I’m surprised there has not been a TV network created just to accommodate what seems to be an overwhelming proliferation of incivility in America. There are literally dozens of networks that create programing about topics of every kind. There are programs about food, yoga, weird science, smoothies, exercise equipment, cars, trucks and gardening. I could go on, but you get my point. This being the case, it seems reasonable to have a network that could house channels that find companies willing to sponsor shows that disseminate insults, accusations and indictments with such authority that no one dares challenge the content for fear of retribution.

Watching TV, especially the news and news-related shows, is like viewing the world after it became infected with a terrible virus.

More and more, we seem to be subjected to behavior and media sound bites that are uncharacteristically and unjustifiably cruel, negative and combative. For the life of me, I cannot identify when decent, God-fearing Americans became so insensitive to and intolerant of each other’s rights, feelings and opinions. When did respect, courtesy, manners and politeness go out of fashion in America? When did logic, common sense and the art of compromise fall by the wayside along with respectable conversation and thoughtful debate?

I guess a more critical question should be: How can we get it back?

I refuse to think that this is not possible, even though we are subjected to senseless and hateful behavior daily.

To my point, set aside for one moment your religion, race and personal political convictions. None of these things will matter if the America we live in, the nation that grants and allows us to enjoy those “unalienable rights,” collapses under the weight of ignorance, unbridled greed and crazy ideological self-aggrandizement.

And, that’s all happening right now across this country. Imagine America, no, better yet, imagine Fayetteville without a police or sheriff’s department. With no EMS or fire department. Imagine a Fayetteville totally void of law enforcement and first responders. Imagine a Fayetteville where no one had to work to earn a living but had unrestricted access to other people’s possessions and personal property.

With no law enforcement, there would be no jail or justice system. No laws. No rules. What would remain? A community of chaos overrun with criminals, murderers, rapists, child molesters and drug dealers – all having unrestrained access to everything you hold near and dear. I’m not talking about money, personal possessions, land or buildings. I’m referring to those constitutionally protected unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Those are the things that really matter, not red states, blue states, votes, money or power. Hate speak, intolerance and bad behavior are no different or more acceptable today than the refusing of four young black protesters at a lunch counter at a Greensboro, North Carolina, Woolworth store in 1960. Do we as Americans really want to go back there? I think not.

So, what’s the solution?

I have no idea.

But, I do know this: We all would be better off remembering and practicing the golden rule. As a noun, it means “a principle implemented or followed to assure success.” Biblically, it has a more relevant meaning. It’s the willingness to love thy neighbor as thy self. We are all faced with injustices, injuries, disappointments, betrayals and frustrations. Handling these situations and loving those who we believe to be the source of the anguish may be the first step back to civility. We need to have patience and take the high road when facing adversity. We must harness our anger and need for retaliation. The golden rule would remind us to be tolerant and to seek peaceful solutions to problems. Ever since we were children, we have been told to follow the golden rule. Well, today that advice is as relevant as it ever was. Probably even more so. God bless America!

Thank you for reading the Up & ComingWeekly.

PHOTO CREDIT: Ben White on Unsplash

Fort Bragg is home to many of our nation’s veterans. Many of them have sacrificed and shed blood for our country. Often, they have spent their adult lives serving. These heroes and their families deserve our thanks, and the Sandhills Purple Heart Dinner is designed to do just that. The Sandhills Purple Heart Committee presents the second annual Purple Heart Dinner Saturday, Aug. 18, from 5-8 p.m. at the Crown Complex Charlie Rose Agri-Expo Center.

The event is open to the public and offers the rare opportunity to sit among dozens of heroes and hear their stories – and let them know just how much we appreciate their service and sacrifice. The focus of the dinner is to honor and thank Purple Heart recipients as well as Gold Star mothers and families of service members killed in action.

The Purple Heart is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the president to those wounded or killed while serving with the U. S. military. It is a heart-shaped medal within a gold border containing a profile of General George Washington. Above the heart appears a shield of the coat of arms of George Washington (a white shield with two red bars and three red stars in chief) between sprays of green leaves. It was established by George Washington in 1782 as the Badge of Military Merit. The Purple Heart’s order includes the phrase “Let it be known that he who wears the military order of the Purple Heart has given of his blood in the defense of his homeland and shall forever be revered by his fellow countrymen.” It truly is a badge of honor, one most would not set out to earn.

“We want the community that the military lives and works in to honor the sacrifices that the military have made, whether it’s a Purple Heart because you’ve been wounded in action, a Gold Star mother who has lost a child, or if you are a family member of someone killed in action,” said Laura Downing, Gold Star mother liaison and a major with the Fayetteville Police Department. “It’s all military branches – Army, Navy, Coast Guard and Air Force. We recognize all wars and actions taken anywhere.”

The dinner is inclusive, and the inaugural event was well-received. “Last year, we had individuals who fought in World War II, Vietnam, Korea and Operation Enduring Freedom,” Downing said.

While this is the second dinner of its kind locally, it is not a new concept. “There are already several Purple Heart dinners that have been held around the state for years,” said Downing. “Wake Forest is in their 10th year, and Charlotte has done it one year.”

Downing added that it is appropriate and especially meaningful to have a dinner in Fayetteville, considering the large military population here. “I think they were tweaking the other one before they brought it here because they knew this was going to be a much bigger event because of our population,” said Downing. “Last year, it was a huge success and there were military servicemen being honored from 20 years old to 80 years old.”

“A lot of our Purple Heart recipients have never been recognized – especially by the community,” said Michael Johnson, chair of the Purple Heart Dinner.

Johnson added that the organization has received requests from other cities like Goldsboro, Winston Salem and others.

“Many Purple Heart recipients don’t make it to the first dinner because they are reluctant and don’t know what it is really about, or they think they have to speak or something like that,” said Johnson. “Once the word gets out about the first one, the second one is generally larger than the first.”

At the event, each Purple Heart recipient – and their families, if they attend – are greeted. Families are escorted to their table. There is a private reception before the dinner just for the Purple Heart recipients. “It gives them a chance to sit and talk with each other about their experiences,” said Downing. “This is a safe environment, and there is a photo op for them to get their picture taken.”

After the reception, the recipients are escorted by Junior ROTC Cadets into the main hall where dinner is served. “We have something called a ‘Walk of Honor,’” said Johnson. “Cadets in full uniform march out, and they have sabers. As each Purple Heart recipient comes out, they walk through the saber salute, and we announce who they are, where they served, what branch (they were in) and where they received their Purple Heart.”

Several attendees have more than one Purple Heart. Some have had as many as five, six and seven Purple Hearts.

“Last year, we had two Medal of Honor recipients present the gift that we have at the end of the saber salute when they come out,” said Johnson. “This year, we will have another Medal of Honor recipient to do that, and that means so much to a Purple Heart recipient.”

Johnson added that this is a big part of the evening. “Instead of having celebrities or politicians come and speak, we chose to make this about the veterans, so we don’t have a keynote speaker.”

Part of that is because not every Purple Heart recipient had a ceremony where they received their Purple Heart Medal. Johnson said, “A Purple Heart recipient who is a friend of mine said that the way he received his medal was he came back from the field in Vietnam and found it on his bunk, because in the fog of war, when you come back to base, you only have a few hours before you go out again. Again, most Purple Heart recipients have never been thanked by the community.”

There are at least 476 Purple Heart recipients in the Fayetteville/Fort Bragg area. Reaching them all and having them all at the dinner may take time, but that is the goal. “Last year we had 160 Purple Heart recipients, and this year we have 69 so far,” said Downing. “We would love to have 200 recipients this year – that would be ideal. … This is the community’s way of saying thank you to Purple Heart recipients, and they do not have to pay for this; it does not cost them anything. Nobody that works on this event makes any money. We are all volunteers.”

What the volunteers hope to see is a big turnout from the general public. You don’t have to know or be related to a Purple Heart recipient to attend. “We really want the community to come and buy a ticket to eat a meal with a hero,” said Downing.

