Up & Coming Weekly

May 11, 2021

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 MAY 12-18, 2021 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM STAFF PUBLISHER Bill Bowman Bill@upandcomingweekly.com OPERATIONS DIRECTOR Paulette Naylor accounting@upandcomingweekly.com EDITOR April Olsen editor@upandcomingweekly.com GRAPHIC DESIGNER Dylan Hooker art@upandcomingweekly.com EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Keyuri Parab REPORTER Jeff Thompson news@upandcomingweekly.com MARKETING ASSOCIATE Linda McAlister Brown linda@upandcomingweekly.com DISTRIBUTION MANAGER/SALES ADMINISTRATOR Laurel Handforth laurel@upandcomingweekly.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Margaret Dickson, Pitt Dickey, D.G. Martin, John Hood, Jim Jones, Shanessa Fenner, Crissy Neville COVER Cover imagery courtesy Living Balance Studios. ––––––––––– 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 Fayetteville, Cumberland County residents need to know who cares by BILL BOWMAN 82 64 82 83 79 82 63 64 83 66 64 65 THU MAY 13 FRI MAY 14 SAT MAY 15 SUN MAY 16 MON MAY 17 TUE MAY 18 68 53 74 51 80 55 83 59 87 61 87 62 Mostly Sunny Mostly Sunny Mostly Sunny Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy Showers Association of Community Publishers Well, now that our Hometown Utility PWC has ceased negotiations with Bernhard Capital, Fayetteville Mayor Mitch Colvin and his cabal may be back to the drawing board for an alternative plan to raid the coffers of one of the most caring, well-managed and efficient utility companies in the state. On two fronts, the entire ordeal of the prospect of allowing an equity firm with no utility experience to take over the manage- ment or our local utility was the near-perfect example of how the lack of transparency in local government can impact a community. One: lack of transparency al- lows unpopular and unsavory schemes to hatch. Two: When there is open- ness in government, it enables local media to report news and provide detailed information to the general public, keeping them informed on issues and situations that affect taxpayers' livelihoods and quality of life. Transparency encourages elected officials to justify their actions. Free speech and trans- parency in government are vitally important in maintaining a free democracy. Of course, it helps when local elected officials care more about their constituents than they do them- selves. In our community, it's sadly becoming pretty apparent they do not. ose who care about the Fayetteville and Cumberland County community and its residents get involved with the community. Two recent Fayetteville events demonstrated this type of caring. e local Crime Stoppers organiza- tion cares about our law enforcement officers. Fayetteville Crime Stoppers re- cently launched a county-wide apprecia- tion initiative where they began visiting law enforcement agencies in Fayetteville and Cumberland County to present officers a full dinner gift card from Chick-fil-A. It was made possible through the partnership and gener- osity of local businessman Tommy Arnold, owner of Chick-fil-A, and the dedication of the Crime Stoppers organization. e initia- tive was launched May 6 with a presentation to the Fayetteville City Police Department by Arnold, Fayetteville Crime Stoppers Chair- man Dr. Eric See of Methodist University, and Duncan Hubbard of Holmes Electric. ese Crime Stoppers supporters and volunteers are people, businesses and organizations that care, and the Fayetteville community is better and safer because of them. e Care Clinic on Robeson Street is another perfect example of a local organiza- tion dedicated to caring for the health and welfare of residents who cannot afford health insurance for medical and dental services. For over a quarter century, this invaluable and charitable non-profit organization has depended on a countless number of caring volunteers from all walks of life, funded only by generous donations and a few well- planned community events. One such event was also May 6, when they held their annual Wine Tasting and Silent Auction at the Cape Fear Botanical Gardens. It was heartwarming to see the outpouring of community support for an organization that provides medical and dental services to resi- dents free of charge. e event was a virtual "who's who" of caring residents, including Mike Nagowski, CEO of Cape Fear Valley Health Systems, and State Representative John Szoka. Unfortunately, conspicuously absent were members of our city and county management team and our elected officials. is was highly disappointing. You would think this would have been the perfect time to come and support the Care Clinic and the people that do so much work for our residents. Our local elected officials missed this opportunity while sending a message of apathy to their constituents. No doubt, if asked, everyone will have a grand excuse for not attending, but the fact remains — "actions will always speak louder than words." Another saying our leadership should be- come familiar with: "No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care." As a media source, we work with hundreds of people and dozens of great invaluable organizations covering all aspects of quality of life in Fayetteville — people and organiza- tions that care. ese people and organiza- tions make our life better and our community pleasantly unique. We need leadership that respects, encour- ages and endorses those values. ere is no hiding from the truth. Again, "actions will always speak louder than words." In the coming months, all residents must pay close attention to the actions of those who seek leadership positions in our com- munity. eir track record will speak volumes on how much they care about the Fayetteville and Cumberland County community. ank you for reading Up & Coming Weekly. BILL BOWMAN, Publisher, UP & COMING WEEKLY. COM- MENTS? BILL@upandcomin- gweekly.com. 910-484-6200.

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