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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4 OCTOBER 21-27, 2015 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM This week, Publisher Bill Bowman yields this space to Jeff Thompson. The people of Cumberland County and North Carolina lost a remarkable public servant with the untimely death this month of retired Fayetteville District Attorney Ed Grannis. I say untimely because by all accounts he should still be with us. As many of us had, Ed had what ordinarily is a routine medical procedure, an angioplasty. But, something happened and infection set in. His kidneys and liver shut down and he contracted pneumonia. Those of us who knew Grannis had high opinions of him. As a journalist, my impression was based not on his prowess as a lawyer, but on his qualities as a public servant. I will not use the word politician to describe him even though he served in elective office for 35 years. Grannis was an example to others in public life. He was not politically ambitious. He truly possessed a rare sense of duty. Edward W. Grannis Jr. was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Army after successfully completing ROTC at Wake Forest. He served for two years in Vietnam with the 173rd Airborne Brigade, and then at Fort Bragg as a basic training company commander. Upon completion of his service obligation Grannis decided to go to work in the District Attorney's office. He hadn't planned on being a prosecutor. He told the State Bar Journal in 2014 that he didn't go to law school to become an attorney. He said he spent seven years at Wake Forest University to get a good education. Grannis was a part of Cumberland County's modern evolution. He fought for and about the law. He did battle with county commissioners in a fight to get a new and larger jail built to house inmates local lawmen were arresting in a determined fight against crime. He modernized the administration of the local court system. He fought in Raleigh for increased funding for our courts. In his three and a half decades as district attorney of the 12th prosecutorial district, the office grew from a handful of lawyers to one of the largest and most respected in the state with more than two dozen assistant district attorneys, many of whom went on to have distinguished careers as judges and state legislators. I knew Ed from the day he took office but got to know him better during one of the highest profile crimes he prosecuted — that of mass murderer Kenneth French. On Ed's birthday, August 6, of 1993, the soldier fired a barrage of bullets into Luigi's Italian Restaurant and then entered the busy eatery continuing to fire. Before he was shot and wounded by police, French shot twelve people, killing four of them including Pete and Ethel Parrous, Luigi's owners. French's trial was held six months later in Superior Court in Wilmington. Then-Judge Coy Brewer presided and Grannis took the lead in prosecuting French. I learned then that he was not a zealot, but a pragmatist. He sought the death penalty but after a month of testimony, the jury convicted French and decided on life in prison without parole. North Carolina law provides that the judge must sentence a convicted murderer in accordance with the decision of the jury. Ed said he was disillusioned early in his career that the death penalty is what he called an "inexact system." In that interview with the State Bar Journal, Grannis noted that by the 1990s our state had moved beyond capital punishment, although it's still on the books. Theodore Roosevelt said "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly." I'll bet I speak for many when I extend prayers to Grannis' family and express the thanks of a grateful community for his service. PUBLISHER'S PEN Saying Goodbye by JEFF THOMPSON STAFF JEFF THOMPSON, Columnist. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomin- gweekly.com. 910.484.6200. Ed Grannis PUBLISHER Bill Bowman Bill@upandcomingweekly.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Janice Burton editor@upandcomingweekly.com EDITOR Stephanie Crider stephanie@upandcomingweekly.com ART DIRECTOR Sara Smith art@upandcomingweekly.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS D.G. Martin, Pitt Dickey, Margaret Dickson, John Hood, Erinn Crider, Jim Jones, Shanessa Fenner, Heather Griffiths BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Karla Allen karla@upandcomingweekly.com SALES ADMINISTRATOR/ DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Laurel Handforth laurel@upandcomingweekly.com ACCOUNTING Paulette Naylor accounting@upandcomingweekly.com MARKETING/SALES Linda McAlister Brown linda@upandcomingweekly.com Beverly Pone beverlypone@upandcomingweekly.com Melissa Zalaznik melissa@upandcomingweekly.com ––––––––––– 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. ©2007 by F&B Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of editorial or advertisements without permission is strictly prohibited. Fayetteville's Weather Forecast Call 910-354-1679 for more info. October 22 Sunny October 23 Sunny October 24 Sunny October 25 Mostly Cloudy October 26 Sunny October 27 Sunny THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY HIGH 79 HIGH 75 HIGH 71 HIGH 74 HIGH 69 HIGH 66 LOW 52 LOW 49 LOW 54 LOW 455 LOW 53 LOW 51