Some individuals in Cumberland County with traumatic brain injury, also known as TBI, could be getting some assistance. A TBI is classified as an injury to the brain that has been caused by an external force. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website, “Effects of TBI can include impaired thinking or memory, movement, sensation (e.g., vision or hearing), or emotional functioning (e.g., personality changes, depression).”

The CDC estimates the prevalence rate of TBI to be 2 percent of the population, which is approximately 200,000 North Carolinians. 

Last November, the Joint Legislative Committee on Health and Human Services introduced an Adult and Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury Pilot Program (S.L. 2017-57, Section 11F.9; Senate Bill 582). According to a document prepared by Dave Richard and Mark Benton of the Department of Health and Human Services, “The purpose is to increase compliance with internationally approved evidence-based treatment guidelines. The goals include reduction in patient mortality, improve patient level of recovery and reduce longterm care costs.”

The General Assembly, last fall, approved $450,000 in funding to allow between three and five hospitals to participate in a TBI pilot program. Senate Bill 582 indicates that $150,000 was committed for the program in the 2017-18 state budget with $300,000 committed to the 2018-19 state budget. The funding was appropriated to the North Carolina Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse.

Alliance Behavioral Healthcare was selected by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services to administer the pilot waiver for TBI in its four-county service region. Cumberland County is one of the four counties. The other counties Alliance serves are Durham, Johnston and Wake. Medicare and Medicaid Services recently approved the waiver for implementation in late summer 2018. 

“This waiver is an important milestone in North Carolina’s commitment to improving the life and well-being of individuals who experience a traumatic brain injury,” said DHHS Secretary Mandy Cohen, M.D. “The waiver includes rehabilitation services such as supported employment, life skills training, cognitive rehabilitation and day supports.”

The TBI waiver program is designed to provide community-based rehabilitative services and support to help TBI patients with recovery. TBI patients will need to meet certain eligibility criteria to participate. The TBI will have to have happened on or after their 22nd birthday. They need to have cognitive, behavioral and physical support needs. 

The TBI patients will also need to meet certain financial eligibility requirements. A news release from NCDHHS states, “To qualify, the adults must require the level of care for a nursing facility or specialty rehabilitation hospital.” This pilot will last three years. In the first year, the waiver will include 49 individuals participating, increasing each year to 107 participants by year three. The TBI pilot program will launch in late summer 2018.

If you have questions about eligibility, call Alliance’s 24-hour Access and Information line at 800-510-9132. Alliance is asking that callers please specifically ask for information on the TBI waiver when they call. Callers should expect to experience a brief crisis screening initially.

Over the last 12 months, I have been a traveling fool. 

Perhaps I am making up for all the years I could not travel because of family and work obligations. Perhaps I feel the increasingly heavy press of time. Probably it is both, coupled with a real curiosity about the rest of the world and how others live.

My most recent travels have taken me to Africa on safari in Tanzania last summer and last month to Peru and Bolivia. I never imagined hiking in the Andes, but I did at 13,000 feet or so and lived to report it. Such trips add immeasurably to my understanding of the world in all sorts of ways, including what people eat in other places. 

My practice is to try most anything once – not quite CNN’s Anthony Bourdain, but I have tasted and enjoyed lots of new dishes. I drew the line only once in Peru, which has a signature delicacy called cuy. What exactly is cuy? Cuy is what you and I know as guinea pig, and a Dickson Precious Jewel had an albino guinea pig named Ace (Ventura) as a pet when he was in the second grade. That did it for me, and our guide consoled me with this thought. If you name it, don’t eat it – and I did not. We did discover a small village devoted to cuy restaurants. Note my facial reaction in the attached photo. Full disclosure. I never really loved Ace myself, but that does not mean I could eat him or any of his distant relatives.

Interestingly, though, I lost a little weight on both trips even though I ate almost anything that crossed my plate, including breads and dessert most days. 

The reason, I now believe, is that countries like Tanzania, Peru and Bolivia do not have the processed and preserved foods that are staples for us. Most families grow and raise most of what they eat and shop daily for the rest in small local shops. The fare is not especially gourmet, but it is absolutely fresh and prepared and eaten within a short period of time. What you and I think of as a full-service supermarket is almost nonexistent in these countries. The few that may be spotted in major cities still differ from ours in that they offer fresh local meats and produce, not products that have been preserved and transported thousands of miles to get to their tables.

All of this has reminded me yet again that food shopping in our mega groceries, offering everything from actual food to tooth brushes and insect repellant, must be strategic. Wandering around is rarely a healthy option. Planning ahead can keep you and your family healthier.

Here are a few tips I have gleaned over the years and try to practice, some days with more success than on others.

If what you pick up has ingredients that sound more like a chemistry lab than coming from plants or animals, you might consider putting it back on the shelf. Ditto if the words “processed” or “preservative” are on the package, especially if they appear more than once.

Shop the perimeter of your supermarket for produce, meats and dairy items. Skip the interior aisles filled with processed cookies, crackers, chips loaded with calories and low in nutrition

Keep an eye on people you know who are healthy and of normal weight. They are doing something right, so consider following their examples.

Acknowledge that restaurant portions are way too generous. Think about putting part of your order in a “to go” box at the outset. That way you will not over eat, and you will have another meal for later. Remember, too, that luscious as they may be, buffets are not your friends for healthy eating.

Try not to let yourself get too hungry between meals so that the next meal or snack turns into a total rout of everything edible within sight.

So, travel when you can to learn how others live, whether it is to the next state or the next continent. It will enrich your life, and – as a prescription drug TV spot says – “it may even help you lose a little weight.

Jaden Pone

Gray’s Creek • Softball •

Freshman

Pone helped lead the Bears’ softball team to a berth in the state 3-A playoffs while managing a grade point average of 3.5.

Angel Aviles

Seventy-First • Bowling •

Junior

Aviles has a grade point average of 4.0. In addition to bowling, he participates in Skills USA and is a member of the Academy of Scholars.

Terry Sanford finished a dominant year in the Patriot Athletic Conference by bringing home the Maxwell/Wells Fargo Trophy for overall athletic excellence.

The Bulldogs won or shared conference championships in seven sports. They won at least two conference titles in all three major seasons of the school year, and ended with a flourish in the spring as they took titles in boys tennis, baseball and girls soccer. All three of those spring teams made deep runs in the N.C. High School Athletic Association state playoffs, each making it at least to the third round or beyond.

Final point totals saw Terry Sanford outdistance second-place Cape Fear, last year’s winner of the trophy, with 137 points to 129.5.

Pine Forest was third with 122, followed by South View with 110, Gray’s Creek 107, Overhills 101, E.E. Smith 54, Westover 44 and Douglas Byrd 32.5.

When it was created in 1979, the Maxwell Cup was an all-sports trophy for Cumberland County schools. Since that time, as schools have been moved into different leagues, it’s become a joint all-sports award with the NCHSAA’s Wells Fargo Cup that goes to the best overall athletic program in each conference. Now that eight of the 10 Cumberland County senior high schools are in the Patriot Conference, the Maxwell is presented to the best school in that league along with the Wells Fargo Cup.

“We encourage multi-sport athletes,” said Terry Sanford athletic director Liz McGowan. “There’s a lot of truth that kids who play sports have to be more organized with their time. They end up being stronger students because they are using their time wisely.’’

McGowan said the coaching staff at Terry Sanford works together to make the sharing of athletes between different sports successful. “A lot of our kids end up going Division 1 or Division 2 after they leave us,” she said.

A couple of multi-sport athletes, Maggie Hodge and Dante Bowlding, share McGowan’s view of the coaches at Terry Sanford.

Hodge participates in cross-country, swimming and track and field. “I’m with smaller teams, and you really get to build a tighter connection with your coaches,” she said.

Bowlding was part of two conference championship teams for the Bulldogs, basketball and football. 

A junior, Bowlding will have a chance next year to help keep the Maxwell Cup at Terry Sanford. He already knows what the key will be to doing that.

“Leadership,’’ he said. “Leading by example. Doing everything I can to help my team.’’

Photo: L to R: Maggie Hodge, Dante Bowlding and Terry Sanford athletic director Liz McGowan.

It began innocently enough in November of last year. Political newcomer Tyrone Williams was elected to an open District 2 Fayetteville City Council seat. He placed first in a crowded field of 10 candidates to replace councilman Kirk deViere, who decided to run for state senate rather than seek re-election. 

A few weeks after his election, Williams and his campaign manager, T.J. Jenkins, met with downtown Fayetteville commercial developer Jordan Jones. Jenkins had arranged the meeting with Jones, indicating there was an apparent problem with the legal title to the former Prince Charles Hotel, which Jenkins indicated Williams could clear up.

The firm, in which Jones is an investor, had purchased the building in bankruptcy for $200,000. Jones became suspicious, and that may be when the FBI’s Public Corruption unit was called in by the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina. It isn’t known if any indictments will come out of the federal investigation. 

