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.
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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, Shanessa Fenner, Heather Griffiths DISTRIBUTION MANAGER/ OFFICE COORDINATOR Laurel Handforth laurel@upandcomingweekly.com MARKETING/SALES Cynthia Spears cynthia@upandcomingweekly.com Linda McAlister Brown linda@upandcomingweekly.com Kristy Sykes kristy@upandcomingweekly.com Beverly Pone beverlypone@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. .......................................... 12 . TV...................................................... 16 Concert Connection......................... 17 Movie................................................ 16 PUBLISHER'S PEN Cumberland County Consistency by BILL BOWMAN James Martin, the Cumberland mean we have a commitment to County manager, recently needlessly spend it before we have announced he is retiring and exhausted every other opportunity stepping down from his position to do the right and just thing. after 13 years of excellent and Another way to look at it is to well-documented service. He came ask yourself in what other ways into the position with experience could we better spend that money and quietly and professionally to improve our county? Or, for managed the people and assets of how many homeless people could Cumberland County. No doubt he that money provide shelter? How is leaving our county better off than many children could we feed or when he came. how much could we add to our Finding Martin's replacement will parks and recreation program or not be an easy task. His style was contribute to the quality of life of abundant with patience and pride our senior citizens? and he had an uncanny ability to When we think of how that position the right people in the right Cumberland County Manger James E. Martin, left, with Dorothy and Julian money could be spent and how McIntyre at the Dec. 16 Board of Commissioners Meeting. Mr. McIntrye was many opportunities we have to places. With his departure, many recognized by the commissioners for his recent induction into the Cumberland improve our community, rather of those same loyal, dedicated and County Agricultural Hall of Fame. talented county professionals are than spending it on doing a search Photo Credit: Jon Soles looking for the opportunity to step with an outside agency, why up and serve county government in shouldn't we look closely at the a management position. Many are human resources we have close to confident they have the talent, ability and historical background needed home? I believe this is fiscal responsibility. I have a lot of trust and to keep Cumberland County on a progressive and challenging growth faith in our County Commissioners and I'm sure that ultimately, they track in the coming years. will make the right decision. The Board of County Commissioners is charged with finding I would be very disappointed if that decision did not include looking someone qualified and competent to fill this position. In the next few at the dozens of people whom we have in the county system right now weeks a lot of discussion on whether to fill this position from within that could step up and fill the shoes of James Martin. the talent we already employ or hire an outside agency and do an He will be missed. external statewide or national search will take center stage on the I would be remiss if I did not take this opportunity to thank you, Commissioner's agenda. our faithful readers, for your support and encouragement over the Don't kid yourself, this is a big, big decision. past year. The past few years have not been kind to newspapers, but It is my hope that they first take a diligent look from within. I offer up it is with your continued support, that we are still here, still telling the a couple reasons for this. story of our community. If we are the voice of our community, we First, dedicated, accomplished and talented employees should always know that each of you are its heart. have of the first opportunity to advance and improve their station. Thank you for reading. The entire staff of Up & Coming Weekly would like Second, the needs of our county residents are many. An outside to wish each and search is extremely expensive, with costs sometimes ranging from BILL BOWMAN, Publisher, Up & Comevery one of you a $30,000 to $60,000 — an expense that county taxpayers should not Merry Christmas and ing Weekly. COMMENTS? have to needlessly endure. Sure the money to finance this venture is editor@upandcomingweekly.com. an awesome 2014! available; however, just because the money is available to spend doesn't Fayetteville's Weather Forecast Thursday December 26 Friday December 27 4 DECEMBER 25-31, 2013 High 50° Low 32° Partly Cloudy Saturday December 28 High 50° Low 32° Sunny Call 910.354.1679 Sunday December 29 24 / High 57° Low 36° Mostly Cloudy Free Wheelin' Feelin'........................ 18 Horoscopes/Advice Goddess.......... 19 Classifieds......................................... 20 Games............................................... 22 Monday December 30 Tuesday December 31 High 52° Low 33° Partly Cloudy High 50º Low 31º Partly Cloudy High 52º Low 31º Partly Cloudy 7 Forecast available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM