a few odd twists and turns. Generally, it includes the area as far out as Raeford Road and almost all the way to the Robeson County line.

People who aren’t sure if they live in Hope Mills area can call Schiebe at the same number to make appointments to visit the food pantry, 910-425-0902, to confirm if they meet the residency requirements.

From noon until 12:30 p.m. and from 5 until 5:30 p.m., the ALMS HOUSE is still serving meals to anyone in need, but they are now strictly takeout.

Schiebe said the ALMS HOUSE has been helped greatly by local businesses that have donated meals for them to distribute. Among them are Fayetteville Realtors, The Diner by Chef Glenn, Sammio’s on Raeford Road, Superior Bakery, Marci’s Cakes and Bakes, Robin’s on Main and Big T’s.

Grandson’s Buffet also donated meals until the restaurant had to shut down because of the additional restrictions imposed by the governor’s executive order, but Schiebe said she hopes they will be able to resume in the near future.

One critical part of the ALMS HOUSE outreach, the Kids Assistance Program, is in danger of having to shut down due to a lack of items. The KAP was designed to provide school-age children with a source of food they could prepare on their own in their homes to make sure they had something to eat over the weekend.

Even though school is currently closed, Schiebe said school social workers are still coming to the ALMS HOUSE and picking up prepared bags of food to deliver to children in the areas where their schools are located.

But Schiebe said supplies of the kind of food used in the bags have been wiped out at local grocery stores. She especially mentioned things like ramen noodle soup and Chef Boyardee products in microwaveable containers.

ALMS HOUSE will accept those donations during regular hours, she said, with no need to make an appointment to drop them off. “We are eager to get it,’’ she said, “especially our need for items for the kids program.’’

 Following in the path of the two Corinthians, here are some more gossamer threads of hope upon which to cling during these highly interesting times. Folklore says the worst curse the ancient Chinese could throw on someone was to wish they live in interesting times. The ancient Chinese may have been right about that, but Chairman Xi and his round-the-clock cover up of Corona Cooties ranks like Avis in a strong second place for misery. But enough about the Chinese Communists. They know who they are.
 This stain upon world literature is written about 10 days before it appears in Up & Coming Weekly. Much can happen between the writing and the publication. There’s many a slip between cup and lip. The news of the day when this drivel was extruded was Dear Leader’s retweet of a Tweet with the hashtag #FireFauci. Dr. Fauci had just committed the sin of saying publicly that if the administration had started preparing sooner, fewer people would have died. The over/under on when Fauci will be fired is April 30. I’m taking the under. The good news is the usual uninformed sources report that Fauci will be replaced by that noted epidemiologist, Dr. Ernest P. Worrell, Ph.D. Old-timers may recall that Worrell used to sell Pine State Ice Cream many years ago.

 Some people think that because Worrell is deceased that he is not a good replacement to be head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Those people would be wrong. Dear Leader prefers a scientist who cannot contradict his magical thoughts of banishing the Corona Cooties by tweet. As Joe Diffie almost sang, “Prop Dr. Worrell up by the juke box even if he’s dead/ Fix him up with a mannequin, just remember he likes blondes/ He’ll be the life of the briefing room, even when he’s dead and gone."

 A dead Worrell who will keep his mouth shut and not cause Dear Leader trouble is better than a live Fauci who keeps trying to interject science into Fantasy Land. Consider Ernest’s cinematic accomplishments, which have the common theme of him not knowing what he is doing. Worrell starred in such excellent films as “Ernest Scared Stupid,” “Ernest Saves Christmas,” “Ernest Goes to Jail,” “Ernest Goes to School,” “Slam Dunk Ernest” and “Ernest Rides Again.” As the science advisor to Dear Leader, Ernest’s incompetence is a consummation devoutly to be wished.

 To take your mind off being stuck at home, I am once again plagiarizing my Facebook page wherein I post a daily dose of good news. Here are some other happy thoughts for you to ponder as you wait like the Eloi in the movie “The Time Machine” to hear the siren sound the all clear, signifying the Morlocks of Corona have left so you can come blinking out of your homes into the light of a Corona-free world.

  Although barbershops and beauty salons are closed, leaving people looking like Cousin It of the “Addams Family,” it doesn’t matter. Due to excess hair, no one will be recognizable. Let the mighty comb-overs begin. Despite the nationwide lack of Corona testing supplies, Granny of the “Beverly Hillbillies” has whipped up a double still full of Granny’s Spring Tonic, which will cure what ails America. Like Roger Miller sang, one swig of Granny’s Spring Tonic and “Chug a lug, chug a lug/ Makes you want to holler hi-de-ho/ Burns your tummy don’t cha know? Chug a lug, chug a lug.”

That is exactly what America needs, something that makes you holler, “Hi-de-ho!” Look for Granny in the far corner of your nearest Walmart parking lot.

 Understanding that America has suffered enough, Yoko Ono has vowed not to sing another note until the Corona Cooties have been left behind in the nation’s rearview mirror. Not to be outdone by Yoko, insurance agent Needle Nose Ned Ryerson of “Ground Hog Day” fame has promised not to try to sell any more life insurance policies until Corona is no more. As Ned would say, “Am I right? Am I right?”