“I know that my meeting with Mr. Jordan Jones of Prince Charles Holdings, LLC, in December 2017, has caused turmoil for the city,” Williams said in a lengthy statement issued when he resigned. 

“It’s unfortunate that things worked out the way they did; the people of District 2 just didn’t know him,” former Cumberland County Commissioner Billy R. King said of Williams. According to published reports, Williams has a checkered past when it comes to business dealings. And he lied when he said publicly that he had a financial interest in PCH Holdings, the firm restoring the Prince Charles.

Jones’ firm had conducted a title search and found the iconic eight-story Hay Street building is clear of any issues. A title search is performed primarily to answer three questions regarding a property on the market: Does the seller have a saleable and marketable interest in the property? What kind of restrictions or allowances pertain to the use of the land? These include real covenants, easements and other equitable servitudes. Do any liens exist on the property that need to be paid off at closing? 

A title search is also performed when an owner wishes to mortgage property and the bank requires the owner to insure the transaction. Jones’ firm acquired two bank loans totaling $13 million to pay for the renovation of the building. He told Up & Coming Weekly that interior restoration of the 90-year-old structure is on schedule. It will be followed by about five months of work to restore the historical facade. Jones hopes to have 61 apartments available by the end of this year. 

Some plans for the former eight-story ballroom have changed. A posh, high-end apartment was planned originally, but Jones said it didn’t appear the market would support a $3,000 monthly rental fee. So, it will be converted into an office. At least two restaurants, a coffee shop and a couple small retail stores will occupy the first floor. Jones’ greatgrandfather built the hotel in 1924. 

After resisting demands from his city council colleagues to resign, as well as a legal procedure to remove him from office, Williams finally caved and stepped down early this month. 

What about Jenkins? Fayetteville Mayor Mitch Colvin asked him to resign his position on a city council advisory committee. Entrepreneur Wilson Lacy said Jenkins was removed from his recently acquired post as president of the Fayetteville Business and Professional League. 

Williams’ resignation brought relief for city council and was accepted. “If you’re an elected official, you ought to understand the importance of avoiding ethical lapses and the perceptions most likely to accompany secret meetings asking for money if you expect to be successful in the political arena,” said civic leader Troy Williams. 

Fayetteville Observer columnist Myron Pitts said of Williams, “He lied to his council colleagues about having a financial interest in the current Prince Charles project, forcing the council to retake some key votes on the stadium and the other projects. He also lied about informing the mayor and city attorney about his alleged conflict of interest in February.”

Five people interested in being appointed to fill the District 2 position recently attended a meeting at Second Missionary Baptist Church on Old Wilmington Road. Patricia Bradley, Len Brown, Sharon Moyer, Paul Taylor and Dan Culliton asked the more than 100 people in attendance to support them. Several others spoke, some of them in support of the interested candidates. Others who filed to seek the District 2 seat were Vernell Cruz, Mary “Bunny” English, William Gothard, George Mitchell and George Turner.

Two-term Cumberland County Commissioner Charles Evans organized the public meeting and was joined by Mayor Colvin, who served as master of ceremonies. Evans once served as District 2 councilman and has since become one of the community’s influential political figures. In addition to Evans, immediate past District 2 council member deViere and former council member Mabel Smith were in attendance. Williams was not mentioned at all during the hourlong meeting. 

District 2 is the largest and most racially diverse of the city’s nine districts. It encompasses the downtown area, much of the impoverished inner-city residential areas and a portion of Haymount Hill.

The application process to succeed Williams has ended, and now it’s up to city council. Each applicant will address city council at a meeting on May 29. Council will hold a hearing to take citizen input June 5. They’ll make their decision June 11 and will install the new member June 25. 

The city of Fayetteville’s next fiscal year will begin July 1 with a new governing body and fresh hopes for a better community.

Come on, folks! Four years terms for our elected officials? Are you kidding? Is this community so sadistic and hellbent on fulfilling that predetermined and haunting conclusion that Fayetteville and Cumberland County will always find a way to rip defeat from the jaws of victory?

No doubt Fayetteville is experiencing a growth spurt stimulated by the new $38 million baseball stadium and the Houston Astros’ 30-year commitment to play ball in the city. Currently, we have about $100 million of new economic development in downtown Fayetteville. This is a good thing, but the prevailing question in the minds of many residents is “does this community have the dedicated, intelligent and business-savvy leadership capable of managing growth of this magnitude?” Many think not. 

And this comes on the heels of the unfortunate situation Fayetteville just endured with ex-District 2 Councilman Tyrone Williams. Williams resigned his position several weeks ago in disgrace after the city council voted to start the process to officially remove him from office for perceived ethics violations that took place within weeks of his tenure. 

Many city and county residents feel this situation demonstrates the prevalence and permeation of the problem of having unqualified and incompetent people in leadership at municipal and county government levels. Political correctness and apathy are major disincentives for nurturing good, honest and well-educated people to seek offices of leadership. 

If our community is to move forward and achieve social, cultural and economic stability on par with our North Carolina counterparts, we must find a way to encourage strong and capable citizens to step forward to serve this community while discouraging those opportunists who only intend to park themselves in those positions for convenience and prestige and to enjoy a source of supplemental income. 

These posers are easy to identify. They contribute little or nothing by way of innovative thought or vision while mastering only the art of getting elected. Anyone who attends Fayetteville City Council or Cumberland County Commissioners meetings on a regular basis or watches them on TV can easily identify these governmental freeloaders. Here are the three of the most common and conspicuous signs:

1. They lack intellectual capacity, which makes them appear confused on the simplest matters, rendering them helpless to reasonably evaluate the magnitude of situations affecting the city and county.

2. They have an impulsive and constant need to grandstand for the gallery or TV cameras. This manifests itself in the asking of dumb and irrelevant questions while elaborating on Mr. Obvious-style observations. This kind of conspicuous behavior wastes time and serves as a motivated diversion to cover up the fact that:

3. They have shown up unaware of priorities and unprepared for the meeting. This is obvious to the informed public and even more obvious, distressing and annoying to those commissioners and councilmen trying to rightfully serve their constituents. The most frequent and recurring complaint we hear is “…they just don’t read their packets.” Packets refer to the information provided to them in advance of the meeting about the topics and details of what is going to be covered in that meeting. They receive these packets so they can be informed of the issues and business of government.

Four-year terms should not be the remedy or reward for those whose talents lie only in knowing how to get elected in a mostly protected district. Nor should this kind of behavior go unchallenged or be accepted by constituents. Two-year terms are plenty long enough to learn proper policies and procedures of our local government. 

I’ll close with these related thoughts and warnings of sorts: Political correctness inhibits free speech and restricts our right to free expression. This is what gave us Tyrone Williams. There was no vetting. Way too many people, including prominent, well-positioned citizens, knew of Williams’ character (or lack thereof), his reputation and dubious business dealings. Yet, no one came forward. 

Additionally, our entire community should always be skeptical of people who show up on the political scene seeking office without any previous community involvement, voice, presence or involvement in the process of government. At some point, we need to ask why and not be afraid of the answer or consequence. 

The answer needs to be much more substantial than “it’s a white district” or “it’s a black district” or whether it’s a Democrat or Republican seat, or “wow, I could use the money.”

Fayetteville and Cumberland County need people who care. We need leaders who have integrity, competence and intelligence. We need leaders who are visionaries.

If our elected officials don’t have these qualities or can’t prove their worth in two years, they will not be able to do it in four years. Let’s be realistic and practical in this decision. 

Let the people decide. In the meantime, think about this: What cost- or tax-saving measures have been introduced or initiated during the last two years?

Thanks for reading Up & Coming Weekly

Eli O’Neal

Jack Britt

• Basketball

• Junior

O’Neal has a gradepoint average of 3.5.

He enjoys basketball, math and riding the bicycle.

Summer Powell

Gray’s Creek

• Softball

• Sophomore

Powell has a 3.83 gradepoint average.

She has been chosen toplay for the Region 4 team in this summer’s Powerade State Games.

The N.C. High School Athletic Association playoffsThe N.C. High School Athletic Association playoffs in a number of team sports began last week,and schools anxiously awaited the reveal of the playoff brackets that would be seeded using the process incorporating the statewide rankings calculatedby MaxPreps.

Two teams with especially high expectations were the girls soccer squad from Terry Sanford and the softball team from Cape Fear. Both completed the regular season with perfect records.

But when the rankings came out, Terry Sanford was only seeded third among the soccer teams in the Eastern half ofthe state. Cape Fear fared better, but likeTerry Sanford, was behind teams that suffered losses on their overall recordsand also took the third seed.

So why the lowered rankings for both? The answer lies in something called strength of schedule.

