An apple, if you will, for Janet Baker, who brings an end to a distinguished 52-plus-year career with Cumberland County Schools. “I have been blessed to work with so many wonderful teachers and staff throughout my years in Cumberland County Schools,” Baker told me Wednesday from her Stoney Point Elementary School, where she teaches third graders in the Academically or Intellectually Gifted (AIG) Program. “Many have been friends for 40-plus years. Teaching around 2,000-plus students has not always been easy, but it has been very rewarding. Some of my former students are on my Facebook page. Now and then, I happen upon someone I taught and am so glad to find out how they are doing. Teaching certainly has its challenges, but I think it is the kids that made me stay so long. Each one is so unique and has brought me joy in knowing I have cared about them and have given them knowledge that will help them as they move on. Each year, it has been hard to let them go. They have brought me joy.” Baker spent 20 years at Cumberland Road Elementary, 11 years at William Hefner Elementary and the past nine years at Stoney Point. She also has taught at Mary McArthur Elementary, Eastover Central Elementary, Legion Road Elementary, Armstrong Elementary, Lucile Souders Elementary, Pauline Jones Elementary, Lillian Black Elementary, Young Howard Elementary, Elizabeth Cashwell Elementary, Brentwood Elementary, Montclair Elementary and T.C. Berrien Elementary. “Since beginning her service on August 30, 1971, she has touched the lives of thousands of students across our district, teaching fourth, fifth and sixth grades, as well as serving in the Advanced Learning and Gifted Education program,” Superintendent Marvin Connelly Jr. said Tuesday about Baker. “A passionate educator and lifelong learner, Mrs. Baker exemplifies what it means to be committed to student growth and success. Her unwavering dedication, encouragement and wisdom have inspired both students and colleagues. Mrs. Baker’s decades of impact have helped build the foundation of our schools and community, and her influence will continue to be felt for generations to come.” The students Janet Baker has taught will remember this educator of renown all of their lives.
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Cumberland County Manager Clarence Grier has been directed by commissioners to give another look-see at purchasing the shuttered Lillian Black Elementary School in Spring Lake, as per the county board’s May 8 meeting. Commissioners rejected an offer in October 2024 from the Cumberland County Board of Education to buy the old school for $750,000. The school now is valued at $1.5 million, but commissioners want Grier to pursue discussions with the school system and the Town of Spring Lake for potential multi-family development.
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“The partnership between Cumberland County and FTCC exemplifies our shared commitment to education, workforce development and community empowerment,” Kirk deViere, chair of the Cumberland Board of County Commissioners, said in a news release about the college. He will be the keynote speaker today at two Fayetteville Technical Community College commencement ceremonies scheduled for 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. at the Crown Coliseum. “As we celebrate the achievements of the Class of 2025,” deViere said, “we also recognize the vital role that FTCC plays in shaping the future of our community.” Approximately 2,438 graduates will be receiving more than 3,900 certificates, diplomas and degrees, according to an FTCC spokesperson. A former state senator, Kirk deViere is right about FTCC, which is a treasure in this community.
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Officers responded to reports of gunshots around 9:07 p.m. on May 9 along the 6400 block of Starbrook Drive in west Fayetteville, where they discovered a 53-year-old man suffering from a fatal gunshot wound, according to the Fayetteville Police Department. It is the 24th city homicide of 2025. There were 27 homicides in 2024.
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“These kids look like me,” Demetria Murphy told the Fayetteville City Council on Monday about the council’s decision for a city youth curfew (ages 16 and under) from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. “They’re Black and Brown. They’re not white. So, let’s be very clear, we can’t keep putting no racial blanket over the top of what’s going on in our community … I’m for it, because at the end of the day, anything that’s going to save one of these kid’s lives is what we have to do.”
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Opponents of the curfew argue that a youth curfew infringes on the civil rights and liberties of young people. I was 16 once. My civil rights and civil liberties ended when my mother said it was time for supper, homework and off to bed. My civil rights and civil liberties were non-negotiable.
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Get caught in the rain on Sunday, then again on Monday … and you’ll find yourself with a sore throat and all the trappings of the common cold to include the hacking cough and the runny nose. Call me the poster boy.
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“Bill, I just wanted to say thanks for your article on the life and passing of Grant Singleton,” Dan Owen writes in an email about my May 14 column about the Fayetteville real estate businessman and outdoorsman who died at age 60 on May 7. “Anyway, I barely knew Grant, but did know many of his friends and his reputation as an outdoorsman. He would always take the time to speak if we ran into each other, but unfortunately, that was very infrequent. Anyway, your thoughtful and well-written article allowed me to know him better. So, this is just to say thanks for what you do and how you do it.”
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“Bill, as always, I welcome your thoughts on Mother’s Day,” the Rev. Ben West writes about my May 11 tribute to mothers. And just another thought, my old preacher friend. We’ve gotten away from the tradition of wearing red or white carnations on Mother’s Day Sundays in honor and remembrance of our mothers — red for our mothers still with us; white for our mothers who have passed away. I never have forsaken that Mother’s Day tradition, and I never will. I wear a variegated carnation or rose bud each Mother’s Day in honor and memory of my late mother, because Mama forever will live in my heart. We should do as much for our fathers past and present, too. Rev. West is the retired senior pastor at Westminster Presbyterian Church on Village Drive.
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A tip of the baseball cap to Sam Guy III, the dedicated and prolific coach of the Terry Sanford High School Bulldogs, and where the Cumberland County Board of Education has approved naming the baseball field Samuel P. Guy Baseball Field. Guy teaches his athletes the game and values to live by.
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My nose is running faster than the record time of Secretariat heading down the homestretch in the 1973 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs.
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The 4th Annual Nancy H. Blackmon Legacy Scholarship Golf Tournament is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Saturday at Cypress Lakes Golf Course in Hope Mills. Check-in, which includes a light breakfast, is at 7:30 a.m. The captain’s choice event is $300 per 4-golfer team or $80 per golfer. The tournament is in memory of the late Mrs. Blackmon, who was an administrator and teacher at Terry Sanford High School. Proceeds help provide a $1,000 education scholarship to a graduating senior at the Cumberland County school planning to attend a 4-year college or $500 for a senior planning to attend a community college. To register or for more information, visit nancy-h-blackmon-scholarship-golf-tournament-2437.perfectgolfevent.com or send email inquiries to nhbscholarship@gmail.com or call (910) 978-9058.
Coming Sunday: “Most competitive person I’ve ever met,” Franklin Clark remembers UNC legend.
Bill Kirby Jr. can be reached at billkirby49@gmail.com or 910-624-1961.
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