Mark your calendar for Thursday, May 2. That is the date of the 2019 Toast of the Town Wine, Beer & Spirits Tasting and Silent Auction. Set in the scenic Cape Fear Botanical Garden, the event raises money to help The CARE Clinic continue providing free quality basic medical care and simple dental extraction services to eligible uninsured, low-income adults.

Cynthia Deere, The CARE Clinic development and marketing director, said, “This year we changed the name to Wine, Beer & Spirits Tasting because we will have assorted liquors to sample.”

Top of the Hill Distillery, the only certified organic and fully local distillery in the South, will provide samples of their vodka, gin and whiskey. The Brothers Vilgalys Spirits Company, the first to bring Krupnikas, a traditional Lithuanian style of spiced honey liqueur to the American market, will have samples of their unique liquor. Southern Grace Distiller, America’s first distillery in a former prison, will have their award-winning Conviction small-batch bourbon and corn whiskeys flavored with fruit juices

Those aren’t the only additions to the event this year. “We have added desserts from Burney’s Sweets & More, coffee from Green Mountain Coffee, and dancing to music provided by Five Star Entertainment,” Deere said. “But we’ll also have all of the favorites back; Anstead’s Tobacco Company (and) Rocket Fizz Soda Pop and Candy Shop will be there. We will have wine samples provided by Mutual Distributing as well as beer samples from Bright Light Brewing Company, Dirtbag Ales, The Mash House and Huske Hardware.”

Always a popular feature, the auction has some exciting items up for bid. There will be some great trips, provided by AMFund. Paris, the Greek islands, Ireland and Costa Rica are just a few of the destination packages available. “As you can see, the evening will be full of food, drinks and fun,” said Deere.

While The CARE Clinic delivers vital medical services, the organization does not receive any government assistance. It relies solely on donations, grants and fundraisers to raise the nearly $44,000 needed each month.

To purchase tickets, or to find out how you can support The CARE Clinic, visit www.mkt.com/the-care-clinic. For more information, contact Deere at 910-988-3067.

CARE Clinic patient information:

To be eligible for The CARE Clinic’s services, you must be 18 years or older; have no insurance, including Medicaid; meet an income requirement; and display proof of household income and a valid, North Carolina DMV-issued picture ID card or driver’s license showing your current address.

Call 910-485-0555 to make an appointment. Appointments are made only by phone; no walkins. Medical appointments can be made Monday- Thursday, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dental appointments can be made Friday from 9 a.m. to noon for the following week.

The clinic serves patients each Tuesday and Thursday and the second and fourth Wednesday of each month from 5:30-8:30 p.m. Dental clinics are every Tuesday and the second and fourth Wednesday of each month. Appointments are made on a space-available basis.

The city of Fayetteville official who served as project director for the new minor league baseball Segra Stadium will not be attending this spring’s special events. The city manager’s office said former Deputy City Manager Rochelle Small-Toney “was invited but is unable to attend.” Up & Coming Weekly inquired but received no response from her.

Years before it had a name, Segra Stadium was Small-Toney’s idea. Soon after the city hired Small-Toney in 2013, she said she was asked to come up with an economic development plan for downtown Fayetteville.

The sports enthusiast suggested minor league baseball. She was the first African American to play women’s varsity basketball at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Small-Toney helped jump-start discussions about bringing professional baseball back to Fayetteville. She oversaw all phases of the project, including the feasibilitystudy; recruitment of the Houston Astros, a Class A Advanced minor league team; development of the memorandum of understanding; and the creation of a 30-year financial plan.

The stadium and a mixed-use commercial property development plan brought the new owners of the former Prince Charles Hotel on board. City Council granted PCH Holdings of Durham an exclusive contract to develop the property adjacent to the stadium. The results include a pair of buildings atop a five-story parking garage. PCH also renovated the hotel and converted it into an eight-story apartment building. The investments thus far represent more than $100 million in new development.

Small-Toney has baccalaureate and master’s degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has 35 years of experience in government. Before leaving her post in 2016, she confirmed the city’s interest in building a stadium and eventually bringing in a minor league team: “The city is very much interested, I think, in pursuing the construction of a minor league stadium,” she said.

During her tenure, Small-Toney led a group of local leaders and other representatives of Fayetteville on tours of several ballparks and cities over several months. Those sites included Durham, North Carolina; Columbia, South Carolina; Sugarland, Texas; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Nashville, Tennessee. Of all those ballparks, only the Durham Bulls Athletic Park was built before 2012. The D-BAP had a $19 million makeover at the end of the 2013 season.

The stadiums in Durham, Columbia, Nashville and Charlotte also were built downtown, to trigger an influx of business and development. Small-Toney said from the start that this was an important objective of a new stadium. “We have a redevelopment plan that includes a minor league baseball stadium,” Small- Toney said in a late 2016 interview.

Small-Toney now serves as city manager of Rocky Mount, North Carolina.

Photo: Rochelle Small-Toney

Four times a year, women from all over the city gather to network and enjoy an afternoon of empowerment, inspiration and celebration at the Fayetteville Ladies Power Lunch. Each lunch features a keynote speaker, a local woman who is making a difference in this community. Thursday, May 9, FLPL welcomes singer-songwriter KasCie Page to share about how she went from a young girl singing in church to a national award-winning recording artist.

A Shopportunity Expo before and after the meal provides a chance to connect with and learn about dozens of local woman-owned and -managed businesses and organizations. Door prizes, a 50-50 raffle and a wine bar with tasting options round out the experience.

Born in Conway, South Carolina, Page started singing when she was 3 years old. She started songwriting at a young age, too.

After college, Page moved to the small town of Red Springs, North Carolina, which is close to Fort Bragg. She started working at a BB&T Bank and continued to sing in church and at weddings and family events, but only when she went home to Conway.

Then, in the late 2000s, she met Robbie Lee VanHoy at the bank. He owned Soundland Studios in Red Springs and had written a song for which he had still not found the right female vocalist. Out of that meeting was born Black Velvet, the duo of Page and Lee that would launch Page’s professional music career.

A few years ago, Page signed a record deal with Lamon Records Nashville (Tennessee), and her first full-length album was released in early 2017. Lee worked with Page to write several of the album’s original tracks, and he still serves as her duo partner.

In the past few years, Page has gained more and more notice from the music industry. She was named 2016 Entertainer of the Year by Florida Country Music Radio. In 2018, she won Female Artist of the Year at the Carolina Country Music Awards. This year, she was nominated for that same title at the CCMA, and was also nominated as Songwriter of the Year for her song “Proud of You.” She was also nominated as overall Entertainer of the Year.

Page said “Proud of You,” which like the rest of her music is available for streaming on Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play Music and all other standard platforms, represents a great introduction to her as an artist. “It’s a song everyone can relate to,” she said. “I wrote it about my parents.

“The very first verse of the song talks about a conversation I had with my dad when I was 8 years old. I remember it like yesterday, and those were the exact words he said to me.

“When I wrote it, I thought, nobody’s gonna listen to this song. This is just about my life. But I went out on a limb.”

Each Power Lunch opens at 10 a.m. with registration and the exclusive Shopportunity Expo.

Seating begins at 11:45 a.m. At noon, opening remarks are followed by lunch and the keynote speaker. At 1:45 p.m., there are door prizes courtesy of every vendor, a 50-50 raffle and closing remarks. The formal portion of the event concludes at 2 p.m., leaving an hour for continued networking and conversation before the Power Lunch officially concludes at 3 p.m.

FLPL takes place at the Ramada Plaza, 1707-A Owen Dr. Registration costs $45. Vendor tables and sponsorships are also available. To learn more or to register, visit FayettevilleLadiesPowerLunch.com.

Photo:  KasCie Page

Publisher’s Note: A special thanks to Ms. Blevins for finally explaining our side of the story about the $28,000 partnership Up & Coming Weekly had with Hope Mills. And, it had absolutely nothing to do with the money. Matter of fact, listed below are thirteen main objectives Mayor Jackie Warner, commissioners and Hope Mills staff wanted to achieve for the residents of Hope Mills.

The graphics below are from June 2017, when the Hope Mills Board of Commissioners initially heard a proposal from Bill Bowman, and from July 2017, when the Board voted unanimously to accept the proposal. But what exactly was the proposal?

What was presented as the Hope Mills Initiative was a collaborative effort between the Hope Mills staff, the Hope Mills Chamber of Commerce and Up & Coming Weekly publisher Bill Bowman. It was the result of a tremendous amount of work and research by key players in Hope Mills: Town Manager Melissa Adams, Interim Town Clerk Deborah Holland, Mayor Jackie Warner, Hope Mills Area Chamber of Commerce President Jan Spell, and the late Commissioner Bob Gorman, over many months.

Together they developed a program to “make sure local businesses have time tested, affordable and effective ways available to market, promote and advertise their business, goods and services. We will have open dialog with HM residents, providing them space to promote their events with a weekly up-to-date event calendar hosting local Hope Mills events and other relevant Cumberland County happenings. U&CW will also be providing editorial space for residents to contribute their thoughts and insights,” said Bowman in his proposal. 

