Wayne Week — May 5, 2024

SHOTS FIRED IN GOLDSBORO THIS YEAR. A Saturday morning murder outside an Ash Street business has left a community dealing with a gun violence crisis reeling. BY KEN FINE / p. 12

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EDITORIAL

EDITOR Ken Fine

EDITOR Renee Carey

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219 N. John Street

Goldsboro, N.C. 27530 919 - 648-9905

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Union Station fundraiser is live

If the community raises $750,000, the city and county governments have agreed to cover the other half of the $1.5 million it will take to stabilize Goldsboro Union Station as the potential return of passenger rail service through the Wayne County seat looms.

10 Pickle Festival raises questions

Some of Mount Olive's elected officials are questioning why the town is funding part of the N.C. Pickle Festival, despite the fact that the event just brought more than 60,000 to the town — people, officials say, who spent thousands of dollars at gas stations, hotels, and local restaurants.

12 Cover story

More than 1,100 bullets have been fired in Goldsboro since Jan. 1 and the recent Saturday morning murder of a 26-yearold outside of an Ash Street business has some local leaders calling for a new approach to dealing with the young people they say are terrorizing the community.

16 One beat, and life, at a time

Reginald Gooding grew up in project housing and attended some of Goldsboro's inner-city schools. Now, after navigating a childhood that was, at times, misspent, he is giving back to a group of teenagers he can relate to through his drumline, Funk Nation.

20 Spectator

The N.C. Pickle Festival drew tens of thousands of tourists to Mount Olive last weekend.

NEWS + VIEWS

A GoFundMe has been established with a goal of the $750,000 the community needs to raise to help save Goldsboro Union Station.

GoFundMe for Union Station stabilization is live

If the community raises $750,000, the city and county will match that number — and a Goldsboro landmark will get another act as potential passenger rail return looms.

BY KEN FINE

Al King looks up at the façade of a Wayne County landmark and the memories start playing.

He can see a much younger version of himself — the little boy walking along the tracks in Mount Olive who, every now and then, “hopped onto a train” bound for Goldsboro.

He can feel the “magic” of approaching what felt, then, like a “towering” Union Station.

He can hear the story about Babe Ruth spending the night at the hotel across the street.

He can smell the fuel burning in the locomotive’s boiler.

So, when he turned to the crowd that endured a scorching August day in 2007 to gather along Carolina Street, he allowed

himself to smile before delivering a line that has been scrutinized ever since.

“The trains are coming back to Goldsboro,” the county seat’s then-mayor said that morning. “It’s going to happen.”

Nearly 20 years later, the return of passenger rail through Union Station is still theoretical.

Far from the certainty King proclaimed that morning as he announced the sale of the landmark to the North Carolina Department of Transportation, it remains a hope. A dream.

But recent events have given those who dared to believe back in 2007 renewed hope that anything is indeed possible — from a revitalized downtown Goldsboro to

restoration of the landmark.

And the serendipitous timing of whiffs of progress feels, to those who have made it their mission to both save the station and live to see the return of passenger rail service through their city, like a sign.

Now, the community can help ensure both happen.

An unprecedented fundraiser is officially underway on gofundme.com — one that aims to bring in the $750,000 that would bind the city and county governments to already-approved matches so Union Station can be stabilized at a price tag of roughly $1.5 million.

And once the structure is “saved,” plans to restore it can take shape, providing additional justification for what the state

recently identified as its “preferred” route for passenger rail service from Raleigh to Wilmington.

The effort to save the station has been ongoing for more than a decade, but after the city received an appraisal report from Birch-Ogburn & Co. — one that outlined “detrimental conditions found within the property” and valued the structure at negative $800,000 — it became clear that immediate action was necessary.

So, a group of concerned citizens formed “Saving Union Station” and pledged to raise $750,000 for stabilization efforts should the city and county boards agree to split the difference.

At subsequent meetings, they told council members and commissioners that since the North Carolina Department of Transportation conveyed the station and its property back to Goldsboro in 2009, millions of dollars had been spent at the site — federal, state, and local funds that were used for everything from an initial stabilization of the structure and the installation of streetscape around it to construction of the Goldsboro Wayne Transportation Authority hub next door.

The message it would send to those funding agencies should the community allow the landmark to crumble, they said, would be detrimental to the county — particularly after news that Eastern North Carolina Rail had announced it had renewed its interest in developing a passenger rail line that would connect Raleigh and Wilmington and the Federal Rail Division

To donate to the Saving Union Station effort, scan the QR Code, contact current Downtown Goldsboro Development Corp. Executive Director Erin Fonseca at 919-735-4959, or show up to Union Station May 14 from 4 to 8 p.m.

had earmarked $36 billion in funding to study the state’s “preferred” rail routes.

Members of “Saving Union Station” say they “know” the community will come together to ensure the facility gets another act.

But some, including members of the Wayne County Board of Commissioners, have voiced skepticism.

“Personally, I don’t ever think we’ll have to write that check,” Commissioner Wayne Aycock said the day the board voted to match the $375,000 the Goldsboro City Council voted to appropriate toward shoring up the station should SUS hit or surpass its $750,000 goal.

