Dr. Howard Loughlin, M.D., has been selected as the recipient of the 2013 National Children’s Advocacy Center Outstanding Service Award in the category of Medical Care. He will be recognized at the 29th National Symposium on Child Abuse on March 20 in Huntsville, Ala.

Dr. Loughlin was nominated by Fayetteville’s Child Advocacy Center in recognition of his many years of service to the children of Cumberland County. In 1991, Dr. Loughlin helped to found Friends of Children at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center to serve hospitalized children and their families. In 1993, Dr. Loughlin and other concerned professionals came together to establish the Child Advocacy Center, which will celebrate its 20th anniversary this year. Dr. Loughlin has served on its board throughout its history.

Dr. Loughlin started the Child Abuse Evaluation Clinic at Southern Regional Area Health Education Center in Fayetteville in 1994 so he and other local physicians could provide the necessary examinations for child abuse victims. He was director of that clinic until July 2012, when he partially retired. He continues to work at SRAHEC part-time.

In 2009, Dr. Loughlin was one of the first physicians in the nation to take and pass the exam to become a Board Certifi ed Child Abuse Pediatrician. In 2012, he received the Champion for Children award from the Cumberland County Break the Chain of Child Abuse Committee.

Skirmishes & Shortages: NC in 1863

On Saturday April 6, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., the grounds of the old Fayetteville Arsenal will once again host Confederate soldiers. “Skirmishes and Shortages: NC in 1863 is a Civil War Sesquicentennial living-history event focused on what was happening in our state 150 years ago. Members of the 26th N.C. Regiment will set up camp and provide musket and drilling demonstrations for the visiting public at 10:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. in Arsenal Park.

The Carolina Citizens, a civilian living-history group, will portray female munitions workers employed by the arsenal and visitors can try their own hand at rolling cartridges. Demonstrations are ongoing throughout the day.

Musical performances will be provided by the Huckleberry Brothers Band at 11:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 pm. This popular group of musicians from eastern North Carolina performs songs, ballads and fiddle tunes from the 19th century. Instruments include five-string banjo, fiddle, guitar, accordion, mandolin, tin whistle, harmonicas, bones and tambourine.

Want to learn more about women workers in the Arsenal? Guest speaker Raina Kellerman, adjunct professor at Mount Aloysius College in Pennsylvania, will speak on this fascinating topic at 1 p.m. in the museum. She has been involved in Civil War living history for 17 years and is currently in the process of writing a book about women who worked in Civil War arsenals.

Have your tintype image taken by fine-art photographer Harry Taylor. Taylor uses the wet-plate collodion process, the same method used during the Civil War, which involves large format cameras up to 16x20 and on site processing in a mobile darkroom. Visitors are welcome to have their images taken and purchase a 4x5 tintype or ambrotype on glass for $50, or an 8x10 is available for $100. Photography will be available throughout the day.

Discover the story of “Long Grabs” McSween, the unofficial war correspondent for the Fayetteville Observer. A Fayetteville native, McSween wrote more than 80 letters to the Observer in 1862-1863. He was twice wounded at Petersburg as a member of the 26th N.C. McSween returned to Fayetteville after the war and became editor of The Eagle newspaper. Learn more about his extraordinary life and listen to an interpretive reading of his letters at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.

Photo: Dr. Howard Loughlin