Up & Coming Weekly

STAFF 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 Elexis Joseph-Lawson Lexi@upandcomingweekly.com Steve Rogers Steve@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, Karen Poppele, 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 publi- cation consideration, but assumes no responsi- bility 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 pub- lisher. 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 person. 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 I can already hear the deafening roar of hundreds of thundering motorcycles circling the Market House as Vietnam veterans, military retirees and patriots from all over North Carolina come to weigh in on the decision of adopting Soc Trang as a Sister City to Fayetteville. Soc Trang, a small southeast town in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam, is one of the poorest provinces in the southern region. More importantly, it is a place where more than 50,000 Americans gave up their lives for their country. Is naming this city our Sister City a good idea? We’ll see. In the meantime, we need to learn more about this city where hotel rooms are $10 a night and tourists (foreigners) are practically non existent. Not to mention Soc Trang’s town square that reminds its inhabitants, not so subtley through billboards, signs, fl ags and other authoritarian symbols, that this is a Communist threshold. Now, not being a politician or privy to the inner-sanctums of our city government, I have no idea how this fi ts in to the branding and development of Fayetteville, N.C., as a military-friendly Soldier Sanctuary or the Most Patriotic City in the country. No doubt the premise is good and feels all warm and fuzzy; however, the reality of it just may not be practical. At this point I should disclose that I am a Vietnam veteran (1967-1968), and a fan of the Hungarian photographer Ferenc Fayetteville’s Weather Forecast March 26 Fayetteville’s Weather Forecast Friday Thursday March 25 Saturday March 27 Forecast available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Sponsored by High 75° Low 53° Mostly Cloudy High 73° Low 44° Scattered Thunderstorms 4 UCW MARCH 24-30, 2010 High 62° Low 42° Partly Cloudy Regional Airport www.fl yfay.com Fayetteville High 70° Low 50° Mostly Cloudy High 69º Low 47º Showers High 67º Low 45º Partly Cloudy WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Ecseki. He went to Soc Trang, Vietnam, to shoot pictures. He was looking for an authentic Vietnamese town where he could take photos without seeing tourists or being hassled by people on motor scooters. He was delighted with Soc Trang. Practically void of western infl uences, he describes Soc Trang as “a town which is taken out of the pages of National Geographic.” Primitive. I suggest you visit his photo gallery at http://ferenc.biz/ happily-the-only-tourist- and-photographer-in-soc- trang-vietnam. So, call me crazy, but this desolate, primitive, Communist Sister City wannabe cannot begin to compare to Fayetteville’s Sister City of St. Avold, France. It’s a stretch. So, I urge extreme caution here in dealing with this very sensitive issue. Our civic and community leaders must give this subject a great deal of forethought and consideration before moving forward. After all, we don’t want this thing to get out of control and have crazy ideas running rampant, like renaming Bragg Boulevard Ho Chi Min Drive or naming Jane Fonda as Fayetteville’s honorary fi rst lady. Thank you for reading Up & Coming Weekly. BILL BOWMAN, Publisher COMMENTS? Bill@upandcomingweekly.com. Call 910.354.1679 Call 910.354.1679 Sunday March 28 Monday March 29 Tuesday March 30 Internet Directory ............................ 12 Calendar ........................................... 16 Concert Connection ........................ 22 TV ..................................................... 24 Movie Review ..................................24 Movie Schedule ............................... 25 Soc Trang, Vietnam: Sister City Goodwill Mission or Bad Idea? Free Wheelin’ Feelin’ ....................... 26 News of the Weird ........................... 27 Horoscopes/Advice Goddess ......... 27 Classifieds ........................................ 28 Games .............................................. 30 Dining Guide .................................... 31 24 24 7/

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