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  • 13 commuinty concertsGreat entertainment. It’s what Community Concerts is known for. This all-volunteer organization has been bringing first-rate productions to Fayetteville since 1935. And well into its 84th season, the streak continues with two of Motown’s biggest groups — The Temptations and The Four Tops. The concert is set for Friday, March 6, at the Crown at 7:30 p.m.

    Independently, the groups boast genre-defining hits and fan bases that span generations. Together, they bring an authentic musical experience that has audiences coming back again and again to hear favorites like  “It’s the Same Old Song,” “Something About You,” “Shake Me, Wake Me (When It’s Over),” “Loving You is Sweeter Than Ever” and “I Can’t Help Myself” from the Four Tops and  “My Girl,” “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg,” “I Wish It Would Rain” and “Treat Her Like a Lady” from The Temptations.

    While the groups found success independently in the Motown era, they came together in 1983 for a television special called “Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever.” Part of the show featured a battle of the bands between The Four Tops and The Temptations. There was such a great dynamic between the bands that they decided to take their performance on the road, touring off and on together ever since.

    Founding member of The Temptations, Otis Williams, noted that even after 60 years, the band still delivers first-rate performances for its fans “For those that have seen us, we will be true to what they know and what we are known for is the high stepping, the sharp clothes and moving in synchronicity. We only know one way to be, and that is the Temptations.”

    With six decades of music history behind the band and a bevy of honors to their name, The Temptations are as busy as ever. Williams’ story is the source for the smash-hit Broadway musical, “Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations,” which opened on the Great White Way March 21, 2019, and received 12 Tony nominations and won the “Tony Award for Best Choreography” at the 73rd Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall in New York City  on June 10, 2019. On March 24, the audio edition of Williams’ critically acclaimed autobiography, Temptations, written by Williams with The New York Times best-selling writer Patricia Romanowski is set for release as an audiobook. The book was the source for the Emmy-Award Winning television miniseries, “Temptations,” and the current smash hit Broadway musical, “Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations,” with the Tony-winning choreography. “Our journey as told through the lens of my life transcends generations and cultures,” said Williams. “There are so many wonderful things happening. The audiobook, the Broadway play, and we are getting ready to go into the studio and do our anniversary album. We have a lot of irons in the fire.”

    Also founded in the 1960s, The Four Tops have influenced a variety of genres, including soul music, rhythm and blues, disco, adult contemporary, doo-wop, jazz and show tunes. Like The Temptations, The Four Tops have earned numerous awards including The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Vocal Group Hall of Fame and Grammy Hall Of Fame. Their music is timeless.

    The last concert of the Community Concerts season is The Oakridge Boys. It is set for Thursday, May 21.

    Community Concerts is definitely about concerts; it’s part of the group’s mission to bring “the finest in top-notch entertainment to Fayetteville, N.C. and the Fort Bragg/Cumberland County Community.” The organization is just as much about community, though, offering opportunities and programs that benefit many.

    The organization founded the Fayetteville Music Hall of Fame in 2008 to honor people who bring musical distinction to the community. From performers to teachers to producers and more, Fayetteville’s music community’s story is celebrated and preserved here.

    In 2004, Community Concerts started offering college scholarships to local high school students. Since its inception, the program has awarded 32 scholarships.

    Local musicians of all ages benefit from the local artist showcase program, which showcases these performers with selected Community Concerts performances. Recently, Voices of the Heart appeared as an opener for Gladys Knight while children from the Linda Kinlaw School of Dance performed with Martina McBride. Local, emerging country music star Trae Edwards also performed at the Ricky Skaggs show.

    Making great music available to as many people as possible embodies the spirit of the Community Concerts’ mission. So it makes sense that the organization would offer free concert opportunities to different groups with benefactors ranging from young children to senior citizens.  In recent seasons, recipients have included the Vision Resource Center, Urban Ministry, The Sunshine Center, members of local fire and police departments, high school theater art classes, members of our military, and many more.

    For tickets and information about Community Concerts, visit http://www.community-concerts.com/ or search the event on Capefeartix.com.

  • 20 02 George StackhouseWestover High School’s Traymond Willis-Shaw has been named to the North Carolina roster for this year’s Carolinas Classic All-Star basketball game.

    The contest pits the top senior basketball players from North Carolina and South Carolina. It will be played at John T. Hoggard High School in Wilmington on Saturday, March 28.

    Willis-Shaw, a 6-foot-6 wing player for the Wolverines, is a major reason the team rolled to the Patriot Athletic Conference regular-season title and carried a 24-0 record into the opening round of last week’s conference tournament.

    20 Traymond Willis ShawWestover head coach George Stackhouse said Willis-Shaw has been with the Wolverine basketball program since his freshman year at the school.
    He began to occupy a central role on the team after another Wolverine who played in the Carolina Classic, Damani Applewhite, graduated. Applewhite is currently a senior on the basketball team at South Carolina State.

    Through Feb. 17, Willis-Shaw averaged 13.6 points and 6.1 rebounds per game for Westover. He’s made 13 3-point baskets and is hitting 71% of his free throws.
    Stackhouse said Willis-Shaw is a major contributor for the Wolverines on the defensive end of the floor.

    “When he’s active, our defense is so much better,’’ Stackhouse said. “He’s a very good finisher in transition. Our crowd gets going when he throws down a slam or two. It does a lot as far as giving our guys energy and our crowd energy as well.’’

    Willis-Shaw said he’s looking forward to playing in the game and hoping it will increase the looks he’s been getting from colleges. So far he’s had interest from such schools as South Carolina State, Queens, Radford, Mount Olive, UNC-Greensboro, North Carolina Central and Lincoln Memorial.

    “I want to stay closer to home,’’ Willis-Shaw said of his pending college choice. “My parents want to make some games.’’

    Stackhouse said having Willis-Shaw picked for the all-star team give the school a lot of positive publicity. “Traymond goes out and represents himself and the school well,’’ Stackhouse said.

    As far as Westover’s season is concerned, Stackhouse said neither he nor the team is focusing on the unbeaten record and don’t see it as a distraction as they prepare for the conference tournament and state playoffs to follow.

    “We’ve been focusing on each day at practice, trying to get better,’’ Stackhouse said. “We try not to look at any game as a big game. All of them are important.’’
    Stackhouse thinks the regular season has prepared Westover well for the games ahead.

    “We played some tough non-conference teams,’’ he said. “I think we play in one of the toughest conferences, just having to go through that conference and see different styles.

    “If we continue to win, we’ll have a lot of home games and hopefully it will give us an advantage.’’

    Willis-Shaw said the Wolverines have made it where they are with teamwork. “We help each other with everything,’’ he said. “We play together as a team. We get the work done by everybody playing their role and playing hard.’’

    He hopes to do the same in the all-star game. “I just want to play hard, get rebounds and finish in the paint,’’ he said.

  • 17 Brower ParkHere are some Hope Mills news odds and ends taken from recent reports compiled by Town Manager Melissa Adams:

    Work is getting close to completion on the temporary headquarters for the Hope Mills Police Department located in the former Ace Hardware Building on
    Main Street.

    It is estimated the construction will be completed by early to midMarch. Moving from the current police station on Rockfish Road to the new location will begin as soon as construction has ended and is expected to be finished by the end of March.

    The temporary police headquarters will be known as Main Street Police Station. The temporary location will be used during construction of the new public safety building for the fire and police departments at the current location on Rockfish Road.

    The town has again been notified by the Department of the Army that it will be conducting training exercises in Hope Mills. The Army held similar training events in the town last year.

    The Special Warfare 1st Special Forces Command (Airborne) will be holding exercises March 2-27, June 1-26 and Aug. 10-Sept. 4. All Army personnel involved will be in civilian clothes and display military ID. The training should not draw any attention from the public.

    Registration for spring sports with the Hope Mills Parks and Recreation Department continues through Saturday, Feb. 29.
    Available sports include baseball for ages 5-14, softball for ages 7-15 and indoor soccer for ages 5-12. Registration for wrestling has already concluded because that sport opens its season in March.

    Youth baseball and softball will conduct drafts the first two weeks of March. The opening day for baseball and softball is Saturday, April 4, at 9 a.m. at Brower Park on Rockfish Road.

    Hope Mills will host district baseball and softball tournaments during the upcoming season.

    The tournaments include District 6 Dixie Softball, ages 7-15, six divisions, June 19-21 and District 11 Dixie Youth Baseball, 10U and 12U, June 26-30.

    Beginning this fall, the Hope Mills Parks and Recreation Department will add girls’ volleyball for ages 9-17 to the sports program.

    The staff is working with the Fayetteville-Cumberland County Parks and Recreation Department and Freedom Christian Academy to coordinate scheduling. Registration for the first season of girls’ volleyball will be held in June.

    Because of possible safety issues at the vacant lot where the former Christ Episcopal Church Parish House stood, the Hope Mills Public Works Department has been seeking quotes to install a fence along the parking lot side of the property as well as the rear of the vacant lot.

    Prior to the Monday, Feb. 17, meeting of the Board of Commissioners, Adams reported three quotes had been received. After all the quotes have been studied, a decision on who will build the fence is expected soon, with work to install the fence to follow quickly.

    In addition to the plans for the fence, the Public Works staff will be grading and seeding the lot when the planting season arrives in the spring.

    Parks and Recreation director Lamarco Morrison and Planning and Executive Development Director Chancer McLaughlin will be involved in the process as both have prior experience with landscaping architecture.

    Morrison and McLaughlin will work with the town’s Appearance Commission to come up with a basic landscaping design for the vacant lot. The plan is to eventually include the lot in the Heritage Park Master Plan.


    The Hope Mills Chapter of Zeta Phi Beta, Inc., will hold a Black History Month Oratorical Contest on Saturday, Feb. 29, in the large activity room at Hope Mills Recreation Center.

    The competition will be held from 1 p.m. until 3 p.m., and high school students from grades 9-12 will be competing. Prizes of $150 for first, $75 for second and $50 for third place will be awarded.

