RANGO (RATES PG)   3 STARS

I was looking forward to Rango (107 minutes) as a cute little animated comedy western. Then I realized that it was directed by Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean). I mean, he looks good on paper and so does the Pirates trilogy; he just falls short on execution. I keep trying to watch his movies, but once you get beyond the pretty colors there isn’t much there worth re-watching. And with Johnny Depp in the lead role, why even bother? Although it was fun to watch him shift from Captain Jack Sparrow to the Mad Hatter to Willy Wonka to Don Juan DeMarco without ever really making it to Clint Eastwood or Gary Cooper.

A nameless pet chameleon with a weird neck and aspirations towards stage acting (Johnny Depp) is bounced from his aquarium because his owners are morons and failed to properly secure their pet when traveling. He meets an armadillo (Alfred Molina, channeling George Lopez) seeking the Spirit of the West. Armadillo sends him out to a desert town, and on his way he almost gets eaten by a hawk. It’s a cute character establishing scene that leads into a Dali-esque nightmare. Remember when Homer Simpson ate the Guatemalan Insanity Peppers? Yeah. Like that.

He wakes in a wash of water to the oddly appealing lizard Beans (Isla Fisher). She is a rancher’s daughter with an out-of-whack survival instinct that sends her into mini-comas at inconvenient moments, and she reminds me of when Bugs Bunny used to put on a wig and dress up as a girl bunny. She offers him a ride back to town in between working out her daddy issues, and nameless chameleon ends up in Dirt.

Not that he stays nameless for long! In scene reminiscent of Mickey Mouse’s “Brave Little Tailor” from 1938, our hero names himself Rango and brags that he has killed the seven Jenkins’ Brothers with one bullet. His hyperbole gets him the attention of the entire town, which is a bit risky and leads him into a bar fight with some local toughs (including Ray Winstone). Which in turn catches the attention of a hawk with a silver beak (raising the question … how can a hawk afford such a costly accessory?) He manages to evade and destroy the hawk by dropping a house on it and claiming its ruby slippers. At least I assume there were ruby slippers involved, because Gore Verbinksi is not all that original as a director.

Having established his reputation, Rango is taken to meet Mayor Tortoise John (Ned Beatty) and is appointed the new Sheriff. Beans then demands that he investigate the local water shortage. On his first night as Sheriff, Rango inadvertently makes the water shortage worse by sending Balthazar the Thieving Prairie Dog (Harry Dean Stanton) directly to the town’s only remaining water. Rango is finally forced to do some actual work, and he puts together a posse to go after the town’s water.

The posse tracks down the thieves by using the tunnels built underneath the town, and find the covered water cooler/safe at their Prairie Dog hideout. Following a pretty nifty chase scene that involved racing roosters and passenger bats, the posse captures their targets only to find out that the water was long gone before the water cooler was taken. Too bad Rattlesnake Jake (Bill Nighy) has returned to town before Rango can figure out what happened to the water.

Jake kicks Rango out of town and according to the Greek chorus of Mariachi Owls, he hits bottom. Luckily, the Spirit of the West (Timothy Olyphant channeling Clint Eastwood) helps him out, and he heads back to the town to call out the villain behind the water shortage.

Overall I didn’t mind sitting through it, and fans of Westerns (and Hollywood in general) will need more than two hands to count up all the movie references.

The Radiography Accelerated Non-Traditional Program offers students who are military trained or who have previously attended a hospital-based training program the opportunity to obtain an associate of applied science in radiography through an accelerated program of study. Students who enter this learning option also have the opportunity to sit for the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists (ARRT) national certification examination if needed.

Eligible candidates are formally trained radiologic technologists who are currently employed in radiography with three years’ consecutive experience. All candidates must meet the program prerequisites and related courses in the curriculum prior to acceptance into the accelerated program, as well as meet the admissions requirements of Fayetteville Technical Community College.

Candidates may take prerequisite or related courses online through FTCC. Each accelerated course will be offered online with the exception of clinical courses. Candidates will have the opportunity to take a proficiency test on the first day of the online course. With a passing score, the student will be given credit for that course. If the score is not passing, the student will proceed in completing the course online for eight weeks. Clinical courses will be assigned a “portfolio” for completion of the course requirements.

Through the accelerated non-traditional option in radiography, candidates can receive an associate degree in only one year. This accelerated program is designed to help candidates who are interested in continuing their education in a four-year baccalaureate degree program by allowing them an expedient way to complete their education quickly. Completing the associate degree at FTCC also helps students save on tuition costs, as tuition expenses at FTCC are less than those at four-year universities.

Learn more about FTCC and the accelerated non-traditional program of radiography at www.faytechcc.edu or call (910) 678-8264. 

PHOTO: The Radiography Accelerated Non-Traditional Program offers students who are military trained or who have previously attended a hospital-based training program the opportunity to obtain an associate of applied science in radiography through an accelerated program of study. 

When people hear the phrase “child sex traffi cking” it is quite likely that a Third-World country comes to mind, and not the streets of small town America. It’s sad, it’s dirty, it’s scary and it is a big problem right under our noses. According to International Crisis Aid:

• In 2009, a University of Pennsylvania study estimated nearly 300,000 youth in the United States were at risk of being sexually exploited for commercial uses — “most of them runaways or thrown-aways,” said Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

• Almost 300,000 American children are at risk for traffi cking into the sex industry, according to statistics from the U.S. Department of State.

• There are girls as young as 5 and 6 years old in the U.S. that are forced to do sexual acts for economic gain by their pimp, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

• In December 2007, research by the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Institute of Justice based on interviews with pimps and sexually exploited children in several U.S. cities found that most pimps manage one to three girls at a time and operate as follows:

• At least half appear to operate at the local level only.

• At least one quarter may be tied to city-wide crime rings (often engaged in drug sales as well as prostitution) and are constantly looking for new recruits.

• About 15 percent are tied to regional or national networks that are well financed and organized, in which the pimps communicate easily with one another electronically; provide support services such as recruitment, selection, indoctrination and movement of new girls; and occasionally assist in locating and disciplining girls who escape from other pimps.

• About 10 percent appear to be tied to international sex-crime networks and, through them, actively participate in the international traffi cking of children. Some pimps also are part of international drug networks and may use children to move drugs in to and across the U.S.

On April 8, the Methodist University, the Sociology, Social Work and Justice Studies Programs at Methodist University, Lyn and Michael Green, Christiane Thompson and Manna Church present the documentary Playground, in which Libby Spears, the director, investigates the domestic roots of the child-sex industry and seeks to raise awareness of the commercial sexual exploitation of children.

“One thing we’d like people to know is that this film has been praised for avoiding to sensationalize the issues of child traffi cking while still raising public awareness,” said Methodist University Professor of Sociology Dr. Vida Bajc. “That is really what we would like to achieve. It is not about blaming. It is not about sensationalizing, but rather thinking critically about this issue. By organizing such events we would like the community to understand that sociology is the study of social relations, social problems and social change. So we encourage our students to learn how to do critical analysis of social phenomena by making connections between local and the global issues so they can realize that when something happens locally it is always connected to larger global issues.”

Following the film, there will be a panel discussion featuring three experts:

Sharon W. Cooper, M.D., F.A.A.P, is a Forensic Pediatrician and Board member of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Cooper has been a pediatrician for more than 30 years and is the lead author of the most comprehensive text on child sexual exploitation and Internet crimes against children. She cares for victims of child pornography, cyber-enticement and prostitution.

Elzbieta M. Gozdziak, Ph.D. is the director of Research at the Institute for the Study of International Migration at Georgetown University. She is also editor of International Migration, a scholarly journal devoted to research and policy analysis of contemporary issues affecting international migration, including human trafficking for sexual exploitation. She has published several articles on research on human traffi cking and on child victims of traffi cking for labor and sexual exploitation, including a special issue of International Migration on “Improving Data and Research on Human Traffi cking.”

Charity Magnuson is the director of N.C. Stop Human Traffi cking. She turned a website into an organization in 2009 and has been running nonstop ever since. She is a published author on human rights and development at Harvard University and on human-traffi cking issues in North Carolina. She has presented to thousands of people in her professional career in marketing and public relations and in her work as a human rights advocate.

The event starts at 6 p.m. at the Medical Lecture Hall, which is located at 5400 Ramsey St. Refreshments will be provided by The Fresh Cafe. This event is free and open to the public, but it should be noted that it does contain mature subject matter. Find out more at www.methodist. edu/sociology/events.htm

Fayetteville is home to many organizations and each organization holds a unique footprint in ourcommunity and adds personality to the community at the same time. The local SENCAIA — South Eastern North Carolina Asian Indian Association is one such organization.

Every year SENCAIA hosts the annual India Festival, donating all of the profits to a chosen charity each year. This year the festival will be held on April 9 at the Crown, and will feature authentic Indian cuisine, fusion Indo- Chinese dishes, Bollywood-themed performances, a live instrumental concert, live-cooking demonstrations, a fashion show and more.

