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/1176764
4 UCW OCTOBER 16-22, 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 Jenna Shackelford jenna@upandcomingweekly.com HOPE MILLS AND SENIOR SPORTS EDITOR Earl Vaughan Jr. EarlUCWSports@gmail.com REPORTER Jeff Thompson news@upandcomingweekly.com GRAPHIC DESIGNER Elizabeth Baker art@upandcomingweekly.com MARKETING ASSOCIATE Linda McAlister Brown linda@upandcomingweekly.com DISTRIBUTION MANAGER/SALES ADMINISTRATOR Laurel Handforth laurel@upandcomingweekly.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS D.G. Martin, Pitt Dickey, Margaret Dickson, Karl Merritt, John Hood, Jim Jones, Shanessa Fenner, Prudence Mainor, Avery Powers, Eliza- beth Blevins, Crissy Neville FAYETTEVILLE COMIC CON INSERT (FCC) FRONT COVER ARTWORK Jeff Davidson FCC BACK COVER ARTWORK Michael Dukes, Fayetteville Tehcnical Community College Graphics Depart- ment ––––––––––– 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" publica- tion 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 publica- tion consideration, but assumes no responsibility for them. We cannot accept responsibility for the return of unsolicited manuscripts or mate- rial. 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 out- door 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 ele- ments from: vecteezy.com and freepik.com. History Center: Another hijacking underway by KARL MERRITT PUBLISHER'S PEN is week, Up & Coming Weekly Pub- lisher Bill Bowman yields his space to columnist Karl Merritt to discuss the chal- lenges faced by the North Carolina Civil War & Reconstruction History Center. For over 10 years, a group of volun- teers, along with some paid staff, has been working to develop a concept for the North Carolina Civil War & Recon- struction History Center, as well as raise funds, design the building and build it. As of this writing, they have, with the help of extremely capable individuals, started to collect information consistent with their concept for the Center. Even further, millions of dollars have been raised and an award-winning architec- tural design is complete. Beyond what is happening locally, the budget currently being considered by the North Carolina General Assembly includes $46 million for this project. at budget was vetoed by Gov. Roy Cooper, but the House voted to override the veto. At this moment, action by the Senate is pending. A study conducted by ConsultEcon, Inc. in 2014 stated about the Center, "e preliminary attendance potential is estimated at 75,000 to 135,000, with a midrange estimate rounded to 105,000 in a stable year of operation." Considering this assessment was before SEGRA Sta- dium, the Woodpeckers baseball team, the Prince Charles Hotel resurrection and all the other development coming to downtown, the economic impact of the Center will be substantial. With all that in place, and the project moving ahead, Mayor Mitch Colvin, who is black, has now stated he opposes proceeding with the Center under the current concept and name. He explained that his objection is based on input from citizens — not just black citizens — who oppose the project. As best as I can de- termine, two considerations are central to the opposition by black citizens with whom the mayor has talked: Because of slavery references, they are uncomfort- able with discussion of the Civil War and they do not trust that slavery and the Civil War will be accurately addressed. Colvin also argues that the $7.5 million that the city of Fayetteville promised to provide in support of this project can be used better elsewhere. To obtain state support, Fayetteville and Cumberland County were required to commit that they would invest $7.5 million each in the project. e summary of Colvin's position in the preceding paragraph is based on various reportings in e Fayetteville Observer and his comments during a public meeting ursday, Sept. 26. I attended that meeting. It was organized by Val Applewhite, former city council- woman, with Advance Carolina and the Fayetteville branch of the National Asso- ciation for the Advancement of Colored People as cosponsors. Given the content and flow of the meeting, I concluded it was an obvious attempt to build op- position to the Center. Aside from some elected officials, the attendees were overwhelmingly black citizens. Given the amazing progress that has been made to this point by organizers, the reasonable question is what gives Colvin, some City Council members, and a few vocal citizens justification to de- mand changes to the name and concept of this project? Do the math. Considering price increases, the cost of the Center will certainly be more than $65 million. e state will put in $46 million and for- ever pay the cost of operating the facility after construction. Organizers are raising millions of dollars. Cumberland County HIGH 80 LOW 68 HIGH 79 LOW 45 HIGH 68 HIGH 73 HIGH 84 LOW 62 LOW 51 LOW 59 OCTOBER 21 OCTOBER 20 OCTOBER 18 OCTOBER 19 OCTOBER 22 Sunny Showers Mostly Sunny Sunny Mostly Sunny Showers OCTOBER 17 HIGH 68 LOW 44 A study conducted by ConsultEcon, Inc. in 2014 stated about the Center, "e preliminary attendance potential is estimated at 75,000 to 135,000, with a midrange estimate rounded to 105,000 in a stable year of operation."