Sponsorships are available. For more information on that, contact Sarah Reid at 910-709-2858 or sandhillsphdinnersponsorships@gmail.com.

There are three RSVP options on the website, www.sandhillsphdinner.com. The “Purchase Tickets” button is for the general public to purchase a ticket that will include a meal. The “PH RSVP” button is for Purple Heart recipients to let the event organizers know they will be attending. There is no cost, but registration is required so the veteran can be honored in the “Walk of Honor.” The “GSM RSVP” button is for Gold Star Mothers to register to attend the event.

Ticket price for the public is $25. For more information, call 910-438-4100.

One of the responsibilities that parents take most seriously is protecting their children from injury, whether it is buckling seat belts in a car or wearing a helmet while riding a bike. When their kids become teenagers and want to participate in sports or other activities, parents do everything they can to keep their sons and daughters from getting hurt.

But not all injuries are caused by a twist, fall, collision or accident. Many are caused when young athletes repeat the same athletic activity so often that muscles, ligaments, tendons and bones don’t have time to recover – especially among middle school and high school students. These injuries can end promising careers, cost families tens of thousands of dollars, squash dreams and literally change lives.

Examples include elbow and arm injuries to teenagers who play baseball or softball all year long, shoulder injuries to year-round swimmers, wrist and elbow injuries to gymnasts and stress fractures to soccer players.

The culprit, most often, is what’s commonly known as “sport specialization,” the process of playing the same sport all year long with the goal of either gaining a competitive edge or earning a college scholarship. It involves intense, year-round training in a single sport.

Research shows that sport specialization is putting teenage athletes at risk. According to a study commissioned by the National Federation of State High School Associations and conducted by researchers from the University of Wisconsin, high school athletes who specialize in a single sport are 70 percent more likely to suffer an injury during their playing season than those who play multiple sports.

The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons says much the same. It reports that “overuse injuries” (injuries caused when an athletic activity is repeated so often that parts of the body do not have enough time to heal) are responsible for nearly half of all sports injuries to middle school and high school students.

There is a solution. Young athletes should be encouraged to play multiple sports.

When student-athletes cross-train, they work different muscle groups and joints, which, in fact, results in better overall conditioning. They also develop a new set of athletic skills like hand-eye coordination, balance, endurance, explosion and agility that are transferable to their primary sport. It’s no coincidence that 30 of the 32 first-round picks in the 2017 National Football League draft played multiple sports in high school.

Parents can play a key role in preventing these overuse injuries by encouraging their kids to play multiple sports rather than pushing them to specialize in one sport. They will have more fun, will be less likely to suffer burnout and will actually become better athletes.

E.E. Smith came within one win of a worst-to-first turnaround in football last season.

Deron Donald’s Golden Bulls tied for last place in the old Mid-South 4-A Conference in 2016, only to finish in a tie for second place in the Patriot Athletic Conference last season, going 9-4 and earning a first-round state 4-A playoff win over West Carteret.

“We want to continue what we’ve started,’’ said Donald.

Smith will be hard-pressed to repeat the performance this year as the Golden Bulls were seniorheavy in 2017 and suffered major graduation losses.

“We had a big senior class and they all played vital roles in our success,’’ Donald said. “Right now we’re trying to find some true leaders, people that can carry the torch and keep it going in the right direction.’’

Among the biggest departures was versatile quarterback Xeavier Bullock, who earned a scholarship at Fayetteville State University. He was one of two 2,000-yard passers in the Patriot Conference last season, throwing for 2,165 yards and 22 touchdowns with only five interceptions.

The heir apparent to Bullock at quarterback is senior Angel Holden. Holden saw limited action last season, getting a chance to play quarterback when Bullock was briefly sidelined by injury. Holden completed eight of 15 passes for 141 yards and a touchdown while throwing no interceptions.

“His approach and offseason preparation has been excellent,’’ Donald said of Holden. “We hope he can be the leader we know he can be and keep it going in the right direction.’’

Smith’s top returner at any position is the talented Toshiro Spivey, wide receiver. Spivey had 37 catches for 612 yards and five touchdowns a year ago.

“We’re counting on him to do a lot of good things for us,’’ Donald said.

Spivey said he’s already been working with Holden during the spring to improve the chemistry between the two. “He can move, and he throws the ball very well,’’ Spivey said of Holden.

As for the whole team, despite the graduation losses, Spivey thinks the Golden Bulls learned a lot from the experience of going from 3-8 to 9-4 in one year.

“The key thing is the foundation is already laid,’’ Spivey said. “It’s all about building on it.’’

Although the Golden Bulls will be young this season, Spivey thinks the team will make up for lack of experience with a bundle of speed and overall athleticism.

By the time fall workouts officially open in a couple of weeks, Spivey is hopeful Smith will be cohesive. “I want everybody to know what we’re doing, what we’re fighting for,’’ he said, “everybody in one accord, one mindset.’’

The key for everyone will be gaining maturity quickly, Donald said. “There’s no one area of concern,’’ he said. “We’ve just got to grow up and grow up fast.’’

PHOTO: Toshiro Spivey

A group of student-athletes and chaperones from Cape Fear High School was among the 258 student-athletes from all over North Carolina participating in the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame’s Salute To Student-Athlete Program earlier this year.

The program recognized students from across the state and exposed them to the many positive lessons to be learned from North Carolina’s outstanding sports heritage.

Those attending from Cape Fear included student athletes Mark Burks, Jaylen Hudson, Matt Raynor, Walker Brittain, Amelia Shook and Taylor Melvin. The chaperones included Amey Shook and Kelly Melvin.

A total of 39 different schools from 21 different counties across the state were represented by the student-athletes who attended the program.

The two-day event included a special reception and attendance at ceremonies where the newest class of inductees to the N.C. Sports Hall of Fame were inducted at the Raleigh Convention Center. On the following day, the student-athletes toured the state’s hall of fame exhibition at the North Carolina Museum of History and participated in a seminar involving some of North Carolina’s most celebrated sports figures.

Speakers at the seminar included former UNCChapel Hill basketball star Phil Ford, former professional football star Jeff Bostic and a special panel discussion featuring several members of the induction class.

The student-athletes were invited to sign up for Hall Pass, a free program that offers special opportunities. Each Hall Pass member receives interesting information about the N.C. Sports Hall of Fame and the state’s sports heritage, including a monthly newsletter and special features in advance before the general public. Any student athlete can sign up to become a Hall Pass member by visiting www.ncshof.org and clicking on Hall Pass.

N.C. Sports Hall of Fame members being inducted this year included golfer Donna Andrews, former major league baseball player Scott Bankhead, Olympic speedskater Joey Cheek, former Duke football star Wes Chesson, champion surfer and basketball standout Mindy Ballou Fitzpatrick, football coach and administrator Bill Hayes, college baseball coach Mike Martin, major league umpire Joe West and Charlotte Hornets executive Fred Whitfield.

Posthumous inductees were high school coaching legends Jack Holley and Paul Jones, tennis standout Laura DuPont, former major league baseball players Hal “Skinny” Brown and Jakie May, and former N.C. State baseball all-American Chris Cammack of Fayetteville.

PHOTO: L to R: Dr. Jerry McGee, Lilly Terwilliger, Mark Burks, Jaylen Hudson, Tyler Britt, Amelia Shook.

David Tepper, new owner of the Carolina Panthers, met with the media last week after the sale of the team was finalized.

One of the subjects he discussed was a desire to see the Panthers’ Bank of America Stadium host state high school championship games.

Charlotte hasn’t hosted a football final since 1987 when Garner beat Charlotte Harding 40-21 at Memorial Stadium.

I don’t have a problem with moving some state football finals to Bank of America Stadium, but not at the expense of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association ending its relationship with Duke, Wake Forest, NC State and UNC to hold championship games at their stadiums.