Since 2005, SENCAIA has hosted the annual festival in Fayetteville, donating all proceedings to local charities such as Better Health for Cumberland County, Army Wives Association, armed forces, firefighters and the Boys and Girls clubs. To date the organization has donated $85,000 to these local charities.

According to SENCAIA member, Sharmila Udyavar, “The main purpose of this annual event is to create awareness about the Indian culture, adding to the great cultural diversity of Fayetteville, N.C.”

A range of vendors will also be on hand to display different cuisines of India varying from the street foods to delicacies full of exotic spices. For food lovers, there will be various live-cooking demonstrations throughout the day that will feature different Indian recipes. Other vendor booths will also offer a variety of spices typical to India, ethnic Indian wear, intriguing gold jewelry, arts and crafts and more.

No festival can be complete without some dance and music, and the India Festival has invited professional artists/ performers from different parts of the United States, and is even bringing on group of performers from India. These artists will display and array of folk dances, Bollywoodthemed dance numbers, classical and contemporary dances.

Overall, the goal of the festival is also to familiarize our community with various colors of the Indian culture, by focusing on the spirit of the local Indian population. Fayetteville indeed is a melting pot, full of wonderful surprises. The India Festival is an event not to be missed, as it takes you away to a world full of hospitality, delicious food, beautiful people and great bargains.

Since sponsors and vendors mostly fund the event, there is a small entry fee of $2 for adults and children under three are free. The fun starts at 11 a.m. and runs through 7 p.m. Call 438-4100 for more info.

PHOTOS: Dancers perform at the 2010 India Festival.

In 1955, something miraculous happened that would change the world of dance forever, and help shape race relations in the theatrical world. Arthur Mitchell, a Harlem native and African-American ballet dancer, was selected by George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein to join the New York City Ballet. This historic occurrence in pre-Civil Rights America set the stage for many firsts by Mitchell, which changed the face and future of dance forever.

Shortly after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Mitchell and Karel Shook, the first teacher and ballet master of the Dutch National Ballet founded the Dance Theater Of Harlem which upheld and nurtured the idealism of the Civil-Rights Era.

With a less than auspicious start in a garage in Harlem, Mitchell threw himself heart and soul into the school, making it his goal to give the children of Harlem the same opportunities he was blessed with, and that spirit still lives on in the institution today, training more than 1,000 students annually.

The Dance Theater of Harlem has since gone on to tour internationally, receive countless awards and acclaim and is still the benchmark of success among aspiring dancers all over the world. At home or abroad, DTH is met with sold-out performances and accolades. After successfully returning to the United Kingdom in 2002 and 2004, DTH celebrated its 35th Anniversary with an extensive U.S. tour, followed by performances in Greece prior to the opening of the 2004 summer Olympics, and now Fayetteville State University is pleased to host this inspirational dance company.

Dr. Earnest Lamb, chair of the Department of Performing and Fine Arts at FSU realizes the importance of the arts in Fayetteville. “One of the priorities of Fayetteville State University is to become the cultural and intellectual center for city and region. The Fine Arts Series at Fayetteville State University helps realize this priority by bringing nationally recognized talent to campus for the benefi t of the entire community. The university is pleased to be able to bring the Dance Theater of Harlem for the cultural enrichment of Fayetteville,” said Lamb.

Lamb encourages the community to take advantage of this unique opportunity to see one of the most recognized dance companies in the world, while at the same time supporting the Department of Performing and Fine Arts at FSU. All proceeds from tickets to the event will go directly back into the department for future performances.

A free lecture/demonstration for students will be held April 4 at 9:30 a.m. This presentation will give students a glimpse into the lives of the dancers from rehearsal to performance.

The Dance Theater of Harlem will perform an evening of classic ballets at Fayetteville State University on Sunday, April 3 at 6 p.m. in the J.W. Seabrook Auditorium. A silent auction will begin at 5 p.m. Tickets are $50 general admission, $70 VIP single reserved seating and $120 VIP couple with reserved seating. Children and students with identifi cation will be admitted for $35. Tickets are available through the FSU Box Offi ce at 910-672-1724 or www.etix.com.

For more information about the event including silent auction items, please visit the Opus I website: http://www.uncfsu.edu/fah/opus.htm.

For more information about the Department of Performing and Fine Arts, please visit www.uncfsu.edu/fah or call 910-672-2143.

PHOTO: Members of the Dance Theater of Harlem perform.

It doesn’t take a lot of study to find that many Americans are not always vigilant about their health and taking care of themselves. Of course, there are a variety of reasons for this...laziness, lack of understanding, stressful lives, lack of funds for medical care, you name it. In many cases it doesn’t have to be that way. There are people and resources out there ready to encourage, educate and advocate for individuals in their quest for better health and a better quality of life — and to help get folks back on the road to better living.

Better Health is just one of those organizations. Its mission is to provide for the unmet healthcare needs of Cumberland County residents through assistance, referral and education. The organization seeks to “impact the quality of life for all Cumberland County residents, through a commitment to improving access and availability of health care services for the under-served, low-income resident.”

Better Health has been meeting that goal since 1958 and has no plans to stop anytime soon. It takes money though, and being a nonprofit, there never seems to be enough of it to go around.

On Saturday, April 9, Better Health is hosting its 14th Annual Evening at the Theater at Highland Country Club.

The entertainment “A Gleeful Evening at the Theater” features local musical theater talent, including students from Terry Sanford and Fayetteville Academy. The piece is produced and directed by Cassandra Vallery and will feature a wide range of songs.

“This is our fifth year to do a live musical show and our 14th for an Evening at the Theater,” said Judy Klinck. “About fi ve years ago Cassandra Vallery, who is one of the local theater performers, put together a show, and it was just such a hit that she has done it every year since. She uses some of the volunteer theater talent in the community and puts together a really professional show. It is sort of a little cabaret-style song and a little bit of dance. We have serious romantic songs and the comedic songs. It all adds up to a real nice evening.”

Attendees can look forward to beverages and hors d’oeuvres before the show and coffee and dessert following. Usually about 200 people attend the event and this year, Klinck hopes, will be not exception as the goal for the event is to raise $38,000, which will be used to support all four of Better Health’s programs.

Fifty-three years ago the organization founded a fi nancial-assistance program, which is designed to fi ll the gap for people with little or no medical insurance. It covers both medical and dental concerns, but the program is need based. Last fiscal year, this program helped 1,217 individuals.

The diabetes program is something that Better Health is well known for. It is a full program that includes a diabetes management class covering everything from A to Z related to diabetes, and includes weekly monitoring classes. This program is free to everyone in Cumberland County. Last fi scal year 370 people were served.

Closely related to the diabetes program is the healthy lifestyle program that reaches out to organizations and churches and will provide speakers to cover healthy living issues.

A medical equipment loan program is another popular service offered by Better Health and it is also free of charge to Cumberland County citizens. People donate medical equipment that they no longer need — things like walkers, wheelchairs and bath chairs — and Better Health loans the equipment to those in need of such devices. Last fi scal year 280 people benefi tted from this program.

Seeing those numbers makes it clear to Klinck that there is a strong need for the programs that Better Health provides.

“We feel that we really do have an impact on the community, especially with folks who have diabetes and are uninsured or where there is a gap in their insurance that is not being fi lled,” said Klinck , adding that “We don’t want to be the best kept secret in town. We’ve been operating for 53 years and we are glad for this opportunity to be exposed to people who haven’t heard of us.”

Tickets are $175 per couple or $100 per individual. Funds from the show will benefi t Better Health. Last year, because of the generosity of the community Better Health provided diabetes education to 365 people and emergency assistance for medical needs to 1,435 families in Cumberland County.

Call 483-7534 or visit www. betterhealth.CC.org. to make a reservation.

Since having their vision fulfi lled in January 2007 of becoming a recognized 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization, Operation Inasmuch (OIAM) has served thousands of less fortunate residents in Cumberland County.

The mission is simple: “To walk among the broken and struggling, being the hands and feet of Jesus.”

On Saturday, April 9, Operation Inasmuch will continue its mission, with the annual Blitz Day. This year’s Blitz Day will mark the 16th year for the project, and will grant Operation Inasmuch an opportunity to add to the 30 neighborhoods it has already served since fi rst beginning.

Blitz Day is a day where a “neighborhood is selected to receive home repairs, yard maintenance and a block party for those young and old.”

Who is responsible for providing all of this? Community volunteers and local churches sign up to help make the day a success. Blitz Day is covered with “dedicated Christians fulfi lling their calling of service toothers,” by doing this, “they become the hands and feet of Jesus.”

The selected neighborhood to reap the benefi ts of Blitz Day this year is the neighborhood of Evan’s Hill. Seventy churches have signed up to volunteer. Some of the activities they will perform are: painting houses, building a wheelchair ramp and throwing a neighborhood block party. OIAM Executive Director, Sue Byrd, says that “neighborhoods are stronger when we leave” because “neighbors who weren’t talking to each other, are now talking to each other.” The Blitz Day helps to create a family in the neighborhoods.

