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.
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/551165
6 AUGUST 5-11, 2015 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Jef f Thompson f irst came to Fayet tev ille as a soldier in 1962. He event ually lef t t he Army, and like many soldiers before him, Thompson st ayed and made a life for himself here. "I fell in love and married a local girl in 1963," said Thompson. The couple raised three children. From t he ver y beginning , Thompson enjoyed obser v ing t he communit y. He is fascinated w it h t he relat ionship t hat t he communit y has w it h For t Bragg and underst andably so. Upon leav ing t he Army, Thompson worked at W FNC . "I spent most of my career t here, alt hough I did go to Charlot te for a shor t t ime in t he '70s," he said. "I lef t t he radio st at ion in 2001 because it was sold to Cumulus, t he current ow ner. I spent most of my t ime at W FNC work ing w it h Wendy R iddle and I worked w it h Jim Cook for a t ime, too." Margaret Dick son remembers Thompson f rom her days work ing at her family 's radio business when she was a teenager. A s t he news director, Thompson was her boss and Dick son st ill fondly refers to him as such. "The t hing t hat st ands out to me, and we have been f riends now for decades, is t hat he is tot al- ly honest about ever y t hing. You may not like what he tells you, but he is telling you what he honest ly underst ands about t he sit uat ion and what he believes to be t he t rut h," said Dick son. It 's a t rait t hat can be hard to come by, and one t hat Dick son great ly admires. "He is also ver y courageous. He doesn't mind t ak ing a st and on somet hing t hat is not popular. He st ands by what he believes," she said. Thompson's fascination with Fayet teville never waned and his commentary on different topics appeared in The Fayetteville Observer and went out over the airwaves at WIDU where he's worked since 2009. Now Thompson is the news director at WIDU and his writing is set to appear in Up & Coming Weekly on a biweekly basis. At 73-years-old, Thompson has w it nessed plent y of changes in t he communit y. He credit s t he rev it alizat ion of Dow ntow n Fayet tev ille as one of t he best t hings to happen to t he area. "It st ar ted when t hey decided to t ake dow n t he 500 block of Hay St reet and do away w it h so many of t he est ablishment s t hat brought about t he Fayet tenam moniker t hat we are st ill f ight ing to overcome," he said. "It was t he Airborne & Special Operat ions Museum t hat really t urned t hings around t hough. That is an anchor for t he area t hat just adds so much to t he dow ntow n experience and has such a st rong connect ion to For t Bragg , which is a big par t of Fayet tev ille's ident it y." In his more t han 50 years in Fayet tev ille, not much has escaped his eye, which, over t ime, has given him insight to many of t he issues facing t he communit y today. "Jef f is as experience a news person as you w ill f ind in Fayet tev ille. I cant t hink of anyone else who has been at it as long as he has," said Dick son. "He k nows our histor y and t he people who made t hat histor y. He has relat ionships w it h people going back many, many years. I t hink in our mobile age it is really a bless- ing t hat our communit y has a person who has obser ved our communit y for so long and under- st ands our communit y and underst and it s his- tor y. It is wonderf ul t hat our communit t y has t he resource t hat is Jef f Thompson." An advocate for mak ing Fayet tev ille a bet- ter place, Thompson believes it is impor t ant t hat Fayet tev ille underst ands her place in t he st ate and in t he nat ion and t hat t he cit y leaders work to capit alize on t hem. Thompson sees t he cit y 's connec t ion to For t Bragg as a boon. Unt il t he f irst Persian Gulf War in 1991, according to Thompson, t he tow n didn't really appreciate t he impact t hat For t Bragg has on t he economy. " W hen 37,000 parat roopers lef t tow n to go f ight, we felt it," he said. "Like much of t he count r y, t hat changed our underst anding of t he value of t he milit ar y and t he way we see t hem. Before t hat t here was st ill a lot of negat ive sen- t iment toward soldiers about Viet nam." Thompson has st rong feelings about most ever y t hing t hat impact s Fayet tev ille. From t he t alk s about building a $60 million Civ il War Museum to t he dest iny of t he Prince Charles Hotel to Fayet tev ille's indust rial develop- ment (or lack t hereof ) to ideas about market- ing Fayet tev ille's posit ion as a half way point bet ween New York and Miami on I-95 and more. Get Thompson's t ake on t he t hings t hat mat ter st ar t ing Aug. 12 in Up & Coming Weekly. Jeff Thompson: An Honest Voice for the Community by STEPHANIE CRIDER STEPHANIE CRIDER., Editor. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomin- gweekly.com. 910.484.6200. Jeff Thompson has been a voice of reason in Fayetteville for more than four decades. This month, he will join the line-up of talented writers who contribute to Up & Coming Weekly.