    The Special Events and Programs Division of the Hope Mills Parks and Recreation Department recently conducted training for the staff in cardiopulmonary resuscitation. As a result, the entire full-time staff of the Parks and Recreation Department is certified in CPR.

    If you’ve got an important event coming up in Hope Mills or know of a story you’d like us to pursue, we’d love to hear about it. Please share your Hope Mills news with us via email at hopemills@upandcomingweekly.com.

  • 14 CollegeCommunity colleges around the globe are tasked with creating a comprehensive curriculum, and Fayetteville Technical Community College is no different. We have created programs and coursework meant to enrich the lives of our students and to help them reach their goals, with the understanding that all students come through our doors differently prepared for the rigors of such study. In the mathematics department, we have developed a new approach to the curriculum under the advice of the North Carolina Community College System. This approach is commonly referred to as RISE, which is short for Reinforced Instruction for Student Excellence.

    The RISE program at FTCC places students in a series of courses based on their past experiences with mathematics content. Students exhibiting proficiency with pre-college skills are placed directly into a first-year mathematics course. However, not all students have a skill set that is college ready. Researchers have argued for years that some students do not need a full treatment of pre-college coursework — simply a level of support to reinforce their efforts in a mathematics course, while others may need a deeper treatment. In recognition of these arguments, in the Fall of 2019, FTCC began offering support courses to supplement students needing that little bit of a push, while also creating a new precollege course with content mastery at its core. All courses in the RISE program are taught by our world-class faculty and are offered both on campus and online.

    Since the implementation of the RISE program at FTCC, our students have experienced unprecedented success. More students are completing their mathematics requirements at a faster pace while maintaining the standards of excellence espoused by the administration of the college. Students say that the support they get through the faculty working with the RISE program provides “just-in-time” remediation, boosting their knowledge of the material and building their confidence as budding consumers of mathematics. Although we are still in the initial phase of this program, we fully expect to see our students progress into other courses with a firm foundation in mathematics and ultimately leave our institution prepared to use this skill set in the career of their choice.

    At FTCC, we strive to make your dreams a reality. Whether you are a seasoned academic or relatively new to higher education, we have a pathway built just for you. Learn more about all the programs we have to offer at FTCC by visiting our website at www.faytechcc.edu. FTCC offers over 280 academic programs of study in the fields of arts and humanities, math and sciences, business, computer technology, engineering/applied technology, health and public service. There’s something for everyone, and your dreams are our mission at Fayetteville Technical Community College.

  • 12 ROOTEDWomen rock! We bring home the bacon, cook it and enjoy eating every piece of it. Women are an integral force in society, and they make a difference in the lives of others. Women deserve to be celebrated,  which is why Cape Fear Botanical Garden presents the 1st Annual 2020 Women’s Summit “Rooted,” Saturday, Feb. 29. from 9 a.m. to
    5 p.m. at Cape Fear Botanical Garden.  

    “This is our first ever Women’s Summit to happen at the garden, and it is all things women — shopping, fashion, home, health and beauty” said Lia Hasapis, marketing coordinator of the Cape Fear Botanical Garden.  “Anything you can imagine will be here.”

    The idea of the Women’ Summit originated from Sheila Hanrick, director of events at Cape Fear Botanical Garden. “She thought it would be something different to do and something that is centered just around women and local businesses in town that support women as well as encourage women to have their own specific event,” said Hasapis. “We loved the idea. This event will be a fun thing because you will be able to renew and energize after a long winter.”

     The event will feature local women speakers, workshops and vendors. The speakers include Dr. Connie Brooks Fernandez, owner of Allure Aesthetics & Medical Spa; Donna Everhart, USA Today’s best-selling author; Alexandra Badgett, Miss North Carolina 2019; Judith Cage, chef, business owner and guest on the Food Network; and Dr. Patrice Carter, Christian Life Coach, author and motivational speaker. The workshops are a pregnant and postpartum fitness workshop with Erica Royster, self-defense with M J Fitness, makeup with MBM and Simply Liz Love, creating a calming space with Monique Tuset, financial goals with Monique Tuset and stunning succulents with Amy Stidham. Vendors will also be on-site.              
          
    “We just opened our Garden View Café — Elite Catering owns and operates it, and they will be here serving lunch,” said Hasapis. “We also have a few food trucks who will be coming, they are Hello Crepe and Java Express.”

    Hasapis added there will be a travel agency vendor that will share what kinds of fun trips you can go on with your girlfriends or family members. Jordan Essentials will have household products, not just beauty products for your skin. They are made from homemade USA natural products to enhance your health. Total Life Changes with Vivian Baldwin will tell you how you can lose weight using supplements.   

    “Dr. Connie Brooks Fernandez will discuss aging gracefully and she will do a live demo of Botox and share all the things you can do at her medical spa,” said Hasapis. “We will have a yoga workshop. It will teach you stretches you can do at home so that you don’t have to attend a yoga class.

     “We look forward to seeing everyone at our first annual Women’s Summit,” said Hasapis.

    Ticket cost is $15, and it includes a complimentary mimosa. Tickets can be purchased on Eventbrite and at the door. For more information, call 910-486-0221.

  • 08 African SahelThe Pentagon is reviewing whether there needs to be a troop withdrawal in Africa. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and a bipartisan group of lawmakers, united against a Trump administration plan to withdraw U.S. troops from part of Africa, pushed back in an exchange with Defense Secretary Mark Esper during a recent meeting. Graham and Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., led the charge telling Esper that Congress would not support a U.S. troop withdrawal from the Sahel region in Africa, laying out the reasons to keep the troop presence there. At one point, Graham allegedly told Esper that he could “make your life hell.”  Graham denied making the comment.

    Several other lawmakers laid out their case forcefully. “From a broad security standpoint, the Sahel is a tinderbox of terrorist activity and where violent extremist organizations look to use the space to recruit, adapt and evolve,” AFRICOM spokesman Air Force Col. Chris Karns said.

    Army Gen. Stephen Townsend, AFRICOM commander, is on record saying that violent extremist group activity in the region has increased 250% since 2018.

    The Sahel is the geographic zone in sub-Saharan Africa between the Atlantic ocean and the Red Sea. It includes several nations plagued by international terrorist groups, including Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Nigeria. More than a dozen terrorist groups with links to the Islamic State or al-Qaida, like Boko Haram and al Shabaab, are operating there and other parts of Africa.

    The upsurge in violence from extremist groups in West Africa is moving south from Mali into Burkina Faso, a former French colony that suffered more than 2,200 civilian deaths in 2019 — a steep increase from the nearly 300 civilian deaths in 2018. Thousands of people in Burkina Faso have been displaced because of the violence. Most recent estimates from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs indicate that more than 500,000 people were displaced between January 2019 and January 2020 in Burkina Faso.

    Graham and Coons argued that the number of American troops there is small, the cost to deploy them is low and withdrawal would abandon a major ally in France, whose army is leading the fight against the terrorists there. The U.S. has approximately 6,000 troops in Africa, including 1,000 special operations troops in the Sahel, the region where four Fort Bragg Green Berets lost their lives two years ago. American forces train local troops, provide aerial refueling to French military planes and collect intelligence.
    The senators noted that this is the exact model the Trump administration has been pressing for, where another country leads militarily while the U.S. backs the effort. Graham said it would make no sense to abandon an area where that arrangement is working. Esper explained that he is trying to carry out the National Defense Strategy, which cites Russia and China as the biggest strategic competitors to the U.S., and is attempting to shift American troop priorities accordingly.      

  • 15 bookIs it really just a fairy tale?

    That is what some reviewers of a new book are calling one of my favorite stories. That book is “Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister: Three Women at the Heart of Twentieth-Century China” by Jung Chang.

    The book profiles and puts in historical context the lives of the three Soong sisters who played important but very different roles in the history of China during the republican revolution and overthrow of the Manchu rule and the later Communist takeover in 1949.

    The “fairy tale” began in the 1880s when Charlie Soong, a Chinese teenager, made his way to Wilmington, where he was baptized. Sponsored by North Carolina Methodists, he went to Trinity College and Vanderbilt University to prepare to return to China as a missionary. Back in China, he went into business, became wealthy and fathered three daughters. How they came to be important figures in Chinese history is the subject of the new book.

    Soong sent all three to study in the U.S., where they learned to speak and read English as well as or better than Chinese.

    The Big Sister of the book’s title is Soong’s oldest daughter, Ei-ling, who married a successful businessman and became wealthy. Red Sister is his middle daughter, Ching-ling, who married Sun Yat-sen, the first president of the Chinese republic.

    Little Sister is his youngest daughter, May-ling, who married Chiang Kai-shek, the leader of China’s Nationalist government.

    I have always been entranced by the North Carolina origins of this amazing and important family. But now, thanks to the new book, I have had to adjust my story.

    First, I learned that the key to the Soong family’s success might have been more due to Charlie’s wife, Ni Kwei-tseng, than to Charlie. Ni came from an important and long-standing Chinese Christian clan and Ni was very devout. May-ling remembered, “I knew my mother lived very close to God... asking God was not a matter of spending five minutes to ask Him to bless her child. …It meant waiting upon God until she felt his leading.”

    Thus the Soong family’s solid Christian identity came not so much from Charlie’s North Carolina Methodist training as from Ni’s family background and her longstanding
    commitment.

    Secondly, I learned that Sun Yat-sen was not the hero I had always believed him to be. In the view of author Jung Chang, Sun was overrated, worked for his own aggrandizement rather than the good of the Chinese people and did not deserve credit for China’s revolution that overthrew the Manchu dynasty that had ruled China for centuries. Although he plotted for the rest of his life to become president of the new Chinese Republic, he served only a few weeks as interim president and spent most of his remaining life opposing those in power and inciting armed rebellion and civil war.

    Sun had a mesmerizing power. His sister-in-law, May-ling, explained, “I have noticed that most successful men are usually not the ones with great power as geniuses but the ones who had such ultimate faith in their own selves that invariably they hypnotize others to that belief as well as themselves.”

