The Fayetteville-St. Avold Friendship Alliance is celebrating Bastille Day, aka French Independence Day, at 6 p.m. July 14 at the Sanford House, 225 Dick St., at Heritage Square. There will be a wine-and-cheese tasting and silent auction, according to a news release from the alliance’s board of directors. The event is free for alliance members. The cost for nonmembers is $15, by cash or check payable at the door. Reserve a spot by July 9 with Ann McRae at arm_3@yahoo.com or call 336-253-7404. St. Avold is the adopted Sister City of Fayetteville.
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Freddie de la Cruz says he will be making another run to be Fayetteville’s mayor when filings for all Cumberland County municipalities and the Eastover Sanitary District open at noon Friday. “One of the main reasons why I am running is because people in Fayetteville want me to run, and I want to give them another opportunity to vote for someone who will bring ‘unity to our community,’” says de la Cruz, a 61-year-old retired lieutenant colonel who lost to three-term Mayor Mitch Colvin just 12 months ago. Colvin, who was first elected mayor in 2017, defeated de la Cruz with 9,253 votes, or 62.74% of those cast, according to official returns from the Cumberland County Board of Elections. De la Cruz had 5,452 votes, or 36.97%. Less than 12% of registered city voters cast ballots in that election. De la Cruz says his campaign platform will focus on public safety, enhancing economic development, infrastructure improvements, exploring how to reduce property taxes and overhauling the city’s transportation system. The filing period is open until noon July 21, according to a news release from the Board of Elections. Fayetteville’s primary is scheduled for Oct. 10, with the municipal election scheduled for Nov. 7. The filing fee for mayor is $348, and for City Council, it’s $190. The Board of Elections is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at the E. Newton Smith Center, 227 Fountainhead Lane. For more information, visit cumberlandcountync.gov/elections or call 910-678-7733.
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Fayetteville police officers responded to the 800 block of Hilton Drive at 4:17 a.m. Wednesday to discover a man suffering from gunshot wounds, according to a news release from the Fayetteville Police Department. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene for the 29th homicide in the city of 2023. Two other people, the release says, were taken to Cape Fear Valley Medical Center with injuries as a result of the shootings.
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Jen Jammer is director of the Children’s Ministry at Highland Presbyterian Church, and Jammer has few peers when it comes to connecting with children. A former first- and third-grade schoolteacher, Jammer has an uplifting way with young people learning about their faith.
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“Since opening in March, we’ve had several female customers ask us how to operate the outdoor power equipment,” Lori Tracy Stobbe, president and co-owner of Lori’s Ace Home & Hardware, says in a news release about a Women in Power Workshop scheduled from 4 to 5 p.m. July 11 at the newly opened business at 2800 Raeford Road in Highland Centre. “Many women are taking care of the lawn and landscaping duties but may not feel confident in their ability to use the equipment. We can help them.” The workshop, according to the release, will include demonstrations and a question-and-answer session with co-owner Nate Stobbe and Aaron Russell, the assistant store manager. Attendance is limited. Call 910-900-4455 to register.
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“Hi, Bill. Thank you for that beautiful piece on The Fayetteville Times and for all the time and thought you put into it,” Penelope Muse Abernathy writes in an email about our July 2 column on the 50th anniversary of The Fayetteville Times morning newspaper that first published on July 2, 1973. “So very, very grateful for the privilege of working at that magical place.” Mrs. Abernathy hailed from Scotland County and was hired as assistant to the late editor Roy Parker Jr. She was appointed People editor three years later. Penny, as we called her, went on to a distinguished journalism career with The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Knight chair in journalism and digital media economics at the Hussman School of Journalism and Media at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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“Bill, what a terrific piece on the anniversary of the Times and the trailblazers who made it a great newspaper,” Scott Peterson writes in an email about the Faytteville Times 50th anniversary column. “It remains some of my most treasured professional experiences and memories, and I worked alongside others (Craig Nesbit, Jim McDonald, to name a few) who benefitted greatly from their Times experience and parlayed that to leadership roles in other disciplines. We frequently talk about those years as foundational to our careers’ work. Thanks for the trip down memory lane. That inaugural team was an impressive lineup.” We hired Scott Peterson out of Pine Forest High School as a Friday night football assistant, and he went on to become one of our best reporters for the morning newspaper.
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“Bill, it was a delight — with a tinge of remorse — to wake up to your recollection of the birth of The Fayetteville Times,” Seth Effron writes in an email about The Fayetteville Times remembrance. “While I wasn’t there at the creation, I did barely make it onto the staff within the first year (started in June 1974) thanks to the fact that a vacancy came about after Penny Abernathy got promoted from assistant to the editor for Roy to be the People editor. As you so well portrayed, it was a great place to work, and most significantly with great people, those who were able to pass along their knowledge, experience and professionalism to others who were anxious to learn, report the news, and engage with news sources and news consumers. It was a place for lifelong lessons, experiences, mentors and, now some 50 years later, a place of everlasting friendships. Thanks for the grand read and for the great memories.” Seth Effron became one of the more gifted reporters at the Times, and he could report and write on any story with unparalleled skill. Today, he is opinion editor with Capitol Broadcasting in Raleigh.
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“Bill, what a nice read on the first edition of the morning Fayetteville Times,” Jim Kirkland writes in an email about our July 2 column. “My late wife and I lived in Lumberton and anxiously awaited the first paper to hit our doorsteps. The incredible staff — many who moved on and many who we’ve lost over the years. I remember well the late Ken Cooke from Raleigh by way of The News and Observer (and Rhode Island). When did Millie Clement come to Fayetteville? I knew her as the graphic artist at the N&O in the ’50s and ’60s. Don’t get me started on what the bean counters have done to the newspaper industry.”
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“Billy, I don’t know if anyone even calls you that,” Jim Jenkins, a former Fayetteville Observer reporter, writes in an email about our memories of the now-defunct Fayetteville Times. “You’ll have no remembrance of me at all, as I was with the Observer from October 1975 to June 1977, when I went to Greensboro before finishing up my last 31 years in the business at the N&O (Raleigh News & Observer). You guys on the Times really had fun, and I envied that. It was a peculiar time. The Observer was still in a 1950s mode, and I say that affectionately, but downstairs the wild stuff was happening. Dennis Rogers and Dennis Patterson became lifelong friends, and Harry (Abernathy, the copy desk chief) came to the N&O when I was there; Penny (Muse Abernathy), I knew for years. Tom Lassiter remains a close friend. So many characters, and Ken Cooke (the Times’ chief photographer) was a close buddy until his death. Bill Shaw, I remember. Dick Blount. Steve Aldridge and David Prather. Your piece was terrific, and I remember you and (Tommy) Horton running together. Hope you’re having a good life. With appreciation.” Remember you well, Jim, and continued to follow your talented journalism career after you left the Observer. You are right, we Times folks were a bit different from the more established Observer news team upstairs and later on Whitfield Street. Yes, there are those who still call me Billy. And while I’m getting older, life is good because none of us who ever worked for Fayetteville Publishing Co. could ever have worked for a better company.
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Joe Riddle wonders in an email if I know the backstory on how The Fayetteville Times newspaper came about in 1973, offering that a number of local businessmen were contemplating starting a newspaper of their own. Indeed, Joe, I do. There’s not much I don’t know about when it comes to The Fayetteville Times.
Bill Kirby Jr. can be reached at billkirby49@gmail.com or 910-624-1961.
