Up & Coming Weekly

PUBLISHER Bill Bowman bbowman@upandcomingweekly.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHERS Janice Burton Joy Kirkpatrick editor@upandcomingweekly.com STAFF WRITER Stephanie Crider stephanie@upandcomingweekly.com MARKETING/SALES Tabitha Kidd tabitha@upandcomingweekly.com OFFICE MANAGER Suzy Patterson suzy@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, Stephanie Crider, Erica Gilbert –––––––––––– 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. STAFF Internet Directory ............................ 12 Calendar ........................................... 22 Concert Connection ........................ 32 TV ..................................................... 34 Movie Review .................................. 36 Movie Schedule ............................... 37 Wheelin' Feelin' ................................ 38 News of the Weird ........................... 39 Horoscopes/Advice Goddess ......... 39 Classifieds ........................................ 40 Games .............................................. 42 Dining Guide .................................... 43 INSIDE Problem: Kids won't listen or behave in the classroom. They are not paying attention in class or following the rules. They are not responding to teachers guidance, discipline or even acknowledging the consequences for their actions. Hmmmm? Could it be that they put no value on being able to distinguish right from wrong? Could it be that we are not teaching our children core values? Are we effectively teaching them the basics of life lessons like: "good" is to "bad" like "right" is to "wrong" and "legal" is to "illegal"? I don't think so. Surely, it must be confusing for young children (and some adults) to witness the hypocrisy caused by our impotent and irresponsible local, state and national leadership as they waiver in confusion about how to deal with the menacing problem of illegal immigratiom and the burden it is on our nation. The problem actually revolves around spineless leadership that continually ignores the problem of tens of thousands of undocumented immigrants entering our country each month. Did I miss something during the last several years? Did someone in Congress authorize the addition of an asterisk (*) to the word illegal*? After all, the dictionary defines "illegal" as: prohibited by law or by official or accepted rules." Unfortunately, I feel the worst is yet to come now that the North Carolina Board of Community Colleges has again changed its policy and has agreed to conditionally accept undocumented immigrants into our community college system. Again, we continue to undermine our own values and way of life. With this action we are now teaching and reaffirming to all children that bad, disruptive and "illegal" behavior is not only acceptable but comes without consequence. In addition, here in North Carolina it now comes with a degree of honor and privilege. As our lawmakers continue to compromise our laws and values to accommodate their lack of effectiveness, our school children will continue to become less attentive and motivated, dropout rates will continue to rise, SAT scores will drop and crime at all levels will continue to escalate. Why? Because our leaders will continue to refuse to make the tough decisions. It has become easier and more acceptable to redefine our values and terms like "illegal" than it is to do the right thing and hold people accountable. I hope this way of thinking and reacting will end soon. I'm just not sure how much more middle-class America can endure. Thank you for reading Up & Coming Weekly. Your comments are very important to us. Please feel free to contact me personally at bbowman@upandcomingweekly.com or 910-391-3859. We would love to hear from you. Illegal: Can You Define the Term? No Wonder Our Children Are Confused by BILL BOWMAN Bill Bowman, Publisher. COMMENTS? 484- 6200 ext. 106 or Bill@upandcomingweekly.com. PUBLISHER'S PEN writ-er [rahy-ter] – noun 1. a person engaged in writing books, articles, stories, etc., esp. as an occupation or profession; an author or journalist. If you see yourself in that light, Up & Coming Weekly would love you to join our creative, talented, community-oriented line-up of contributing writ- ers. If you are interested in joining our writing team, e-mail sample articles or questions to: editor@upandcomingweekly.com For more informtion, call 910-484-6200. 4 UCW SEPTEMBER 23-29, 2009

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