That, though, was before a series of developments that have reshaped the discussion — and generated a buzz among those, like former Downtown Goldsboro Development Corp. Executive Director Julie Metz, who have said a bustling Union Station is not an “if,” but a “when.”

The following has unfolded since the city and county boards committed matching funds for the landmark stabilization effort:

• December 2023 Sen. Thom Tillis announced that he helped secure $3.5 million in grant funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation to identify “potential new rail routes or improvements across the state” — money that would be used to “develop a scope, schedule, and cost estimate for preparing, completing, or documenting its service development plan.”

• December 2023 $500,000 was awarded

to study the Wilmington-to-Raleigh Corridor that would pass either through the Wayne County seat or Fayetteville.

• April 2024 Saving Union Station announced a May 14 event at the landmark to educate the public on the needs at the site, to allow local residents to tour the station, and to give people a chance to connect, “both physically and emotionally,” with the historic structure.

• April 2024 Engineering firm WGI Inc. released a draft of the Southeastern North Carolina Passenger Rail Feasibility Study and recommended a Raleigh-to-Wilmington route that runs through Goldsboro instead of Fayetteville. According to the report, the Goldsboro route would save approximately $170 million in estimated costs and decrease travel time between Wilmington and Raleigh by approximately one hour.

Back in 2007, King could not have imagined the many plot twists that have unfolded since he declared passenger rail would one day return to Goldsboro.

But Metz believes that a perfect storm of once-in-a-lifetime federal dollars and community buy-in could prove the former mayor right after all.

And she looks forward to seeing just how big the crowd will be at the May 14 event — and looking up at the façade of a Wayne County landmark, closing her eyes, and allowing her imagine to run wild with the possibilities she believes will come to fruition because of a community that refused to allow a piece of its history to die.n

PROPOSED ROUTES CONNECTING TO GOLDSBORO

John D. Lewis Gaston Lewis

While some in Town Hall scrutinize N.C. Pickle Festival, organizers celebrate successful event

The event drew more than 60,000 people to Wayne County — and provided an economic boost to local businesses — festival officials say.

BY RENEE CAREY

The N.C. Pickle Festival is not just about pickles. It never has been.

The now-famous gathering each April is really about community — helping to build one and to make it stronger, festival cochairperson Julie Beck said.

In fact, cucumbers were not even the reason the festival started in the first place.

It was, Beck said, created to celebrate agriculture and the pivotal role it has played in Mount Olive.

“Our town was founded on agriculture,” she said. “We are a rural community, and we celebrate that.”

In the 1870s, it was strawberries and other crops.

But a bumper harvest of cucumbers in the 1920s was part of the impetus for another of Mount Olive’s proudest native sons, Mt. Olive Pickle Co.

So, what began as a small festival 38 years ago has grown into a major community

event — one that is run completely by volunteers — that not only brings business and fun to the community, but also attracts tens of thousands of visitors each year from all over the country.

This year, Beck said, was no exception.

The festival beat its previous record, which was set post-pandemic in 2020. That means more than 60,000 people came to town this past weekend.

And Beck, who is also the executive director of the Mount Olive Chamber of Commerce, said she has been humbled to watch that attendance grow every one of the 29 years she has been a part of the event.

“This year, it was amazing,” she said. “They

took over the whole town.”

And each of those visitors spent money — not only with the vendors at the festival, but around the community at locallyowned businesses as well.

Local churches and civic groups use the festival to raise funds for projects or to increase awareness of the work they are doing.

And those non-profits benefit afterwards as well, Beck said.

The festival makes sure that money goes back into Mount Olive and the surrounding area.

The proceeds each year, minus the seed money necessary to set up the next year’s event, are donated back into the community

— a win-win, Beck said.

“We feel it is important to give back, and that is why we do this, to support our community,” she said.

More than 100 volunteers are part of the festival weekend, with 81 sponsors donating funds ranging from $10 to $10,000 to make sure the stages are busy and the event goes off without a hitch.

And no one on the festival committee makes any money, least of all Beck and her fellow co-chairperson, Lynn Williams, a longtime community resident and Assistant Corporate Secretary and Public Relations Manager at the Mt. Olive Pickle Co.

Their partnership is a well-oiled machine honed from years of managing the event.

“Lynn says I do all the fun stuff and she does all the boring stuff,” Beck joked.

And putting on a festival, she said, especially one as popular as the N.C. Pickle

Continued on page 8

Festival, is a lot of work.

Beck said she knew that the festival had reached a new level when she had to make a very detailed and extensive security plan with local law enforcement and emergency personnel — just in case.

It was a sign, she said, that this was no little community event anymore.

But she added that she and Williams and the other volunteers who give up their time each year do not mind the work — or the countless hours spent away from their families to ensure each year’s event goes off without a hitch.

“People think that we get paid,” Beck said. “We don’t. We do this because we are passionate about the community and the festival, and we want to give back.”

The work is already beginning on next year’s event.

“We work all year long,” Beck said.

And that planning will include not only improvements from suggestions made by those who attend each year, but also ideas that Beck has gleaned from her own festival tours.