The NCHSAA has eight football title games each year. The question would be who plays where.

With Winston-Salem (Wake Forest) and Charlotte in the mix, you’d have two venues that would qualify as western in orientation. One thing that could enter into the equation is seeding. You could give “home” field preference, East vs. West, for the finals to whoever is the higher seeded team.

The big plus with eight games, if you use all five venues every year, is two venues will only get a maximum of one game. Not having to share a stadium for a second game would be nice for the competing schools.

It’s an offer worth exploring, and I thank Tepper for making it.

On another note – congratulations to Jarvis Cobb, who has been named the varsity boys basketball coach at Douglas Byrd High School. Cobb comes to the Eagles after serving as junior varsity coach at Hoke County. In addition to coaching basketball, Cobb will teach career and technical education at Byrd.

A long-awaited sidewalk project has started along Rockfish Road in Hope Mills. The only problem is it will create traffic congestion along the busy road that goes past major town buildings during the roughly two months the project will be in progress.

Mayor Jackie Warner said it’s been about five years since the town got the initial grant to pay for the sidewalk that will cover about 1,100 feet alongside Rockfish Road near Town Hall and the Hope Mills Recreation Center.

Most of the funding for the sidewalk came from a grant from the Department of Transportation, which Warner said was the first DOT grant Hope Mills had ever received.

Unfortunately, there have been multiple delays with the project since its approval, from paperwork problems to engineering issues to having a tough time finding a contractor, as too many projects repairing damage caused by Hurricane Matthew were in the works.

There was a time the town even considered giving the grant money back because of a possibility the sidewalk could be constructed and then Rockfish Road might one day be widened, forcing destruction of the new sidewalk.

Warner said the town finally decided not to return the grant money and to use it for the purpose it was received.

The sidewalk is part of a long-range goal to connect the Rockfish Road area with South Main Street and eventually Trade Street.

Warner said the eventual aim is for people to be able to walk all the way from the area around Town Hall and the Recreation Center down to Hope Mills Lake and the Trade Street businesses.

This ties in with the town’s multimodal congestion program, which is aimed at making the whole Main Street area pedestrian-friendly with more sidewalks and bike trails, giving the public more options for getting around so they can leave their cars at home and hopefully reduce vehicle traffic.

Warner said it was easy to apply for the initial grant for sidewalks on Rockfish Road because of the neighborhood it was located in.

“The number of kids that live in the neighborhood can walk to school or have access to the school, library and gym (at the recreation center),’’ she said.

Hector Cruz, who heads up public works for the town of Hope Mills, said the construction crew is aiming to have the sidewalk done by mid-August, but he indicated he wouldn’t be surprised if it takes longer than that.

Barring any major complications, Cruz said, the construction work will take place from around 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and traffic will be reduced to one lane while the crews are out.

The major problem that will slow the work down, aside from weather delays, is the large amount of underground utilities in the area, including gas, fiber optics, water and sewer.

“They are marked, but when you start digging, you find something else,’’ he said.

He said the crew encountered fiber optic cables a couple of weeks ago that were marked, but the marking didn’t indicate how far below the ground they were. That forced the digging to stop, and an engineer had to be brought in to sort the problem out.

Another problem will be that portions of the sidewalk will require the installation of storm drains. “It’s a matter of getting curb, gutter and sidewalk built,’’ Cruz said.

Meetings

For details about all meetings and activities, including location where not listed, call Town Clerk Jane Starling at 910-426-4113. Most meetings take place at Town Hall or the Hope Mills Parks and Recreation center.

• Parks and Recreation Advisory Monday, July 23, 6:30 p.m.

• Board of Commissioners Monday, July 23, 7 p.m. at Town Hall in the Bill Luther Meeting Room.

• Appearance Committee Tuesday, July 24, 7 p.m.

• Veterans Affairs Commission Thursday, July 26, 7 p.m.

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.

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

• Wine-Tasting, Cheese and Appetizers Saturday, July 28, 5-8 p.m. Held at the Boarding House Tea Room, 3903 Ellison St., at the corner of W. Patterson Street across from Hope Mills YMCA. Open to the public once there is a 10-person commitment. Mix and mingle in cozy and quaint surroundings. Tasty hors d’oeuvres and vintage treasures available. Call Carla at 910-527-7455 to make reservations.

Promote yourself: Email hopemills@upandcomingweekly.com.

It was an idea first floated by Chris Rey, the former mayor of Spring Lake, when he became chairman of the Cumberland County Mayors Coalition about five years ago. Rey’s dream was to have a countywide meeting of all of the elected officials, from city and county government up to those serving in state office in Raleigh.

Next month, that dream will finally come to pass when county leaders meet Thursday, Aug. 9, at the Crown Complex ballroom for ethics training and an economic development presentation.

The August meeting was the brainchild of Cliff Turpin, mayor of Falcon, who currently chairs the Mayors Coalition. Vice-chair Jackie Warner, the mayor of Hope Mills, said Turpin made the countywide meeting a project when he first took over as chairman.

“It was brought up that we have to go for ethics training and each municipality goes at their own chosen time,’’ Warner said. “Some municipalities don’t go together and don’t hear the same things.’’

Warner said a plan was developed to bring all the county’s elected officials, from mayors to board members to state representatives, together for the ethics training.

Warner said the idea is to show that all the municipalities and state and county government representatives are unified and want Cumberland County to flourish.

“The conversations we’re having are some of the best conversations we’ve had since I’ve been mayor,’’ Warner said. “It’s amazing all the mayors can sit down and talk about each community, but we can also talk about Cumberland County as a whole. We’ve not done that before.’’

Warner said the ethics training was planned well in advance so as many elected officials from the county as possible could clear their schedules and make sure to be able to attend.

Warner hopes the Mayors Coalition has set an example for others who will be attending the meeting by checking loyalty to a particular political party at the door.

“I’m coming as Hope Mills mayor, not as which party I belong to,’’ Warner said. “Working together for Cumberland County, we’ll all benefit. The Mayors Coalition has set the example for that. We are a mix of all parties, and what’s happened is we’ve been able to work not only together but effectively.’’

The ethics training that will be part of the meeting next month is required by state law. Newly elected representatives get training geared especially for them while those who’ve been re-elected get a refresher course.

The ethics sessions will be led by two live presenters, Frayda Bluestein and Norma Houston of the University of North Carolina School of Government in Chapel Hill.

Warner said it’s important for local government leaders to hear the same ethics presentation.

“If we’ve all sat down and listened to the same training, we’ll come away hopefully with the same set of values,” she said.

The ethics topics cover a variety of areas, Warner said, from conflict of interest to open and closed meetings.

“This is the accepted way you should be doing things,’’ Warner said. “With the public eye on us all the time, I think people need to be aware of what they can or can’t do or what they should do.’’

Warner said ethics is about learning how to perform the job with the greater good in mind and not just performing political favors for the people who helped get you elected.

“I have to make good decisions and our board has to make good decisions based on the whole city,’’ Warner said. “This ethics training shows you’ve got to make good decisions based on things you know are right, not on those tugs you’re being pulled by.’’

The training also deals with situations when an elected leader should recuse himself or herself from a vote because of a possible conflict of interest. But Warner said there’s also a lesson to be learned about not wanting to vote.

“You can’t arbitrarily say ‘I don’t want to vote for this,’ unless there’s a conflict of interest,’’ Warner said.

Warner said she’s glad the upcoming ethics session will have live presenters so people can ask questions and everyone can hear the same answers.

“The big reason for us getting this group together is so we can all meet each other and start thinking about a unified county, working together instead of in isolation,’’ she said.

PHOTO: Hope Mills Mayor, Jackie Warner.

With temperatures reaching well into the 90s, enjoy the summer with a little fresh air – and a lot of aquatic adventures. From epic water slides to relaxing river cruises, Cumberland County offers countless alternatives to your backyard pool in the way of affordable waterside fun.

