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/1189426
4 UCW DECEMBER 4-10, 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, Elizabeth Blevins, Crissy Neville ––––––––––– 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 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. © 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. PUBLISHER'S PEN BILL BOWMAN, Publisher, UP & COMING WEEKLY. COMMENTS? BILL@ upandcomingweekly.com. 910-484-6200. HIGH HIGH 59 59 LOW LOW 46 46 HIGH HIGH 57 57 LOW LOW 36 36 HIGH HIGH 55 55 HIGH HIGH 56 56 HIGH HIGH 61 61 LOW LOW 42 42 LOW LOW 38 38 LOW LOW 45 45 DECEMBER 9 DECEMBER 8 DECEMBER 6 DECEMBER 7 DECEMBER 10 Mostly Sunny Showers Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy Showers DECEMBER 5 HIGH HIGH 55 55 LOW LOW 34 34 Humidity 62 60 71 69 63 64 People over politics by BILL BOWMAN Happy holidays, every- one! It's no secret, Fayetteville is on the go and is growing. I have been heard say- ing many times that as an entrepreneur, I wish I was 30 years younger. There is so much po- tential and opportunity in Cumberland County. Unfortunately, when speaking to residents, they are not as forthcom- ing in their enthusiasm about our arts, culture and quality of life. Also, they are less confident in the future and direc- tion of the community. Instead of attracting high-tech industry and manufacturing com- panies to prop up and enhance our economic development in our community, we've become a wel- coming sanctuary for the homeless and downtrodden. Other cities view us as a dumping ground. Please don't shoot the messenger. I'm sharing what I sense is a groundswell of concerns surrounding the qualifications of many of our local elected officials and the direction they are taking this city. Planned municipal growth, prosper- ity and economic development require experience. More importantly, they take vision, empathy and the ability to put people over politics. Our community struggles with that concept on many fronts, and we suffer for it. Evidence of this surrounds us at every turn. The most obvious examples are the contentious relationship between the city of Fayetteville and Cumberland County, the 18-month struggle Hope Mills Mayor Jackie Warner and Com- missioner Pat Edwards heroically fought — and won — to keep their town and residents safe from unscrupulous self- serving politicians. Sadly, it's not just local politics we should be concerned about. My final example is what is happening with the impeachment hearings in Washington, D.C. It is a sad and blatant example of politics over people. As Americans, it makes no difference whether you are a Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent or white, black, rich or poor, the government is purposely and blatantly not functioning in our best interests. Elected officials' personal politics take priority over the needs and welfare of our country. And we as taxpayers, get the honor of paying the bill while the needs of our nation fail to be addressed — needs concerning health care, homelessness, our veterans, our military and our national security, as well as education, the opioid crisis, infrastructure, the list goes on. Locally, if our leaders put people before poli- tics, it would demon- strate that they really care about the welfare of the community. No doubt, continuing to embrace the mantra "politics over people" will only produce mis- management, enable corruption, cripple our growth and develop- ment and breed mis- trust of our leaders. There is hope, though. I admire lead- ers like Reps. Elmer Floyd, Billy Richard- son and John Szoka for their "people over politics" inclinations to support our commu- nity. I respect them for supporting a state bud- get that would bring $136 million for high-priority projects to Cumberland County, including $46 million for the North Carolina Civil War & Reconstruc- tion History Center that would benefit all residents educationally, financially and culturally. This action alone speaks volumes about their commitment to the residents of Fayetteville and Cumberland County. This is real leadership. As we move into the new year, I hope our community newspaper is saturated with news and stories showcasing ex- amples of great leadership, vision and accomplishment. We deserve it! Thank you for reading Up & Coming Weekly. Instead of attracting high-tech industry and manufacturing companies to prop up and enhance our economic development in our community, we've become a wel- coming sanctuary for the homeless and downtrodden.