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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FEBRUARY 18 - 24, 2015 UCW 5 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Chapel Hill and the university, which defines that venerable North Carolina town, play large roles in my family's life. My grandfather studied there more than a hundred years ago. Both my parents were graduates as was my husband. Two of the three Precious Jewels, countless cousins and I are proud University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alums, and many of our family memories were made there. I was standing in my kitchen vaguely watching the evening news when word of the Chapel Hill shootings came. At first, all that was known was that three people had been shot, but as more unfolded, the more revolting the story became. Three young people, one man and two women, each a student aged 23, 21, and 19, had been executed by shots to the head in their apartment not far from campus. A man turned himself into law enforcement authorities in connection with the shootings. The three students had been in professional programs and were known for their charitable work. The students were practicing Muslims. The suspect is a middle-aged, angry, self-described "gun-toting" American atheist said to be a furious enforcer of parking regulations at the residential complex where all four of them resided. The Internet exploded as the news spread worldwide. First comments from law enforcement and people who know the suspect indicated that the shootings stemmed from ongoing disputes over parking issues, not from religious prejudice. As the case unfolds, though, questions continue with people from President Obama to anonymous voices on the Internet weighing in on the shootings. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has opened a "parallel investigation" in addition to the work local law enforcement is doing, and there is much speculation about hate crimes which legal experts say are very difficult to prosecute in North Carolina. Meanwhile, the suspect was immediately taken to Central Prison in Raleigh instead of a local facility for his own protection. We are surely years away from any resolution of these shocking, tragic, and so very senseless murders. We do not know what the various investigations will uncover, when and how the suspect may be prosecuted or what the outcome of any prosecution may be. But we do know that deep and permanent damage has been done. Three much loved and promising young people are dead. If you ever doubted the power of social media in today's world, that doubt has been dispelled. Millions and millions of people in our country and around the world are following this case and commenting on it, few of which comments reflect well on our state or our nation. They go to serious and divisive issues ranging to religious prejudice and gun violence in our nation. From our perch as world military leader, we can dismiss global opinion. But in our shrunken, flat and terror-filled world, we do so at significant peril. Our state's and nation's mental health systems are irrevocably broken. Two decades ago and with all good intentions, the United States undertook mental health reform, an effort both to free patients from mental institutions and to save tax dollars. The idea was that it would be more humane and more economical to treat patients in local communities instead of in large residential institutions, and those institutions were largely dismantled. Sadly, the community treatment part never really happened, and people who desperately need mental health treatment do not receive it. Already, an attorney with ties to the Chapel Hill suspect is making noises about his need for mental health care, and the just-released Sandy Hook Commission report asks serious questions about the untreated mental health issues of that elementary school shooter. We get what we pay for. The right to bear arms is sacred in our nation and enshrined in our Constitution, and I am aware of no serious efforts to change that. It is also true that guns do not kill people. People kill people, and people in our country pull triggers on guns and kill people at a much higher rate than people in most other countries. Here again, we can embrace our Constitutional right above all else, but it is increasingly clear that we do so at significant peril to ourselves and to those we love as far too many American families have learned amid great pain. I will follow the story of the Chapel Hill shootings with much sadness for all involved—students and their families, the troubled suspect, the community, our state and our nation. There will be no happy ending, but there can be learning and greater understanding and — perhaps — positive change. THIS WEEK WITH MARGARET Serving Fayetteville Over 50 Years! 484-0261 1304 Morganton Rd. Mon-Sat: 6am-10pm Sun: 7am-2:30 pm Daily Specials • Breakfast • Lunch • Dinner Fresh Seafood • Hand Cut Steaks • Homemade Desserts • Italian & Greek • Children's Menu Banquet rooms available up to 100 guests Contest&RequestLine: 910-764-1073 www.christian107.com KeepingtheMainThing...theMainThing. visitusonline FocusontheFamily 20Countdown Magazine Adventures in Odyssey MARGARET DICKSON, Contributing Writer, COMMENTS? Editor@upandcom- ingweekly.com.. 910.484.6200. We Live in Mean Times by MARGARET DICKSON The murders of three Muslum students in their apart- ment in Chapel Hill has left the quiet town, the state, the nation and the world shaken.