Much ink and reel has been given over the past week to the seizure of The Haven Friends for Live, a no-kill rescue by the ASPCA. Our televisions, social media and newspapers have been filled with photos of animals in makeshift cages. Thousands of words have been written regarding the plight of the animals at the shelter and about the 15 graves of animals that died while in the care of organization. But few, if any, have told the total story of the shelter. And, this is where I would like to weigh in.

I first met Linden Spear in the spring of 1998. I had recently moved to Fayetteville to be with my then-boyfriend, now husband, and was working as a reporter at Up & Coming Weekly. Spear invited me out to her relatively new shelter to talk about the plight of animals in our community. At the time, she was lobbying to have the county pass a law requiring anyone who wasn’t a breeder to have his or her pets spayed or neutered. She was also trying to bring attention to the way the county was euthanizing its unwanted animals. Instead of using the gas chamber at the facility, the shelter was shooting animals. Spear was horrified.

On my first visit to the county pound with Spear, she rescued two or three dogs. Our next stop was at a local vets office, where the vet donated his service to spay or neuter her rescues. We dropped the newest animals off and picked up several cats and a few dogs. While there, Spear talked about the irresponsibility of pet owners who allow their animals to breed uncontrolled. She talked about not only how it added to the local animal population, but also hurt the animal’s health in the long run.

We talked about the way that feral cats were a problem in the community because of the quick rate of cat reproduction and the number of cats that are allowed to breed unchecked. Also on her mind that day was the practice of some military family’s that got pets, but when they received orders to a new place, they simply left the pets in their old neighborhoods. This was something that hit home with me, as I had recently taken in a beautiful cat that we lovingly called Big Kitty. He became a beloved pet and member of our family. 

Spear also talked about the plans she had for her shelter. She was writing grants, seeking support not only from the local community but also nationally. She was building relationships with stores that would give her damaged bags of pet food. She was reaching out to non-profits to get volunteers out to help her build kennels and do the never-ending work at the shelter.

Also on her mind were the folks who would wait until the pound, local veterinarian’s office and her shelter closed. They would quietly slip up to these places at night and throw boxes of kittens over the fence or tie pets to the gates. These were the people who made her angry.

At the time, Spear had the resources and volunteers to keep it all together. But as the problem of abandoned animals grew, she became overwhelmed. Where she is now is not where she started, and it definitely is not the vision she had for her shelter. Some call Spear a hoarder and some, who have not followed her journey, call her cruel. But that’s not the case. Spear has an absolute love and passion for animals. The thought of killing animals broke her heart. But she couldn’t save them all and she surely could not keep up with the sheer number of animals that wound up at her farm. 

Linden Spear is a woman whose passion exceeded her ability to meet the demand. I believe that she simply became overwhelmed by the war she waged for more than two decades. She is not the demon that some would portray her to be, and perhaps that is the story I wanted to tell today. When Linden Spear started her journey at The Haven, she had a clear plan. Unfortunately, the problem was much bigger than her, and, if the truth is told, we, as 

a community are as much at fault as she is. 

Cape Fear Studios is the only visual arts cooperative in Fayetteville; as such, it already has deep roots in the local artistic community. The beautiful brick building houses a gallery, a retail area, seven studios for member artists and an open area for classes and meetings. And starting last year the cooperative annually opens its gallery walls to all artists in the community. 

“The ‘Cabin Fever’ Public Exhibit is non-juried exhibit open to all; participants don’t have to be a member of Cape Fear Studios. The art can be of any type including fabric or quilts, which is unusual for us; something we normally don’t do,” Ann Griffin, the executive director, explained. It is an exhibit that brings a fresh perspective to all of the talent in the area. 

To further engage the community, Cape Fear Studios often coordinates their exhibit openings with 4th Friday, and “Cabin Fever” is no different. Generally, exhibits open on a 4th Friday and remain open until the next one. Guests at the opening can snack on hors d’oeuvre and drinks, and often artists are available to chat with the public. This is especially true for solo exhibits featuring the work of a single artist. “The 4th Friday event … is like a regular exhibit opening reception. The only prize is a People’s Choice Award that people who come to the reception can vote on. They can also come the day before to vote,” Griffin said. 

According to Griffin one of the most exciting aspects of hosting such an open exhibit is the element of surprise. There is no telling what may come in, but she has never been disappointed with what the community produces. “Last year was our first time doing the ‘Cabin Fever’ exhibit. I was very surprised by the quality. This town is amazing. Last year we had a wood carver bring in a 24-inch tall carving of a man with a cane and it was the coolest. You just look at these things and think ‘wow that really is hand-made.’ And the photographers in Fayetteville are really outstanding. I am always surprised by the quality of the work,” she said. 

Though Griffin is not an artist herself, she is deeply passionate about her work and about the impact that art has on society as a whole. Art is part of what drives any culture. Technology is wonderful but what tells the story of the period is the art from people that lived at that time. “Many people don’t realize how important music and the arts are for any culture,” she said. “The artists bring more than their creations, they bring their energy. I love being part of that. “She asserts that it is art that differentiates early humans from just a collection of bones. 

Cape Fear Studious is located at 148 Maxwell St. The exhibit opening and reception is free and open to the public. For more information visit www.capefearstudios.com or call 910.433.2986.

 

Longtime Fayetteville residents will remember a time when dinner theatre was a regular part of the city’s social scene. But that hasn’t been the case for more than 30 years.

Back in the day, theatre patrons could routinely make their way to the Holiday Inn Bordeaux to catch a relaxing and entertaining evening of theatre coupled with a great dinner. As the old saying goes, all good things must end, and that was the case of dinner theatre in Fayetteville. But as the community begins talking about improving its quality of life, local businessman Bill Bowman, decided it was time to bring dinner theatre back to life in Fayetteville. 

“People always talk about the lack of things to do in Fayetteville, and then they head up to Raleigh or  Durham or Chapel Hill to experience things that could very easily be experienced here locally,” said Bowman. “Why can’t we have the ‘good stuff?”

With that thought in mind, Bowman reached out to the community, and what he found was many local partners who were excited about the idea of brining dinner theatre back to Fayetteville and welcomed the opportunity to be a part of it.

Bowman noted, that the enthusiasm with which the dinner theatre idea was greeted made him even more excited about making it a reality, Because he is about community, Bowman thought the best way to bring dinner theatre back was to bring it back by showcasing the work of a local playwright. So he turned to long-time friend Elaine Alexander - now a resident of Charlotte - but a hometown girl at heart. Alexander, a Westover graduate, with family ties that go back several hundred years, has gained success as a playwright in the Charlotte area, and was only too happy to bring one of her shows, A Southern Girl’s Got to Have It,  back home. 

For Bowman, the next step was finding a venue. For that, he had to look no further than a long-time friend with roots in the hotel industry: Romona Moore. Moore is the marketing director at the Holiday Inn I-95.

“They have a great venue out there and were one of our first partners,” said Bowman. “The hotel  is very excited and is putting together an elegant evening an wonderful meal to complement a great show.”

Because dinner theatre is such an intimate event, Bowman thought there was no better weekend to offer the show than Valentine’s Day Weekend.

“On Valentine’s Day, we are all looking for something unique an elegant to do with our Valentine,” he said. “Dinner theatre, complete with an overnight stay, makes a perfect gift for your special person.”

To that end, the Holiday Inn is offering special dinner theatre packages. The Hotel Sweetheart package includes two theatre tickets, a deluxe room, two complimentary breafkasts and a half dozen roses with each pair of tickets.

To make the evening even more unique, Bowman enlisted neighboring Lu Mil Vineyard to join the team. The family-owned vineyard located in Bladen County, will bring a sampling of its wines to the event for a wine tasting.

“There are a lot of things we are doing to ensure that this is a special night for those who attend,” said Bowman.

For those who do not have a sweetheart to celebrate Valentine’s with, the theatre  is sponsoring a Ladies’ Night Out on Friday, Feb. 12. Ladies’ Night Out includes a ticket, wine tasting and dinner, music and attendance to a champagne reception for the actors after the show.

On Friday Feb. 12 and Saturday, Feb. 13, the doors will open at 6 p.m., followed by a wine tasting, dinner and the show. On Sunday, Feb. 14, the show is at noon, which includes a wine tasting and buffet lunch.

“We are really pulling out all of the stops to make sure that Fayetteville residents have the opportunity to enjoy a great night of dinner and theatre without having to drive an hour away to do so,” he said “With the upcoming bond referendum, there is a lot of talk about what Fayetteville residents deserve. And  I wholeheartedly agree that Fayetteville residents deserve to enjoy great quality of life venues and events. If we can make this event successful, we will look at other ways and venues that we can create to add to the quality of life for our residents.”

If the dinner theatre is successful, Bowman hopes to bring a Georgetown-based playwright down to present the next dinner theatre. 

Tickets are $75 and are available at the Holiday Inn, Up &Coming Weekly,the Crown Coliseum, Owen’s Florist and online at CapeFearTix.com. Discounts are available for seniors, active duty military and Cumberland County School Educators. 

For more information, call 391-3859.

Four downtown area galleries in Fayetteville have started 2016 with a strong presence of nationally and internationally acclaimed artists to share with the region. Visitors should visit all four galleries to experience the full richness of ways in which artists use materials, techniques and form to create meaning. After visiting each gallery your perception will be heightened; you will have a clear understanding about a predilection in late modern and contemporary art — artists are responding to their personal experiences in culture.

Ellington-White Contemporary Gallery, at 113 Gillespie Street, is exhibiting the photographs and sculptures by Willis Bing Davis, an exhibit titled We Wear the Mask: An Ode to Poet Paul Laurence Dunbar. Texture, pattern and found materials become signifiers for meaning as each art object becomes a sum of its parts to create universal meaning — abstraction becomes the real. 

Davis’ artist statement reveals his reality when he states: “My works address myself to the unlimited resources of possibilities of my existence. The conscious inclusion of social commentary in my work is the first step toward speaking to a universal condition. The rich artistic heritage of African art with its religious, social and magical substance is what I select as an aesthetic an historical link … I feel my art should be a natural extension of my existence, bringing to fruition personal images, symbols and forms that most accurately express my perception of life.”

An accomplished artist, Davis is included in prestigious galleries and museums around the world. This list includes, but is not limited to, exhibitions at Studio Museum of Harlem, American Craft Museum, Renwick Gallery, Maryland Institute College of Art, Savannah College of Art and Design, Anacostia Museum, National Museum of Art of Senegal West Africa, United States Embassy Accra, Ghana and Museum fur Angewandte Kunst (Museum of Applied Arts, Frankfurt, Germany). His art can be found in public and private collections in the U. S., England, China, Japan, France, Australia, plus Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria, Namibiaand Gabon on the continent of Africa.