Blitz Day is the signature project, but Operation Inasmuch offers a host of other programs for the less fortunate. One of the programs offered is the Jobs for Life Program. The program is designed to prepare community residents with the requisite skills needed to fi nd employment. The Breakfast Ministry provides a healthy and nutritious breakfast for homeless men and women; and the Home Sweet Home Program awards individuals with permanent shelter.

Recently, OIAM renovated its first house on Frink Street, fi ve men were able to move in. These men have been with OIAM and have participated in several of the programs, which helped them get back on their feet. OIAM calls this project the Frink Street Transformation Project. This project will allow them to put the homeless in homes and not in shelters, because one night in a shelter “does not change your life.”

Blitz Day will take place on April 9 in the neighborhood of Evans Hill. The event will kickoff at 7:30 a.m. The block party will begin at 11 a.m. and will last until the mission to transform the neighborhood is complete. Sue Byrd says that at the end of the day, they just want to “cover the whole neighborhood and community with the love of Jesus.”

To learn more about OIAM and the services they provide, visit their website at www.faoiam.org.

PHOTO: Hundreds of volunteers contributed to Operation Inasmuch Blitz Day last year.

If you are homeless, you have very little to dance about. But on Saturday, April 9, some local Fayetteville celebrities will put on their dancing shoes to help fight homelessness in our community as Dancing With the Fayetteville Stars hits the stage to benefi t the The Center for Economic Empowerment and Development.

Formerly known as the Women’s Center, CEED has a hand in providing opportunities to a wide demographic in Fayetteville. This nonprofit organization’s mission is to “provide resources and advocacy to individuals and families in order to restore personal dignity for economic empowerment and development.”

The Lease-to-Home program, one of the agency’s many programs, assists people in transitioning from homelessness to homeownership. The goal is to provide people of all backgrounds the chance to own their own home. This year alone, Lease-to- Home Program has created 60 jobs and helped 40 individuals become home owners. It is this program that will benefit from the dance event.

More than 30 local celebrities will dance to impress the crowd and raise funds for CEED’s Lease-to-Home Program.

“We use all the money that we raise, after we pay expenses, to go to renovation of a house. Those houses are then rented to someone with 50 percent or less of the median income,” said Sylvia Ray, executive director of CEED. “Once they have been in the house and saved money and gotten their credit straight, they are eligible, to purchase the house. The people we deal with are not ready to buy a house right a way. They need to get a much better credit score so that they can get a much better loan and they can be prepared to be home owners.”

Some of the celebrities participating are Bert Hassell, Hope Mills police chief; Bill McMillan, director of the Re-Store Warehouse; Dr. James Anderson, chancellor of Fayetteville State University, Jo Ann Ruff with Dr. J. Michael Ruff, Periodontics & Implants; David McCune, Jr., vice president of McCune Technology; Tim Price, owner of LaFayette Ford; Chris Rey, candidate for mayor of Spring Lake, Liz Tomalesky, co-host of La Voz Presenta at WITN-TV and Andrew Pennink with HomeFront Mortgage.

While the evening promises to be both lively and entertaining, if you are unable to attend you can still help. Go to www.ncceed.org/dance and vote for your favorite celebrity, because just like the Dancing With the Stars TV show, competitors get to stay based on the number of votes they receive. It costs $10 per vote.

On the night of the event, the audience can expect a rip roaring good time filled with dances ranging from ballroom to Broadway, disco to the Carolina Shag.

In addition to supporting a good cause, local support helps the CEED gain credibility with other funding organizations that partner with them in improving the community.

“Other lines of funding like the North Carolina Housing Finance and the city fund our housing projects and they always want to know ‘Are you getting private money? Do other people really care about the issue of folks trying to stay off the streets and own affordable housing?’ What it says back to those organizations is that yes the people in our local community really do care,” said Ray. “They are concerned just as much as we are.”

Included in the $125 ticket price is a buffet dinner including wine and beverages. Tickets are tax deductible and may be purchased at www.ncceed.org or by calling 323-3377.

PHOTO: Bill McMillan, of the Re-Store Warehouse is one of the performers in this year’s event.

Humbled by Gratitude

I do not think I am alone in feeling unsettled and on edge these days.

Our world seems to be spinning completely out of our control — a natural and a man-made disaster in Japan and a madman in Libya. Vicious partisan politics at both the state and national levels. It did not help when my copy of Newsweek arrived with the its cover screaming, “Apocalypse Now: Tsunamis. Earthquakes. Nuclear Meltdowns. Revolutions. Economies on the Brink. What the #@%! Is Next?”

Factor in one’s own demons and distresses and it is tough not to feel queasy.

A friend recently mentioned an Up & Coming Weekly column I wrote several years ago that he found hopeful and inspiring, and perhaps because of my glum humor, I decided to look it up. It was originally published in May of 2005, and because it struck a chord in me for a second time, I am using a portion of it again during these trying times in our world.

“If we could shrink the earth’s population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look something like the following:

There would be 57 Asians, 21 Europeans, 14 from the Western Hemisphere —both North and South America.

There would be 52 females and 48 males.

Seventy people would be non-white and 30 would be white.

Seventy people would be non-Christian and 30 would be Christian.

Eighty-nine would be heterosexual, and 11 would be homosexual.

Six people would possess 59 percent of the world’s wealth, and all six of them would live in the United States.

Eighty would live in sub-standard housing.

Seventy would be unable to read.

Fifty would suffer from malnutrition.

One would be near death, and one would be near birth.

One — yes, only one — would have a college education.

One would own a computer….

If you woke up this morning with more health than illness … you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week.

If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture or the pains of starvation … you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.

If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death…you are more blessed than 3 billion people in the world.

If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead, and a place to sleep … you are richer than 70 percent of this world.

If you have money in the bank, in your wallet and spare change in a dish someplace … you are among the top 8 percent of the world’s wealthy.

If your parents are still alive and still married … you are very rare, even in the United States and Canada.

If you can read this message, you are more blessed than more than 2 billion people in this world who cannot read at all.”

This has been floating around the Internet, another great blessing, for some time now. I cannot vouch for its total accuracy, but from what little I do know about demographics, it strikes me as close to our world’s reality. All of us face problems in our work, with our families, and in other aspects of our lives, and at times, they overwhelm us. What we too often lose sight of, though, is how truly privileged our lives, even the lives of those among us with the fewest advantages, really are compared to much of the rest of the world.

As I write this, I sit at my home computer. I have had breakfast and am looking forward to lunch. I am warm and dry in my exercise clothes even though it is a little damp and chilly outside. I live on a safe street in an older but still vibrant Fayetteville neighborhood surrounded by neighbors I have known and trusted for many years.

My family is not home with me, but I know where they are and they are safe. When I fi nish writing, I will get into a car fi lled with gas to run errands. I have recently returned from a quick trip to the other side of our state. I complained about the high price of gas, but I went anyway.

Years ago, an American child of my acquaintance traveled to a Third World country with his family. Shocked by seeing young children playing naked in the warm streets, he approa

ched his mother who explained that more people in the world live that way than live the way he does. His stunned and very American response was, “You’re kidding!”

“No,” his mother replied, “I am not.”

A few weeks ago Bill Bowman of the Up & Coming Weekly and Kidsville News! called and asked for my help. He asked me to co-captain with him on the committee for the upcoming Hogs and Ragscharity event. After we talked a few minutes I agreed to help. I don’t know Bill very well but his enthusiasm is contagious. Over the past few weeks I have found it very exciting to be a part of something that really will help a lot of people.

Saturday, April 30, is going to be a great win/win event for everyone.

Hogs and Rags is an annual event for owners of motorcycles and convertibles to raise money for a variety of charities. This year, the proceeds will go to the Shriners Hospital for Children, the American Cancer Society and Kidsville News!of Cumberland County.

The event is part of the Fayetteville Dogwood Festival. The ride is a very nice route from Fayetteville that will end at Landry’s Seafood Restaurant at Boardwalk on the Beach in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

The ride is $50 per entry and $30 for additional passengers. At first that seems like a lot of money, but remember it is for a good cause. The best part is that it includes a breakfast and lunch. The event will start at 8 a.m. at Cape Fear Harley Davison with breakfast. Kickstands up at 9:30 a.m. Once you reach Myrtle Beach you will be treated to a wonderful lunch. You just can’t beat that!

I know I keep saying this is a win/win event (because it is), but it is not the Shriners Hospital for Children or the American Cancer Society or Kidsville News! of Cumberland County that wins but the people that they touch.

I had a nephew that burned himself from his chest down and the Shriners Children’s Hospital helped him through rehab and put his family up during this terrible ordeal. They helped him heal and go through rehab. They bless so many children and families when they need the help the most.

Cancer is a terrible thing to go through. Cancer is one of the few illnesses that medical breakthroughs are changing before our eyes. Twenty years ago the “C-word” was a death sentence. Today, there is still a long way to go. The news is frightening but usually delivered with hope and options in many cases. The fight is not over and there is still a lot of research, treatments, and people that really need your help.

