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: https://www.epageflip.net/i/106363
COMMUNITY NEWS North Carolina Association of Local Health Directors Honors Members and Partner Organizations The North Carolina Association of Local Health Directors recently honored have made significant contributions to the advancement and promotion of public several organizations and members for their efforts to health in North Carolina. ARMC was selected for its improve public health. The awards were given at the commitment to the prevention of poor health outcomes NCALHD annual meeting awards luncheon in Raleigh through promotion of health across the life-span on Jan. 23, 2013. The awards luncheon was held in and their long-term collaboration with the Alamance conjunction with the state health director's meeting, also County Health Department. ARMC was recognized in Raleigh. for its financial and manpower investments in the The Health Director of the Year Award was presented local community in education and outreach in rabies to Cumberland County Health Director Buck Wilson. prevention, HIV/AIDS prevention support, emergency The North Carolina Health Director of the Year Award preparedness, women's health and a variety of Healthy was sanctioned by the North Carolina Association of Alamance initiatives. County Commissioners and is implemented through the Jambbas Ranch North Carolina Association of Local Health Directors, A court denied the U.S. Department of Agriculture's an affiliate of the NCACC, and is given to an individual motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought against the for outstanding leadership in both public health in North agency by PETA, the Animal Legal Defense Fund and Carolina and for leadership and involvement in local Representatives from the Cumberland County Depart- two Fayetteville-area residents. The lawsuit seeks to community and civic activities. Wilson, who resides in ment of Public Health attended the awards ceremony overturn the USDA's decision to renew Jambbas Ranch Fayetteville, was recognized for his advocacy work with Tours' license to continue to operate a roadside zoo on Jan. 23. (Left to right) Dorothy McNeil, Patient the N.C. General Assembly on key public-health issues, Services Manager; Daniel Ortiz, Environmental Health that has racked up dozens of violations of the federal as well as his work at the local level to create community Animal Welfare Act. The ruling comes in the wake of Supervisor; Rodney Jenkins, Deputy Health Director; partnerships aimed at increasing access to mental health Buck Wilson, Health Director; Trisha Barfield, Assistant the recent high-profile rescue of Ben the bear — who and primary-care services and preventing teen pregnancy. to Health Director; and Christopher Frank, Board of was showing psychological and physical deterioration Wilson was nominated by the staff and management team from being kept in solitary confinement in a barren Health Chairman. of the Cumberland County Health Department. concrete enclosure at Jambbas. Ben is now at a The 2013 Public Health Partners Award was given spacious outdoor sanctuary in California. to Alamance Regional Medical Center (ARMC) in Burlington. This award was A copy of the court's decision is available upon request. For more information, created to recognize organizations, businesses and professional associations that please visit PETA.org and ALDF.org. PWC, R.I.P? by PITT DICKEY Just because something ain't broke is no reason not to fix it. We have a new city manager in town. After only six months, he is ready to fix the hundred year old Public Works Commission. Ted Voorhees is a mighty quick study. He has come from Durham and has figured out how to fix the previously unknown broken PWC plus give his bosses on the Fayetteville City Council $80 million to spend on pet projects. If a plan like that won't endear you to your political bosses, I will pull for Dook against the Tar Heels. In the interest of full disclosure, my father used to work for PWC as an electrical engineer. He was one of those guys who would get up in the middle of the night in severe storms and go get the power back on. PWC is staffed with people who get up in the middle of the night to get your power and water back on. They are hard working people who live here and care about the community. I take attacks on PWC personally, hence a rare serious column. Unfortunately, our shiny new city manager Ted has come up with a plan for the city council to take over PWC. The plan will utilize the council's previously unknown expertise in all things electrical, water and sewer. Ted recently spaketh thus unto the city council, "I am here from Durham's government and I am here to help you." Ted wants the council to approve all PWC contracts over $10,000 and take control of the PWC's $80 million dollar reserve fund. Now what could possibly go wrong with the city council getting its hands on $80 million that had been set aside for electrical, water and sewer purposes? The council certainly handled wisely the $750,000 it gave to renovate the Capitol Department Store into the now quite dead Dock's night club didn't it? The council did a great job building and handling the lease dispute with the Festival Park Building. The council has just signed a Raleigh real-estate firm to sell the Festival Park building and the PWC building as Fayetteville apparently doesn't have competent local realtors to handle such a sale. What could go wrong if the council got PWC's $80 million reserve fund? And while the council is grabbing the $80 million, why not consider selling PWC outright as suggested by Councilwoman Val Applewhite and spend that cash now? Recall Aesop's fable about the golden goose. A man and his wife owned a WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM goose that each day would lay a golden egg. The woman said to her husband, let's kill the golden goose and get all of its eggs now instead of waiting for one each day. They killed the goose, cut her open and discovered no golden eggs inside her. Bummer. Shall Manager Ted and his merry band of councilmen kill PWC like the goose that laid the golden eggs? They will, if you don't raise a stink about this. The city council is going to consider killing or selling PWC in February to see if there are any golden eggs inside of it. Remember the story of Esau, Jacob and Isaac? Esau had been out hunting and came home powerfully hungry. Jacob had a big pot of stew which he said he would trade for Esau's birthright as first born. Esau sold his birthright for the stew. This was not a good plan. Jacob then tricked their father Isaac into giving him Esau's blessing as first born. Is Fayetteville about to sell its birthright of PWC for a mess of pottage so the current city council can blow that money on pet projects? Will we have to rename our town Esauville? Consider what happens when a city sells off public assets. In 2008, Chicago leased for 75 years all 36,000 of its parking meters to a private group organized by Morgan Stanley Bank for $1.1 billion. Chicago got a big pile of money which it naturally spent on pet projects of the Chicago City Council. Morgan Stanley then sold the parking lease to a mysterious entity called Chicago Parking Meters, LLC, which is owned mostly by investors in Abu Dhabi and some group in Luxembourg. Abu Dhabi now sets the rates for parking in Chicago without oversight by Chicago voters. Each year the parking rates go up. Now it costs $6.50 an hour to use a parking meter in Chi-town. Do you think Chicago motorists are happy about that? Do they have any recourse to lower the rates? Nope. Abu Dhabi is in charge of parking rates. If the council either grabs PWC's golden $80 million egg or even worse sells the golden goose of PWC to some investment bank, are you going to have any say over how much you pay for your electricity, water or sewer? Nah. You think investors in Abu Dhabi care if you have to choose between paying your electric bill or buying food. Not so much. Consider suggesting to your councilperson to keep their hands off PWC PITT DICKEY, Contributing Writer, COMMENTS? Editor@ and go back to funding night clubs. upandcomingweekly.com. JAN. 30 - FEB. 5, 2013 UCW 7