In strong contrast to the softened edges, textured layers and physicality of the works by Willis Bing Davis, Rosenthal Gallery on the campus of Fayetteville State University, has opened the new year with Explorer of Form and the Beauty of Number by Vandorn Hinnant. Elaborate drawings and minimalist sculptures are all connected to the interconnectivity of that which is beyond the physical for Hinnant — that which is spiritual. Visitors to the gallery will immediately sense order, harmony, balance and a sense of perfection. 

When Hinnant talks about his highly symmetrical, circular and coded works, he references the influences of how he approaches his relationship with images and object making: “My current work is a further exploration and articulation of an ancient knowledge of relationship passed on to and through notables such as Euclid, Archimedes, Plato, Pythagoras, Leonardo Da Vinci, Giordano Bruno, Johannes Kepler, Albrecht Durer, Maurits Cornelis Escher, Buckminster Fuller, Robert L. Powell Sr., Lynnclaire Dennis, and a great many others.”

He continued: “These forms and images are a reflection of the geometries of nature and embody some of the energetic matrices of nature’s pre-material template. These works of art are to serve viewers as a source of inspiration, as a springboard for the imagination, and as a visual bridge between the arts and the sciences… my practice of rendering visible signs of the unseen ‘Implicate Order’ is in keeping with the ancient craft guilds’ directives, and more ancient canons for referencing the Divine Presence in all things. Each work is born out of a deep communion with what I poetically refer to as ‘The Art Spirit.’”

You will leave Hinnant’s exhibit feeling refreshed and “centered.” So it is not surprising some of his commissions/exhibitions include the Cone Health Sickle Cell Medical Center at North Elam Medical Plaza/Wesley Long Hospital Campus in Greensboro, North Carolina; “Together We Rise” public art sculpture in Winston-Salem; Harrison Museum of African American Culture, in Roanoke, Virginia; The North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching in Cullowhee, North Carolina; and the Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. 

Gallery 208 at 208 Rowan Street is hosting Dwight Smith: an Artist’s Approach to Discovery. Visitors to the exhibit will enjoy seeing how Smith transitions between mediums; each process contributes to his personal meaning or content. For Smith the act of drawing, painting and printmaking is an immediate source of discovery.

The following statement by Smith is the key to understanding how he moves so easily between the different media: “My research and investigations into contemporary painting involve mixed media painting and drawings that are influenced by material surfaces and scale … As an artist the act of discovery involves methods of integrating opposites into a state of harmony and balance. Elements of design referenced in African, African-American or multi-cultural imagery create a catalyst to begin my visual language that informs the work. Through the work I am responding to the tension generated by a resounding past and an insistent present. Each work is a commitment to intimate concerns about painting and the contemporary language of abstraction.”

Some of Smith’s most recent group invitations to exhibit include NAAHBCU National Exhibition: AfroFurturism, at the Tubman African-American Museum, Macon, Georgia; FORECAST: OVERFLOW at the Brown & Juanita Ford Art Gallery, Wayne County Community College in Detroit, Michigan; Earthy Abstraction: Works by Jack Kehoe, Kipley Meyer, Brian Rust and Dwight Smith at the Madison Artists Guild in Madison, Georgia; and Contemporary Works on Paper at the Brandywine Center for the Visual Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Selected solo exhibitions include OBSERVATIONS: Mixed Media Works from Dwight Smith at the Ellington-White Contemporary Art Gallery in Fayetteville; New works by Dwight Smith at the National Conference of Artists Michigan Chapter Gallery in Detroit, Michigan; Peintures, Le Manufacture in Aurillac, France; and National Conference of Artists International Exhibition at the The National Gallery in Dakar, Senegal.

The Arts Council of Fayetteville and Cumberland County is exhibiting Romare Bearden: Beat of a Different Drum and features the original illustrations of Li’l Dan, the Drummer Boy, a Civil War Story.

Romare Bearden is recognized as one of the most creative and original visual artists of the 20th century. This exhibition includes 26 original watercolors from the only book he illustrated in his career. Romare Bearden: Beat of a Different Drum includes the book and text panels with audio narration by the late legendary poet and Civil Rights activist Maya Angelou. 

An important 20th century late modern artist, Bearden’s work is included in many important public collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and The Studio Museum in Harlem, among others. He has had retrospectives at the Mint Museum of Art (1980), the Detroit Institute of the Arts (1986), as well as numerous posthumous retrospectives, including The Studio Museum in Harlem (1991) and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C. (2003).

All exhibits will remain open until mid-February and are free to the public. To call about information to visit the galleries or tour information, please call the following numbers: Ellington-White Contemporary Gallery at 910.483.1388; Rosenthal Gallery at 910.672.1975; Gallery 208 at 910.484.6200; and the Arts Council at 910.323.1776.

The Cape Fear Regional Theatre has a long history of producing top-notch shows. That tradition continues unblemished with its latest production, The Wiz. An adaptation of Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz, the show first opened at the Majestic Theatre in January 1975. Since then it has been delighting audiences, and the audience at the Sunday matinee at the CFRT was no exception.

Originally produced by Ken Harper, a popular radio personality and producer, the show as groundbreaking in that it was produced with an all black cast. Running for four years during its original run and netted seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, proved the acceptance of an all-black cast by the mainstream on Broadway, laying the framework for future African-America blockbusters like Dream Girls. The popularity of the show has not waned, as shown by the recent televised live performance this year.

Prior to seeing the show, I wondered how the CFRT could pull of such a big production on their stage. It was something I really didn’t need to worry about. The creative staff at the CFRT has always done a great job at maximizing their space, and that was true with this show as well. Through the use of video, simple dual use scenery and the actors, the show allowed us to suspend reality and step into the make believe world of Oz. The cast also used the aisles going through the theatre as part of its acting space, which invited the audience to become a part of the show.

Pre-performance, the CFRT staff was a little nervous about how the show itself would come together because of its intricacy and size. They had nothing to worry about. During the show I attended, there was only one noticeable hiccup, and that was with the microphone of the Wicked Witch Evilene. During her first scene, her initial lyrics could not be heard, but the sound crew quickly corrected the problem, and the audience was soon drawn into her delightfully, wicked home. 

The casting of the show was perfection. Many long-time CFRT performers graced the stage, while we were also introduced to new actors  — whom I’m sure we will see again. It was not a veritable cast of thousands, but the way actors came and went off the stage, it made you feel like it was an extremely large cast. There were close to 50 performers in the cast, many of whom played dual roles. Huge props go to the dancers/singers who popped in and out of many scenes as different characters. Their talent was amazing and they brought it on the big dance production numbers. 

Special props go out to the younger actors, Justice Haygood, Annalise Kelly, Diego Macias and Helen Steffan, who stole the audience from the get go as the Munchkins, and who popped in and out of the show with great style and stage presence. If actors like these are the next generation of CFRT performers, theatre will thrive in Fayetteville for quite some time to come. 

Of course, much of the show’s success depended on the performance of Dorothy and her motley band — the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion. These four had a great chemistry together and showcased what the CFRT staff does so well — bringing and eclectic group together to make great theatre. TyNia Brandon (Dorothy) is a young North Carolina performer, having earned her bachelor’s of fine arts  in musical theater, with a minor in dance, from Catawba College in 2014. Brandon didn’t just grace the stage, she owned it, which is quite a compliment when you consider the talent with which she shared the stage.

Other stand-out performers include Crystal Lynn Bradley, who played the not so magical, but street savvy witch Addaperle, Lormarev Jones playing Evilene and Fayettteville native Gigi Ritchey as Glinda. 

The Wizis a great way for the CFRT to kick off the year, and they did it in such a way that should have you easing on down the road to check it out.

A second and more expensive construction problem has arisen at the North Carolina Veterans Park in Fayetteville. It could cost nearly $100 thousand to correct. Last summer, a crack was discovered in a glass monument, which authorities are attributing to wind that rocked the tall glass structure. Engineers are still trying to figure out the best way of stabilizing the monument. The state of North Carolina funded construction of the park at a cost of $12 million. It opened on July 4, 2011, and was dedicated by then-Governor Beverly Perdue as the nation’s only state park dedicated to veterans.

More recently, another problem was discovered. Walls of a pair of large underground vaults that house huge water pumps began to collapse. Recycled water is pumped to five fountains on the park grounds. The fountains are checked regularly. The walls of the vaults, or fiberglass cabinets, face a steep hill across Bragg Boulevard where rain water runs off underground. 

“Over the last two years, we’ve encountered high runoff…six inches of water so far this year alone,” says Parks & Recreation Director Michael Gibson. 

Asked if engineers had forecast the potential stress on the large vaults Gibson said, “I don’t know if any amount of calculation could have predicted the inordinate amount of rain that caused underground pressure” to disturb the walls of the cabinets. Construction crews are in the process of shoring up the two affected walls. The cabinets measure 20 X 10 feet and 50 feet deep.

Metal plates are being installed alongside the walls. Then parallel concrete walls will be constructed to hold back the earth. Metal rods will connect the two, allowing space between them for rocks to be installed to serve as a sort of French drain. Cost of the project thus far is $88 thousand. The city has to absorb that cost even though it’s a state park because it’s responsible for maintenance and repairs to the park as part of an agreement with the state. 

“We’re always looking for issues in regular maintenance monitoring,” says Gibson. No other problems have developed that he’s aware of, he adds.

The State Veterans Park, 300 Bragg Blvd., honors North Carolina veterans from all branches of the military with flags and symbolic monuments. Walking paths, water features and sculptures are located throughout the park. The Oath of Service Wall displays bronze castings of North Carolina veterans’ hands, positioned at shoulder height as though they are taking the oath of service. Military history videos are shown in the visitor center, where a chandelier made of 33,500 dog tags hangs from the ceiling and a Service Ribbon Wall made of fused glass displays every service medal awarded since the Civil War. 

Not many companies could stay in business long if they collected only 55 percent of their billings. That’s what American Traffic Solutions of Phoenix, Arizona, is taking in from Fayetteville violators who run video-monitored red lights. An updated report prepared for Up & Coming Weekly indicates that 7,657 citations were issued since the program began last summer. 

City of Fayetteville Spokesman Kevin Arata says the new data is for the calendar year ending Dec. 31. A total of 4,257 citations of $100 each were paid for a gross total of $425,000. Sixty-five percent of the proceeds or $276,000 goes to Cumberland County Schools, as provided by law. American Traffic Solutions keeps the rest. 