Home of the famous Tarzan Swings, Jump Tower and Master Blaster Slides, Fantasy Lake is the perfect place to find a little adventure. While the children cruise down the mellow Banana Slides, sit back and relax in one of several porch swings over the lake or grill out at one of three picnic areas on-site. Let your little ones discover Fantasy Land, a smaller version of Fantasy Lake perfect for elementary school-aged children. Fantasy Lake is located at 5869 Permastone Lake Rd. in Hope Mills. Tickets are $10 for ages 3-10 and ages 60 and up or $16 for ages 11-59.

For a carefree day on the water, try a boat ride on the Cape Fear River. Captained by U.S. Coast Guard Commander Freddie Mims, these cruises come in 2-, 4- and 8-hour packages and vary in price depending on group size. Military and senior discounts, not to mention free rides for children under the age of 12, make these daytrips the perfect getaway for your family. Call 910-709-1758 for tickets and information.

Grab your life jacket and test out your kayaking skills on the great Cape Fear. Cape Fear River Adventures in Lillington offers kayaking and canoeing, white water kayaking, rafting and lazy-river tubing. Enjoy a trip lasting anywhere from an hour to two days, or take a group of 12 or more on a teambuilding retreat. Open seven days a week mid-May through August, trips vary in cost according to the amount of time spent on the water. Call 919-495-5555 to reserve your trip.

Waldo’s Beach features a family-friendly water park, fishing area and year-round RV campground. This exciting recreation area offers a variety of activities, to include waterslides, a lazy river and a shaded picnic area. The campground offers power and free Wi-Fi, not to mention hot showers and coin laundry machines to help you clean up after a long day at the pool. Daily water park tickets are $10 for ages 10 and under and $12 for ages 12 and up. Camp rates are $38 for a day, $245 for a week and $565-$595 for a month. Waldo’s Beach is located at 6742 Waldo’s Beach Rd. in Fayetteville.

Fayetteville has several public pools that are open through Labor Day. Head over to Chalmers Pool at 1520 Slater Ave. to enjoy a six-lane lap pool, water playground and an open wading pool. For your little ones, try the Splash Pad at Kiwanis Recreation Center at 352 Devers St. The Keith A. Bates, Sr. Pool at 4945 Rosehill Rd. features a kiddie pool, a six-lane lap pool and a 24-foot enclosed water slide. The Westover Aquatic Center is located at 266 Bonanza Dr. and is home to an 8-lane competition pool, a water slide and a wading pool.

The Spring Lake Outpost offers daily kayak adventures along the lower Little River. Veteran-owned and open seven days a week, the Outpost offers short-route trips, which are 3 miles long and take two hours to complete, and long-route trips, which are 6 miles long and take 4 hours to complete. Alternative adventures, such as Sunset Paddles and “Slo Glow,” are also available. Walk-up on the weekend or reserve your weekday trip at www.springlakeoutpost.com.

PHOTO: Fantasy Lake in Hope Mills is home to the famous Tarzan Swings, Jump Tower and Master Blaster Slides.

The Career Development Center at Fayetteville Technical Community College is a place where curriculum and continuing education students, as well as individuals in the community, receive assistance in searching for and securing employment.

The CDC benefits individuals by offering services such as job searches, career assessments, seminars, job fairs and information sessions with employers. The CDC also refers individuals to the Human Resource Development Employability Lab for additional assistance with services like resume writing, interviewing and improving workplace soft skills.

The CDC also hosts employer seminars. The seminars consist of specific employers coming onsite at FTCC and talking with students about what it is that they are looking for in job candidates for their companies. The employers discuss the different skills, training and/or education needed in order for candidates to be ideal for a specific position within a company. Employers also often set up a Q&A forum where students can ask their own questions to employers.

A great tool that the CDC uses to assist employers as well as individuals is the College Central Network. Employers utilize the CCN database to post company information and available positions as well as recruit candidates for employment. Students utilize the database to post their profiles and resumes and view available positions posted by employers. The ultimate goal of this database is to meet the needs of students and employers by housing helpful information.

Another function of the CDC is collaborating with the different departmental areas and assisting with job fairs throughout the semester. Job fairs are an excellent way for students to meet with employers in their field of study. Students benefit from attending job fairs through opportunities to network, gain exposure and, in some cases, conduct on-the-spot interviewing.

The CDC is located inside the Center for Business and Industry building at the Fayetteville campus, Room 135, and the hours of operation are from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

FTCC is currently registering students for fall classes in both curriculum (transfer) and corporate and continuing education (non-transfer) programs of study. Curriculum fall classes begin Aug. 20, and the class schedule for fall programs of study in corporate and continuing education is available at www.faytechcc.edu.

The class schedule lists all the available programs and classes along with information about class start dates, cost, course description, location and more. From the home page of FTCC’s website, click “Corporate and Continuing Education” and then “Class Schedule” to see the broad range of programs available this fall.

Visit with FTCC staff members face to face at our Fayetteville, Spring Lake or Fort Bragg campus locations for assistance with class registration, program selection, counseling and more.

We look forward to opportunities to welcome new students, and we always enjoy seeing students return to FTCC for new learning experiences. Enroll in a class this fall and experience for yourself why FTCC truly is the smart choice for education.

Since the early 1800s, trains have captivated the collective American imagination, conjuring up dreams of freedom and the ability to bring economic prosperity to the country. Celebrate the history and magic of the railroad at Cape Fear Botanical Garden’s “Garden Railway” exhibit that runs daily through Friday, Aug. 31. The track includes approximately 450 feet of curves, bridges and plants in addition to the trains. It is set up in the Friendship Garden.

Today, garden railways are a fun way for train enthusiasts to enjoy outdoor model trains year-round.

“Alex Schleyer, who is a garden railway enthusiast, came out to the garden and did a presentation,” said Sheila Hanrick, director of marketing and events for CFBG. “He wanted to set up a garden railway out of the kindness of his heart, so people can see how garden railways can be done in their own backyards and the way it has been made to look as if it has always been there.”

In a video on the garden website, Schleyer explains the installation process. “We used the actual process that real railroads do. The track is large enough that it requires drainage … (and) it requires ballast to hold track.”

Now that the exhibit is open, there are several opportunities to expand on it and to draw in the community to enjoy it.

Hanrick added that individuals would never know that it was just laid down for a temporary exhibit through August.

“We will continue to add things throughout the summer,” he said. “There will be a day in July where we will have pedal cars that individuals can ride through foot power along a dirt path. We hope to incorporate a program with the Transportation Museum to get them out here to talk about how railway transportation changed agriculture for the United States. At that point, crops then could be transported across country. We are planning a whole lot around this train exhibit to get folks into the garden, find out what is here and just enjoy this beautiful setting.”

While encouraging everyone in the community to come out, Hanrick said CFBG staff is especially excited to see children. “If children want to bring their little superhero or miniature toys, Alex, our conductor, will certainly let those toys go for a ride,” Hanrick said.

CFBG hours of operation are Monday-Saturday from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. and Sunday from noon-5 p.m. The last daily admission is 4:15 p.m. “Garden Railway” merchandise is available for purchase.

Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for children ages 6-12, $9 for members of the military and senior citizens, and free for children ages five and under. It is also free for individuals with a garden membership.

For more information, call 910- 486-0221.

PHOTO CREDIT: www.capefearbg.org

As Fayetteville’s arts and local business-oriented culture has grown, so have 4th Fridays. 4th Fridays are a monthly, time-honored way to enjoy and keep up-to-date on the city’s artistic heartbeat while strolling downtown’s homey sidewalks. July’s 4th Friday falls on the 27th.

“This month’s (theme) is an old favorite: A Midsummer Night Downtown,” said Sam DuBose, general manager of Cool Spring Downtown District. The theme refers to “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” one of Shakespeare’s most popular works, in which mischievous fairies run the show.