She goes to many of them — about 10 to 12 a year.

On tap for this weekend is the Kinston Barbecue Festival and the Strawberry Festival in Wallace.

Another favorite is the Lexington Barbecue Festival.

“(That festival) brings in 200,000 people a year,” Beck said.

It is all about learning how to make Mount Olive’s event better and finding new ideas that can be shared and replicated to help others succeed.

So, if Beck sees one of her ideas at another event, well, that’s a win.

“Somebody inspired me years ago,” she said. “I want to do that for others.”

Festivals are great for communities, Beck said.

They are key building blocks for bringing attention to small towns.

“People come here, and they say, ‘What a great town,’ and they want to come back,” she said.

The benefits are enormous, both in the attention Mount Olive receives, but also in creating a comradery among residents, she said.

“It is about developing a community and building a community,” Beck said.

And it is a successful method Beck said she wants to share.

Sharing ideas and ways to improve and to grow — and that is how you strengthen the whole region, she said.

“I look for ideas and I share ideas,” she said. “I want anyone who wants to benefit from what I have learned, and I want to learn from them, too.”

About 10 years ago, Beck said she helped

organize a festival consortium — a gathering of smaller events that could not participate in statewide planning groups.

“We get together a couple times a year and share information,” she said.

Beck has also worked with the statewide group for years, encouraging others and learning how to improve the pickle event.

“I love it,” she said.

The festival attracts not only those with Mount Olive connections, perhaps to the University of Mount Olive, but also those across the state who have heard about the fun and want to see it for themselves.

“We have people who come from everywhere,” she said. “We have families who come year after year.”

The N.C. Pickle Festival does not just benefit Mount Olive, either.

“It is a great way to showcase our town and Wayne County, and really eastern North Carolina,” Beck said.

And in the end, the festival is about the community and for the community — and would not be possible without the support of the town of Mount Olive.

“They let us close the streets and help us each year,” she said. “We could not do this without (them).”

Some in Town Hall, though, have recently questioned why Mount Olive supports the

festival — with Commissioner Delreese Simmons scrutinizing the town’s $5,000 contribution to the Chamber for the event during an April 16 budget planning session.

He also reportedly argued that downtown business owners complain about having to shut down their storefronts during the festival — and asked questions about funding for everything from putting down mulch and hanging banners to overtime pay for town employees who were involved in preparing the town for the event.

And Mayor Jerome Newton expressed a desire for the town government to reap revenue from the annual event.

But Beck, while not addressing their specific comments, told Wayne Week that the Pickle Festival brings in business, too.

“People are gassing up. People are shopping in our stores, eating in our restaurants,” she said. “It is a trickle-down effect.”

The town’s hotel was booked solid since January for Pickle Festival weekend, Beck said, which means some of those people who came for the weekend spent their dollars in communities outside of Mount Olive, too.

“If you stay somewhere for the weekend, you are going to find places to eat, and to shop,” Beck said, adding that an economic impact study was done this year to determine the impact the festival has on the economy. “We are looking forward to seeing the results.”n

{ our TAKE }

ENTITLED VIOLENCE

We had something else to write about this week. It was important, but in the scheme of things, it now seems inconsequential.

And that is because we are facing a crisis. We have talked about it before — often, really.

So often that we feel, again, like a broken record.

But it is important that we say it and you hear it, so we can start getting serious about doing something about it.

And we are not the only community talking about it.

Its impact and impetus extend far beyond Wayne County’s borders.

So, while we don’t normally talk about the world beyond our community, sometimes, it is impossible not to — especially when we are faced with the news we got this week.

Here at home, it is the same old story. Another young person chose a gun to solve a dispute — and now two lives have been destroyed.

And this one was particularly hard to hear because the alleged shooter is a name nobody who knew him thought they would ever hear in connection with such a crime.

He was one they knew would make it.

It was just one of hundreds of stories like it that have unfolded here over the years. They break hearts every single time.

And this one broke a lot of hearts, just as every senseless loss of life — or a teenager whose choices end his or her future — does.

We don’t talk about it much, but both of our editors have connections to education — deep-seated and generational roots.

So, that means we have been around young people across generations for decades.

And we still talk to educators, school personnel, and those who work with young people regularly.

Over and over again, we hear the same thing.

We are losing them.

And it is bad — really bad — in classrooms and school yards across the country.

No respect.

No understanding of what kind of behavior is appropriate.

And all kinds of excuses for why they don’t have to follow the rules.

Add to that absent parents, bad parents, and environments that foster lawlessness and hopelessness — along with schools that have no idea how to stem to tide — and you have a recipe for catastrophe.

And ladies and gentlemen, we are there. It is why so many experienced educators

are retiring and refuse to come back even at a time when we really need them.

They know all too well the crisis we face. They have lived it.

And then there is the news that has been shocking us all this week — the riots cloaked as peaceful protests across the country — and the leaders of colleges and universities who won’t act or hesitate to act because they are afraid of a potential PR nightmare.

And one of those happened at UNC-Chapel Hill this week.

A group of protestors took down an American flag to hoist a Palestinian one.

To his credit, the chancellor took it down, flanked by security personnel, and rehoisted Old Glory.

