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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Cape Fear Valley Health Foundation Sponsors 6th Annual Ribbon Walk & Ride for Cancer by KAREN POPPELE Crowds of folks will stretch out like a ribbon along routes through the downtown Fayetteville area as walkers and motorcy- clists take to the road for the Cape Fear Valley Health Foundation's Friends of the Cancer Center 6th Annual Ribbon Walk & Ride for Cancer, Saturday, Nov. 5, 2011, in Festival Park. Last year, more than 1,000 walkers and riders participated in the event and raised more than $90,000 "to help cancer patients right here at home." All proceeds benefit Friends of the Cancer Center, one of six friends groups within the Foundation that "… help develop programs to assist patients with needs that contribute to the heal- ing process, but that go beyond the scope of Cape Fear Valley's mission to provide medical care and treatment," according to the event website, www. ribbonwalkforcancer.org. A press release for the event noted, "Through fundraisers, such as the Ribbon Walk & Ride, Friends of the Cancer Center provides prescription medicine, emergency funds for utilities, dietary supplements, transportation assistance, wigs, hats and scarves to Cancer Center patients." Friends of the Cancer Center is supported 100 percent by donations and gifts and the help of 80 plus volunteers. Chances are, everyone knows someone who is fighting cancer or who has fought cancer, and this is a way to help patients right here in Fayetteville. Friends of the Cancer Center's Ribbon Walk welcomes all partici- pants willing to come out and walk for survivors and encourages survivors to be there, as well as any others who can walk for a co-worker, a friend, a son, a daughter, a spouse — anyone who is battling or has battled this killer disease. Participants may register the day of the event or preregister at www.rib- Last year, over 1000 walkers and riders participated in the event and raised more than $90,000 to help cancer patients right here at home. bonwalkforcancer.org and download the donation form and view walk and ride routes. Additionally, people may donate to a particular walker, rider or team online. Registration is $25, and checks should be made payable to Cape Fear Valley Health Foundation. The top team and top three individual fundraisers will receive prizes, including T- shirts, stainless-steel water bot- tles, backpacks, caps and fleece jackets. Registration and kickoff for the ride are at 8:45 and 9:45 a.m., respec- tively. Walk registration begins at 9 a.m., and the walk begins at 10 a.m. For more information on the Ribbon Walk, sponsorship, registration or volunteering, please call Cape Fear Valley Health Foundation at 615-7618 or visit www.ribbonwalkforcancer.org. KAREN POPPELE, Contributing Writer. COMMENTS? editor@upandcomin- gweekly.com The Republican Nominee: It's going to Be Rick Perry by D. G. MARTIN Don't write off Rick Perry. You ask, why not? Because he is going to be the Republican nominee for President and will give Barack Obama a heck of a race next fall. You are laughing, aren't you? If I had made this prediction six weeks ago, you would not have laughed. No, you would have said something like, "Well maybe" or "probably so." You would not have been laughing like you are now. You might have let me know that I was stating the obvious and given me a big "So what!" Not now though. The last few weeks have not been kind to the governor of Texas. After his near coronation as Republican nominee when he formally entered the race in August, it has been mostly downhill for Perry: • The surfacing of remarks made in 1992 in which Perry disparaged North Carolina barbecue, saying that Texas road kill was better. • Calling Social Security a Ponzi scheme. • Poor ratings from the media on his performance in the debates with other candidates. • Press reports about a sign that used a racially charged word to identify his family's leased hunting ranch, • The meteoric rise of Herman Cain in the polls and the imaginations of conservative voters. • Perry's collapsing poll numbers. The political pundits have declared him to be road kill. (Remember: North Carolina barbecue is better!) They have moved the conversation from Perry to their current view that Mitt Romney is the almost certain Republican nominee. So, why do I think Perry will rise again? First of all, remember John McCain's campaign for the 2008 nomination. Starting out strong, his campaign faltered in the summer and early fall of 2007. His poll numbers declined. Money ran out. Staff left. Like they did Perry, the pundits wrote him off. In the early winter, he came back, beating Romney in New Hampshire and surging to the nomination. WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Today, Perry has strengths and resources that put him in a better position for a comeback than McCain's situation in October 2008: • McCain had run out of money to conduct his campaign. Perry, on the other hand, raised $17 million in the last quarter, more than any other Republican candidate. • Like McCain in 2008, Perry is not Mitt Romney. So far polls show that 75 percent of Republicans are still unwilling to register support for the current favorite to win the nomination, even though they know him well. While establish- ment Republicans have lined up behind him, Romney does not excite the "non- country club" voters. Thus, if and when there is a single credible opponent facing Romney, that opponent stands a good chance of winning the nomination. • None of the other announced candidates are "credible." Herman Cain is exciting and provocative but will not survive the spotlights that blind an inexpe- rienced candidate. The others are already toast. Perry has been singed but is still very much alive. • As governor of a large state where money talks, Perry can squeeze more money to fund his campaign. • Most important, as former White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told me a few weeks ago, Perry is "comfortable in his boots." He talks and acts like the kind of person you would be happy to sit down with and drink coffee — or beer. In this respect, he compares to Ronald Reagan, who, even if you did not like his policies, you liked him. Romney might be just as nice, but he proj- ects stiffness and superiority. In a close contest, the nice, comfortable candidate wins. So there you have it. Perry will be the Republican nominee. But before you place your bets, I need to tell you something. Four years ago I was just as sure Fred Thompson was going to run away with the Republican nomination because he was the only candidate who was "comfortable in his boots." D.G. MARTIN, Columnist. COM- MENTS? Stephanie@upandcom- ingweekly.com NOVEMBER 2-8, 2011 UCW 19