This is a community hearing and reading much discourse about its homeless population as the city and county attempt to address the homeless plight, including the city’s recently opened $7 million Day Resource Center at 128 S. King St. Now Cumberland County is following up with plans for construction of a Homeless Support Center off Grove Street between B and Hawley Lane adjacent to the old Pauline Jones Elementary School. “The need for beds in our community has not gone unnoticed by the county,” Cumberland County Board of Commissioners Chairwoman Toni Stewart says in a news release. “We need beds, but we also need to change the overall living environment. There’s a lot more to be done to make that happen, but this is a significant step in that process.” Stewart is heading an advisory committee to include Commissioner Michael Boose, Fayetteville City Councilwoman Shakeyla Ingram, two residents from the B Street area, two business owners, a representative of community development and an advocate for the homeless community to oversee the project. And the county says it will include reaching out to those who are homeless about the facility’s needs. The initial cost of the center, according to the county, was $15 million.
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Early voting in the Fayetteville mayoral race and Fayetteville City Council District 2 and District 5 races is not gaining much traction. “It’s going slow; not a lot of traffic,” says Angie Amaro, director of the Cumberland County Board of Elections Office. Just 1,107 votes had been cast as of Wednesday. Early voting runs through Oct. 7 ahead of the Oct. 10 primary. The general election is Nov. 7. Mayoral candidates are incumbent Mitch Colvin; former Cumberland County commissioner and city councilman Charles Evans; Freddie de la Cruz; and Quancidine Hinson-Gribble. District 2 has seven candidates including incumbent Shakeyla Ingram, Janene Marie Ackles, Laura Rodrigues Mussler, Gail Morfesis, Larry Marshall, Malik Davis and Anastasia J. Vann. Four candidates are bidding for the District 5 seat to include incumbent Johnny Dawkins, Lynne Bissette Greene, Justin Herbe and Fred G. LaChance III.
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“It is with great emotion that we accept this gesture that’s a sign of the great friendship” between “both our cities that go deeper each day,” Saint-Avold, France, Mayor Rene Steiner said Wednesday at the unveiling of the Saint-Avold Avenue street sign adjacent to N.C. Veterans Park in downtown Fayetteville. It is part of the 30th anniversary of the Sister City relationship between Saint Avold and Fayetteville. “We want to foster this relationship and continue moving forward in this friendship.”
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Mayor Rene Steiner of Saint-Avold, Deputy Mayor Ramonde Schweitzer and Saint-Avold historian Pascal Flaus were treated Tuesday evening to a backyard barbecue cookout at the home of Jason and Karen Canady, who are members of the Fayetteville-Saint-Avold Friendship Alliance. “I hired the bluegrass group the Parsons to play for them as they specifically requested the ‘fiddle,’ not classical music,” Jason Canady says. “They wanted to hear the bluegrass fiddle.” Members of the group are Jerome Hawkins, John Parsons and Carolina Parsons.
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So, a reader says she has enjoyed reading our CityView stories about Saint-Avold Mayor Rene Steiner’s visit to Fayetteville, but she wonders if we are accurate in saying Steiner is the first Saint-Avold mayor to visit our city, because she attended a dinner hosted by Bill Bowman at Locks Creek on the River with the Saint-Avold mayor some 10 years ago when he came. We did some research, and Hank Parfitt of the Lafayette Society says it was not the mayor of Saint-Avold. “The mayor never did come with a delegation, at least for the time I was involved with the Lafayette Society starting in 2005,” Parfitt says. “To help jog my memory, I pulled up a picture of the Saint-Avold mayor in France in 2012. That was when my wife, Diane, was invited to help dedicate their new archives building when she was a state representative. He was mayor the whole time that I was president of the Lafayette Society. A wonderful host when we visited, but no, he never came to Fayetteville.” Parfitt says he does recall the dinner when the Lafayette Society hosted a delegation from Saint-Avold. “I believe there were three or four in their group that time and amongst our many activities, we had a very nice dinner at Lock’s Creek that Up & Coming Weekly helped us host,” Parfitt says. “One member of the delegation named Veronique was a deputy mayor of Saint-Avold, and that may be the source of confusion. In their system, the city council members are all called ‘deputy mayor,’ and I believe there are normally nine seats. I hope this helps.” It does, Dr. Parfitt. Former Saint-Avold Mayor Andre’ Wojciechowski never came to our city. Or any other Saint-Avold mayor, until May Rene Steiner.
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An 82-year-old woman apparently is the 37th city homicide victim of 2023, according to a news release from the Fayetteville Police Department. Officers responded to a 911 call on Sept. 16 in the 1600 block of Kara Court to discover a 73-year-old man suffering from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Officers also discovered the deceased woman. The man was taken to a local hospital, according to the release, and died from his injuries. An investigation revealed the deaths were the result of a homicide-suicide domestic incident.