Elaine Kelly, owner of Turner Lane, is the chair for July’s 4th Friday. She said visitors should look out for a Fairy Door Scavenger Hunt, a Fairy Garden Market at the Fayetteville Area Transportation and Local History Museum, a magic man show, craft experiences, themed magical food and drinks, outdoor musical performances, street players, face painting and other fairy/medieval-themed activities.

The bulk of the events will take place Friday evening from 5-9 p.m., and the Fairy Door Scavenger Hunt will continue Saturday from 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

The Fairy Door Scavenger Hunt presents magical quests spanning 34 downtown locations with over $500 in prizes for all ages. Fairy Journals with maps and instructions for the hunt can be found at participating downtown businesses, which include Turner Lane, Rude Awakening, Pressed – A Creative Space, City Center Gallery & Books, and many others.

See a full list of participating businesses by searching the event page “Midsummer Night Downtown” on Facebook.

There will be more to see and do the evening of the 27th than just themed activities, though.

The Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County will debut its new exhibition, “10:10:10” from 7-9 p.m. Annah Lee, director of artistic programs at Artspace in Raleigh, acted as its juror. She selected 10 artists to receive 10 linear feet of exhibition space to curate at the Arts Council gallery.

“This exhibition is unique in that the artists not only select which works they would like to install, but they actually do the installations themselves along with the other artists. What will result is 10 self-curated exhibitions,” said Janet Gibson, Arts Council director of marketing and communications.

Selected artists include photographers, illustrators, 3D artists, interior designers and art educators. They range from being self-taught to holding Masters of Fine Arts. “10:10:10” runs through Aug. 18.

Headquarters Library will host a singalong to traditional American work songs from 6-9 p.m. in the Pate room. The singalong is part of “The Way We Worked,” an exhibition created by the National Archives and made possible in Fayetteville by the North Carolina Humanities Council. Light refreshments will be served.

Cape Fear Studios will host its “6 by Exhibit” from 6-8:30 p.m. Artists were invited to submit work of any medium, so long as one of the creation’s dimensions measures 6 inches.

From 6-9 p.m., the Market House will feature a temporary show titled “Vintage Postcards.” View original documents like receipts, bills and letters that help tell the story of business development in Fayetteville.

From 7-9 p.m., Fascinate-U Children’s Museum invites families to visit its craft table and create a free seashell critter with recycled plastic eggs.

Call CSDD at 910-223-1089 or visit www.theartscouncil.com to learn more about 4th Friday.

PHOTO CREDIT: Downtown Alliance

The city of Fayetteville has begun collecting data and seeking public opinions during a downtown parking study. Input is being collected through stakeholder committee meetings, public forum opportunities and an electronic survey. The survey is available online at www.surveymonkey.com/r/Parking_Fayetteville.

The parking study will evaluate current and future parking demands, especially those prompted by baseball games at the new Hay Street stadium. Regulations and performance comparisons to other cities in North Carolina will also be considered. The city received a revitalization and economic development grant to conduct the downtown parking study.

At this point, city officials believe there are enough existing and planned future parking spaces downtown to accommodate baseball fans. Officials believe 1,500 to 2,000 additional vehicles will go downtown for a typical ballgame. One question is whether the city is running a risk of expecting some people to walk three or four blocks to the stadium. City traffic engineer Lee Jernigan said that is not the case, and that parking studies should confirm that.

Park and ride opportunities are a possibility, said Jernigan. “FAST or a private company could provide mini-bus shuttle service,” he added. That’s another one of the things the parking study may determine as to need.

Currently, on-street parking restrictions vary from two to three hours, but they only apply during business hours, Jernigan noted. The city doesn’t use parking meters, but parking enforcement officers patrol the downtown area.

Finding a parking spot for a ballgame will be on a first-come, first-served basis. Downtown parking lots should fill up rapidly, at least those owned by the city. They include the Airborne & Special Operations Museum and Festival Park lots, among others.

Owners of private lots near the stadium have not yet been asked by the city to make them available after business hours, according to Jernigan. Limited spaces at the parking garage, which is now under construction next to the train station, will be for disabled and handicapped parking. Most of those spaces will be for tenants of the new hotel and Prince Charles apartments.

Chances are that city-operated parking lots and the Franklin Street parking deck will be paid parking for special events. Jernigan noted that during the recent Dogwood Festival, people did not object to paying fees. He said motorists will also be charged parking fees during the upcoming International Folk Festival in the fall. “This is a dynamic process for us, which will be tweaked as we go,” he said.

City officials hope the parking study will be ready for review by the end of the year. The new stadium is scheduled to open for ballgames by April 2019.

The No. 2 man with the state’s largest public-school system is now No. 1 with the fifth largest school system. Dr. Marvin Connelly Jr. was formally sworn in as superintendent of Cumberland County Schools last week.

Connelly was named to the position by the county school board back in April, succeeding former superintendent Dr. Frank Till, who resigned in June 2017. Associate Superintendent Tim Kinlaw was the system’s caretaker over the last year and plans to retire. Connelly’s salary is $220,000.

Connelly said he was attracted to Cumberland County because of the success and opportunities in the school system, which he said has a good reputation.

“I think the experience I have had is a good match for what Cumberland was looking for in a leader,” he said. Carrie Sutton, chairwoman of the board of education, said the board is honored, proud and grateful to begin a new journey with Connelly.

Connelly was a military intelligence officer in the 82nd Airborne Division and served in the first Gulf War with a unit stationed in Germany. After his service in the Army, Connelly became a  teacher’s assistant and then a teacher in special education classes. He then became an assistant principal and principal before becoming an assistant superintendent and chief of staff for Wake County Public Schools.

He holds a bachelor’s and two master’s degrees from North Carolina State University and a doctorate in educational leadership from East Carolina University.

Connelly is a North Carolina native. He has begun a whirlwind tour of all the county’s schools.

“We’ll be... out in the community, listening to the citizenry, meeting with schools, visiting all schools,” he said.

He’s also taking time to meet members of the staff of the school system. Connelly is talking to everyone about some strategic goals that he would like the school system to work toward over the next five years.

Cumberland County has 87 schools and enrolls about 50,000 students. It’s one-third the size of Wake County schools.

In his Ph.D. dissertation presented to the faculty of the Department of Educational Leadership at East Carolina University in July 2012, Connelly wrote about partnerships among schools and faithbased organizations. He said in part that “as school system leaders seek to expand partnerships with community and faith-based organizations, it is essential that student achievement be the focus of the partnerships.”

He asserted that such partnerships should focus on mentoring as compared to partnerships that focus on tutoring. He concluded that “to be successful, partnerships among schools and faith-based organizations should focus on student academic and behavioral outcomes.”

He echoed those thoughts in his acceptance speech last April, saying, “Together with the students, parents, teachers, system leaders, community partners and the board, we will establish a strategic plan to attain new levels of excellence for all of the students in the Cumberland County Schools.”

PHOTO: Dr. Marvin Connelly Jr.

Cumberland County Democratic Senate nominee Kirk deViere is taking on one of the Republicans who redrew the district lines in what has become known as political gerrymandering.

deViere said he will hold a series of community meetings to help residents better understand their district. Senate District 19 encompasses most of rural Cumberland County and parts of the city of Fayetteville.

“Our team decided we needed to go into the community and bring people together to share their concerns, solutions and have their voices heard,” deViere said. “I’m going to meet the people in their own neighborhoods and listen to their frustrations.”

He said his meetings will be held in Hope Mills, Gray’s Creek, Pearce’s Mill, Stoney Point, Eastover, Godwin, Wade, Stedman, Vander, Cedar Creek and some neighborhoods in Fayetteville.

deViere is a former Fayetteville city councilman. He is opposing four-term Republican Sen. Wesley Meredith, who is also a former member of Fayetteville City Council. Both men are Army veterans and own local businesses.