It was heralded as a first tentative step toward developing a marketing strategy for the town with 13 distinct objectives.

Three formal discussions were held at Sammio’s, and the public was invited to hear an impressive list of community leaders discuss the initiative.

The HMI was an opportunity for the citizens, businesses and organizations in Hope Mills to take control of the narrative and tell their story. And it was an opportunity to reach 300,000 readers in Cumberland County.

Bowman also offered advertising to Hope Mills businesses and organizations at drastically discounted rates to help jump-start economic development in our community. Mayor Pro Tem Mike Mitchell and Commissioner Meg Larson have been quick to reference the roughly $28,000 the town was spending on the project, but they’ve never mentioned the $14,000 Bowman spent to get the program started or that the agreement included him matching the town’s investment and matching the costs for businesses who advertised.

And they certainly never mention the actual value of this program was conservatively more than a quarter of a million dollars’ worth of marketing.

Before the initiative had really begun, it was in trouble. This Board was sworn in a week prior to the event at Sammio’s. They balked at tasking the staff with writing articles, then balked at writing articles themselves. The initiative relied on a steady flow of information, so Bowman tasked his new sports writer, Earl Vaughan Jr., with covering Hope Mills.

Vaughan, who briefly lived in Hope Mills 30 years ago, immediately began building relationships with Hope Mills residents. He managed to plug into our community, familiarize himself with our history and stay two steps ahead of every story.

During the budget retreat March 3, 2018, the Board discussed the expense of the initiative and their alternatives. Ultimately, they voted 3-2 not to renew the agreement when it concluded on Sept. 6. Commissioners Mitchell and Pat Edwards voted against the motion. You can review the minutes from the meeting on their website, https://townofhopemills.com/agendacenter.

In the same feckless manner with which they dismiss staff recommendations, doing a feasibility study on the proposed walking trail and the expert opinion of the consultants they hire, they dismissed the HMI. They knew better than the dozen community leaders and the subject matter experts who designed the initiative.

By August 6, 2018, there was contention. Mitchell was displeased and made a motion to end the contract immediately. At that point, the municipality had already paid the agreement in full and there were already pending articles waiting for publication. Mitchell’s motion passed, but it had no effect on the publication.

In fact, it continues to have no effect on the publication. Earl Vaughan Jr. began writing about Hope Mills in the early spring of 2018. He writes two to four articles a week, depending on what’s happening and what sports are in season. He is a one-man marketing team for our town, promoting anything and everything that needs promoting.

Since Sept. 6, 2018, when the gentleman’s agreement with Hope Mills ended, Up & Coming Weekly has published more than 60 positive articles about the town of Hope Mills, including advertising for 21 events; 13 mentions of local schools, teachers and students; 26 general information pieces; and no less than 11 profiles or mentions of local businesses.

These numbers don’t include the nonstop coverage of local high school sports. They don’t include the handful of stories that were published on the website but not in the paper. They don’t include any of the articles I’ve written for Up & Coming Weekly, and they don’t include the weekly calendar of Hope Mills events. A weekly calendar isn’t published for any other non-Fayetteville municipality. In fact, no other municipality enjoys a dedicated section of the paper.

The truth is, Bowman never stopped the program he began with the previous Board in 2017. While this Board ignored the hard work of dozens of people and squandered the opportunity provided to them, Bowman quietly kept working. Bowman and Up & Coming Weekly no longer enjoy the benefit of a financial agreement with Hope Mills, but the town very much enjoys the benefit of Bowman’s generosity.

In an Aug. 10, 2018, radio interview on WFNC 640 AM, Mitchell said, “We basically said — on the last Board meeting — I just asked all media if they would report some balanced reporting — ask both sides their opinions about things — they would have a better outlook on Hope Mills and be in a more positive manner — you know — you’re not gonna accomplish anything by printing all this negative news — has a lot of misleading facts — that aren’t facts at all.

“And the fact that we cancelled the contract with this publication about 3-4 weeks ago — it loses — that publication loses credibility when they make such negative comments when they’re ‘tooted’ as a positive magazine.... There’s a whole blog dedicated to the destruction of Commissioner Larson and myself and there’s some politics played in there.

“It kinda loses credibility when we’ve cancelled the contract and then they come back — it’s almost retaliatory in nature.” The transcript is available at https://hopemills.net/2018/08/25/we-are-one-team/.

Mitchell also said, “If you wanna give one-sided views that’s not reputable — also we did not renew your contract in September for $28,000 a year. In the general public’s eye, everything you’re doing is vindictiveness,” on March 25, 2019. The audio can be heard at www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRPjk79T0Cc&feature=youtu.be.

And the commissioners still complain. Beginning in August, when Larson and Mitchell were on a local talk radio station, and as recently as the March 25 meeting, Mitchell declared Bowman was simply being vindictive because he was angry the Board cancelled the contract.

It was never simply a contract. It was a partnership conceived of and implemented by some of the most impressive leaders in our community. And it was another golden opportunity missed by this Board because they choose at all times to dwell in innuendo and conspiracy theories.

Bowman and I were both at the March 25 meeting. We were prepared to address the Board. But they used their elected seats as a pulpit from which they condemned us without ever giving us an opportunity to speak.

If Bowman was vindictive, Vaughan would have been reassigned months ago and Hope Mills wouldn’t have dozens of articles announcing its events and promoting its businesses. The Board chose not to pay to participate in the Pocket Guide published by Up & Coming Weekly several months ago, but Bowman waived the fee and included a small section for the town anyway. Does that sound like the actions of a vindictive man?

I won’t speak for Bowman’s articles, but I will tell you the articles I write are designed to mirror the Board’s actions. When they’ve done good things, I’ve reported that. Unfortunately, so little of what they do is good.

This situation, like so many others in recent months, has been misrepresented by members of the Board to defend their wretched behavior. While they hurl accusations our way, they’re free to continue misbehaving. We are their red herring.

Visit www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.2054544537974961&type=3 to see more information about the Hope Mills Initiative, Larson’s comments about Up & Coming Weekly, screen captures from the meetings and more.

Adrian Davila- Ramirez

Douglas Byrd • Baseball/Indoor track/ Cross country • Senior

Davila-Ramirez has a 3.5 grade point average. He is a battalion commander in junior ROTC. As a member of Delta Phi Iota, he volunteers in the community. He is captain of the Douglas Byrd drum line and is student body treasurer. He has enlisted in the National Guard.

Stephanie Davila- Ramirez

Douglas Byrd • Softball/Cross country • Sophomore

Davila-Ramirez holds a 4.2 grade point average. She currently serves as the sophomore class president. As a member of Alpha Omega Rho, she participates in community service both at her school and at Second Harvest Food Bank.

Just weeks after being named the Patriot Athletic Conference softball player of the year in 2018, Gray’s Creek High School’s Jaden Pone saw her athletic world come crashing down.

During a summer travel softball game, she collided with another player while trying to catch a ball. The result for Pone was a broken tibia and fibula in her right leg, and at least six months away from full participation on the field.

Fast forward to early April of this year. A tough but successful rehab process behind her, Pone has quickly risen to the same level of play she displayed last season.

She’s sporting a gaudy .722 batting average, 65 points higher than she was hitting a year ago. She leads Cumberland County players as of April 10 with 29 RBIs. Although she’s not the ace of the Gray’s Creek pitching staff, she’s currently 5-1 with 21 strikeouts in 20.2 innings pitches and a 2.71 earned run average.

“She dealt with it pretty well,’’ said Gray’s Creek softball coach Stuart Gilmer of Pone’s battle to get back to health. “At first she was discouraged she couldn’t pick up where she had left off the year before.’’

Pone was in Gilmer’s weightlifting class, and he saw her commitment to getting well. “She did the physical therapy and exercises she could do in class to try and regain strength in that leg,’’ he said.

“She’s one of the hardest-working kids I’ve seen. She was determined to get back to the place she was playing and the level she was playing the year before. She worked really, really hard to get back to that place.’’

For Pone, the hardest part was realizing how long she’d have to wait before she could play again.

“My whole life has been going to the field, going to practice, going to a tournament,’’ she said. “When you’re injured and you’re going to be out for six months, it’s like a punch in the face.’’

She still went to softball tournaments while wearing a protective boot on her injured leg, watching the other players.

It was in December that Pone first began to feel that she was turning a corner in the recovery process. “My dad and I would go to practice,’’ she said. “Even when I had my boot on, we would do little stuff. Sometimes I would doubt myself and be sad.’’

She worried about not being ready when her rehab was complete. “This could change my whole life,’’ she said.

But in December, she finally started to run a little. “It opened my eyes and motivated me to keep doing what I was doing,’’ she said.

Running proved to be the biggest challenge in coming back from the injury. “I consider myself fast,’’ Pone said. She said some doubted she would be as fast as before the injury.

There was also pain, but Pone said her father helped her push through it. “He made me realize we’re always going to go through stuff, but you have to power though it,’’ she said.