Dear Leader has narrowed his choices for Acting Acting Secretary of the Navy to replace the Bozo who fired Captain Brett Crozier of the carrier Theodore Roosevelt to either Captain Crunch or Captain Kangaroo. Either one would be an improvement over former Acting Secretary Thomas Modly, who walked the plank after he fired Crozier and then told the crew of the Roosevelt that Crozier was either stupid or naïve.

 Finally, and perhaps the brightest light in the gloom of the Corona forest comes the news that the entire medical crew of the MASH 4077th Unit has come out of retirement and reenlisted in the Army to treat Corona patients. That’s right. Hawkeye, Hot Lips, Radar, Col. Potter, Klinger, Trapper John, Frank Burns and Father Mulcahy are coming back to help our real-life medical heroes and heroines save the lives of Americans despite the danger to themselves.

 Heroes still walk among us. Thank you, First Responders. We could not get through this without you.

Who knew that anything could overshadow United States presidential politics?

Every four years, Americans — and many people from other parts of the world — are gripped by the dramas of which presidential candidate said what, who is supporting whom and who will be tapped for the number two spot. We learn about their families and somehow come to believe we actually know them. It is a process that takes months, sometimes years. Some presidential cycles are marked by stunning twists and turns, and some feel more like coronations.

COVID-19 has upended and eclipsed all of that.

The only campaigning is online. Political party conventions, including the one scheduled for Charlotte, will very likely be virtual if they happen at all. The legitimacy of our electoral process is in real question, particularly following the controversial primary in Wisconsin earlier this month. Will our states and territories be able to conduct free and fair elections in November? And if so, how? Can we trust voting machines? Can we trust absentee ballots?

If there is a single undecided, waiting-for-more-information voter in the United States, I have yet to meet him or her or even to see such a voter on television. We are a nation as divided as at any time in our almost two-and-a-half centuries as a country. This is particularly true in a purple state like North Carolina, where political contests are so partisan and bitter that polls struggle to capture an accurate picture. As of this writing, state polling operations favoring Democrats report Democratic candidates ahead of Republican candidates, and Republican polling operations report similar results for their candidates. None of it means anything more than six months ahead of the election.
The truth is that we simply will not know until voting takes place in November under whatever circumstances that occur. The intervening months of campaigning will be unlike any Americans have experienced. Here are some thoughts on the presidential contest.

Love him or loathe him, Republican Donald Trump is a known quantity. What we have seen is exactly what we would get during a second term in office. Trump’s shoot-from-the-hip, confrontational and controversial personal style of governing has great appeal to some Americans; at the same time, it repulses others.

The presumptive Democratic candidate, Joe Biden, is a veteran of half a century of public life and service in the U.S. Senate, but Americans can only speculate about a Biden presidency. His career as a legislator has been one of working across the aisle and inclusion of various constituencies, including selecting a woman as his prospective running mate. Americans could reasonably expect a moderated and traditional presidency from Biden.

In elections past, Americans have said, “I support candidate A, but I can live with candidate B if that is who voters choose.” No one is saying that now. The contrasts between Trump and Biden are clear and stark. While most of us already know which candidate we support, decisions still loom. What face do we want to show the rest of the world? And what does that choice say about the people of the United States? Will we actively campaign for our candidate? Will we participate with our time and treasure? Most importantly, will we get off our sofas and actually cast our votes?

COVID-19 will force Americans to stick close to home for months to come, giving us plenty of time to think through such questions. What we decide will not only chart our nation’s course for at least four years. It will tell us who we are at this point in our national and international life.

When Greg Weber and his wife Marge Betley decided to move to the East Coast from their home in Tulsa, Oklahoma, they knew precisely the kind of community they were looking for. They sought an energetic, dynamic and hospitable community brimming with opportunity. With more than three decades of nonprofit management and development experience, Weber was eager to use his know-how and talents to make a meaningful impact on the community by advancing local cultural and artistic initiatives.

After countless weeks of researching major towns and cities, most were not poised for growth. But when Weber saw the position for the president and CEO at the Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County, he was intrigued. And, he liked what he saw — a vibrant community bursting with potential and a perfect opportunity to use his training, education, experience and passion for supporting and developing the arts and the artists. His resume matched his enthusiasm with his qualifications for this newly chosen endeavor. Weber earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Theater Technology from the University of Missouri in Kansas City and a bachelor’s degree in theatre design and technology from Ball State University in his native Indiana. He also completed a residency in technical theater from the Moscow Art Theater in Russia. Weber has served as managing director to general director and CEO of the Tulsa Opera, Inc. Before that, he worked as the director of production for the San Francisco Opera Association and as technical director for the Houston Grand Opera Association. And, he is already putting these talents to good use.