Cumberland County Schools safety enhanced

The Cumberland County Schools system has spent $2 million on security upgrades. The projects, which were scheduled over a three-year period, were stepped up after a gunman killed 17 people at a high school in Parkland, Florida, in February. Upgrades have been completed at all but half a dozen elementary schools, and that work should be finished before the start of the traditional school year.

CCS Associate Superintendent Tim Kinlaw told The Fayetteville Observer that securing some campuses was challenging because nearly all classroom doors opened to the outside rather than a hallway. Chain link fences had to be built around all the buildings at those schools.

“Every school is different,” he said. “Our newer schools are easier because they were built with security in mind.”

The school system, which is the fifth largest in the state, has 52 elementary schools, 18 middle schools and 17 high schools. Kinlaw said elementary schools will have buzzer systems with cameras so visitors can be seen by school officials before they are admitted to the building.

Kinlaw said he understands that fences and gates are not pleasing to the eye. The upgrades are meant to give staff members time to lock down campuses when need be to protect students and faculties.

Air drops resupply troops in Afghanistan

U.S. forces in Afghanistan are being supported by way of an unconventional supply line familiar to Fayetteville/Fort Bragg residents. Supplies have been increasingly delivered to remote areas of the country via cargo aircraft and parachuted into Afghanistan to sustain operations against the Taliban this summer.

More than 327,000 pounds of supplies were airdropped into Afghanistan by the end of May this year, with the bulk of those drops occurring in April and May, according to numbers provided by U.S. Central Command’s Combined Air Operations Center.

That number stands in stark contrast to 2017, when the Air Force air dropped only about 33,000 pounds of supplies.

Officially, the Air Force said the spike signals an increase in combat operations against insurgent forces. Capt. Mark Graff, an Air Forces Central Command spokesman, could not expound on where the airdrops were focused, but he did say supplies are not distributed evenly across the country.

Airdrops are often used to resupply or build up smaller and more remote outposts, which heavily dotted Afghanistan before the drawdown in 2014.

Bomb squad robots

Then North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation has three new robots to join the battle against violent crime. With 64 calls since January, the members of the SBI Bomb Squad welcome the new robots that weigh about 70 pounds, can go up and down stairs, have six cameras, can lift about 15 pounds and can cut wires. They have the capability to remotely locate and neutralize improvised explosive devices in confined spaces, such as aircraft, buses and trains.

“These new robots will be small enough to enter tight spaces where bomb technicians had to go before,” said Tim Luper, commander of the SBI Bomb Squad.

The unit serves all 100 counties in North Carolina as needed, and assists local authorities in situations involving IEDs, weapons of mass destruction, suspicious packages, homemade fireworks and other explosive hazards.

“The whole reason the bomb squad exists is for public safety,” Luper said.

The three robots were purchased through a $153,000 grant from the Governor’s Crime Commission.

PHOTOS: N.C. District 19 Senate candidates Kirk deViere & Wesley Meredith

By now, you may be sick of the all the genetic testing ads promising to let you know your family history in return for paying them for the right to sell your genetic code to some third party. Like Esau selling his birthright to Jacob for a mess of pottage, go ahead and sell your genetic history to a corporation. Watching these ads got me to thinking about what a delight it would have been if the Minotaur had sent in his genes to be sorted out by a gene company.

Take a ride back to ancient Greece, where men were men and Minotaurs were something else. To refresh your Greek mythology, the Minotaur had the head of a bull, the body of a man, lived in a labyrinth and liked to eat people. His genetic background was fairly wild. Since you obviously have nothing better to do than to waste a bit of your time reading this column, let us look at how the Minotaur came to be.

Back in the golden days of yesteryear, on the island of Crete, there was a king named Minos. Minos and his brothers all wanted to be king of Crete. There was more than the usual sibling rivalry going on. Minos figured if he could get Poseidon, the god of the sea, to send him a snow-white bull, it would show his brothers that Minos ought to be the king. Minos told Poseidon that if Poseidon sent him the white bull, Minos would kill the bull in Poseidon’s honor. Not much of an honor for the bull, but this was before PETA had arrived on the scene.

Poseidon sent the white bull to Minos. Turned out Minos thought the bull was so pretty that he didn’t want to kill it; he sacrificed one of his regular bulls instead. This treachery did not sit well with Poseidon. In fact, Poseidon was cranky about it. You would not like Poseidon when he is angry.

Being a god, Poseidon can do about anything. He decided to get even with Minos by making Minos’ wife Pasiphae fall in love with the white bull. The story gets a little R-rated here. If you are sensitive, stop reading now. Pasiphae had her master builder, Daedalus, make a hollow wooden cow into which she climbed. She made sweet, sweet love to the white bull and became pregnant. Pasiphae then gave birth to the Minotaur.

The Minotaur was ugly, even by Greek standards, and only ate humans. His eating habits would soon wipe out the population of Crete, leaving no one for Minos to be king over. After consulting the Oracle, Minos had Daedalus build the labyrinth to keep the Minotaur from eating everyone. For reasons too complicated to go into today, Minos kept the Minotaur in his labyrinth by sending seven boys and seven girls into the labyrinth to be eaten by the Minotaur every seven years.

Along comes a hero, Theseus, who promises to kill the Minotaur to stop the eating of the boys and girls. This seems certain death for Theseus because even if he killed the Minotaur, he would be lost in the labyrinth forever. Naturally, Minos’ beautiful daughter Ariadne falls in love with Theseus. She comes up with a plan to help him get out of the maze by giving him a ball of string to unroll as he goes into the labyrinth. Pretty clever lady.

Theseus goes into the maze and kills the Minotaur despite not having a Minotaur hunting license. He finds his way back out by following the string Ariadne gave him. Theseus shows his gratitude to Ariadne by taking her away on a cruise on the Love Boat where everything is exciting and new. For a while, anyway, as the great Meatloaf once sang: “Though it’s cold and lonely in the deep dark night/ I can see paradise by the dashboard light.”

Ariadne tells Theseus, “Stop right there!/ I gotta know right now/ Before we go any further/ Will you love me forever?/ Will you never leave me?/ Will you make me so happy for the rest of my life?/ Will you take me away and will you make me your wife?”

Theseus, being worked up, promises to love Ariadne until the end of time. Then in the afterglow of the moment, Theseus starts praying for the end of time. When the end of time doesn’t appear, Theseus dumps Ariadne on the island of Naxos and goes his merry way back home without her. Men are no damn good.

So, what have we learned today? If you promise a sea god something, keep your promise or your spouse may take up animal husbandry and not in a good way. Promises made in the heat of passion sometimes cool off in the first cold blue light of morning. Beware of Greeks bearing string. Minotaurs should always floss after every meal. Stay out of labyrinths unless you have a ball of string.

PHOTO: Theseus and the Minotaur. Detail from an Orientalizing polychrome stamnos made in Mégara Hyblæa, 660–650 BC. From Selinunte, Sicily.

Like you, I am proud to be an American – extremely proud. As my family and I celebrated Independence Day, we reflected on the many blessings of living in the United States of America, and we thanked God for guiding our nation. We prayed for our service members, our veterans and their families – the very people who continue to make our Fourth of July celebrations possible. I saw so much patriotism and love for this great country. It was incredible.

There are infinite reasons we should all be extremely proud to be an American, and number one is our service members. One of the greatest honors of my life is representing Fort Bragg, the epicenter of the universe and home of the Airborne and of the Army Special Operations Command.

As part of my job being Fort Bragg’s congressman and providing oversight to the Department of Defense to ensure our soldiers have what they need, I spent time this past week in Germany visiting the U.S. Africa Command, U.S. Special Operations Command Africa, and Special Operations Command Forward-North and West Africa, which is led by the fearless Green Berets of 3rd Special Forces Group who also call Fort Bragg home. I was able to gain a greater knowledge of our military operations in Africa and the trials and opportunities our troops are facing. I also engaged with senior commanders to take a deep dive into our role in the region and U.S. interests.

