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/81643
STAFF bbowman@upandcomingweekly.com PUBLISHER Bill Bowman editor@upandcomingweekly.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Janice Burton stephanie@upandcomingweekly.com MARKETING/SALES ASSOCIATE EDITOR Stephanie Crider kristy@upandcomingweekly.com Linda McAlister Brown ltmcmd01@aol.com Kristy Sykes OFFICE & DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Laurel Handforth officemanager@ upandcomingweekly.com accounting@upandcomingweekly.com Paulette Reinhardt ACCOUNTING art@upandcomingweekly.com GRAPHIC DESIGNER Alicia Miller CONTRIBUTING WRITERS D.G. Mar tin, Pitt Dick ey, Margaret Dickson, John Hood, Erinn Crider, Karen Poppele, www.upandcomingweekly.com 208 Rowan Street P.O. Box 53461 Heather Griffi ths ––––––––––– Up & Coming Weekly 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. INSIDE PUBLISHER'S PEN by BILL BOWMAN Calendar ........................................... 14 Concert Connection ........................ 18 TV ..................................................... 20 Movie Review .................................. 21 Chamber Makes Bold Move Last week before hundreds of area businesses, organizations and institutions, Fayetteville-Cumberland County Chamber of Commerce President Doug Peters laid out the chamber's new and exciting initiative directed toward growing and developing Cumberland County's economic base while becoming more responsive and better serving its membership of local businesses. Based on the realities of our current economic environment and the recommendations from a report commissioned from Garner Economics, LLC last year, Peters announced a division of the current chamber board into two separate entities: The Economic Development Alliance of Fayetteville and Cumberland County, under the leadership of past chamber Chairman Chris Bostick of Merrill Lynch, and the Fayetteville Regional Chamber, which will be under the leadership of the current chamber Chairman Mark Rice, owner of Callahan and Rice Insurance Group. Each organization will have its own board of directors focused only on the success of its missions. This is a very good thing for our community. It will help both chamber. All have demonstrated effective forward leadership skills in the past. organizations streamline and maximize effi ciencies, making it easier to measure the chamber's success and progress, enhance accountability and utilize local talent and expertise for maximum effectiveness. All this will occur while still supporting, developing, growing and nurturing the businesses, organizations and industries that have already committed themselves to our community. I think this is a great strategy for recruiting and attracting new industry and businesses to Cumberland County. It will also better serve chamber members who look to the chamber of commerce for guidance, support and advocacy. In my opinion, the chamber didn't really need to spend tens of thousand of dollars with a private consulting fi rm to fi nd all that out. All they had to do was listen to what their own members have been saying for the last three years. However, the Garner report confi rmed this need for change. So, in that respect, the money was extremely well spent. in Peters, Russ Rogerson (vice president of Economic Development), Bostock and Rice and know they will assume aggressive leadership positions and move this community forward by growing, strengthening and diversifying our industrial base and the membership base of the I, for one, am very excited about these changes and have confi dence Fayetteville's Weather Forecast September 7 Thursday September 6 Saturday September 8 Fayetteville's Weather Forecast Friday qualifi cations to serve. Qualifi cations, I might add, that are relevant to the goals and objectives of recruiting, attracting and developing industry to our area. Peters and Bostock know the advantages, importance and obligations of having a diverse board. However, they must be given time to get themselves up and running and fi nish putting together a qualifi ed, winning team. The key word here is qualifi ed" Everyone on that board should be well versed in the processes of business and economic development and not just fi lling a slot for the purposes of checking off a box or being politically correct. This sniper approach by King is an example of leading from behind. He missed a great opportunity to discuss his concerns with Bostock and Peters to fi nd out what their future plans were and offer his advice, insights and recommendations — all of which would have been appreciated and would have contributed to the productive development of the initiative. Instead, the issue generated negative headlines in the local media catching the eyes of the community and those who we may be trying to invite into our community. Focused leadership and better communication will lead to positive and successful outcomes. Thanks for reading Up & Coming Weekly. That being said, I was disappointed at the ultra-quick criticism this initiative drew from County Commissioner Billy R. King who was displeased with the boards lack of diversity. King is a pretty smart man and an extremely competent commissioner who has served Cumberland County well for many years. That is why I was surprised and taken back at such a rash comment. First of all, the program of splitting the existing chamber board into two organizations was just initiated. While the newly formed Fayetteville Regional Chamber board is diverse and well balanced refl ecting many aspects of business and community, Kings comments were directed to the fact that there was no such diversity on the EDAFC. The new board has 10 members, all of whom are white males. I get it! However, these 10 were picked for their dedication to the cause and their BILL BOWMAN, Publisher, Up & Coming Weekly, COMMENTS? editor@ upandcomingweekly.com. September 9 CalCall 910.354.1679l 910.354.1679 Sunday September 10 Monday Free Wheelin' Feelin' ....................... 22 Horoscopes/Advice Goddess ......... 23 Classifieds ........................................ 24 Games .............................................. 26 September 11 Tuesday 4 UCW SEPTEMBER 5-11, 2012 High 83° Low 72° Scattered Storms High 86° Scattered Storms High 86° Low 71° Partly Cloudy Forecast available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Scattered Storms High 83° Low 66° High 82º Low 63º Partly Cloudy High 81º Low 62º Partly Cloudy WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM 24/24 7