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/133137
STAFF PUBLISHER Bill Bowman bbowman@upandcomingweekly.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Janice Burton editor@upandcomingweekly.com OPERATIONS OFFICER Paulette Naylor accounting@upandcomingweekly.com EDITOR Stephanie Crider stephanie@upandcomingweekly.com ART DIRECTOR Alicia Miller art@upandcomingweekly.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS D.G. Martin, Pitt Dickey, Margaret Dickson, John Hood, Erinn Crider, Karen Poppele, Heather Griffiths DISTRIBUTION MANAGER/ OFFICE COORDINATOR Laurel Handforth laurel@upandcomingweekly.com MARKETING/SALES Cynthia Deere cynthia@upandcomingweekly.com Linda McAlister Brown linda@upandcomingweekly.com Kristy Sykes kristy@upandcomingweekly.com Beverly Pone beverly@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 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. Subscriptions can be purchased for $30 for six months or $60 for 12 months, delivered weekly by first class mail. ©2007 by F&B Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of editorial or advertisements without permission is strictly prohibited. INSIDE Calendar ........................................... 16 Concert Connection ........................ 22 TV ..................................................... 24 Free Wheelin' Feelin' ....................... 26 PUBLISHER'S PEN Culture of Corruption by BILL BOWMAN Great leadership comes from the top. Lack of leadership … ditto. I pray God spares Fayetteville from the trickle down effect. Our nation seems to be bogged down with incompetent people, bad ideas and perhaps the worst decisions ever. These factors result in some pretty sorry government. Integrity and political ethics seem to be reaching all time highs in new lows. Should we be concerned? Yes! And, with 68 percent of Americans already thinking our government is too big and out of control, not only should we be concerned; we also need to start doing something and saying something about it. This is no time to be silent. Our tolerance is immersing us in a culture of corruption. This phenomenon occurs from constant exposure to low moral and questionable (unethical) behavior by our governmental leadership (at all levels) and in the long run, conditions us to accept and tolerate this deplorable type of behavior as normal. Unlike a very good lawyer friend of mine, I am not so willing to constantly seek justification for this deplorable behavior by reaching back into America's past and grasping on to the old and tired cliche' "It's always been that way." What? Are you kidding me? I'm not buying that and you shouldn't either. That was then, this is now. We deserve better and so do our children. Two wrongs have never made a right. At all levels of governments the two things causing most of the angst and loss of confidence in our elected leaders is the conspicuous absence of accountability and consequence. Think about it. No one seems accountable for anything they say or do any more. Worse, even after being confronted with a situation, infraction or indiscretion there are no consequences for the actions. This lack of accountability leads us to situations like this: • Solyndra's loss of $500 million of taxpayers money. Official response "Oops. My bad!" No consequence. • Benghazi: Four American's dead. Response from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton "What does it matter...?" • White House response "Oops. Our bad!" No consequence. • The IRS scandal where their own employee, Lois Lerner, admitted to targeting and harassing conservative Tea Party groups Fayetteville's Weather Forecast Thursday May 30 Friday May 31 4 High 89° Low 68° Partly Cloud UCW MAY 29 - JUNE 4, 2013 bill@upandcomingweekly.com. Sunday June 2 Saturday June 1 High 89° Low 70° Sunny then arrogantly states "I have not done anything wrong." That's why she hid behind the protection of the Fifth Amendment and refused to answer any questions. If she ever does speak you can be pretty much assured it will be something like "Oops. My bad!" and the lack of accountability will eliminate any consequence. • On the state level, Democratic Party Chair Randy Voller repays the party more than $3,000 for an unauthorized Las Vegas outing. He also has nearly $300,000 in IRS and state tax liens against him. What? Is this really the best leadership North Carolina has to offer? What does Fayetteville have to offer? We'll soon find out. The political climate is just starting to warm up with City Councilwoman Val Applewhite, local businessman Kirk deViere and former three term Fayetteville Councilman Paul Williams officially declaring their candidacy for mayor. However, with more than a month left before the official registration date begins, many others may step forward — Nat Robertson, City Councilman Jim Arp, Ted Mohn and Cumberland County Commissioner Ed Melvin — just to name a few. Here's what to watch for. So far, all of the declared and undeclared candidates tout the notion that "Fayetteville needs new leadership." Really? Then tell us specifically what about the city leadership needs to change and how you will change it. Then, you will have the makings of a really good mayoral candidate. Thank you for reading Up & Coming Weekly. We invite you to participate in our mayoral preliminary straw poll DECISION 2013. Ballots are available on our website (www. upandcomingweekly.com) and that of WFNC (www.wfnc640am.com). Special note of thanks and gratitude to Holly Whitley and the Gypsy Women of Legend's Pub who recently raised and donated $7,014 to Kidsville News! of Cumberland County's Literacy and Education initiative. You are BILL BOWMAN, Publisher, the greatest! Up & Coming Weekly, COMMENTS? Call 910.354.1679 24 / High 89° Low 65° Partly Cloudy Horoscopes/Advice Goddess ......... 27 Classifieds ........................................ 28 Games .............................................. 30 Dining Guide.....................................31 Monday June 3 Tuesday June 4 High 90° Low 69° Partly Cloudy High 88 Low 71º Partly Cloudy High 87º Low 69º Partly Cloudy 7 Forecast available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM