Up & Coming Weekly

4 UCW JANUARY 13-19, 2010 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM PUBLISHER Bill Bowman bbowman@upandcomingweekly.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHERS Janice Burton Joy Kirkpatrick editor@upandcomingweekly.com STAFF WRITER Stephanie Crider stephanie@upandcomingweekly.com MARKETING/SALES Tabitha Kidd tabitha@upandcomingweekly.com OFFICE MANAGER Suzy Patterson suzy@upandcomingweekly.com –––––––––––––– GRAPHIC DESIGNER Alicia Miller art@upandcomingweekly.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Soni Martin, D.G. Mar tin, Pitt Dick ey, Margaret Dickson, Bob Cogswell, John Hood, Shanessa Fenner, Erinn Crider, Shannen Dill, Karen Poppele, Takeema Hoffman, Renee Gibbs, Heather Griffi ths –––––––––––– 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. STAFF Internet Directory ............................ 12 Calendar ........................................... 16 Concert Connection ........................ 21 TV ..................................................... 22 Movie Review .................................. 24 Movie Schedule ............................... 25 Free Wheelin' Feelin' ....................... 26 News of the Weird ........................... 27 Horoscopes/Advice Goddess ......... 27 Classifieds ........................................ 28 Games .............................................. 30 Dining Guide .................................... 31 INSIDE Remembering John Velandra by JANICE BURTON JANICE BURTON, Publisher COMMENTS? Bill@upandcomingweekly.com. PUBLISHER'S PEN "How long, O Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, "Violence!" but you do not save? 3 Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and confl ict abounds. 4 Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted." Habukkuk 1:2-4 These are the words of the little known Old Testament prophet Habak- kuk. In recent days, I, like many in the community, have been able to identify with them. Last Wednesday, most of us got up, left our homes and went to our jobs. That wasn't the case with John Velandra. John, who has been a longtime contributing writer to the F&B family of publications, didn't make it to his job Wednesday morning. Instead, he was killed senselessly by a man whose evil intent has been felt in our community many times before. Per- cyful Junior McIntyre, a frequent fl yer in our judicial system, decided to start his Wednesday morning by stealing things from vehicles, and, when spotted, stole a vehicle to fl ee. We all know what happened – Mc- Intyre led police on a chase through the city and in one fateful moment, ran through a red light, stealing something far more precious than a vehicle. He stole the life of John, a good man, a righteous man. That's why the words of the prophet keep coming back to my mind. John Velandra was a righteous man. He was kind in word and deed, and always sought to do the right thing. Those who have spoken of him in recent days say he had the heart of a preacher. I can agree with that. John was a big man, but his heart far exceeded his size. He operated Designs In Fitness, a personal training company and CrossFit Cape Fear. He was an evangelist for fit living. My fa- vorite words from him were: "It's not about being thin, it's about being fit." In recent years he has written fi tness articles for Up & Coming Weekly, and most recently was a contributing writer to Prime Life, a senior publication. What he enjoyed the most, though, was his interaction in the public schools through Kidsville News! John was Kidsville's face in the public schools. Through our Truman's Fit Kids program, he went into the schools to try and teach kids that fi tness was fun. Because that is what John believed. He wanted people to see workouts not as a chore, but as a game. My own son attended the CrossFit Kids class. John would get down on the kids' level. He would Superman and gorilla walk with the smallest of the small. And at the end of the class, the kids, although exhausted, were laughing. They hadn't worked out, they had played. That gift of joy was something that John passed on to everyone he met from the smallest to the biggest. In the week prior to his death, John and I exchanged a number of emails. My son and I were going to begin personal training with John and his staff. The last email I re- ceived, on Tuesday afternoon, ended with a sentence that John used frequently. "Hey, why don't you guys come out and play?" It is that spirit and that goodness that McIntyre stole from this community. Throughout his criminal career, he has been offered break after break. I think it is time that justice prevails, and that Mc- Intyre is held accountable for the theft of such a good life, of such a good man.

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