    She was describing Sun’s powers and, those of similar self-focused political leaders. Sun’s wife, Ching-ling, once deeply in love with him, became disenchanted with his self-focus. When Sun sought support from the Soviet Union to fund his efforts to take control of all of China, Ching-ling came in contact with Russians and the Communist ideology. After Sun’s death in 1925, she exploited her connection to Sun and styled herself Madam Sun Yat-sen. She used that connection to support the revolutionary efforts of the Mao-led Communists against the forces of May-ling’s husband, Chiang Kai-shek.

    There is no fairy tale ending. Madam Sun Yat-sen and Madam Chiang Kai-shek never reconciled.

  • 03 HandcuffsDonald Trump ignited one of his now expected and frequent firestorms last week by pardoning or commuting the sentences of 11 mostly celebrity felons, some of whose crimes shocked the nation when they occurred.  Most stunning, at least to this writer, was the commutation handed to former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat. Blagojevich went to federal prison for proposing to sell former Senator Barack Obama’s US Senate seat when Obama was elected president, an effort graphically and profanely caught on tape. Blagojevich and Trump knew each other from the former governor’s stint on Trump’s reality show, “The Celebrity Apprentice,” and share an obvious fondness for poufy hairdos. 

    Another lucky recipient of Trump’s forgiveness was former Fayetteville police officer Bernard Kerik, who once served as New York City’s police commissioner and was considered for U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security.  He also worked as Rudy Giuliani’s chauffeur and bodyguard. Kerik was serving time for tax fraud among other charges when Trump swooped in to spring from the federal pokey. Plucking Blagojevich and Kerik out of their convictions indicates that Trump is untroubled by public corruption.
    Trump’s use of his magic pen in these and other surprising moments of presidential forgiveness pleases some Americans, notably those who benefit from it, and horrifies and outrages others.  It also continues Trump’s relentless and unprecedented drive toward authoritarian leadership unmatched by any other American President.  Not even Richard Nixon attempted to change our fundamental balance of power so aggressively.

    Perhaps most importantly, if inadvertently, Trump’s pardons and commutations spotlight our nation’s enormous and deeply troubled criminal justice system. Our nation incarcerates more people than any other country in the world, at this moment approximately two million people, most of whom languish in state prison systems.  Roughly thirty-six thousand people are in North Carolina prisons, another nineteen thousand in local N.C. jails, and another eleven thousand in federal facilities in our state.

    One reason for our state and national mass incarceration is a sentencing system that piles on sentences for various offenses, often non-violent ones. This stems from “tough on crime” efforts in the 1970s.  A person convicted of multiple offenses at one time or over time stands to spend years in prison, although the laws may subsequently be changed.  In addition, our parole systems are often ineffective with parole officers too overburdened to make contact with parolees.  In addition, a minor parole violation — a missed court date, perhaps — can trigger long-term re-imprisonment.  North Carolina currently has about twelve thousand people on parole and a whopping eighty-one thousand on probation.

    Conversations are ongoing in North Carolina and in other states, as well, about the need for bail reform.  Many people arrested for low-level criminal offenses, and some serious felonies, are unable to come up with resources to meet bail set by the court and find themselves waiting behind bars for months and sometimes years for their cases to be resolved.  People with similar charges but more resources do not face the same situation, which means the bail system is inherently discriminatory.
    Trump’s seemingly random use of his magic get-out-of-jail-free pen garners headlines and creates much consternation, but it affects only a handful of the millions incarcerated in our nation.  That we lead the world in this sad statistic is deeply troubling.  The United States and North Carolina are overdue for a criminal justice system makeover both to reduce the staggering costs of incarceration and the human toll it takes on those in the system, their families and the people who work within the struggling system.

  • 06 01 Person VotingState and county governments are providing citizens valuable information to encourage their willingness to vote. Voting can be confusing and, some say, disenfranchising. A typical resident may reside in as many as seven different voting districts.

    The Cumberland County Board of Elections has provided registered voters an informative card itemizing the county commission, city council, school board, state house of representatives, state senate, judicial and congressional district numbers. Also provided is a resident’s precinct voting location. The North Carolina Board of Elections has mailed cards delineating election dates, registration deadlines, early voting dates and absentee ballot information.

    The information provided advises voters they will not be required to show photo identification during the March 2020 primary election. The federal courts blocked the requirement which will remain in effect until further order of the court. State and county governments are providing citizens valuable information to encourage their willingness to vote. Voting can be confusing and, some say, disenfranchising. A typical resident may reside in as many as seven different voting districts.

    The Cumberland County Board of Elections has provided registered voters an informative card itemizing the county commission, city council, school board, state house of representatives, state senate, judicial and congressional district numbers. Also provided is a resident’s precinct voting location. The North Carolina Board of Elections has mailed cards delineating election dates, registration deadlines, early voting dates and absentee ballot information. The information provided advises voters they will not be required to show photo identification during the March 2020 primary election. The federal courts blocked the requirement which will remain in effect until further order of the court. 

    06 02 Book Bags 2
    Register of Deeds team honored

    For the past 10 years, the Cumberland County Register of Deeds office has gone above and beyond to help homeless students in Cumberland County Schools by coordinating an annual countywide school supply campaign. Register of Deeds Lee Warren coordinated the effort, which has donated more than 5,000 book bags stuffed with school supplies for students in need. Warren is the first recipient of Cumberland County Schools’ Committed Community Support Award. He received a plaque and was recognized at the February Cumberland County Board of Education meeting on Feb. 11. “Mr. Warren has a heart for the citizens of our community and was touched when one of his former staff members learned about the number of homeless children in the school system,” said social work coordinator Pamela S. Story who nominated him. “Through his positive influence in the community, hundreds of citizens — individually or through companies, businesses and organizations —donated funds, supplies and time to help support ‘the least of these’ in CCS.” 

    06 03 Duane HolderCounty Administration restructuring

    Duane Holder is Cumberland County’s first deputy manager. He had been an Assistant County Manager for Community Support Services since September 2017. The upcoming retirement in June of Assistant County Manager Melissa Cardinali provided County Manager Amy Cannon an opportunity to review her organizational structure, which had included four assistant managers. “Duane has earned the respect and confidence of the department heads he leads and will be a greater asset to the county in this expanded role,” Cannon said. Holder will continue to oversee numerous departments, including Social Services, Public Health, Child Support, Community Development and Veterans Services. He will also lead the county’s budget division. Holder earned a Master of Public Administration from East Carolina University and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Mount Olive College. 

    The Wilmington Insurrection06 04 wilmington

     The Arts Council of Fayetteville-Cumberland County and the Black On Black Project will co-host a film screening of “Wilmington on Fire.” On the morning of Nov. 10, 1898, in Wilmington, North Carolina, a massive fire was the beginning of an attack that took place seven blocks east of the Cape Fear River, about 10miles inland from the Atlantic Ocean. By sundown, the local newspaper had been torched, as many as 60 people had been murdered, and the local government that was elected two days earlier had been overthrown and replaced by white supremacists. Given all the violence in U.S. history, it was the only coup d’état to take place on American soil. The film documents the investigation into the race riot. A panel discussion and conversation will follow the film screening with director Christopher Everett and team members from the film. 

    06 05 BunkerWoodpeckers season-opening game
    The Fayetteville Woodpeckers, Class A Advanced MiLB affiliate of the Houston Astros, are pleased to announce the schedule for their 2020 season as well as the initial offering of 2020 half-season tickets. The Woodpeckers open the season at Segra Stadium Thursday, April 9, at 7 p.m., against the Frederick Keys. “Over 250,000 people visited Segra Stadium during our inaugural season,” said Mark Zarthar, president of the Fayetteville Woodpeckers. “The response from our community was remarkable. We are eager to reward our fans by offering a 2020 season full of surprises, and hopefully, a Carolina League Championship.” Half-season packages come with a variety of benefits, including schedule flexibility, a ticket exchange program and first right to special events. Thirty-five game packages start at just $340. Full season tickets are also on sale.

  • 07 I 95The need to widen Interstate 95 through North Carolina has been a subject of serious discussion since first suggested by former state Sen. Larry Shaw, D-Cumberland, 10 years ago. Shaw proposed a toll road to pay for widening the 182 miles of highway in North Carolina. The toll road was rejected, but the need for expansion was developed. The North Carolina Department of Transportation began the first phase of construction earlier this month. The Long Branch Road bridge at exit 71 in Harnett County was closed, marking the first stage of a $404 million contract to widen 15 miles of the interstate north of Fayetteville.A contractor will replace the two-lane bridge in Dunn with a taller and longer three-lane overpass. All four ramps will be realigned and tied into the taller bridge. The realignment will make it possible to extend the ramps for drivers merging onto the highway and to separate service roads that now intersect with the ramps. The changes will enhance the safety of the interchange and create room to double the interstate’s travel lanes to eight.

    NCDOT officials estimate the new bridge and upgraded interchange will open in about one year. When the bridge closes, I-95 drivers initially will continue to be allowed to take exit 71 and turn right, but not left. Eventually, all the ramps will be closed, requiring drivers to detour to exit 70. In preparation for closing the Exit 71 bridge, in January crews added temporary pavement and erected concrete barriers to maintain four lanes on the interstate during construction. When a rebuilt exit 71 reopens, the Bud Hawkins Road bridge at exit 70 will close for the same kind of reconstruction for about one year.  

    The overall contract calls for widening I-95 between exit 56 in Eastover and exit 71 in Dunn. The design and right-of-way acquisition for the rest of the route will be completed this year, allowing more construction to proceed by this fall. The entire project is expected to be completed by 2024. The portion of I-95 being widened between mile markers 56 and 71 is funded in part by a $147 million federal Infrastructure for Rebuilding America grant. It is part of a larger project to widen 25 miles of I-95 to eight lanes between I-95 Business/U.S. 301 at exit 56 in Fayetteville and I-40 at exit 81 at Benson in Johnston County. 

