VOLUME 8 ISSUE 19 | THURSDAY, JULY 6, 2023
CHATHAMNEWSRECORD.COM
C HATHAM NEWS & R ECORD THE CHATHAM COUNTY EDITION OF THE NORTH STATE JOURNAL
Meet Tylr Stinson, Siler City Parks & Recreation Department’s new director By Valeria Cloës Chatham News & Record
Tylr Stinson
COURTESY PHOTO
SILER CITY — The Siler City Department of Parks & Recreation has a new director. Former recreation coordinator Tylr Stinson, who planned the Spring Chicken Festival and Easter Eggstravaganza, transitioned into the new role on July 3. Stinson said it will be a challenge but is excited to get started. “[I’m] eager to work hard for the community because the community needs it, especially with
the growth,” he said. “They need more from Siler City and I’m willing to give them more and work very hard for the community.” Since becoming recreation coordinator in January 2023, the role has helped him prepare for his position as director. Being able to lead the organization of the Spring Chicken Festival in particular has helped him better understand and get to know the community and its needs. While that role required him to look at specific events, programs, certifications and licenses the
community needed, he said his role as director will require him to take a few steps back and look at the bigger picture of the department. His job will have him taking care of athletics, community engagement, town and board meetings, as well as programs, rentals and other events, he said. Stinson shared some goals he’d like to accomplish as director, one of which is to get the Parks and Recreation Dept. Commission for Accreditation of Parks and Recreation Agencies (CAPRA) through
National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA). According to the NRPA website, CAPRA “delivers quality assurance and improvement to accredited park and recreation organizations throughout the United States by helping them build a comprehensive management system of operational best practices.” In addition to setting long terms goals, setting smaller benchmarks to meet them would be ideal, he said. He’d also like to See PARKS AND REC, page A2
Matthews launches mayoral campaign Matthews will face Price in a rematch for the seat By Taylor Heeden Chatham News & Record SILER CITY — Supporters gathered at the Chatham Rabbit on June 24 to celebrate Rev. Donald Matthews and his run for the mayor’s seat in Siler City. Matthews, who ran for the seat last municipal election, held a lunch party for his campaign last Saturday. He will face incumbent Chip Price, who was elected in 2022 in a special election. “We’re really at a time when leadership matters,” Matthews told the News & Record in an interview after his campaign event. “We need to be able to make all of this work together for the greater good of the community. Matthews has spent most of his life in Siler City. He serves as a pastor at First Missionary Baptist Church and has spent a lot of time dedicated to recognizing Black history in Siler City. He served as the chairperson of the Citizens in Action organization, which was responsible for the installment of a mural on Birch Avenue recognizing Black entrepreneurs throughout Siler City’s history. He said he wants to continue his public service through elected office, where he said he can advocate for residents who’ve historically had their voices stifled and oppressed. “The past leadership neglected a lot of the community, especially some of the minority communities,” he said. “They did not invest and what they did invest was subpar. We just have some issues that we that we need to prioritize and just start addressing them one by See MATTHEWS, page A2 The Rev. Donald Matthews, an associate minister of First Missionary Baptist Church, participates in a food drive with Baptists on Mission.
CHATHAM NEWS & RECORD FILE PHOTO
MATT RAMEY | CHATHAM NEWS & RECORD
Adam Sides Jr.