Additionally, I was able to talk to soldiers from the command level all the way down to the individual operational detachment alphas and gain insight into the issues our soldiers are facing throughout the chain of command. This information will allow me to make sure our Special Forces have all the support and resources they need. I especially enjoyed my time getting to know many of these brave men and women and showing them my gratitude.

Words simply don’t do it justice. These patriots are away from their families, and they represent the best of us. We are so thankful for their service and sacrifice and that of their families back home. I ask for your continued prayer over them as they serve to protect our nation.

As a member of the U.S. Helsinki Commission, I attended an Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly in Berlin, Germany, along with parliamentarians from Europe, Russia and Central Asia, plus the United States and Canada. While there, I offered an amendment urging the release of Pastor Andrew Brunson of North Carolina, who has been held in custody in Turkey for nearly 650 days. I will continue to use my position as a commissioner to ensure Pastor Brunson comes home and to advocate for human rights, free speech, democracy and freedom of religion. These are the very values that we uphold, that make America so great and that make me extremely proud to be an American.

Outdoor adventurer and writer Jon Krakauer’s account of the 1996 rogue storm disaster that was Mount Everest mountainclimbing that year literally kept me up at night. Eight people, including the leader of Krakauer’s own expedition team, died on the world’s highest mountain, where bodies remain frozen to this day. I have never forgotten his description of a man, thought lost, stumbling into camp with one arm frozen perpendicular to his body.

I had the same reaction to what could have been the tragedy of the Wild Boar soccer team in a cave in northern Thailand, until it wasn’t. Once the rescues began, I woke up several times a night to check online for the latest update. I suspect I am among millions – maybe billions – who were doing the same thing.

Hearts around the world leapt when the first four boys got out, sang with the extraction of the next four a day later and soared when the remaining four boys and the coach reached daylight and fresh air one day later.

The Wild Boar story had heartwrenching dramatic elements. Missing children and frantic parents. Found children in profound danger in one of the most challenging caves in the world. Brave rescuers working against the clock and steep odds – children who could not swim; cold, murky and rising waters with rushing currents strong enough to rip off divers’ face masks; tight spaces;  diseases caused by cold, damp conditions, rodents and bats; decreasing oxygen levels in the cave where the Wild Boars were trapped; and perhaps most daunting of all, the pressing reality that such a rescue had never been attempted before and was more likely to fail than to succeed.

In truth, the rescue was a miracle, given what we now know.

In a world racked with division and distrust, the mission worked in part because of cooperation of people from many nations, including the United States, and many agencies, organizations and individuals doing all sorts of jobs. According to TheWall Street Journal, 10,000 people were involved in the rescue effort, including volunteer cooks serving 5,000 meals a day. Seven hundred oxygen tanks were rounded up, with 500 of them being placed inside the cave every 25 meters. The tanks had to be retrieved, refilled with compressed air and replaced time and time again. Medical personnel rallied, including a doctor who stayed inside the cave monitoring the boys’ conditions until they were taken to safety.

With monsoon rains underway and more coming, rescuers began pumping water from the cave and ultimately pumped 1 billion – yes, with a “b” – liters of water out of the cave.

Because the boys are young, the adult, full-face masks to be used in the evacuation were tested on local volunteer children in a swimming pool. By pulling the five straps as tight as possible, rescuers decided to give the masks a go.

As the drama unfolded, speculation abounded about which boys would be rescued first and who would remain in the cave until rescue divers could rest, eat and return with replenished air supplies. Would the weakest go first or the strongest? In the end, the Wild Boars decided themselves. The Wall Street Journalreported the boys in the cave gave the Thai SEAL divers a list of their names in the order to be evacuated.

Most chilling of all is this. The pumps that extracted a billion liters of water from the flooded cave failed hours after the last boys and their coach were pulled to safety, sending torrents of water back into the cave.

The New York Times put it this way. “Many of the divers and residents of the nearby northern Thai town of Mae Sai saw the last-minute flood as a sign that divine protection had ceased only after all were safe.”

“I still can’t believe it worked.” Thai General Chalongchai Chaiyakham’s reaction resonated in ears around the world.

Now that it is all over, readers are paging Jon Krakauer with this message: “Please, please write this book!”

PHOTO CREDIT: Air Force photo by Capt. Jessica Tait

For more than two decades, Up & Coming Weekly has told this community’s stories. We champion successes, support causes and initiatives and celebrate everything good about Fayetteville and Cumberland County. Once a year, though, we reach out to our readers through our Best of Fayetteville readership survey to ask what you love most about this area.

Do you have a favorite car wash/stylist/restaurant? Do you just love a particular nonprofit organization/entertainment venue/veterinarian? Now is your chance to tell us about it.

Voting lasts through the month of July. Visit our website, www.upandcomingweekly.com, and fill out a ballot online. Or, find a paper edition of Up &Coming Weekly and fill out the ballot and mail it in.

Once all the votes are counted, we throw a big party congratulating the winners, and we publish an entire issue celebrating them that resides on our website and in businesses all year long.

The Fayetteville Observer is currently running an entirely different program called the Reader’s Choice awards. This is NOT the same as Best of Fayetteville.

We launched the Best of Fayetteville readership survey during the month of July to avoid conflicting with The FayettevilleObserver’s Reader’s Choice Awards, which is its advertising/sales promotion. This annual sales program has been in existence for 24 years, and until last year, the Observer ran it during September and announced its winners in October.

Even though our two programs are completely different in nature and purpose, to avoid reader confusion, we voluntarily agreed in 1997 to launch our Best of Fayetteville readership survey during the month of July and announce the winners in September. We haven’t changed.

The ballots are out now, and in September, we hope to see you at our complimentary Best of Fayetteville party as we congratulate the people, organizations and businesses that YOU name the “Best of the Best.”

Up & Coming Weekly does not pre-sell advertising to promote or nominate specific businesses and organizations for Best of Fayetteville. However, we do encourage them to promote themselves and encourage their friends, family and customers to vote in Best of Fayetteville. Up & ComingWeekly does not sell or require businesses or organizations to participate with advertising purchases in pre-contest special sections to get their business officially printed on the ballot.

Up & Coming Weekly does no preballot advertising sales. After the survey is complete and the ballots are tallied, there is only ONE winner in each category. The winners are given the opportunity to purchase advertising/marketing programs to thank their customers and supporters and to market and brand their companies, capitalizing on and taking advantage of their Best of Fayetteville achievement. These Best of Fayetteville advertising programs are unique and significantly discounted so winners can take full marketing advantage of the honor. Winners have only one opportunity to participate in these advertising programs – and it’s after they’ve won.

In addition to the beautiful wall plaque awarded to each Best of Fayetteville winner, they can use the official Best of Fayetteville logo in all print advertising, radio, billboard, TV or social media advertising.

Best of Fayetteville is an exclusive designation. The way we manage it is what makes this program credible. Is it perfect? No. However, it has developed into one of this community’s most respectable and prestigious awards. It is the only readership survey that is partnered with the Greater Fayetteville Chamber and the Better Business Bureau.

If you have any questions about whether you’re participating in the Best of Fayetteville readership survey or someone else’s advertising program, take a good, long look at the ballot. If the ballot has names already printed on it, it is NOT the Best of Fayetteville.

So, what are you waiting for? Cast your vote and let your voice be heard!

Thanks for reading Up & Coming Weekly.

Just outside of Hope Mills, at 7 Branch Farm in Lumber Bridge, North Carolina, horses, cattle and people thrive on 37 acres of farmland. It’s a place steeped in the cowboy spirit: love for the land, adventure, gritty hard work and integrity. And, in 2014, it became the first venue in North Carolina to celebrate National Day of the Cowboy.

The late Wyoming U.S. Sen. Craig Thomas first sponsored National Day of the Cowboy in 2005 as a way to celebrate cowboys’ and cowgirls’ contribution to America’s culture and heritage. Since then, celebratory rodeos have taken place across the nation every fourth Saturday in July.