“There is no cost to the city,” says Traffic Engineer Lee Jernigan. Jernigan estimates the school system can likely depend on about $800,000 a year in red light citation revenue.

What about the 3,400 violators who haven’t paid the fines? They “are assessed late fees of $100 if they aren’t paid within a 30-day timeframe,” according to Arata. After that, the company would have to take the violaters to small-claims court. Because the citations are civil violations, no records of them are shown on drivers’ licenses or insurance reports. 

Records provided by the city indicate three of the intersections monitored by the cameras have accounted for nearly 50 percent of the tickets. They are Skibo at Morganton Road, Ramsey Street at Law Road and South Reilly at Kimridge Road. Jernigan says it will take several months to determine whether the red light cameras are having the desired effect of reducing auto accidents.

Fundraiser Set for Homeless Shelter

Fayetteville’s Operation Inasmuch plans to begin construction of its new shelter for homeless men this winter with occupancy in the fall. The agency is promoting what it calls a “Drive-thru Fundraiser” for the shelter at Hillsboro and Chance Streets across from its ministry center on Jan. 31. Executive Director Sue Byrd says $200,000 has already been raised or pledged; the estimated cost of the shelter is $500, 000.

The facility will be built “in keeping with the construction and finishes of the seven Frink Street homes” owned by the charity says Byrd. The fenced-on, 6,500 sq. ft. single-story building will front Chance Street as a limited-access facility with the main entry enabled with a security buzzer and security glass. The police department will install a surveillance camera that can be monitored 24/7. The shelter will also nclude an office or the police department’s homeless project police officer. The shelter will be staffed day and night with paid staff or volunteers.

Byrd says the building will have beds for 40 men, with standard rest room facilities including two handicapped accessible rest rooms. A day room will have TVs and will provide space for group meetings. A laundry will include three clothes washers and three dryers. On life threatening, cold ‘white flag’ nights, the facility will serve an additional 15 to 25 men. 

Typically the shelter will open at 6 p.m. to receive men who were pre-registered earlier in the day at the Operation Inasmuch Ministry Center, according to Byrd. “There will be no long lines of people waiting to get in,” she said. The nextday, residents must be up and out by 7:15 a.m. They will be served breakfast at Inasmuch across the street.

Scholarships for Children of Veterans

College scholarships are available for eligible high school seniors who are the children of North Carolina veterans. The scholarships are provided by the North Carolina Department of Military and Veterans Affairs and the North Carolina Association of Veterans Services Officers. 

The Military and Veterans Affairs Department manages scholarships for children of certain categories of deceased, disabled, combat or POW/MIA vets. They provide four years of tuition and fees at approved North Carolina state universities. Students who choose to attend private schools are given vouchers of $4,500 a year for eight semesters over eight years. Qualifications and applications are available online at www.milvets.nc.gov. 

The scholarships from the Association of Veterans Services Officers were established to honor members. They’re open to graduating seniors whose parents are honorably discharged state residents. The scholarships pay $1,000. Applications are available at the Cumberland County Veterans Services Office at 301 E. Russell St. 

Voter ID Required This Year

For the first time in more than 100 years, North Carolina voters are required to show photo ID at the polls. Five years ago, the Republican-controlled North Carolina General Assembly changed voting laws that had been in effect since 1896. The Cumberland County Board of Elections says acceptable photo IDs include North Carolina driver’s licenses or ID cards, passports, military ID cards, Veterans Administration cards and certain tribal ID cards. Options for citizens who don’t have or are not able to obtain ID cards can be found online at voterID.nc.gov.

The Board of Elections’ early voting schedule was created after receiving input from the public. Early voting times and dates are: 

Board of Elections Office (227 Fountainhead Lane)- March 3, 4, 7-11 from 8 a.m. – 8 p.m.; March 5 from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.; March 12 from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Cliffdale Recreation Center, East Regional Branch Library, Hope Mills Recreation Center and North Regional Branch Library- March 3, 4, 7-11 from 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.; March 5 from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.; March 12 from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Health Dept. Receives Grant

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services has awarded the Cumberland County Health Department a $300,000 grant for the Adolescent Parenting Program . This program serves pregnant teens and mothers who are 19 or younger at the time of enrollment. The APP is a teen pregnancy prevention program developed to help prevent second pregnancies. It’s administered by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Public Health and the Family Planning and Reproductive Health Unit.

 The goals are to increase self-sufficiency, increase high school graduation rates or completion of GEDs and improve the welfare of children of teen parents. APP also hopes to increase incidence of positive parenting and increase children’s physical well-being by creating safe home environments. 

The Health Department will receive $75,000 annually for four years beginning June 1, 2016. Pregnant teens must be enrolled at any stage of their pregnancy and may remain in the program until they graduate from high school or complete a GED. The program is coordinated by a full-time public health staff member with an average caseload of between 15 and 25 participants annually. It includes home visitation and peer group education sessions. 

Cumberland County was targeted for funding based on its five-year average teen pregnancy rate of 63.6 percent from 2009-2013, which ranked 12th highest in the state.

Not many companies could stay in business long if they collected only 55 percent of their billings. That’s what American Traffic Solutions of Phoenix, Arizona, is taking in from Fayetteville violators who run video-monitored red lights. An updated report prepared for Up & Coming Weekly indicates that 7,657 citations were issued since the program began last summer. 

City of Fayetteville Spokesman Kevin Arata says the new data is for the calendar year ending Dec. 31. A total of 4,257 citations of $100 each were paid for a gross total of $425,000. Sixty-five percent of the proceeds or $276,000 goes to Cumberland County Schools, as provided by law. American Traffic Solutions keeps the rest. 

“There is no cost to the city,” says Traffic Engineer Lee Jernigan. Jernigan estimates the school system can likely depend on about $800,000 a year in red light citation revenue.

What about the 3,400 violators who haven’t paid the fines? They “are assessed late fees of $100 if they aren’t paid within a 30-day timeframe,” according to Arata. After that, the company would have to take the violaters to small-claims court. Because the citations are civil violations, no records of them are shown on drivers’ licenses or insurance reports. 

Records provided by the city indicate three of the intersections monitored by the cameras have accounted for nearly 50 percent of the tickets. They are Skibo at Morganton Road, Ramsey Street at Law Road and South Reilly at Kimridge Road. Jernigan says it will take several months to determine whether the red light cameras are having the desired effect of reducing auto accidents.

Fundraiser Set for Homeless Shelter

Fayetteville’s Operation Inasmuch plans to begin construction of its new shelter for homeless men this winter with occupancy in the fall. The agency is promoting what it calls a “Drive-thru Fundraiser” for the shelter at Hillsboro and Chance Streets across from its ministry center on Jan. 31. Executive Director Sue Byrd says $200,000 has already been raised or pledged; the estimated cost of the shelter is $500, 000.

The facility will be built “in keeping with the construction and finishes of the seven Frink Street homes” owned by the charity says Byrd. The fenced-on, 6,500 sq. ft. single-story building will front Chance Street as a limited-access facility with the main entry enabled with a security buzzer and security glass. The police department will install a surveillance camera that can be monitored 24/7. The shelter will also nclude an office or the police department’s homeless project police officer. The shelter will be staffed day and night with paid staff or volunteers.

Byrd says the building will have beds for 40 men, with standard rest room facilities including two handicapped accessible rest rooms. A day room will have TVs and will provide space for group meetings. A laundry will include three clothes washers and three dryers. On life threatening, cold ‘white flag’ nights, the facility will serve an additional 15 to 25 men. 

Typically the shelter will open at 6 p.m. to receive men who were pre-registered earlier in the day at the Operation Inasmuch Ministry Center, according to Byrd. “There will be no long lines of people waiting to get in,” she said. The nextday, residents must be up and out by 7:15 a.m. They will be served breakfast at Inasmuch across the street.

Scholarships for Children of Veterans

College scholarships are available for eligible high school seniors who are the children of North Carolina veterans. The scholarships are provided by the North Carolina Department of Military and Veterans Affairs and the North Carolina Association of Veterans Services Officers. 

The Military and Veterans Affairs Department manages scholarships for children of certain categories of deceased, disabled, combat or POW/MIA vets. They provide four years of tuition and fees at approved North Carolina state universities. Students who choose to attend private schools are given vouchers of $4,500 a year for eight semesters over eight years. Qualifications and applications are available online at www.milvets.nc.gov. 

The scholarships from the Association of Veterans Services Officers were established to honor members. They’re open to graduating seniors whose parents are honorably discharged state residents. The scholarships pay $1,000. Applications are available at the Cumberland County Veterans Services Office at 301 E. Russell St. 

Voter ID Required This Year

For the first time in more than 100 years, North Carolina voters are required to show photo ID at the polls. Five years ago, the Republican-controlled North Carolina General Assembly changed voting laws that had been in effect since 1896. The Cumberland County Board of Elections says acceptable photo IDs include North Carolina driver’s licenses or ID cards, passports, military ID cards, Veterans Administration cards and certain tribal ID cards. Options for citizens who don’t have or are not able to obtain ID cards can be found online at voterID.nc.gov.

The Board of Elections’ early voting schedule was created after receiving input from the public. Early voting times and dates are: 

Board of Elections Office (227 Fountainhead Lane)- March 3, 4, 7-11 from 8 a.m. – 8 p.m.; March 5 from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.; March 12 from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Cliffdale Recreation Center, East Regional Branch Library, Hope Mills Recreation Center and North Regional Branch Library- March 3, 4, 7-11 from 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.; March 5 from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.; March 12 from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Health Dept. Receives Grant

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services has awarded the Cumberland County Health Department a $300,000 grant for the Adolescent Parenting Program . This program serves pregnant teens and mothers who are 19 or younger at the time of enrollment. The APP is a teen pregnancy prevention program developed to help prevent second pregnancies. It’s administered by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Public Health and the Family Planning and Reproductive Health Unit.

 The goals are to increase self-sufficiency, increase high school graduation rates or completion of GEDs and improve the welfare of children of teen parents. APP also hopes to increase incidence of positive parenting and increase children’s physical well-being by creating safe home environments. 

The Health Department will receive $75,000 annually for four years beginning June 1, 2016. Pregnant teens must be enrolled at any stage of their pregnancy and may remain in the program until they graduate from high school or complete a GED. The program is coordinated by a full-time public health staff member with an average caseload of between 15 and 25 participants annually. It includes home visitation and peer group education sessions. 

Cumberland County was targeted for funding based on its five-year average teen pregnancy rate of 63.6 percent from 2009-2013, which ranked 12th highest in the state.

