Fayetteville State University Hosts MLK Celebration

The FSU Department of Performing and Fine Arts will present its Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Concert featuring the FSU Concert Band and The Army Ground Forces Band from Fort Bragg. This free concert takes place on Jan. 21 in Seabrook Auditorium on the main campus of Fayetteville State University at 7 p.m.

The concert provides a rare opportunity to hear works by African-American composers for a concert band.

This concert commemorates two significant events this year: the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation and the 50th anniversary of the historic March on Washington. The FSU Concert Band will perform Have a Dream by Greg Danner in commemoration of the March.

The Honorable Mayor Anthony Chavonne will join the combined ensembles in Randol Bass’ New Birth of Freedom for band and narrator. This narrative setting of Lincoln’s immortal Gettysburg Address was commissioned by the United States President’s Own Marine Band in early 2009.

The program ends with Mark Camphous’s A Movement for Rosa in honor of the Civil Rights heroine Rosa Parks. Other works on the program include compositions by Alton Adams, Aaron Copland, and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.

The event is free and open to the public. For more information about the concert, please contact Alfred Davis at 910-672-1446 oradavis50@uncfsu.edu or Dr. Earnest Lamb at 910-672-1571 or elamb@uncfsu.edu.

Crisis Intervention Team Honors Public Safety Professionals

On Jan. 8, the Fayetteville-Cumberland Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) recognized five local public safety professionals from the Cumberland County Emergency Services Department, the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office, and the Fayetteville Police Department for outstanding service. The awards ceremony, hosted by the local CIT and the National Alliance on Mental Illness, was held at the county’s Mental Health Clinic, 109 Bradford Ave.

The following individuals received awards:

Cumberland County Emergency Services: Telecommunicator of the Year Wanda Barton

Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office:Deputy of the Year Sgt. Corrie Simmons

Trainer of the Year Sgt. Hardin Brown

Fayetteville Police Department: Officer of the Year Lt. Randy Podobinski

Telecommunicator of the Year Tracy Trogdon

“We are looking to build a comprehensive and seamless system of crisis response in Cumberland County,” said Cumberland County CIT Coordinator Wayne Cannon. “I am extremely proud of those who were acknowledged at the awards reception.”

CIT is a jail diversion program designed to be a specialized law enforcement response to individuals experiencing a crisis related to mental illness. The program seeks to help citizens get treatment instead of incarceration. Currently, 250 law enforcement offi cers and 54 telecommunicators in Cumberland County are CIT certified.