2023 in review: Voters sent messages, Fort Liberty debuted, police and crime drama, and other big headlines

As always, Fayetteville and Cumberland County had plenty of news in 2023 that caught your attention, stirred your outrage or made you happy.

Below are five topics that dominated.

Elections and politics: A mayor ousted; incumbents to retire

Voters in Fayetteville and Hope Mills showed in November they wanted change, while Spring Lake voters kept their slate of officials.

In Fayetteville:

• Four-term Councilman Johnny Dawkins lost to local businesswoman and real estate agent Lynne Greene.
• Malik Davis defeated two-term Councilwoman Shakeyla Ingram.

In Hope Mills:

• Former Commissioner Jessie Bellflowers defeated six-term Mayor Jackie Warner.
• Commissioner Grilley Mitchell was defeated by a single vote in the Board of Commissioners election. He placed sixth among the five top vote-getters. Newly elected Commissioner Elyse Craver, who placed third in the top-five results, replaced him.

In Spring Lake: 

• Mayor Kia Anthony and all five incumbents on the Board of Aldermen were reelected. Four of the five aldermen were first elected in 2021 after the state Local Government Commission seized control of the town’s finances to keep the town from overspending its revenue. Spring Lake had suffered from years of mismanagement.

Candidate filings for the 2024 elections brought announcements that four long-serving incumbents would retire when their terms conclude at the end of 2024:

• Democratic state Rep. Marvin Lucas of Spring Lake will end a 47-year run in politics.
• Republican County Commissioners Michael Boose and Jimmy Keefe are not running for reelection.
• Democratic Register of Deeds Lee Warren did not file for reelection.
  

With the Keefe and Boose retirements, eight Republicans are battling each other in the 2024 GOP primary. The top three will face three Democratic candidates during the general election in November.

Four Democrats are in the primary for the Lucas Dist. 42 seat in the legislature. The winner of the Democratic primary in March will likely win the November election, as the district has an overwhelming number of voters who prefer to vote for Democratic candidates.

Senior Assistant Register of Deeds Andra Brewington, Warren’s second-in-command, was the only candidate to file to replace Warren as register of deeds. She is a Democrat and is expected to take office. 

Fort Bragg became Fort Liberty

• The Department of Defense implemented the name change of Fort Bragg to Fort Liberty. (Blashfield Sign Co. of Fayetteville made new signs for 15 access points on post.)
• The name change took effect June 2, ending more than 100 years of taxpayer-funded honor of a Confederate general who made war against the United States. The change has critics.

• With the new name in place, the N.C. Department of Transportation has been replacing “Fort Bragg” directional signs on the streets and highways in the region with “Fort Liberty” signs. Some of this cost $163,000.

Crime and public safety, and police chief drama

Seven months after Fayetteville Police Chief Gina Hawkins retired, her lawyer sent a letter in August to the city threatening a lawsuit over allegations she experienced a hostile work environment during her five-year tenure.

The City Council voted 8-2 on Dec. 11 to settle the matter for $200,000.

The ShotSpotter gunshot detection program launched in September amid controversy. The program is intended to help police more quickly respond to gunfire, and to deter criminals from using guns. Its effectiveness will be assessed in the coming year.

Shootings and other crimes by youthful offenders led the Fayetteville police chief to suggest a youth curfew for people under age 18. The idea drew both support and opposition among residents. The City Council rejected the initial proposal, but a reworked version may be brought back to the board.

In October, the number of homicides in Fayetteville in 2023 reached 45, surpassing 2022’s total of 44. We’ll get the total for 2023 after the new year.

In other police and crime news:

• The Police Department reported a handcuffed man fatally shot himself as officers were arresting him.
• An officer shot and killed a man on Thanksgiving Day during a traffic stop.
• The city is making progress on plans to set up an Office of Community Safety. Community activists have sought this office to improve the city’s response to people experiencing mental health crises, improve violence prevention programs, assess and improve resources for homeless people, and provide independent police oversight.

The PFAS/GenX water contamination continues

It was made public in summer 2017 that the Chemours Co. and its predecessor, DuPont, for decades dumped and pumped a class of toxic and pervasive chemicals known as PFAS and GenX into the Cape Fear River from a chemical factory southeast of Fayetteville.

These “forever chemicals” (so named because they are slow to break down) contaminated drinking water supplies, including well water, from Gray’s Creek in Cumberland County to Wilmington on the coast.

Some developments in 2023 in the ongoing controversy:

• A study by N.C. State University found elevated PFAS levels in dogs and horses that live near the Chemours factory.
• Chemours got permission from the Environmental Protection Agency to import GenX to its plant here. The EPA changed its mind on the imports following local opposition.
• Cumberland County is continuing efforts to bring a public water system to homes in Gray’s Creek where wells were contaminated with GenX.
• The EPA proposed new drinking water standards for PFAS. The Fayetteville Public Works Commission estimated in April it would cost $73 million for the PWC to install a PFAS filtration system, and $12 million per year to operate it.

Quality of life: A new performing arts center, troubles with public housing, and wins and losses when helping homeless people

The Cumberland County Board of Commissioners advanced plans to build a new, $131.7 million performance venue, the Crown Event Center, by the Cumberland County Courthouse.

They followed up with the announcement of a $33 million parking deck for the venue and the courthouse.

Residents of low-income housing in Fayetteville in 2023 complained of maintenance problems and crime in their residential communities and criticized United Management II, the management company.

There were several developments with Fayetteville’s homelessness population:

• The city began enforcing its ordinance to clear camps of homeless people on public property. The program is supposed to ensure the residents get services and places to go, but there has been criticism.
• And it opened a Day Resource Center for homeless people to get basic needs met (like showers and a place to wash their laundry) and to get services to help them get on their financial feet and places to stay.
• But there are still more homeless people than can be sheltered during cold nights. In December, the Police Department’s homeless coordinator arranged for 14 people to go to Durham to get services at a privately operated shelter there. Four later came back to Fayetteville because the Durham shelter has requirements that they felt were too intrusive or inappropriate.
• Meanwhile, the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners wants to build a homeless shelter near downtown Fayetteville. But the plans need the approval of the City Council. Some people who live near the county’s proposed shelter site don’t want it near their homes. The City Council expects to consider the plan in January.

Paul Woolverton can be reached at 910-261-4710 and pwoolverton@cityviewnc.com.  Evey Weisblat can be reached at eweisblat@cityviewnc.com or 216-527-3608.

The CityView News Fund is a nonprofit organization that supports CityView’s newsgathering operation. Will you help us with a tax-deductible donation?