|
OBSERVATIONS
March 24, 2020 |
 |
 Wingate Lassiter |
In times like this, we need a lot more
local media to keep us fully informed
A couple of years ago we were sorely lacking when it came to local news coverage.
The McClatchy Company was dismantling The Smithfield Herald and other community newspapers it had acquired over the years in our region.
And McClatchy's News and Observer, once "The Old Reliable," was downsizing its reporting staff to the point that it could no longer give much attention to what was happening down here in Johnston County.
The only game in town was Mickey Lamm's online Johnston County Report along with his daily newscast over the family's radio station WTSB.
The citizens of Smithfield and Johnston County deserved much more than that.
Today, we still don't have the caliber of local media we need, in my opinion, but the situation is better than it was a couple of years back.
Although Mr. Lamm and his family sold the radio station, he has soldiered on with his JoCo Report as much as a one-man staff can do.
The Wilson Times year before last acquired newspapers based at Kenly that were serving northeastern Johnston County and has since sought to expand coverage into the Smithfield and Clayton communities under the Johnstonian News banner.
Scott Bolejack, a news and editorial colleague of mine at The Smithfield Herald in the latter 1980s and early 1990s, is now editor of that paper. And I must say he's doing admirable work alongside two reporters to get us back on a firmer news track. Appropriately, the organization behind the Johnstonian News and several other local papers acquired by the Wilson folks is named Restoration Newsmedia.
For restoration is certainly what those of us involved in local journalism just now are striving to do.
I appreciate the support and encouragement from readers of the Smithfield Weekly Sun, now in its second year as an online newspaper. I'm glad you're paying attention to what I have to offer week in and week out.
But you need more than what I'm delivering, so I encourage you to check out the work Mickey Lamm and Scott Bolejack are contributing to the cause.
Here are the Internet links to their news services:
• JoCo Report
• Johnstonian News
Tax-filing procrastinators, rejoice!
Good news for tax-filing procrastinators: The deadline for submitting both federal and state income-tax returns has been extended three months --- till July 15.
How ironic, now that we've got plenty of time at home these days to get those returns ready by the traditional April 15 deadline. So go ahead and get it done --- then you can postpone actual filing till July if you owe the government money.
Difference between "isolation" and "quarantine"
A report in last Thursday's Sun gave numbers of Johnstonians in official "isolation" and those in "quarantine" because of the coronavirus outbreak. Here's the explanation of what those medical terms mean --- from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services:
Isolation and quarantine are public
health practices used to stop or limit the spread of
disease.
Isolation is used to separate ill persons
who have a communicable disease from those who are
healthy. Isolation restricts the movement of ill
persons to help stop the spread of certain diseases.
For example, hospitals use isolation for patients
with infectious tuberculosis.
Quarantine is used to separate and
restrict the movement of well persons
who may have been exposed to a communicable disease
to see if they become ill. These people may have
been exposed to a disease and do not know it, or
they may have the disease but do not show symptoms.
Quarantine can also help limit the spread of
communicable disease.
Isolation and quarantine are used to
protect the public by preventing exposure to
infected persons or to persons who may be
infected.
Got a comment or a question?
If so, send an e-mail to editor@smithfieldweeklysun.com.
Or, if you prefer, mail a letter to P.O. Box 1363, Smithfield, N.C. 27577.
We'll confirm receipt of your correspondence and, if any or all of it is appropriate for publication, we'll ask your permission to print before we "go to press." If we publish your submission, all we will show is your name and place of residence. Neither your e-mail address nor your complete postal address will be shared with our readers or anyone else.
To make verification simpler, please sign up as a subscriber if you haven't already done so, using the online form below:
RETURN TO THE SMITHFIELD WEEKLY SUN FRONT PAGE