The Kidsville News! publication is a great literacy and educational resource provided free to children, teachers and families in Cumberland County. It is a wonderful way to help our children read and learn. Check it out at www.kidsvillenews.com/cumberland.

The Hogs and Rags charity fundraiser is for all types of motorcycles and convertibles. This includes Jeeps. So all of you bikers and open-air lovers in town please come out and join us!

This is going to be a great time so mark your calendar and tell your friends.

You can pre-register or make donations online at www. hogsandrags.com. See ya there! Hogs and Rags is an annual Dogwood Festival event for motorcycles and convertibles to raise money for a variety of good causes.

Since 1997, The Crown Coliseum has hosted great entertainers and family events. In addition to being the home of Fayetteville’s beloved hockey team the FireAntz, the Crown has been been honing its reputation for bringing the brightest, most entertaining and enjoyable acts to Fayetteville ever since the doors opened.

On Tuesday, March 29 at 7:30 p.m., The Crown continues this tradition with the Burn the Floor dance show. Called a mix of dance and acrobatics, Burn the Floor is not what you would expect from a ballroom-dancing show.

The ballroom dancing the world recognizes competitive ballroom dance, sometimes known as dance sport. It is comprised of ten dances, which can all be danced in “closed ballroom” hold. The style danced in Burn the Floor is called “international style” and has been danced in competition since 1920.

International style ballroom dance consists of 10 dances, split into five Latin American dances and five ballroom dances (standard). Each Burn the Floor dancer has spent a lifetime training to compete against other dance couples. This show allows the dancers to demonstrate their love and passion for their art, in their stark simplicity of simple outfits and bold dance moves, compared to the cavalcade of ruffles, sequins, tassels and over choreographed acts found in other dance acts.

Flashing lights, mirrored balls and clouds of billowing smoke add flair and create an exhilarating background for the talented artists to perform.

There are moments of real beauty, moments between two ubertalented dancers that will make you forget you are watching a performance, and become consumed in the magnitude of the dance.

Burn the Floor has been taking the world by storm, making stops in New York, London, Toronto and now of course, Fayetteville. For more information or to purchase tickets, contact the Crown Center at 438-4100.

Have you ever thought about how great it would be to have all of your favorite restaurants under one roof? If so, consider the sky as the ceiling and head out to the “The Swamp” on Saturday, April 2 for the Fayetteville SwampDogs 1st annual Big Bite. You may even want to skip lunch so you’ll have plenty of room to try all of the delectable delights

Big Bite is a gathering of some of the best local chefs, giving them the opportunity to showcase some of their fabulous culinary creations. Participating restaurants will have displays set up featuring samples of some of their most popular items as well as dishes that may not yet be on their menus. Riverside Steakhouse, Shalimar and Gyro City are just some of the restaurants that will participate.

In addition to the food samplings, there will be plenty of entertainment on hand. Live bands will play all afternoon and there will be bouncy houses set up for the kids. Also in attendance will be Fun-Go, the SwampDogs mascot, who will be there to greet guests. Everyone is encouraged to gather up their friends, pack up lawn chairs or blankets and spend the entire evening relaxing and enjoying some great music. Get there early because the first 500 folks, to arrive, age 21 and over, will receive their choice of a complimentary commemorative beer or wine glass to take home for free.

When asked about why our local ball team chose to host this event, Trey Wright, for the SwampDogs responded, “We want the residents of the Fayetteville area to be able to come out and enjoyFayetteville’s local fare in an affordable manner.” 

He also stated that while admission is free, sampling tickets must be purchased in order to sample the food. There will also be beverages available for purchase, including adult beverages from some of the participating restaurants.

Finally, if you are a chef or restaurant owner, there’s still time to sign up. You may do so by calling the Fayetteville SwampDogs Baseball office at 910-426-5900. That same number may be used if you need further information about the event. Once again, Big Bite will be held on April 2 at the Swamp. The sampling will begin at 3 p.m. and the final samples will be served at 8:30 p.m. The Swamp is located at 2823 Legion Rd. right here in Fayetteville.

Photo: Head out to the “The Swamp” on Saturday, April 2 for the Fayetteville SwampDogs first annual “Big Bite.”

Open since 1994, the Gilbert Theater has always been successful in bringing excellent plays and productions to Fayetteville.

In keeping up with that fine tradition, a Pulitzer Prize winning play, Long Days Journey into Night written by American playwright Eugene O’Neill will open March 31 at this charming and intimate venue and will run through April 17. 

Originally written in early 1940s, the play takes place in a cottage known as Monte Cristo, located by the seaside in Connecticut. The play revolves around a cobweb full of family drama that contains addiction and the dysfunctionality of the family that comes along with such severe issues.

The main characters of the play are James Tyrone Sr., Mrs. Mary Tyrone, James Jr. and Edmund. James Tyrone Sr. is the patriarch of the family who owns several pieces of land making him well off financially, yet struggling because his wealth is tied up in land. Along with his two sons, James Jr. and Edmund, James Tyrone Sr. are all addicted to alcohol which adds fuel to the fire of other family issues going on in the Tyrone household.

“Be always drunken. Nothing else matters: that is the only question. If you would not feel the horrible burden of time weighing on your shoulders and crushing you to the earth, be drunken continually. Drunken with what? With wine, with poetry, or with virtue, as you will. But be drunken” a line by James Tyrone Sr. explains his conclusion to all problems.

The play invokes many emotions of frustration, anger, resentment and more. Life is full of different spices, which helps keep it interesting. Certainly, that is the case here as well. Long Day’s Journey into Night is something we all can relate to in a sense that we all are busy working, juggling, and rearranging our lives to end that journey into the night every day.

Long Day’s Journey into Night has also won many awards such as the Tony award for Best Play in 1957. The play has also been made into a movie, making this play a must see. The Gilbert Theatre is also encouraging guests to take advantage of the opening night as they are offering, “Pay what you Can.” This allows everyone to have a chance at enjoying Long Day’s Journey into Night for whatever they can afford to pay.

Gilbert Theatre is located at 116 Green St., Downtown Fayetteville. Tickets are $12, (except for opening night) and can be purchased by calling 678-7186 or vy visiting ww.gilberttheater.com.

It’s been awhile since Fayetteville has heard from the Cumberland Oratorio Singers, since before Christmas, in fact. But they’ve been hard at work and on Friday, April 1, they’re performing at Berean Baptist Church.

The performance will include two works, both of them composed by John Rutter. The Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra is working with the Oratorio Singers and will provide the instrumental portion of the performance.

“One of the works is mostly strings and such,” said Mary Potter, president of the Cumberland Oratorio Singers. “And the other will include some brass and other instruments.” Potter loves both pieces, but for very different reasons and fi nds it diffi cult to choose a favorite.

“These pieces are very different with the Requeim being the more somber of the two,” she said, and added “I guess Gloria, for me, is more interesting because it does have brass and percussion instruments and it is more lively. I guess you could say everyone’s taste is different, but the Requiem has some beautiful passages to it. There is the “Pie Jesu” that comes from this work. It is mainly a soprano solo and it is just a glorious piece of music.”

In addition to the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra, the Cumberland Oratorio Singers are partnering with the Child Advocacy Center to help them spread their message of keeping children safe.

“We are partnering with Child Advocacy, in the sense that they will be there with a table and some information about child advocacy, because April is Child Abuse Prevention Month,” said Potter. “We are partnering with them on this to get out the word that this is Child Abuse Prevention Month and to make people aware. We will also have someone speak before the concert about child advocacy.”

With such close ties to the community it is no wonder that the membership numbers for the Oratorio Singers has swelled these past few years. They not only partner with the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra, but they’ve reached out to the youth of the area as well. According to Potter, there will be several local students performing in this concert. In addition, with such a transient population, the voices are always changing for the group.

“This being a military community, we have people coming and going a lot,” said Potter. “We are about 60 singers strong right now, and we have members from all age and ethnic groups — all walks of life.”

One of the benefi ts for young singers is that when students sing with the Cumberland Oratorio Singers they are not required to pay the dues. All high school and college students can sing with them for free.

It’s been a great season so far and Potter mentioned that their last performance of the 2010-2011 season will be in partnership with the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra on April 30 at Reeves Auditorium.

“We will be singing with them for Serenade. It is one of the pieces they will be doing, and we have auditions, not for the whole chorus, but within the chorus and we are really looking forward to that.”

Get your tickets for the April 1 concert for $12 at the door. College students (of any age with ID) and school age children are admitted free. Find out more at cumberlandoratoriosingers. org or call 822-4447.

Photo: Cumberland Oratorio Singers Artistic Director and Conductor Michael Martin.

Womack Army Medical Center will open two Community-Based Medical Homes (CBMHs) in March. One clinic will be located 3351 South Peak Dr. in Hope Mills, and one will be located at 2350 Bentridge Ln. in Fayetteville off Raeford Road. The clinics will serve active-duty families who would like to enroll in these two clinics.

“The idea behind this concept is that the Army is delivering the promise of improving access to care and increasing customer satisfaction in a community based setting,” said Col. (Dr.) Niel Johnson, director of Community-Based Medical Homes (CBMH) at Womack Army Medical Center.