    This 25-mile section is the oldest and busiest in the state along I-95, reaching nearly 60,000 vehicles a day in southern Johnston County, according to a 2016 survey.  “I-95 is our East Coast main highway and a vital link in our state for business expansion, residential growth and tourism,” said Grady Hunt, who represents Division 6 on the N.C. Board of Transportation. “This will be a significant investment in North Carolina.”

    The projects mark the state’s first substantial upgrade of I-95, which was built beginning in the 1950s under President Dwight Eisenhower. The sections to be widened were scored using criteria such as congestion management and traffic volume and received funding in the department’s State Transportation Improvement Program.

  • 05 michael jin ipHlSSaC3vk unsplash 1 In my last article for Up & Coming Weekly in the Jan. 8 issue, I wrote about auto insurance coverage and what I would recommend you have to protect yourself in case you are in a car wreck. I explained the difference between liability, uninsured and underinsured coverages. Beyond having adequate auto insurance coverage to protect yourself, the next step is knowing your rights following a car wreck that wasn’t your fault. 

    So back to my prior example of the wreck on the way to the grocery store when the other driver ran a red light and hit you. You are recovering from your injuries, and an insurance adjuster calls or comes by your hospital room or your home and wants to talk to you. You’re on pain medication and the adjuster is asking you details about the wreck. They want to make a recorded statement. They want you to sign a paper to let them get your medical records. They tell you they can get this thing settled up quickly for you. They may even venture to tell you that you probably don’t need a lawyer.

    Most of us would wonder at this point whether or not we have to talk to this insurance adjuster. No, you do not. Many of us would start to worry if we have some pressing time deadline and whether or not we have to talk to them right away. No, you do not. Maybe some of us would also question if we have to sign that medical authorization that the adjuster sent us or handed us along with a pen so they can get our medical records. No, you do not. Then there are those of us who would ask ourselves if we should contact a lawyer. Absolutely. Why? Because a lawyer can explain what your rights are, how all of this insurance works and what the insurance company is obligated to do. A lawyer can guide you through the complexity of the mess you’re in and potentially fight for you for the best outcome possible under the circumstances of your case. That insurance adjuster for that guy/gal who hit you has no obligation to you and their main priority is to pay the least amount of money possible on your claim and get it closed. Your lawyer’s obligation — and priority — is you.

     If you have been in a car wreck that was not your fault, think about getting a consultation with a personal injury lawyer so you will know your rights and have your questions answered. At least then you should have enough information to safely determine if you can handle the claim on your own or if you need the help of a lawyer to work through it. 

    When you have been in a car wreck, it can turn life upside-down as you try to recover physically and economically. Making quick decisions, without all of the necessary information and some solid legal guidance, could result in much greater costs, which you may not realize until it is too late.

  • 13 01 Sharifa Johnson Sharifa Johnson thinks the direction modern education has taken is putting the instruction of children in an unpleasant place.

    “We are taking all the fun out of learning,’’ she said. “We are really trying to focus on test-taking and not creating thinkers.’’

    That’s why she’s created a program called Books N’ Bops, which she feels will put more fun in the learning process but not overlook the importance of  educating young people at the same time. 

    Johnson has scheduled a series of Books N’ Bops sessions at the Hope Mills Parks and Recreation Center on Rockfish Road.

    The next session will be Saturday, Feb. 22, with another session scheduled Saturday, March 21.

    13 02 bnb logoThere will be sessions for two different age groups. The first, at 9:30 a.m., will be for children ages 3-5. The second, for children ages 6-8, will be at 10:30 a.m. Each session will last 45 minutes and the cost is $10 per student.

    To sign up, parents should come to the recreation center office during normal business hours.

    A minimum of five students and a maximum of 15 will be allowed to take part in each class, so parents are encouraged to sign up as soon as possible to assure the class can be held.Johnson started Books N’ Bops eight months ago, drawing on her many years of experience as both an educator and a dancer.She’s been a teacher at all levels of education, from pre-kindergarten through the college years, for a total of 15 years in that role.

    Her dancing career is even longer. Now 37, she got her first taste of dance when her mother took her to see "The Nutcracker" at age five. “I fell in love, so she took me to dance class,’’ Johnson said.

    In the 32 years she’s been a dancer, Johnson said she’s tried just about every discipline there is. “I’ve done ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, hip hop and African,’’ she said.

    She attended North Carolina A&T in Greensboro before graduating in 2005 with degrees in English and secondary education. She returned to earn a masters degree in English and African-American literature.

    Johnson sees Books N’ Bops as a way of educating the whole child, but using a simple method to do it. The lesson starts with Johnson reading the children a short book.

    13 01 Sharifa Johnson She and the children discuss different aspects of literature. “If it’s fiction, we talk about things that kid will still be tested on, but we do it in a really fun way,’’ she said.

    After the reading and discussion are over, Johnson teaches the children an originally choreographed dance that is connected to the story they just finished.

    The dance is also a way of instilling confidence in the children as they are given the opportunity to perform. Johnson said connecting the reading element with dance movements creates a long-lasting learning impression. 

    “You’ll remember that dance,’’ she said. “If you hear a song, you’ll remember you did that dance to that. You’ll have a connection to the book and you’ll remember what you were talking about.Because it was a fun activity and something you actually enjoyed doing, the movement helps to put it through the whole body, so the whole body understands the story.’’

    One of the real strengths of Books N’ Bops, Johnson said, is she can adjust it to work with all kinds of age groups, even age groups that might be a little far apart.

    “If you tell me you have a group the ages of five to 12, I can find a book that will engage everyone,’’ Johnson said.

    “I’ll make the dance where it’s easy enough for the younger ones, but the older ones can enjoy it as well.’’

    Johnson said she’s also working on a writing and dance program for older children.

    As for deciding what book to read from, Johnson said she tries to gear it with whatever the popular curriculum is with local teachers in that age group.

    “I’ve done a lot of day cares,’’ she said. “If you’re talking about dinosaurs that week, I’m going to go out and find a dinosaur book.’’

    Johnson said she typically visits local libraries to choose her books, which can vary from the preferred topics of the day to classic books available for children.

    “I have to think about what age group I’m talking to,’’ she said. “That also determines the length of the book I get because their attention span is different.’’

    Johnson said her program is flexible and can be adapted to any setting outside of the traditional school environment that is child friendly. “I can make it come together,’’ she said. “I can be everywhere in the community.’’

    In addition to doing traditional teaching settings, Johnson recently held a Books N’ Bops birthday party. She said she is also able to do church events.

    To find out more about what Books N’ Bops is about, visit Johnson on her Books N’ Bops Facebook and Instagram accounts.

    She can be contacted via email at booksnbops@gmail.com or 919-869-0210.

    “I love teaching and I love dance and I get to share my joy,’’ Johnson said. “Whether it be a kid who finally performs or they actually get literacy concepts, the lights are going off.

    “I just want everyone to love to learn and to love to read and love literacy.’’

  • 11 praying girlI saw an astounding bit of research recently from the book “Get Out Of Your Head” by Jennie Allen, which stated an estimated 60-80% of visits to primary care physicians have a stress-related component, and 75-98% of mental, physical and behavioral illness comes from one's thought life. Psychologists, doctors and scientists have made more discoveries about the brain in the last 20 years than ever before, confirming that mental, physical and behavioral health are all intricately connected in our bodies. 

    I'm personally convinced that if we could do one thing and one thing only, many of our health problems would resolve themselves:

    Take every thought captive to Christ. 

    The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 10:5 says, “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” 

    Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I think taking every thought captive could cure cancer, but I do think it could make a huge difference in improving health overall.

    In that same book, Allen also writes, “The greatest spiritual battle of our generation is being fought between our ears.” I can get on board with that. Most, if not all, of the most prevalent issues today, like body image, jealousy brought on by social media, pressure to be successful, thoughts of not being enough, anger, bitterness, materialism, etc. start in the mind. If we can't shuffle through the 30,000 thoughts we have in a day and find the ones that are healthy, which I imagine are few and far between for most of us, it's no wonder things like depression, anxiety, bullying, violence and suicide plague our society. If we can't control our emotions, we can't control our thoughts. If we can't control our thoughts, we can't control our decisions. If we can't control our decisions, we can't control our behavior. If we can't control our behavior, someone, whether it's ourselves or others, will get hurt. It all starts in the mind.

    I truly believe the Bible proves itself true time and time again, especially when it comes to taking control of our own thoughts. Romans 12:2 says, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.” 

    Not only do we know the majority of health problems today exist or are exacerbated by something going on in our minds, but we also know that the brain is constantly changing, whether or not we want it to. What we focus on becomes our reality. Every new thought we allow to take root in us grows and transforms our lives, whether positively or negatively. It changes how we live, what we think of other people, what we think about the world and our place in it and what we think about God. 

    The good news? We actually do have a choice. Our emotions do not have to dictate our lives. We can change our thought patterns. We can rewrite our minds. I personally believe it starts in the Bible. God wants you to have the fruits of his spirit — love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. Start in his word, and be transformed by the renewing of your mind. It truly does start there.

  • 02 markus spiske ZKNsVqbRSPE unsplashWhen circumstances merit, our publisher, Bill Bowman, yields this space so others can address topics that are important to the community. This week, he yields to Gray’s Creek resident Janice Burton to share the letter she sent to North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Michael Regan.Burton is the former associate publisher of Up & Coming Weekly.

    Secretary Regan:I am one of many citizens who live in the Gray’s Creek community and who are threatened by the chemical contamination by Chemours. I know that there are literally thousand of us who are nameless and faceless people whose stories you do not know and, from decisions made by your department, do not care about. 

    But I care, so if you will indulge me, I would like to share them with you.

    Cumberland County is known as a place of history, heroes and a hometown feeling. Gray’s Creek is the embodiment of that. For centuries, the founding families of this community have lived, worked and worshipped here. I back this up by mentioning the McNeill family that still has the land grant that the King of England issued to their family prior to the American Revolution. They, and people like the Riddles and the Canadys, have farmed their lands and provided fresh vegetables for their families and their neighbors. Now, they are afraid to farm their land, let alone feed their produce to their families or sell it to their neighbors. Chemours and you, by failure to act in a responsible manner, are killing that proud history and heritage.

