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/961176
4 UCW APRIL 4-10, 2018 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM HIGH 71 HIGH 68 HIGH 58 HIGH 62 HIGH 64 APRIL 5 APRIL 6 APRIL 7 APRIL 8 APRIL 9 APRIL 10 Sunny Partly Cloudy Rain PM Showers Scattered Thunderstorms Rain LOW 45 LOW 46 LOW 54 LOW 45 LOW 49 LOW 44 HIGH 62 BILL BOWMAN, Publisher, UP & COMING WEEKLY. COMMENTS? BILL@upandcomingweekly.com. 910-484-6200. PUBLISHER'S PEN STAFF PUBLISHER Bill Bowman Bill@upandcomingweekly.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER/ EDITOR Stephanie Crider editor@upandcomingweekly.com OPERATIONS DIRECTOR Paulette Naylor accounting@upandcomingweekly.com ASSISTANT EDITOR Leslie Pyo leslie@upandcomingweekly.com SENIOR REPORTER Jeff Thompson news@upandcomingweekly.com SENIOR SPORTS EDITOR Earl Vaughan Jr. GRAPHIC DESIGNER Elizabeth Long art@upandcomingweekly.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS D.G. Martin, Pitt Dickey, Margaret Dickson, John Hood, Jim Jones, Shanessa Fenner, Jason Brady, Lauren Vanderveen, Matthew Skipper, Shane Wilson SALES ADMINISTRATOR/ DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Laurel Handforth laurel@upandcomingweekly.com MARKETING/SALES Linda McAlister Brown linda@upandcomingweekly.com ––––––––––– 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 wel- comes 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. ©2018 by F&B Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of editorial or advertisements without permission is strictly prohibited. Cover art/Various ads with art graphics designed with various elements from: vecteezy.com and freep- ik. com. Regardless of the outcome from all the investigations taking place involving freshman Councilman Tyrone Williams, he needs to resign from the city council and spare our community the embarrass- ment of a local governmental scandal. e cliché "where there's smoke there is usually fire" rings true in this bizarre sequence of disturbing circumstances. We agree with former Fayetteville City Councilman Bobby Hurst, who got it right when commenting about Williams' situation on WFNC's Morn- ing Show last week when he said, "He's just lying. And he should step down." e overall news coverage of this situ- ation has also been unusually vague and confusing, causing much speculation. is has all the drama and intrigue of a James Patterson novel – municipal suspicion of wrongdoing by a sitting councilman, closed sessions of city council meetings, accusations of potential criminal activity, false claims and accusations directed at city attorney Karen McDonald, the hiring of a high-powered white collar crime crim- inal defense attorney, the request by other council members for an Ethics Commis- sion investigation, false claims of financial interest in someone else's business, and now, the involvement of the FBI. is series of events began several weeks ago when McDonald felt it nec- essary to hire and bring in an outside attorney to advise the city and potentially protect it from the escalating negative conflict of interest accusations lodged against Councilman Williams regarding PCH, Inc. and the Prince Charles Hotel development project. To date, no one has come forward to define just what that conflict of interest is. However, when questioned specifically about it, Williams got entangled in his own statements and contradictions, exacerbat- ing the suspicion surrounding this situa- tion and casting even more doubt on his integrity, honesty and intentions regarding the matter. First, Williams said he had a financial interest in the Prince Charles Hotel. is was not true; PCH Inc. confirms that it had no dealings with Williams and he was in no way associated with the project. Secondly, Williams said he disclosed his interest in the Prince Charles Hotel to the city attorney in February. Again, not true. McDonald denied this adamantly and de- manded that Williams correct the record. en there are the questions resulting from the votes he participated in concern- ing PCH and the hotel. Why did Williams participate in the voting if both he and the city attorney knew he had a financial inter- est in the project? is only raises more questions, like: What is the actual "dispute" or alleged "conflict of interest" the city is addressing with Williams, and why won't anyone say? Why would Williams vote (twice) against a $100 million development project in his own District 2? It has been mentioned that "they" con- fronted PCH, Inc. Who are "they"? Are other people involved with this al- leged dispute? If so, are they involved with the city or in any way in a position to influence city policy? Does Williams have an attorney, and why hasn't he lawyered up to defend him- self against the allegations? If he does have an attorney, who make up Williams' legal team of advisors? Because of Williams' past business rela- tionship with former Prince Charles Hotel owner John Chen, does Williams think he has a financial interest in PCH, Inc.? Does city staff or someone on city coun- cil have evidence or suspicions of bribery or of a pay-to-play scheme developing? ere are so many questions causing so much speculation, and all of it nega- tive. Hopefully, by the time you read this article the truth will have emerged, and our community will have the answers it is entitled to. In the meantime, I am extremely pleased that we have a city attorney like McDonald who is diligent and talented enough to rec- ognize a threatening situation that could be detrimental to our city. She immedi- ately took the proper corrective action to protect the city of Fayetteville, our council members, the reputation of our com- munity and the monumental downtown economic development project that will enhance and redefine Fayetteville's stature in North Carolina. We have much at stake here. Most im- portantly, the residents of Fayetteville must be able to respect, trust and place confi- dence in their city leaders. Even the slight- est hint of impropriety will undermine our growth, development and aspirations for a prosperous future. ank you for reading Up & Coming Weekly. City Councilman Tyrone Williams should resign by BILL BOWMAN e overall news coverage of the situation involving Tyrone Williams has been unusually vague and confusing.