07 news digestCivil Leader Dies

The legacy of a remarkable Fayettevillecivic leader will likely be anchored by his devotion to nature conservation in his hometown. Harry E. Shaw died on May 19 at the age of 91. He served in numerous capacities, including as president and chairman of the City of Fayetteville Linear Park Corporation.

At Mayor Mitch Colvin’s suggestion, the city’s Cross Creek Linear Park will be named for Shaw. He founded the nonprofit organization and personally directed development of the park and trail that runs along Cross Creek from Festival Park to Eastern Boulevard.

Shaw was a loan officer for Home Federal Savings & Loan for more than 30 years. He was elected to Fayetteville City Council in 1965 and won re-election four times, serving as mayor pro tem much of that time. In 1975, he was appointed by the governor to the board of Fayetteville Technical Community College, where he served for 29 years as its chairman. Shaw was a charter member of the Lafayette Society and a board member of Cape Fear Botanical garden.

New gateway to downtown Fayetteville opens

The new $24.3 million Rowan Street bridge in downtown Fayetteville is set to open June 5. Construction on the project is running six months ahead of schedule, according to North Carolina Department of Transportation.

Once the adjacent, old bridge is torn down, workers will finish construction on the final two lanes. “Favorable weather last year helped get the new bridge open half a year early, as did an internally compressed construction schedule by the contractor, S.T. Wooten Corporation of Wilson,” said DOT spokesman Andrew Barksdale.

The existing four-lane bridge was built in 1956 and had become functionally obsolete. The new bridge is made up of two spans. One crosses the CSX railroad, and the other goes over the Norfolk Southern railroad. The project also includes realigning Rowan Street, Murchison Road and Bragg Boulevard into an intersection that will create a new gateway into downtown and a more prominent route to the Fayetteville State University campus.

Cape Fear Valley launches clinical trials program

A new partnership in Cumberland County will enable Cape Fear Valley Health to have access to clinical trials. Carolina Institute for Clinical Research is the newly formed partnership between Cape Fear Valley Health and Wake Research/M3-Wake Research Associates, Inc., based in Raleigh.

“A robust clinical research program is an important part of an academic health system,” said Michael Nagowski, chief executive officer of Cape Fear Valley Health. “Our physician residency programs in obstetrics and gynecology, internal medicine, emergency medicine, family practice, psychiatry and general surgery will benefit greatly from this partnership. Our patients and community will also benefit from having access to a wide variety of clinical trials.” 

Access to clinical trials will be available for nearly all major therapeutic areas including internal medicine, dermatology, women’s health, metabolic diseases, gastroenterology, men’s health, neuroscience, pulmonology, rheumatology, vaccines and women’s health trials.

City fire station repositioned

Fayetteville’s new Fire Station 12 at 911 Hope Mills Rd. is adjacent to J.W. Coon Elementary School. It’s three blocks east of the 65-year-old station it replaces, which was owned by the Lafayette Village Rural Fire Department until the city annexed the area in 2004. The land for the new station was donated to the city of Fayetteville by Cumberland County Schools.

“The new facility includes updated features needed for today’s fire service operations and resources, including our fire personnel,” said Fire Chief Ben Major.

The 10,000-square-foot building has two apparatus bays, a community/training room, a decontamination room, a kitchen and fitness room. The city paid more than $3.5 million for the station. Chief Major indicated response times will be shorter for the neighborhoods station 12 serves, which include Gallup Acres, Lafayette Village, Oakdale, South Hills, Ashton Forest, Quail Ridge, Queensdale and Evergreen Estates.

Health Department offers free mosquito insecticide

Mosquito season is in full swing in Cumberland County. The Cumberland County Department of Public Health is providing some relief by way of free mosquito insecticide to Cumberland County residents.

There are at least 60 types of mosquitoes in North Carolina. One of the most common and recognizable is the Asian tiger, with its distinct white and black striped legs and body. This pest feeds during dawn to dusk hours. Most of the mosquitoes native to North Carolina will reproduce in ditches, swamps, marshes and other natural bodies of water. But the Asian tiger mosquito tends to breed in pockets of standing water, sometimes in as little as 1 ounce.

To aid in reducing the mosquito population, Cumberland County Department of Public Health is providing Mosquito Dunks all summer long. The Mosquito Dunks product, provided at no cost to Cumberland County residents, is a biological pest control agent that kills mosquito larvae. It is nontoxic to fish, birds, wildlife and pets. Another effective means to reduce the mosquito population is the “tip and toss” method. Tip over any containers that have standing water including tires, flower pots, buckets, jars and barrels.

County residents can pick up a two-month supply of the Mosquito Dunk insecticide, with instructions on use, in the Environmental Health section on the third floor of the Health Department, 1235 Ramsey St., Monday through Friday between 7:30 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Board of Health discusses priorities

The Board of Health held its regular meeting on May 15. During that meeting, the agency discussed priorities previously established at the planning retreat in April. Issues discussed included the governing structure of the Health Department. On May 4, a letter from the Board of Health was sent to the Board of County Commissioners indicating they would like to see the Health Department remain an independent department from the Department of Social Services and that the Board of Health would like to remain a governing board.

Also discussed was a need for more school health nurses. An additional seven nurses have been requested to be added to the fiscal year 2018-19 budget. The Health Board also talked about an increase in transparency between the Health Department staff and the Board of Health and between the Board of Health and the Board of Commissioners and the community. The board also discussed issues including lowering the sexually transmitted infection rate in the county, providing better messaging around opioid misuse and becoming a leader in the effort to combat the opioid crisis in our community.

The 2017 Annual Report for the Department of Public Health is available online at http://co.cumberland.nc.us/health/community-resources/reports. The Board of Health meets monthly on the third Tuesday of each month at 6 p.m. in the 3rd floor board room of the Public Health Center, 1235 RamseySt. For more information, call 910-433-3705.

 

PHOTO: Harry E. Shaw

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