Now the only lingering problem from the injury is some pain she feels in her knee from time to time.

“My mom tells me everything happens for a reason,’’ Pone said. “Instead of looking at it as I broke my leg and I can’t play, I tried to look at it as you’ll get better and you’ll grow and learn from this. You’ll appreciate the game more.

“I have such an appreciation for the game, and this can push me to do better.’’

Not only is Pone doing better, so is her Gray’s Creek team. The Bears recently handed perennial Cumberland County softball power Cape Fear a rare conference loss. As of April 10, the Bears were tied with the Colts in the loss column in the Patriot Athletic Conference standings. Gray’s Creek is 12-1 overall, 10-1 in the league, to Cape Fear’s 11-1 in both.

“I think we’re connecting really good as a team,” Pone said. “On and off the field we’re really close, so that helps. I’m just really excited for what we have in store.’’

Photo: Jaden Pone

The tangible reason Terry Sanford’s Sam Guy likes to host an Easter break baseball tournament is to raise money for his program.

But there’s also an intangible side, and that’s to size up how the Bulldogs measure against good teams from other parts of the state.

With the field Guy has assembled for this year’s Bulldog Invitational, set for April 20-23, Guy should have no trouble finding out how good his team is.

The field includes five teams that already have at least 10 wins this season as of April 10 and one club, Midway, that’s unbeaten at 12-0.

Every team in the tournament is at least five games above the .500 mark, save for West Bladen, which at 6-8 is the only team in the field with a losing record.

Guy said the primary reason Terry Sanford holds the baseball tournament is to raise funds for the program. The money raised over the last few years of the event allowed Guy to construct an indoor batting facility just beyond the outfield fence of the Terry Sanford field.

“We make about $5,000 or $6,000 profit over those three days, which is awesome,’’ Guy said. He added the revenue from the tournament not only pays for special projects like the batting complex, but for things the Bulldog baseball team needs on a regular basis.

As for bringing in a variety of teams, Guy said it expands the experience for his team beyond the limits of regular-season play in the Patriot Athletic Conference.

Guy said it’s helpful that the conference is so geographically compact; member schools don’t have to spend a lot on transportation and travel time to get to games.

But with a nine-team conference, that means Terry Sanford has to play 16 conference games, which cuts deeply into the opportunity to face nonconference opponents. The Bulldog Invitational gives Terry Sanford a better read on how it stacks up with schools of various sizes from across the state who also have successful baseball programs.

The big headache for Guy every year at tournament time is the weather.

This spring has been a nightmare for baseball coaches with the heavy amount of rain that has completely disrupted the weekly schedule.

“Going into the year, we had three weeks where we had two games,’’ Guy said. “The rest were three or four-game weeks. Now, we’re getting ready to play eight games in eight days.’’

If inclement weather does come at tournament time, Guy has a tarp he can put on the field that will hopefully keep it from becoming unplayable.

He is holding Wednesday, April 23, in reserve as a possible makeup day if rain stops play on a regularly scheduled day.

If absolutely necessary, Guy said, he could squeeze the tournament into just two days. But that would require starting the first game at 9 a.m. and drastically cutting the time between games so six games could be played per day.

“If it rains multiple days, we’ll just see,’’ he said. Guy said one other change might have to be made in the schedule if either Northwood or Pinecrest have to play an early consolation bracket game on the final day of the tournament.

Both Northwood and Pinecrest will be in school Tuesday, April 23. Should either school fall into the consolation bracket and be scheduled for a game before 4 p.m., Guy said he would have to flip the game they are in to a 4 p.m. start so they would not be playing until their school was dismissed.

Here is the complete schedule for the tournament, barring any rainouts or postponements.

BULLDOG INVITATIONAL 2019

Photo: Sam Guy

Meetings

For details about all meetings and activities, including location where not listed, call Town Clerk Jane Starling at 910-426-4113.

• Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee Monday, April 22, 6:30 p.m., Parks and Recreation Center

• Citizens Academy Tuesday, April 23, 6 p.m., Town Hall

• Appearance Commission Tuesday, April 23, 6:30 p.m., Parks and Recreation Center

•Veterans Affairs Commission Thursday, April 25, 6 p.m., Parks and Recreation Center

• Citizens Academy Tuesday, April 30, 6 p.m., Town Hall

• Festival Committee Monday, May 6, 6 p.m., Town Hall

• Mayor’s Youth Leadership Committee May 6, 6 p.m., Town Hall (in conjunction with Festival Committee)

Activities

• Hazardous waste collection, shred event and spring litter sweep Saturday, May 4, 9 a.m., Town Hall

• Good 2 Grow Farmer’s Market Saturday, May 4, 9 a.m., Town Hall

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

Promote yourself

Email hopemills@upandcomingweekly.com.

While the Hope Mills Board of Commissioners considers spending money on a temporary fix for the ongoing project to develop the former Hope Mills Golf Course, Commissioner Pat Edwards would like some money spent on the permanent completion of another town project.

Edwards recently toured the proposed Heritage Park land with town director of public works Don Sisko.

She took the tour a couple of days after the board debated spending $100,000 on what Edwards said would be a temporary fix of the golf course property.

“After we got through talking about it, I asked Don Sisko what $100,000 could do at Heritage Park as a permanent fix,’’ Edwards said.

Heritage Park is located near the Hope Mills dam and lake area and has historical ties to the community’s rich history as the home of textile mills. Edwards said Sisko replied that the $100,000 applied to Heritage Park would allow the town to do a lot of things.

To get a first-hand look at the potential for Heritage Park, Edwards said she reached out to Hope Mills town manager Melissa Adams to arrange a tour of the property for herself, with Sisko as her guide.

What she saw impressed her. Two members of the public works staff were working on the trails and greenways that the area offers.

“It’s the first time I’ve been all the way through it,’’ Edwards said. “He took me down to where the creek is. It’s just beautiful. The serenity.

“It’s wonderful.’’

Edwards said Sisko showed her four or five greenways leading through the park, along with an area that could be leveled out to accommodate picnic tables.

“For something like this, we wouldn’t have to consult or pay for an engineer to design it,’’ Edwards said. “We have staff that are very qualified to do this.’’

She added that Sisko has a lot of foresight and ingenuity when it comes to developing the park to its fullest potential. “He’s like a visionary,’’ she said.

There is also potential to share the history of the town’s roots as a mill village, Edwards said, while using it as an opportunity to bring more art to the community.

The old gates from the previous dam are still there on the grounds of the future park. According to Edwards, Sisko said they could be refurbished to be put on display. He also talked about the possibility of storyboards to tell more about the town’s past.

“There is a lot of history there, and a lot of work to be done,’’ Edwards said. 

While some of the area is rough and steep in places, Edwards said she managed to navigate it without a major challenge.

She would love to see Heritage Park completed and linked with the walkingareas at the dam and the lake, and eventually with the town museum that’s also being discussed.

“It would be so nice to walk from the lake over to Heritage Park,’’ she said. “I think the citizens of Hope Mills would rather see the money used that way than in a temporary fix somewhere else. That’s just me thinking.’’

While the existing trails in Heritage Park would need some work, Edwards said an effort should be made to keep the area as natural as possible. “It needs to stay like Mother Nature,’’ she said. “You don’t want to change too much.’’

For safety purposes, Edwards doesn’t think grilling should be allowed in the area because of the potential fire hazard.

Edwards encourages interested citizens to take a look at the property themselves by reaching out to town manager Adams about arranging a guided tour of the area. She said people should not try and visit the property on their own without permission. “I wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt,’’ she said.

“Maybe they can see the possibility of what’s going on, how beautiful and how quiet,’’ Edwards said. “The scenery around it is just beautiful.’’

It’s that time again for residents of Hope Mills to get rid of hazardous waste and outdated sensitive documents. Saturday, May 4, the town holds its annual shredding and hazardous waste collection event, along with the annual litter sweep.

The shredding and hazardous collection will be from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m., and the litter sweep takes place from 9 a.m. until noon. There is also a registration period for the litter sweep only beginning at 8:30 a.m.

Beth Brown, stormwater technician for the town of Hope Mills, said all the events will be basically the same as last year.

She reminds people coming to the shred event that the actual shredding of documents won’t take place on-site.

They will be picked up either later Saturday or as late as Monday to be transported elsewhere for the shredding.

If the material to be shredded has to be kept overnight before being removed, it will be locked inside containers and then stored in a secured, locked location in Hope Mills.

Residents may bring up to five boxes of material to be shredded. Paper products should be brought for shredding, but paper clips, binders and staples are also acceptable.

That Saturday will be a busy one for the town as the first Good 2 Grow farmers market will be taking place on adjacent property at the Town Hall complex.

For the shred event, the easiest point of access is the road between the police department (5776 Rockfish Rd.) and town hall (5770 Rockfish Rd.).

There will be sandwich boards in place to direct people coming as to the best place to enter the area off Rockfish Road.

Brown said the people collecting the hazardous waste prefer that those bringing material to drop off do not get out of their cars or trucks.