Former Civil Rights journalist turned college professor Frye Gaillard came to town earlier this month at the behest of the North Carolina Civil War History Center Foundation (full disclosure — I serve on the foundation board). Gaillard discussed his most recent book, Journey to the Wilderness: War, Memory, and a Southern Family’s Civil War Letters. It is a curated account of one family’s Civil War experience through their letters, vividly illustrating yet again the excruciating ambivalence and pain that accompanied our nation’s deadliest conflict. Gaillard’s book also reminds us, as if we needed reminding in this election year, that we have yet to resolve many of the issues that troubled Americans 150 years ago.

Gaillard headed back to Alabama, leaving his audience with much to think about regarding long-running currents in American life, but I was struck as well by another of his works, The Books That Mattered: A Reader’s Memoir. A lifelong consumer of books, I was instantly transported to my earliest memories of books that have become part of me. Before I could even read, my mother read to me. We wept together when Christopher Robin decided it was time to put Winnie the Pooh away as a childish toy. We laughed when Scuppers the Sailor Dog hanged a “hat on the hook for his hat and his rope on the hook for his rope.” Later I lost my self in Frances Hodgson Burnett’s Secret Garden and resolved to live in a tree house like the Swiss Family Robinson. Eventually, I moved on to the Nancy Drew series, biographies of famous women, and by the time I was a teenager, I read everything I could get my hands on, including some totally age-inappropriate books, probably swathed in blankets in hopes no one would notice me and my reading material.

From the time I could read, I did so until my eyes watered —sometimes under the covers with a flashlight and later boldly with my best lamp blazing.  

Frye Gaillard reveals that his love of reading began a bit later in life. He was not smitten by fairy tales, most of which seemed to him to involve eating little children. At 9, though, he discovered Esther Forbes’ Johnny Tremain, a Revolutionary War tale which turned young Frye into a lifelong reader. 

The grown up Gaillard organizes the books that speak to him by theme, with “Southern Voices” including Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, still among America’s best selling books over five decades after its publication. His “Darkness” chapter includes books that explore human evil, including Night by Elie Wiesel, Anne Frank’s Diary of a Young Girl, Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut and John Hersey’s Hiroshima. A Southerner as well as a Civil Rights journalist, one would expect Gaillard to delve into issues of race and he does through African-American writers such as Richard Wright, James Baldwin and Henry Louis Gates as well as fellow white Southerners William Faulkner and one of my favorites, Walker Percy.

In “Poetry, Prose and a Sense of Place” Gaillard confesses that his favorite book is Robert Penn Warren’s All the King’s Men, a book both so Southern we can imagine it even today and so universal that people in other nation’s understand its truth. In “Family Values” he reminds us of the lessons Alex Haley teaches in Roots and those pounded in, perhaps inadvertently in The Great Santini by Pat Conroy. He gives a nod to Cumberland County’s own Tim McLaurin, an author whose snake-handling ways and Keeper of the Moon, his memoir of a boyhood on the eastside of the Cape Fear River, makes me sad that our paths never crossed.

Finally, Gaillard knows that while reading is how human beings have learned for millennia, sometimes we do it just for fun. Books resonating in that category for him include James Herriot’s All Creatures Great and Small, a favorite  of the young Dicksons, Walking Across Egypt by North Carolinian Clyde Edgerton and the always wonderful Lee Smith, a Virginia girl who got to the Tar Heel state as soon as she could.

My list of books is long and, unlike Gaillard’s, totally unorganized, but reading his, we share many of the same books that have meaning for us. One of mine that did not make Gaillard’s list is The Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All, a novel by Rocky Mount native Allan Gurganus. A 99-year woman delivers nothing short of a spectacular monologue about her marriage at 15 to a 50 year old Civil War veteran, touching along the way on slavery, racism, the horrors of Reconstruction, the mysteries of marriage, raising children — in short, the human condition, a fictional account of some of the same themes Gaillard’s ancestors recounted in their letters. A tome by anyone’s definition, it is both a romp through things Southern and things true.

We all have our own lists, and Gaillard’s book pushes me to think about mine.

I would love to hear about yours.

The curtain rises on the new Fayetteville Dinner Theatre’s first stage production in more than 30 years. Why? Because we deserve it. 

That’s right! After all, Fayetteville residents will be going to the polls on March 15 to vote on a $35 million Parks & Rec bond that will provide amenities to enhance our quality of life and give business and industry a reason to come here and stay here. Well, that’s the theory anyway.  We’ll see soon enough. In the meantime, we forge ahead.

Fayetteville declares it wants and deserves the good stuff – at least that’s what we profess. Good theatre, great restaurants, plenty of arts and culture. So, in a town that gets giddy over a new neighborhood BJ ‘s and intoxicated at the smell fresh veggies at the Fresh Market, its time we stop hitting the road to Raleigh, Durham  and Chapel Hill for an elegant meal  and a great show.

The first production of the new dinner theatre is a test to see if we as a community can support goodness in our own hometown. On Feb.12-14, Valentine’s Day weekend, the new Fayetteville Dinner Theatre premieres in our community with A Southern Girl’s Got To Have It. A hilarious comedy written by Charlotte playwright Elaine Alexander (born and raised in Fayetteville). This will be a weekend to remember. 

Each show will include a wine tasting showcasing Lu Mil Vineyards, classic musical entertainment by Kia Walker’s Blue Violin, free gifts for the ladies, door prizes and a special meet and greet with the cast. It will be a very special weekend with a great dinner and three opportunities to enjoy hilarious fun-filled dinner theatre. But, the question remains: Will the community show up to support it? 

It has all the makings of a success; however, there are no guarantees. If we build it, will they come? All indications say they should. But Fayetteville is Fayetteville, so there are no guarantees. If they don’t come, it won’t be because the evening wasn’t spectacular and it will tell us  what we need to know about ourselves and the future of our community. 

This is only the beginning. If this project is successful we will go on to create a jazz venue in Fayetteville. Yes, a real live jazz venue where we can take advantage of the dozens of jazz musicians who travel all over the nation and the world playing their music but have no place to play in their own hometown. 

There is so much opportunity here in Fayetteville and Cumberland County. Do we need amenities? Yes. Do we need a $35 million dollar bond and all it has to offer in quality of life? Yes. Does the community need to come out and support those amenities? Absolutely. 

Thank you for reading Up & Coming Weekly. I hope to see you at the theater.

Late last December, I wrote a rather pointed op-ed piece on the development of the parks and recreation plan for the greater-Fayetteville area. 

I appreciate our mayor and city council. I’m glad they have the foresight to improve the quality of life in our All-American City, because improvements are badly needed in our existing facilities, as is planning for new facilities. Organized athletics are not just entertainment. They can build teamwork and community spirit as well, and when they also reduce juvenile crime, the community gets a further bonus. Our senior citizens are living longer than ever before, and their quality of life is just as important as that of younger people. Two senior centers, one in East Fayetteville and the other in West Fayetteville, are long overdue.

But in my op-ed, I tried to explain the plan in its entirety, not just giving a “big picture” overview, but also taking a closer look at the hidden costs of the then-proposed $64 million plan. Several readers voiced appreciation for the background research I included in the article.

Last Monday the City Council met and revised the $64 million plan to a $35 million plan, still tying it directly to the bond referendum coming up this March. I sincerely think that’s a step in the right direction. The plan objectives are now set out much more clearly, for one thing, but transparency is essential to building trust. I still have several concerns about the modified plan, and about the local political context in which it would be implemented, if approved. 

First, is the information being provided to the City Council accurate and reliable? If the council is to make good policy, they need to have accurate information. For example, on Dec. 14, city management assured the Council the total cost of the then-$28 million multipurpose complex would be approximately $700,000 per year. That very night, the council voted unanimously to approve the bond referendum being placed on the ballot in March. But later, on Jan. 4, a memo was distributed to say that the number city management gave at the Dec. 14 meeting was inaccurate. Council had already voted on the basis of an inaccurate figure. Now council learned that the true cost would in fact be around $2.3 million a year. That is an understatement of $1.6 million — every year! Unfortunately, this is not the only example of such, “mis-statements.” City management is rightfully expected to do their homework before council votes, rather than afterward. Money is not the issue here. Trust is.

Second, in the recent municipal election, some on our council campaigned loudly that they were going to hold the line on hasty tax hikes — they would support no tax increase until they had “looked under the hood” to see what synergies or savings they could find — specifically in the Fayetteville Public Works Commission. They have not yet kept that promise. In fact, due to an exceedingly ambitious city manager, who apparently wants PWC totally under his thumb, we are now mired in a sticky lawsuit that will reportedly cost the taxpayers of this city at least $500,000 to litigate. Back during the Big Bang annexation, the city signed a commitment to pay approximately $70 million toward the cost of the infrastructure in this newly-annexed area. But the current city manager wasn’t here when that promise was made, and he seems not to regard it as binding. He is now attempting to renege on that obligation. Just call us “Litigation City.” Keep in mind this $70 million cost was not written directly out of the city budget but was a reduction in the amount the city would have received from technically the ratepayers of PWC. Again, the underlying issue isn’t money. It’s trust. We like folks who keep their word, Ted (Voorhees).

Prior to negotiations crashing and litigation beginning, PWC had agreed to give back to the city approximately $1.3 million growing every year for inflation. We ended up not only giving that stream of income up but costing the citizens of this city $500,000 for litigation cost. It’s interesting that that $1.3 million a year would almost completely cover the interest expense assuming that the bonds were issued at 4.25 percent, not principal mind you but interest-only.

True, City Council has the obligation for oversight of PWC. That does not mean City Council members — all of them “part-time” public servants, with private careers of their own — have the time, skill or experience to operate a multi-million dollar public utility. Ah, but that’s why we have city management professionals, right? Re-read the above paragraphs.

We knew it would happen and it has. 

Millennials now outnumber Baby Boomers, 83 million to 75 million, becoming the largest of two gigantic lumps in the United States’ demographic snake.

The U.S. Census Bureau officially announced the rout last summer, meaning that the Boomers, my generation born into post-World War II America between 1946 and 1964, have been eclipsed by many of our own children, those born roughly between 1980 and 2000, although the exact defining dates remain fluid. Many Boomers continue hale, hearty, and in charge of at least themselves if no one else. Millennials, though, are clearly ascendant, with notables such as Mark Zuckerberg and Taylor Swift already driving
forces worldwide.

We all know and probably love some individual Millennials, but as a group, who the heck are these people? How are they different from the Americans who proceeded them? What makes them who they are?