    Heroes. Over the past two decades, soldiers and their families have moved into the community seeking peace and quiet — far from the gates of Fort Bragg. That is my story and those of many other military families — my husband was deployed 13 years of my son’s 19 years of life. We moved to the area, found a church family filled with those families who settled this ground, and who took us in and made us family.

    My husband found peace and friendship with the old men who gather to drink coffee at the corner store. They call it getting the news, but it’s a community and that’s what those heroes who moved here were looking for. These men who literally have fought for 20 years and came back alive now have an enemy they can’t fight, and they can’t protect home and hearth because you gave Chemours an out to do the least amount possible.

    Every single house that has contamination should have a full home system put in — not a stopgap measure. Daily, new reports are coming out that are proving that the PFAS go through the skin — so giving us drinking water and sink systems isn’t helping. They (Chemours), and you by lack of responsible action, still have a loaded gun pointed at all of us.As the person who is supposed to protect our health, you are the one pulling the trigger. I have told you about our community and the stories of the people who live here. But you need to know these people, my family, deserve more than the minimum. The people of Cumberland County should not have to bear the burden of paying for water to be extended — and we shouldn’t have to wait for years and continue being poisoned.

    Chemours’ pockets are deep and you have the ability to make them do the right thing — right now. Not after it is too late. You need to step up to the plate and take care of the people you are sworn to protect. Whole-house systems for every affected home or immediate expansion of water to everyone, paid for by Chemours, are the only two options that are acceptable.

    I urge you to do the right thing for the people of this community — not for the deep pockets of Chemours.
    Janice Burton
    Gray’s Creek resident

     

    Thanks to Chemours, local farmers who have worked the land for generations are afraid to farm their lands, much less feed their produce to their families and neighbors.

  • 16 britney watsonBritney Watson

    Pine Forest  • Cross country• Junior

    Watson has a  4.25 grade point average. Her favorite subject is science. She loves R&B and hanging out with friends and family. Her inspiration for track is to follow her sister's footsteps. She runs outdoor track and loves the 100-meter hurdles.


    16 02 Colby BlackwellColby Blackwell

    Pine Forest • Swimming• Senior

    Blackwell has a 4.38 grade point average.  He will attend UNC-Wilmington and major in Coastal Engineering. His favorite swimming events are the 100 breast stroke and 400 freestyle relay.  Science is his favorite subject. He won the Coaches Award for swimming. He loves hanging with friends and playing tennis.

  • 08 DMV REAL ID CardBeginning Oct. 1, 2020, federal government agencies will enforce the REAL ID Act, which requires a REAL ID card, U.S. passport or other approved identification to board commercial airline flights and enter military reservations. The North Carolina REAL ID is a driver’s license that is just like a traditional license or ID except that it has a gold star at the top right corner. Driver’s licenses and IDs without gold stars note, “Not for Federal Identification.”

    The REAL ID Act, passed by Congress in 2005, enacted the 9/11 Commission’s recommendation that the federal government “set standards for the issuance of sources of identification, such as driver’s licenses.” The law established minimum security standards for license issuance and production and prohibits federal agencies from accepting driver’s licenses and identification cards from states not meeting the Act’s minimum standards. North Carolina is in compliance.

    The REAL ID is completely optional. You do not need an N.C. REAL ID driver’s license or identification card to do any of the following: drive, vote, apply for or receive federal benefits, visit a post office, access a hospital or receive life-saving services, participate in law enforcement or court proceedings or investigations. However, an N.C. REAL ID will be helpful for anyone who boards a commercial airplane or visits nuclear sites, military bases, federal courthouses or federal prisons.

    A REAL ID does not permit direct access to Fort Bragg or other military installations — people still must get visitor passes — but it will save time getting a pass. At Fort Bragg, passes can be acquired at the All-American gate, or access control point, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Visitor passes will be issued to all persons with valid reasons for entering the installation. A visitor pass can be issued for up to 90 days for nonDoD personnel. A security-vetting process will be completed for each individual before receiving a visitor pass. This includes all passengers in a vehicle.

     Some people will need REAL ID sooner than others. Fort Bragg and Camp Lejeune began requiring REAL ID or other forms of identification for access as of Jan. 22, Patrice Bethea, a spokeswoman for North Carolina DMV said. U.S. military identification cards, including those for active duty or retired military members and their dependents as well as DoD civilians, can be used instead of REAL ID.

    To apply for a REAL ID card, North Carolinians must visit a DMV driver’s license office and provide a document that proves identity, such as a birth certificate, valid U.S. passport or immigration documents, proof of Social Security number, plus two documents that establish residency in North Carolina, such as a utility bill, vehicle registration card or bank statement. Applications cannot be made online. 

    One of the advantages of a REAL ID driver’s license is that it will provide certainty that the ID will be accepted. Bethea said waiting until the last minute won’t work. People who get a new license will receive it in the mail 15 days later.

    Learn more and see a list of requirements at www.ncrealid.gov.

  • 15 andy karcherAndy Karcher has been in the Fayetteville area since 2007, moving here from Ohio. But it didn’t take him long to learn about the rich football history at E.E. Smith High School.

    “It’s something that stood out to me,’’ he said, and led him to apply for the position of head football coach for the Golden Bulls. He was approved as the school’s new head coach by the Cumberland County Board of Education last week.

    Karcher replaces Deron Donald, who stepped down from the head coaching position at Smith in December. In his four seasons with the Golden Bulls, Donald was 16-31. 

    He managed two trips to the state 3-A playoffs, including one last season. At one point under Donald, Smith suffered a 17-game losing streak, but it ended the 2019 regular season with a 43-0 win over Cumberland County rival Cape Fear. The Golden Bulls finished the 2019 season 4-8 overall and 4-4 in the Patriot Athletic Conference. That put them in a three-way tie for fourth place with Pine Forest and Gray’s Creek.

    A little over a month after leaving Smith, Donald was named the new head football coach at Smithfield-Selma High School. He inherits a program there that has gone 1-10 each of the last three seasons and 8-102 for the last 10 years.

    Smithfield-Selma hasn’t had a winning season in football in 12 years.

    Karcher, a graduate of Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio, has worked as a football coach at a number of area high schools.

    He spent two years at South View Middle School when he first came to the area, following that with a short stay at Cape Fear High School. From there he went to Triton High School, then returned to Cumberland County for a couple of years on the Pine Forest High School staff.He has served as an offensive coordinator and spent his years at Pine Forest coaching the offensive line.

    In addition to being impressed with the history at E.E. Smith, Karcher said he found the community to be strong, along with the Golden Bull alumni association.

    “The backing for the program is there,’’ he said. “They have the kids, they have the athletes, to be successful.’’

    But one area where Smith is clearly lacking is raw numbers of students. According to the latest average daily membership figures provided by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association, E.E. Smith is the smallest of the 10 public senior high schools in Cumberland County that field athletic teams.

    The Golden Bulls have an enrollment of 1,153 students, which makes them, along with Douglas Byrd High School, the only schools in the county with under 1,200 students enrolled.

    Four Cumberland County schools that are also members of the Patriot Athletic Conference with Cape Fear — Pine Forest, South View, Gray’s Creek and Cape Fear — have enrollments topping 1,500 students. Pine Forest has 1,705 with South View at 1,642.

    “Obviously, the numbers do make it a little bit more interesting, a little bit more difficult,’’ Karcher said. But he is hopeful that with some success on the field, he will be able to attract as many candidates as possible to come out for the football team.

    As far as offensive philosophy, he describes himself as a ball-control coach. “I’m definitely going to have a good running game in place,’’ he said. “We also have enough athletes that we’ll throw the football around and kind of spread some people out when we need to.’’

    Defensively he said he prefers downhill, physical football with players that will fly around and make plays.

    Karcher said he’s hopeful to be working at E.E. Smith as quickly as possible so he can began offseason workouts with his new players during the offseason skill development periods.

    He said E.E. Smith principal Donell Underdue and Pine Forest principal David Culbreth are working together to make it possible for him to begin his new role at E.E. Smith before the end of the current school year.

    It is too early in the process, Karcher said, to try and speculate on any changes forthcoming with his assistant coaching staff at Smith. He said he will try to determine the best course of action concerning the staff as the situation progresses.

    Karcher feels the timing of his hire bodes well for giving him the maximum amount of time to work with his players during the spring offseason along with the summer to make the installation of his offensive and defensive schemes go as smoothly as possible for his team.

    The last dead period of the school year before summer began Feb. 12 and ends March 3. During dead periods, all sports that are out of season are not allowed to hold so-called skill development sessions.

    Karcher is hopeful that by March 3 he will be on campus at E.E. Smith and be able to begin working with his new team.

    “We’ll recruit the hallways and get more guys out playing,’’ he said. “We want to hit the ground running come spring and summer ball.’’

    The first official playing date for the 2020 high school football season for NCHSAA member schools is Aug. 17.

  • 09 CFVHS 2There are hundreds of conditions that can affect the brain, such as concussions, strokes and tumors. Cape Fear Valley Neurosurgery provides comprehensive treatment and surgery right here in our hometown. Dr. Charles Haworth, medical director of Neurosurgery at Cape Fear Valley, says the hospital provides neurological and neurosurgical treatment and support for patients in a six-county region of Southeastern North Carolina, including Fayetteville, Fort Bragg, Hope Mills, Raeford, Lumberton, Elizabethtown, Lillington, Dunn, Clinton and beyond.

     Haworth recently recruited neurosurgeon Dr. Melissa Stamates who came to Fayetteville from the Midwest. Stamates graduated with honors from The Ohio State University in 2011. She served a seven-year medical residency at the University of Chicago followed by a fellowship at North Shore University Health System in Evanston, Illinois. Stamates has more than nine years of diverse experience in neurosurgery. In the U.S., neurosurgery is a highly competitive specialty composed of 0.5% of all practicing physicians. 