They should leave their material in the trunk or somewhere the workers collecting the material can easily access it. This is to keep traffic moving as smoothly as possible.

Those who would like to get out of their cars are asked to park in the back area of town hall and visit the farmers market.

To participate in the litter sweep, people need to sign up in advance at the Hope Mills Parks and Recreation Department, or at the 8:30 a.m. signup period the day of the event.

Children are welcome to take part in the litter pickup, but they need to be accompanied by adults, Brown said.

The parks and recreation staff will provide materials needed to help with the litter sweep, including gloves, bags, bottled water, safety vests and other items.

The town will identify specific areas that need to be cleaned up, or those participating can agree to clean up their own street or neighborhood.

“Most folks focus on a stretch of the larger streets,’’ Brown said. “We would like to get the whole town, townwide, cleaned with different groups of people.’’

For questions about the hazardous waste pickup and shred event, call town hall at 910-424-4555. For questions about the litter sweep, call the parks and recreation department at 910-424-4500.

WHAT TO BRING

From the workbench:

• Adhesives, glues, resins

• Hobby supplies, artist supplies

• Latex

• Oil paints

• Stains, thinners, stripper

From the garage:

• Car batteries, dry cell batteries

• Engine degreasers, brake fluids

• Transmission fluids

• Waste fuels (kerosene, gasoline)

From the yard:

• Insecticides, weed killers, poisons

• Pesticides

• Propane cylinders

• Swimming pool chemicals

• Wood preservatives

From the home:

• Aerosol cans

• Cleaners, spot removers

• Computers, electronic equipment

• Hearing aid (button-style) batteries

• Ni-Cad batteries

• Photo chemicals, chemistry sets

DO NOT BRING

• Ammunition, fireworks, explosives

• Infectious and biological waste

• Syringes

• Radioactive waste

• Unknown compressed gas cylinders

Isn’t it beautiful when spring arrives? Even that blanket of yellow dust on every surface is lovely. As suffocating as it can be, pollen points to change, to winter coming to an end. Soon after, every tree, bush, flower and blade of grass awakens to the warmth of spring. When pollen season hits, everything lying in wait of warm weather comes bursting forth. The colors are vibrant. Flowers bloom. Grass is green. It’s a stunning sight after the bareness of winter.

We know what pollen brings. Pollen signals a natural segue to life. Does anyone actually care about that wave of pollen after flowers start blooming? We all know the sights, tastes, sounds and smells of spring. We know the life it brings.

But eventually, after summer’s warmth and the cool of fall, winter sets in again. Everything that came to life in the spring has run its cycle and dies again. Winter brings crunchy leaves. Pine needles become pine straw, and the colors of fall turn to grays and browns. Trees are bare. Forests seem quite vulnerable, with every branch on display, light touching places it just couldn’t reach in the fullness of summer.

There’s a certain line of trees on the farm I grew up on that I’m reminded of when I think about winter. Several years ago, I took my dog for a walk down my parents’ road, a road I had walked umpteen times in my life, and I noticed a field I had never paid attention to before.

My family didn’t own it, so my childhood farm adventures never took me to explore it. The pine trees had shed all of their needles, and I could see straight through to the other side. In the distance, I could see a high school football field, the silver lights shining in the sunshine, matching the height of the trees nearby.

It wasn’t until winter that I could see clearly just how close we were to the local high school. I never realized it until all the trees were bare.

I think God created seasons to show us more about our lives. Some things remain hidden until the thick of winter.

It’s in the winters of our lives — the hardest times, the toughest times, the loneliest times — that everything feels lifeless and stripped bare. We’re vulnerable. Exposed. The tiniest bit of light shining on us displays the hurt, the grief, the regret, the despair, the bitterness we feel. And it seems like those in close proximity can see right through us, no matter how hard we try to hide.

But there’s always more if we look past the surface. There’s so much good to be found in winter.

That same feeling of vulnerability can be used as a tunnel to our own heart. Things we didn’t even know we were capable of, whether good or bad, are suddenly uncovered. There’s an unfamiliar clarity we can use to our advantage if we take a moment to see it.

Winter sets the stage for the life that comes with spring. Ann Bradstreet once said, “If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant.” How true that is. Spring is always right around the corner. You will never see a winter that doesn’t have spring following behind it. Spring is coming. Spring is here.

If we stay in this mindset that winter will last forever, we’ll miss the glimpses of a new season coming. Change is hard. Especially when winter has become comfortable. But God sends agents of change that make us feel uncomfortable, the “pollen,” if you will, and it sometimes seems anything but lovely. It will make us sneeze, make our eyes water and make us have to wash our car more. It’s a huge nuisance more than anything else.

But if we can embrace life’s “pollen,” the uncomfortable means by which we make a change, knowing it brings life and life more abundant, we can notice the growth. What we once thought was dead has come alive again, and it’s morebeautiful than ever.

Spring is here, and it so lovely.

Who doesn’t enjoy a story where children are heroes, good triumphs over evil and animals talk? The Gilbert Theater delivers all that and more with its production of “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,” playing through April 21.

The show is based on C.S. Lewis’ classic tale from “The Chronicles of Narnia.” This story is the second in the series but the first that was published. It introduces us to the four Pevensie children: Peter (Adam White), Susan (Helen Steffan), Lucy (Mia Buracchio) and Edmund (Joshua Brunson).

When young Lucy explores an old wardrobe, she finds a magical entrance, marked by a lamp post, to the land of Narnia. In Narnia, the White Witch (Nicki Hart) rules with fear and makes it “always winter and never Christmas.” Declaring herself Queen of the Realm, the White Witch turns anyone who betrays her to stone.

The good inhabitants of Narnia, including talking beavers and a faun, unicorn and centaur, live in fear and wait for the return of the lion Aslan, the true king of Narnia, who can make things right.

When “daughters of Eve and sons of Adam” (humans) arrive in Narnia, the White Witch tries to capture the children to prevent them from fulfilling a prophecy that they will sit in the four thrones in the castle of Cair Paravel and end her reign. In the process, the White Witch tricks young Edmund into helping her.

When Aslan (Ja’Maul Johnson) arrives, he leads the children and Narnia animals in a fight against the White Queen. There are chases, sword fights and battles — all carried out on the Gilbert stage by a cast of all ages. 

Director Brian Adam Kline brings together this exciting story with an exceptional cast, demonstrating that for Fayetteville talent, there is no age limit. The collective cast is to be commended for bringing the fantasy to life.

Hart, as the White Witch, steals every scene she is in. She is wicked and marvelous at the same time. Hart brings to her portrayal a steady fierceness — whether acting opposite Johnson’s Aslan or Brunson’s Edmund. Nine-year-old Brunson gets kudos, for sure.

Also impressive are Buracchio, Steffan and White as Lucy, Susan and Peter. The trio collectively have quite a bit of stage experience, and it shows, despite their ages that barely reach double digits.

Also noteworthy is Cheleen Sugar’s performance as Fenris Ulf, a talking wolf and chief of the White Witch’s secret police. Sugar brings a slick and stylish quality to her portrayal — what I imagine it would be like if Lewis had written a rock star into Narnia.

Other highlights of the show include Quentin King and Jane Moran as Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, and Brandon Bryan as Mr. Tumnus, the faun.

The story hardly slows down from beginning to end. Battles are fought, sacrifices are made, and kings and queens are crowned. Forgiveness and courage are highlighted in this family-friendly show. Audiences of all ages will enjoy the production.

“The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” runs through April 21 at Gilbert Theater. Call 910-678- 7186 or visit www.gilberttheater.com for tickets and information.

Photo: Nicki Hart, as the White Witch, steals every scene she is in.

Friday, April 26, the Cumberland Oratorio Singers close their 2018-19 concert series. At the Matthews Ministry Center in Huff Auditorium on the Methodist University campus, COS, under the direction of Jason Britt, presents “A Night of Screen and Stage.” COS wraps up its 27th performing season by highlighting musical numbers from Broadway and Hollywood productions.

“This concert marks the end of my second season (as director) and a season where the COS have done works that aren’t their usual fare,” said Britt. “We’ve included jazz, Broadway works and movie themes to try and connect with our audience, offering them options of a lighter fare.”

According to the COS website, musicals originated in France in the 1800s where they were called “Opera Comique,” distinguishing them from the traditional opera of Wagner et al. George Bizet and Jacques Offenbach were notable among those composers who contributed to the genre that would become the modern-day musical.

Wikipedia gives credit to the 19th century works of Gilbert and Sullivan in Britain and Harrigan, and Hart in America, for contributing many structural elements to the genre, as did the later works of George M. Cohan. In the 20th century, musicals moved beyond comedies and revues. Modern-day musicals such as “West Side Story,” “Les Miserables,” “Rent” and “Hamilton” call for considerable character development in addition to memorable musical scores.

Featured in Friday night’s performance will be well-known songs from “Man of La Mancha,” “Singing in the Rain,” “Chicago,” “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and “White Christmas,” among many others. Soloists are yet to be determined and will be selected from the choir before the evening’s concert.