That’s when the protestors decided to take it down again.

But a group of fraternity brothers decided they were not going to stand by and let that happen, so they gathered around the pole to protect it — to make sure the flag did not touch the ground.

And they were attacked, pelted with water bottles and rocks.

They did what so many did not. They said, “no.”

And so, too, did UNC’s chancellor. And in places where other university leaders and state officials said, “no, you will not behave like thugs on our campus, and if you do, you will face real consequences up to and including expulsion,” peaceful expressions of free speech did not become lawless free-for-alls.

UNC’s is only one story of many — supposedly peaceful protests that made Jewish students afraid, blocked others from entering campus during finals week, and forced the cancellation of graduation ceremonies.

You might think there is no connection to what has been unfolding here in Goldsboro, but there is.

We have failed this generation.

We have not introduced them to consequences.

And, more importantly, we have been too worried about their psyche to tell them the truth — that no one is above the law.

We have not set boundaries or explained that you don’t get to ignore the rules.

We have minimized repercussions because “they are just learning.”

We have allowed them the run of the place, while we argue about things like festivals, parking, and street markets.

And we are raising a generation with not just a misplaced, ill-informed, mob rule mentality, but a lack of understanding about the responsibilities that go along with a call for change.

You really understood the sharp contrast when you heard the calls from those who barricaded themselves in a Columbia University building — a structure they entered by breaking windows and where they detained two janitors who had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time — for food and water.

Get the irony? We take over a building, but you have to feed us.

It’s what happens when too many people are too concerned about your feelings, and temper tantrums and bad behavior are excused away.

And that is not all.

We have allowed teens to play war games on video consoles with graphic depictions of exploding body parts and death, to chant violence-filled and vile, misogynistic lyrics that demean women and excused it all away with the caveat that “our parents did not like what we played, watched, or listened to either.”

We have turned our heads as fights broke out in schools — and videos circulated on social media taken by student witnesses cheering on the violence.

We have excused bad behavior and made police and others who tried to control it scapegoats — forcing too many people to hesitate before taking action that should be taken to stem the tide. And, in the process, the good people who did their job with honor and respect have left the field, frustrated and feeling like nothing they do matters.

We have allowed race hustlers to commandeer our justice system and politicians to co-opt our vision for what kind of world we want to raise our children in.

We have allowed incessant blathering about how to control violence and grandstanding for the cameras to replace actual work to get those illegal guns off our streets and our kids headed for real, productive lives.

And we have taught our children that the answer to any problem — to being “disrespected” and having a disagreement — is anger and violence.

Those of us who knew better, who were raised better, chalked it up to differences between generations and a new world.

And we did not say the things or demand the responses we knew were necessary. We talked only to those who agreed with us, or we whispered silently amongst ourselves.

We have not paid attention to their addiction to the disinformation that spews all over social media, and we have excused away the standards that used to apply to everything from what our kids watched to the adult information they had access to. Progress, we said. The world is changing, we explained. By doing so, we have abdicated our most important job.

We did not step up and speak up.

And that is, in part, because we do not know how to talk to each other anymore.

But more and more, there are people who are not sitting back.

Many of you, in fact, have said you are not just going to sit back and let one more life go down the drain.

You want more and you are not afraid to be the leaders these young people need.

It is not about black or white, Hispanic or some other ethnic group.

It is not about neighborhoods, fiefdoms, or getting elected.

It is about speaking up, being brave, and standing strong together.

It is time to go back to values.

It is time to reteach the principles that principals have taught children for decades at our local high schools.

We have shared with you many, many times about the local principals who were never seen in their high schools without a coat and tie, and who taught their students that a person with integrity treats others and themselves with respect.

They were also men who demanded standards and accountability.

Yes, we are talking about Dr. H.V. Brown and Dr. Earl Moore.

Perhaps, you are one of the men or women who grew up and made something of yourself

because of the example they provided.

Well, now it is your turn to give back.

It is time for more consequences, higher expectations, and courageous leadership from top to bottom.

It is time for more people who know, who lived it, to speak up about what is really going on in our community and with our kids.

We are talking to you, retired teachers and administrators.

We are calling on you, law enforcement personnel and those who have dedicated your lives to helping Wayne County’s children. Courage. Now. That is what we need.

And we are going to be part of that effort.

We can’t let those with the biggest mouths and the most conspicuous agendas set the conversation. Not anymore.

We cannot save the whole country or turn back the societal rot that is destroying it. That’s not in our power.

But we can start with our little part of the world.

No more. No more. Not one more life wasted or lost because saying the right stuff — the real stuff — is too hard.

No more letting hucksters and selfindulgent cowards set the agenda.

It is time to be the adults our parents and grandparents hoped we would be. It is time to put our foot down.n

1,176 SHOTS FIRED IN GOLDSBORO THIS

YEAR.

A Saturday morning murder outside an Ash Street business has left a community dealing with a gun violence crisis reeling.

BY KEN FINE

It was a seemingly ordinary Saturday morning along Mulberry Street and, thanks to the layer of clouds blocking out the sun, the temperatures were mild — prompting several homeowners to take advantage of the conditions.