    Stamates and her husband arrived in Fayetteville in July of last year. She and Haworth alternate surgical rounds daily. Her special interests include surgery to treat brain cancer, pituitary tuimors, cranioplasty and other general neurosurgical diseases and illnesses. 

    Both physicians said they wanted to be doctors when they were young. Haworth is a North Carolina native. He graduated from Guilford College and Duke University School of Medicine and has practiced medicine for 38 years. He practiced at Southeastern Regional Medical Center in Lumberton before coming to Fayetteville six years ago. He practiced three years in the Navy followed by Duke Hospital in Lumberton and Cape Fear Valley for the past six years.

    Stamates told Up and Coming Weekly she hopes to build her career here. Cape Fear Valley’s need for stability in neurosurgery is a priority. Haworth’s challenge is building a program large enough to provide coverage 24/7. Haworth said a third neurosurgeon will likely be hired soon. “There will always be a need in our community for what we do,” he said. 

    Stamates said the need and new facilities make launching her career in Fayetteville exciting. A new five-story building for Cape Fear Valley’s residency program will house a neuroscience institute on the fifth floor.

     Asked what Stamates enjoys most about her work, she said she is the happiest “when my patients do well.” 

    Both doctors spoke of the chemistry they have. Reliance on one another is what makes the relationship click Haworth intimated. 

    The approximately $28.3 million building project includes the demolition of an older building, which is underway. The driveway on the Melrose Road side of the hospital campus has been closed because of the construction project. The building is scheduled to be completed in May 2021, Medical Center spokeswoman Janet Conway said.

  • The fabric of our community is made up of a diverse group of people who bring their individuality, skills, hard work and determination to the table. These contributions that each offers create a bounty of opportunities for anyone seeking them. A constant influx of new ideas, exciting entertainment, excellent educational opportunities, innovative business ventures, medical advancements and more make Cumberland County stand out. In a transient community, the importance of having people who consistently invest their time and energy into the area is magnitudinous. Whether working quietly behind the scenes or from a larger platform, the movers and shakers here deserve recognition for the difference they make every day. Among these people are Marge Betley, Kenjuana McCray, Tisha Waddell, Elizabeth Blevins and Diane Wheatley — five extraordinary women to watch in 2020 who are making a difference in our community. 

    10 01 Marge BetleyMarge Betley
     Major Gifts Officer at the
    Cape Fear Valley Health Foundation

     Q. Tell our readers about yourself, including how you came to be in Fayetteville.

    A. I arrived in Fayetteville on the night of April 26, 2019 — less than a year ago. I followed shortly on the heels of my husband, Greg Weber, whose role as the new CEO and president of the Arts Council began last March. I pulled into Fayetteville late on a Friday night, and the next day we went to the Dogwood Festival. It was a great introduction to my new city.

    Q. There are so many ways to serve the community we live in. What made you choose the route you did?

    A. Greg and I are both very committed to community service and volunteerism — it’s part of what gives us a sense of belonging, and it is also how we have made some of our deepest friendships over the years.My job at Cape Fear Valley Health Foundation is my primary way of serving the Fayetteville community. I’ve been fortunate to have a very rich working life in the nonprofit sector, so when we moved here, I looked for some way to make a meaningful impact. Cape Fear Valley Health and the Health Foundation provide a huge amount of community benefit every year — from charity care and free health screenings to free mammograms for uninsured women, financial support for our cancer patients in financial need and so much more that many people are really unaware of. As I learned more about them, I knew I wanted to be a part of their impact in this community. And now, Cape Fear Valley’s residency program is creating a pipeline to bring hundreds of new physicians to our region — an impact that will be felt for generations to come. How could I resist?

    Q. What do you love about this community? 

    A. Where do I start? Fayetteville is friendly, it’s welcoming and there is always something to do. I love to explore foods and cultures from around the world, so I’ve really enjoyed the festivals here — from the Caribbean Festival — best jerk chicken ever — to the African World Peace Festival and, of course, the International Folk Festival. I love the vibrancy of the arts community here — there’s terrific theater, music and visual arts. I even started taking a silversmithing class at Fayetteville Tech from jewelry artist Gail Ferguson, which I am really enjoying.Another thing that I love about Fayetteville is that when people see a need, they just step up and take action. Last August I attended an event called Cut My City — stylists from all over Fayetteville volunteer their time to provide haircuts and scalp checks for kids before school starts. A haircut sounds like such a simple thing, but it’s so important for a child to feel confident and optimistic as they start a new school year. There were hundreds of kids there and they were all buzzing with energy and enthusiasm! I love that I live in a city where someone sees a need and creates the path to deliver a solution. 

    10 02 Kenjuana McCrayKenjuana McCray 
    Hope Mills Mayor Pro Tem
    and full-time professor at Fayetteville Technical Community College 

    Q. What’s something about our community that you want more people to know about?

    A. I wish more people knew about the arts, services, activities and programs that are available in our community. I think we operate in a lot of silos, which prevents us from taking advantage of the many opportunities provided throughout the town of Hope Mills … I also wish more people knew about the stellar post-secondary opportunities in our overall community to include FTCC, Methodist University and Fayetteville State University. The Local FSU Hometown Alumni Chapter hosts an annual Little Mister and Miss Pageant each year. This pageant not only is a fundraiser to award scholarships for FSU students, but the pageant committee works with the children well beyond the pageant to help to promote emotional, social and leadership skills. I operate a small food pantry at FTCC to help serve students who suffer from food insecurity on campus. Food insecurity on college campuses is a growing concern, and I would like to help decrease this issue as much as possible. My hope is to widely expand this effort by creating programs that provide more healthy meal options for college students. 

    We Are the Arts, which is an Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County initiative, strives to increase tourism, economic development and innovation by promoting the vibrant arts and cultural happenings in the community and in our region. There is also a newly created Hope Mills Creative Arts Council and the town of Hope Mills staff also has an Arts and Culture Committee to help generate ideas for more cultural opportunities in our local community. Examples of these efforts in Hope Mills include the monthly food truck rodeos on the first Thursday of each month in the spring, which usually has a theme tied to community engagement. Hope Mills also hosts a farmers market on every first Saturday of the month in the spring and is geared toward not only engaging local produce farmers but also providing our citizens with more healthy food choices. Our communities are stronger when we connect together!

    10 03 Tisha WaddellTisha Waddell
     District 3 City Councilwoman 

    Q. Tell our readers about yourself, including how you came to be in Fayetteville.

    A. I am a very optimistic person who loves a great project! I’m thoughtful, creative and full of wonder. I collaborate easily and recognize the value of partnerships. I’ve experienced my greatest success as a result of positive connections. I came to Fayetteville as the daughter of the military. My mother retired here, and this became our final “home of record” and my longest home of choice.

    Q. What do you love about this community? 

    A. I love the people in this community. They are so intricately woven together in the most unique ways. When I ran for office I began to learn about the history of the city first hand from the stories of the people I started interacting with and noticed that Fayetteville’s history is truly a part of the fabric of its present. I also love the pace of our city. It isn’t so slow that I’m bored, but it isn’t so fast-paced that it’s uncomfortable. Our former slogan really summed up the community perfectly, “History, Heroes and a Hometown Feeling.” That’s what I love about this community!

    Q. There are so many ways to serve the community we live in. What made you choose the route you did?
    A. Very candidly, this route chose me. I was in service for many years in very private ways. I’m a firm believer that we will be rewarded openly for what we do privately, and so I never sought to be the center of the city’s attention. It is still a little awkward to be so regarded for just doing what comes naturally. I am grateful to the citizens of District 3 and the city who place their confidence in me as a representation of them. It’s the best job I’ve ever had. 

    10 05 Diane WheatleyDiane Wheatley
    Community activist and
    candidate for N.C. House Representative 

    Q. There are so many ways to serve the community we live in. What made you choose the route you did? 

    A. I have served the community pretty much continuously since before I was married. I have volunteered on over 30 boards and committees through the years. I also spent 10 years on the board of education and four as a county commissioner. I have found that I have been most effective and have accomplished the most when serving in elected office.

     I think what has and still does motivate me comes from growing up in a military family where service and “duty, honor, country” were so important. My interest in government grew out of our family’s involvement in Revolutionary War reenacting when my sons were young. We were exposed at that time to so many historical sites and stories of the struggles the founding fathers went through to gain our independence. Personalities like George Washington, Patrick Henry, Alexander Hamilton and others became very real to me. I have always been struck by what strong men of faith they were and how God brought them through circumstances that would seem to have been insurmountable. I really feel my experiences have given me a unique perspective. I believe so strongly in the principles on which this country was founded.  

    Q. What’s something you wish this community knew about you? What’s something about our community that you want more people to know about? 
    A. I wish they knew how I truly do serve because I want to make a positive difference in people’s lives. I see any office as both a trust and responsibility to the people of Cumberland County. I will work every day to earn that trust and fulfill that responsibility to the best of my ability.  I wish people knew how much we have to offer. There is nothing that can be mentioned, whether it’s culture, museums, entertainment, sports teams, dinning, parks, a revitalized downtown, shopping or whatever, that we do not have. We are the most vibrant community in the state that no one seams to know about. 

    10 04 Elizabeth blevinsElizabeth Blevins
    Executive director of the Hope Mills Creative Arts Council
    and appointee to the Hope Mills Historic Preservation Commission
    and the Veteran Affairs Committee 

    Q. What do you love about this community?
    A. There’s a resiliency in the community that I love. Hope Mills has taken a lot of abuse over the years, from corrupt politicians, weather and human nature. But the people here are still excited to get up each day and try something new. They’re excited to support an art council and see a new history museum in place. We love our small businesses and new restaurants. They never doubted the dam would be back in place, and we’d have a gorgeous lake once again. And now that we have it, they’re so excited to plan lakeside celebrations for every occasion.  