Millennials’ most defining characteristic is that they are the first generation in all of human history to have grown up with computers in their homes. Not all of them, of course, but as a group they have never known a time without wireless communications and the reality that knowledge about almost any topic is literally a few key strokes away. Rapid communication via social media is a major factor in their daily lives, and for many, there is no such thing as the “slow lane.” The rest of us are “digital immigrants,” but Millennials are the world’s first “digital natives.”

They are highly diverse, with almost half — more than 44 percent — being part of a minority race or ethnic group, meaning they are not single-race white. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce notes that 11 percent of them are the children of at least one immigrant parent. This diversity trend is not slowing down anytime soon. Of the generation coming behind Millennials, those born since the turn of the 21st century, just over 50 percent is part of a minority race or ethnic group.

The Census Bureau also finds that Millennials are on target to be the most educated generation in American history. Seventy-two percent graduate from high school, and 68 percent enroll in college, with a graduation rate of 58 percent in six years. Many go on to graduate programs — perhaps to wait out our slowed economy — and while many do take on significant student debt, they do so because they understand the long-term value of education. 

Millennials may be interested in education, but religion — not so much. A full quarter of them say their religion is “None,” according to the Pew Research Center. Nor do they readily embrace marriage as have prior generations. A slowed economy is part of this trend, which is more pronounced among the working class who are less likely to marry and have children within marriage than college educated Millennials. In addition, Millennials are living at home longer than prior generations, perhaps from economic necessity but perhaps not, earning them the moniker of the “Peter Pan” or “Boomerang” generation.

These are just the facts, but there is plenty more as everyone from scholarly researchers to Boomer parents tries to figure out Millennials. 

What caught my attention as the mother of three of these folks is a recent piece on Inc.com entitled “3 Reasons Millennials are Getting Fired.” The author posits that Millennials are handicapped in the work place by the cold, hard facts that bosses are not their helicopter parents eager to cheer them on, that work is not always fun or accomplished on their personally flexible schedules and by their childhood experiences of receiving a trophy simply for showing up for the game. In fact, Millennials are sometimes called the “trophy generation.”

Researchers at the University of Michigan and UCLA have found that Millennials value wealth about 30 percent more than Boomers do, are less interested in political affairs, though they are classically liberal on social issues, and centrist on fiscal ones, and have little interest in “developing a meaningful philosophy of life” — whatever that might mean.

Of concern to Millennials, their parents and economists is what effects the Great Recession has had on Millennials and whether they are permanent. Many of them came of age during the Great Recession and found themselves either under employed or unemployed. No one knows yet whether slow starts in the workplace will mean Millennials will not achieve the American dream of doing better than one’s parents.

What emerges here is a portrait of a generation still defining itself, and it matters because Millennials are the largest generation in American history thus far. They, like their parents the Baby Boomers, will shape and leave their stamp on every aspect of American life, for better or for worse. Like many of my generation, I had no idea I was a Boomer until I was almost an adult, and my guess is most Millennials are just as clueless. They are busy figuring out their own lives, not their generation’s impacts and legacies. 

Does all of this sound like anyone you know and love?

If you have been following the Presidential Election Campaign for the past year, you are probably on election sound bite overload. With nearly hourly updates on the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries; with the Republican debates last Thursday and Democratic debates on Sunday; I have been forced over the edge of exhaustion and frustration and will join the ranks of hundreds of thousands of former Democratic and Republican Party members who have found credence in Groucho Marx’s advice to “Refuse to join any club that would have him as a member.”

For the average American, the polls have concluded that the government of the greatest nation in the world has not only let us down but has abused us. Both parties have grossly misrepresented their constituents, abused their power and ignored, disrespected and trampled upon the Constitution of the United States making the term “law-of-the-land” a joke. 

Americans are worse off now than they have ever been. They are scared, economically depressed and angry with a government that has proven time and time again by word and deed that we just don’t matter. Only they matter. 

This being the case, how can anyone pledge alliance to a politician or political order so brazen, selfish and corrupt? Well, I cannot. Out of protest, I have already pledged not to vote for any incumbent nationally after finding it almost impossible to distinguish who the good guys are. At least, as an Independent voter I can enjoy the fact that I have a choice. A choice without guilt. A choice without compromise. A choice that will allow me to feel that I am not part of the problem, which allows me not to advocate for a dysfunctional government. My choice allows me not to enable that government. It’s not much, but it’s a huge relief to practice my independence.

Thank you for choosing to read Up & Coming Weekly.  

The local distribution of sales tax revenue has driven a wedge between Cumberland County Commissioners and the Fayetteville City Council. In the next few days commissioners will begin discussion of changing the method by which sales tax proceeds are divided between the county and the nine municipalities. If that happens, Mayor Nat Robertson has said he will cut city services to offset up to $4 million in lost revenue. Town governments are accusing the City of Fayetteville of looking after its own interest to the detriment of the small towns. Fayetteville Mayor Nat Robertson concedes the point, saying he has the obligation “to protect the interests of city taxpayers.” 

For the last 13 years, the city and county have used a distribution method that shares sales tax revenues by population with a caveat. The city agreed to divide proceeds in a large area that it annexed. As the city’s population grew, the unincorporated area of the county shrank. Negotiators agreed it was only fair for the city to rebate the county one half of the new money it collected in those annexed areas. The towns got smaller shares of sales tax proceeds depending on their populations. The agreement between Cumberland County and Fayetteville has been renewed a couple of times and expires at the end of the current fiscal year.

Fayetteville Mayor Nat Robertson and City Manager Ted Voorhees have proposed phasing out the 50/50 sharing of revenue taken in from annexed areas. The county is opposed because it would lose millions over the five-year phase out period.  Robertson and Voorhees believe it’s the city’s money to keep because roughly 90 percent of sales tax revenue is generated inside the city.

The county is considering changing the method by which tax money is distributed to the ad valorem system or tax districts. The money would be divided, not by population, but by territories that each government unit covers. Cumberland County’s tax district is the entire county, which means it would get the lion’s share of tax collections. The city and towns would get much less money than which  they’ve been accustomed to. 

Commissioners have given the city until the end of this month to agree to a continuation of the current tax-sharing arrangement. City Manager Voorhees says Fayetteville “is prepared to extend the current agreement,” with a caveat: The city and the Town of Spring Lake want to claim all tax money available under the current formula in areas of Fort Bragg annexed by Fayetteville and Spring Lake. 

Commissioners have refused to negotiate a compromise with City Council, and have threatened in no uncertain terms to change the tax distribution formula on July 1. “Commissioners are not willing to serve on a sales tax negotiating team because the compromise has been on the table since 2013,” says County Commission Chairman Marshall Faircloth. “Further negotiation opens the door to the city’s desired phase-out of the agreement, putting county services at risk,” he added. The towns of Hope Mills, Wade, Falcon, Godwin, Stedman, Vander and Eastover would also suffer pro rata revenue losses. Hope Mills Mayor Jackie Warner accused Fayetteville of bullying, saying “We can’t fight the big dog…we have no voice.”

Progress, Prosperity, Places to Play! That’s the theme of the City of Fayetteville’s outreach effort to educate the public about the upcoming Parks and Recreation Bond Referendum. Voters are being asked to approve a $35 million package for several projects during the March 15 North Carolina Primary Election. 

A post on the city’s website (www.FayettevilleNC.gov/ParksBond) about the referendum reads: “A citywide bond proposal would enable us to build outstanding new facilities to provide city residents throughout the area with affordable, close-to-home options for recreation, sports and entertainment.”

The website provides an outline of the proposed projects as well as voter and ballot information. A page of frequently asked questions is included. Missing, however, is an explanation of financial details such as an amortization timeline, projected interest and total tax cost. The tax increase necessary to fund all the projects is $0.0135 per $100 of assessed property valuation. That translates to $16.98 a year for a home valued at $126,000, or as the city tells it, the cost of a two-liter soft drink bottle per month. At the request of Up & Coming Weekly, city officials said the bond debt would be retired over 20 years at an anticipated 5 percent interest rate. That is not included in the information online. 

The Fayetteville City Council came up with the list of projects after several weeks of discussions and utilizing the findings of a citizen survey. The bond package includes two senior centers, a tennis center, sports field complex, two skateboard parks, a Cape Fear River Park, seven splash pads and improvements to seven existing parks. All facilities are within the city limits. Here’s is a detailed explanation of the projects:

Senior Centers. Two full-service facilities, one of which tentatively would be built on Lamon Street downtown. The other is to be located along Raeford Road in West Fayetteville. The city says exact locations have not been identified. Key features would include libraries, video rooms, classrooms, art studios, dance studios, a fitness space and a meeting room. The combined costs are estimated as $10 million.

Tennis Center. It would be built at Mazerick Park for players of all ages and ability levels. It would include four clay courts and 13 hard courts, plus a tournament championship court with seats for 1,000 spectators and a 10,000 sq. ft. pro shop. The estimated cost is $6 million.

Sport Field Complex. A multi-purpose complex to be located on city-owned property on Fields Road off Cedar Creek Road that would include two lighted youth softball/baseball fields, two lighted youth softball/baseball fields with synthetic turf, two lighted adult softball/baseball fields, two lighted adult softball/baseball fields with synthetic turf, five soccer/football fields, two soccer/football fields with synthetic turf, three picnic shelters with BBQ grills, two children’s playgrounds and an 800-meter walking trail. Also included is a proposed 10,000 sq. ft. clubhouse. The cost: $9 million.

Skateboard Parks. One large in-ground concrete facility to serve the entire Fayetteville-Cumberland County region, and two mini parks. The larger park would provide a challenge for more advanced skate boarders. The mini-locations would be designed for novice skaters. The larger facility would include two parks at Robeson and Commerce streets for novice and advanced skaters. A novice park would be built at Westover Recreation Center. The total estimated cost is $1 million.

Cape Fear River Park.An urban riverfront park near downtown to provide passive river specific recreational activities. The exact location is to be determined. The city says it would be on the Cape Fear River bordered by Person, Broad and Grove streets. The park would include a boardwalk, access to the riverfront, boat docks, picnic shelters, trails and public open space with an estimated cost not to exceed $5.2 million.

Splash Pads. Six of them would be located at existing recreation centers, including Cliffdale Recreation Center, E.E. Miller, Gilmore Therapeutic Center, Kiwanis, Massey Hill and Myers Park Recreation Centers plus an additional location to be determined. One possible site could be Festival Park in downtown Fayetteville. 

Each location would include 2,000 sq. ft. zero depth splash pads and several water features which use recycled water. The total estimated cost for all seven locations would be $3 million.