A few sent their teenage children outside to mow the lawn.

One woman added plants to her garden after clearing out the weeds that had “just popped up” since the previous weekend.

A man, with a leaf blower in hand, cleaned up the sidewalk after spending the better part of an hour edging.

But then, at just after 9 a.m., shots rang out — and they “felt close.”

“I couldn’t believe it. You know, we have gotten used to the sound of gunshots at night in this neighborhood and it makes you ill to say it out loud, but it’s become, I don’t know how else to say it, normal. This used to be one of the nicer parts of town,” said the woman, who asked to remain anonymous out of fear the shooter might think she was a witness and target her home. “But now, you never know when they’re gonna start shooting at each other. It’s absolutely terrifying to think that when they were younger, my grandchildren would have been playing right out here when it started. I thank God every day that now they are too old to garden with Grandma.”

What the neighbors would not know until news reports began surfacing later that day was that a “gun battle” had claimed the life of a 26-year-old a stone’s throw away — that a 20-year-old was charged with murder for allegedly taking his life outside a beauty supply store on Ash Street.

“Every night, I pray for an answer — for God to heal these young people and show them His goodness so they walk a higher path,” the woman said. “But then, the next day, it just happens all over again.”

Statistics obtained by Wayne Week seemingly validate what she characterized as the “new normal” in the city that raised her.

According to the Goldsboro Police Department, ShotSpotter has confirmed 211 shooting incidents — and 1,176 rounds fired — inside the city limits since Jan. 1.

And those numbers do not include gunplay that has unfolded outside the presence of the sensors.

The highest-profile incident was a lunch hour shooting inside Berkeley Mall Jan. 4 that led to the arrest of two teenagers and a 21-year-old — and ultimately convinced the Goldsboro City Council to expedite salary increases for the GPD so Chief Mike West could replenish his depleted ranks.

But within a week, four more teenagers would be charged with shooting-related crimes — one of them for attempted firstdegree murder after he allegedly shot a 22-year-old on Day Circle.

And every month since, multiple young people, including “juveniles” who are too young to have their

names released by lawmen, have been shot — often by people in the same age bracket.

It was a seemingly ordinary Saturday morning on Walnut Street and City Councilwoman Jamie Taylor was in bed.

It was just past 9 a.m., but the life of a bail bondswoman and elected official requires that you sleep in when you can, and she was catching up.

But then, shots rang out.

“It woke me up,” Taylor said. “I woke up to gunshots. Crazy.”

Crazy because she has seen, over the years, how youths with guns have become more and more brazen in the city she was elected to serve.

“There is no time or place right now that feels safe,” Taylor said. “How do I feel about it? I feel disturbed. It’s really indescribable — especially when there’s murder.”

And to make matters worse, she knew the victim of the shooting that jolted her

Continued on page 14

How do I feel about it? I feel disturbed. It's really indescribable — especially when there's murder.

- City Councilwoman Jamie Taylor

Jamie Taylor holds a photo of her father, who was murdered when she was a little girl.

A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE

The following shooting incidents have been reported by the Goldsboro Police Department since Jan. 1:

JAN. 3 — At approximately 3:39 p.m., the GPD responded to 518 Elm St. after receiving a report of shots fired. Three victims — an 18-year-old, a 25-year-old and a 32-year-old — had been shot and sustained “non-life-threatening” injuries.

JAN. 4 — At approximately 11:52 a.m., the GPD responded to Berkeley Mall after receiving a report of shots fired. Three young men — a 21-year-old, a 19-year-old, and an 18-year-old — allegedly opened fire inside the mall and were charged with attempted murder, going armed to the terror of the public, and carrying a concealed gun.

JAN. 9 — At approximately 9:23 p.m., the GPD responded to 1702 Day Circle after receiving a report of shots fired. When officers arrived, they found a 22-year-old suffering from a gunshot wound. An 18-year-old would ultimately be charged with attempted murder for allegedly firing the shot.

JAN. 10 — At approximately 3:50 p.m., the GPD responded to the 1700 block of Day Circle after receiving a report of shots fired. Four teenagers — three 18-year-olds and a 19-year-old — would be charged with discharging weapons into an occupied property.

JAN. 13 — At approximately 3:30 p.m., the GPD responded to the 900 block of Madison Avenue after receiving a report of shots fired. When they arrived, they found a 17-year-old suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. The victim would be pronounced dead.

FEB. 12 — At approximately 2:30 a.m., the GPD responded to the 400 block of Seymour Drive. When they arrived, they found a 13-year-old suffering from a gunshot wound.

FEB. 15 — At approximately 12:09 a.m., the GPD responded to the 600 block of Oak Street after receiving a report of shots fired. When they arrived, they found a 22-year-old suffering from a gunshot wound.

FEB. 15 — At approximately 9:30 p.m., the GPD responded to the 400 block of Hollowell Avenue after receiving a report of shots fired. When they arrived, they found a 23-year-old female suffering from a gunshot wound. A 21-year-old would later be charged with attempted first-degree murder for allegedly firing the shot.

