Up & Coming Weekly

January 29, 2019

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.

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4 UCW JANUARY 30-FEBRUARY 5, 2019 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM 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 SALES AND MARKETING DIRECTOR Kimberly Herndon kim@upandcomingweekly.com MARKETING ASSOCIATE Linda McAlister Brown linda@upandcomingweekly.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS D.G. Martin, Pitt Dickey, Margaret Dickson, Karl Merritt, John Hood, Jim Jones, Shanessa Fenner, Prudence Mainor SALES ADMINISTRATOR/ DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Laurel Handforth laurel@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. © 2019 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. HIGH 70 LOW 55 HIGH 63 LOW 36 HIGH 53 HIGH 58 HIGH 72 LOW 48 LOW 39 LOW 51 FEBRUARY 4 FEBRUARY 3 FEBRUARY 1 FEBRUARY 2 FEBRUARY 5 Sunny Cloudy PM Showers Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy PM Showers JANUARY 31 HIGH 44 LOW 24 PUBLISHER'S PEN Hope Mills residents ask: 'Who's on first?' by BILL BOWMAN BILL BOWMAN, Publisher, UP & COMING WEEKLY. COMMENTS? BILL@upandcomingweekly.com. 910-484-6200. "Who's on First" was a comedy routine made popular by comedians Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in the 1940s. It was clever and funny. e act centered on Abbott trying to explain to Costello the nature of a baseball game. e routine exemplified how difficult it can be trying to communicate an otherwise simple concept when the com- ponents of the event are misleading and confusing. Hence, the phrase, "Who's on first?" took on the meaning, "Does anyone know what's going on here?" at's a question many Americans are asking as they watch our national govern- ment spiraling out of control, making innocent American citizens collateral damage to politicians' petty and senseless personal, political agendas. Republican and Democratic parties are guilty of this petti- ness — of both ignoring com- mon sense and allegiance to their sworn responsibilities to the American people. is belligerent "my way or the highway" style of political thinking does not produce the kind of gov- ernment that will preserve the future safety, rights and freedoms of American citizens. e pettiness of our leaders at the high- est levels of government should have all Americans concerned. e 35-day gov- ernment shutdown is the latest example of this. Shutdown for what? To keep from allocating $5 billion to President Trump for border security? at's chump change in our federal budget. Is it worth putting our country in eco- nomic jeopardy and inflicting financial hardships on hundreds of thousands of innocent Americans? I think not. Again, Americans become collateral damage to the government elite as our leaders need- lessly spend time and money on issues and situations that add nothing to America's overall safety, well-being or quality of life. We deserve better. In this situation, we surely deserve more than a three-week continuing resolution granting a three- week temporary reprieve. Now we have 800,000 federal employees holding their breaths, waiting in anticipation for the sec- ond shoe to drop. And, over what? Again, chump change and principle? is irresponsible behavior trickles down to our local governments, too. at is why we are paying so much attention to the Hope Mills commissioners — with the exception of Pat Edwards, who makes common-sense decisions on the town's behalf. Mayor Pro Tem Mike Mitchell and fellow Commissioners Meg Larson, Jesse Bellflowers and Jerry Legge are hell-bent on discrediting Hope Mills Mayor Jackie Warner. It comes down to not wanting her to succeed or get credit for initiating projects that would benefit the town and endear her to the Hope Mills community. As a result, ordinances are adopted and unilateral decisions are made without citi- zen or staff input. is approach to politics has the town running amok, needlessly spending time and taxpayer money on an internal investigation that has yet to be defined — except to insinuate wrongdoing. Really? By whom? When? e real purpose is an attempt to embarrass and discredit Warner and to fulfill personal agendas that have nothing to do with the well-being of Hope Mills or its citizens. If Mitchell, Bellflowers, Larson and Legge wanted the best for Hope Mills, they would spend their time and efforts working together to move the town forward and not in finding fault with Warner's aggressive and successful leadership style. Well, we can't do much about the political situation in Washington, D.C. Howev- er, we can act locally. We love the Hope Mills community and will continue to support the town by being its com- munity newspaper and its ad- vocate. In reality, the growth, progress and opportunities in Hope Mills can overcome the negative impact of the town's leadership — even with ru- mors and fake news circula- tion in the town undermining its leadership, progress and achievements. Up & Coming Weekly and Elizabeth Blevins' informational website, Hope- Mills.net, are committed to keeping you abreast of news, events and information that affect all the citizens of Hope Mills and Cumberland County. Stay tuned. Good things are happening in Hope Mills, and we are pleased to be a part of it. anks for reading Up & Coming Weekly. Subscribe to the electronic version free of charge at www.upandcomingweekly.com. Stay in the know! In many ways, government these days resembles an Abbott and Costello co- med y routine — except what is happening is not funny.

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