One of the critical factors incorporated into the ranking process is how good the teams you play against are. If you’ll takea look at the MaxPreps statewide rankings, you’llsee they’ve got a low opinion of the teams Terry Sanford and Cape Fear faced this season.

Of the top 20 soccer teams in North Carolina in the MaxPreps 3-A soccer rankings, Terry Sanford was the only one with a negative strength of schedule. Cape Fear and Hillsborough Cedar Ridgeare the only top 20 3-A softball teams with negative strength of schedule ratings.

A big part of the problem for both Cape Fear and Terry Sanford is the teams they are forced to play in the Patriot Athletic Conference. Twice a year, both the Colt softball team and the Bulldog soccer team are forced to line up against multiple league opponents with really bad overall records.

In games where both teams often win by the mercy rule, they take a beating in the strength of schedule computations and it drags them down in the seedingfor when it really counts, the state playoffs.

Is there a cure, since it appears statewide rankings and strength of schedule calculations aren’t going to be disappearing anytime soon? Possibly, but it’s a complicated one and could create another headache for some other schools.There have been informal conversations among some county coaches and athletic directors in sports where teams play each other twice in the conference to make a radical change in the conference schedule.The change would be to just play one conference game with each team in the league and possibly even eliminate the conference tournament.

What does that accomplish? For the schools with serious designs on the state playoffs, it gives them up to six or seven more games they can schedule, allowing them to shop around the region and state and tryto find nonconference matchups with competitive programs that wouldn’t take the air out of their strength of schedule.

But then you’ve got the other sideof the coin. What happens to those conference teams with sub-par programs that suddenly lose half their conference slate? How can you guarantee them enough games to fill out a schedule? Would they be limited to trying to find other struggling teams to play against?

These discussions have been completely informal so far, and no one is proposing anything concrete.But I think it’s at least worth exploring, as long as both strong and weak programs can be assured of getting enough games to fill the schedule and charge admission. That’s because paying the bills is crucial,and you’ve got to have a full slate of games to do that,even for a small crowd.

The other option, and this is the better one but would take a lot more work to accomplish, would be to upgrade the struggling teams in the various sports that are dragging down strength of schedule for the other ones.This whole thing may be a knee-jerk reaction to the problem, but whatever is done, it’s obvious coaches and athletic directors need to be thinking outside the box long-term and trying to find an answer to this problem.

The days of just putting one cookie-cutter schedule template together for all sports are over.If seeding and strength of schedule are going to bea part of the playoff process annually, it has to be addressed in the schedule process sport by sport to give everyone a fair chance of the best ranking possible.

When Cape Fear athletic director Matt McLeanWhen Cape Fear athletic director Matt McLeancame to assistant football coach Joe Grates with theidea of starting a team in something called UltimateFrisbee, Grates first thought it was a joke.

But when he had an interest meeting and 100students showed up, he realized there might besomething to it.

Cape Fear recently completed its first season ina Raleigh-based Ultimate Frisbee league, compilinga 9-4 record and finishing fifth place in the16-team league.

Ultimate Frisbee is a hybrid sport that combineselements of football, basketball and soccer accordingto Grates. It’s played on a field about half the sizeof a football field and involves advancing a Frisbeedown the field and moving it over the goal line toscore a single point.

Games usually take about 90 minutes to play, andthe first team to 15 points is the winner.

Moving the Frisbee up and down the field is thecomplicated part.

“Once you catch the disc, you can’t run with it,’’Grates said. Just like in basketball, you can be calledfor traveling, but you are allowed to keep your pivot foot in place and turn while standing on it.

You advance the disc with short or long passes to teammates.

Another tricky thing is this is a no-contact sport.You can defend and impede the progress of opposing players, but not by bumping or jostling them around.

Throwing the disc may be the biggest challenge,Grates said. “There’s two types of throws, backhandand forehand,’’ he said. The backhand, or flick, is the tougher of the two. “It’s a skill and has to be practiced,’’he said. “It’s not as easy as it looks.’’

There are five players per team on the field at atime, no officials. “It’s totally self-governed by the kids,’’ Grates said. “They have to resolve disputes ontheir own. That’s kind of the spirit of the game.’’

Grates had about 18 players on the team as the season was winding down, and there was quite a mix as far as the types of players.“We’ve got football players, soccer players, band guys, basketball players and swimmers,’’ he said,“guys looking to get a workout and have a good time.’’Grates added the competition offers skill development in a variety of areas. “It’s great agility for football,soccer and basketball,’’ he said. “It’s the same kind of skill set with the cuts and movement.’’

He also said it provides great conditioning for big guys like Cape Fear football offensive tackle Caleb Krings. “He’s deceptively fast, and he’s slimmed down playing this, too,’’ Grates said. “It’s an amazing aerobic workout.’’

Krings said he thought the game was a little funny at first but that it’s a great way to stay in shape and gives him a sport to play in the spring instead of going home after school.

“It’s not just going out in the backyard and playing,’’he said. “We get out here to stay in shape.’’

Trace Cannady, who plays center for the Colt football team, said the game helps him with his footwork.“The competition is there but it’s relaxed,’’ he said. He said there’s plenty of conditioning because of all the running.

Grates said he can attest to the last part. “It’s helped me lose 20 pounds,’’ he said.

There’s no swimming in Hope Mills Lake for the time being, but it appears town officials will be swimming through a lot of red tape in the weeks ahead to get approval before residents can take advantage of the restored town landmark. 

According to Beth Brown, the town’s stormwater administrator, there’s no one on the town staff with a background in lake management. Brown said her background is in stormwater and stream standards, adding that the rules governing lakes are considerably different.

Microbac Laboratories on Hope Mills Road, which does stormwater testing for the town, was asked to conduct a test of the water in the lake.

Town manager Melissa Adams shared a report on the results of the test at the most recent meeting of the town’s board of commissioners.

The swimming area tested over the regulatory limit for fecal coliform, a form of bacteria commonly found in the intestines of humans and animals.

The bacteria itself isn’t likely to cause illness, according to information on the N.C. Public Health website, but its presence in water indicates other disease-causing organisms could be in the water.

The next steps involved in determining the quality of the water in the lake are in the hands of outside agencies, Brown and Adams said.

Those two agencies are a company called Mogensen Mitigation and the North Carolina Division of Water Resources.

When water returned to Hope Mills Lake earlier this year, the town was required to have a contract with Mogensen Mitigation starting on May 1.

Mogensen will test the lake for dissolved oxygen, temperature and water depth for the first year water is impounded in the lake.

This is done in accordance with requirements from the Division of Water Resources and the U.S.Army Corps of Engineers.

However, these tests have nothing to do with the safety of the water for human swimming. They are involved with determining the quality of the water for the aquatic life in the lake.

How safe the water is for swimming falls under the jurisdiction of the Division of Water Resources.

“We have reached out to the Division of Water Resources to try to find out who is responsible for testing and what parameters we need to be testing for to determine if it’s safe for public swimming,’’ Brown said. There is a Fayetteville office for the Division of Water Services, but as of May 8, Brown said no one from that office had responded or given any indication when they would respond.

Swimming in the lake was suspended immediately, effective May 4. Adams said the town was caught by surprise that people were already swimming this early and decided to institute the ban for the safety of everyone.

While swimming is temporarily banned, Adams said people are not prohibited from using the lake for boating and fishing as long as they don’t go into the water.

All fishing at the lake is catch and release until the fish population is allowed to grow.

If the safety of the water becomes a greater concern, Adams said there could be later discussion about curtailing boating activities as well.

Meetings

For details about all meetings and activities, including location where not listed, call Town Clerk Debbie Holland at 910-426-4113. Most meetings take place at Town Hall.

• Citizens Academy every Tuesday through June, 6-8 p.m.

• Lake Celebration Committee Monday, May 21, 5 p.m.

• Board of Adjustment Monday, May 21, 6 p.m.

• Mayor’s Youth Committee Monday, May 21, 6:30 p.m.

• Board of Commissioners Monday, May 21, 7 p.m.

• Appearance Committee Tuesday, May 22, 6:30 p.m.

• Veterans Affairs Commissioner Thursday, May 24, 7 p.m.

Activities

• Hope Mills Area Kiwanis Club at Sammio’s, second Tuesdays at noon at and fourth Tuesdays at 6 p.m. For more information, call 910-237-1240.

• Town offices closed for Memorial Day Monday, May 28.

• Fall sports registration June 1-July 28. $30 per child; $15 late fee after registration deadline. Season begins Sept. 8. Call 910-426-4109 for more information.

• Daddy/Daughter Dinner & Dance Saturday, June 9,6 p.m. $50 per couple plus $20 for each additional ticket purchased. Call 910-426-4107 to RSVP by June 1.

• First Annual 4th of July Pageant Friday-Saturday, June 22-23. To be held at Hope Mills Parks & Recreation Center Gymnasium. Friday is for ages 3-9 and Saturday is for ages 10-22. Pageant registration deadline is June 1. For more information, call 910-426-4107.

