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/75689
STAFF bbowman@upandcomingweekly.com PUBLISHER Bill Bowman editor@upandcomingweekly.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Janice Burton caroline@upandcomingweekly.com MANAGING EDITOR Caroline Goins stephanie@upandcomingweekly.com MARKETING/SALES ASSOCIATE EDITOR Stephanie Crider kristy@upandcomingweekly.com Linda McAlister Brown ltmcmd01@aol.com Kristy Sykes OFFICE MANAGER Laurel Handforth officemanager@ upandcomingweekly.com accounting@upandcomingweekly.com ACCOUNTING art@upandcomingweekly.com GRAPHIC DESIGNER Alicia Miller 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. Heather Griffi ths, Shannon Angry –––––––––––– Up & Coming Weekly CONTRIBUTING WRITERS D.G. Mar tin, Pitt Dick ey, Margaret Dickson, John Hood, Erinn Crider, Karen Poppele, INSIDE PUBLISHER'S PEN by BILL BOWMAN Calendar ........................................... 14 Concert Connection ........................ 18 TV ..................................................... 19 Movie Review .................................. 21 No Turn Out ... No Wonder The low-voter turnout during the recent July 17 primary was pathetic and extremely costly to our county and state. Ridiculous actually! Statewide turnout was at 3.6 percent with a price tag of more than $7 million. Fayetteville, Fort Bragg and Cumberland County's turn out results were even worse at just under 3 percent. Folks, that's just awful. This is indicative of the way our governmental and civic leaders at all levels have shown little respect or empathy for those of us who must pay the bill. Working class people, more commonly known as taxpayers, are the ones who fi nanced this sad scenario. Sadly, and even more astonishing is the fact that it doesn't have to be this way. Education and promotion are the keys to improving voter turnout. I'm a media, marketing and advertising The candidates, board of elections, national, state and local governments — and especially the organizations that organize and run our major parties — are all responsible for promoting voter awareness. They literally spend billions of dollars advertising, promoting and marketing candidates and issues. Much of this money is spent on negative attacks using lies, deception, half-truths and dialog that are out of context. Many do not agree with these techniques but everyone agrees it works! It's marketing. So, if marketing works here would it not also work to turn out the vote? Sure it would. Many American's have died defending this right. A right that is being fought for even today in countries that have streets running professional whose business for 17 years has revolved around keeping businesses and organizations in business. That is accomplished through education, promotion, advertising and marketing. I'm proud of what I do and I do it well. My mantra and business philosophies, which I share with my clients, are quite simple: "You must tell your own story and tell it often." To be recognized, acknowledged or respected you must bang your own drum loudly and no one can, or will, do it for you. And, it can only done with education, marketing, advertising and promotion. So, what does this have to do with the recent pathetic voter turnout? Plenty. Think about it and ask yourself this: Why didn't people vote? Answer: Because they did not know about it. Period. They were not made aware or reminded of the election. As a result, voting on July 17 became a non-event. What disappoints me is that all political parties (Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, etc.), political action groups and other special-interest groups continue to spend millions of dollars promoting, marketing and advertising candidates and issues, but spend nothing on encouraging constituents to practice one of their most cherished rights and civic duties as Americans. Whose job is it to market, advertise and promote our constitutionally protected right to vote? Whose job is it to invite, encourage and remind Americans to go to the polls on Election Day? Answer: It should be everyone's! Fayetteville's Weather Forecast Thursday July 26 Friday July 27 Saturday July 28 Fayetteville's Weather Forecast job promoting it. Sadly, neither the Republican nor Democratic parties here in Cumberland County campaigned to get out the vote. Neither spent a dime touting their party's philosophies and encouraging their constituents to go to the polls. Why? Well, from where I'm sitting, both have several problems. One, both parties are so fragmented they can barely call themselves Cumberland County anything. Within each party there are "power cells" that divide the parties physically and philosophically. This weakens their mission, divides their resources and most importantly, makes them ineffective and appear silly to outsiders. I have experienced this fi rst hand. Division within becomes an impediment to the organization on many fronts. It also clouds the mission and mandates of the party, crippling fundraising efforts, discouraging qualifi ed candidates from stepping up and diluting the overall enthusiasm and power of the party reducing the organizations down to small trite political cells fostering the mantra "every man for himself" rather than a message of unity. This must be corrected if we are going to preserve our precious right to vote. Thank you, for reading Up & Coming Weekly. red with patriot's blood. But, let's get back to Cumberland County. Here is the point. Out of sight, is out of mind and this holds true for the American right to vote. We must do a better BILL BOWMAN, Publisher, Up & Coming Weekly, COMMENTS? editor@ upandcomingweekly.com. CalCall 910.354.1679l 910.354.1679 Sunday July 29 Monday July 30 Tuesday July 31 Free Wheelin' Feelin' ....................... 22 Horoscopes/Advice Goddess ......... 23 Classifieds ........................................ 24 Games .............................................. 26 4 UCW JULY 25-31, 2012 Thunderstorms High 90° Low 75° Isolated Thunderstorms High 91° Low 75° Scattered High 91° Low 75° Sunny Forecast available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Thunderstorms High 91° Low 73° Evening Thunderstorms High 90º Low 71º Scattered Thunderstorms High 92º Low 72º Isolated WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM 24 24 / 7