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/1143175
4 UCW JULY 17-23, 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 MARKETING ASSOCIATE Linda McAlister Brown linda@upandcomingweekly.com DISTRIBUTION MANAGER/ SALES ADMINISTRATOR Laurel Handforth laurel@upandcomingweekly.com INTERNS Avery Powers Deidre Somdah CONTRIBUTING WRITERS D.G. Martin, Pitt Dickey, Margaret Dickson, Karl Merritt, John Hood, Jim Jones, Shanessa Fenner, Prudence Mainor, Avery Powers, Elizabeth Blevins ––––––––––– 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. 'My party, right or wrong' by REP. JOHN SZOKA PUBLISHER'S PEN Publisher's note: I am yielding this space to Rep. John Szoka, R-N.C. I have the highest respect for John and all our elected public servants, regardless of political affiliation. Up & Coming Weekly is proud to be the local community newspaper, and we welcome contributions without regard to race, reli - gion or political affiliation. is unbiased diversity is what makes Up & Coming Weekly successful and uniquely appealing to our readers. e only mandatory requirement we have is that the writers own their words. is is why we require photos and bios to run with all content features. Our readers want to know who is speaking to them. It's also the reason many politicians will not contribute. Our policy: "You say it! You own it!" — Bill Bowman, Publisher In the aftermath of the governor's veto of the budget, Democrats in the House who agreed to vote to override the veto have been labeled as disloyal to their governor and disloyal to the Democratic Party. How dare a Democrat step out of line? It's "My party, right or wrong." ese Democrat House members are be - ing portrayed as disloyal traitors and are threat- ened with being prima- ried by their own party. In fact, some were called to the governor's mansion and introduced face-to-face to their next Democratic pri - mary election opponent if they don't toe the line. Raw political threats by elected and appointed people in positions of great civic responsibility is disappointing and so very wrong, to say the least. But remember, it's "My party, right or wrong." Equally disappointing are left-leaning organizations like Progress North Carolina. is organization is on social media claim - ing that Democrat Representative X is trad- ing healthcare for pork, depicting a picture of a hog's head and a stack of money right next to an unflattering photo of Represen- tative X. Add to that the executive director of the North Carolina Justice Center, who was a guest on a local radio station last ursday morning, echoing the same senti - ments. Pork? Really? Funding the residency program at Cape Fear Valley Hospital is pork? Helping the town of Falcon repair its town hall when insurance came in about $60,000 short is pork? $20 million for capital improvements at Fayetteville Technical Community College, $16 million for capital improvements at Fayetteville State Uni - versity and $28 million for new schools in Cumberland County is pork? Seriously? But remember, it's "My party, right or wrong." North Carolina's economy has been booming for the last several years. Because of prudent fiscal policy and controlled spending over the last four budget cycles, we have seen a dramatic increase in job creation and increasing wages. North Car - olina's unemployment rate is at a record low, and tax collections have outpaced budget estimates for the last four years be- cause of our booming economy. ese are the reasons we can fund these important and necessary projects across the state that might not otherwise be funded. Pork? Politically speaking, pork can be defined as spending money you don't have for projects you don't need. What this budget does is return the "good economy divi - dend" to its rightful owners, the taxpayers, for projects benefiting taxpayers. House Democrats who've reached out across the aisle to work with Republicans — who have reached out to them in-kind — are being villainized and portrayed as party traitors. I thought this was called compromise. If I can believe even a small portion of what I see on TV, and read about in countless editorials, that's exactly what everyone wants, compromise. And now everyone can see who is truly interested in compromise and who isn't. Working for our constituents by working together for the com - mon good is, after all, why we were all sent to Raleigh. So, instead of recognizing and acknowledging these House Democrats for what they have been able to achieve in spite of their own party, they are subjected to disdain, criticism and disrespect from their party peers and left- leaning organizations. Reps. Billy Richard - son and Elmer Floyd are two such public servants who don't de- serve the contempt and disdain being heaped upon them. Actually, these two public servants deserve grateful appreciation, respect, support and thanks from their constituents and community. ey understand that it's not "My party, right or wrong," but it's about honoring their duty as public servants and doing the right thing for the right reasons for their constituents, community and state. For this, gentlemen, I thank you — even if no one else will. Democrat Reps. Elmer Floyd (left) and Billy Richardson (right) don't deserve the con- tempt and disdain being heaped upon them. ese two public servants deserve grate- ful appreciation, respect, support and thanks from their constituents and community. HIGH 94 LOW 75 HIGH 96 LOW 78 HIGH 97 HIGH 95 HIGH 96 LOW 77 LOW 78 LOW 74 JULY 22 JULY 21 JULY 19 JULY 20 JULY 23 PM Thunderstorms Scattered Thunderstorms Isolated Thunderstorms PM Thunderstorms PM Thunderstorms Scattered Thunderstorms JULY 18 HIGH 97 LOW 77 REP. JOHN SZOKA, R-N.C. COM- MENTS? Editor@upandcomingweekly. com. 910-484-6200.