Existing Park Improvements. Seven parks would be upgraded to include the renovation of some existing buildings and various park grounds. Among the projects are improvements to J. Bayard Clark Park & Nature Center, the Dorothy Gilmore Therapeutic Park building, Brentwood School Park, Massey Hill Recreation Center, Martin Luther King Jr. Park, Mazarick Park and Seabrook Park. The estimated total cost is $800,000.

The referendum form will not allow voters to pick and choose selected projects. It’s a yes or no, all or nothing proposition. The city says some of the facilities included in the bond proposal would be able to operate with little or no additional operating funds. But, says the city, it’s important to note that membership costs and entrance fees may be required. Memberships would be offered at different levels (family, couple, senior, etc.),  and daily passes would be available for those who go less often or could not afford yearly memberships. In addition, officials believe the new facilities would be available for school athletic programs as well as recreation activities. Also, the facilities would have the added economic advantage of job creation, and would provide other opportunities for generating revenue through tournaments, swim and track meets, and other rentals for a wide range of public or private events. Attracting competitions and other events would lead to additional revenue through hotels stays, restaurants, retail locations and local attractions.

Tax Increase?

“There is a difference between a fee and a tax,” said State Rep. John Szoka. It’s a distinction that is arguable, but for the record “fees are charged to pay for the provision of a service and only for that service,” added Szoka. Republican lawmakers don’t like to raise taxes, but they apparently are not as concerned about increasing fees. The GOP controlled general assembly raised motor vehicle fees, which went into effect this month. One that you’ll notice immediately is the cost of renewing a car’s registration. According to the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles, it went from $28 to $36. An 8-year driver’s license renewal is now $40 which is an $8 increase. A 5-year driver’s license renewal went up $5 to $25. The charge for a title certificate went from $40 to $52. The 30 percent overall increase is the first in 11 years. The updated charges are expected to raise $150 million for road and bridge improvements. Meanwhile, thanks to the political clout of North Carolina’s automobile dealers, the state’s low highway use tax on car sales will remain unchanged at 3 percent. “The distinction between fees and taxes may seem to be like splitting hairs but it is an important distinction,” said Szoka. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trailblazing Female General

The new Commandant of Cadets at the U.S. Military Academy took command this month. Brig. Gen. Diane Holland is the first female officer to assume the responsibility for the military, physical, character and social development of more than 4,400 cadets. She’s a 1990 graduate of the school. Earlier in her career Holland served with Fort Bragg’s 20th Engineer Brigade as a battalion logistics officer and then as a company commander. After that, Holland earned a Master of Arts at Duke University and returned to West Point to teach. She also attended the Army Command and General Staff College and the School of Advanced Military Studies, where she earned a Master of Military Arts and Sciences. Holland most recently served as a Deputy Commanding General, 10th Mountain Division, a unit of the XVIII Airborne Corps, which is headquartered at Fort Bragg. It was another first for a female general officer. Lt. Gen. Robert Carlson Jr., the United Stated Military Academy’s superintendent, said “The Corps of Cadets is getting a great commander and an outstanding leader.” 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CFRT’s New Administrator

Fayetteville’s Cape Fear Regional Theatre has a new managing director. The board of directors this month named Beth Desloges the leader of CFRT’s administrative team. She is a 2011 graduate of South University in Savannah, Georgia, where she earned a Masters of Business Administration and worked as Executive Director of Susan G. Komen of Coastal Georgia. As Managing Director of  the CFRT, Desloges will supervise all operations while working alongside Artistic Director Tom Quaintance to keep the theatre moving forward. “She is a perfect fit for CFRT, and I am thrilled with the team that we have in place going into 2016,” said Quaintance. Desloges said she learned the value of theatre as a teenager in New Hampshire. “Many of the valuable life skills that have made me a successful adult derived from my days as a theater kid in a small New Hampshire community.”

Athletics at FTCC

Fayetteville Technical Community College is establishing a competitive sports program. Mike Neal has been hired as Director of Intercollegiate Athletics at FTCC. He comes to Fayetteville from Sanford where he served for 25 years as Athletic Director of Central Carolina Community College. College officials say Neal will be responsible initially for establishing men’s and women’s basketball and golf programs for the 2016-17 season. Neal is a 1986 graduate of Western Illinois University. FTCC will play its basketball games at the Crown Coliseum. The golf program’s home course will be Stryker Golf Course at Fort Bragg. FTCC will likely add other sports teams later, although President Larry Keen has said football would never be an option because of its expense. Fayetteville Tech will likely compete in the National Junior College Athletic Association’s Division II.

 Once upon a time there was a king named Midas who lived in Macedonia. Once upon our time there was a billionaire named Donald Trump who lived in Manhattan. Turns out these two have a lot in common. Ponder the similarities. As you recall from your Greek mythology, everything Midas touched turned to gold. This didn’t work out quite as well as he hoped. Topping King Midas, everything The Donald touches turns to gold — and fear. This may not turn out as well as The Donald hopes. 

 In the land of mythology, Dionysus was the god of wine. Dionysus learned his party skills from his tutor Silenus. Silenus was an alcoholic satyr. Satyrs are half horse and half human. Horses can’t hold their liquor, which exacerbated Silenus’ alcohol problem. Silenus wandered off drunk one day and blacked out in Midas’ flower garden. Midas recognized Silenus and threw him a big party. Midas then took Silenus back to Dionysus. Dionysus was so glad to see Silenus that he told Midas he would grant him one wish. Midas, considering his financial future, asked that anything he touched would turn to gold. At the time this seemed like a good idea, just like hover boards and zillions of Christmas drones seemed like a good idea. 

 Initially Midas had some fun turning twigs, flowers and his daughter into gold. When he called for a banquet to celebrate his new found ability, Midas had an “Uh Oh” moment. As he tried to eat or drink, his food and wine turned into gluten-free gold which is pretty indigestible. Realizing he was going to starve to death or die of thirst due to his golden touch, Midas asked Dionysus to undo his wish. Dionysus told him to wash in the Pactolus River to remove the golden touch. Midas went down to the river and the golden touch vanished.

 This experience left Midas no longer interested in financial planning. Midas took John Prine’s advice and “blew up his TV, threw away his paper/went to the country, built him a home/planted a little garden/and ate a lot peaches.” While living in the country, Midas became buddies with Pan who was the god of the fields and an excellent flutist. Pan was so proud of his flute playing that he challenged Apollo the god of music to a flute off. Apollo won the contest but Midas objected to the referee’s decision. Never argue with a god. Apollo, feeling insulted, changed Midas’ ears into donkey ears. Midas was self-conscious about his ears. He always hid his donkey ears under a turban. The only person who knew about Midas’ donkey ears was his barber who was supposed to keep it secret. Barbers are not noted for secret keeping. The barber dug a hole and whispered the secret into the hole. Unfortunately for Midas, a bunch of reeds overheard the whispered secret and started spreading the news that Midas had donkey ears. Reeds were mythology’s version of social media. Reeds, like barbers, can’t keep a secret. 

 Now let us ponder the similarities between The Donald and King Midas. The Donald has the financial touch of Midas as he frequently points out to us how rich he is. He can turn real estate into gold. As a presidential candidate, he is doing his best to turn his opponents into objects of fear and loathing. He tells America we need to fear the Mexicans, the Muslims, the Chinese, Senator Cruz’s Canadian citizenship and the sissy boys playing touch football in the NFL. The Donald admires Vlad Putin in the continuing weird love affair between the right wing and a murdering commie dictator. The Donald has a populist gift for inducing fear and loathing by convincing vast numbers of voters that The Donald alone can protect them from The Other. Alienating everyone who isn’t white may not turn out to be the best quality for a president to have. Perhaps Dionysus still has a set of donkey ears left to send to Earth. 

 Maybe The Donald already has donkey ears on his head like Midas. Instead of wearing a turban on his head, (which would make him look like a Muslim), the Donald has this huge pile of hair on his head. Could the pile of hair conceal donkey ears? Only The Donald’s barber knows for sure. Maybe his barber has whispered The Donald’s secret into a fracking well in Oklahoma. It’s a hair-raising possibility. Only the results of the electoral college will know for sure.

 

Late last December, I wrote a rather pointed op-ed piece on the development of the parks and recreation plan for the greater-Fayetteville area. 

I appreciate our mayor and city council. I’m glad they have the foresight to improve the quality of life in our All-American City, because improvements are badly needed in our existing facilities, as is planning for new facilities. Organized athletics are not just entertainment. They can build teamwork and community spirit as well, and when they also reduce juvenile crime, the community gets a further bonus. Our senior citizens are living longer than ever before, and their quality of life is just as important as that of younger people. Two senior centers, one in East Fayetteville and the other in West Fayetteville, are long overdue.

But in my op-ed, I tried to explain the plan in its entirety, not just giving a “big picture” overview, but also taking a closer look at the hidden costs of the then-proposed $64 million plan. Several readers voiced appreciation for the background research I included in the article.

Last Monday the City Council met and revised the $64 million plan to a $35 million plan, still tying it directly to the bond referendum coming up this March. I sincerely think that’s a step in the right direction. The plan objectives are now set out much more clearly, for one thing, but transparency is essential to building trust. I still have several concerns about the modified plan, and about the local political context in which it would be implemented, if approved. 

First, is the information being provided to the City Council accurate and reliable? If the council is to make good policy, they need to have accurate information. For example, on Dec. 14, city management assured the Council the total cost of the then-$28 million multipurpose complex would be approximately $700,000 per year. That very night, the council voted unanimously to approve the bond referendum being placed on the ballot in March. But later, on Jan. 4, a memo was distributed to say that the number city management gave at the Dec. 14 meeting was inaccurate. Council had already voted on the basis of an inaccurate figure. Now council learned that the true cost would in fact be around $2.3 million a year. That is an understatement of $1.6 million — every year! Unfortunately, this is not the only example of such, “mis-statements.” City management is rightfully expected to do their homework before council votes, rather than afterward. Money is not the issue here. Trust is.

Second, in the recent municipal election, some on our council campaigned loudly that they were going to hold the line on hasty tax hikes — they would support no tax increase until they had “looked under the hood” to see what synergies or savings they could find — specifically in the Fayetteville Public Works Commission. They have not yet kept that promise. In fact, due to an exceedingly ambitious city manager, who apparently wants PWC totally under his thumb, we are now mired in a sticky lawsuit that will reportedly cost the taxpayers of this city at least $500,000 to litigate. Back during the Big Bang annexation, the city signed a commitment to pay approximately $70 million toward the cost of the infrastructure in this newly-annexed area. But the current city manager wasn’t here when that promise was made, and he seems not to regard it as binding. He is now attempting to renege on that obligation. Just call us “Litigation City.” Keep in mind this $70 million cost was not written directly out of the city budget but was a reduction in the amount the city would have received from technically the ratepayers of PWC. Again, the underlying issue isn’t money. It’s trust. We like folks who keep their word, Ted (Voorhees).

