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/1454211
4 UCW FEBRUARY 23 - MARCH 1, 2022 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM STAFF PUBLISHER Bill Bowman Bill@upandcomingweekly.com OPERATIONS DIRECTOR Paulette Naylor accounting@upandcomingweekly.com EDITOR Emily Sussman editor@upandcomingweekly.com ASSISTANT EDITOR Hannah Lee assistanteditor@upandcomingweekly. com PRODUCTION MANAGER/ GRAPHIC DESIGNER Dylan Hooker art@upandcomingweekly.com STAFF WRITERS Elaina J. Martin Alyson Hansen MARKETING ASSOCIATE Linda McAlister linda@upandcomingweekly.com DISTRIBUTION MANAGER/SALES ADMINISTRATOR Laurel Handforth laurel@upandcomingweekly.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Pitt Dickey, Thomas Kelsey, Dr. Shanessa Fenner, John Hood, Jessica May COVER Composition designed by Dylan Hooker, photos provided by Sgt. Hunter Garcia and Sgt. Erin Conway –––––––––––- 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 Army Airfield, 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. 82 64 82 83 79 82 63 64 83 66 64 65 THU FEB 24 FRI FEB 25 SAT FEB 26 SUN FEB 27 MON FEB 28 TUE MAR 01 72 58 85 41 57 40 58 36 53 23 47 32 Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy Sunny Sunny Cloudy Association of Community Publishers PUBLISHER'S PEN Greetings, ank you all for serving on the Fayetteville Ethics Committee and doing your civic duty. We have proudly published the Up & Coming Weekly community newspaper for over 25 years and have never swayed from our mis- sion and mandate to promote, accentuate and uplift the Fayetteville community while serving its residents. ose who know me personally know I am as passionate about this newspaper as the community. Conse- quently, I can be highly opinionated and sometimes brutally honest when it comes to the Fayetteville/Cumberland County com- munity. Up & Coming Weekly has a reputa- tion for always striving to be forthright and honest and never a purveyor of misinforma- tion, gossip or drama. As a community pub- lication, we aim to bring clarification, insight and opinion to policies, issues and matters affecting the local quality of life. Again, I love this community, and it saddens me to see our City's direction under its present leadership. is love of community is why I am writing this letter and voicing my opinion. I offer my advice and recommendations as the Eth- ics Committee moves forward in evaluating former City Council member Tisha Waddell's allegations of potential mismanagement and corruption, as stated in her November resignation letter. My biggest concern is that you at the Ethics Commission may not have the full context as volunteers and Council-appointed mem- bers. You may not know what is happening at City Hall and who the people are making the decisions that raised Waddell's concerns and prompted her resignation. is lack of context could put the entire Commission at a significant disadvantage. e recently reversed and unanimous decision made by the City Council to send Waddell's allegations to the Ethics Commission has only increased citizens' suspicions that a cover-up is in the making. e reality is that the Council ap- points the Ethics Committee. e assumption is that the Mayor and Council will not inves- tigate themselves and intend to use members of the Ethics Committee as pawns to exoner- ate themselves and dismiss the allegations out of hand. Public opinion seems to echo that, if there is no substance to Waddell's claims of mismanagement and corruption, as the Council claims, then why not call for an independent external investigation and be done with it? If "there is nothing to see here," why not have a thorough external investiga- tion? e Ethics Commission's previous decision to dismiss the eight charges against Fayetteville Police Chief Gina Hawkins has created even more mistrust and skepticism among citizens. It again confirmed that City Council would not investigate itself. Most people would agree, "Where there is smoke, there's fire." We know every member of the Ethics Commission is an upstanding, law-abiding and honest community member. Still, the fact remains they are far removed from the realities of what is taking place in our city government. Undoubtedly, the Com- mission wants to do its best for the residents and the community. I ask that the Ethics Commission listen intently to all the concerns and allegations brought before you. If the circumstances warrant it, call for an indepen- dent external investigation of all allegations. Once the independent analysis is complete, the chips will fall where they may. If there is substance to some or all the complaints, they can be addressed individually. At least, once an independent investigation is conducted, it really will be over and done, and Fayetteville residents will be satisfied knowing that fair- ness and justice have prevailed. is external investigation is the only way the truth will ultimately come out, and confidence can be restored in our City government leadership. Suppose the Commission finds no legiti- macy to the Waddell allegations and dis- misses the case like they did with Hawkins. In that case, I fear it will only cast dispersions on the Committee and cause more skepticism and mistrust among the Fayetteville residents proving the City Council will not investigate itself. Calling for an external, independent inves- tigation into Waddell's allegations is the only way to put these issues behind us and restore citizens' confidence and trust in the integrity of the City government and the Ethics Com- mission process. ere is much to learn from talking to resi- dents out in the community. e unsolicited comments from city residents, city employ- ees, downtown businesses, Fayetteville police officers and first responders speak of signifi- cant concerns with city leadership as well as concerns over escalating homicide and crime rates, the suspicious dealings surrounding the Prince Charles project and the park- ing deck fiasco, the halfway house Dismiss Project on Cain Rd. and the Barnhard Capital Partner's clandestine bid for Public Works Commission. Again, I thank you for your service to our City and community. I write this as a friend and concerned citizen. You are not obligated to heed any of the advice. However, keep in mind that the City of Fayetteville today is nothing like when most of us started building our businesses and raising our families. We must do everything possible to maintain the integrity of our local government for the sake of those who will come after us. A call for an independent external investi- gation will assure this. ank you for reading Up & Coming Weekly. Best Regards, Bill BILL BOWMAN, Publisher, UP & COMING WEEKLY. COMMENTS? BILL@upandcomingweekly.com. 910-484-6200. Open letter to the City of Fayetteville Ethics Commission by BILL BOWMAN