“In many ways, these clinics will represent a great improvement in how primary care is provided across the Army. The staffing, funding and design of the CBMHs are our chance to get it right.”

The entire staff will be permanent civilian employees, which eliminates the problems that arise when military providers deploy or get called away for nonclinical duties.

“Continuity of care is very important. These two clinics will be designed so that the patients will see their healthcare provider 90 to 95 percent of the time. It will allow our patients to establish a relationship with their provider and will be able to develop a more personalized and comprehensive care plan for each patient,” added Johnson.

Enrollment has begun, and is on a voluntary basis, based on specifi c zip codes surrounding the communities where the clinics are. “Patients satisfi ed with their current doctors on or off post will not be forced to move,” Johnson says. New families moving to the area, however, will be enrolled to the new clinics if they live in the affected zip codes.

Each clinic will serve approximately 8,000 family members, most of whom will shift from existing Fort Bragg clinics. “This will help us right-size enrollment across the entire WAMC system and increase capacity for retirees and their family members to return to WAMC for their primary healthcare,” according to Lt. Col. Charles McKeithen, special projects offi cer for WAMC’s Clinical Operations Division.

The new Community-Based Medical Homes will offer support services similar to existing Fort Bragg clinics. Each will be equipped with its own lab and pharmacy, however, radiology services will be available at a local radiology imaging center near the clinics or at WAMC.

These clinics are designed with the medical-home model design concept in mind which promotes a team approach to every single patient. Each clinic’s two teams will have two board-certifi ed family physicians and one family nurse practitioner serving as primary care managers. A complete nursing staff of four registered nurses and 18 licensed practical nurses will support the providers on the care teams. In addition, a physician assistant will be on hand to augment the teams and provide coverage whenever and wherever it is needed, and a licensed clinical psychologist will be available for all behavioral-health needs.

The medical-home model is more than providing episodic care and allows the care teams to be more proactive with their population. “Personalized, synchronized case management is the hallmark of the medical-home concept,” says Johnson. “We willbe looking out for our patients’ needs when they’re healthy, and, of course, we’ll be more than ready to take care of them when they’re not.”

“The medical-home team concept allows us to be more effi cient and focus on the patient. We’ll also see an increase in staff satisfaction as they will all be operating within the scope of their licensure — physicians will do physician work, nurses will do nurse work and administrators will do administrative work” said James Alarcon, group practice manager for the Fayetteville Clinic. “It will allow the care team to focus on the patient and deliver care within the scope of their training and experience.”

“When a patient receives care outside of the community-based medical home, in the emergency room, hospital orsubspecialist’s offi ce, the patient’s care team ensures that care is coordinated and integrated into the comprehensive care plan,” said Terry Oaks, group practice manager, Hope Mills.

All active-duty family members who wish to enroll, that are currently enrolled to either an on-post primary-care clinic or to a civilian network provider and who live within the appropriate zip codes should go to their Fort Bragg Primary Care Clinic patient representative or registration clerk for details. For those family members currently enrolled in a civilian network, they can contact any of these clinics in order to enroll.

Photo: Hope Mills Medical Home.

It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature. Don’t make her mad. She will turn you into a zombie. Consider the curious case of how a brain controlling fungus evolved from turning ants into zombies into a brain controlling fungus that turned the highest levels of the American government into zombies. Let us ponder the Brazilian carpenter ant and the U.S. Treasury as a case in point.

Scientific guys in white coats have identified a brain controlling fungus, Ophiocordyceps unilateralis which crawls into carpenter ants and controls the ants’ brains. When the fungus infects an ant, it uses some creepy chemical to take over the ant’s free will and turn it into a zombie following the instructions of the fungus. The ants become Calvinists lacking free will. Their actions become predetermined by the fungus. The fungus tells the ants to take a hike away from their home sweet ant colony to go off on a frolic and detour of their own. Nonzombie ants do not leave home alone. Once the ant is zombifi ed, it marches to the fungi drummer.

The Ophi fungus tells the ant to chomp on the bottom of a leaf and hang on. The zombie ant does what it is told, hanging there until the fungus kills it. Jaws locked in place, the dead ant becomes a vessel for more Ophi mischief. Ophi eats the inside of the ant and shoves a tendril out of the ant’s head. Yuck. Tendril is the night as the fungus shoots out spores at passing ants to create more zombie ants in its nefarious plot to take over the world.

Right now you are probably asking yourself, who really cares about zombie ants? If the ants are zombies, they won’t come to my picnic. Don’t be short sighted. This could happen to you. It has already happened to the U.S. government. Remember The Invasion of the Body Snatchers? In that movie, Kevin McCarthy had a parade of patients complaining their loved ones were imposters. They had been taken over by pods from outer space. The space pods were clearly advanced Ophi spores.

A more evolved version of the ant infesting Ophi fungus is the government infesting fungus Goldman Sachs, Goldmanyceps Sachalis which has taken over America’s fi nancial system. The Goldy fungus has turned the American government into a zombie doing the bidding of Goldman.

It doesn’t matter whether the President or Congress are nominally controlled by the Republicans or the Democrats, it is Goldy fungus that controls the government. Ponder recent Goldman Sach’s alumni who have been in charge of America’s fi nancial system: Henry Paulson, chairman of Goldman until appointed by George W. Bush as Secretary of Treasury, Rahm Emanuel — on retainer to Goldman before serving as chief of staff to Obama; Robert Rubin, 26 year employee of Goldman and Secretary of Treasury under Clinton, Timothy Geithner, protegee of Robert Rubin and Secretary of Treasury under Obama.

The Goldy fungus has eaten the brain of the U.S. Government. The U.S. Treasury has been forced to bite on the hind parts of a pig and crank out money at the whim of Goldy. In the recent fi nancial troubles, Goldy sent out tendrils from the US Treasury spewing out vast spores of money to such worthy entities as Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, AIG, Bank of America, General Motors, JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Wells Fargo.

Some soreheads have questioned why the government would bail out the very companies that caused the global melt down. The answer is simple, the brains of the government are controlled by the Goldmanyceps fungus. The government is fi lled with Pod People who have no free will. The U.S. Treasury will do whatever Goldman tells it to do.

When the fungus came for the ants, I remained silent. I was not an ant. When the fungus came for the U.S. Treasury I remained silent. I was not a bureaucrat. When the fungus came for me, there was no one left to speak for me. Remember what Kevin McCarthy yelled in The Invasion of the Body Snatchers, “They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next!” Sweet dreams.

Hope you’re feeling lucky on Friday, March 25, because that is the evening that the Highland Country Club will be transformed for Casino Night, complete with roulette wheels , black jack and poker tables.

One night a year since 2006, the Home Builders Association of Fayetteville brings Vegas to Fayetteville. The glitz, glam and adrenaline that come with a night of gaming not only offers attendees a fabulous night out, it also benefi ts the community.

“Two years ago we made a commitment that this event would always benefit a nonprofit organization,” said Natalie Woodbury, executive officer of the Home Builders Association of Fayetteville. “This is the 6th Annual Casino Night and we have raised $81,372 over the past five years.”

This year, Habitat for Humanity will be the lucky benefi ciary of the proceeds. The Executive Director for Habitat, Ann Griffi n, is excited about how the money will be put to good use in the community. “I want to say how excited and proud we are to be the chosen charity this year for casino night. It is a real honor,” she said. “The money will go towards our mission — we build and sell homes to partner families who cannot afford a conventional mortgage ”

This year Griffin has plans in the works for Habitat to build nine houses. That’s nine families that would not otherwise be able to afford a home. Both Woodbury and Griffin see this as a great fit for their organizations, since the vision of the Home Builders Association is that home ownership can and should be within the reach of every American family and Habitat for Humanity works to help families achieve the dream of home ownership.

“It is a perfect fit, the Home Builders Association and Habitat for Humanity — it just goes together,” said Griffin.

On the night of the event, there is a place for everyone at the (poker) table, even if you’ve never played before.

“There are all kinds of games complete with professional dealers,” said Woodbury. “And for those that don’t know how to play, the dealers are really nice and will teach you, which is great for people who maybe have never played those games but who still want to participate and join in the fun.”

Tickets are $75 and every ticket includes entry to the event, one drink ticket and $500 in funny money. There is no real cash at stake, unless you choose to spend yours to purchase additional funny money as the night progresses. Heavy hors d’ouevres will be served throughout the evening as well. 

When it’s time to cash in your chips, Woodbury says that there are plenty of impressive prizes that are up for grabs. “At the end of the night the top three winners will choose from our three top prizes. One is from Hinkamp Jewelers, another is a flat-screen TV and the third is cash.” She added that “For every $1,000 that you win, you get a raffle ticket. Once the top three winners are announced, then we start pulling tickets. We have more than 50 prizes, so a lot of people leave that night with something in their hand — which is good.”