 Artistic Director of Cape Fear Regional Theatre Mary Kate Burke commented: “Greg Weber has been a welcome addition to the arts scene here in Fayetteville. Greg is passionate about marketing the arts and has increased Fayetteville’s visibility as a tourist destination through his strategic efforts. We look forward to seeing how the economic engine of the arts in Cumberland County thrives under
his tenure!”
Weber hit the ground running. After a short transition period with outgoing president, Deborah Mintz, who spent 25 years at the Arts Council, the last 17 years at the helm leading the organization, Weber and his wife received a warm reception from the Fayetteville community. “We loved Fayetteville from the very start.... When we came to visit, what impressed us most was the love and care shown by the front-line folks — the artists I met, the creative talent that manages the theaters and galleries — these folks are dedicated and working hard to make the community better. They put their self-interests on the shelf and push forward for the benefit of the greater good.”

Fayetteville’s creative community is one that radiates a genuine and refined appreciation for the arts and encourages and supports economic growth endeavors, impresses visitors and guests and enhances the quality of life of the residents of Fayetteville, Fort Bragg and Cumberland County.

From festivals to gallery openings and craft shows to theater performances, you will likely find Weber in attendance in support of the local artists. Arts development is his passion, and he generously shares his education and experience developing raw artistic talent while leveraging support and goodwill to the benefit of the arts community. Considering the amount of cultural activity in the community, the number of local artists and galleries and the enthusiasm for visual art, Weber was surprised that a city the size of Fayetteville was without a museum of art. The success of the public art program demonstrates Fayetteville and Cumberland County residents’ value and desire visual art in their lives. Weber hopes with the help and guidance from community leaders that there will be a museum of art in Fayetteville’s future.

It’s been a little over a year since Weber took the helm of the Arts Council, implementing creative initiatives, nurturing existing relationships and creating new ones that can grow and strengthen the awareness of cultural arts. He is a constant cheerleader for the community and puts forth a convincing argument that a healthy arts community is a worthwhile investment that pays big dividends. He is also not shy about telling people that in addition to art, Fayetteville is a community that has something to offer everyone: culture, history, sports, family-friendly entertainment and an overabundance of great restaurants serving international cuisine from all over the globe. 

“My colleagues from around the world, when they found out I moved here, said ‘Fayette what? Where is this place and why are you going there?’ It piqued their interest in wanting to know more about Fayetteville,” Weber said. He found Fayetteville very easy to talk about, admitting that there is so much more here than people realize. He boasts about the many working studios, galleries, talented artists and the local commitment to arts education at all levels — public/private schools, Fayetteville Technical Community College, Fayetteville State University and Methodist University. Weber is not shy about his enthusiasm for Fayetteville and continually invites people to come and experience it firsthand.

Weber’s brand of optimism, enthusiasm and passion for the arts is hard to come by, even on the best of days. Now, throw in a global pandemic, and maintaining that level of spirit and commitment can be a real challenge. But he sees it as just another opportunity to be creative. Weber was forthcoming in his opinion that this worldwide COVID-19 pandemic makes people rethink their position on a lot of things. “My favorite movie is ‘Miracle on 34th Street.’ said Weber. “At the end, the little girl thinks everything is going to collapse around her — and she is mumbling to herself as the world is collapsing – ‘I believe … I believe … it’s silly, but I believe.’” Well, that is exactly where he and his commitment to the arts stand in Cumberland County. He believes in innovative ideas, hard work and, most of all, he believes in humanity. And, he believes we will all bounce back from this crisis.

It is this kind of positive and progressive thinking that inspires an artist’s creativity. One example of this is the Arts Council’s newly launched initiative, Hay Street Live, which is a virtual jam session created by Weber and his staff. According to Weber, they select local artists and art venues to share with the general public. Visit https://www.wearethearts.com/hay-street-live to learn more. They also invite other local special guests to add more fun and variety and to support other local businesses through the crisis. One popular idea was to reach out and connect with local restaurants and bars to bring on their top mixologists to showcase their signature drink and share their recipe with the audience while and promoting the mixologist’s restaurant.

The Arts Council is not the only arts organization using innovative ways to connect with and serve their audiences. Online art and music classes, online watch parties and digital gallery tours are a few other vehicles closing the gap between creators and consumers. Singers, songwriters and bands use apps to come together (separately) and make music and then share it for free. Nationally, celebrities from all art disciplines welcome their fans into their private homes via social media and online streaming. It’s an intimate and entertaining experience, much more so than a recorded studio performance. The Arts Council hopes more local artists will do the same.

Weber will be the first to admit that during the COVID-19 crisis, it was the outpouring of support, encouragement, attitude and the neighbor-helping-neighbor  community  that attracted him and his wife to Fayetteville in the first place.  It’s times like these, though uncomfortable and frightening, that bring out the best in people. Art enhances our lives. “This crisis will not last forever,” said Weber. “I want people to remember that during this time, many of the things that kept us sane, happy and moving forward were not political, mathematical or cynical. What kept us going was talking to our neighbors, our kids and interacting with our families.”

 Art is one of the soothing amenities that will help humanity through this crisis. And in the end, it is people like Weber who will ensure that the arts continue to grow and prosper in the Fayetteville and Cumberland County community.