     Q. There are so many ways to serve the community we live in. What made you choose the route you did?

    A. I don’t know that I specifically chose this route as much as I fell into it. I started HopeMills.net as a political blog. And that wasn’t planned. It was a reaction to two local politicians who used their social media to lie to the people of Hope Mills. Several months into it, I started talking about potential community projects, and suddenly people were really talking back. We held an initial interest meeting in June for an arts council, and four days later, we’d partnered with Sweet Tea Shakespeare Theater and scheduled plays in Hope Mills. The entire art council board is very civic-minded, and we design our projects to include as many local businesses and organizations as possible. We don’t have galleries or a museum, so we’ve learned to be creative in finding ways to promote local artists.This year, one of our biggest endeavors is establishing an artists’ co-op. We’re partnering with small businesses of every kind to use as galleries. We get to create business opportunities, but in doing so, we also get to create relationships.

    This year, I was appointed to the Hope Mills Historic Preservation Commission and the Veteran Affairs Committee. I grew up in an Air Force family and we lived a very nomadic life. It instilled in me a greater appreciation for permanence and history. Our family has been fortunate to travel the world and visit some really phenomenal historic sites. Hope Mills could be a destination spot. 

    As a veteran, veteran’s issues are very important to me. The last two years, I’ve had an opportunity to meet a lot of local veterans and their spouses. We have a responsibility to advocate for them, to educate our community and elected officials of their needs. This year my focus is specifically on the caregivers of disabled veterans. They have very few resources and not nearly enough recognition.

  • 03 womenwearwhite 32503590144Americans who watched the president’s State of the Union address earlier this month saw a sea of women in glowing white garments. Democratic women legislators from Speaker Nancy Pelosi down to freshman members donned white dresses, suits and more in solidarity for the ongoing fight for women’s rights. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which explicitly gave women the right to vote. Women have voted for a century now, often in greater numbers than our fathers, brothers and husbands. The women in white were joyously celebrating how far we have come and looking toward how far we have to go. A century of women’s suffrage constitutes less than half of the United States’ existence, and much of our nation’s history for women has felt like two steps forward and one step back.

    The North Carolina Museum of History has put together a women’s history timeline, and here are some of the events specific to women in or from the Tar Heel state. Read it and see it for the mixed bag it is.

    Creation myths from Native American tribes before there was either North Carolina or the United States identify women in various roles different from but as important as men’s roles.

    In 1587, Virginia Dare became the first English child born in the New World in the Roanoke Colony. Her fate is unknown.

    In 1774, in Edenton, 51 “patriotic ladies” gather to announce they are swearing off East Indian tea as long as it is taxed by the British. The Edenton Tea Party occurred less than a year after the Boston Tea Party and is one of the first political actions by women in what becomes the United States.

    In 1809, North Carolina native Dolley Madison becomes our country’s fourth first lady. She is known for shaping the role of first lady, for saving a Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington when the British set the newly constructed White House ablaze and for serving a delicious new dessert, ice cream.

    In 1813, Harriet Jacobs is born in Edenton to enslaved parents. Badly treated as property, Harriet lives secretly for seven years in her grandmother’s attic, escapes to New York, buys her children’s freedom and publishes “Incidents in The Life of a Slave Girl” in 1861.

    In 1826, The General Council of the Cherokee Nation bucks tradition and drafts a constitution that excludes women from holding office.

     In 1840, Mary Jane Patterson is born in Raleigh and becomes the first African-American woman to receive a college degree.

    In 1859, Clinton resident Abigail Carter invents a pair of sturdy overalls for her railroad engineer husband. Other railroad men want them as well, and she becomes the first overall manufacturer in the nation.

    In 1868, during post-Civil War Reconstruction, the North Carolina General Assembly adopts a new Constitution allowing women to own property and businesses, to work for our own wages, to sue in court, to make wills and to make contracts without our husbands’ consent.

    In 1878, Tabitha Ann Holton passes the North Carolina bar exam and becomes the first woman lawyer in the South.In 1891, the General Assembly charters the State Normal and Industrial College as the first state-supported institution for women’s higher education. Today that school is known as the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.In 1893, the legislature allows women to cash checks and withdraw money from personal accounts without their husbands’ permission.

    In 1913, North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice and women’s rights supporter compares the treatment of women to slavery. In 1925, Anna Julia Heywood Cooper becomes the fourth African-American woman to earn a Ph.D., hers from the Sorbonne in France. Cooper was born enslaved in Raleigh in 1858 and publishes “A Voice from the South” in 1892.

    In 1937, North Carolina begins a birth control program, funding maternal and infant health programs and licensing midwives.

    In 1943, more than a decade before Rosa Parks, 16-year-old Doris Lyon refuses to go to the back of a Durham bus. She is arrested, found guilty and fined $5.

    In 1971, the North Carolina General Assembly ratifies the 19th Amendment, 51 years after it took effect.In 1977, the General Assembly declines to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment.

    In 1992, Eva Clayton becomes the first African-American woman elected to Congress from North Carolina.

    In 1996, Elaine Marshall becomes North Carolina’s first woman Secretary of State.

    In 2006, Fayetteville’s own Patricia Timmons Goodson becomes the first African-American woman on the North Carolina Supreme Court and in 2008, Beverly Perdue becomes our first woman Governor. Two steps forward, one step back.It all makes me want to wear white every day. We are not there yet.

  • 12 Hope Mills recreationWhen Stephen Kessinger worked at the Hoke County Parks and Recreation Department, he collaborated with Maxey Dove of the Hope Mills Recreation and Parks Department to hold a season-ending basketball showcase pitting the top youth recreation teams from each county against each other. 

    After joining the Hope Mills staff less than two years ago, Kessinger said he and Dove agreed the basketball event was something they needed to keep going.

    Next month, for the fifth year in a row, the Hoke vs. Hope Mills basketball showdown will continue.

    This year’s event will be held March 3-4, a Tuesday and Wednesday, with four games scheduled in the Hope Mills Parks and Recreation Department gymnasium on Rockfish Road.

    Play begins the first night at 6 p.m. with the 8U Junior Pee Wee game, followed at 7 p.m. by the 10U Pee Wee game.

    The following night at 6 p.m. will be the 12U Midget game. The final game at 7 p.m. will feature the 15U juniors.

    Kessinger said the idea for having the basketball showdown came from the tradition in recreation baseball and softball where all-star teams that advance into regional and state play are chosen at the end of the season.

    There is no playoff format like that for basketball, so Kessinger said the idea was to give the basketball teams a chance to compete beyond the regular season. Unlike the all-star concept in baseball and softball, the teams that take part in the Hoke-Hope Mills games are teams that competed during the year. In the baseball and softball all-star competition, the coaches of the all-star team picFk their squad from players who competed on various league teams during the regular season.

    The league champion from four different age brackets in each county advances to the one-game showdown, which has always been held in Hope Mills since the Hoke County recreation department doesn’t have its own gymnasium, Kessinger said.

    Both counties follow the same general basketball rules, with a minor difference in the rules involving how players are substituted into the game. For the one-game showdown, those rules are waived and coaches can substitute however they like.

    All teams are required to make sure that every player on the team gets to participate in a portion of each quarter of the game, Kessinger said. No admission is charged and all the games are open to the public. Kessinger said the Hope Mills gym seats about 300 people and noted that there’s usually a packed house by the time the second game begins each evening.

    When some people have to stand in order to see the game, Kessinger said the recreation department staff encourages them to make sure and not stand too close to the court in order to make sure the teams and the officials have enough room to move safely up and down the court.

    The Hope Mills recreation staff provides all the basketballs. All competing players are urged not to bring their own basketballs to the game.

    Parking will be available in front of the recreation center and in the various lots close to the Hope Mills Town Hall complex.

    Kessinger said the recreation staff was careful to schedule the games on days when there were no other events taking place at Town Hall or the recreation center.

    “A lot of parking spaces should be available Tuesday and Wednesday,’’ he said. 

    All the games will have referees paid for by the Hope Mills recreation department. The recreation department has also purchased individual medallions that will be presented after each game to the members of the victorious team.

    Kessinger said the Hoke-Hope Mills games have been enjoyable for players and coaches. “I think they enjoy the competition, getting to play a team they don’t play all year long,’’ he said.

     For any questions about the Hoke-Hope Mills basketball showdown, contact the Hope Mills Parks and Recreation Department during normal business hours, Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. or Sunday from 1 p.m. until 9 p.m.

    The telephone number is 910-426-4109.

  • 14 01 Bowlers Cumberland County was one of the first school systems in the state to begin offering team bowling to its students years ago, and that has been reflected in the success the county has enjoyed competing in the sport at the state level.

    This year, the county brought home a pair of state championships as the boys from Gray’s Creek and the girls from Terry Sanford were recently crowned winners at the state finals at Sandhills Bowling Center in Aberdeen.

    In addition to the team success, Terry Sanford bowler Rolf Wallin captured individual honors as he was the boys state champion in the same event.

    Here’s a closer look at the championship efforts of both teams.

    Terry Sanford

    Susan Brady is in her second year coaching the Bulldog girls. She was a little apprehensive about her team’s chances in the state tournament when she learned one of her top bowlers, Avery Schenk, was going to be unable to compete in the tournament due to a cheerleading commitment.

    An interesting footnote: Schenk is the granddaughter of Howard Baum, longtime owner of B&B Lanes and one of the originators of high school bowling in Cumberland County.

    Terry Sanford defeated a tough Lumberton team in the semifinal round of the state tournament, then took on county rival Cape Fear in the championship match.

    Going into the 10th frame, Terry Sanford was clinging to a 142-140 lead.

    14 02 canaddyBrady was hopeful that her anchor bowler, Zoe Cannady, was going to lock up the win for the Bulldogs, but she was unsuccessful.

    Fortunately for the Bulldogs, so was the final bowler for the Colts, leaving Terry Sanford with a two-pin victory for the championship. “I didn’t have much of a visual reaction,’’ Cannady said of the clinching moment for the Bulldogs. “It ended up okay. I felt a lot of pressure and missed that spare. I had to hope for the best.’’