FEB. 29 — At approximately 10:41 p.m., the GPD responded to the 1000 block of William Street after receiving a report of shots fired. Moments later, officers received a call from the UNC Health Wayne Emergency Department notifying them that a 31-year-old had arrived at the hospital for treatment of a gunshot wound.

MARCH 7 — At approximately 8:34 a.m., the GPD responded to the intersection of Olivia Lane and Audubon Avenue after receiving a report of shots fired. When they arrived, they found two people suffering from gunshot wounds.

MARCH 18 — At approximately 12:27 p.m., the GPD responded to the 1100 block of Olivia Lane after receiving a report of shots fired. When they arrived, they determined that several shots had been fired from a vehicle, hitting a 17-year-old. Two people — an 18-year-old and a 22-year-old — would ultimately be charged with first-degree murder for allegedly firing the shots.

MARCH 23 — At approximately 6:04 p.m., the GPD responded to incidents on Bright Street, Walnut Street, and

Lionel Street after receiving a report of 42 rounds being fired.

MARCH 24 — At approximately 8:20 p.m., the GPD responded to 907 E. Walnut St. after receiving a report of shots fired into an occupied residence.

MARCH 25 — At approximately 12:51 a.m., the GPD responded to 806 E. Walnut Street after receiving a report of shots fired. Note: Lawmen believe the March 23, 24, and 25 incidents are connected and arrested an 18-year-old and 19-year-old on numerous gun-related felony charges.

MARCH 25 — At approximately 12:37 a.m., the GPD responded to UNC Health Wayne after receiving a report of a gunshot victim being treated there. The victim, a 48-year-old, told officers he had been shot while driving near the intersection of Wayne Memorial Drive and Country Day Road.

APRIL 5 — At approximately 8:51 p.m., the GPD responded to 909 Landmark Drive after receiving a report of shots fired. When they arrived, they found a 24-year-old suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.

APRIL 20 — At approximately 4:32 p.m., the GPD responded to the 400 block of Fussell Street to conduct a welfare check. When they arrived, they found two people who had been shot to death, a 44-year-old and a 53-year-old.

APRIL 27 — At approximately 9:10 a.m., the GPD responded to 718 E. Ash St. after receiving a report of shots fired. When they arrived, they found a 26-year-old who had been shot to death. A 20-year-old would later be arrested and charged with first-degree murder for allegedly firing the shots.n

out of bed.

“What a loss. You know, now (one teenager) is in jail for murder and you’ve got another young man who’s dead,” Taylor said. “And both of them leave behind all the people — mothers, family members. What do we do?”

Some argue that city officials should empower the GPD to target the neighborhoods where the majority of shotsfired incidents are reported — that traffic stops, community policing, and increased surveillance are the solution.

But while Taylor agrees that a “toughon-crime initiative” makes sense and there is “power” in increasing the number of lawmen in shooting hotspots, she also feels that it’s “not that simple.”

“Where is the answer?” she said. “Well, the answer is a multitude of things.”

Step One?

“We need to find out where these guns are coming from. Everywhere you turn, it’s guns, guns, guns,” she said. “And that’s the main question I always get. It’s, ‘How are all these illegal guns getting into Goldsboro?’”

And if that means the GPD asking for “help” from other agencies until staffing levels are restored, that is what needs to happen.

“Do we call in the Feds to help us? All I know is that one life lost is too many,” she said. “What it’s going to take — somebody who is influential in this community getting killed in a drive-by shooting or by a stray bullet? Is that what it’s going to take for us to ask for the help we need?”

Then, it’s up to mentors, community organizations, teachers, and others who advocate for young people to attempt to influence their behavior.

“When I was little, we didn’t shoot when we got mad. We just fought,” Taylor said. “So yeah, you might have gotten your tail whipped, but you lived to see another day. Somebody has got to reach these kids so they know there is another way than pulling a trigger.”

And if that doesn’t work, the city should embolden law enforcement to get “aggressive” — the way she believes they would be pressured to operate were the violence escalating in more prominent neighborhoods.

“Why is it OK for these kids to be killing each other in the inner city, but if it were in Walnut Creek or on Park Avenue, we would never tolerate it?” Taylor said. “That is not OK. None of this is OK. We have to start taking a stand. One more death is too many. It’s unacceptable. We’re losing too many of these kids and we have to remember that these are our streets, and we have the right and the ability to take them back.”n

THE FACES BEHIND THE HEADLINES BY

KEN FINE

I’m sitting on my back porch — watching our dogs chase each other around the lawn — and I hear a barrage of gunshots.

The sound of sirens blaring from accelerating police cruisers is not far behind.

Then, an ambulance screeches by.

I wish I could say that scenario is a oneoff, but the truth is, it has played out dozens and dozens of times since we moved to East Mulberry Street.

And every time it happens, I get a knot in my stomach.

Occasionally, a wave of nausea accompanies it.

Later that evening, a press release from the Goldsboro Police Department typically hits my inbox.

I close my eyes and whisper a prayer before I open it.

Every single time.

To understand why, it’s important to note that many years ago, while Renee Carey and I were getting our media company off the ground, I signed on to create a journalism program at Goldsboro High School.