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So, if you’ll pardon the facetious tongue in my cheek, the Fayetteville Police Department is up to its harassment of city juveniles again. Two minors were arrested and taken into custody by detectives on Sept. 19 near the 6800 block of Willowbrook Drive, which is near South Reilly Road in west Fayetteville, according to a news release. They were charged with possession of a stolen vehicle and stolen firearms. A third juvenile was arrested and charged the following day. Two of the three suspects, according to the release, already were adjudicated as delinquent and returned to the Juvenile Detention Center. Here, according to the release, are the charges: breaking and entering a motor vehicle; larceny of a firearm; possession of a stolen motor vehicle; possession of a stolen firearm; and possession of a handgun by a minor. Also recovered, according to the release, was a stolen Hammerli TAC R1 22C AR-style rifle, a Glock 43 9mm handgun; a stolen 2016 Ford Focus; and several financial transaction cards. And just for the record, a juvenile was involved in the theft of an automobile at on Sept. 17 that resulted in two adults, ages 24 and 20, being arrested and charged with multiple motor vehicle thefts, according to an FPD news release, as well as contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Detectives, the release said, filed a juvenile complaint against the minor. Minors charged with stealing vehicles and being in possession of firearms? It’s criminal, and it’s not a laughing matter when these people under the age of 18 are heading in the wrong direction.
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“As he made his mark, you truly made an impact on him as well,” Jill Harris Gates told Mayor Mitch Colvin and the City Council on Monday after accepting a proclamation by the city in recognition of her late father, former Councilman Curtis Worthy, who died at age 76 on Sept. 20. “Thank you so much for this proclamation on behalf of myself and my family.” A 1965 graduate of Anne Chesnutt High School and 1978 graduate of and Fayetteville State University, Mr. Worthy served nearly 10 years on the council representing District 7, with his first term in 1998. A service is scheduled at noon Friday at Kingdom Impact Global Ministries. Burial will follow at Sandhills State Veterans Cemetery in Spring Lake.
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Cumulus Radio Station Group and WFNC Radio 640 are having a birthday party this morning, and if you are a fan of host Jeff Goldberg’s “Good Morning Fayetteville” radio show, and if you are a fan of “Good Morning Fayetteville,” you’re invited. “Friday is our annual anniversary party for the listeners to come and say ‘hi’ and watch us do the show,” Goldberg, the 64-year-old local radio voice known to listeners as Goldy, says about the 11th anniversary of “Good Morning Fayetteville.” It’s scheduled from 6 to 9 a.m. at Duck Donuts at 2132 Skibo Road. “Friday will be a steady stream of ‘friends of the show.’ Elected officials, VIPs, nonprofit folks and the Kevin Regan Band. There’s always a lot of love in the room, and free coffee and donuts.” Sadly, Goldberg is heading into retirement on Dec. 1, and that’s going to leave a large radio void in this community.
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Some stories should be told, and this is one of those stories. “Tim struggled through the years when he felt he wasn’t doing enough for others,” Cathy Faircloth Kinlaw writes about her late husband, Tim Kinlaw, who died at age 71 on Sept. 18 after a four-year battle with cancer. “The hero calling on his life haunted him at times, and he often regretted that he never served in the military. But he was a hero when, as a 14-year-old, he pulled a drowning man from White Lake. He did what we all would do. He ran for help. But his adult boss told him to mind his own business. So, he did what many of us would have done. He started mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. He lost his job for that. A hero. My hero. … He was a hero one morning when he came upon an overturned vehicle on an embankment on the way to the office. First, he did what we all would do. He called 911. Then, he did what most of us would not do. He pulled the family and their baby from the wreckage and bandaged their wounds with his ever-present stash of emergency supplies. When rescue vehicles arrived, he got back into his Jeep and drove to work. I would never have known about this had it not been for a fellow employee who stopped at the accident scene and saw it all. Tim never told anyone. Not even me. A hero. My hero. When Tim was working as the (Bladen) County building inspector, he visited the small home an elderly lady in a rural are. He examined an electrical repair and prepared to leave when she stopped and asked if he could fix her washing machine. He could and he did. To thank him, she gave him an orange. Tim never forgot that simple gift. It represented the importance of being kind and doing good. Maybe, just maybe, that is the true definition of a hero. My hero.” Tim Kinlaw, who retired as an associate superintendent for Cumberland County Schools, was one of the most complete individuals many of us came to know and one of the most complete individuals others never came to know. But some stories should be told, and how Tim Horne Kinlaw lived his life is one of those stories.
Bill Kirby Jr. can be reached at billkirby49@gmail.com or 910-624-1961.
