I was sitting in a booth at Bojangles in Hope Mills on 10/11/06 around 9am eating a
biscuit when a young lady stops at my table. "Glad to see that you are reading my
paper.  My name is Tina Ray and I write forThe Sandspur.  Are you a resident of Hope
Mills?" 
                                                                                          
"Yes I am and have been for over thirty years," I answered.

"Every week our paper interviews a citizen for a column called five questions.  Do you
mind if I interview you?" questioned Tina.  Our Five Questions interview turned into
Neighbors In the Limelight.  The ink went from a 5x8 note card into a 3/8 page
column.  I could not answer in only five questions.  That characteristic is the just the
way we McDonalds are.   

"Of course not," I replied.  "I feel that it would be my duty and responsibility to do so. 
It is the least I can do as a good citizen," I proudly answered.  "Go get yourself a biscuit
and a cup of coffee, girl, have a seat and let's sit down and talk."

When I first moved to Hope Mills in 1975, the town was even smaller than
Rockingham in the ' 50s & ' 60s.  Yet, it was very similar in background to my
hometown.  Hope Mills was a small textile town in the South in the ' 50s & ' 60s.  Just
like Rockingham, we have a very active and successful youth recreation program. 
During the summer, if your child, boy or girl, and gender does not matter, does not
sign up in Hope Mills for youth baseball or softball, then after 6pm, he or she will be
playing on the streets in your neighborhood alone.  Everyone else will be at the
ballpark.  Our leagues are hooked up with the Dixie Youth Organization.  On opening
day of our summer program, an 82nd paratrooper drops onto the mound and walks
the game ball to the President of The Hope Mills Youth Association for the first pitch
ceremony of every season.  Approximately 60 teams with 850 plus kids from the ages
of 4 to 12, all in uniform, watch and cheer the descent.  Just typing and visualizing this
event sends chills all over my body as I reflect.  The game of baseball (softball) truly is
America's favorite pastime.  "Play Ball!" and pass me a hot dog!  By the way, Hope
Mills is the reigning Dixie Youth Majors (11-12 years-old) World Series Champion.

Just like Rockingham, Hope Mills loves high school football!  Hope Mills has grown
so quickly that we now have three high schools within a five mile radius of my home.
Gray's Creek Bears (3A), Jack Britt Buccaneers (4A), and South View Tigers (4A) all
have very good football teams year in and year out.  I live in the South View School
District.  Past South View football teams have advanced to the third round of the state
playoffs six years in a row.  Our band is even better.  The Marching Tigers Boosters are
parents of band members and, in some cases, parents who have hung around long
after their kids have graduated.  Once a Marching Tiger Booster, Always a Marching
Tiger Booster!  Sally, my wife, is chairman of the band booster membership
committee.  Feel free to drop a check to her if you want to become a long distant
booster.  Remember, kids are not a requirement.  Our band is so large that our
equipment is transported to games and to band competitions every week in a
tractor-trailer 18-wheeler.  Every time Mr. Bolder, South View Band Director, and The
Marching Tigers strut onto the football field or march in the Christmas Parade, I
cannot help but have flashbacks of Mr. Ed Jones and The Marching Rockets. 
Coincidently, just like the Rockets, the Tigers wear black and orange.

Hope Mills is one of the fastest growing areas of Cumberland County. The population
of Hope Mills in 2005 was 12529 and has grown at the population rate of 10.32%. 
Eckerd's, Walgreen, CVS, Roses, Treasure Mart, Radio Shack, Taco Bell, Burger King,
Smithfield's, Pizza Hut, Wal-Mart, and Bojangles are but a few of the national chains
that have arrived in Hope Mills since I moved to Hope Mills.  Yet, as fast and as large
as Hope Mills is growing, it still has that warm, small town feeling.  I know the police
chief by name, the pharmacist by name, and town council members by name.  I still
buy from the local hardware store and not Wal-Mart.  I even stop in at The Village
Style Shop sometimes to gather the consensus opinion of the common citizen of
Hope Mills on a public issue or concern.  If I need a haircut, I will get one.  If I do not
need one, I will leave without a haircut.  Yet regardless of my reasoning for entering
the shop, I always leave with an opinion.  Hope Mills is just like the small-town
Rockingham I remember.  Mr. Brown and Lewis Smith (RHS ' 64) at the Rockingham
Barber Shop, next to the City Fire station, always had plenty of opinions and never
charged you for even one.  Just like Floyd of Mayberry Barbershop, small town
barbers and their patrons have the solutions to all of the world's problems found in
Hope Mills, Rockingham, Mayberry or the uttermost parts of the world.

Ms. Ray and I bonded as we talked about the values of growing up in a small textile
town in the South.  She grew up in St. Pauls,North Carolina in Robeson County. 
Friday nights in St. Pauls are no different than Friday nights in Hope Mills and
Rockingham.  Friday nights are made for high-school football with half-time band
performances.  Sundays in St. Pauls are no different than Sundays in Hope Mills and
Rockingham.  Sundays are made for going to church, praying for your brother's
needs, and worshipping God.  Mondays are no different in St. Pauls than in Hope
Mills or Rockingham.  Mondays are made for crawling out of the bed and beating that
8 o'clock bell and facing that bad -breathe boss man and trying to survive until the
Friday 5 o'clock whistle blows.  Such patterns were, and still are, the lifestyle of living
in a small textile town in the South.  Ms. Ray subtitled the article Still Remembers His
Roots.  Just call me a redneck Kunta Kinte.  You can take the boy out of Rockingham
but you can't take Rockingham out of the boy.  Read and enjoy the following copy of
the "on-the street interview" and you will see how deep my roots run.  Ms. Ray hit the
nail on the head with her summary on me.  Rockingham is a childhood away.  That
childhood was full of precious memories of growing up in Rockingham, North
Carolina - a small textile town in the South in the ' 50s & ' 60s.