The 2018-19 COS concert season has been sponsored in part by The Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County; Cumberland Community Foundation; Cumulus Radio; Rebecca F. Person, attorney at law; Florence Rogers Charitable Trust; Rimtyme Custom Rims and Tires; and Lafayette Lincoln. Lafayette Ford is the presenting sponsor for “A Night of Screen and Stage.”

“Next season,” said Britt, already looking ahead to rehearsals, “we will be going on a musical excursion, making musical stops at the opera (in) London and eventually returning home to America.”

In the interest of continuing professional caliber choral music in Cumberland County into the next generation and beyond, under the COS umbrella, the Campbellton Youth Chorus is open to all Cumberland County and Sandhills region youth ages 9-14.

“The CYC provides vocal development, music literacy and unique performance opportunities,” according to the COS website, where further information about rehearsals and other opportunities can be found.

“A Night of Screen and Stage” begins at 7:30 p.m. Tickets may be purchased at the door for $15 for adults and $5 for students with ID. Season tickets will also go on sale for the 2019-20 concert series at $45 per ticket.

Visit www.singwithcos.org for more information.

Fayetteville Mayor Mitch Colvin doesn’t like the way city administration decided to include $8 million of projects in a proposed limited obligation bond issue. Council members D.J. Haire and Larry Wright also opposed asking North Carolina’s Local Government Commission to approve the $8 million in bonds.

City administration proposes that the funds be used to cover $1.5 million for PCH Holdings’ additional construction costs for the new Hay Street parking garage, plus $2.5 million in cost overruns associated with the baseball stadium. The proposal also includes $2.8 million for the new Lake Rim aquatic center.

City Council informally agreed to the project April 8. The official vote on the bond is scheduled following a public hearing on May 13. Approval by the local government commission would not require the city to fund the projects. It would authorize officials to do so if approved at a later date.

The $1.5 million that PCH Holdings has asked the city for would be in addition to $14.8 million the city has already borrowed for construction of the five-story parking deck on Hay Street. The parking deck will not be for general public use but will serve the private firm’s seven-story office building and separate hotel building, which will be built atop the garage.

General contractor Barton Malow submitted $2.58 million in cost overruns resulting from rising costs of construction materials for the new Segra Stadium.

Colvin said it was premature to be approving bonds when the city has not begun negotiating with the parking deck developer about its $1.5 million request. “I don’t think it’s responsible to prepare to borrow money that you have no plans to (borrow),” he said.

“I’m a little squeamish to go that route,” Colvin said in a dinner meeting before the regular council session. Colvin added that approving the resolution to ask the local government commission to approve the bond spending “makes it tougher to explore other options or negotiate.”

Councilmen Jim Arp and Bill Crisp said during the dinner meeting that they would prefer the city find a different way to pay for the aquatic center without financing it. Crisp pointed out that the city included funds for the Westover pool in its regular budget a few years ago. Other city fathers noted the city has $1.9 million in funds that weren’t spent on other projects that could be used for the Lake Rim pools.

The city’s senior management team came up with the idea of the limited obligation bond project without the knowledge of council members who less than a week earlier agreed to negotiate the increased cost of the parking deck.

“We expect to sell out every game.” These are the words of Fayetteville Woodpeckers President Mark Zarthar at an April 9 news conference. The April 18 opening game is a sellout. Zarthar said Segra Stadium could accommodate up to 6,000 fans. Its official capacity is 5,200. He said he isn’t the least bit worried about parking, noting that a five-minute walk to the stadium is part of the fan experience.

City officials contend there are 4,360 public and private parking spaces within five to seven minutes of the stadium.

City spokesman Kevin Arata said he doesn’t expect finding available parking will be a problem. “People will figure it out … they’re smart,” he said.

The city will charge $10 for each of the 1,100 parking spaces in the 12 controlled parking lots. They will be clearly marked with temporary roadside signs. “Paid parking will begin two hours prior to the start of the games,” Arata said.

One hundred and four handicapped parking spots for the disabled will be provided in the two parking lots behind city hall off Franklin Street. Six hundred on-street parking spaces will be free during ballgames. Arata said the city has no control over what property owners decide regarding their private lots. He noted that officials have been in touch with owners and await their decisions.

Hay Street between Winslow Street and Ray Avenue will be closed to vehicular traffic on game days to create a safe pedestrian zone.

“We will monitor activity for the first month during the construction period,” said Police Chief Gina Hawkins. “We want traffic to have the least impact on the downtown area as possible.”

She and city traffic engineer Lee Jernigan noted that new marked, signalized crosswalks should make things easier for pedestrians. They added that adjustments will be made as needed in efforts to make citizens feel welcomed and encouraged to return for future downtown events.

The first Fayetteville home game will be at 7 p.m., Thursday, April 18, versus the Carolina Mudcats from Zebulon, North Carolina. The Woodpeckers are a Carolina League, Class A Advanced minor league affiliate of the Houston Astros. It is one of two expansion teams that increased league membership to 10 teams in 2017.

Former Fayetteville Deputy City Manager Rochelle Small-Toney now serves as the city manager of Rocky Mount. Before her departure in 2017, Small-Toney served as project director for Segra Stadium. As she tells it, former City Manager Ted Voorhees challenged her to come up with an economic development project for downtown Fayetteville. She suggested minor league baseball — and subsequently oversaw all phases of the stadium project, including the feasibility study, recruitment of the Houston Astros minor league team, development of the memorandum of understanding and the creation of a 30-year financial plan.

The stadium and nearby mixeduse commercial property are near completion in downtown Fayetteville.

Residents and families of Heritage Place and parishioners of First Presbyterian Church will be happy to learn that Ann Street will soon be open to traffic. The Ann Street bridge over Cross Creek has been closed for nearly six years. Ann Street connects Bow Street with Grove Street downtown.

A fire, believed to have been set by people who are homeless, heavily damaged the structure in October 2013. The cost of building a new bridge is $1.6 million, according to city of Fayetteville spokesman Kevin Arata. This does not include design work and the acquisition of additional property.

“We had to design it so it would prevent homeless people from living under it,” Arata said. “Nearby utilities created challenges for the design process … and we were challenged with permits and the fact that the bridge has historical ties.”

Officials hope to open the new bridge this summer.

Another highway median under construction

Work has begun on converting the center turn lane on Cliffdale Road near Bunce Road into a raised median. The North Carolina Department of Transportation said median projects, which have been underway locally for several years, are designed to improve safety and reduce the risk of collisions. Motorists will encounter lane reductions in the work zone.

In neighboring Robeson County, drivers will have a faster and safer way to travel on U.S. 74, where a DOT contractor is building an interchange at Broadridge Road, south of Lumberton. Girders for the new overpass were set last month. Officials hope to have the work completed by fall.

Rural fire tax to increase

The Cumberland County Public Safety Task Force has voted to request that the fire district tax rate be increased by 3.75 cents per $100 valuation for rural residents of the county. The recommended model will be presented to the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners April 11, during their agenda work session.

Currently, residents in unincorporated areas pay 11.25 cents per $100 valuation, with 10 cents allocated to each of the 15 rural fire districts. The 01.25 cents tax is allocated to five low-wealth departments: Beaver Dam, Bethany, Godwin-Falcon, Stedman and Wade.

If approved for the next fiscal year by county commissioners, property owners will pay 15 cents per $100 valuation. Each of the volunteer fire departments would continue to receive funding calculated at 10 cents per $100, which totals approximately $7.4 million.

The new money generated by the tax increase will be used to strengthen overall fire service delivery through supplements, incentives and grants. Supplements would be allocated for departments that provide Emergency Medical Services and those few districts with more than one fire station. 

Suspicious activity leads to deportation

A man who provoked Fort Bragg officials to close the post briefly last month will be deported, but he will not be charged with a crime, a federal judge has ruled. Nouran Ahmad Shihab Sueidan arrived at a gate at Fort Bragg on March 12 and told authorities he wanted to take a tour of the Special Operations facility.

Sueidan had a valid passport, but military police found that his visa, driver’s license and car registration were expired. Authorities said he became combative as he was being questioned but did not try to force his way onto the post. The incident prompted Fort Bragg to briefly restrict access to the post.

A psychiatrist who examined Sueidan determined he has “a mental disorder that compromises his ability to stand trial,” federal prosecutors said in court filing.

Prosecutors said they plan to turn Sueidan over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for deportation. The Army did not reveal his home country. 

New county government appointee

County Manager Amy Cannon has named Delores Taylor as director of the Cumberland County Community Development Office. Taylor has worked for CCCD for 20 years and served as interim director since July 2017.

As director, Taylor will manage a staff of 11 and an annual budget of approximately $2 million. The CCCD Office administers local U.S. Housing and Urban Development funds, which include funding of Community Development Block Grants, The HOME Investment Partnerships Program, Emergency Solutions Grants, and the Cumberland County Continuum of Care on Homelessness.

Taylor earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Alaska in 1998 and a Master of Public Administration from Arkansas State University in 2017.

