On the Porch: Lou Jewell: The Land Pro

This Week: Lacey Beaty is an American politician, combat veteran, and the current mayor of Beaverton, Oregon. She took office in 2021 as the first female and youngest mayor in Beaverton history, after serving six years as city councilor. Before entering politics, Beaty served five years of active duty in the 1st Infantry Division of the United States Army as a radiology specialist and combat medic during the Iraq War. She has also worked in public health, overseeing school-based health centers. Beaty has identified the homelessness crisis and the welfare of veterans as priority issues for her administration.  John Ewing Jr. is an American politician, minister, and former police officer who has served as the 52nd Mayor of Omaha Nebraska, since 2025. Prior to his election as mayor, Ewing served for twenty-five years in the Omaha Police Department until his retirement as a deputy police chief. As a proud native of North Omaha, Mayor Ewing knows firsthand the life-changing impact of affordable housing. When he was 15 his parents bought the family's first home that shaped his perspective forever. He is the proud husband to Dr. Viv Ewing, a devoted father, and a grandfather. Ewing is the first African American to be elected mayor of Omaha.

This Week: After three decades of work in global public health, Cindy Waszak Geary (Hillside Class of ’73) turned to creative non-fiction writing, weaving together personal experience with social and cultural histories. Her first book, Going to School in Black and White, co-authored with LaHoma Smith Romocki, describes how they as two teenage girls—one black, one white—each were altered by a court-ordered desegregation plan for Durham, NC in 1970. She recently published a second book, also a memoir, Ancestral Landscapes. A graduate of UNC-CH, she has continued to live in Chapel Hill most of her adult life, and now also spends part of her time in the mountains of western NC, where she has deep ancestral roots. She is the mother of Emily and Max and the grandmother of Daisy. LaHoma Romocki has held senior leadership global health positions with extensive field experience in sub-Saharan Africa. Dr. Romocki has an undergraduate degree from Duke University, both masters and PHD from UNC-CH. She is a Professor and former Chair of the Department of Public Health Education at NCCU. Romocki is working to build the capacity of the next generation of the public health workforce and health care administrators. She has led study abroad programs and advises students interested in pursuing careers in the health. She is a resident of Granville County and is active in many organizations throughout the community.

This Week: Brad Bannon is a national political strategist and the host of the progressive podcast "Deadline D.C. with Brad Bannon" that features the very best in aggressive progressive, must-see online TV. Guests on the show are prominent people and players from the worlds of politics and policy. Bannon is also the author of "The Bannon Ballot Blast "on his Substack page . As the CEO of Bannon Communications, he has advised Democrats, labor unions and progressive issue groups on polling and message development for decades. His clients have included the National Education Association, the AFL-CIO, Public Citizen, the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

This Week: Anthony Flaccavento is a farmer and rural development consultant from Abingdon, Virginia in the heart of the Appalachian region. The Democratic Candidate for Congress in Virginia’s 9th in 2018, Anthony co-founded the Rural-Urban Bridge Initiative (RUBI) in 2021. RUBI works to help progressives, liberals and Democrats understand the underlying causes of the rural-urban divide and take concrete steps to win back rural and working-class people. Anthony is the author of "Building a Healthy Economy from the Bottom Up: Harnessing Real World Experience for Transformative Change" (UK Press, 2016) along with scores of articles and op-eds. He has a BS in Agriculture and a Masters in Rural Development.

This Week: Heather St. Clair is a passionate advocate for early childhood care and education, dedicated to helping children, families, and communities thrive. She believes every child is a garden, worthy of admiration and cultivation with faith and love. For the past three years, as Executive Director of the Chatham County Partnership for Children, Heather has championed a neighbor-centered approach to supporting families with children from birth to age five. Her leadership focuses on reimagining early learning programs, strengthening teams, and improving access to services across mental health, public health, and education. Heather enjoys reading, baking, spending time with family, and loving on her fur-baby.

This Week: A Triangle native, Kristine Sloan brings a deep commitment to justice, interdependence, and authenticity into all of her work. She’s an entrepreneur, executive leader, facilitator and strategist. As the Executive Director of Leadership Triangle, Kristine works to connect local leaders to their values, purpose and vision, in service of greater regional collaboration and impact. Prior to Leadership Triangle, Kristine was the CEO of StartingBloc, supporting 3200+ social entrepreneurs and activists as they made significant social change. Earlier in her career, Kristine led a multimillion dollar grant project in Burundi for All Across Africa, designed cross-cultural programming for NC State University, worked on water advocacy rights with indigenous populations in South India and co-founded a social enterprise in West Africa.

This Week: Kindra and Vinny Mammone of CLAWS, Inc. have dedicated their lives to wildlife. With more than 30 years of rehabilitation experience, Kindra has worked with native and exotic species, taught wildlife rehabilitation, contributed to USDA guidance, and is licensed in North Carolina to rehabilitate small mammals, all native birds, and white-tailed deer fawns. Since 1991, Vinny has worked alongside Kindra in wildlife rehabilitation, helping care for countless animals while designing and building the enclosures and habitats that make CLAWS, Inc.'s lifesaving work possible. Together, they are committed to giving wildlife a second chance and inspiring others to care about the natural world.

This Week: Emily Thompson has been a vendor with The Pittsboro Farmers Market since 2021. She has served as the farmer market board president for the last two years and has started a new 2 year term. Emily owns and runs her farm, Heart Song Farm, located between Siler City and Pittsboro. She's known for her large varieties of peppers, flowers, produce, and value added products like seasonings, herbal teas, and tinctures. Emily finds farming an honor to care for her community and family. The goal is to leave the land and people better than you found them.

This Week: Landis Wade is a recovering trial lawyer turned mystery/thriller author who interviewed 500+ authors on his popular Charlotte Readers Podcast. His publications include six works of fiction, eight writing quote books, and numerous short stories. His novels in the Indie Retirement Mystery series won more than ten awards. Kirkus Reviews said, “Mystery fans who love Richard Osman’s cozy Thursday Murder Club books will enjoy the similarly energetic take on mystery-loving retirees.” Before he moved to Durham, the Charlotte Writers Club awarded Landis their Founders Award for service to the club and the literary community.

This Week: Carlos Lima is a native of Caracas, Venezuela. He moved to North Carolina with his family in 2001. Before coming to United Way, Carlos was Director of Operations and Finance at St. Thomas More Catholic Church in Chapel Hill for 20 years. Carlos has been the Executive Director of United Way of Chatham County for the past year, and he has learned firsthand the value of service to the community and the benefits of collective impact in addressing the most critical needs of the residents in our county. Carlos and his wife and four grown children have called this area home for over two decades. When he’s not working, he enjoys spending time with his family, cooking, reading, and playing board games. Daisy Butzer is the Impact Manager at United Way of Chatham County, where she leads the Chatham Housing Collective and the Chatham Success Network. Through both collaboratives, Daisy works closely with community partners to coordinate services and use data to better support individuals and families. She draws from her professional experience supporting various public health programs, research studies, and philanthropic initiatives. Originally from Oklahoma, Daisy and her husband moved to North Carolina in 2022 to attend graduate school at UNC.