I formed relationships with young people that changed my life — and, I hope, at least some of theirs.

I taught them how to frame a photograph and conduct an interview.

I encouraged them to be critical of news outlets and to avoid the tendency to believe something simply because there was a headline attached to it.

And, perhaps, most importantly, I told them to take ownership of their lives and their personal stories — to wear their backgrounds and the tough neighborhoods they were raised in as badges of honor.

But I was still a working journalist.

And that meant that when a member of the school community was arrested — or, in some cases, killed — I was typically among the first to know.

I can’t tell you how many young GHS-connected lives were lost, during that time, to prison or the grave because after a while, I stopped counting.

But I can still list their names and see their faces.

And I can still hear the pain in the voices of those aspiring journalists when they talked about losing their friends.

So, it isn’t unusual to open a press release and find the name of a kid — and despite what they are accused of doing or, in some cases, how their lives ended, they

are children — who I had a connection to. There are people reading this right now who know exactly how that feels.

I can’t tell you how many times an email or a message sent via social media finds its way to Wayne Week from a current or former educator from GHS, Eastern Wayne, and Southern Wayne who wants to emote about the loss of a student they, once upon a time, saw promise in.

Many would tell you that if they were raised in a different neighborhood — or circumstance — that they could have lived a meaningful life.

"And frankly, there are many of us who are simply exhausted by this constant feeling of loss."

And they, like I, are angry at what has become of our community over the last several years.

We want to lash out at parents who act like anything but.

We want to call out the school administrators who turn a blind eye to bad behavior over and over again until what started as hitting a vape pen in a hallway with no consequences escalates into a shooting over money owed for drugs. (Yes, that actually happened.)

But more than anything, we want to show you, our neighbors, just how quickly a good kid can go bad.

And unfortunately, I can do just that right here, right now.

You see, I was on my back porch Saturday morning — watching our dogs chase each other around the lawn — and I heard a barrage of gunshots.

The sound of sirens blaring from accelerating police cruisers was not far behind.

But the ambulance would not be necessary, as it turns out a 26-year-old was killed

— in broad daylight outside an Ash Street business.

I got the knot in my stomach.

The wave of nausea accompanied it.

And when I got the press release from the GPD later that evening, I closed my eyes and whispered a prayer before I opened it. April 27, my prayers were not answered.

The alleged shooter was a young man I knew many years ago.

He was, back then, a charming, well-spoken, intellectual, goofy teenager.

He was a dedicated football player who had more friends than anyone could ever need.

And he was a track champion.

He said, “Yes sir” and “Yes ma’am” and opened doors for young ladies.

There was zero chance the streets would claim him.

But don’t just take my word for it.

Since he was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, I have heard from dozens of former students, current and former GHS teachers, coaches, and community leaders.

Nobody — and I mean nobody — can believe this young man would ever possess a gun, much less pull a trigger and take a life.

So, for me, I see it as a warning sign, whether this particular young man is ultimately convicted or not.

If we can lose Hakeem, we can lose any of our youth.

And frankly, there are many of us who are simply exhausted by this constant feeling of loss.

We need more mentors, a police force that is staffed and equipped to take the fight to those corrupting our kids, and adults who understand that holding young ones accountable is the only way to begin to make this right.

I am in.

So is Renee and every member of the Wayne Week team.

So, too, are leaders like City Councilwoman Jamie Taylor and advocates like Funk Nation Drumline Director Reginald Gooding.

We know that if we don’t fix this, our neighborhoods — and our children and grandchildren — are going to be caught in the crossfire. It's only a matter of time.

And we know, from personal experience, that when you can see the face behind the name on tonight’s news report, it will be too late. n

COMMUNITY + ARTS

ONE BEAT, AND LIFE, AT A TIME

Funk Nation Drumline provides a "father figure" and a purpose to a group of at-risk teens who are well aware that because of the neighborhoods they are growing up in, they are all one mistake away from catastrophe.

BY KEN FINE

Reginald Gooding closes his eyes and tilts his head skyward.

His hips begin to sway, and he slowly rolls his shoulders.

The 33-year-old is clearly in a groove.

But when, moments later, he opens his eyes and examines, one by one, every member of the Funk Nation Drumline, something happens.

Each drummer looks him in the eye.

They accept his notes and beam when he offers praise.

The drumline provides a soundtrack for the sunset dazzling downtown Goldsboro with bursts of pink, blue, and orange. But when one of its member’s eyes meet Gooding’s, it’s as if his gaze is the only thing they can see.

And those pressing their faces against the windows of downtown businesses and stopping along Center Street to shoot video of the performance have no idea that they are witnessing far more than a rehearsal for a battle of the bands, parade, or one of the other events Funk Nation participates in across the state.

They are seeing a father figure who loves his “crew” too much to expect less than the very best they can be — and a group of at-risk teenagers who are trying their best to live up to that confidence.

It is a partnership that both say has changed their lives — mentor and students.

Growing up in the Lincoln Homes housing project, Gooding was in “the same shoes” as the members of his drumline.

He was hanging around “the wrong crowd.”

He saw how “everybody chose drugs over their talents.”

He got “kicked out” of Goldsboro High School his freshman year for fighting.