Promote yourself: To include your business’s event, emailhopemills@upandcomingweekly.com.

Hope Mills has a lot of projects to bring to the table when the town takes part in the upcoming Building Business Rally at Fayetteville Technical Community College on May 22 in the Horace Sisk Gymnasium. 

The event, which runs from 3 p.m. until 7 p.m. that day, offers local builders and contractors the chance to connect with representatives from local municipalities and schools to learn about various projects they’ve got in the works and, hopefully, increase the chances of the two working together.

Registration is available online at faybids.com or at the door the day of the event, said Chancer McLaughlin, the development and planning administrator for the town of Hope Mills.

“It’s an event intended to bring area purchasing offices together, to be able to provide opportunities for local businesses to bid on municipal projects,’’ he said. “It’s almost like a one-stop shop in terms of businesses being able to come and find out about these opportunities.’’

While, in most cases, municipalities are required to take the low bid in a competitive search for the best deal, McLaughlin said what the rally does most of all is make smaller local contractors aware of the projects that are available.

“Basically, you have 10 purchasing offices, 12 business support programs, everybody from the town of Hope Mills, PWC, city of Fayetteville, Cumberland County Schools, Hoke County, city of Spring Lake – all of us will be there to provide information to any local business that would like to do business with these municipalities.

“We’re definitely trying to push for an increase in local participation so they can be prepared for these opportunities as well,’’ McLaughlin said. “It’s not about being able to get a lower bid. It’s really just to know about the bid opportunity. I don’t think there’s anything we’re going to provide that will allow someone’s light bulb to go on and say, ‘This will teach me how to become a lower bidder.’’’

McLaughlin said the gathering could be a real plus to small builders and contractors who might encounter a larger contractor they could connect with. “Local contractors will know who the big contractors are, so they can link up that way,’’ he said. “There may be bid packages for those smaller businesses, things they can do directly. It’s definitely an opportunity for these smaller businesses to grow.’’

McLaughlin said Hope Mills has a five-year list of projects that it will be sharing at the meeting.

“Our total from fiscal year 2017 to 2022 is $34 million, so that’s what we’ll have in terms of available expenditures we’re projecting,’’ he said.

Some of the bigger projects on the Hope Mills list are a joint services building for the fire and police departments, the future construction being discussed on the old Hope Mills Golf Course property, the planned Heritage Park and the proposed town museum.

“It’s really a projection of upcoming opportunities and trying to find the best way to get this information out there so it increases their opportunity to bid on these projects,’’ McLaughlin said.

“The town of Hope Mills is definitely committed to supporting local businesses. We are eager to be apart of this program.’’

For further information on the Building Business Rally, visit faybids.com or call Lexi Hasapis at PWC at 910-223-4607.

Here is a newspaper headline from last week: “A ‘palace’ in NC: One of the state’s largest homes is for sale.”

Must be the Biltmore House in Asheville, I thought. Then I kept reading. No, the 16,000-square-foot home in the headlines is in Rougemont, a high-end Durham suburb. You can buy it for $6.95 million.

But if you owned it, you would not come close to having one of the largest houses. Just for comparison’s sake, the White House has 50,000 square feet. President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago has 62,500. Whitehall, the Palm Beach house Henry Flagler built for his North Carolina bride, Mary Lily Kenan, is 60,000.

Another large North Carolina-connected house, Duke Farms, built in New Jersey by James B. Duke, had 58,000, until it was taken down in 2016.

But if you are still thinking Asheville’s Biltmore House, you have the right idea. With a reported area of 175,000 square feet, it is by far the largest privately owned house in the United States.

It is also one of the country’s most visited attractions.The mansion with 250 rooms is packed full of art, antiques, architecture, books, collections of vintage clothing and other accessories representative of the Gilded Age. The house is part of an 8,000-acre compound containing expansive gardens and landscapes, the first managed forest in the country, a deer park, miles of level paths and walking trails, a section of the French Broad River and a winery that enjoys a growing reputation.

On a typical day, thousands of visitors pay up to $75 for a one-time visit to the attractions. If it sounds expensive, it is really a bargain compared to a trip to France to see something comparable.

How did this world-class attraction come to be in North Carolina?

In her latest book, “The Last Castle: The Epic Story of Love, Loss and American Royalty in the Nation’s Largest Home,” Denise Kiernan tells the story of how and why the Biltmore House was built and how its gradual transformation to a high-class tourist attraction made its survival possible.

In 1888, George Washington Vanderbilt, a young wealthy bachelor, and his mother came to Asheville to take advantage of the healthy mountain air. On horseback rides around the surrounding mountains and forest, George was enthralled. Through agents, he began the secret and systematic purchase of thousands and the tens of thousands of forest and farm lands. Ultimately, more than 100,000 of these acres became the nucleus of the Pisgah National Forrest.

George also decided to build a home for himself and his mom. The idea began modestly, but after a trip to the Loire Valley in France with the famed architect Richard Morris Hunt, plans expanded. The designer of Central Park, Frederick Law Olmsted, was brought on to design the landscape, and Gifford Pinchot agreed to plan for the massive forests.

The house opened in 1895. Kiernan told merecently that it might have been simply a 275-room “man-cave” for the then aging George. In 1898 he married Edith Stuyvesant Dresser, and in 1900 their daughter, Cornelia, was born at Biltmore.

In Kiernan’s opinion, Edith is the great hero of the Biltmore story. When George died in 1914, financial challenges had surrounded the Biltmore operation. Edith took the lead. She secured and followed expert advice that required painful cutbacks and sales of beloved projects. Later, she arranged for the sale of most of the forest properties.

In 1924, Cornelia married British diplomat John Cecil. Although their marriage did not last, their sons, William and George, and their families took charge of the aging castle. They developed a sustainable and profitable business model that assures our state will have our country’s largest privately owned house for many years to come.

There is a familiar kind of political argument that goes something like this: “I know we are politically divided. I think that partisanship has its place – butsurely there is no need to make (fill in the blank) apartisan issue.”

Politicos routinely claim that education shouldn’t be a partisan issue or health care shouldn’t be a partisan issue or whatever because of course we all care about good schools, good medical care and other good things. What comes next, all too often, is a passionate argument for a particular policy, one disproportionately favored by either Democrats or Republicans.

I don’t think such rhetoric is dishonest, for the most part. Human nature takes over. We all tend to see our own views as reasonable applications of broadly accepted principles while describing alternative views as informed by narrow special interests or partisan gamesmanship.

Most of these partisan divides aren’t artificial. They accurately reflect deep, persistent differences in values, assumptions and even definitions of terms. Few policy issues are immune from the effects.

Take the very pragmatic, seemingly non-ideological question of how to structure and deliver public services to local communities. Progressive Democrats and conservative Republicans tend to disagree about issues such as housing regulation, mass transit, street design, and growth controls not because of external pressure by special-interest groups but because their preferences are fundamentally different.

A recent poll question from the Pew Research Centerties this up well. Asked whether they would rather live in communities where “the houses are larger and farther apart, but schools, stores and restaurants are several miles away” or in communities where “the houses are smaller and closer to each other, but schools, stores, and restaurants are within walking distance,” voters as a whole were evenly divided – 49 percent favoring the former, 48 percent favoring the latter.

But ideology was a strong predictor of who preferred which option. Among the respondents who were most consistently left-wing on other issues (from fiscal policy to foreign affairs), 77 percent said they’d prefer the option often described as “smart growth,” the more-walkable communities with higher densities. Correspondingly, among the most conservative respondents on other issues, 75 percent said they’d prefer the less-compact suburban option, a model my John Locke Foundation colleagues have long described as “flex growth.”

The present task is not to explore all the growth policy arguments and counter arguments that lie beneath this philosophical disagreement. My sympathies lie with my fellow flex-growthers, to be sure, but that’s a topic for another day.

Rather, I will point out that in North Carolina, as in most other states, voters are acting on their personal preferences and policy priorities not just with their votes but also with their feet. People who like both urban living and progressive politics are moving into or near the downtowns of Charlotte, Raleigh, Durham, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Asheville, Wilmington and other cities. They’re living in denser, mixed-use neighborhoods. They’re disproportionately voting for Democrats, up and down the ballot.

People who mix a preference for suburban or exurban lifestyles with conservative politics prefer to live in other parts of urban counties – places such as Wake’s Cary, Apex and Holly Springs, or Mecklenburg’s Huntersville, Mint Hill, Matthews and Pineville – or in next-door counties such as Union, Cabarrus, Johnston, Franklin and Alamance.

The effects on local politics are clearly evident. Big cities that used to have at least some spirited partisan contests are increasingly Democratic, so that most races are settled by primaries or with “left vs. further left” races that are officially nonpartisan. And some populous, fast-growing counties that were once Democratic, and then went through a period of robust partisan competition, are now reliably Republican.

