Publisher’s Note: This week I am yielding my space to editorialist Elizabeth Blevins a resident, community activist and advocate for all residents of the town of Hope Mills.  Blevins’ voice and actions have become synonymous with trusted insights, observations and analysis that provide transparency and understanding to the conflicts and hypocrisy emerging from the current Hope Mills leadership.  The topic she talks about below is disturbing and should concern all residents of Hope Mills and Cumberland County. No body of leadership should ever condone racist behavior as described here. This issue deserves full transparency. For the record, I was not at this particular event. I did, however, see the social media post in question and if you live by the social media sword, you die by the social media sword. In this case, Pat Hall, chair of the Hope Mills Preservation Commission, seems to have stabbed herself while the other four Hope Mills Commissioners tried to resuscitate her. Their advocacy, loyalty and support for Hall has created an unintended consequence in making them advocates of her message and behavior and exposing to the public their lack of empathy for Hope Mills residents and an even deeper trend of governmental and ethical hypocrisy that threatens the future of the Hope Mills community. Read Blevins’ article and you draw your own conclusions. In closing, I attended the Hope Mills Community Roundtable that was held on Sept. 26 at the Harmony at Hope Mills. There were over three dozen Hope Mills residents in attendance who came together to talk positively about the growth and future of the Hope Mills community. The atmosphere was positive, fun and enjoyable as we heard from prominent Hope Mills residents and Cumberland County leaders. Dolores Schiebe, director of the Hope Mills ALMS HOUSE updated us on the organization’s work in the community. Hope Mills Commissioner Jessie Bellflowers spoke on behalf of the Hope Mills and Cumberland County veterans while John Malzone, commercial real estate developer, provided an overview and insights into how important Hope Mills is to the successful development of Cumberland County and the many opportunities the town offers. This is the type of community local elected officials should be advocating for. Hope Mills deserves it, and it serves as a major contrast to what now exists.  This needs to change. Vote in November. Thank you for reading Up & Coming Weekly.

This is simply another vulgar display of the double standard by which the board has operated for nearly two years. They’ve wasted hours reversing longstanding rules to limit the scope of Warner’s power. They’ve even created new ordinances designed to limit her activity, just to violate the ordinances themselves.

Pictured: Carla Welsh of the newly formed Hope Mills Historical Society chats with commercial developer John Malzone at the Hope Mills Community Roundtable held on Sept. 26.