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 bbowman@upandcomingweekly.com editor@upandcomingweekly.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHERS Janice Burton Joy Crowe stephanie@upandcomingweekly.com Charlie@upandcomingweekly.com OFFICE MANAGER Laurel Handforth officemanager@ upandcomingweekly.com ACCOUNTING Mary Catherine Thompson accounting@upandcomingweekly.com GRAPHIC DESIGNER Alicia Miller art@upandcomingweekly.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS D.G. Mar tin, Pitt Dick ey, Margaret Dickson, John Hood, Jhana Lewis, Erinn Crider, Karen Poppele, Heath- er 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. Hal@upandcomingweekly.com Charlie Rogers MARKETING/SALES Hal Nunn ASSOCIATE EDITOR Stephanie Crider PUBLISHER Bill Bowman PUBLISHER'S PEN by JANICE BURTON Much has been written by people way smarter than me about our nation's economy. Headlines scream out dire warnings, while politicos try to make hay by blaming each other for the state we are in. It's not a pretty sight. But things got a lot uglier when the bean counters in Washington started looking at military benefi ts to pad their bottom line. In recent weeks, the Defense Business Board, a Pentagon "think tank/advisory board," charged with making the military run more effi ciently — more like big business — unveiled a plan that would make sweeping changes to the military retirement system. Under the current system, the Armed Forces offer a pension (technically a "reduced compensation for reduced services.") with benefi ts that start the day you retire, no matter how old you are. That means you could start collecting a regular retirement pension as early as 37 years old. What's more, that pension check can grow with a cost of living adjustment each year. The plan proposed by the Defense Business Board calls for a corporate-style benefi ts program that would contribute money to troops' retirement savings account rather than provide a monthly pension. In an interesting twist, all troops, whether they do one enlistment to pay for college or dedicate their lives to the defense of our nation, would receive the same annual contribution of about 16 percent of their annual salary — not their total pay (which includes housing, specialty pay, etc) — just their salary, which for a noncommissioned offi cer with 20 years of service really isn't that much. The board says that troops who choose to deploy frequently — last time I checked, that wasn't a choice — accept hardship assignments (also really not a choice) or serve in high-demand jobs would get a little extra. Fayetteville's Weather Forecast August 19 Fayetteville's Weather Forecast Friday Thursday August 18 Saturday August 20 In recent weeks, the Defense Business Board unveiled a plan that would make sweeping changes to the military retirement system. The goal is to cut some $250 billion in retirement over the next 20 years. What this proposal will also do is cut the number of Soldiers who are willing to spend their lives serving our country. You can't fi x what is wrong with our nation's economy by sacrifi cing the men and women who already sacrifi ce so much. Maybe it would better serve the Defense Business Board to look at the billion dollar contracts that big business has with our government for cost savings instead of the meager pay of a retired soldier. I took a look at the bios of the people who sit on the Defense Business Board. I saw only one mention of military service in those bios and that was a four-year stint not during wartime. What I did see was references to Harvard, Yale, Business Schools and Wall Street. Maybe they should look at making big business run effi ciently before they start talking about what is fair recompense to men and women who sacrifi ce daily for our nation. I understand Wall Street is tough, but it can't compare to the mountains and valleys of Afghanistan, the deserts of Iraq, the jungles of the Philippines or the plains of Africa where our troops are putting their lives on the line on a daily basis. When a Wall Street CEO has a killer day, he still goes home for drinks with his friends and dinner with his family. When a Soldier has a killer day, there is a knock at a front door and a family whose life is ripped to pieces. When Congress gets serious about cutting the fat from our nation's economy there is a lot of fat to cut, but it is not from the backs of our military. JANICE BURTON, Associate Publisher, Up & Coming Weekly, COMMENTS? editor@upandcomingweekly.com CalCall 910.354.1679l 910.354.1679 Sunday August 21 Monday August 22 Tuesday August 23 INSIDE Military Pensions In the Crosshairs Calendar ........................................... 12 Concert Connection ........................ 15 TV ..................................................... 17 Movie Review .................................. 17 Free Wheelin' Feelin' ....................... 18 News of the Weird ........................... 19 Horoscopes/Advice Goddess ......... 19 Classifieds ........................................ 20 Games .............................................. 22 Dining Guide .................................... 23 High 93° Low 70° Sunny 4 UCW AUGUST 17-23, 2011 High 90° Low 71° Partly Cloudy High 92° Low 72° Partly Cloudy Forecast available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 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