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/1498292
4 UCW MAY 3 - 9, 2023 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM STAFF PUBLISHER Bill Bowman Bill@upandcomingweekly.com OPERATIONS DIRECTOR Paulette Naylor accounting@upandcomingweekly.com MANAGING EDITOR April Olsen editor@upandcomingweekly.com ASSISTANT EDITOR Hannah Lee assistanteditor@upandcomingweekly. com ART DIRECTOR Courtney Sapp-Scott art@upandcomingweekly.com GRAPHIC DESIGNER Isaiah Jones graphics@upandcomingweekly.com STAFF WRITERS Alyson Hansen Ashley Shirley Kathleen Ramsey Chayenne Burns Katrina Wilson Aubrette Reid CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Rep. Richard Hudson, Ben Sessoms, Jamie Bishop MARKETING ASSOCIATE Linda McAlister linda@upandcomingweekly.com SALES ASSISTANT Sheila Barker salesassistant@upandcomingweekly. com COVER Photo of Robin Kivett by Courtney Sapp-Scott 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. 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. Below is a letter from Fayetteville citi- zen Donald Boyd to the Mayor and City Council members congratulating them on making a wise decision in not initiating the change from two-year City Council terms to four-year terms. He also provides some sound logic and historical basis for why the decision was proper. I applaud Boyd for taking this ini- tiative. Way too many Fayetteville citizens stand on the sidelines, afraid to speak out on important and pressing issues that directly affect or indirectly affect our qual- ity of life. ere are many reasons for this reluc- tance, but the most frequent and valid ex- cuses for not speaking out are that people don't want the hassles and repercussions of conflict with the prevailing "woke" culture that has permeated our local, state and national governments. is affliction usually culminates in the canceling out of people, businesses and organizations who refuse to subscribe to their ideology. All of which further divides humanity. e notion put forth by freshman District 6 Councilman Derrick ompson that four-year terms will save the city time and money was as lame as the inference that Fayetteville residents are not well in- formed on important and relevant issues of the City. e immense turnout at the public hearing laid that notion to rest. Our community is on the brink of being a "news media desert," without a local TV station. Fayetteville and Cumberland County lack the benefit of journalistic investigative reporting that would provide a "deep dive" into important issues af- fecting our city. Several media resources report on local government meetings, but only after we get the full story do we have to deal with the outcomes and conse- quences of their actions or inactions. Lack of transparency is a real problem. So, this is the case, and even though Fayetteville residents may not be as informed on local issues as they could be, they know that they do not want people in leadership positions any longer than they need to be. e massive enthusias- tic turnout during the public hearing on extending City Council term limits made that statement clear. Again, I join Boyd in congratulating the Council on making a good decision. How- ever, there are many more urgent projects and concerns facing our city. Seeing them spend more time serving the community than themselves would be encouraging. ank you for reading Up & Coming Weekly. Dear City Council Members, ank most of you for voting not to ex- tend the two-year term limit to four years without a public referendum on this mas- sive change in Fayetteville's democracy. I do not know why you voted this way. Was it because your district citizens contacted you to vote no? Belief in democratic feder- alism government? Hate mail? e belief that slow changes to government based on historical precedent is a sound policy? Or a gut feeling? Regardless, I thank you for your sound decision. Please let me dive deep for a moment. When I heard of a four-year term pro- posal, without a public vote just "Because we don't have to," I remembered the found- ing of the Republic — the Constitution — and the explanations in "e Federalist Papers" by the great author Publius. Specifically: # 52 Madison: "As it is essential to liberty that the government, in general, should have a common interest with the people, so it is particularly essential that the branch of it under consideration should have an im- mediate dependence on, and an intimate sympathy with, the people. Frequent elec- tions are unquestionably the only policy by which this dependence and sympathy can be effectually secured." #53 Madison: "All these considerations taken together warrant us in affirming, that biennial elections will be as useful to the affairs of the public as we have seen that they will be safe to the liberty of the people." While the above specifically talks about House of Representative terms, it has a great historical discussion on the differ- ent term options for direct representatives of the People. If you have never read it, I recommend you do, for it will provide a historical perspective on why a two-year term limit is the only viable option. You made a wise choice, and I salute you. —Regards and Best Wishes Donald Boyd Colonel, U.S. Army (Ret.) PUBLISHER'S PEN Giving credit where credit is due by BILL BOWMAN Letters to the Editor Do YOU have something to say? We want YOU to be heard! We want EVERYONE to be able to voice their opinions on current community events. Let us be a place to start much needed conversations. ALL VOICES WELCOMED! EMAIL: editor@upandcomingweekly.com CALL: 910-484-6200 BILL BOWMAN, Publisher. COMMENTS? BILL@upandcomin- gweekly.com. 910-484-6200. According to the Library of Congress, "e Federal- ist," commonly referred to as "e Federalist Papers," is a series of 85 essays written by Alexander Hamil- ton, John Jay and James Madison between October 1787 and May 1788. e essays were published anonymously, under the pen name Publius, in vari- ous New York state newspapers at the time.