If this troubles you, I understand. But waving your hands at millions of your fellow North Carolinians and insisting that they “take a nonpartisan approach” won’t change anything. Each will say the other side’s policies on growth are costly and counter productive. Each will define those terms differently.

May is Better Hearing and Speech Month.Speech-Language professionals around the globe work hard to influence in a positive way the most powerful tool offered to mankind, the human voice. Communication disorders are among the most common treatable childhood conditions. Program faculty encourage parents to take time this month to assess their children’s communication skills and take action. In the words of James Earl Jones, “One of the hardest things in life is having words and being unable to utter them.”

Fayetteville Technical Community College is proud to be one of two schools in North Carolina that continues to offer a Speech-Language Pathology Assistant program. Courses provide instruction on the roles and responsibilities of SLPAs as outlined by the North Carolina Board of Examiners for Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology.Students who complete the program graduate with an associate degree in applied science in speech-language pathology.

FTCC SLPA students continue to make historic strides. This year, Jasmine McKoy, former FTCC SLPA student, presented at the American Speech-Language and Hearing Annual Convention, while Latoya Comer presented at the North Carolina Speech-Language and Hearing Annual Convention. McKoy presented on “The Impact of Socioeconomic Status on Communication.” Comer presented “Kids are Just Kids, Toys Aren’t Just Toys.” Comer was supported by six of her classmates, who also attended this year’s state convention: Shana Cameron, Latonya Chester, Ambria Martin, Portia Mac Kelsky and Dakota Ripley.

As FTCC’s SLPA program continues to thrive, SLPAs remain in high demand with career opportunities in school systems and private agencies. The SLPA curriculum prepares graduates to work under the supervision of a licensed speech-language pathologist, who evaluates, diagnoses and treats individuals with various communication disorders. Courses provide instruction in methods of screening for speech, language and hearing disorders and in following written protocols designed to remediate individual communication disorders. Supervised field experience includes working with patients of various ages and various disorders.

FTCC’s SLPA program uses a competitive admissions process for acceptance into the program. For more information on the program, call 910-678-8492 or email gaineyc@faytechcc.edu. For general information about FTCC, visit www.faytechcc.edu or plan a visit to the Fayetteville or Spring Lake campus locations. FTCC also has a presence at the Fort Bragg Training and Education Center.

The Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra presents the Fayetteville Symphony Youth Orchestra’s Spring Concert Sunday, May 20, at 4 p.m. at Fayetteville Academy.

“The purpose of this group is to give kids another opportunity to play; they are not incompetition with anybody,” said Dr. Larry Wells, music director of the FSYO. “This concert will feature all three of our ensembles: a concert band, a string ensemble and the full orchestra.”

Wells added that one of the things he loves about this group is they don’t do many arrangements and they do the real versions of the compositions.

“Some of the pieces are quite difficult and the students are learning how to manage professional music situations, so it is not watered down,” said Wells. “The full orchestra is doing the real version of John William’s movie music to ‘Jurassic Park,’ which is fantastic.” Wells added all of the groups are playing tough pieces, and it should be a great concert.

The FSYO is now accepting applications for the 2018-19 school year. Registration deadline is Friday, Aug. 31. The orchestra is for students ages 13-21 in public, private or home-school, who have experience playing the violin, viola, cello, double bass, flute, oboe, clarinet, bass clarinet, bassoon, saxophone, French horn, trumpet, trombone, euphonium, tuba orpercussion.

An advanced summer music camp will take place June 25-29 from 9 a.m.– 2 p.m.at Fayetteville Academy. It is suited for advanced players. In addition to the age requirement, the student must be able to play a two-octave chromatic scale and know at least five of the 12 major scales on their instrument and/or the student must have been participating in the FSYO for at least one year. The registration deadline is June 8.

“We don’t turn anybody away and we will find a home for you,” said Wells. “We invite everyone to come out to the concert and see what the students have learned.”

The concert is free and open to the public. For more information about your child’s opportunity to be a part of the FSYO, call 910-433-4690 or visit the website at www.fayettevillesymphony.org. 

In the Fayetteville area, we know the Cape Fear River. But have you everheard of Chalk Banks, a trail that runs along the edge of Lumber River State Park? May 19, this area will host its annual event called the Chalk Banks Challenge and River Festival.

At 133 miles long, the Lumber River extends from as far north as Scotland County all the way down to the North and South Carolina border before eventually emptying into the Atlantic Ocean. As a blackwater river, which is a kind of river that is slow-moving through swamps and wetlands, the Lumber River is the only one of its kind in North Carolina to be designated as a Natural Wild and Scenic River.

Here, at this natural haven unbeknownst to most people coming into the Fayetteville or Fort Bragg area, is a set of races that are free and open for the public to participate in or just watch. There are 2-mile canoe and kayak races. There is also a 5K trail run at 9:30 a.m. and a one-mile race at 10:30 a.m. for any school-age students.

The event’s most eccentric challenge, though, is homemade raft races, which start at roughly 11:45 a.m.

According to Cory Hughes, director of the Scotland County Tourism Development Authority, the raft race originates from a popular tradition in Scotland County during the 1970s and 1980s when people would raft down the river just for fun.

Hughes said the purpose for this wacky, fun event nowadays is to perhaps introduce or reinvigorate interest in the Lumber River State Park.

“We have a beautiful state parkup at Chalk Banks, and people just don’t know about it,” said Hughes. “When I’m walking through the event and hear people go, ‘Wow, I’ve never been out here, this is really great,’ that’s a win.”

As for the raft race, teams must build their own raft, without using traditional parts for boats. The rafts cannot be motorized. Many different groups have participated in the past, including Boy Scout troops, fire departments and military officers.

“The raft races are, I don’t want to say comical, but absolutely leisure(ly) and casual,” said Hughes. “It’s not Gilligan’s Navy, but it’s something pretty close to it. Once (participants) do it once, they have such a good time.”

Hughes described one group of military officers from Fort Bragg who participated in the event for several years. This group, on the first year, made their raft out of an inflatable mattress, plywood and duct tape – and didn’t quite make it all the way down the river. But they came back the next year after “learning their lesson” and ultimately won the race. The following year, the same members of the group were all deployed in Afghanistan but made time to send a message on YouTube to the event, wishing everyone good luck and saying they would be back the next year to defend their title.

“It’s that kind of attitude that embraces the whole day,” Hughes said. “It’s just a day to come out, have fun, enjoy your friends, meet new people, laugh – maybe laugh so hard you cry.”

For those not competing in the races, the River Festival component promises to entertain outdoorsy, interested families. There will be inflatables to bask in the river’s slow moving channel and bands playing bluegrass or country music throughout the day. There will also be craft vendors as well as food vendors providing barbecue fare and Italian ice.

Hughes also mentioned there will be a “Kid Olympics,” featuring several youth games like relay races, hollering contests and grape spitting contests.

“It’s a country-good-time kind of thing,” said Hughes.

The event is free and open to the public. It takes place at the Chalk Banks access point in Wagram May 19 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. For directions or more information, contact the Lumber River State Park at 910-628-4564.

On May 25, Cool Spring Downtown District will host 4th Friday, Fayetteville’s monthly exhibitionof art and culture, in conjunction with E. E. Smith High School. This month’s theme is high school reunion.“

A joyful time, to be sure,” said Janet Gibson of 4th Friday, director of marketing and communications of the Arts Council of Fayetteville and Cumberland County. “Unique stores and restaurants are a buzz with activity. The streets are often filled with music and dance. Art is everywhere to be found.”

One of the highlights of the event will be the opening of the annual art exhibition called “Public Works,” sponsored by Fayetteville PublicWorks Commission. This will be the thirteenth annual exhibition.

“For the people and by the people, anyone can enter,” Gibson said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re three or 93, you can enter. If you’re into painting or photography, you can enter.” The only rule for submission is that you must live in Bladen, Cumberland, Harnett, Hoke, Lee, Montgomery, Moore, Richmond, Robeson, Sampson or Scotland County, Fort Bragg or Pope Army Air Field.

This time-honored exhibit is something the community looks forward to every year and is a celebration of the many talented artists in the area.The art will be displayed within the art center gallery. “It will look like almost every square inch of the gallery will be filled with art,” Gibson said. There will be a people’s choice winner, which will be voted for online.

The Arts Council is one of many places to visit during 4th Friday.

There will also be a show of songs and stories from the ’50s to the ’80s at Headquarters Library, presented by The Parsons folk group from 7 to 9 p.m.

A third highlight of the event will include arts and crafts with Fascinate-U Children’s Museum, where children can create spoon maracas out of recycled plastic eggs and explore the museum. Fascinate-U Children’s Museum will have free entry for the event.

Additional exhibits include several art and history installations, such as displays at the Fayetteville Area Transportation and Local History Museum and the Cape Fear Studios Members’ Anniversary Exhibit.