    Cannady, who bowls for Terry Sanford but attends Cumberland Polytechnic High School, felt the Bulldogs had a great team that encouraged each other during the final match.

    Brady said until the final frame, every ball Cannady had thrown had resulted in either a strike or a spare for Terry Sanford. A junior, Cannady will return next year. The major losses for Terry Sanford will be seniors Katie Silas, Abby Carson and Reagan Johnson.

    “We’ve got pretty high chances,’’ Cannady said of the Bulldog hopes for another title next season.

    Cannady made the All-State team along with fellow Cumberland County bowlers Jayda Gignac of Jack Britt, Ariel Williams of Douglas Byrd and Donna Kerechanin of South View.

    14 03 Rolf WallinMeanwhile, on the boys’ side, the Bulldogs’ Wallin rebounded from a fourth-place finish in the conference tournament to capture the individual state title.

    Michael Toler, who coaches the Bulldog boys, said Wallin has always been a consistent bowler.Toler said Wallin came up to him during the conference tournament and predicted he was going to qualify for the state tournament. “He did exactly that,’’ Toler said. “He was cool and consistent all the way through.’’

    Wallin went over to the Sandhills Bowling Center before the state championship match to get a feel for the lanes. “When I figured out where to go and adjusted, I had a pretty good game,’’ he said. “You have to adjust every single time your ball isn’t hitting exactly where you want it to go.’’

    Wallin didn’t appreciate how big a deal a state championship is until he began receiving accolades from classmates and teachers. 

    “You have to put pressure aside and just bowl your game,’’ he said.

    Joining Wallin on the All-State boys team from Cumberland County were Terry Sanford teammate Alex Schenk, Douglas Byrd’s Brandon Mesa-Turner and South View’s Nick Robertson.

    Gray’s Creek

    Kris Williams gave himself a hard act to follow as coach of the Gray’s Creek boys bowlers. This was his first season coaching bowling, and he concluded it with a state championship.

    Williams said he approached his role of coach as being more of a manager, with the task of setting the five-man bowling lineup for each match the major role he had to perform.

    One thing that made it easy was the bowlers he had to work with. “They are blessed by the good Lord with some natural talent,’’ he said. “They can do things in the bowling lanes that most people can’t do.’’

    Williams also said the team had good chemistry. “They really get along and are used to working together,’’ he said. “They really do support each other, more than just cheerleading.’’

    The Bears suffered a bad day as a team in the conference tournament, losing two straight to a South View team that was on a hot streak.

    Williams expected better after the Bears were second in the regular-season matches. After that disappointing loss there wasn’t even time for an extra practice before the state tournament began.

    But the Bears rebounded with what Williams said was a true team effort. “One thing that struck me about the whole season, these kids love to compete,’’ he said. “That’s one thing you want in any sport.’’

    Sparking Gray’s Creek in the finals were regular-season MVP C.J. Woodle and Gio Garcia.

    “C.J’s got all the natural skills and ability and puts in all the work,’’ Williams said. “Gio has a lot of natural talent and is a natural leader.’’

    “We were kind of upset we didn’t win the conference,’’ Garcia said. “We knew we still had a good chance at state. We had to step up our game and be more consistent.’’

    Gray’s Creek defeated Hoke County and Jack Britt en route to the title.

    Woodle said a lucky break in the sixth frame of the finals helped get Gray’s Creek untracked and sparked the team to the win. “I’m proud of my whole team, how much practice they put in,’’ he said. “It means the world to come home to Gray’s Creek and say we were the state champions.

    “I feel we have another state championship team next year.’’

     

    Picture 1: Gio Garcia, C.J. Woodle, Hunter Cole. 

    Picture 2: Zoe Canaddy 

    Picture 3: Rolf Wallin

  • 04 N0809P39008CColumn Gist: Within America’s borders, war is raging. We are beyond civil reconciliation. Each citizen of this great country must decide how to respond.

    Finishing a series of columns last year, I ended in April with one titled “Critical thinking on today’s issues: A change in focus and strategy.” In that column, I explained my plan to work across political and ideological lines to encourage fact-based critical thinking regarding the challenging and divisive issues that we face. I hoped to do this civilly and productively. With tremendous disappointment and pure sadness, even mental anguish, I have concluded that what I intended to do on a large scale is impossible in America’s current political climate. America is at war within and, until there is a winner in that war, I expect that we will continue muddling along toward self-destruction. The question for each of us is which side we will choose, or will we choose a side at all? At the bottom line, a choice must be made.

    Final recognition of our internal war status came to me by way of following the impeachment process regarding President Donald Trump. In my estimation, from the beginning, that process was without reasonable foundation, totally unfair to the president and conducted by Democrats solely in an attempt to disqualify him for the 2020 election; that failing, their effort intended to lessen support for him in that election.

     The basis for the House starting an impeachment inquiry was Democrats’ allegation that, in a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump solicited foreign interference in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. The interference foundation was that Trump requested an investigation of former vice president, Joe Biden, a possible election opponent. In addition, Trump asked the Ukrainian president to investigate claims that some Ukrainians interfered in the 2016 presidential election on behalf of Hillary Clinton.

     It was revealed that within hours of the phone call, millions of dollars in aid to Ukraine was put on hold. The Democratic claim was that the aid was delayed pending a public statement by the Ukrainian president saying a Biden investigation would be conducted. They also said an Oval Office meeting with President Zelensky was conditioned on him making the investigation announcement. Trump released a transcript of his phone conversation. It confirmed his request for investigations of Biden and possible Ukrainian 2016 election interference. The entire move to impeachment was started by a whistleblower complaint from a still-anonymous complainant. 

    Tactics employed during the impeachment inquiry by the House Intelligence Committee, chaired by Congressman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., first signaled this state of internal war. The vast majority of the committee’s hearing was conducted in secrecy. The president was not allowed representation, which included not being allowed to cross-examine witnesses. Republican members of the committee were not allowed to call witnesses. Despite the closed-door arrangement, information that might be detrimental to the president was leaked to the media. This committee heard much less public testimony. However, Republicans still had no witnesses and the president was not allowed representation or cross-examination of witnesses.

     After a rushed process in the House of Representatives, two articles of impeachment were sent to the Senate for trial. They were Obstruction of Congress and Abuse of Power. The obstruction article was because Trump called on subpoenaed administration officials not to testify before Schiff’s intelligence committee that was conducting the House inquiry. In the Senate trial, Trump’s attorneys explained that the president took that position because the subpoenas were not legitimate. They argued that the Constitution gives the House of Representatives sole authority for conducting an impeachment inquiry and this process was started without a vote of the full House; Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, D-Calif., simply announced the inquiry and it was underway. A vote of the House was not taken until weeks later. Therefore, the subpoenas were determined by the White House to be illegitimate.

    The president’s attorneys also contended that when two branches of government disagree on a matter such as this, there would be attempts to settle the differences through negotiations. That failing, given that Congress and the executive branch, which is headed by the president, are coequal, the matter would be presented to the judicial branch (judges) for resolution. In charging obstruction of Congress, House Democrats disregarded this appropriate process. If Trump were found guilty of this article, every president from now on would be in danger of the same charge. This article was a nonstarter.

    As I understand it, on abuse of power, Trump would have had to take an action that totally and clearly was for his personal benefit. A monetary bribe received would be an example. One of his attorneys, Alan Dershowitz, explained this well. The Democrats’ argument that Trump should be impeached and removed from office for taking an action helpful for the American people— but that might also benefit him politically — sets an unacceptable and dangerous precedent.

    I am comfortable saying all politicians consider how any given governing decision will affect their political future. If this is not the case, why do politicians give attention to polls? In the end, the hope is that these decisions are based far more on what is good for America than on what is good for the politician. I understood Dershowitz to say that if the Democrats’ argument against Trump is accepted, politicians are to give no thought to political impact on them when making governing decisions. Accept this argument and every politician would be in jeopardy.

    With this personal gain piece in consideration, I did not see anything in the Democrats’ argument that showed Trump was substantially motivated by personal benefit. The Trump position was that he was seeking to ensure our aid money was not going to a country, with a history of corruption, where corruption was not being seriously addressed by the new president (Zelensky). Further, the president was bothered that America was providing substantial support to Ukraine while other countries were doing little or nothing. Witnesses, called by the Democrats, confirmed that the president had these concerns.

    Given that Biden’s son, Hunter, was put on the Burisma — a Ukrainian oil company — board and paid over $50,000 per month (some reports say $83,000) when he had no oil experience, and only attended a few events that might have been board-related, there was reason for suspicion. Then Joe Biden goes in and gets the prosecutor fired who is investigating Burisma for corruption. He does this by threatening to withhold monetary aid. Several witnesses, called by Schiff’s committee during the inquiry, stated that they had concerns regarding Hunter Biden being on the Burisma board. I have seen no indication that anybody investigated this matter. Trump calls for an investigation, and he is impeached. The argument is that he called for the investigation because Biden entered the 2020 presidential race and Trump wanted to use the investigation against him. It seems to me that having Biden become president without addressing this situation would be irresponsible. The president had good reason to investigate in the interest of the American people.

    Beyond all of this, Ukraine received the aid on time and their president met with Trump while never starting an investigation or announcing that one would be started. The Ukrainians did not know the aid was on hold until seeing it in an article weeks after the phone call. 

    Thankfully, the Senate acquitted Trump. However, consider this definition of war from Encyclopedia Britannica: “… in the popular sense, a conflict between political groups involving hostilities of considerable duration and magnitude.” I contend that what Democrats did in this impeachment process, as summarized above, and is even more horrendous when examined in detail, fits the definition of war. Even more disturbing, this kind of conduct has been their practice from the day Trump announced his candidacy for president. 

    This is war within America. In my column referenced in this article’s opening, I noted that I had changed my voter registration from Republican to unaffiliated. I have, as much as I dread having to do so, accepted that we are at war, and I have to choose a side. I have chosen by changing my affiliation back to Republican. Every American better choose and choose wisely. Sitting on the sideline is not an option. The future of our nation is at stake.

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