Up & Coming Weekly

January 28, 2020

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 29-FEBRUARY 4, 2020 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM PAT KING,retired veteran and 13-year resident of Fayetteville. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcom- ingweekly.com. 910-484-6200. STAFF PUBLISHER Bill Bowman Bill@upandcomingweekly.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Stephanie Crider editor@upandcomingweekly.com OPERATIONS DIRECTOR Paulette Naylor accounting@upandcomingweekly. com 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. © 2020 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 I yield to Pat King's editorial below because it seems to be the sen- timent of many educated and well- informed Fayetteville residents on the historical, educational, cultural and fiscal benefits our community would gain from having the North Carolina Civil War & Reconstruc- tion History Center located in our community. It would be a big win — unless small minds and personal political agendas crush another opportunity for us to enhance the quality of life of all citizens. e impact of this facility on Fayetteville would be grand and historical. Will it happen? Stay tuned. ank you for reading Up & Coming Weekly. — Bill I just finished reading John L. Johnson's letter published in e Fayetteville Observer ursday, Jan. 23. It was the incentive I needed to write these comments. His characterization of "myopic attitudes and lack of visionary leadership" exactly matches my perception of the elected city officials — primarily the mayor — who are in a position to have the greatest influence on the pos- sibility of the North Carolina Civil War & Reconstruction History Center coming to fruition. In the Dec. 29, 2019, edition of e Fayetteville Observer is an article by staff writer John Henderson titled "Debate rages on about proposed Civil War History Center." ere is no raging debate, only the slow strangulation of support for this important project by the mayor and those he calls "concerned citizens," primarily citizens that he needs to maintain his power base and time in office. On page A6 of that edition is a picture of the mayor, another local politician and a phalanx of Colvin's "concerned citizens." As the mayor continues his flip-flop about the NCCWRHC, he manages to keep this particular constituency opposed to what is already a functioning Civil War and Recon- struction History Center. If he took the time to learn about the great work that the His- tory Center's Cheri Todd Molter and her small staff are doing, he might come to understand that most of his incitement about the Center is false and harmful to eventually getting this significant project committed and under construction. Anyone who goes to the website http://nccivilwarcenter.org and reads all the articles and watches the videos will understand what this facility will be — a teaching and learning center for all our people and (that will show) how this period shaped and still affects us all. e mayor is resorting to the same tactics he used in his cam- paign to remove the Market House from recognition as the sym- bol of our city — keeping a number of our citizens hoodwinked into believing his version of the facts. It worked. And it will work again and lead to the demise of the NCCWR History Center by keeping it from becoming a full reality. Mr. Johnson, the lack of "visionary leadership" you see will continue to do harm to the growth and betterment of our com- munity unless citizens, like yourself, continue to speak up and support what is so desperately needed for the growth of jobs, development and investment in our city. To the mayor I say: Take the time to fully understand and re- spond to Mr. Johnson like you did to Mr. Patrick Tuohey's piece in Friday's newspaper about the development along Hay Street. Your legacy is becoming one of keeping racial issues as part of what should be what is good for all of Fayetteville's citizens. You should be focused on Fayetteville's future — not on your future and re-election. North Carolina Civil War & Reconstruction History Center good for this community by PAT KING e mayor is resorting to the same tactics he used in his campaign to remove the Market House from rec- ognition as the symbol of our city — keeping a number of our black citizens hoodwinked into believing his version of the facts. HIGH HIGH 62 62 LOW LOW 48 48 HIGH HIGH 56 56 LOW LOW 37 37 HIGH HIGH 55 55 HIGH HIGH 54 54 HIGH HIGH 66 66 LOW LOW 38 38 LOW LOW 39 39 LOW LOW 51 51 FEBRUARY 3 FEBRUARY 2 JANUARY 31 FEBRUARY 1 FEBRUARY 4 Partly Cloudy Mostly Sunny Sunny Partly Cloudy Showers Mostly Cloudy JANUARY 30 HIGH HIGH 51 51 LOW LOW 32 32 Humidity 72 57 57 62 62 52

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