Gibson described 4th Friday as a celebration of the community. “You can feel the energy; it’s a great time to celebrate the arts, visual and performing, and it’s really heating up with spring and summer,” she said. “People get off work on Friday, they come down, they bring their families, and it’s a joyful celebration of everything we have down here.”

Visit www.visitdowntownfayetteville.com/visit/4thfriday or www.theartscouncil.com/thingsto-do/fourth-fridays or search for Fourth Friday Fayetteville on Facebook for more information.

K & Q Productions and the Cumberland K & Q Productions and the Cumberland County Tourism Development Authority present The Alumni Weekend Music MegaFest Friday, May 25, from 5-10 p.m. and Saturday, May 26, from 4-10 p.m. in Festival Park.

“The purpose of the event originated as a fundraising event for the E. E. Smith Alumni Association and its charity activities,” said James Simpson, executive producer of K & Q Productions. “I am an alumnus of E. E. Smith High School and part of their leadership team. Our goal is to try to raise awareness to get us into a better position as far as fundraising.”

Simpson added the event is designed to attract a cross section of ages and ethnic groups based on the music genre.

“Friday will be an old-school rhythm and blues music genre, and then, Saturday, there is a little bit of hip-hop intermingled with R & B,” said Simpson. “Then we have a jazz flavoring that will lead into a Sunday after-party.”

Friday night’s lineup features The Temptations with special guests ConFunk Shun and The Gap Experience. Saturday’s lineup features BlackStreet with special guests the YingYang Twins, Pastor Troy and Mr. Cheeks.

“We will also have a live DJ that will play music in between acts for people that want to dance, and he will facilitate the dance contests,” said Simpson.

Bring your chair or blanket and enjoy good music, food and dancing at this outdoor concert during the Memorial Day weekend. Vendors will be on-site to sell their merchandise.

Beer, wine and food will be available for purchase.

The after-party is Sunday, May 27, at Bordeaux Convention Center at 7 p.m., featuring an “Evening of Jazz” with Eric Darius and special guest Black Seed. The after-party admission is $20 at the door with proof of voided Music MegaFest ticket and $25 without proof of ticket. For more information, call 910-779-2006.

Gates open Friday at 5 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m. Tickets cost $65; there is also a VIP package available. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.alumnimusicfest.com or call the event hotline at 910-778-3632.

PHOTO: Eric Darius

Cape Fear Regional Theatre will wrap up the season with “Crowns,” a gospel musical, May17–June 3. The show, written by Regina Taylor, is adapted from the book “Crowns: Portraits of Black Women in Church Hats” by Michael Cunningham and Craig Marberry.

The book is a collection of photographs and oral histories of African-American women in their Sunday best, which includes elaborate head gear, a cherished custom prevalent in the South among many religious denominations.

The musical weaves many of those stories into characters who offer support and encouragement to each other, said CFRT artistic director Mary Kate Burke. “It’s really a collection of stories about acommunity,” she explained.

Yolanda, an African-American, struggles with grief after the death of her brother. She goes down South to live with Mother Shaw, her grandmother. Mother Shaw introduces Yolanda to her circle of “hat queens.”

The “hat queens” embrace the younger woman and take her under their wings, said Cassandra Williams, who plays Mother Shaw. Each hat they wear has a story of a wedding, a funeral, a baptism. The women share stories of how they’ve managed life’s struggles. As a community, they help Yolanda deal with the loss of her brother and find her own identity.

“It shows African-American culture, but any group of women can identify with the story,” Williams said. “The whole play is cathartic.”

“And it’s funny,” said Burke, adding that these characters deliver a good bit of “hattitude.”

“There is a different hat for every occasion,” Williams said, “and you are introduced to different characters vis-à-vis the different hats they wear.”

Williams explained that “hat queens” are those women who can wear any kind of hat. “A regality comes with it and you feel like a queen – you know that you look good.”

With that regality and confidence comes a broader message, said La’Tonya Wiley, who plays Mabel in the show.

“We call them her crowns,” Wiley said. “It celebrates the power of a woman; it celebrates womanhood and femininity.” She added that the show allows men to see the complexity of women – just as there are layers and many parts to a hat, there are layers to women.

The show will appeal to men as well as women, said Burke. “It is a celebration of womanhood, but not at the cost of men,” she said. “It has such a generous spirit.”

“Crowns” is directed by Donna Bradby (“The Wiz”). The songs are traditional gospel, with some blues and jazz. Featured songs include “Ain’t That Good News,” “Marching to Zion,” “Just a Closer Walk with Thee,” and “Wade in the Water.”

Joining Williams and Wiley in the cast are Ariel Blake as Yolanda, Sha’air Hawkins, Janeta Jackson, Chasity McIntosh and Walter Johnson.

Tickets for “Crowns” range from $17-$32, with discounts and group sales available. Special events for the musical’s run include Preview Nights May 17 and 18; Opening Night Celebration with the cast and creative team May 19; and Military Appreciation Night May 23.

There will be a Tea and Chat with milliner Barbara Wood on May 20 at 5 p.m. with a hands-on demonstration of making a pillbox hat. The catered event is free but seating is limited, so register by contacting the box office at 910-323-4233 or janisl@cfrt.org. This event is sponsored by the Fayetteville Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.

For more information about the show or special events, contact the box office at 910-323-4233 or visit www.cfrt.org.

Since the 1980s, the Congressional Institute has been helping members of Congress better serve their constituents and helping citizens understand the operations of the national legislature. From conferences to research projects, the nonprofit closes the gap between legislators and the people they govern. Each spring, the Congressional Institute sponsors a nationwide high school visual art competition to recognize and encourage artistic talent in the nation and in each congressional district. The Artistic Discovery competition began in 1982. Since its inception, more than 650,000 highschool students have participated.

“Students submit entries to the irrepresentative’s office, and panels of district artists select the winning entries. Winners are recognized both in their district and at an annual awards ceremony in Washington, D.C. The winning works are displayed for one year at the U.S. Capitol,” said the U.S. House of Representatives website, www.house.gov.

Deanna Glus, a junior at Massey Hill Classical High School, is winner of the 2018 Congressional Art Competition. Her watercolor, titled “A Hometown Feeling,” was judged best entry in a selection process that included a professional artist, community input and Congressman Robert Pittenger’s staff.

Marcy Gregg, a highly-sought professional artist from Charlotte, commented that “A Hometown Feeling” features “wonderful line work.” Community input included a suggestion that the artwork be used as a billboard and that it had “great use of perspective and color balance.”

Glus’ artwork will be displayed in a busy corridor of the U.S. Capitol for one year. She’ll also receive a scholarship offer from a prestigious Southern arts university and two complimentary airline tickets to fly to Washington, D.C., to attend a reception in her honor.

“This impressive watercolor captures the beauty and spirit of Fayetteville,” said Pittenger. “We will proudly hang this in one of the busiest corridors of the U.S. Capitol, where members of Congress and thousands of visitors will be able to see it each day. Congratulations to Ms. Glus, and thank you to every student who entered. Over 40,000 people viewed your artwork, and we are proud of each one of you.”

An album displaying Glus’ entries among others is available on Pittenger’s Facebook page (Facebook.com/CongressmanPittenger). The 2018 Congressional Art Competition is carried out at no expense to the federal government. All expenses are provided locally in the community.

It’s official. Fayetteville’s sports complex to be funded as part of last year’s $35 million recreation bond referendum will be built at the Military Business Park off SantaFe Drive. It was the overwhelming preference of city council members. A city-owned property off Fields Road in East Fayetteville was also considered.

The athletic complex, proposed as part of the referendum, is planned to include 15 ball fields for softball, baseball, soccer and football. A clubhouse for concessions and banquet/meeting rooms is also planned. The projected cost of $5.5 million does not include purchase of the property adjacent to the military business park. That could add $4 million to the price.

The council committee that studied locations was chaired by Kathy Jensen, who recommended the SantaFe Drive site.

Councilman Jim Arp stressed that location is significantly important because “sports tourism is a $7billion industry nationwide.” The proposed site is near I-295 and 2.7 miles from the mall retail area. Arp noted the locale is already equipped with water and sewer utilities and is likely to attract significant commercial development.

At its monthly work session, citycouncil also tried to allay the concerns of residents along and near the two-lane section of Cliffdale Road between Morganton and McPherson Church Roads. State DOT Division Engineer Greg Burns said widening of the roadway was added to the state’s highway improvement program last year. He said engineering and surveying work is underway, but construction isn’t scheduled to begin until 2024. Burns said numerous efforts will be taken to encourage public input on design planning beginning in the fall.

The marathon meeting included discussion of multiple projects. It appears city council is backing away from trying to justify repairing half a dozen earthen dams that were heavily damaged or destroyed during hurricane Matthew a year and-a half ago. The cost of repairing two of the dams is already in the millions of dollars; and the NC Dam Safety agency is holding nearby residents responsible. City officials say they can’t get involved because the dams and lakes serve no public interest.

