An
LGBTQ+ students' club at
Johnston Community College
had scheduled an event
billed as a "Y'all for All
Fest" to be held in early
June on the JCC campus and
also at the Gilded Pear Brew
House in Downtown
Smithfield. But it was
canceled, and then
rescheduled as a "virtual"
online event, after
organizers were threatened.
"Within an hour of
our poster going up at
one of our venues, an
aggressive group of men
arrived to threaten and
intimidate," reads a
statement posted online
by the Spectrum Student
Club. "They banged on
the windows with their
fists, entered the
building, and shouted
hateful anti-LGBTQ+
speech at the shop owner
and employees."
The club said "this news
has indicated to us that
there is an organized
group of actors in
Johnston County with ill
will and intent to enact
violence against LGBTQ+
people. For this reason,
we have to protect the
safety of our community
and cancel the event."
In response, a group of
about two dozen students
and their supporters
rallied outside the
Johnston County Courthouse
late Monday afternoon to
demonstrate their resolve
to overcome gender
prejudice and
discrimination.
For starters, the students
announced that the Y'all
Means All Fest will go on
with "free entertainment
virtually on June 10th via
Zoom and/or live-stream."
Beyond that, "we are also
currently formulating ways
to involved our vendors,
community partners, and
volunteers, and we are
building out a more robust
offering of virtual
programming that will
expand beyond June."
One of the students'
boosters, Ben Chapman,
organized Monday's rally
in conjunction with the
nationwide observance of
"Harvey Milk Day," held
each year on the birthday
of the first openly gay
person elected to public
office in California, and
perhaps the entire nation.
Harvey Milk was
assassinated in 1978.
Among those who took part
in Monday's rally here was
Avery Everett, a Clayton
town councilman who was
elected in 2019 as the
first openly gay candidate
to win public office in
Johnston County.
EDITOR'S NOTE: LGBTQ+ is
a contemporary acronym for
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,
Transgender, Queer et al.
Region's
Federal Reserve chief
checks on Johnston
Thomas I.
Barkin, president of the
Federal Reserve Bank of
Richmond, traveled to
Johnston County last week
to meet with business and
community leaders as part
of a two-day visit to the
eastern Triangle region.
He met with industry
representatives from real
estate, banking,
construction, health care,
agribusiness, tourism and
hospitality, life
sciences, and advanced
manufacturing. The
meetings and tour were
organized by the Johnston
County Office of Economic
Development.
"It says a lot about our
reputation that the
Federal Reserve Bank
president would ask to
visit Johnston County and
meet with us," said Ted
Godwin, a member of the
Johnston County Board of
Commissioners who
participated in the full
day’s visit. "President
Barkin was able to see a
good cross-section of our
highly diversified economy
and asked a lot of really
good questions about what
we’re seeing. We
appreciate his interest in
who we are and how we’re
doing."
Mr. Barkin routinely
visits communities and
businesses in the Federal
Reserve’s Richmond
District, which covers the
District of Columbia,
Maryland, North Carolina,
South Carolina, Virginia,
and West Virginia.
Much of what Mr. Barkin
heard here regarded the
county’s rapid growth,
strong housing market, and
low unemployment. "It’s
always fun to go to a
place that’s winning," he
said.
Among the stops on Mr.
Barkin’s tour were the
offices of Clayton
residential developer
RiverWild, UNC Health
Johnston, Caterpillar’s
building construction
products division,
Kornegay Family Farms near
Princeton (pictured),
and Smithfield’s Ava
Gardner Museum. The day
ended with a reception at
Johnston Regional Airport
that included mayors of
the county’s 11
municipalities.
(Story & photo
from Johnston County
Economic Development
Office)
Johnston
lands a second 4-H
Extension agent
A
second 4-H agent has
joined the staff of the
Johnston County
Cooperative Extension
Service.
"We are blessed to have Kaena
Prince join the
team to serve youth in
Johnston County," said
Bryant Spivey, Johnston's
Extension director. "As a
growing county, we have
youth from all walks of life
with broad interests and
backgrounds. 4-H has
programs that can serve all
our youth."
Currently
Johnston has 20 4-H clubs
with 486 members engaged
in a variety of activities
including target sports,
livestock management,
public speaking, and STEM
(an academic acronym for
science, technology,
engineering, and math). "Last year we served
around 2,500 students
through our school
enrichment programs,
mainly embryology,"
added 4-H Agent Meredith
Wood.
Ms.
Prince, the new agent, is
a graduate of N.C. State
University with a Bachelor
Of Science degree in
Extension Education and a
Master's degree in
Agriculture Education. She
is from Waxhaw and has
been living in Johnston
County for two years now.
Previously, she worked for
North Carolina Farm Bureau
Insurance as an associate
agent licensed in property
and casualty.
