Hope Mills soon will be looking for a new town manager to replace Chancer McLaughlin.
“The consensus of this board by a three to two vote is the town manager’s contract will not be renewed in March 2027,” Mayor Jessie Bellflowers said after a closed session during the June 22 meeting of the town’s board of commissioners. Mayor Pro Tem Hope Page and commissioners Lisa Tremmel and Cynthia Hamilton decided McLaughlin’s managerial fate. Commissioners Bryan Marley and Grilley Mitchell opposed.
Marley and Mitchell then did not return for a vote on the town’s fiscal year 2027 budget, which includes a tax increase of 4.5 cents per $100 of assessed value. Page and Tremmel supported the budget. Marley and Mitchell, despite their absence, were counted as supportive votes. Hamilton voted against a property tax.
The town’s finances have been under scrutiny since a critical state audit was released in April.
Wednesday was something of an ominous beginning for Dan Weatherly on his first official day as chief executive officer for Cape Fear Valley Health. “These are difficult decisions, and they are never made lightly,” Weatherly, 59, said in a news release announcing the health system is cutting its workforce by 200 positions and laying off 138 people. “They impact colleagues who have contributed so much to our patients and to our mission. However, these decisions reflect the challenging environment facing healthcare organizations across the country. We are committed to a strong and accessible health system for the communities we serve, and that responsibility drives our decisions.”
The reason, according to the release, is the health system is facing declining federal reimbursements and the rising cost of delivering care. Weatherly said the health system will work to help affected employees through career transition assistance, including priority placement in other roles within the health system and separation packages for eligible employees. There are an estimated 9,000 employees in the health system, and while the cuts and layoffs are minimal, layoffs and job eliminations always are traumatic moments in your career and your life.
Gov. Josh Stein said the cost of healthcare is escalating, and he’s doing something about it for North Carolinians by establishing a Health Care Affordability Commission. “Healthcare costs are skyrocketing, and families are suffering,” Stein said in a news release. “I thank Secretary (of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services (Devdutta) Sangvai (and N.C. State Treasurer (Brad) Briner for their partnership, and I look forward to working with them to ensure North Carolinians can get access to and afford critical healthcare where and when they need it.” You said a mouthful about the rising costs of healthcare, governor, and supplemental health insurance is something else.
This is the Fourth of July weekend, and not the time to be drinking and operating a vehicle, motorcycle or motorized boat. “This time of year is one of the deadliest in terms of impaired driving crashes,” Mark Ezzell, director of the N.C. Governor’s Highway Safety Program, said in a news release about the annual Operation Firecracker Booze It and Lose It campaign. The effort runs through July 5. There were 917 DWI arrests in the Operation Firecracker campaign in 2025, according to the N.C. Department of Transportation, with 77 of those arrests being drivers under the age of 21. Be smart and responsible by designating a sober driver, calling a taxi or a rideshare service. Do not drink and drive for the sake of yourself and others.
Just a reminder you can celebrate Independence Day on Saturday at Festival Park with the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra, the Fayetteville Symphonic Band, and the 82nd Airborne Division Band. Food trucks will be there, too. Gates open at 6 p.m. and the concerts begin at 7:30. The celebration ends with fireworks.
Bob Pinson has been named interim executive director of the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra. “I am honored to have been chosen for this position and look forward to working with an incredibly talented board, staff and group of musicians as together we continue to better the lives of all through music,” Pinson said in a news release. Pinson stepped down as president and chief executive officer of the Arts Council of Fayetteville | Cumberland County on June 30. He succeeds Jessica Lynn Munch-Dittmar, who was on the job for less than a year.
A 46-year-old woman is dead after Fayetteville police responded to a stabbing at 9:06 p.m. on Sunday along the 200 block of Landsdown Road. Husband Leon Ray has been charged with first degree murder in Anya Owens-Ray’s death, the result of what is described by police as a domestic dispute. It is, according to police, the 14th city homicide of 2026.
“Can’t believe I never met Ed,” Bob Cogswell wrote in an email about my June 24 remembrance column of Ed Miller, the longtime State Farm Insurance executive, who died at age 85 on June 17. Edwin Jerome Miller was a man you could trust.
“My dad has always made it a point to tell me he’s proud of me, even when I felt like I didn’t deserve it,” Maddie Kellogg, director of donor services for the Cumberland Community Foundation, wrote in an email about my Father’s Day column. “The last quote in your article by the late Jim Valvano rings true in my relationship with my father. He always believes in me. He’s seen in me what I haven’t seen in myself. He’s a good one. I think I’ll keep him.” Kellogg is the daughter of Ellis and Karen Felton.
“The problem is the raccoons had a home,” Joel Nance wrote in an email about my June 19 column referencing a raccoon issue at Cumulus Media at 1009 Drayton Road, just off Bragg Boulevard. “It got torn down for that stupid halfway house on Cain Road. Now the raccoons are all over the neighborhood. In fairness, they already were all over the neighborhood. You’d see them waddling, scurrying around at night sometimes, but they never caused problems. I never even had an overturned or opened trash can.”
Well, Mr. Nance, I agree the halfway house should not have been built along Cain Road in such close proximity to neighborhoods. As for the raccoons, they’re cute little critters, but once they are inside your home or business, you’ve got a problem with their destructive habits. I had one in my attic a few years ago, and it was costly getting rid of the raccoon.
Coming Sunday: “We’re not going to find another Mary Holmes.”
Bill Kirby Jr. can be reached at billkirby49@gmail.com or 910-624-1961.