Downtown Easter fun

Cool Spring Downtown District will host horsedrawn Carriage Rides with the Easter Bunny on Friday, April 19, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. The carriage will be decorated for Easter for family photos.

Tickets to ride with the rabbit are $10 for adults and $5 for children under 12. Each ride will last about 10-15 minutes. Early-bird rides between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. are $5 for adults and children. Tickets are available on the day of the event at 222 Hay St., across from the Cameo Art House Theatre. For more information, visit www.visitdowntownfayetteville.com.

After much prayer and soul-searching, it is clear that the time has come for me to make a change in my focus and strategy. That is, regarding what should be central in my effort to help build a better world... and how to best pursue that goal. This decision has resulted in two changes thus far — focus on promoting critical thinking among citizens relative to political and social issues and changing my voter registration from Republican to unaffiliated.

I have struggled, for some time, with thoughts of not being on the right track for doing the task God desires of me at this point in my life. Some serious quiet time, and writing my last four columns, brought clarity far beyond what I have previously experienced. The first three columns constituted a series titled “Developing and sustaining thought deprivation.” These columns addressed how politicians and others who pursue power deprive citizens of the freedom to think critically about issues and policies … about all that affects our country.

The fourth column was titled “The push for ‘Medicare for All’ is thought deprivation in full view.” It explained how thought deprivation is at work in the championing of Medicare for All as a health care program. All four columns are available under “Articles” at www.karlmerritt.com.

I had previously given some attention to this thought deprivation process and the resulting manipulation of people through its employment. Doing the research, and thinking through various considerations as I wrote those columns, led me to the need for this finer focus on promoting critical thinking among citizens relative to political and social issues.

Then there is the decision to change my voter registration to unaffiliated. I was a registered Democrat for more than 40 years. After learning more about Republican values, it became obvious to me that those values aligned much more with mine than those of the Democratic Party. Consequently, eight years ago, I changed my affiliation to Republican and became active in the party.

Let me be crystal clear in saying my current decision to change affiliation had absolutely nothing to do with any mistreatment of me by anybody in the party. I am well aware that Republicans are routinely accused of being racist and not interested in involving or helping better the condition of black Americans. Whether at a state convention or local party events, I always felt welcomed and respected and that my voice was heard.

I never got the impression that my being black was a problem for any Republican I encountered. Be reminded ... I grew up in South Georgia in the 1950s and ’60s. I know racism when I see it.

Here are my primary reasons for the change to unaffiliated.

First, my observation is that no political party gives anywhere near adequate attention to helping citizens think critically through issues, or candidates, on which they must vote. That is, neither party forthrightly presents facts and allows for honest, reasoned and civil examination of those facts.

Instead, there are candidate debates where no topic is given this kind of attention. Phone calls are made to voters by individuals or a machine. A script is used, and there is no opportunity for productive discussion. These actions take place in an atmosphere where candidates, along with their supporters and surrogates, verbally attack one another and employ scare tactics.

Then there are the media ads that, I hold, for the most part, insult the intelligence of voters.

The ultimate indicator, I believe, that critical thinking is not promoted comes when voters have to survive the gauntlet of people handing out candidate information as voters enter polling places. Having the gauntlet says to me it is assumed people routinely go to the polling place having not decided how they will vote. Add to all of this the fact that media is almost devoid of programming that promotes, or even gives an opportunity for, critical thought.

The condition described in the preceding paragraph screams “thought deprivation.” No political party appears willing to correct course. That state of affairs is proving extremely destructive to America.

The second reason for my voter affiliation change is I need to be in a position to reach people of various political persuasions. That is: Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, unaffiliated, everybody. We are at a level of division, and pure hate, where I no longer think I can reach people if I am affiliated with a political party. The assumptions made about people because of party affiliation, to a sizeable extent, make productive civil discourse impossible.

I recently had a conversation with a black lady who commented to me that she hated President Trump. I asked why that was the case. She went into a speech about how he was not doing anything good for the country. In those comments, she said that Republicans are “just out for themselves.”

I stopped her and said, “I am a Republican. Are you saying I am out for myself?” Her response was a resounding, “Yes.”

She went on to say she could reach that conclusion regarding me simply because I was a Republican. From that one fact, she could identify my innermost motives. As sad as it is, this is where we are. It is unfair but true.

However, if my effort to promote critical thinking is to stand a chance, the obstacle represented by what that lady said to me must be eliminated or at least lessened in intensity. Even though I will not compromise my values or cease speaking truth as I see it, I hope that the unaffiliated status will lessen the door-closing stereotyping that comes with being identified with a political party.

Third, individuals who are actively involved in a political party are, as a matter of practice, expected to support candidates of that party. This is especially true of persons who hold office in a party. I am not willing to adhere to that expectation or rule. I first started to realize this was a problem for me when Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., joined in sponsoring legislation to prevent Trump from having authority to fire Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III.

Even though the president repeatedly argued that Mueller’s investigation was “a witch hunt,” Trump always said he would allow it to finish. Consequently, I did not view the legislation as necessary. Now that the special counsel’s report is finished, there definitely was no need for legislation.

I got past the Mueller episode. Then, Tillis said he recognized the illegal immigration emergency on our southern border; however, he would vote for a resolution of disapproval in order to stop Trump from declaring a national emergency and redirecting funds for wall construction and other security measures. At the very last minute, Tillis voted to support the president’s action. That change of heart came too late for me.

As reported in an article by Brian Murphy titled “Tillis backs Trump on border enforcement. Why he won’t support emergency declaration,” here is the reason Tillis gave for his opposition. “As a U.S. senator, I cannot justify providing the executive with more ways to bypass Congress. As a conservative, I cannot endorse a precedent that I know future left-wing presidents will exploit to advance radical policies that will erode economic and individual freedoms,” Tills wrote.

As I write this section, news reports this very day say the southern border is being overrun by illegal migrants… there is an absolute crisis. For years, Congress has done nothing to effectively address this matter and is doing nothing now — zero. Zilch. There is pure incompetence, and Tillis wants to protect Congress so it can go on being incompetent on this matter and a multitude of others.

I realized that I would very likely not support Tillis for reelection. Tillis is just one example. There are other Republicans that I will publicly oppose and persons from other parties that I will support. This approach would not play well with fellow Republicans, or in any other political party and would hinder my ability to do the essential work described here.

In the big picture:

1. I will continue writing articles and books. I’ll be available for, and seek, speaking engagements.

2. I will personally organize and conduct public events that allow for citizens to be heard but also become informed in ways that promote critical thinking regarding the issues of our time. I’ll insist that individuals who speak at, or facilitate, these information-sharing events deal in facts and reason.

3. I will publish an e-newsletter.

4. I will personally fund this effort and operate it under my privately owned business, karlmerritt.com, LLC.

5. I will accept non-tax-deductible donations. This will be the only time I write, in my Up & Coming Weekly column, about this effort. Persons wanting to receive information in the future regarding this effort should visit karlmerritt.com and complete and submit a “Contact Karl” form. You will be put on the distribution list.

My thanks to Bill Bowman and Stephanie Crider, publisher and associate publisher of Up & Coming Weekly, respectively, for allowing me to share this information in a column.

Since the town of Hope Mills press release March 27, regarding the Hope Mills Lake Bulkhead project, folks have been asking questions and scratching their heads. Most ask, “why now?” and “how long will the lake park, boat ramp and community swimming areas be closed over the summer?’ I hear you, so please allow me to weigh in on both questions.

Let us start with the “why now?” question. During a recent conversation with a friend of mine, I asked him to pick three months out of the year to start the bulkhead project. During our discussion, we decided the winter months would not be optimal because the plan includes about $30,000 of centipede sod. And, the fall months are not optimal because of the active hurricane season. Given the past four years’ fall weather track record, do you really want to risk a $500,000 project to unpredictable weather? No way!

So finally, we ended up saying, “I guess you are right … there really is no right time of the year to complete this project. So let’s get on with it and perhaps the weather will be favorable over the coming months.”

The bulkhead project is Phase II of the Hope Mills Lake Park Recreational Improvement Plan submitted by the Lake Advisory Committee and approved by the town board in 2018. The bulkhead structure addresses the erosion controls measures, as detailed in the United States Army Corps of Engineers Dam Permit, dated August 26, 2016. If you notice, there are several areas along the lakeside bank (cliff, as I call it) that are unsafe — mainly due to uncontrolled erosion of the ground areas.

Also detailed in the Army Corps of Engineers permit is the requirement to improve the lake park area for community recreational use. For example, item 17 states, “The plan should include detail improvements to the public use swimming area, piers/docks, and fishing and boat ramp areas, as well as plans for the museum project.” Therefore, the bulkhead project also includes re-sloping the grade of the lakeside bank/cliff, a new irrigation system throughout the park to feed the centipede sod, new stairs to access the swimming area, an access ramp compliant with the American’s with Disabilities Act and a new kayak/canoe entrance area into the lake. Moreover, more planned recreational improvements that do not require closure of the lake park will be completed once the project is finished.