Prior to negotiations crashing and litigation beginning, PWC had agreed to give back to the city approximately $1.3 million growing every year for inflation. We ended up not only giving that stream of income up but costing the citizens of this city $500,000 for litigation cost. It’s interesting that that $1.3 million a year would almost completely cover the interest expense assuming that the bonds were issued at 4.25 percent, not principal mind you but interest-only.

True, City Council has the obligation for oversight of PWC. That does not mean City Council members — all of them “part-time” public servants, with private careers of their own — have the time, skill or experience to operate a multi-million dollar public utility. Ah, but that’s why we have city management professionals, right? Re-read the above paragraphs.

In the midst of the Civil War, a young slave named Dan lives on a Southern plantation and loves to play his drum. When a company of Union soldiers announce that the slaves have been set free, Dan has no family, no home and no place to go. He follows the soldiers, who befriend him. When Confederate soldiers attack, Dan discovers that he may be able to save his friends using his drum.

This is the tale told in Li’l Dan, the Drummer Boy: A Civil War Storyby renowned artist Romare Bearden. The book, the only one written and illustrated by Bearden, is part of the Romare Bearden: Beat of a Different Drum exhibit presented by the Arts Council and opening Jan. 22 during 4th Friday from 7 – 9 p.m.

“The book is a work of fiction,” said Mary Kinney, marketing director of the Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County. “It’s a wonderful story of heroism and bravery of this little boy … finding friendship in unexpected places.”

The free Black History Month exhibition of artwork and artifacts will run until March 5 and includes lectures, performances and workshops. The Arts Council worked with Charlotte’s Jerald Melberg Gallery, the Romare Bearden Foundation in New York City and the Museum of the Cape Fear Historical Complex to arrange the exhibit.

It incorporates historical pieces on loan from the Museum of Cape Fear including an authentic Civil War drum, a bayonet and a painting of the Fayetteville Arsenal before it was destroyed in 1865. Kinney said reproductions of a Union soldier’s uniform and a southern woman’s outfit will be available for visitors to touch.

The highlight of the exhibit is a series of colorful images from Bearden’s book, on loan from the Jerald Melberg Gallery. Kinney said the images and themes will engage visitors of all ages.

“We’re excited to present this story and works of Romare Bearden,” Kinney said. “There’s a sense of wonder to some of these pieces. This exhibit is very colorful with vibrant pieces. Some a little more abstract and collage focused. In this story told through watercolor, you get the sense that you know this little boy.”

Bearden was born in Charlotte in 1911, and lived much of his adult life in New York, where he died in 1988. Considered a prolific artist, his work was exhibited during his lifetime throughout the U. S. and Europe. Recognized as one of the most creative and original visual artists of the 20th century, Bearden experimented with different mediums and styles, but is best known for his richly textured collages. Bearden’s diverse interests were evident with his sets and costumes designed for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. 

“He did have a full career outside of artwork,” Kinney said. “He had a full-time day job as a social worker. Art was evening and weekend work. He was the type of artist that was open to exploring art. His different mediums make the show more accessible to more people.”

Kinney said the Arts Council expects a wide and varied interest in the exhibit from artists, students, historians and novice art enthusiasts.

“It is an opportunity to have access to artwork from outside our community, works that are normally not available unless viewed in high-end galleries,” Kinney said. “When they come, they will get a sense that they’ve seen something they wouldn’t normally have a chance to see, and learn something about African-American art.”

Group tours with educators and other organizations are available with docents who are educated on the time frame, art techniques and historical significance of the works.

The opening during 4th Friday will feature a meet-and-greet with Diedra Harris-Kelly, co-director of the Romare Bearden Foundation in New York and a relative of Bearden, as well as performances by Fayetteville State University’s Percussion Ensemble at 7:15 and 8 p.m. in the Arts Council’s Grand Hall. 

Harris-Kelly will also participate in a discussion on collecting African-American art at 11 a.m. on Jan. 23.

Kinney encourages visitors to also visit a related exhibition at the Transportation & Local History Museum. Cumberland County Goes to War commemorates the 150th anniversary of the Civil War and Cumberland County’s war experience. 

The Arts Council galleries are located at 301 Hay Street. Admission is free. Gallery hours are Monday – Thursday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Friday 9 a.m. to noon; and Saturday noon to 4 p.m. To schedule a tour from Jan. 25 until March 4, contact the Arts Council at 910.323.1776. To learn more about Romare Bearden’s life and work visit http://www.beardenfoundation.org/ 

 

In the 1970s, The Wiz took Broadway by storm revamping The Wizard of Ozwith an all-black cast in a super soul musical. Now, Cape Fear Regional Theatre is embracing the story and showcasing it as a part of their 2015-2016 season.

First time CFRT guest director Donna Baldwin-Bradby admits that this is her favorite show and her passion for the musical is evident in her excitement and that of her actors. 

“I remember seeing this show thinking this little girl [Dorothy] looks like me. It changed my life,” said Baldwin-Bradby. “The journey that Dorothy goes through is like everyday life. You can get disheveled; you can go through what you think is the worst, but you are better in the end. That’s what I want the audience to know and feel.”

The story of Dorothy going through the tornado, landing in Oz, meeting her friends is all there in The Wiz, but fans of the original Baum work will find that it follows his story even closer than the 1939 film changing the iconic ruby red slippers to silver shoes, involving the four original witches as opposed to just the Wicked Witch of the West and the Good Witch of the North and more that avid book readers can identify with in this stage production. Those changes make this musical even more of a treat and challenge the audience to remember their favorite books from childhood.

Not only does the musical stay true to the original work, the audience may be surprised not to find an actual yellow brick road, a field of poppies or even stage effects creating a tornado. Those parts of the show are played by actors and dancers as moving parts making the show a thrilling way to spend a night — or afternoon. 

“Almost everything is a person. The sets and the costumes are going to be amazing,” said TyNia Brandon playing Dorothy. “Everyone has a role and everyone is important to the show.”

The actors including Dorothy and adding in friends, the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion and the Scarecrow, define an ensemble with easy chemistry where they admit that it doesn’t even feel like work. They are all just trying to be great, encouraged by a director who is also more of an educator.

“At the end of the day, our director has made us all a little brighter. My cup runneth over from being a part of this show,” said Fayetteville native T.J. Fields playing the Lion. This show was also groundbreaking because it helped celebrate black actors in a time where there were not many black roles and gave them a platform to showcase special music styles, dance and even life.

“There are so many cultural things involved that the entire audience may not grasp firsthand, but will love to experience,” said Deon Releford Lee, who plays the Tinman. “The set will have African Kente cloth and there is African dance incorporated. This musical is also a celebration of culture.”

As far as experiencing firsthand, the audience will also be encouraged to participate as the actors will use the entire theatre, not just the stage. 

“This show is interactive. We will be in the aisles and we will encourage the audience to clap, dance and shout,” said Baldwin-Bradby, “This show will leave you recharged and energized when the curtain closes.”

The musical comes to life on  Jan. 21 and runs through Feb. 14 with 2 p.m. matinees and 7:30 evening performances. Also available are limited seating “Lunch with Dorothy” tickets, where an hour before weekend matinee performances, those interested are encouraged to dress as their favorite character, have lunch in the Emerald City and meet The Wiz actors. Lunch tickets are $10. All performance tickets are $15-28 and are available at www.cfrt.org or by calling the box office at 910.323.4233. Ease on down!

Athletes seeking to push themselves — and have a great time — need look no further than the Boomerang Beer and Brat Fun Run 5K. For those not quite ready for the 5K, there is also a one-miler.  Hosted by the Special Operators Challenge, the event takes place on Jan. 30 at the Crown Coliseum. It’s not your standard road race, in fact, far from it, but Ivan Castro, the founder of Special Operators Challenge, and his crew, are working hard to make sure that it’s a fun day for everyone involved. The day’s plans include more than a road race, so bring a friend and plan to stay awhile. The course involves costume changes, eating (and drinking) on the run, a bratwurst eating contest and costume judging. 

This is the first year the event takes place at the Crown. Even though it has grown every year, Castro was looking to reach even more people.  “We did this two years in a row at the Carolina Horse Park and we decided to bring it home and move to Fayetteville so we can have all of Fort Bragg and Fayetteville, Spring Lake and Hope Mills join us. We want to include the students from Methodist University, Fayetteville State University and Fayetteville Technical Community College. We want everyone to come and have a good time,” said Castro. “When people hear our name they sometimes think this is just for the military and that is not the case. This is for everyone — of all experience levels and abilities.” 

The day starts at 10 a.m. with check-in and same-day registration. Food and beer are available for purchase and local vendors will join the fun to showcase their inventories. “At 12:20 p.m. the entertainment starts,” said Darlene Matos, Castro’s business partner. “It’s Jackie from Jackie’s Boot Camp. She promised not to boot camp us — she is a dancer and will be a lot of fun. We thank God for beer at 12:55 p.m. and at 1 p.m. we start boomeranging ourselves around the coliseum property. Hopefully everyone is done by 2 p.m. Then we have the brat-eating competition and costume judging. Last call is at 3:30 p.m. Then everyone is invited to the after party at Louie’s Sports Bar.”

The route is on the Crown property and involves mile-long laps — or one lap for the one-miler participants. “You drink a beer then walk (or run) a lap, then come around and eat a foot-long brat. Walk or run a mile and then drink a beer and walk or run a mile,” said Castro. “Our motto is: Eat. Drink. Race. Repeat.”

But that is just the beginning. There is plenty of fun to be had along the way. ”Every ¼ mile there is a pit stop with different activities at every stop. Maybe it’s dancing the polka or doing the Chicken Dance or the hokey pokey. We’ll have group hugs, singing, playing hopscotch and changing clothes with someone else,” said Matos. “So bring your ugly Christmas sweater or granny’s nightie. Bring something you would like to see someone else wearing. The clothes swaps happen three times. It will be a great time for spectators, too.” 

Participants as well as the general public are invited to contribute to the Boomerang food, diaper and clothing drive. “Like our events, this has grown every year, too,” said Castro. “The first year we had about three or four big wardrobe boxes full of things to donate. Last year we had an entire pick-up truck full of those boxes. Bring nonperishable, non-expired goods that are well packaged. We want to give back and food is not only something people need during the holidays. It is a year-round thing.”