Council members, including Kathy Jensen, said repairing the dams is unaffordable for residents and the city. “It just doesn’t make sense,” she said.

Councilman Bill Crisp, whose district includes two of the dams, told his colleagues the projects are not doable because of the high cost. Council agreed to cancel further studies of the other four dams where residents indicated an interest in restoring them.

Planning and engineering of the proposed West Senior Center at Lake Rim Park continues. Council learned that the cost of the proposed $5 million project, which is also part of the bond package, is now just short of $7 million. A pair of 19,000-square-foot buildings is planned overlooking Lake Rim off Old Raeford Road. Some council members would like to eliminate a heated therapeutic swimming pool to reduce the cost. Staff will continue evaluating possible project cuts.

Primary night in Cumberland County was a short election night. The unofficial vote count was in before 10 p.m. With 77 of 77 precincts reporting, under 11 percent of registered voters cast a vote May 8. In Cumberland County there are 212,458 registered voters out of a total population of 332,546. Only 23,135 people made it a priority to have a say in who will run in the midterm elections Tuesday, Nov. 6.

Midterm elections are the elections held near the midpoint of the president’s four-year term. Every two years, voters elect Congress members, the 435 members of the House of Representatives. Across the country, votes will also be cast for 35 Senate seats and 39 governorships, but North Carolina is not affected. Senators get elected to six-year staggered terms. Governors get elected to four-year terms.

Cumberland County is partitioned into two congressional districts, Districts 8 and 9, of North Carolina’s 13 districts. District 8 includes all of Cabarrus, Montgomery, Moore, Hoke and Stanly counties, as well as portions of Rowan and Cumberland counties. District 9 consists of Union, Anson, Richmond, Scotland and Robeson counties. It also includes a southeast portion of Mecklenburg county, and most of Bladen and Cumberland counties. Where you live in Cumberland County will determine which congressman in the House of Representatives represents you. Generally speaking, District 8 is the northern part and District 9 takes a larger portion in the southern part of the County.

The District 8 Democratic primary winner is Frank Mcneill. Mcneill won with 15,965 (56.11percent) votes across the district. In Cumberland County, Mcneill carried the vote with 6,411 (52.86percent) votes cast here. His opponents were Scott Huffman and Marc Tiegel. Huffman tallied 6,545 (23 percent) votes district wide and county wide 2,175 (19.76 percent). Tiegel fared better than Huffman county wide with 2,420 (21.99 percent) and district wide finished below Mcneill and Huffman with 5,941 (20.88 percent) votes. Mcneill will challenge incumbent Rep. Richard Hudson, who ran unopposed in the primary.

District 9 will see new leadership. Incumbent Rep. Robert Pittenger had two challengers, Rev. Mark Harris and Clarence Goins Jr. In Cumberland County, Pittenger brought in 44.19 percent over Harris’s 31.92 percent and Goins’ 23.89 percent. Pittenger won the county by 12.27 percent over Harris. But it was not enough for him to get reelected to the House. It was a tight race across the district. Harris won the seat with 17,224 (48.52 percent) of total votes cast. Pittenger won 16,411 (46.23 percent) votes, losing his seat by 813 votes, or 2.29 percent. Speaking on Harris’ win, Frank Raczof the Cumberland County Tea Party Group, which endorsed Harris, said, “It is refreshing to see Pastor Harris move the House of Representatives and the Republican Party to the right.”

Harris will run up against the winner of the Democrat primary, Dan McCready. McCready had an easy victory over his opponent Christian Cano. In Cumberland County, McCready secured 2,829 (76.46 percent) of the votes cast. Across the district, he won 37,824 (82.83 percent) of the total votes cast. Cano picked up 7,838 (17.17 percent) across the district and in the county 871 (24.54 percent) votes.

This November, the Democrats have a chance to pick up two seats in Cumberland County.

There were two North Carolina State Senate race primaries, both for the Democrat Party. Former Town Councilman Kirk deViere won just under 2/3 of the votes for North Carolina State Senate District 19. Primary voters cast 5,248 (62.62 percent) votes for deViere over Clarence Donaldson’s total of 3,132 (37.37 percent) votes. Winner deViere will challenge incumbent State Sen. Wesley Meredith, who did not have a challenger.

In the North Carolina State Senate District 21 primary, Naveed Aziz beat incumbent State Sen. Ben Clark by 275 votes. She collected 3,814 (51.87percent) votes over 3,539 (48.13 percent) votes for Clark. Republican newcomer Timothy Leever, who was uncontested, will challenge Aziz for the District 21 seat in November’s general election.

Democrats had a primary for North Carolina House of Representatives District 43. Incumbent Rep. Elmer Floyd remains the party choice. Floyd won his district overwhelmingly with 3,880 (79.18percent) votes. His challengers, Theresa Gale and Prince Christian, garnered 889 (18.14 percent) and 131 (2.67 percent) respectively. Republican John Czajkowski, who was unopposed, will challenge Floyd for the seat.

Voters made their choice firmly known in the North Carolina House of Representatives District 44 Republican primary. Voters chose former Republican Cumberland County Party Chair Linda Devore with 1,528 (67.02 percent) votes over challenger Patrick Petsche, who picked up 752 (32.98percent) of the votes. Devore said upon her victory, “I’m very happy with today’s primary. It’s a little disappointing to not have larger numbers of voters turn out who are interested. But those who are interested have been heard, and that’s great. I look forward to representing our party on the November ballot. I’m looking forward to the race. The campaign starts tomorrow.” Devore will challenge incumbent State Rep. Billy Richardson, who did not have any challengers.

In the Cumberland County Clerk of Superior Court race, incumbent Lisa Scales won her Democrat Party primary with a solid countywide victory. Scales pulled in 12,921 (82.78 percent) votes over Eschonda Hooper, who managed 2,687(17.22 percent) votes. Cindy Blackwell, who had no opponents for the Republican primary, will challenge Scales.

November’s Cumberland County Sheriff’s race looks to be a competitive one. The Democrat primary was decidedly won by incumbent Sheriff Ennis Wright, who secured his position with 13,003 (82.70 percent) votes. Opponents Jeff Marks pulled 1,890 (12.02 percent) votes, and Denny Davis gathered 831 (5.28 percent) votes. The Republican primary was also determined by a wide margin. Charlie Baxley locked in the Republican nomination with 3,669 (53.98 percent) votes. The other three candidates accumulated 46 percent collectively. Carlton Sallie garnered 1,164 (17.13 percent) votes, Victor Starling collected 1,020 (15.01 percent) votes, and LaRue Williams picked up 944 (13.89percent) votes.

The midterm General Election will be held Tuesday,Nov. 6. Campaign signs may be pulled up until around Labor Day when you will see them sprout again, but the campaigns are just starting.

Forging the future of local human services agencies

Cumberland County Commissioners have set May 21 as the date they will decide on the future structure of the departments of social services and public health.

The board has been thinking about changing the way the agencies are governed. A revision in state law encourages counties to do that. According to Assistant County Manager Duane Holder, 33 of North Carolina’s 100 counties have made changes.

At present, Cumberland County’s social services and health departments are governed by individual boards appointed by commissioners. Changes in the law allow the county to consolidate the agencies. Or commissioners can take on governance of both departments themselves. Or they can leave things as they are.

“The health care environment is changing globally and could influence the way we go,” said Commissioner Marshall Faircloth.

Cumberland County has a poor health care reputation in national surveys, noted Commissioner Jimmy Keefe. “We cannot lock ourselves in a box,” he said. “We need an all-encompassing approach,” he added.

The Cape Fear River and clean water

Cape Fear River Assembly’s 45th annual educational conference is set for Wednesday, May 23, from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. The conference will be held at the UNCW Center for Marine Science in Wilmington.

This year’s theme, “Working Together to Protect the Cape Fear River,” is timely given the growing concerns about the risks of unregulated compounds such as GenX and others.

There will be speakers and panelists from various sectors, including government, business, academia and citizen groups. The panel of experts will discuss the effects of current and emerging unregulated contaminants.

Since 1973, the CFRA has uniquely represented and strived to maintain and improve the quality of life in the Cape Fear River Basin. Many groups and individuals, often with divergent view points, are brought together to find solutions to water quality and quantity problems impacting the entire river basin. The CRFA has been a voice for the Cape Fear River and encourages smart management of theriver, its tributaries and adjacent land. The entireCape Fear River basin is the largest and most developedregion of North Carolina.

Registration is $30 per person. Each registration includes a one-year individual membership in CFRA as well as lunch and refreshments. For more information and to register, go to: http://cfra-nc.org/annual-meeting/2018-2

Employment opportunities in downtown Fayetteville

A significant economic residual growing out of the baseball stadium project on Hay Street is the extent to which the general contractor is recruiting minority workers. Barton Malow Co. held a workforce development information session this month at the headquarters library. One objective is strengthening diversified workplace employment of minority and military veteran-owned businesses.

