Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1012343
4 UCW AUGUST 8-14, 2018 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM PUBLISHER'S PEN STAFF PUBLISHER Bill Bowman Bill@upandcomingweekly.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER/ EDITOR Stephanie Crider editor@upandcomingweekly.com OPERATIONS DIRECTOR Paulette Naylor accounting@upandcomingweekly.com ASSISTANT EDITOR Leslie Pyo leslie@upandcomingweekly.com SENIOR SPORTS EDITOR Earl Vaughan Jr. EarlUCWSports@gmail.com REPORTER Jeff Thompson news@upandcomingweekly.com GRAPHIC DESIGNER Elizabeth Long art@upandcomingweekly.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS D.G. Martin, Pitt Dickey, Margaret Dickson, John Hood, Jim Jones, Shanessa Fenner, Jason Brady, Lauren Vanderveen, Matthew Skipper, Shane Wilson SALES ADMINISTRATOR/ DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Laurel Handforth laurel@upandcomingweekly.com MARKETING/SALES Linda McAlister Brown linda@upandcomingweekly.com ––––––––––– Up & Coming Weekly www.upandcomingweekly.com 208 Rowan St. P.O. Box 53461 Fayetteville, NC 28305 PHONE: (910) 484-6200 FAX: (910) 484-9218 Up & Coming Weekly is a "Quality of Life" publication with local features, news and information on what's happening in and around the Fayetteville/Cumberland County community. Up & Coming Weekly is published weekly on Wednesdays. Up & Coming Weekly wel- comes manuscripts, photographs and artwork for publication consideration, but assumes no responsibility for them. We cannot accept responsibility for the return of unsolicited manuscripts or material. Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. The publisher reserves the right to edit or reject copy submitted for publication. Up & Coming Weekly is free of charge and distributed at indoor and outdoor locations throughout Fayetteville, Fort Bragg, Pope Air Force Base, Hope Mills and Spring Lake. Readers are limited to one copy per person. ©2018 by F&B Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of editorial or advertisements without permission is strictly prohibited. Various ads with art graphics designed with elements from: vecteezy.com and freepik.com. Hope Mills elected officials cannot seem to get over their personal and political bick- ering long enough to do their job of serving the residents of Hope Mills. Mayor pro tem Mike Mitchell is blinded by pettiness, but it is commissioner Jesse Bellflowers, former commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, who totally self-destructed when he turned his back on suffering military veter- ans, the Lone Survivor Foundation and the taxpaying residents of Hope Mills. Bellflow- ers disgraced the honor of all U.S. military veterans, living and deceased. So much for "No man left behind." Bellflowers left thou- sands behind with his flip-flopping political antics. He single-handedly achieved an unprecedented trifecta of hypocrisy. It's embarrassing. This week, I'm yielding my space to a patriot and veteran – the honorable Don Talbot. His open letter to veterans and the community pretty much sums up the meltdown in Hope Mills. His message speaks volumes to the way Hope Mills residents and veterans alike feel about what's going on. Both Don and I welcome your comments and input. ank you for reading Up & Coming Weekly. –Bill Bowman To those following the saga of the Hope Mills Commissioners dealing with the offer from Lone Survivor Foundation, there are some discouraging details emerging from the meetings. We can start with Commissioner Bell- flowers, who is a military veteran. He made the motion to revisit the proposal, and then voted against his own motion, thus postponing all action on the proposals un- til after a report is rendered from the Town of Hope Mills Parks & Recreation Depart- ment consultant. Pat Edwards was the only commissioner who voted to keep the conversation about the plans for Lake Bed #2 going. is is where it gets really interesting because information has it Mayor pro tem Mitchell had a report from the consultant stating that they (the consultant) do not recom- mend the use of Lake bed #2 for the Parks & Recreation department. People need to learn the date of the information transmittal because if Mitchell withheld that report from the commission- ers, then their vote to delay the proposal until fall is compromised. I call on the mayor and city manager of Hope Mills to investigate the timeline of the consultant's report and when Mitchell received it. As e Fayetteville Observer stated in an opinion column recently, "it appears the board was too distracted by political squab- bling to see the possibilities. at may turn into a loss for the town and for the veterans that Lone Survivor could serve." Bellflowers betrayal: A trifecta of hypocrisy by DON TALBOT HIGH 88 HIGH 88 AUGUST 9 AUGUST 10 AUGUST 11 AUGUST 12 AUGUST 13 AUGUST 14 PM Thunderstorms PM Thunderstorms Scattered Thunderstorms Scattered Thunderstorms Scattered Thunderstorms Scattered Thunderstorms LOW 73 LOW 72 LOW 73 LOW 73 LOW 74 LOW 72 HIGH 92 HIGH 89 HIGH 88 HIGH 90 Semi-HIGH humidity rising throughout the week: 70%-74% DON TALBOT, Concerned Veteran. Comments? Editor@upandcomin- gweekly.com. 910- 484-6200. The Lone Survivor Foundation seeks to build a retreat center in Hope Mills that will benefit veterans and their families.