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Publisher's Pen: 911 Community Call Center: A decade of delay is more than dysfunction — It’s negligence

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Tuesday, 23 June 2026

Written by Bill Bowman

For nearly ten years, Cumberland County and the City of Fayetteville have been locked in a political standoff over where to build a consolidated 911 Communications Center — a facility that every resident, every business, and every first responder depend on in moments when seconds determine life or death.

In addition to us, the Fayetteville Observer and CityView have documented this saga of feuding City and Cumberland County officials in detail. The facts and need are not in dispute. What is in dispute, embarrassingly and inexcusably, is the location. And, because of that, nothing gets built, and the health, safety, and well-being of every Cumberland County resident continues to be ignored. This is no longer a disagreement. It’s a dereliction of duty and responsibility.

Our current emergency communications system is fragmented, outdated, and strained. The facilities are outdated, and new technology upgrades are long overdue. A combined communications center seems only logical. 

A unified 911 center would eliminate confusion and improve response times, strengthen coordination between police, fire, EMS, and emergency management, and provide better storm, disaster, and crisis response times. When you take into consideration that these duplicate services have tremendous long-term costs for both government entities, they pale in light of the public safety all 350,000 county residents deserve.

After talking with numerous members of the community, both city and county residents, and in addition to advocating for a combined operation, we have concluded a combined City-County 911 Communications Center would be best located centrally on county-owned property centrally located close to the County Government Complex. This would reduce land acquisition costs and locate it near other county emergency services making it easier (and faster) to integrate it with existing county emergency management operations. 

Mayor Mitch Colvin and the city are not in agreement, stating that the center should be strategically located within city limits for faster response times, which they believe better supports urban call volume. 

Well, from where I sit, urban call volume is county call volume. Without a doubt, Colvin’s obstinate attitude toward this project dictates it’s all about wanting the City to build, control and operate the combined 911 Center should it ever be constructed. Well, so I don’t run the risk of being redundant, I’ll refer you to my editorial: Mitch Colvin’s Downtown Convention Center push demands accountability before ambition in the June 10 edition of Up & Coming Weekly (https://www.upandcomingweekly.com/views/12342-publisher-s-pen-mitch-colvin-s-downtown-convention-center-push-demands-accountability-before-ambition). In summation, the City, under Colvin’s leadership, has no successful track record for building, operating, or maintaining such a vital and elaborate operation as a Cumberland County combined 911 center. If that’s not enough evidence, look at the dismal way Cumberland County Parks & Rec assets have been maintained over the years since the city took over that responsibility.

The real problem here is city leadership. Reasonable and honest people could reach a reasonable compromise. However, local residents can’t ignore the institutional distrust, pride, turf protection, and political grudges that override their sworn responsibilities to the public. For nearly a decade, Colvin has chosen conflict over cooperation, posturing over progress, and political gain over the county’s population for public safety. It’s a gross failure of leadership.

Both Cumberland County and Fayetteville City leaders must stop treating this as a political chess match and start treating it as the public safety emergency it is. The residents of Cumberland County have waited long enough, and it’s time their safety should not be collateral damage in this decade long political feud.

A consolidated 911 Center is not a city or a county project. It is a Cumberland County community project. And this community deserves leaders who can rise above petty politics and do “the right things, for the right reasons”. 

If city and county officials cannot come to an agreement soon, then the public should demand new leaders who can. Local lives depend on it. Thank you for reading Up & Coming Weekly.

Timeline:

• 911 Community Call Center: An Undistinguished History

• 2014–2015:  Early Start: with inaction on governance or location. 

• 2016: First Formal Proposal: County recommends the Government Complex as a logical site. City officials express concerns about control and operational authority. Talks stall.

• 2017–2018: Tension Grows Between City and County: Both acknowledge the need. But neither agrees on who should lead the project.

• 2019: More Studies, Committees, and Stalemates: Joint committees formed and dissolved without producing a unified plan. Cost increases.

• 2020–2021: Pandemic Exposes Current System Weaknesses: COVID 19 strains emergency communications and highlights the need for unified operations. Despite the evidence of system stress, city–county negotiations remain frozen.

• 2022: The Location Fight Becomes Public: Media begins documenting the feud in detail, with growing distrust between city and county leaders.

• 2023: A Decade of Delay Becomes Impossible to Ignore: Residents, dispatchers, and first responders speak out about the operational challenges caused by fragmentation. Public safety ignored.

• 2024: Renewed Talks, Same Stalemate: County officials prioritize safety, cost savings, and centrality. Mayor Colvin and city officials emphasize control.

