Local News

Government Watch: Cumberland County, City of Fayetteville updates

Details

Wednesday, 14 May 2025

Written by Jami McLaughlin

City of Fayetteville

On May 5, the Fayetteville City Council voted 8-2 in favor of establishing an 11 p.m. youth curfew for children 16 and under. The pilot program would last for one year. City council members Mario Benavente and Deno Hondros voted against the proposed curfew during the special session following the regularly scheduled work session.
The vote was in response to recent shooting incidents; however, Benavente stated that a curfew would not have prevented any of the incidents. The council also increased Crime Stopper awards for crime tips that lead to arrests from $2000 to $5000, restricted bags and masks from City-sponsored special events and directed the police chief to research crime-fighting tools needed.
The City of Fayetteville also received an update for the Market House Repurposing Project and approved an LED lighting addition, which would illuminate the Market House with different colors for designated events. The City is repairing the historic Market House in downtown Fayetteville by replacing deteriorated woodwork, including the louvers, windows, trim and wooden columns and repainting the clock tower.
If budget allows, staff also recommended two interactive information kiosks that can display videos of the history of the Market House or other desired content would be installed. According to City officials, the two-story brick Market House, built in 1832, is a National Historic Landmark and one of North Carolina’s most photographed civic buildings.

Cumberland County
On May 5, the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners appointed residents to several boards and commissions, including the ABC Board, Civic Center Commission, Cape Fear Valley of Trustees, Equalization and Review Board, Fayetteville-Cumberland County Economic Development Corporation and the Tourism Development Authority.
The nomination and appointment process changed to a twice-a-year format in January, allowing commissioners to review applications and make nominations in a more streamlined fashion.
The board also approved an amendment to the Sales Tax Distribution Interlocal Agreement which reduces the allocation to the county of any increase in the sales tax revenue from 2025 over the amount distributed in 2022 from 100% to 50% allowing municipalities within the county to retain 50% of any revenue made beyond their 2022 tax collection. The county moved from a per capita tax distribution model to an ad valorem tax model, which moves from collecting taxes from population to property value.
In the original agreement between the county and the municipalities, the cities and towns were required to return 100% of sales tax revenue to the county; however, new terms allowed the towns to save those funds.
On May 8, at their regularly scheduled agenda session, the board discussed solutions to the closing of the Salvation Army’s Pathway of Hope Emergency Shelter due to a lack of funding. A 90-day sheltering solution estimated at $400,000, with an additional $264,735 requested from the ARP General Fund Assigned balance, for operating the Cornerstone Christian Empowerment Center for two months and utilizing hotel stays for three months, will be addressed at the May 19 meeting, according to county officials.
The board also received an update on competitive grant activity in Cumberland County, which totaled $52.96 million. From March 25 to April 22, the county sought $9.08 million in new funding, and $2.72 million has been awarded to projects focusing on key areas such as Completing Access to Broadband, bicycle safety helmets for protecting kids, lifesaving measures for shelter animals and hazardous materials training on how to handle electrical vehicle response.

In other Cumberland County news
The Cumberland County Board of Commissioners will host a series of in-person gatherings where residents can ask questions and learn more about County priorities.
“This is all about building stronger connections with our community,” said Board of Commissioners Chairman Kirk deViere. “We want to hear from our residents, and we want them to know they’re part of the conversation when it comes to shaping the future of Cumberland County.”
The dates and locations are as follows: May 12 at Town of Wade Town Hall, May 21 at Hope Mills Parks and Recreation Center, May 27 at the West Regional Library, Cafe West and May 29 at the Town of Spring Lake Town Hall in the Grady Howard Conference Room. All meetings will take place from 8 to 9 a.m. Coffee and light refreshments will be provided.

About the Greater Fayetteville Chamber
Advocacy is a cornerstone of the Greater Fayetteville Chamber. Every week, the Chamber dedicates staff to attend City of Fayetteville and Cumberland County meetings as well as monitoring updates on the state and federal levels. We monitor legislation locally, statewide and federally to protect our community’s business interests. With 91% of U.S. adults recognizing a Chamber of Commerce's impact on growth, membership ensures a strong voice shaping policies, driving economic success, and building a thriving business community—together. To learn more, visit www.faybiz.com or email jmclaughlin@faybiz.com.

 (Photo by LTreadwell - Own work, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=140683381)