The long road home in Chatham Chatham County’s homeless population faces obstacles, bureaucracy in search of stable shelter
By Ben Rappaport For Chatham News & Record ADAM SIDES JR. HAS A LONG FUSE. As a kid, Adam always told people he wanted to be in the military. He said he wanted to help people who couldn’t help themselves. His doctors, however, told him those dreams wouldn’t become a reality. Now, the 43-year-old Chatham County resident has endured countless tribulations of his own in his quest for stable housing. Yet, through it all, he’s maintained his positive attitude and affable personality. When a construction accident in the 1990s left Adam with a ruptured disc, spinal issues and chronic pain, he found himself doing odd jobs for friends to make ends meet. But when those jobs dried up, or
those friends went away, Adam was left with limited options. Despite never being in trouble with the law, never having issues with drugs, and having no blemishes on his record, Adam found himself on the street. Adam has bounced around the state at various homeless shelters where he says he faced abuse, neglect and lack of care. He came to Chatham County on a whim last September — fed up with his situation at a shelter in Durham — because a Google search said the county had a shelter. The problem, however, is that Chatham County has no homeless shelter. “I guess you could say it was misinformation that brought me here,” Sides said. Instead, Adam has been forced to navigate a hodgepodge of government agencies, local nonprofit organizations and loads of paperwork to ensure he’d have a stable place to rest his head at night. Adam is just one of dozens of homeless residents in Chatham County. But without a proper shelter, a vast county geography
and limited resources to assist with the problem, the hurdle of homelessness can be daunting to overcome. A helping hand
“I’ve made do with what I got. My grandparents always told me anger didn’t get me anywhere, and I need to keep pressing on.”
When he first arrived in Chatham, Adam was staying near the Food Lion in Pittsboro and noticed an abundance of trash outside. He picked up a bucket and a big stick and began sweeping the trash he found behind the grocery store. The Chatham County Fairgrounds are adjacent to the Food Lion, so soon enough Ad- Adam Sides Jr. am’s trash pickup wandered there too. “I just hate seeing trash and litter,” Adam said. “My grandparents always told me not to litter, and I still can’t stand it.” In a short period, Adam picked up trash all the way to nearby Roberson Creek. At the beginning, he said the creek looked like a “trash dam,” but nowadays it flows as it should. He estimates he’s filled more than 150 buckets with trash in See HOMELESSNESS, page A7
Breaking down Russia’s civil unrest and recent events in Ukraine Chatham’s Bob Pearson talks Ukraine, Russian civil unrest and more By Taylor Heeden Chatham News & Record Editor’s Note: In honor of Independence Day, the News & Record decided to feature a story on the ongoing conflict in Ukraine as a reminder of the continued fight for freedom and liberation across the globe. ON FEB. 24, 2022, former U.S. Ambassador to Türkiye (Turkey) Bob Pearson woke up in his Chatham County home to the news of war: Russian forces invaded Ukraine and began their attack on major cities in-
cluding the capital city of Kyiv. Pearson has followed the conflict since Russian President Vladimir Putin started his military pursuits in Ukraine and has insight others may not have, as he not only served as a U.S. Ambassador but as the former director general of the U.S. Foreign Service. The war in Ukraine, however, took a turn: At the end of June, a mercenary leader named Yevgeny Prigozhin ordered his troops — known as the Wagner Group — to march on Moscow in rebellion to Putin. “The mutiny by Prigozhin was a serious break in the Russians’ ability to manage the war in Ukraine,” Pearson said. “His forces had a battle with Russian air forces, and a number of
Russian soldiers were killed. In order to maintain control, Putin decided to dismiss all charges against Prigozhin and have Prigozhin agree to move him and his forces to Belarus.” After the rebellion from the Wagner Group, many have speculated what that would mean for the war in Ukraine. Pearson said Putin is struggling to keep morale up on the homefront, and the march on Moscow from Wagner is an example of that. “That leaves the basic questions still unanswered about whether Putin will survive the crisis,” he said. “We do know that there are strong forces that are mutually not in agreement. They’re the people who’ve never liked the war and the people who don’t like the war now …
Both those groups agree that Putin isn’t doing a good job.” The rebellion has caused Putin to lose more “prestige,” according to Pearson, and he believes there’s a lot more to the story the world isn’t hearing. “You’ve got the people whose voices you’re not hearing: the oligarchy and the senior military people, maybe even some unit commanders who think that this is a mess,” he said. “[They think] whatever happens, they have to do this better than they’re doing it right now, and Putin is not the guy to hit that effort up.” As Putin’s approval rating continues to drop, Pearson said it’s possible for the Russian president to potentially be ousted from office. While it’s
unlikely at the moment, Russian leadership could move to remove Putin from office if the war continues to unfold against Russia. Russia has been hard to predict throughout its conflict with Ukraine, but according to Pearson, the rebellion from Prigozhin could throw a wrench in Putin’s strategy. “In present circumstances, See PEARSON, page A6