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/1045613
4 UCW OCTOBER 31-NOVEMBER 6, 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 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 welcomes 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 pub- lisher. 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. Cover photos credited to the following: Soldiers walking in a line in desert, a U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Alejandro Pena; Color photo at bottom credited to VisitFayettevilleNC.com, the rest are con- sidered public domain via wikimedia. Various ads with art graphics designed with elements from: vecteezy.com and freepik.com. In just a few days the mid- term elections will be his- tory, and many of us will be overwhelmed with joy. Politics at all levels have gotten completely out of control, mean-spirited and ugly. And it's not about the people and issues any more. It's about power, it's about control, and it's about money – but mostly about power and control. And our current politics know no boundaries; just check your mailbox. On the bright side, it was refreshing last week to read an article by a former North Car- olina representative, Rick Glazier, in the Oct. 27 issue of e Fayetteville Observer. Glazier wrote about the need for civil- ity in politics, saying, "I see campaigns again this election cycle demeaning the process, filling every media possible with disgusting, debasing, destructive ads. And, being positive on one side of a piece of a mailer, but talking smack on the other, hardly enhances public debate of policies and positions in an intelli- gent, informed and thoughtful manner – which is precisely what we look to and need from our leaders. Of course, cam- paigns do this because they believe nega- tive campaigning works. To a degree they are right, if by 'works' you mean winning an election. But holding public office is a public trust that goes far beyond winning elections – a contract between the office holder and the people who elected him or her. We breach that contract when we fail to campaign with dignity, or use the power of our office in a retaliatory or intimidating manner, because once that breach of trust occurs, you never get it back – with your constituents or your colleagues with whom you have to work while in office." He continues, "Only we can break that cycle. Only we the people can stop empowering these tactics by voting, even outside our own party preference, for candidates who don't lower public discourse into the gutter. Indeed, if we mean it when we say we hate negative campaigning, then now is our chance to prove it with our vote; otherwise it is just whining without meaning. "Words here are no substitute for deeds. In the end, Admiral Hyman Rickover had it right: 'Great people talk about ideas; average people talk about events; and small people talk about other people.' "Let's together elect folks to office who talk about ideas! Let's give rise to our better nature and selves." ese sentiments are not surprising coming from a Southern gentleman like Glazier. You may not agree with his left- leaning political ideology, but no one can argue against his integrity, sincer- ity, statesmanship and lethally effective utilization of facts, logic and common sense when it comes to discussing and debating important issues. Glazier's observations here are accu- rate. Common sense, logic, compassion and decency seem to have dissolved at all levels of government. In Fayetteville and Cumberland County, we must ask ourselves some very serious and impor- tant questions: Do we have the best and brightest filling our elected positions or have we given in and surrendered to identity politics, intimida- tion and political correctness? Are these people innovative, thoughtful leaders with ideas and vision for the future, or are they self-serving political hacks taking up space and collecting pay checks for liter- ally doing nothing? is begs another ques- tion. Why are good men and women shying away from public office? I believe the short answer is that they do not want to be associated with these do-nothing, ineffective scoff-offs who have no incentives to cooperate or compromise. eir priority is to stay in office at all costs – hence the ugly slander, personal attacks and assault on humanity. is is all they have left in the absence of knowledge, vision and compromise. e good news is, this is America. We are an innovative and self-correcting nation. We are resilient. We are a country that will not easily yield to this kind of craziness long term. We have a respon- sibility to leave our children and grand- children a nation that is freer, safer and better off. In the short term, this might be painful. However, in the long term, logic, common sense and civility will prevail and return as we realize these traits are essential to our survival as the greatest nation in the world. ank you for reading Up & Coming Weekly. Election Day cometh by BILL BOWMAN BILL BOWMAN, Publisher, UP & COMING WEEKLY. COMMENTS? BILL@upandcomingweekly.com. 910-484-6200. Do we have the best and brightest filling our elected positions? NOVEMBER 1 Mostly Cloudy LOW 65 HIGH 69 NOVEMBER 5 Showers LOW 56 HIGH 79 NOVEMBER 4 Sunny HIGH 65 NOVEMBER 2 Showers LOW 51 HIGH 72 NOVEMBER 3 Partly Cloudy LOW 45 HIGH 66 HIGH 73 NOVEMBER 6 Showers LOW 57 LOW 47