“Barton Malow is committed to investing in the community in which we build, so that the impact of our projects goes beyond the brick and mortar,” said senior project manager Roslyn Henderson.

Barton Malow construction crews are on the job to ensure successful completion of the $38 million minor league stadium by next spring’s opening day.

“We are committed to increasing the presence, skill level and inclusion of small local businesses in this project,” Henderson added. Consultants have connected with over 130 companies and helped to walk them through the pre-qualification process. Small contractors can do the work, but the paperwork often discourages them from applying. As construction continues, additional opportunities become available for businesses to get involved.

School bus strobes lights

Yellow and black school buses are some of the most noticeable vehicles on the road. Officials say that in certain conditions such as inclement weather and low light, added conspicuousness helps other motorists see the buses in time to avoid collisions.

The roof-mounted strobe lights are positioned on the longitudinal centerline of the roof, usually close to the rear. Their lenses are typically clear or white. Regulations on roof-mounted strobes vary by state. The Cumberland County School System is the fifth largest in North Carolina and has about 450 buses on the road every weekday during the traditional school year.

Toys R Us gets bonus life

Toys R Us announced March 15 that it will liquidate operations. There is no publicly confirmed date for when the store will close permanently.

According to a company press release, on April 11, Toys R Us announced it “received $80 million in incremental debtor-in-possession financing to augment liquidity as well as support the working capital needs of the company’s operations in Asia and Central Europe” in the form of a commitment from its Taj Noteholders.

Dave Brandon, chairman and chief executive officer, said, “This additional financing further positions our Asian and Central European operations for continued success. We appreciate the ongoing financial support and look forward to continued positive relationships with our vendors.”

In Canada, Toys R Us has been saved by Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd, a Toronto investment firm led by billionaire Prem Watsa. They were able to secure the 82-store Canadian operation for $237 million. Another billionaire and toy mogul, Isaac Larian, is seeking to buy the 735-store U.S. operation. His initial bid was declined, and his GoFundMe campaign to raise $1 billion was unsuccessful. But other media outlets report that Larian has said, “We have the financing we need. It’s now a matter of determining how much more we’re able to bid.”

I contend that political correctness is running rampant in America, and when joined with fear, the result is proving destructive. Let’s start with a couple of definitions from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

Political correctness: conforming to a belief that language and practices which could offend political sensibilities (as in matters of sex or race) should be eliminated.

Fear: an unpleasant, often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger.

The recent arrest of two blackmen in a Philadelphia Starbucks and the responses that followed highlight the destructive combination of political correctness and fear.

On an April day, two blackmen walked into a Philadelphia Starbucks to wait for another man with whom they were to have a meeting. Various reports indicate that the men asked to use the restroom and were told that they could not because they had not made a purchase. The men were later asked to leave. When they refused, a lady, subsequently identified as the manager, called the police. Police arrived and, after several minutes of conversation, the men were arrested for suspected trespassing. This summary of events is based on an article by Matt Stevens titled, “Starbucks C.E.O. Apologizes After Arrests of 2 Black Men.”

Several persons made videos of a portion of the interaction between the two men and the police officers who arrived at the scene. The longest video I was able to find is available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qdB3xnKdT8. The sound quality in this video is poor, but it does show the interaction between the two men and the police officers. My assessment of the video is that during some 10 minutes of interaction, the police officers attempted to negotiate the men’s departure from the establishment. The men clearly refused to leave and were eventually arrested.

As this and other videos were distributed by social media and in news reports, protests started. The protests, as best as I can tell, were not directed solely at the person who made the call to police, but at all of Starbucks.

Shortly after the incident, Richard Ross, Philadelphia police commissioner, who is black, released a video in which he said the officers “did nothing wrong.” That video is available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRHkAXiqfVQ. He reviews, step-by-step, what happened and emphasizes that the officers, three times, asked the men to leave the establishment. They repeatedly refused. After arresting the men and taking them to a police station, officers were advised that Starbucks was not pressing charges. They were released.

A Philadelphia Inquirer story titled “Firing Starbucks manager won’t address Philly police’s overboard response to her 911 call” includes the following:

“What Ross leaves out is that officers do have some discretion in carrying out their duties. Consider when the Eagles won the Super Bowl and only four arrests were made after drunken, celebrating fans flipped a car, dismantled light poles, smashed a Macy’s window, and crumpled an awning at the Ritz-Carlton.”

Later, after further investigation; Commissioner Ross held a news conference during which he explained that his statement was not good messaging and caused unintended harm. He indicated he should have said the officers “followed the law.” Ross also referred to a conversation with the Starbucks’ CEO during which he learned that it is company policy to allow persons to sit in a store without making a purchase. Ross pointed out that this is not a policy commonly encountered by officers. Normally, just the opposite is the case. He was not aware of this “no purchase necessary” policy when he made his earlier statement. Given that businesses ordinarily require individuals to make a purchase in a situation of this nature, the officers had no reason to think that the Starbucks’ policy was any different. This news conference is available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iHswQmC6sY.

In response to all of what has been addressed to this point, Starbucks, at the corporate level, announced that the manager who called police no longer works with the company. Further, Starbucks will close more than 8,000 stores in the United States May 29 to conduct anti-bias training. Some 175,000 employees will be affected. CEO Kevin Johnson has apologized to the men involved and declared that the incident at this location is inconsistent with their business practices.

Interestingly, an article titled “VERIFY: What’s Starbucks bathroom policy” by Eliana Block includes the following:

“Today Starbucks’ CEO apologized to the men but said different stores have different rules.

“‘In certain circumstances, local practices are implemented,’ Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson said. ‘In this particular case, the local practice of asking someone who is not a customer to leave the store...followed by a call to the police.’

“Despite store policy, Johnson says this never should have happened, calling it ‘reprehensible.’”

The manager who called police no longer works for Starbucks as of a few days after this event.

Gregg Re writes this in an op-ed titled, “DEFAMATION: The Starbucks Manager Accused of Racism Is Probably About to Be A MILLIONAIRE.”

“The former Starbucks manager who called the police on two non paying black customers earlier this month may have a good case for bringing a defamation suit against the coffee company.

“In numerous public statements, Starbucks and its CEO Kevin Johnson have gone out of their way to imply that the female manager, identified in media reports as Holly Hylton, was acting on subconscious racial motivations when she told the loitering customers to either buy a beverage or get out of her store. Crucially, Starbucks has also strongly implied that, as a factual matter, the manager violated company policy.”

Now, this from an article by Kelly Weill titled “4Chan Hoax About Free Starbucks Coffee for Black Customers Reaches Laura Ingraham’s Show.” The article addresses the action of Bryan “Hotep Jesus” Sharpe, a black comedian (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FvwMsb9CRg):

“Sharpe uploaded a YouTube video of himself demanding a free coffee in Starbucks.

“I heard you guys don’t like black people, so I wanted to get my Starbucks reparations voucher,” Sharpe told the barista. The young woman responded that she’d seen the voucher on Twitter, and gave Sharpe a free coffee. She told him she was a student and that it was her last day at the store until fall.”

Various reports indicate the two men, Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson, who were arrested, settled with the city of Philadelphia for $1 each. In addition, the city will create a $200,000 fund that will, with the assistance of a nonprofit organization, assist young entrepreneurs in Philadelphia.

Without a doubt, that is a lot of background. Here is how I think all of this comes together to show that political correctness and fear make a destructive combination. Two black men repeatedly refuse what I see as reasonable direction from several police officers. They were able to do so without negative repercussions and receive an apology from the CEO of Starbucks, along with a financial settlement with the city of Philadelphia.

I hold that this kind of response is the product of out-of-control political correctness across American society. The impact of this condition is made worse by the fear that political correctness generates in people. Standing for what is sensible and fair becomes a rare occurrence. In this case, Starbucks allows a manager to be routinely forced from employment in spite of following her store’s local procedures; a police commissioner reverses course and profusely apologizes for initial statements that made all the sense in the world to me; Starbucks closes stores for training that will likely do absolutely nothing to prevent recurrence of the kind of incident that provoked the one addressed here.

The destructive consequences of this interaction between political correctness and fear are many. The consequence that shows through most clearly is a breakdown in the rule of law. That is, people are encouraged and even permitted to break or disregard the law, and disrespect authority without being held accountable. If you doubt the truth of that statement, go back and read the quote regarding the so-called “discretion” demonstrated by Philadelphia police after the Eagles won the Super Bowl.

Finally, consider the young lady who gave free coffee to Bryan Sharpe in response to his reparations claim. She impresses me as a kind person who did not come close to thinking through what Sharpe requested. This failure to think is another destructive consequence of political correctness and fear. America better see this destructive combination for what it is and forth rightly address the issue.