While the Boomerang Beer and Brat Fun Run is right around the corner, it is not the only event that Special Operators Challenge hosts. This year there are five races on the calendar. “There is the Boomerang coming up on Jan. 30 and we are planning another in September for Octoberfest,” said Castro. “We have three other events in the middle of the year.” 

Mark the calendar for June 4. It’s the day of the Dirty Darby, which is a 5K mud and obstacle course event. That same day there is a kid-friendly race — The Little Muddy. Aug. 20, is the next race: The Esprit de Corps Challenge. That is an adventure race and event. It has shotgun shooting, archery and tomahawk throwing. There is a rock climbing wall, rapelling, canoeing, an observation game and fire starting. “That one has three options — no trek, a 5-mile or a 10-mile. It takes 5-12 hours depending on which trek you do,” said Castro. “We put people on a team so you get to meet people and you do not have to have any experience to participate. You can be a novice and still come out and have a great time. We have trained pros that will teach you how to do these things — draw a bow or load a shot gun or whatever you need. And if you feel uncomfortable with any of it you can opt out of that event and still participate in the overall race. If you don’t like to be in the water, you don‘t have to do it — you can pass on the canoe or guns or whatever station. You don’t have to partake of all the events. The same is true for all of our events. If you don’t care to drink at the Boomerang, no problem. If you don’t eat meat, take a pass on the brats, but come out and have a good time.”

All events are open for registration. Contestants can register for any of the events online at active.com or at specialoperatorschallenge.com. the Boomerang 5K VIP package, which includes choice parking and access to a heated tent; the Boomerang Beer and Brat 5K Fun Run individual for $35; the 1 mile fun run individual for $35; the Bratwurst eating competition for $10; and the Boomerang 6-pack team entry for $180. Registration includes a long-sleeve moisture wicking shirt, two beers and a bratwurst. Teams of six or more get a free beer for each team member. Medals are also available for $12. Participants must be 18 years old by race day and 21-years-old to drink alcohol. Nonalcoholic beverages are available for those who can’t or don’t want to drink. There are also vegetables to snack on.

Call 483-1900 or visit specialoperatorschallenge.com for more information.

The City of Durham’s police chief lost his job because of a growing violent crime rate. That’s a tough call for any city executive. Some would argue that you can’t blame law enforcement for crimes in a community. It’s difficult to prevent major crimes. Ask the mayors of Chicago, New Orleans and yes, Durham.

Murder, in particular, is hard to prevent. 

“Propensity to crime develops in stages associated with major psychological and sociological factors. The factors are not caused by race or poverty, and the stages are the normal tasks of growing up that every child confronts as he gets older,” says Patrick Fagan of the Heritage Foundation. “In the case of future violent criminals, the absence of the love, affection, and dedication of both his parents becomes perverse exercises, frustrating his needs and stunting his ability to belong,” Fagan adds.

Statistically, some communities must be more fortunate than others for reasons that escape the experts. Fayetteville is thought of as a violent city. But last year, the murder rate was down from the year before, and the year before that. In 2015, only 17 homicides were recorded in Fayetteville, according to Police Lt. David McLaurin. Chief of Detective Katherine Bryant says one other case is pending…the violent death of a 3-year-old baby. Bryant says the state medical examiner has not yet determined the cause of death.

Contrast that with 42 homicides in Durham last year. It’s a city of comparable size and demographic makeup. Fayetteville City Manager Ted Voorhees will tell you that’s where the similarities end, making the significant difference in murders remarkable. Voorhees was Durham’s Deputy City Manager before coming to Fayetteville three years ago. 

 

Fayetteville City Council members met for seven hours to tackle half a dozen agenda items during its monthly work session last week. No votes or decisions are made during the monthly work session. 

The monthly planning meetings are usually attended by staff and council; however, this month the meeting was moved to the Council Chambers because more than 20 people attended the meeting because of the agenda items. Those in attendance were exposed to an exhibition rarely seen by the public. It was a night of frustration for council members who had to deal with issues ranging from policy matters to appointing citizens to advisory boards, all of which were hotly contested by the members of the council. 

One of the hot button issues members dicussed was garbage collection in a far reaching area of West Fayetteville, an area served by Councilman Bill Crisp. Environmental Services Director Jerry Deitzen briefed the council on a pilot project in which a private contractor would be paid to pick up the trash to see if it could do a better job than Deitzen’s crew. Recent studies concluded the city performs at lower cost than private firms. 

Councilmen Jim Arp and Chalmers McDougald joined with Crisp to deride the plan that was approved by Deitzen and City Manager Ted Voorhees. The City Council decided the experimental trash collection project should be limited to Crisp’s district. The confrontation came because the council’s original directions were vague, according to Voorhees. Deitzen faced heavy criticism from the member of the council, with some challenging the validity of his report. McDougald went so far as to suggest he be fired. Voorhees came to Deitzen’s defense, pushing back in what continued to be a testy exchange between elected officials and their top administrators. 

Later came a clash among council members themselves over how best to appoint interested residents to the city’s numerous advisory boards and commissions. Bobby Hurst has chaired the committee with that responsibility for eight years. But some new members including Mayor Pro-Tem Mitch Colvin want to change the process. Under the current process, the city lists board openings on its website. City residents who wish to volunteer their time to serve on the board fill out an online application for the positions, some of which require licensure. The applications are then reviewed by the committee and recommendations for appointment are taken before the council for a vote. 

Hurst felt Colvin was questioning his integrity. Colvin questioned the process used by the committee to nominate citizens to the boards. Hurst and appointments committee member Bill Crisp got so angry they resigned from the committee. 

At 11 p.m., council closed their work session and went into special session to discuss the upcoming parks and recreation bond vote. Although Councilman Kirk deViere, a former Army officer, now downtown business owner, is the newest member of the board, he guided his colleagues through the process. This was his first work session having just been elected in November. Prior to his election, deViere attended council meetings regularly and took notes, which allowed him to hit the ground running. 

He sketched out the projects that council had chosen in an October planning session and reviewed those favored by residents who had responded to a survey. He led council to its final decision, which eliminated a proposed $3.2 million aquarium from the projects list and put to an end any further discussion of a $28 million multipurpose aquatic and senior center in order to avoid public confusion.

The marathon meeting ended at midnight.

The Greater Fayetteville Chamber is officially reorganized as it heads into another year of business advocacy for its membership. It was previously known as the Fayetteville–Cumberland County Chamber of Commerce and the Fayetteville Area Chamber of Commerce.

The numerous name changes reflect years of frustration, and what the Chamber once described as “an inability to articulate a unified vision for its future.” Organization leaders believe they now have “a clearer mission.” The Chamber’s new Chairman Brian Kent seems determined to grow the membership and exert its influence in the community. 

The Chamber is on its own now having separated itself from the Economic Development Alliance. The Alliance is funded in part by city and county governments and serves as local governments’ industry hunter. Under the new arrangement, the Chamber is self-sustaining and receives no public funding. It’s beholden only to its members and the business community.

Up & Coming Weekly spent an hour with Kent recently. Kent left the military in 2005, but elected to remain in Fayetteville. He bought the old Sears Warehouse on Cumberland Street three years later, and received a Chamber loan to rebuild the property. The new building opened in 2012 as K3 Enterprises, an “innovative global conveyor of information solutions and related services.”

Kent joined the Chamber in 2011, and immediately emerged as a leader. He joined the board of directors in 2013. Last year Kent was recognized as Entrepreneur of the Year by Methodist University. K3 Enterprises is a service-disabled, veteran-owned small business with 80 employees handling technology contracts primarily with the military worth more than $10 million a year.

The Greater Fayetteville Chamber faces the challenge of recovering from a protracted membership slump which has seen its numbers plunge from 1,500 when David Jameson was president 15 years ago, to only 700 today. Kent would like to see chamber memberships become what he calls “structured sponsorships” offering networking, event-planning, training and business education. 

Kent isn’t happy with local government. The Chamber “has become a scapegoat for city and county inefficiencies,” he said. He’s among those who charge that the City of Fayetteville does not operate “in a business friendly environment.” 

Council members agree and blame city staff. Kent adds that government “must streamline their processes” to speed up regulatory requirements of the unified development ordinance. 

The city’s new Director of Inspections and Permitting agrees. Doug Hewitt rejoined the administration recently after an absence of a couple of years. He told city council this month that his staff is being cross-trained to respond to developer needs faster. He stressed the need for computer enhancements in order to synchronize internal systems so they can better communicate with each other. “We have to have a technology system that works,” said Deputy City Manager Rochelle Small-Toney, which places the onus on city council to adequately fund the department.

Two Months until the Bond Vote 

Fayetteville City Council refined the projects that residents will vote on in a March 15 parks and recreation bond referendum. Missing from the list is the $3.2 million fresh water aquarium that was under consideration. Council agreed on spending up to $35 million on six splash pads, two senior centers, a Cape Fear River Park, a skateboard park, a multi-purpose athletic field, a tennis complex and several neighborhood park improvements. A companion plan to lease a privately-built $28 million multi-purpose aquatic and senior center was separated from the referendum. 

“It needs to be totally divorced from this bond issue,” said Councilman Bill Crisp. His colleagues agreed and voted 8-1 to adopt the measure. Councilman Larry Wright was absent. 

Vets and Their Care

Fayetteville’s new $120 million VA Health Care Center is officially open for business with the recent formal ribbon-cutting. The real test of the investment lies ahead as Congressional leaders and VA officials keep their attention focused on those who served. The Veterans Affairs Department in Fayetteville serves one of the nation’s fastest growing veteran populations. The number of veterans receiving care from the Fayetteville VA has grown by 13 percent in the last two years, officials have said. 

“Our shared goals are to ensure that veterans have a clear understanding of  the VA and where to go for what they need within any of our facilities; that employees are empowered with the authority, knowledge and tools they need to solve problems and take action; and that the products and services that we deliver to veterans are integrated within the organization,” said VA Secretary Bob McDonald.

Poll Workers Needed

The Cumberland County Board of Elections is seeking precinct workers for the North Carolina primary on March 15. Candidates must be registered voters in Cumberland County. Unaffiliated voters and those registered from both political parties are needed to work at the county’s 77 voting precincts. Poll workers are paid for attending a mandatory five-hour training session and for working on Election Day from 5:30 a.m. until all precincts have closed. Anyone interested in being a poll worker should contact the Board of Elections office at 678-7733. Applications are available online at www.co.cumberland.nc.us/elections. They are also available at the Board of Elections office in the E. Newton Smith Office Building at 227 Fountainhead Lane.