• 2025: Public Pressure Intensifies: Community leaders, business owners, and public safety advocates call for action. Ignored. Dysfunction continues with no agreement reached.

• 2026: Still No Decision: Costs have risen, technology has aged further, and Cumberland County residents remain at risk. While Fayetteville has developed a firm track record for failed projects of this nature.

Troy's Perspective: Saying goodbye to a dear friend

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Tuesday, 16 June 2026

Written by Troy Williams

On Saturday, June 6, 2026, a sunny and bright day, relatives and friends gathered at Lewis Chapel Missionary Baptist Church to offer their condolences and pay their final respects to Mr. Billy Ray King, one of Cumberland County's most respected political figures and community leaders, in recognition of his contributions over the past five decades.

King, affectionately known as "B.R.," a proud country boy from Wilson County and the eldest of ten siblings, embodied a remarkable work ethic and a passionate commitment to education, economic growth, healthcare, and community empowerment. His inspiring upbringing beautifully illustrates the values that drive positive change in our society. Beginning his journey in tobacco fields and ultimately being awarded North Carolina's prestigious Order of the Long Leaf Pine is truly remarkable. It proudly highlights the impactful legacy he built throughout his career.

King developed a strong educational foundation in the Wilson County School system, proudly graduating from Springfield High School in Lucama, North Carolina, in 1965. His journey continued at Elizabeth City State University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in social studies in 1969, marking a significant milestone in his academic career.

King began his remarkable journey as a social studies teacher, a role he cherished deeply. Just weeks before his passing, he expressed how teaching ignited his passion. In 1975, he and his wonderful wife, Margaret, also an educator, moved to Fayetteville, where he eagerly took on the role of Field Representative for the North Carolina Association of Educators, making a positive impact on the lives of many students and teachers.

It is possible that all the above factors ignited King's passion for public service. While we may never fully understand his motivations, his legacy of community service remains undeniably strong. For an impressive 24 years, he served as a Cumberland County Commissioner, proudly holding the positions of both Chairman and Vice-Chairman. His remarkable leadership journey included serving in vital roles on the Cape Fear Valley Hospital Board of Trustees and the Cumberland County Board of Elections, and as a past President of the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners. Beyond these achievements, he passionately engaged with Kingdom Community Development and countless church, civic, and community initiatives, making a meaningful impact in the lives of many.

King was a devoted husband to Margaret for 52 years and a wonderful father to his daughters, Gwendolyn Golden (married to Gerald) and Jennifer Harris, Ph.D. (married to Aaron). He was also a familiar face at the barber shop and various political gathering spots downtown. I have fond memories of King and his best friend, the late Wilson Lacy, engaging in lively political discussions with the guys at Archie McMillan's shoeshine shop on Person Street. One had to be thick-skinned to hold one's own in that crowd, but it was a routine we enjoyed almost every day after work for several decades.

We remember and celebrate the incredible life of Mr. Billy Ray King. He was a cherished husband, father, grandfather, and a dedicated servant to Cumberland County. His spirit and friendship will always inspire us. Rest in peace, dear friend—you will be deeply missed!

Wait: An invitation to be slow enough to see

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Tuesday, 16 June 2026

Written by Dan DeBruler

Three o’clock in the morning has a way of stripping life down to what’s unresolved.

The noise of the day is gone. The distractions are quiet. The conversations are over. The phone is finally still. What remains is whatever followed us into the dark.

At that hour, solutions don’t usually present themselves. There are no quick fixes, no clean answers, no easy next steps. Just questions. Questions about relationships, decisions, regrets, fears, responsibilities. Questions we managed to outrun in the daylight.

But 3 a.m. isn’t always cruel. Sometimes it’s honest.

It reveals what we’ve been carrying longer than we care to admit. It exposes the gap between what we’ve been managing and what we’ve been understanding. And it gently confronts us with a truth we often avoid: most of what troubles us didn’t arrive suddenly. It arrived slowly.

A marriage doesn’t drift in a day. Burnout doesn’t appear out of nowhere. Anxiety has roots deeper than the moment we finally feel it. We may experience the pain suddenly, but the path that brought us there was usually walked one step at a time.

That’s why hurry is such a poor guide.

When life speeds up, reflection is often the first casualty. We learn to function without noticing, cope without considering, and react without remembering. Eventually, we find ourselves awake in the quiet, facing the weight of something we never slowed down long enough to name.

Scripture teaches us a better way.