He watched many of his friends join gangs and cling to guns.

“But those experiences, and me being around that and seeing all my friends going down the drain — and to this day, they are still down there — it made me want to be something better,” he said.

So, he poured himself into music and performing.

“Me growing up, I grew up in their same shoes. The only difference is, I didn’t have any guidance,” Gooding said. “I didn’t have someone to push me into what I’m doing now. Everything I learned (about performing) was from TV — watching the greats.”

And when he was 25 years old and found

Reginald Gooding watches as members of the Funk Nation Drumline practice along Center Street Wednesday evening. PHOTOS BY KEN FINE

himself homeless, a prominent member of the community showed him the importance of being there for those less fortunate.

“I didn’t have nowhere to go,” Gooding said.

But he had a key to the Artistic Dance Academy studio on Ash Street — a result, he said, of a friendship he had with a break-dancer who trained there with Patricia Warren.

And one night, when she showed up to the facility late in the evening to find him there, Warren didn’t turn him away.

In fact, she welcomed him with open arms.

“We talked and I told her what went down. Right then and there, she helped me out,” Gooding said. “She said, ‘You can stay as long as you need to. I don’t want you out there in the cold in your car.’”

The two have been “like family” ever since.

And Warren has modeled, for Gooding, how to make an impact both among the youth he works with and the community he hopes he is serving well.

“Over the years, she has really been there,” he said. “I call her a second mom. She’s, ‘Mama P.’”

A second mom.

It’s fitting, because for the teenagers practicing their performance in the May heat Wednesday evening, Gooding is a “father figure.”

Kemir Whitehurst said without his mentor and the drumline, he would likely be in jail.

“I’ve been locked up before,” the 17-yearold said. “But when I joined Funk Nation, everything changed.”

And for 13-year-old Savion Stokes, performing with a group of like-minded teenagers has turned a Dillard Middle School student who was “getting suspended like every other week” into someone who takes pride in showing respect, excelling academically, and fostering his talents.

He knows that some of his peers have slipped into the “street life” — joining gangs and carrying guns.

“That’s not me,” Savion said. “That’s not who I’m gonna be. Not anymore.”

A ninth-grader who “grew up on the drumline” — a young person Gooding “never thought” would leave his crew — dropped out of Funk Nation and turned to to the streets.

“And he’s heavy in the streets,” Gooding said. “Carrying a gun. All that. He’s a lost cause.”

Cases like that keep the mentor up at night wondering when he is going to read about a tragedy involving someone he once held securely under his wing.

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Continued from page 17

“That call, I feel like it’s going to happen,” Gooding said. “It hurts.”

But it also serves as motivation — to ensure those who still show up day after day know that what is happening along Center Street when the sticks meet the drum is not really about the music.

“Honestly, I tell them that I’m more teaching them life structure,” Gooding said.

And his mantras are many.

“You come to practice on time just like you go to work on time,” is one.

“You do your job on the drums like you’re doing a fantastic job at your job or in school,” is another.

“It’s how you carry yourself. All that plays a part on the drumline,” Gooding said. “So, it’s not about the drums. That’s just the icing on the cake. I’m really focusing on their life.”

And if more people in the city he has lived in all his life would do the same, perhaps it could begin to put a dent in the escalation of gun violence and gang membership he has witnessed over the last few decades.

“I’ve heard a lot of people complaining about the youth, but nobody is doing anything,” Gooding said.

“You got people that look at these kids and they’re like, ‘You should know. You should know how to do right. It’s common sense.’ But you’ve got to think, you were once there, too, and you weren’t always thinking about that. And you had people to guide you. They don’t have that.”

Well, they didn’t.

Not until an unlikely father figure made his mark on their lives.

“I don’t really have a lot of male role models in my life. I never have,” 17-year-old Charles James said. “So having (him) in my life, it means more than he knows. It’s a big part of the reason I come here.”

Gooding takes that role seriously.

So, when a member of his crew needs gas to get to practice, he fills up their tank.

When one needs to air out a personal crisis, he lends an ear.

And when a teenager needs protection from the streets, he does everything in his power to ensure they have it.

Like the time a “quiet kid” told him a gang member who is currently in jail “put a bounty over his head over a girl.”

“You’ve got these guys that are out here that don’t care for life and threaten other people who actually do care,” Gooding said. “So, I went into a mode of being defensive. I’m willing to do anything to make sure he’s straight.”

And he always will — even when it begins to take an emotional toll.

Why? Because that is what family does.

“That’s the part that’s hard. I’m keeping them from the streets, but the streets are finding their way in to attack,” Gooding said. “But they’re gonna make it. If I have anything to say about it, they are gonna make it out of here and have meaningful lives.”n

the SPECTATOR

Dills and thrills

More than 60,000 people converged on downtown Mount Olive last weekend for what officials say is the biggest N.C. Pickle Festival in history.

Photos by Ken Fine

Kids Zone • Food Trucks

Live Entertainment Street Fair Vendors

Car & Bike Show • Static Displays

Beer Garden • And More!

Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024

AN SCAPE DESIGN OF GOLDSBORO, INC.