Unfortunately, the lake park, boat ramp and swimming areas will be closed to complete the above listed lake park improvements. However, kayaks and canoes are permitted to use the lake — dependent on work progress. In addition, Big T’s and the public pier will remain open during the construction project.

Like you, I was looking forward to enjoying the lake park this year. Nevertheless, we must address the current and future erosion damage, or we will not have a lake park that is safe, ADA compliant and more aesthetically pleasing to everyone for years to come. After all, we have a first-class, national award-winning dam structure that has weathered not one, but several major storms since it was completed.

Our town manager, Melissa Adams, said it best: “There really is no optimal time for the lake to be closed for boating and swimming. While we understand there will be some inconvenience to the citizens and the many people that come to use our lake park, the project will result in a safe environment and help mitigate any further erosion damage to the lake embankment. Kayak and canoe access will be allowed to the greatest extent possible, dependent upon work location and progress. The town would like to thank the citizens in advance, for their patience and understanding for the duration of this project.”

Now the “how long” question. The simple answer here is all the required construction materials have been ordered. Once they arrive, the contractors — M&E Contracting of Fayetteville — have clearly stated they plan to work as “expeditiously as possible” to complete the bulkhead project with high quality standards in place.

The lake park is really going to look great once these projects are finished. So, cross your fingers and hope for nice weather.

Last Saturday was a big day here in Fayetteville, and spring means even bigger and better days are on the horizon. This month, this town is bursting with fun-filled days of carriage rides, music, great food, minor league baseball, Easter eggs, visual arts, local crafts, motorcycle rides, Dogwood queens, hockey games, river concerts, symphony concerts and even live theater performances featuring a Lion, a Witch or a Devil’s food CAKE.

The warmth and friendliness of this community and the Southern hospitality it radiates make me proud to call Fayetteville and Cumberland County home. The best way to experience it is to get out and immerse yourself in it.

Last Saturday, April 13, more than 2,500 people came downtown to get their first look at the city’s new baseball stadium and home of the Fayetteville Woodpeckers, our Class A minor league team affiliate of the Houston Astros. Based on the comments and the smiles and laughter of the young and young at heart, this event was a major league home run. Congratulations to our city officials and the dozens of people who made the day happen.

The AsONE Prayer Walk and festivities took place in Festival Park that same day. There, too, music, food and fun were the order of the day as this annual pre-Easter event reminded us that love, empathy and compassion continue to play a vital role in humanity.

Across the street from Festival Park, at Gallery 208, Up & Coming Weekly hosted an event of a different nature. The Crown Coliseum board was gracious enough to let us borrow the commemorative photos and plaques documenting Elvis Presley’s visit to Fayetteville in August 1976, when he performed for three nights in a row at Cumberland Memorial Auditorium.

These mementos also honored him after his death on Aug. 16, 1977, just nine days before he was to return to Fayetteville to a sold-out concert scheduled for Aug. 25. Dozens upon dozens of disappointed, shocked and saddened Elvis fans donated their ticket refunds in his honor to purchase special medical equipment to aid cardiac patients at Cape Fear Valley Hospital. The names of all those dedicated and generous Presley fans are on those plaques.

Those mementos are very important to our community, and they went missing around 2008 when the complex was undergoing major renovations.

PWC employee and devoted Presley fan Phil Barnard realized they were no longer displayed in the auditorium. He posed the “what happened to them?” question to longtime Fayetteville Observer columnist Bill Kirby, who made it his quest to find the answer. After talking with several people familiar with the history of the facility, Kirby contacted former Coliseum Manager Paul Beard, who at the time of the Presley concert was the facility manager of the complex under General Manager Rick Reno.

Beard is a Fayetteville resident and currently the general manager of the Florence Civic Center in Florence, South Carolina. Beard not only knew where they were — he had preserved them and placed them in storage for nearly 11 years.

Beard knew these Presley mementos represented one of the greatest entertainment performances ever held in Fayetteville, and he didn’t want to risk them being discarded as trash or destroyed. It was more than a decade before anyone even knew they were gone.

Both Kirby and Beard were on hand at Gallery 208 Saturday. Coincidently, all three of us were in our 20s when this amazing hunka hunka of burning love hit this town like a tornado and spent three days entertaining and honoring our military families in a community he couldn’t wait to get back to.

The amazing talent of Presley is, no doubt, lost to this younger generation. That’s all the more reason to preserve memories and unique treasures like these. Kirby hopes the Crown Coliseum will work with him to restore and display these mementos to amplify the significance of Presley’s presence here when he came to the Fayetteville community.

I doubt that Presley, when on tour, did many three-night stands in any one city or town like he did here. So, I’m with Kirby. Let’s build that display and honor the King!

Special thanks to everyone who came by, especially Robin Johnson, who brought out her mother’s full, lifelong collection of Elvis memorabilia. It included an Aug. 17, 1977, edition of The Fayetteville Observer with an “above the fold” photo of then 24-yearold Hope Mills resident Milton Smith, a talented pianist who was to go on tour with Elvis. Smith never got to meet him.

Thanks also to Joe Riddle for coming by and checking out the Elvis albums and to Barnard and his wife Mary, who got this party started by asking the question.

A special thanks to Rocket Fizz Soda Pop and Candy Shop at Marketplace for setting everything up — Elvis style.

Thanks to all our readers, especially the three gentlemen from Cleveland, Ohio, who came by after reading the Elvis article in last week’s Up & Coming Weekly at the Holiday Inn on I-95. And... thank you for reading Up & Coming Weekly.

Photo:  L to R: Up & Coming Weekly Publisher Bill Bowman, former Coliseum Manager Paul Beard and Fayetteville Observer columnist Bill Kirby.

Instead of receiving unwanted catalogs and junk mail, imagine going to the mailbox and finding an original artwork the size of a postcard, addressed to you, from someone who lives in Bulgaria. Now imagine receiving five to six postcards each day, until you have more than 80, from strangers who live in our region, nationally and internationally. That’s the process that took place for “STOP IT! An International Mail Art Exhibition,” opening Tuesday, April 23, at Gallery 208, 208 Rowan St.

The exhibit is traveling from Fayetteville State University’s Rosenthal Gallery, where 85 works were exhibited this March after a call for art went out in December 2018.

The call for art invited women from around the world to participate by creating an image on a postcard that illustrates any local, national or international issue of their concern. They were then directed to send it through the mail to its destination: Fayetteville, North Carolina.

The work was not sent to the gallery in an envelope. Instead, artwork had to go through the postal system in the postcard format and have an authentic postal stamp on its front or back upon arrival. As it went through the postal system, coming from another country or locally, every postal employee whose hand touched the card could see the work before it arrived at the gallery. In this way, all those postal employees were part of the mail art process.

Creating works of art on postcards and sending them in the mail to someone, a practice that started in the 1950s, became known as mail art and had grown into a movement by the ’60s. Although social media can appear similar in some ways to mail art, what makes mail art different is the tactile experience of opening your mailbox and the surprise of receiving something created for you. It is not considered mail art until it is delivered to the post office.

The purpose of mail art, then and now, is the creation of an inclusive scope that allows any artist to participate. Mail art artists appreciate the challenge of working on the limited postcard size along with the interconnection with other artists within a medium that promotes an egalitarian way of creating. The mail art process sidesteps entry fees, the art market and galleries.

“STOP IT!” is a different type of gallery experience. The exhibit represents the voice of a collective coming together to have their voices heard in an art form.

All the participants in the exhibit became part of a nonhierarchical, uncensored call for art and social activism by addressing any concern they have for a local, regional, national or international issue that needs to be stopped.

Visitors should plan on spending time in the gallery. The works are small, and many artists have written text on the stamp side (which is also displayed).

As the postcards arrived at the gallery, it became evident there were repeated issues of concern. At the discretion of the curator, liberty was taken to group the work into themes to create a sense of order in the gallery space. Eightyfour works are grouped by themes and also by geographic location — regional (Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina), national and international.

As a collective, the concerns of the women in “STOP IT!” fall into the following categories: stopping violence against women and children; environmental issues; the empowerment of women and individuals; cultural awareness; politics; mental and physical health; and the influence of technology on identity.

Whether it is Suzanne Coles from Michigan, who addresses homelessness through the medium of photography, or Shennaire Williams from Jamaica, who addresses human trafficking with a computer-generated image, each artist is part of the collective voices of women.

Many artists, like Radosveta Zhelyazkova from Bulgaria, focused on stopping violence against women and children. Zhelyazkova sent in two acrylic paintings, each a portrait of a woman. The figure on the card reflects on stopping violence against women. Six local artists created original works in a variety of mediums to address this same issue: Angela Stout, Ria Westphal, Tracy O’Conner, Missy Jenkins, Leslie Pearson and Jacqueline Caldwell.

Many artists in the exhibit addressed the issue of saving the environment. Alexandra Uccusic from Vienna sent an original drawing to illustrate stopping the exploitation of the seas. Katsura Okada from New York created a mixed-media collage addressing the problem of the way plastic kills sea life. Several local artists sent in beautifully crafted works about saving the environment: Susanna Davis, Rose-Ann San Martino, Nordea Hess, Manuela Smith and Martha Sisk.