The Daniels family and their newspaper dreams

Details

Tuesday, 06 May 2025

Written by D.G. Martin

In February, I wrote a column on Rob Christensen’s book about the Raleigh News and Observer, “Southern News, Southern Politics: How a Newspaper Defined a State for a Century.” I concentrated on Josephus Daniels, the paper’s founder and long-time owner.
Rob Christensen had tackled the difficult job of explaining how Daniels could be known as both a progressive and a racist while also a newspaper owner and editor.
Christensen then covered how Daniels’ son Jonathan and other members of the family built the N&O into one of the country’s most successful newspapers until changing times and the loss of large advertising revenues doomed it. During World War II and afterwards, Jonathan served directly under presidents Roosevelt and Truman. After the war’s ending he returned to run the paper and supported UNC former president Frank Porter Graham’s 1950 losing U.S. Senate campaign and Kerr Scott’s successful 1954 Senate race.
Christensen writes, “the defeat of Graham, the South's most visible liberal, marked the end of the era. For the rest of the 1950s, Jonathan and the paper fought a rear-guard action against a rising segregationist tide in the South.”
Both Daniels were successful book authors. Josephus (nine books) and Jonathan (twenty-one).
Jonathan’s brother, Frank Sr. “lacked his brother Jonathan's flamboyance, national profile, and politics. What he had was a capacity to run a growing business, an even temperament, and enough self-confidence that he could defer to Jonathan's large ego—although Jonathan never published his own name in the paper's masthead.
His son, Frank Jr., was, according to one of the paper’s editors, “one of the 15 people who owned and ran the state. It was a role that Josephus or Jonathan could have also claimed.”
In 1968, Claude Sitton succeeded Jonathan and became the first and only non-family member to edit the paper during the Daniels era.
Sitton led a hard-charging group of reporters and won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for his columns.
Christensen writes, “Sitton attempted to make the paper more professional and less partisan, but for Republicans, it seemed like a barely discernible evolution. The paper did not endorse its first Republican candidate—a GOP judge candidate—until 1988.”
According to Christensen, “As the Sitton era neared an end in 1989, the paper underwent a period of introspection about its future.”
Following the recommendations was painful. The Daniels’ afternoon paper, The Raleigh Times, closure saved the company $850,291 (or $2.1 million in 2024 dollars). The withdrawal from much of rural eastern North Carolina was especially traumatic.
Summing up his story, Christensen writes, “Until it was purchased by a California chain in 1995, the News and Observer was dominated by the Daniels family. They not only were proprietors but also edited the paper for most of the 101 years they owned it, setting the editorial direction of the paper. There were few papers in the country where one family played such an all-encompassing, ink-stained role.
In 1996 a group including Frank Jr., Frank III, and his cousin David Woronoff purchased The Pilot, a community newspaper in Southern Pines that the owners have transformed into a valuable enterprise with a bookstore, business news publication, and other ventures.
Frank Jr. died June 30, 2022, full of pride for his family’s continuing service to North Carolina.

7 ways to honor active military and veterans

Details

Tuesday, 06 May 2025

Written by Staff Report

A major portion of the North American population is comprised of people who are actively serving in the Armed Forces or those who once did. USAFacts reports the military included 2,079,142 military personnel and 778,539 civilians as of September 2023. In 2023, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated there were 15.8 million veterans in the U.S. In Canada, the 2021 Census of Population found that 97,625 Canadians were serving in the Canadian Armed Forces while 461,240 Canadians were characterized as veterans.
Military men and women work tirelessly and selflessly to defend their countries' ideals and freedoms. Too often military members do not get the attention and acclaim they deserve. The month of May, which celebrates Military Appreciation Month as well as Memorial Day, is a perfect time of year to honor those who have served in various ways.
• Improve the community. Veterans want the communities they call home to be the best they can be, and that can be achieved by community members pitching in to improve their towns and cities. Doing something honorable, like establishing a park in honor of veterans, can be a great way to improve a community and honor service personnel at the same time.
• Support veteran-friendly policies. By supporting policies and organizations that prioritize veterans' rights, individuals are showing veterans they care. Policies that ensure veterans have access to services they need warrant everyone's support.
• Donate to a nonprofit that supports veterans. Many charities do important work to bridge the gap in care or services needed by veterans or active military members. Using hard-earned dollars to fund these nonprofits is money well spent.
• Ask a veteran to be a keynote speaker. Schools or businesses can ask military members to come in and speak to groups about their experiences. Newspapers and other local publications can write about veterans and share their stories.
• Pay respects to the country. A simple way to honor veterans is to embrace and showcase national pride. Flying the country's flag in front of homes and businesses is a first step. Attending patriotic events, such as parades and memorials, also is a way to honor veterans and others.
• Keep cemeteries clean. Respect the hallowed land that is the final resting place for veterans by volunteering to tidy up around headstones and other markers. On key calendar dates, such as Memorial Day, help with the placement of flags on every veteran's grave as a token of thanks for their sacrifice.
• Volunteer at a VA hospital. Now more than ever VA hospitals may be short-staffed and have need of more volunteers to help with various services. Volunteer work can include visiting patients or running recreational activities, both of which can boost the spirits of veterans receiving care.
Honoring veterans and other military personnel doesn't have to be difficult. Beyond a simple "thank you," there are many steps people can take to show their gratitude to active military personnel and veterans.

A Unit Ministry Team, assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division, share a moment before starting the stress shoot as part of the Best Unit Ministry Team competition held at Fort Bragg, April 24, 2025. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Jose Segarra) 

Seed Exchange Library encourages growth in Fayetteville

Details

Tuesday, 06 May 2025

Written by Sheila D. Barker

Participating in the Seed Exchange Library is easy and works much like borrowing a book from the library. Patrons can browse the available seed stock, choose up to 5 seed packs per family, and 'borrow' them to grow in their gardens. After nurturing the plants throughout the season, gardeners are encouraged to return seeds harvested from their plants to the library.