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/19373
STAFF PUBLISHER Bill Bowman bbowman@upandcomingweekly.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHERS Janice Burton Joy Crowe editor@upandcomingweekly.com STAFF WRITER Stephanie Crider stephanie@upandcomingweekly.com MARKETING/SALES Mary Beth Leiby Marybeth@upandcomingweekly.com OFFICE MANAGER Deborah Baughn deborah@upandcomingweekly.com –––––––––––––– GRAPHIC DESIGNER Alicia Miller art@upandcomingweekly.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Soni Martin, D.G. Mar tin, Pitt Dick ey, Margaret Dickson, Bob Cogswell, John Hood, Shanessa Fenner, Erinn Crider, Karen Poppele, Heather Griffi ths, Beth Solzsmon-Carpenter –––––––––––– 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 infor- mation 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 per- son. 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 PUBLISHER’S PEN by JANICE BURTON Like the majority of the country, I watched the run-up to the election with something of a jaded eye. Been there, done that, have the broken promises. It was fairly painful to watch the tone and tenor of this year’s campaign. People that I know took great joy in tearing each other apart. And it didn’t stop there. Other, well-respected people in our nation, state and community jumped into the fray with malicious glee. What happened to the time when politicians could agree to disagree without having to go for the throat? Watching some of this reminded me of my college years. I was a member of the North Carolina Student Legislature. The organization, which is still very active today, has members on campuses at most of North Carolina’s great colleges and universities. Its membership is made up of students who have more than a passing interest in politics and government. At Campbell, our group was largely made up of political science majors (none of whom are really doing anything in that realm now) and business majors. I brought a different set with journalists and psychology majors. It was a great bunch of people. Each month we would travel to a different college campus where we would spend two days debating current, real-world issues that members of the body had decided to write legislation about. Topics varied, but much like the real world, we were divided on party lines. My great friends from East Carolina and those of us at Campbell made a pretty solid Republican block. Of couse, Chapel Hill, Guilford and N.C. State leaned heavily to the left. (But we loved them anyway.) The culminating event every year was the annual session. We divided into a House and Senate and sat in the N.C. House and Senate Chambers to hold our annual session. We wrote bills, many of which made it into state law after our session. And, just like the real world, we held elections. Some of them got pretty personal, but at the end of the day, we were all still friends. You might ask why I’m wandering down this road. Well, here’s the thing: We were college students. Our jobs Fayetteville’s Weather Forecast Friday Saturday November 11 November 12 November 13 Fayetteville’s Weather Forecast Thursday were to study, so we put a lot of time and effort into those weekend events and that annual session. We spent hours researching each piece of legislation and then debating it. It was informed debate. We didn’t cast aspersions or throw innuendos. We prepared and we operated in a fairly professional manner. In the coming weeks, we will have the opportunity to see our newly elected officials in action. I wonder if they will put the passion into doing their jobs that they put into getting or keeping them. Having been in the newspaper industry for quite some time, I have spent more than my share of time at public meetings. Nothing peeves me more than watching uninformed leaders (who didn’t even take the time to read their agenda packet) ask stupid questions and then proceed to make stupid decisions. It’s not that hard. You asked for the job. You got the job. Now do your homework. Perform your due diligence before you make any decision that affects we the people. Don’t expect to come to a meeting and get enough information to make a sound decision. Don’t wait on your counterparts to do the homework for you. Don’t insult the electorate that put you in the driver’s seat by not investing fully by spending as much time working as you did campaigning. These are serious times, and we need serious leaders. Everyone who was elected last week should be on notice. The public has neither the time nor the inclination for you to be frivolous or be seen. This is where the rubber meets the road. We didn’t elect people for photo ops. We elected people to roll up their sleeves and get to work. If that’s not on your agenda, you wasted your time and energy and your stay will be short. America has woken up, don’t think we will go back to sleep. JANICE BURTON, Associate Publisher. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomingweekly.com. 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