God rarely begins by handing us instructions. He begins with context. Genesis tells us creation was very good before explaining how brokenness entered. The Gospels show us the Savior before we fully understand the cost of following Him. The Epistles often remind believers who they are in Christ before telling them how to live. Revelation shows us the end of the story so we can endure the middle with hope.

God often reveals the outcome before He explains the origin because purpose clarifies patience.

We tend to live in the opposite direction. We want to fix what we see before understanding what is growing underneath. We want to solve the argument before tracing the drift. We want to quiet the fear before naming it. We want relief before reflection.

Stories explain symptoms better than strategies. Every meaningful story eventually pauses the climax long enough to ask, “How did we get here?” Scripture does the same. That’s our cue. Maybe the better questions begin here: Where are we? How did we get here? What was God doing along the way? And what does that change now?

Those questions don’t ignore the problem. They help us see it truthfully. They move us from reaction to discernment, from managing symptoms to understanding the story. The problem may not be that we woke up at 3 a.m. The problem may be how long we’ve been moving too fast to see what led us there.

And maybe that hour—unwelcome as it feels—is not an interruption at all, but an invitation. An invitation to become slow enough to see.

Clarity rarely shouts. It waits.

This, That, and the Other—North Carolina Edition

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Tuesday, 16 June 2026

Written by Margaret Dickson

The Scripps National Spelling Bee, held each year around Memorial Day, is a sure sign that summer is upon us. Eight North Carolina students made it to the Bee this year, with a 13-year-old girl from a Raleigh magnet school coming in at 8th place. A 14-year-old California boy took top honors by spelling the word “bromocriptine” correctly.  I had to look up that one, and my spellcheck maintains it is not a word at all. The dictionary, nevertheless, defines it as a complicated alkaloid, which does not help me in the least.

With spelling on my mind, I was interested in a post from an online outfit named unscrambler.com, which reports that “studies show that reliance on autocorrect and AI deteriorate the authors’ spelling ability over time.” It urges us to double check spelling ourselves, adding that this is a “use it or lose it situation.”  

Amen to that.

unscrambler.com goes on to tell us that the most misspelled words in North Carolina are spaghetti, because, color, through, character, business, favorite, beautiful, science, and graduation. Who knew? 

And how on earth does unscrambler.com know?

According to unscrambler.com and based on the number of internet searches, Americans in general wonder how to spell bougie, favorite, through, business, tomorrow, because, definitely, beautiful, niece, and separate. Apparently, we Tar Heels are fairly normal when it comes to spelling.

Also, according to unscrambler.com, our neighbors have their spelling issues as well. 

Virginia struggles with spaghetti (just like us!). South Carolina cannot quite handle quite. Tennessee wrestles with through, and Florida is irked by school.  Georgia—bless her heart!—stumbles over Chihuahua, as do Wyoming and Oklahoma.  If we are honest, the rest of us probably do as well. Same for ukulele, Minnesota’s Achilles' heel.

All to remind us that nothing works like a good dictionary, even if it is online.

And then there is the whole North Carolina pork barbecue thing, which has been going on since before Duke hated Carolina and both hated NC State.

East versus west. Vinegar (east) versus tomato (west) sauce. Chopped pork (west) versus pulled (pork) east, although the lines are always somewhat blurred. Whole hog barbecue is a category unto itself but generally served in the east. All of the above have been and remain staples of church suppers, wedding celebrations, and, Lord help us, political events both right and left. Apparently barbecue is apolitical.

Carolina barbecue is a hodgepodge of our history. Native Americans, European settlers, African Americans and modern methods of cooking are all in today’s mix. It resonates with Tar Heels from 1 to 100, a reality brought home to me when a grown up daddy of my acquaintance and his 9-year-old son ate their way across the state from east to west to determine the best barbecue ever for the boy’s 4th grade North Carolina project. I think he made an A.

As for me, no tomatoes please. My husband made the best vinegar sauce ever. Friends still ask for the secret recipe.

And, finally, North Carolina is one of the original 13 American colonies, so this year’s 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding resounds here as much or more than in most other places. The ladies of Edenton swore off tea in October 1774, an act of rebellion against King George. North Carolina was the first colony to call formally for independence from England with the Halifax Resolves in April of 1776. That original document is on display in Halifax through September. 

The are no shortages of birthday celebrations. The NC Department of Cultural Resources website lists more than 1000 commemorations across the state, including a day-long 4th of July wingding at the State Capitol in Raleigh.

Let the celebrations begin both for our past and for our future.