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/751563
4 UCW NOVEMBER 16-22, 2016 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM The election season is what I'm referring to. We all suffered through it. The hate. The accusations. The loss of dignity for the country and the frustrations of the American people. Believe me, no one suffered from election fatigue more than me. The TV and radio political commercials flooding the air waves and the thousands of political emails from every candidate under the sun running for every office you can imagine locally, statewide and nationally was overwhelming. It was crazy! Crazy! My thumbs are sore from toggling back and forth from MSNBC and Fox News trying to determine what was news and what information was factual, truthful and honest. What also made the 2016 election season excessively stressful was the amount of negativity that permeated at all levels. For many Americans, the barrage of mean and hateful rhetoric made it extremely difficult to determine who was telling the truth or who was advocating for the American people rather than for themselves. To hear these politicians tell it, everyone is a liar, everyone is a cheater and everyone is crooked and unethical. Everyone, except themselves of course. It has become sad and even ludicrous that our election process has deteriorated to this level. It surely creates a barrier of entry to decent, well-meaning people who would like to serve their communities and country in the political arena. Who wants to throw their hat in the ring knowing the hate and ill will that will likely result from their desire to serve and make a difference? An honest debate and exchange of ideas over differing philosophies and beliefs is one thing. Name calling and personal attacks are quite another and something many citizens who care deeply about their communities, states and country don't care to endure. Well, it's over for now, and we are moving forward. At least, I hope we are. I care most about this community and what kind of leadership Fayetteville and Cumberland County can expect in the crucial years ahead. Our local trends in education, population growth, retention, business and economic development and cultural enrichment programs are drastically lagging behind other North Carolina counties. Why? Leadership. Or, more specifically, lack of leadership. Locally, we desperately need political leaders who can address problems, identify needs, generate ideas and create excitement - the kind of excitement that comes from aggressive imaginative thinking, "getting the job done", and then celebrating the accomplishment. The few aggressive leaders we do have get bogged down with minutiae caused by those whose only talent was knowing how to get elected. These placeholders seldom have ideas or solutions, and when they do they have no feasible plan to move that idea forward. The good news is that all may be changing in our community very soon. There is a movement afoot led by responsible and concerned local residents to bring important issues and quality-of-life venues to the forefront and to get them in front of our local government officials in the hope they, too, will see the vision of what our community needs and deserves, thus creating a vision of what Fayetteville/ Cumberland County could be and should be. We deserve it. Thank you for reading Up & Coming Weekly. PUBLISHER'S PEN Thank Goodness! The Mean Season Is Over. by BILL BOWMAN STAFF PUBLISHER Bill Bowman Bill@upandcomingweekly.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER/EDITOR Stephanie Crider editor@upandcomingweekly.com SENIOR REPORTER Jeff Thompson news@upandcomingweekly.com ART DIRECTOR & GRAPHIC DESIGNER Sara Smith art@upandcomingweekly.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS D.G. Martin, Pitt Dickey, Margaret Dickson, John Hood, Erinn Crider, Jim Jones, Shanessa Fenner, Heather Griffiths BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Keri Dickson keri@upandcomingweekly.com SALES ADMINISTRATOR/ DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Laurel Handforth laurel@upandcomingweekly.com ACCOUNTING Paulette Naylor accounting@upandcomingweekly.com MARKETING/SALES Nicki Hart nicki@upandcomingweekly.com Linda McAlister Brown linda@upandcomingweekly.com ––––––––––– Up & Coming Weekly www.upandcomingweekly.com 208 Rowan Street 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 pub- lisher. 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. ©2007 by F&B Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of editorial or advertisements without permission is strictly prohibited. Fayetteville's Weather Forecast Call 910-354-1679 for more info. November 17 Sunny November 18 Sunny November 19 Sunny November 20 Sunny November 21 Sunny November 22 Partly Cloudy THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY HIGH 68 HIGH 71 HIGH 71 HIGH 54 HIGH 53 HIGH 56 LOW 40 LOW 45 LOW 41 LOW 33 LOW 30 LOW 33 BILL BOWMAN, Publisher, UP & COMING WEEKLY. COMMENTS? BILL@ upandcomingweekly.com. 910.484.6200.