Enjoy 7 Branch’s fifth National Day of the Cowboy rodeo Friday or Saturday evening, July 27 or 28, or Sunday afternoon, July 29.

Buddy Blackman, general manager of 7 Branch, said he expects a crowd of 1,500 to 2,000 people at each show, with Saturday likely being a standing-room only event.

“It’s to remember our heritage,” he said. “You don’t see a whole lot of cowboys walking around nowadays. This is keeping the spirit of the Old West alive.”

Blackman is the son of Ron Payne, who started the farm nine years ago with only eight acres of land and a dream to build a horse farm. Today, with the help of his children, it’s grown to 37 acres and hosts several training and rodeo events each year.

The National Day of the Cowboy rodeo includes traditional favorites like barrel racing, team roping, cowboy mounted shooting, and, of course, bull riding. Throughout each rodeo, Blackman said, there will be a total of about 50 cowboys and cowgirls competing for special belt buckles — a mark of honor — and prize money. This includes 20 bull riders.

There will also be fun, modern parts of the show. Cowpaty the Rodeo Clown will perform, a professional who’s been at work since age 11, along with the Carolina Stars Trick Riders. Carolina Stars is a duo comprised of former Dixie Stampede performers Leslie Reed and Lori Graham. They’ll perform death-defying stunts on Leslie’s new Palomino Quarter horse and Lori’s Appaloosa mare.

The audience will be engaged throughout the show, but Blackman is bringing back one activity that invites direct audience participation (and squeals): Bull Bowling. He first introduced the popular rodeo activity last year, and it was a hit.

Audience members are invited to enter the arena and stand in white circles drawn in the dirt in a bowling pin formation as a Brahman bull is released into the space. Last man standing is the winner.

“Some people have a theory that by standing completely still, the bull won’t charge at them,” Blackman said. “Sometimes it’s true; last year, the bull ran by several people to go after the people who took off running.” Blackman said it’s an event that gets the adrenaline pumping while remaining relatively safe. “We have professional bull fighters out there to control things,” he said. “We’re not going to let a bull get someone down.”

Overall, Blackman said, the three-hour rodeo event is fast-paced and action-packed.

Friday and Saturday night, gates open at 5 p.m. and the rodeo starts at 8 p.m. Blackman recommends arriving early, as the lines will be long around 7 p.m. There will be food vendors, information and plenty to see and do as visitors wait for the rodeo to start once they’ve entered, Blackman said. Sunday’s rodeo kicks off at 2 p.m.

Tickets cost $15 and can be purchased at www.Dayofthecowboync.com. Cape Fear Valley’s Friends of the Cancer Center will benefit in part from ticket sales. You can get free tickets a couple of different ways, though. Camping World of Fayetteville, the event’s title sponsor, is giving free tickets to visitors who come do a walkthrough. Camping World is located at 5117 US Hwy 301 S in Hope Mills. WKML 95.7 is also offering listeners a chance to call in and claim free tickets in the weeks leading up to the event.

Visit www.7brancharena.com to learn more about the farm, and click “Calendar” for a list of smaller, more training-focused events throughout the year.

The annual East-West All-Star games and North Carolina Coaches Association Clinic returns to Greensboro the week of July 16-19.

The clinic annually draws thousands of high school coaches in various sports to Greensboro for clinic sessions with a variety of speakers covering sports specifics and changes in the rules.

In conjunction with the clinic, the East-West All-Star games are held in boys and girls basketball and boys and girls soccer and football.

Schedule for the All-Star games

Group ticket rates are available in advance of the All-Star games. Call 336-379-9095 for details.

• Basketball: Monday at Greensboro Coliseum. Tickets: $10 adults, $5 students. Parking: $5, Coliseum main lot. Game times: Girls at 6:30 p.m.; boys approximately 30 minutes after the girls game.

• Soccer: Tuesday at Macpherson Stadium, Bryan Park Soccer Complex. Tickets: $10 adults, $5 students. Parking: Macpherson Stadium lot. Game times: Girls at 6:30 p.m.; boys at 8:30 p.m.

• Football: Wednesday at Greensboro Grimsley’s Jamieson Stadium. Halftime fireworks display. Tickets: $10 adults, $5 students. Parking: Free in main parking lot. Representatives of the Oasis Shrine will be taking donations for the Shriner’s Crippled Children’s Hospitals. Game time: 8 p.m.

Cumberland County All-Stars Profiles

At press time, only two athletes were scheduled to take part in the games, Talia Parrous of Terry Sanford for East girls soccer and Greg Walker of Seventy-First for East football. There are no Cumberland County coaches on the staff of any of this year’s all-star teams.

• Talia Parrous, Terry Sanford East girls soccer 5-foot-6, forward.

Coach: Karl Molnar

Highlights: All-State as a senior. Scored 31 goals and had 23 assists. As a junior, Parrous was All-State, All-Region, All-Conference and the Cape Fear Valley Conference Offensive Player of the Year and Fayetteville Observer Player of the Year. She scored 25 goals and had 14 assists. As a  sophomore, she had 24 goals and six assists. She also played basketball. She was a member of the National Honor Society, the Twelfth Man Club, Friends Club, French Club and Fellowship of Christian Athletes. She signed an athletic grant-in-aid with UNC-Wilmington to play soccer. She will most likely major in sports management or nutrition. Her mother is her role model.

• Greg Walker, Seventy-First East football 6-foot-2, 260, offensive line.

Coach: Duran McLaurin

Highlights: As a senior, Walker was All-Conference, All-Region and All-910 All-Star. He won the Prestigious Helmet Award and had 18 pancake blocks. As a junior he was named Most Valuable Offensive Lineman. He signed an athletic grantin- aid with Johnson C. Smith where he will major in business. Coach Kellikai Aipia is his role model.

Ernest King, a 1992 graduate of Westover High School, is returning to his alma mater as head football coach, and he’s facing a pretty difficult challenge.

King, who was the former coach at E.E. Smith and has been at St. Pauls the last couple of seasons, replaces Craig Raye, who served one year as coach of the Wolverines.

King takes over a Wolverine team that went 4-8 last year and lost to powerful Southern Nash in the first round of the state 3-A football playoffs.

The timing of King’s return to Westover is complicated by how limited he’ll be in assessing his team before the first official day of fall practice on July 30.

There are two mandatory dead periods in July. One already took place the week of July Fourth. The second is the week of the North Carolina Coaches Association clinic and East-West All-Star games starting July 16.

That gives King barely two weeks to see what he has returning. Further complicating matters, he’s got to hire almost a full staff of assistant coaches. The only coach back from last season is head wrestling coach Bennie Tillman, who assisted with football last season.

King also needs to establish some continuity quickly as he’s the third head coach of the Westover football program in three seasons.

“The biggest thing is discipline,’’ he said. He plans to stick with the basics, teaching the fundamentals of offense, defense and special teams. By the second week of July, he hopes he can take his team to a seven-on-seven pass skeleton with another team to get a better evaluation of his available talent.

Another concern for King is getting his players into the weight room. “I want to try and get the kids stronger as much as possible,’’ he said. “We’ll lift during the season.’’

King said he’ll have to use the non-conference portion of Westover’s schedule to get the team ready for league play.

“We’ll take it week by week,’’ he said. “We will evaluate our kids every day in practice, see what types of schemes we need to run.’’

He expects to move players to different positions as needed, do what’s best for the team and try to keep things simple. “Some kids may not buy in,’’ he said. “The ones that do, we’ll continue to coach them up and try and get them better each week.’’

King said one of his biggest intangibles is getting the Wolverine football players to believe in Westover pride. “Hopefully me being a product of that environment and knowing what the demographics are, I can turn it around and get those kids out,’’ he said. “I may have to go out in the neighborhood and meet the kids in the hallways to get more kids out that normally don’t play football.’’