The fun goes from 6:30 - 9:30 p.m. Prizes will be distributed at 10 p.m. Tickets must be purchased in advance at the Home Builders Association of Fayetteville Offi ce. Find out more at 826- 0648 or www.fayhba.org.

Photo: The Homebuilders Association of Fayetteville is hosting Casino Night on March 25. Proceeds will benefi t Habitat for Humanity..

When a big rig passes by, Little Johnny straightens up in his seat. When he hears the engine roar his heart speeds. He ogles the enormous tires. He hopes the driver, who sits much higher than he does, will shoot a glance in his direction. This month, Johnny will touch, climb and sit in the driver’s seat.

St. Andrews Academy will host its fourth annual Truck Touch event from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on March 26 at 121 Lofton Drive off Ramsey Road in Fayetteville. The event is a fundraiser for the school, which is hoping to raise monetary support to improve classrooms and buy additional supplies and books, according to Candice Moody, the organizer of the event.

“The purpose for Truck Touch is to provide a great family event that everyone can enjoy. Last year the money we raised went to our beautiful new playground. This year we will use it for improvements and expansion,” said Sara Ryberg, the coordinator of St. Andrews Academy’s parent group, Parents of Preschoolers.

Truck Touch will feature more than 15 different vehicles ranging from basic street vehicles like the Jeep Wrangler to humongous headliners like a cement truck and 18-wheeler. The City of Fayetteville is providing a Police K9 Team and street sweeper truck. 

“This is the first time we’ve been involved with something like this,” said Scott Thornall, Street Maintenance Superintendant for Fayetteville. “The kids will have fun with it and it will give us a chance to educate the community.”

It’s important to Thornall that the kids learn something about street sweeping and storm water maintenance. “It’s not just about aesthetics, we are cleaning oil and greases that could be harmful to the environment,” Thronall said.

Not to worry, Mom and Dad will have something to do as well. In addition to the trucks, St. Andrews Academy will host a silent auction, a yard sale featuring community-donated items, vendor sales, face painting, bounce houses and more.

 “I am very excited for this year’s TruckTouch. Besides the vehicles and bounce houses, we have added an inflatable racetrack for the kids to enjoy. The adults will also be able to have fun while shopping at our small-business expo and yard sale,” Ryberg said.

Tickets for the event are $4 and can be purchased at the event. Early birds can save a dollar and buy tickets at the school office prior to March 26. The rain date for the event is April 2.

“I liked big trucks as a kid,” said Thornall. “The truck has lots of knobs and controls and the kids will be able to sit in the cab.”

Next time Little Johnny heads down I-95, he’ll see another big rig. This time, when his eyes meet the trucker’s, he’ll nod with a respectable, “I’ve sat in your seat before.”

PHOTO: St. Andrews Academy will host its fourth annual Truck Touch event from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on March 26.

Gnomeo and Juliet (Rated G)

Gnomeo and Juliet (84 minutes) leaves some burning questions unanswered: where was Torchwood when all the gnomes were running around? Exactly how many poorly chosen Shakespeare references can you squeeze into 84 minutes? Why don’t the owners of the side-by-side houses get along better? Why don’t those owners ever notice all the destruction caused during mid-afternoon/overnight gnome romping? What are the Freudian implications of the big hats? How much money do you have to pay Sir Patrick Stewart to voice act in your horrible movie? And most importantly, where do little gnomes come from? How long do their parents treat them like children? And how is their apparently eternal childhood (which resembles the protracted adolescence of Claudia in Interview with a Vampire) not super-creepy?

There’s more, but it’s time to move on to making fun of Director Kelly Asbury — who took an idea with tons of potential and turned it into stale flavorless marshmallows. I mean, he may have started out on Stallion: Spirit of the Cimarron, but he moved on to do Shrek 2, which was totally cute! For all the talent involved, he got nada out of his actors. There are no genuinely likable heroes to root for, no attempt to reach beyond a straightforward Romeo and Julietrip-off for kids, and all the secondary characters sound like they are voiced by Robin Williams. And that is not a good thing.

At least the opening of the movie is fairly cute. A little guy in a big hat stands on a stage and introduces the “two houses, alike in dignity …” while avoiding a cane that aims to remove him from the stage. Enjoy the laughs while they’re easy to come by, because they get few and far between as the movie progresses.

Mrs. Montague (Julie Walters) and Mr. Capulet (Richard Wilson) own two halves of a duplex. Their yards are filled with tribes of warring garden gnomes and other kitschy objets d’art. The blue gnomes include Gnomeo (James McAvoy), Benny (Matt Lucas), and Gnomeo’s Mother (Maggie Smith). The red gnome camp consists of Juliet (Emily Blunt), Nanette the Frog (Ashley Jensen) Tybalt (Jason Statham), Fawn the Deer (Ozzy Osbourne), and Lord Redbrick (Michael Caine).

Wait — for real? Michael Caine? Maggie Smith? Am I missing something? This movie sucks! Where did all the star power come from and why isn’t it helping the movie to not suck so much? Maybe I’m getting cynical in my old age, but the script seems to go from set piece to set piece without any real plot or substantial narrative innovation. And let us not forget the soul-destroying Elton John reboots!

A child begins screaming in the middle of the theater. I am sure we would both feel a lot better if the movie would just end already. Or maybe we just need the introduction of a cool Mercutio type character to make this all a bit more int

eresting. Hey! A pink lawn flamingo (Jim Cummings) just showed up! Maybe he’ll be cool? No. Nope. The pain goes on. The movie limps to an unsatisfying conclusion. I have no idea where all the box-office success is coming from. You’re welcome to send an e-mail and explain it to me. 

The Mighty Male Mentoring Program (3MP) is a goal-oriented program designed to support the educational and professional aspirations of minority males (also known as mentees) at Fayetteville Technical Community College (FTCC). The 3MP seeks to increase completion of developmental and curriculum courses, retention, graduation rates, and transfer to a UNC four-year institution. To accomplish this, the program increases exposure to academic and financial aid advising and to educational, professional, and civic opportunities.

It’s uncontroverted that minority males face many personal challenges and obstacles when it comes to college education-program admittance, financial resources, job skills, job placement, stereotypes, low grade point averages, low Accuplacer test scores, and a sense of future direction, to name a few. This is where the 3M Program steps in with mentors and academic advising.

Advising students in the Mighty Male Mentoring Program at FTCC involves developing a more personal relationship between student and advisor/mentor. Regular contact (at least twice a month) allows the student to bond and identify with his mentor.

Larry Vick, a 3MP mentor/criminal justice instructor, notes that “As college faculty and staff members, we’re often called upon to lend our time, effort, and expertise to various projects. These projects are often worthwhile, but sometimes we’re left to wonder if our investments have achieved the sought-after results. For those involved with the Mighty Male Mentoring Program, or 3M, as it’s called, the answer is clear. The 3M Program is more than just worthwhile – it’s a game changer. That’s because its benefits are permanent. By matching students who have demonstrated a desire to succeed with dedicated faculty and staff members who serve as mentors, relationships are forged that create win-win situations. Not only do the mentees reap tremendous rewards, but the mentors benefit greatly.”

The process begins with potential mentees filling out an application that memorializes their commitment to improve both as students and as male members of their communities. Upon acceptance, the mentees complete a contract with their mentors wherein they attest to a plan of action. Mentors are pre-screened to identify their areas of expertise and level of commitment. To ensure program participants stay motivated, twice monthly plenary meetings are scheduled to augment any individual meetings between mentor and mentee. In addition, there are numerous activities available that reinforce the program’s mission, purpose, and expectations.

FTCC’s 3M Program is still in its infancy, but significant strides have been made under the leadership of Theodore Thomas, James Steadman, and Bryant Youngblood. Their efforts have been supported by a group of dedicated volunteer mentors. Equally encouraging has been the caliber of the mentees who have been participating.

Recently, there have been trips planned to Tarboro and Winston-Salem to engage in 3M leadership conferences and mentor training. Mentees are also scheduled to participate in such hands-on activities as mentoring eighth graders from the Ramsey Street Alternative School as part of the Future Seekers Career Exploration Project.

Please take the time to speak with members of the 3M Program when you see them in your neighborhoods performing community service. They’ll be the young men with looks of determination and purpose, as well as a smile.

PHOTO: The Mighty Male Mentoring Program (3MP) is a goaloriented program designed to support the educational and professional aspirations of minority males.

The 50/50 Rule

A national study of U.S. family caregivers, sponsored by the Home Instead Senior Care® network, shows that the dynamics of family relationships can thrust one sibling into the role of primary caregiver for an aging parent. This can create an “anything you can do I can do better” tug and pull between brothers and sisters who should be working together for the best interests of their senior loved ones.

The study, conducted by The Boomer Project, included 711 adults ages 35-64, with living siblings or stepsiblings, who said they either currently provide care for a parent or older relative, or did provide care in the past 18 months.

This inability to effectively work together often leads to one sibling becoming responsible for the bulk of caregiving (true in 43percent of families) which can contribute to a deterioration of sibling relationships.

