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/1443850
WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM JANUARY 19 - JANUARY 25, 2022 UCW 9 e Ethics Commission decided ursday night, Jan. 13, that all allegations against Police Chief Gina Hawkins be dismissed. is decision comes after three evenings of lis- tening and hearing from witnesses, looking at the evidence, and talking amongst each other. e initial 14 allegations were filed by Raleigh At- torney Mikael Gross, who forwarded Up & Coming Weekly the ethics complaint. e Ethics Commis- sion looked at eight of those allegations. e full list of allegations can be found at UpAnd- ComingWeekly.com. Hawkins denied the allegations when Up & Com- ing Weekly reached out to Hawkins last month. "e so-called 'Ethics Complaint' is meritless and is knowingly compiled of false allegations," Hawkins's lawyer said in a statement last month. "Chief Hawkins is limited, for now, in her public re- sponse to those allegations as some pertain to FPD personnel/privacy matters. I am sure the so-called 'Petitioner' is aware of that fact as he released Chief Hawkins' responses to the media, knowing the legal position she is in as Chief. At this juncture, we are befuddled that a hearing would actually take place based upon the complete dearth of any evidence to support the allegations. We look forward to vigor- ously and aggressively addressing this 'Ethics Com- plaint' at the appropriate time." e Ethics Commission has five members — law- yer, Tracey Henderson, CPA, Dale Knowles, lawyer, Dymond Spain, Dr. Stephen Rochman and omas Donnelly Jr. Juneteenth becomes city holiday City Council met last Monday, Jan. 10, and ap- proved several resolutions unanimously. One of those resolutions was to adopt Juneteenth Day as a city holiday. Juneteenth commemorates the eman- cipation of African American slaves in the United States and became a federal holiday last year. is means that on June 19, regular full-time and part-time employees shall earn holiday leave in pro- portion to their average hours worked per day and City Hall will be closed. City Manager Doug Hewett told the council during a work session at the begin- ning of the month that there will be no direct budget costs, however, productivity costs loss could be estimated at around $482,600. Other considerations included the trash pickup schedule which would have to be rearranged. School Board meets on mask policy, HVAC upgrades e Cumberland County Board of Education voted last week to continue with its mandatory face mask policy. e board is required by state law to vote each month on the mask policy. e board voted 6-1, with Nathan Warfel being against the mandate. Superintendent Marvin Connelly Jr. told the board that the current rate of positive tests for COVID-19 is more than 32 percent in Cumberland County. Ac- cording to the school's COVID-19 Data Dashboard, between Dec. 31 and Jan. 6, there were 828 cases of COVID-19. Outside of the mask mandate, the board approved to make HVAC upgrades for Douglas Byrd Middle, Douglas Byrd High, Pine Forest High and Lewis Chapel Middle School. At Douglas Byrd High, they will be replacing the existing water-cooled chiller, associated pumps, multi-zone and single-zone air handlers and duct cleaning. e existing controls will also be upgrad- ed. At Douglas Byrd Middle, they will be replacing two air-cooled chillers, associated pumps and multi- zone air handlers. e existing controls will also be upgraded. At Pine Forest High, they will be replacing the existing 375-ton chilled water plant, eight multi- zone dual temperature air-handling units and duct cleaning. At Lewis Chapel Middle, they will be replacing the existing 175-ton chilled water plant and eight multi-zone dual temp air-handling units, and duct cleaning. e total cost of the upgrades is $9,282,195; how- ever, Emergency Relief funds, given to the county for COVID-19 impacts, will be used for the Pine Forest High repairs and for the Lewis Chapel Middle repairs. e work at all of the schools is scheduled to be completed this summer. Domestic violence murder leads to arrest On Jan. 10, at 3:14 pm, officers with the Fayetteville Police Department were dispatched to reports of shots being fired inside of a home off Ryan Street. 41-year-old Mercedes Rosa Sterling was found killed in her house. A preliminary investigation found that the incident started as a domestic violence situ- ation and the department's homicide unit is continu- ing to investigate. is is Fayetteville's fourth homi- cide of 2022. Police arrested 49-year-old Roland Dewayne Smith Jr. for First Degree Murder at the scene. He is in the Cumberland County Detention Center with no bond. His next pre-trial hearing is scheduled for Feb. 1. Four schools on Fort Bragg go virtual Bowley Elementary, Hampton Primary, and Poole Elementary will be virtual through next week due to rising COVID-19 cases. Students at Bowley, Poole and Hampton are scheduled to return to in person learning on ursday, Jan. 27 and stu- dents from Shughart will return on Friday, Jan. 28, depend- ing on COVID-19 trends. "We will continue to work in close coordination with our military community partners and military public health officials throughout this process," a message to parents said. "Even in this pandemic, our guiding vision remains excel- lence in education for every student, every day, everywhere. e safety and well-being of our students and employees is paramount and will always be our first consideration." Parents who need childcare can register their kids through Parent Central Services for limited spaces at Baez School Age Center and Wonderful World for Kids. Allegations against Gina Hawkins dismissed by HANNAH LEE NEWS DIGEST HANNAH LEE, Assistant Editor. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomin- gweekly.com. 910-484-6200.