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/987815
4 UCW MAY 30-JUNE 5, 2018 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM 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 SPORTS EDITOR Earl Vaughan Jr. EarlUCWSports@gmail.com REPORTERS Charles Bosworth, Jeff Thompson news@upandcomingweekly.com 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 freepik.com. For 23 years we have used our community newspaper to uplift market and promote the quality of life unique only to Fayetteville and Cumberland County. I understand many of our readers, es- pecially those in the black community, were disappointed and even angered with the choice of our cover for the last edition. I admit, it was over the top, but I wanted to get everyone's attention. Anyone who knows me knows I am passionate about this community. I built my media company marketing, promoting, touting and defending the Fayetteville community. e cover design was intended to make a bold and profound statement not about this community but to this community. It certainly was not meant to offend the sensitivities of our residents. I am truly sorry and hope this heart- felt apology will be accepted by those I hurt and offended. ose who know me or my newspaper know that meanness and hatred are just not my style. I love this community and have spent my en- tire career working to solve problems, build relationships and celebrate the goodness that makes this such a special place. Below is my official statement and expla- nation as to the purpose and intent of last week's Up & Coming Weekly feature involv- ing Tyrone Williams. ere are no other ex- planations, motives, truths or conspiracies. Over the past 23 years, our community has grown and finally come of age in the arts, culture, education, economic develop- ment and quality of life in comparison to other North Carolina cities. It was a long and hard-fought process, but we did it. I was distraught at the thought of us losing ground by allowing others to exploit and disrespect our community. e purpose of the cover and the Tyrone Williams story was to get the community's attention and to make sure everyone knows and understands that this kind of outra- geous and unscrupulous behavior by any- one, of any race, color or political affiliation will not and cannot be accepted, condoned, ignored or encouraged with impunity. Fayetteville elected Williams. He was a known entity in this community, and Fayetteville elected him to represent District 2 anyway. en he got caught. Getting Williams to resign from the city council does not eradicate the offense, and it surely is not an exoneration. e mes- sage I wanted to convey, and which I have already admitted was in poor taste, is that our city is on the right track both culturally and economically, and we have made too much progress to allow people, agencies or organizations to abuse and plunder our good will, resources and achievements. Up & Coming Weekly takes full respon- sibility for our content and opinions. Our writers' photos and credentials are included with every article, and we have never hid behind aliases or unidentified or anonymous sources. In addition, we have always openly made our newspaper accessible to the city, county and Fort Bragg, as well as individuals, businesses, institutions and community organiza- tions, to promote initiatives and tell their stories. We provide them a strong and relevant voice. at's what community newspapers do. at is what the Fourth Estate is all about. In the future, and without minimizing any of the enthusiasm or commitment we have for promoting Fayetteville and our city's leaders, I promise to be more sensi- tive and aware about how we convey the ideas, achievements and concerns that affect our city. We are the only media company that has succeeded solely by aggressively and positively reporting, promoting and writing about one thing: the greater Fayetteville community. I've never hid the fact that I love this community and seek to be a positive in- fluence to bring about growth and change that will benefit it – even during tough times. In this situation, my form was bad, but my intentions were good. I hope we can put this behind us and move forward. We have so much more to say about the Fayetteville community, its leadership and its citizens. Respectfully, Bill Bowman Founder/Publisher Up & Coming Weekly What were we thinking? Up & Coming Weekly's positioning statement by BILL BOWMAN HIGH 88 HIGH 88 MAY 31 JUNE 1 JUNE 2 JUNE 3 JUNE 4 JUNE 5 Scattered Thunderstorms Mostly Cloudy Isolated Thunderstorms PM Thunderstorms Isolated Thunderstorms Scattered Thunderstorms LOW 73 LOW 70 LOW 70 LOW 73 LOW 72 LOW 70 HIGH 84 HIGH 90 HIGH 91 HIGH 89 Up & Coming Weekly founder and publisher Bill Bowman