Three key factors, more than any others, will determine if relationships between the adult children will deteriorate, and whether the quality of care to the parent will be compromised. Those factors are the adult children’s ability to make important decisions together; their ability to divide the caregiving workload; and their level of teamwork. The lower the self-reported scores on these measures, the lower the overall grade they give themselves and their siblings in working together to provide care to their parents.

Forty-six percent of caregivers who say their sibling relationships have deteriorated say their brothers and sisters are unwilling to help.

Furthermore, survey participants were much more likely to give themselves excellent ratings for important personal caregiving traits than they were their brothers and sisters.

The implication is that sibling relationships and caregiving quality suffer when there are not effective family processes or dynamics in place to help brothers and sisters make successful decisions, equitably divide the workload and build a caregiving team.

In response, the Home Instead Senior Care network has developed The 50-50 RuleSM (www.solvingfamilyconflict.com). The 50-50 Rule refers to the average age when siblings are caring for their parents (50) as well as the need for brothers and sisters to more equitably share the planning responsibility (50/50).

The stakes are high — sibling relationships and the quality of their parents’ care are at risk. But with new approaches and a focus on building better family relationships, caregiving can make families stronger.

Over the next several weeks we will share specific approaches suggested to siblings who are caring for their parent(s). So stay tuned, help is on the way!

If you would like a copy of “The 50-50 Rule” booklet, stop by the local Home Instead Senior Care office at 2825 Arlington Avenue, Fayetteville, NC 28303 or call us at 910-484-7200.

PHOTO: With new approaches and a focus on building better family relationships, caregiving can make families stronger.

According to www.rapecrisisonline. org: one out of every six American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime and about nine out of ten rape victims are female. One out of every 33 American men has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in his lifetime. Ages 12-34 are the highest risk years. Girls ages 16-19 are four times more likely than the general population to be victims of sexual assault.

Adding to the outrage of such a horrific event, almost 2/3 of sexual assaults are committed by someone known to the victim and only about 6 percent of rapists ever serve a day in jail.

On Saturday, March 19, the Rape Crisis Volunteers of Cumberland County and Musha Dojo are offering a free women’s self-defense class. According to Ze Suratt-II, the victim’s advocate and volunteer coordinator, “The main purpose is to help empower women so that they can feel more safe when they are out and about. They won’t be learning how to fight per se, but they will be learning some key strike moves.”

She added that the instructor “is very passionate about helping women to prevent, as much as possible, an attack — by teaching about the somewhat small things they can do that would possibly give them those few valuable seconds or minutes to scream out loudly or run.”

The class is free, and runs from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Space is limited though. Participants should be at least 15 since the material will be sensitive. Physically impaired women are especially encouraged to attend. Call 485-7273 to make a reservation. Space is limited, however, there will be more self-defense classes offered on April 23 and July 19 as well.

While preventive measures are always a good thing, the Rape Crisis Volunteers of Cumberland County are there to help when the damage has already been done. They take calls from victims of sexual assault, rape or domestic violence and provide them with local resources and help guide them through the different stages of reporting(if a victim chooses to report the crime) and healing. 

“There are a lot of resources available that women are not aware of,” said Suratt-II “We try to give them all the information that we can about these resources so that they can make decisions about the things they may want to do next. We also advocate for victims.”

That includes going to the hospital with them after an attack, should the victim choose to go, and helping them through the hospital exam and dealing with the police by letting the victim know what is going to be happening and how it is going to happen as well as what courses of action are available. T

he support does not stop there. The Rape Crisis Volunteers will go with a victim to court proceedings too. Surrat-II pointed out that reliving their experiences in the court room is also a very traumatic time.

While the goal is to help in healing and recovering from such traumatic events, the Rape Crisis Volunteers are very firm in their belief that each person must feel safe and confident in how they choose to handle their situation.

“It is our job to let them know what is available and let them make that decision (whether or not to report the crime) themselves. We are not going to tell a victim what they should or shouldn’t do. We want them to be able to make their own decision. It is important that we keep it that way,” said Surrat-II.

“When we do speak with victims we do try to suggest and recommend that they go for counseling because we do believe in counseling being a very healing tool for recovery.”

The organization is always looking for kind hearted and compassionate volunteers and theyhold training sessions quarterly. They next rape sensitivity training sessions will be held May 14 and 21. Call 485-7273 to find out how you can be a part of the healing. 

PHOTO: On Saturday, March 19, the Rape Crisis Volunteers of Cumberland County and Musha Dojo are offering a free women’s self-defense class.

  For more than 20 years the Cape Fear Botanical Garden has been inspiring, educating and enriching the lives of visitors. Its self-proclaimed role in the community is “In addition to showcasing nature’s beauty, our garden serves in many roles: environmental stewardship, education and research, the preservation of our agricultural heritage, a unique setting for activities and events, a prime attraction for visitors from near and far, a valuable economic resource for our community.”

On April 1, the CFBG is hosting the Second Annual Rhythm and Blooms Benefit Concert. The gates open at 7 p.m. and the concert is at 8 p.m.

“We are featuring the Blue Dogs who are from Charleston, S.C. Their sound has kind of like a blue grass, bluesy, kind of country feel,” said Anna Grantonic, assistant director of development and marketing at Cape Fear Botanical Gardens. “It is going to be kind of neat because you will get to see the new pavilion — it won’t be open but it will be kind of a sneak peak before the grand opening the next day. It will be a fun and relaxed event where you can hear some good music, have some drinks and eat some good food.”

The food will be provided by the Invisible Chef. It will be light fare including things like sandwiches and salads, according to Grantonic. There will be food and drinks and a cash bar available. Tickets are $10 in advance and $15 at the door.

With all that the garden provides to the community, this is an opportunity for nature lovers, gardening enthusiasts, music lovers and folks who want to see Cape Fear Botanical Gardens prosper to come out and not only support a good cause, but enjoy a fun and relaxing evening in the garden.

“Rhythm and Blooms is a fundraiser for the garden,” said Grantonic. “Proceeds will go toward our expandedprogramming. With the new building and future special events we want to expand the type of events we offer. And of course, it will also support general operations. We are facing big changes and want to be ready.”

On April 2, the public is invited to come and check out the new Wyatt Visitors Pavilion Complex. According to Grantonic, the visitors pavilion has been on the drawing board since the garden was founded more than 20 years ago. After much planning, fundraising and construction, it is finally ready to unveil to the public. The garden will open at 10 a.m. that day and there is no admission charge.

“We will have children’s activities and special speakers. Since it is the grand opening it is the fi rst time the public can come and tour the building,” said Grantonic. There are going to be tours available, face painting, live music, food and drinks. “Local columnist and gardening expert Roger Mercer — he was one of the gardens founding members — will be there to talk about the journey of the garden, its history and how it got to this point. It is going to be a fun day; we want everyone to come and enjoy it,” she added.

The visitor pavilion is 33,000 square feet and boasts several different areas perfect for meetings or other special events. The biggest special event area is called “The Orangery” and it is 9,000 square feet. It has wood decked ceilings and is designed to provide a lovely natural feel. It has the capacity for a standing reception of about 1,000 people making it perfect for things like wedding receptions. It also has arched glass doors so even though it is an indoor space, it has an outdoorsy feeling. The pavilion also boasts a grand hall which can be partitioned into three smaller rooms, which Grantonic pointed out is great for a conference or meetings. The garden staff will also benefit from the building, and will have new offi ces.

Once the pavilion is offi cially opened, the folks at the garden are planning to maximize its use. They have a new gift shop which will have specialty garden items, souvenirs and nature related things. The public is welcome to browse and shop there and they will be able to do that without having to pay admission to the garden.

During nicer weather, and on peak days, they are also are going to have the Invisible Chef providing lunches, so visitors can come and have lunch at the garden, without paying admission.

“There is a lot of new stuff,” said Grantonic. “We are so excited.”

They aren’t wasting time putting their new space to good use. On April 9, the public is invited to the Spring Plant Sale and Symposium. It’s an expanded version of the spring plant sale that the garden has offered for years. The vendors and garden centers that people have come to expect and anticipate will be there. What is different is the addition of speakers and presentations. The sale starts at 9 a.m.

From 10-11 a.m. check out the Orchid Potting Demonstration and Help Session with Keith Clayton of the Sandhills Orchid Society. From 11 a.m. to noon walk and talk with Roger Mercer about his favorite plants and places, including Cape Fear Botanical Garden.

At 12:15 p.m. stop by and catch a Container Gardening Demo with Sandy Connolly of Green Biz Nursery and Landscaping.

With all of the extra activities going on, don’t forget that the garden is open daily as an oasis to the public. Take a walk, get inspired, catch your breath and refresh your spirit. It is open Monday through Saturday: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. and Sunday: 12 p.m. - 5 p.m.

Admission is currently $6 (Military and AAA receive a $1 discount), children ages 6-12: $1 and children 5 and under are free. Prices are expected to increase slightly after April 2. Find out more about Cape Fear Botanical Gardens at 486-0221 or www.capefearbg.org.

PHOTO: On April 1, the CFBG is hosting the Second Annual Rhythm and Blooms Benefit Concert.

