The city of Fayetteville apparently is touting itself for 2023 All-America City designation, according to Monday’s City Council agenda, and it is promoting its bid based on youth participation and engagement, youth empowerment, mentoring and education programs, youth boards and commissions, and the Market House Repurposing Project. “We are extremely proud of our community and all of the unique features it provides for our residents,” says City Manager Douglas Hewett. “It is important that we celebrate what we have, and the All-America City award is just one way to recognize the accomplishments achieved by everyone involved in making our ‘can do’ city the best place to live, work and play in North Carolina.” Finalists will be announced this month, and if selected, the city will prepare a final presentation between now and June. The All-America City awards ceremony is scheduled for June 9-11 in Denver. The National Civic League’s All-America City awards have been celebrated since 1949, and Fayetteville has been recognized in 2011, 2001 and 1985.
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So, the good-old-boy network is alive and well as Mayor Mitch Colvin, Mayor Pro Tem Johnny Dawkins and City Council members D.J. Haire, Derrick Thompson, Courtney Banks-McLaughlin and Shakeyla Ingram give the nod to former Councilman Chris Davis as their choice to replace Wade Fowler on the Fayetteville Public Works Commission. Josef Hallatschek, a candidate with 23 years working with utilities, was the choice of council members Kathy Keefe Jensen, Mario Benavente, Brenda McNair and Deno Hondros. Some council members get it. And some council members don’t.
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Cumberland County commissioners met with our state legislative delegation on Feb. 20 with requests for state funding out of the General Assembly in Raleigh, and a top priority was for assistance in developing a public water system for addressing PFAS or toxic water contamination in Gray’s Creek. Bravo for the commissioners. The cost of providing water to the entire district is estimated at $130 million, according to a county news release, and an estimated $63.1 million is needed for Phase 1A and Phase 1B to include running water for two schools in the district. The schools are Alderman Road and Gray’s Creek elementary. The request from the county is for $27 million for water source development. Commissioners in attendance were Toni Stewart, the chairwoman; Glenn Adams, the vice chairman; and Jeannette Council, Marshall Faircloth, Michael Boose and Veronica Jones. Jimmy Keefe was absent. Legislators in attendance were state Sens. Val Applewhite and Tom McInnis and Reps. Diane Wheatley, Charles Smith and Frances Jackson. Rep. Marvin Lucas was absent.
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Seems like all of us from time to time find ourselves in need of some quick cash from our ATM banks. But ATM users should always be aware, the Fayetteville Police Department says, and especially during evening hours. There have been three reports in the past 30 days, the Police Department says in a news release, of robberies in the Cross Creek Mall area. The suspect preying on victims, the news release says, is a man who wears a hooded sweatshirt and a dark mask and brandishes a handgun while demanding money. Be aware of your surroundings when using an ATM in the evenings, the Police Department says. If you observe anyone who makes you nervous, leave the area immediately and report suspicious activity to 911. And, if I may add, never use an ATM at night.
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“It’s going to be really hard walking out of here for the last time,” Michael Fleishman tells CityView about leaving Fleishman’s Tiny Town on Fort Bragg Road after more than 70 years for new digs this month at the Highland Centre shopping center on Raeford Road. Without question, that will be difficult for Fleishman and his sisters, Marcie Fleishman Justice and Minda Fleishman, as they say goodbye to the business founded in 1951 by their late parents. Herbert and Marilyn Fleishman will be watching with pride.
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“My mother was an unassuming mother,” a heartfelt Rebecca Byrd McAlister would remember Becky Sides Riddle at a memorial service Wednesday at the Rogers and Breece Funeral Service chapel. “She loved Dr Pepper. My mother made the best fudge. She loved beach music. Mom was a dog lover and loved long walks with Libby,” her beloved Brittany spaniel, “in the afternoons. She loved her neighbors. My mom was my best friend, and she loved watching her grandchildren play in the backyard. She had the best brown eyes, and that smile. And how I will miss her,” she would say while holding back tears.” Becky Sides Riddle died at age 78 on Feb. 22.
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Giles Blankenship is the minister of music at Snyder Memorial Baptist Church, and how blessed the church is to have this gifted musician. He can play the piano and guitar with skill, and he can sing a hymn, too. Blankenship is a member of the Performing Arts/Fayetteville Music Hall of Fame.
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“A Glimpse Into Evans,” the adaptation of Annette Billie’s history of Evans Metropolitan AME Zion Church written and directed by Berthenia Lindo, is scheduled for an encore presentation at 3 p.m. on March 19 at Hay Street United Methodist Church, 320 Hay St. “Everyone is excited,” says Lindo, who first presented the play to a near sellout audience on Jan. 28 at the John D. Fuller Complex on Bunce Road. The play is about the Rev. Henry Evans’ founding in 1801 of Evans Metropolitan AME Zion Church in downtown Fayetteville and features Randolph Williams II, a recent graduate of North Carolina A&T State University, in the lead role as the Rev. Evans. The Rev. Patania L. Eiland of Hood Memorial AME Zion Church on Rosehill Road is in the role of the preacher’s wife along with a cast of 25 from the Voncyle R. Davis Drama Guild of Evans Metropolitan AME Zion Church.
Bill Kirby Jr. can be reached at billkirby49@gmail.com or 910-624-1961.