Two
JCI professionals get
statewide recognition
Two
employees of non-profit
Johnston County
Industries (JCI) got top
honors at a recent
statewide conference of
employment and training
professionals. Nevaro
Pitt (left) was
named "IPS Employment
Specialist of the Year,"
Tyler McCarthy (right)
"IPS Program Assistant
of the Year."
IPS – Individual
Placement and Support –
is described by JCI as
"an evidence-based,
individual placement and
support employment model
for persons with mental
health and substance
abuse barriers." JCI's
IPS teams serve
residents of Johnston
and Harnett counties.
Mr. Pitt and Mr. McCarthy accepted their
awards at the UNC
Institute for Best
Practices ACT and IPS
conference in
Winston-Salem (ACT is
short for Assertive
Community Treatment).
Mr. Pitt has worked in
mental health for more
than 15 years. Mr.
McCarthy has been with
JCI since October 2019.
The Institute for Best
Practices is part of the
UNC Center for
Excellence in Community
Mental Health
within the
UNC-Chapel Hill
Department of
Psychiatry.
SHERRON ROOFING AND SHEETMETAL
Call
TOM SHERRON to
learn
how
his crew can help you!
919-631-2695 (cell)
919-934-1160 (office)
Another reprise for Rotary's "Flags
for Heroes"
Volunteers
from the Rotary Club of
Central Johnston County
put up more than a hundred
American flags this week
for what has become an
annual project in honor of
the nation's military
veterans and active duty
personnel as well as first
responders and health-care
workers on the home front.
The flags will remain in
place beside the walking
trail in front of the
hospital here through June
18. "Flags for Heroes" got
its start three years ago
in response to the COVID
pandemic.
WHAT'S
COMING UP?
Third test of Downtown farmers market
this Saturday
Round
3 of a revived Downtown
Smithfield farmers market
continues from 9 a.m. to 2
p.m. this Saturday along
the 100 block of South
Third Street. Organized by
the operators of two
retail shops there, the
market has a permit to
operate one more time
before the Town Council
makes a decision on
whether it may continue in
that location. The
Smithfield market was
scheduled every other
Saturday to avoid a
conflict with a market
previously in operation at
Wilson's Mills every other
week.
Memorial Day observance at the
Courthouse Monday
The Johnston County Veterans Council will host its annual Memorial Day ceremony at 11 a.m. Monday inside the Johnston County Courthouse. The event will feature keynote speaker (Retired) U.S. Air Force Tech Sergeant Stan Jones, a veteran of the Vietnam War and the Gulf War. Mr. Jones is a local business owner and pastor who served in the military for more than 20 years.
Monday's program will be
live-streamed on the
county's YouTube
channel>
301
north of Four Oaks to be
closed for about a month
A
section of US 301 on the
north side of Four Oaks
will close next Tuesday
(May 30) for about a month
for replacement of a
drainage pipe under the
pavement. The closure will
affect both directions of
301 near Forest Hills
Drive. A detour will send
through traffic onto Keen
and Boyette roads, past
Four Oaks Middle School.
HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS REPORT
Neuse Charter soccer girls eliminated
in a tie-breaker
The
Cougars were eliminated
from the state 1-A
playoffs by North Moore
High School last Thursday
in a tie-breaker after the
two teams were tied 2-2 at
the end of regulation. The
defeat ended the season
for the Cougars, who
finished with a record of
13 wins and 6 losses
including an 8-2 record in
Carolina 1-A Conference
matches – good for second
place behind the team from
Hobbton High School.
FOR
SALE:
overlooking
the pond in
S. Smithfield
Brick-veneer
home at 313 West Wilson
Street has 4,612 square
feet with five bedrooms,
five full baths, two-car
garage on 0.64-acre
landscaped lot. Priced
at $760,000
(MLS# 2509894)
SUSAN
LASSITER, Broker,
Fonville Morisey Realty
• 919-669-9235
DEATHS
& FUNERALS
Click
on the name to read an
obituary, usually posted
by the funeral home
MELVIN RAY
EDWARDS, 95 – died
May 23
DIANNE DEANS
McCABE, 65 – died
May 23
LINDA CAROL
THOMLINSON NIXON, 71
– died May 21
PHEREBA
SMITH HOLLAND, 72 –
died May 19
MICKEY BRYAN
THOMPSON, 61– died
May 18
A
WORD (OR TWO) FROM THE
EDITOR
Observations
about a couple of Town of
Smithfield projects:
Spring
Branch never looked so
good!
The
work to reconstruct its
banks and convert the old
straight-line "ditch" into
a meandering stream
between South Fifth and
Sixth streets appears to
be almost finished. Its
redesign for flood
mitigation got its first
test with last Friday's
downpour, as shown in this
view looking downstream
from Sixth Street.
When
beautification goes too
far
Generally
speaking, the landscaping
at Smithfield Community
Park is first-rate. But
sometimes nice plantings
can get out of hand as
illustrated by the
knockout roses obscuring
the sign at the park's
Miracle Field built for
handicapped youngsters.
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