March 25 is a special day in Downtown Fayetteville. That’s the day community residents are invited downtown to participate in another 4th Friday.

Sponsored by the Downtown Alliance in partnership with Miller-Motte College, an evening filled with laughter, music, food, art and other forms of entertainment is planned. This 4th Friday is centered around the theme Community Can Do. The result? A host of downtown businesses and other local organizations will be collecting canned goods to donate to local hunger-relief agencies.

Students of Free Enterprise from Fayetteville State University are holding a contest inviting high school students to put together teams to compete in the Campbell’s Let’s Can Hunger Challenge, sponsored by Campbell Soup Company. With an FSU mentor, each team must use a minimum of 500 cans to build a structure during the 4th Friday event. A challenge that sounds so simple can prove to be quite diffi cult. Teams are only allowed to use rubberbands to hold each sculpture together, all other adhesives are prohibited.

Tammy Frutchey, from FSU, says that this is not “just an opportunity” for “FSU students to get involved and give back,” instead it is an opportunity “for the entire community to come together; and create an awareness that there is a very serious hunger issue in our town, state and country.”

Like all competitions, there will be a winner. The contest winner will be determined by votes. Each vote is $1. At the end of the contest Students of Free Enterprise have a goal of collecting at least 5,000 pounds of non-perishable foods and $1,000 in cash donations that will be donated to the Fayetteville Second Harvest Food Bank.

Sponsors of 4th Friday are doing their share to make sure this event helps the Fayetteville community. However, one featured merchant wants to give to community residents. While enjoying the downtown events, stop by the Downtown Alliance table at 222 Hay Street and register to win dinner for two at Pierro’s Italian Bistro.

Young country-pop duo Summerfield is scheduled to perform at the Twisted Jeweler throughout the evening. The duo, which was recently featured in Up & Coming Weekly, will perform songs from their new CD. Called a cross between Taylor Swift and Lady Antebellum, the duo has a pop/country sound much like that of another country duo, Sugarland.

Jill Charles is also a scheduled performer. She will perform from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Horne’s Cafe and So Chic Bebe. Charles will be perform some original songs as well as some familiar country and pop cover songs. First arriving in Fayetteville by way of the military, Charles has become a part of the community through her musical abilites. She has performed “God Bless America” for the SwampDawgs baseball team, the “National Anthem” for the Fireantz Hockey Team and has been in concert several times at local churches. Charles is a well known local, but she is no stranger to big name stars and she has opened for Chris Daughtry.

At the Arts Council, join in the celebration of the opening of We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball. The Fayetteville State University Jazz Trio will perform. Join the Arts Council for smooth jazz, great food and an awesome exhibit.

See amazingly talented artists demonstrate their work every 4th Friday Arts Alive on Maxwell Street from 6 to 10 p.m. Artists inside Cape Fear Studios also demonstrate their techniques — and you are invited to watch them create!

Be sure to catch free rides around downtown on the Cotton Exchange Express.

Arts Alive artists showcase baskets, jewelry, glasswork, painting, loom weaving, pottery and photography. Artists interested in participating in Arts Alive must submit a jury application. Jury and booth fees are waived through April! The only fee is a $10 city selling permit, if you plan to sell your artwork. (Demonstrating only is free.)

For more information, call Ashley Hunt, the Arts Council’s special events coordinator, at (910) 323-1776, ext. 230.

4th Friday’s have received great responses since the initial conception, the March 4th Friday is hoping to continue this trend.

When visitors to our community stay in Cumberland County, we hope that they also play in Cumberland County. To that end, the Cumberland County Tourism Development Authority (TDA) oversees the monies collected from the 6 percent occupancy tax funded by visitors to area hotels. The TDA is responsible for the distribution of these funds to promote travel and tourism. The Arts Council, the Crown Center and the Fayetteville Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (FACVB) receive dedicated funding from the TDA. A percentage is also used to fund specifi c grant requests.

The Cumberland County Tourism Development Authority recently received grant requests of $25,000 each from the City of Fayetteville to help fund marketing for Veterans Park and Downtown Fayetteville. The Airborne and Special Operations Museum also requested a $25,000 grant for marketing. The TDA requested that the Convention & Visitors Bureau coordinate a marketing plan incorporating the three requests.

“The TDA stepped back and looked at the fact that if we give each of these grants individually, they will promote themselves singularly. So, why not combine those resources with what the CVB is already doing?” said John Meroski, CEO of the FACVB. “Then, go back into the private sector and get matching dollars so we can have a 12-month marketing strategy for the downtown area.”

According to Meroski, it’s a matter of effi ciency and putting out a unifi ed message. The TDA questioned “What’s the best return on investment? How can the investments be measured and know they are used in the most effi cient manner?” Meroski adds, “You get a bigger bang for the buck when it’s used in a co-op fashion.”

Vivek Tandon, chairman of the TDA, echoes that. “We felt since all three requests were positive downtown assets, that a combined effort by the CVB would give each asset a better return on the investment that TDA would make on their behalf,” said Tandon.

“The CVB is hired for marketing and that is their specialization, so with their abilities to market in the right areas, streamline from their databases, and their experience of knowing what works and does not work, we feel that the CVB would be the best source for each of the downtown assets,” Tandon added.

The TDA contracts with the FACVB to promote travel and tourism for Cumberland County. “I think it works well for Cumberland County. You contract with the CVB who does an ongoing program, 24/7, 365 days a year,” said Meroski. “Since 2006, all of the downtown attractions are already worked into the CVB products.”

On March 28, the Fayetteville Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (FACVB) will host a meeting for downtown area merchants and organizations to discuss the TDA marketing initiative which will include $75,000 from the TDA and $50,000 from the CVB. But according to Meroski, downtown is more than Hay Street and the area near the Market House.

“When I say downtown, I mean from the Botanical Gardens, to the river, all the way through downtown to Haymount,” explained Meroski. He went on to explain that the Airborne and Special Ops Museum has 100,000 visitors a year, but Cumberland County has 160,000 overnight visitors a month. “That’s nearly two million people staying overnight in our community. Our job is to get them to Veteran’s Park, to the restaurants to eat, to attend events and to plan return visits,” Meroski says. “Why not add to that and encourage people to stay longer. If you are going downtown to eat, let them know, here are the shops that are open when you will be there; here are specifi c things to do during different times of the day.”

Currently, the different organizations and businesses downtown do not have a consistent marketing message. Millions of dollars from the city, county, state and private organizations have been invested in downtown projects. “But whose responsibility is it to market downtown?” asked Meroski. “The CVB, Chamber of Commerce, city, Arts Council events, the private businesses through the Downtown Alliance? What’s contributed to the revitalization of downtown is all the agencies that help promote downtown.”

“We’re talking about packaging destinations, working together. It’s really facilitating information and getting a consistent message out there and really working together.”

“On March 28, that’s where the CVB can really help,” Meroski continues excitedly. “We can deliver that target audience of visitors, military, visiting family and friends. That can be done by sharing our knowledge. We can build on a good co-op plan that matches the TDA funds, some CVB funds, and we will be selling other partnerships so people can invest in this. Then we can leverage it over a 12-month p

eriod to build a consistent marketing message. Really get the message to resonate with the people.”The meeting will be held at 9:30 a.m. on March 28 at the Cumberland County Headquarters Library, and is open to people in the greater downtown area who are interested in a 12-month marketing plan.

“If people are interested in co-promoting, we would really like to hear from them. The Downtown Alliance has 70 business members, but in this area there are over 500 businesses. We are trying to reach those folks to be part of this effort,” said Meroski.

Jami McLaughlin, Downtown Development Manager for the City of Fayetteville, is optimistic about the marketing initiative. “I think partnerships are always a good thing, especially when it comes to marketing. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts,” said McLaughlin. “As downtown continues to grow and we have more vision, more possibilities, this is the best time to all come together and unify those marketing decisions. All in all, this is a good thing.”

Chris Villa, the President of the Downtown Alliance, is also optimistic about the future of downtown. “For us, our intention is to get people to shop local and shop downtown. Shop, eat, play, live is our mantra,” explained Villa. “We are encouraging our members to come out to the meeting and have a voice.”

The CVB will build the marketing plan and then they will go back to the TDA to present the plan. “We’ll present the plan, the funding requests, who the supporting partners are and a recommendation of how to proceed with the funding — whether in full, in part, individually or not at all,” he said. “We can facilitate something that is very much needed. If we can get all the players around the table with the common goal of a 12-month plan, some really good things can happen.”

To say he is excited about the prospects of the project is an understatement. Meroski says “In our business we say ‘everything begins with a visit.’ It takes getting that person to visit fi rst. It’s a big task and there are some fun challenges. But like our mascot of Uncle Sam, I’m ready to roll up my sleeves and work hard at providing a solution.”Photo courtesy of FACVB, by Tim Sciandra.

PHOTO: The proposed TDA and FACVB marketing initiative will shine a new light on the greater downtown area.Photo courtesy of FACVB, by Tim Sciandra.