Many national and regional artists addressed themes of empowerment and identity. Two high school students, Bryanna Rivera and Alyssa Mincey, addressed discrimination toward identity and how technology influences a sense of identity. Kyle Harding, a high school art teacher, also addressed the issue of technology’s influence on a student’s identity.

There are too many wonderful works within many themes and too many artists to mention them all in this short article. There will be plenty of time for visitors interested in seeing “STOP IT!” at Gallery 208, since the exhibit will remain up until mid-June 2019.

The public is invited to the opening reception of “STOP IT!” Tuesday, April 23, at Gallery 208, located at 208 Rowan St. The opening reception will be 5:30-7 p.m., and many of the local artists who participated in the exhibit will be there. The gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call 910-484-6200.

Saturday, April 27, the Hogs and Rags team is turning up the heat on what is shaping up to be their best event yet. This year will be the 14th year of cars and motorcycles coming together for a great day of fun. Spicing things up this year, there will be a skydiving demonstration by the Special Forces Association Parachute Team.

People often ask, “What is Hogs and Rags?” Chances are, you will never get the same answer twice. For some people, it is the largest car and motorcycle rally in the state. For others, it is a great fundraiser. For some, it is a good start to the Fayetteville Dogwood Festival.

For the charities that benefit from the event’s donations, it is a blessing. For the volunteers, it is all part of giving back to the community. No matter how people get involved, one thing everyone does say is that Hog and Rags is a great event and a lot of fun.

At 7:30 a.m. on the morning of Hogs and Rags, downtown Fayetteville will be humming with cars and motorcycles — all heading to the starting point at the Airborne & Special Operations Museum. Here, there is an atmosphere of excitement and energy as anticipation builds for a fun day on the road.

Bobby Bleecker of Bleecker Automotive Group and a small army of volunteers will be signing up riders, handing out hundreds of Hogs and Rags T-shirts, selling raffle tickets, offering up coffee and doughnuts, and lining up hundreds of cars and motorcycles for the drive to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

The community support is incredible, with appearances by the Fayetteville Dogwood Queens, community leaders and surprise guests. This year’s grand marshal is David Lane, general manager of the Fayetteville Woodpeckers baseball team, and his wife, Lindsey.

Fort Bragg Harley-Davidson is again the Hogs and Rags premier sponsor. Tom Evcic of Fort Bragg Harley-Davidson will be this year’s ride captain.

Before things kick off, Evcic will give a motorcycle safety briefing, and Hogs and Rags committee member David Ross will give a car safety brief. Once the engines roar, the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office will lead the convoy.

It’s a fast-paced day like no other. Before long, the convoy will be rolling up to Rock’n-A-Ranch, where Hogs and Rags co-founder Gardner Altman and his team of volunteers will greet the riders and serve the best “low-country-breakfast” in the Carolinas.

After a great breakfast, the Bladen County Sheriff’s Office will have participants off and running toward Columbus County, where the sheriff’s office will take riders on to the South Carolina border for a quick stop and water break.

For the motorcyclist who enjoys riding without a helmet, there will be an opportunity to take them off here. Then, the Horry County Sheriff’s Office will provide an escort for the final leg to Wild Wing Café at Barefoot Landing in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, for food, fellowship and fun.

During the evening meal, the Hogs and Rags organizers will keep the fun rolling with raffles and other activities — to include gun raffles, a 50/50 cash raffle and some exciting auction items.

This year, the Hogs and Rags community will raise money for the Special Forces Charitable Trust, which provides support to our brave Special  Cancer Society, which provides scientific, financial and emotional support to those touched by cancer; and the Kidsville News Literacy and Education Foundation, which donates reading and educational material to every student from kindergarten to sixth grade in Cumberland County.

The Hogs and Rags community will hold its popular preregistration party in Fayetteville at Mac’s Speed Shop, 482 N McPherson Church Rd., on Friday, April 26, from 6:30-9 p.m. Register at Mac’s and enjoy a night of music and dancing. If you cannot make the Saturday ride, come enjoy the party. You can still support this organization by purchasing raffle tickets and making donations. Admission to the party is free.

This ride is for all brands of motorcycles and vehicles, and it’s happening rain or shine. Although rain is always a possibility, you can still jump in your car, come on out and enjoy the day.

Last year was the biggest and most successful event to date. Due to the size of the event, this year’s ride will be limited to 400 participants — so preregistration is encouraged.

Saturday, April 27, the event starts at the Airborne & Special Operations Museum at 7:30 a.m. As part of the Fayetteville Dogwood Festival, the excitement builds from there. Show up with a full tank of gas and dress appropriately for the weather. The cost of the ride is $50 per person, which pays for the breakfast en route, lunch at Wild Wings Café and the 2019 Hogs and Rags T-shirt. 

Visit www.hogsandrags.org to preregister, and check out the Facebook page at Hogs and Rags of Fayetteville for more information. You can also call 910-988-3510 to speak with someone who can answer any questions.

Meetings

For details about all meetings and activities, including location where not listed, call Town Clerk Jane Starling at 910-426-4113.

• Historic Preservation Commission Wednesday, April 10, 5 p.m., Parks and Recreation Center

• Mayor’s Youth Leadership Monday, April 15, 6 p.m., Parks and Recreation Center

• Board of Commissioners Monday, April 15, 7 p.m., Luther Meeting Room

• Citizens Academy Tuesday, April 16, 6 p.m., Parks and Recreation Center

• Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee Monday, April 22, 6:30 p.m.,

Parks and Recreation Center

• Citizens Academy Tuesday, April 23, 6 p.m., Town Hall

• Appearance Commission Tuesday, April 23, 6:30 p.m., Parks and Recreation Center

•Veterans Affairs Commission Thursday, April 25, 6 p.m., Parks and Recreation Center

• Citizens Academy Tuesday, April 30, 6 p.m., Town Hall

Activities

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

Promote yourself

Email hopemills@upandcomingweekly.com.

Three Cumberland County high school athletes are among 31 from North Carolina who have been named this year’s winners of the Heart of a Champion Award by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association.

The three from the county are Austin Hunt and Chloe Arnette of Cape Fear High School and Earl “Early Bird” Horan IV from Gray’s Creek High School.

Each of the three was nominated by their respective schools for outstanding displays of sportsmanship.

Hunt and Horan have a direct connection in their respective awards. Horan is a special needs student at Gray’s Creek who competes in both wrestling and Unified Track. Unified Track is a recent addition to the Cumberland County athletic program that offers track and field competition for the special needs population.

Hunt plays football and wrestles for Cape Fear. He and Horan met in a preliminary match between Cape Fear and Gray’s Creek this season, and Horan came away with the victory.

“What a great guy,’’ said Horan’s father, Earl Horan III, of Hunt. “He always has time for Early Bird.’’

Hunt praised the younger Horan for never holding back. “He always tries to do the best he can,’’ Hunt said. “The only thing that can stop him is himself. He goes out and chases his dreams.’’

The senior Horan said he was moved to tears when he received the letter from the NCHSAA informing him that his son had been named a Heart of a Champion winner.

Horan IV was honored earlier this year at the Patriot Athletic Conference wrestling meet as the most inspirational wrestler. He received a similar award at the NCHSAA regional wrestling competition.

“People appreciate his spunk and his bravery,’’ the senior Horan said. “He’s very driven to win and tries his hardest. He doesn’t understand he wins just by showing up.’’ Horan said he also appreciated the way other people in area treat Early Bird.

“I see his chest fill up with air and (him) walk down the hallway with a sense of pride,’’ Horan said. “He gets phone calls from friends and everything.’’

Including Hunt, some of younger Earl’s telephone friends include former Pine Forest football standout Julian Hill, now at Campbell University, and Payton Wilson, Hillsborough Orange football standout who’s now a freshman at North Carolina State.

“Without sounding pious, it’s reaffirming of the human race,’’ senior Horan said.

Cape Fear’s Arnette was honored for her diplomatic approach on the tennis court in dealing with lesser opponents in an understanding way.One of the best players in the Patriot Athletic Conference, Arnette never looks down on the opposition or makes them feel inferior.

“I make sure the growing teams are doing their best,’’ Arnette said, “that they’re having fun and need time to grow.’’ She adopts the same attitude toward her teammates. “If they are down I always try to pick them up, no matter what the situation or circumstances,’’ she said.

Hunt, Horan and Arnette will be honored with the other Heart of a Champion winners at a luncheon Saturday, April 13, at the Sheraton-Chapel Hill Hotel.

“We are honored to pause and recognize this group of 31 student athletes that have consistently demonstrated the values and traits that we hope all student athletes learn through our programs,’’ said Que Tucker, NCHSAA commissioner, in a prepared statement. “This group of award winners are to be commended for their commitment to excellence in sportsmanship and citizenship.’’

Photo:  Austin Hunt (L) and Earl “Early Bird” Horan IV (R)