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OBSERVATIONS
August 20, 2020 |
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 Wingate Lassiter |
Worried about voting this fall by mail?
The solution: Vote early --- in person
With all the turmoil in Washington just now about the ability of the U.S. Postal Service to handle a deluge of absentee ballots for the November 3 General Election, folks are naturally worried about voting this fall with the coronavirus pandemic still threatening us.
But you don't have to count on the Postal Service to avoid close contact with a heavy turnout of voters expected this Election Day.
Starting in mid-October, the Johnston County Board of Elections will offer early-voting every day but Sunday at seven sites, including the First Baptist Church Ministry Center here (in the former Smithfield Herald building).
On weekdays, those sites will be open from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. --- just like our polling places on Election Day --- plus 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on two Saturdays.
 Yard sign beside South Second Street. |
Why take a chance on Postal Service delivery of your votes in time to be counted? As the political humorists among us like to say: Vote early and often!
Johnston County Board of Elections lists early-voting sites>
FAQs from N.C. Board of Elections about absentee ballot casting>
Update on that CSX hub we lost to Rocky Mount
Remember the intermodal container project we were supposed to get on the railroad between Selma and Micro? Local opposition persuaded our County Commissioners to pull their support, and we got upstaged by Rocky Mount's business leadership headed by Norris Tolson.
Here's the latest in a story from the Business North Carolina Daily Digest>
COMMENTS FROM READERS
Personal memories of two big historical moments
Two readers responded to two historical items in last week's Sun: Smithfield's celebration of the end of World War II, and the integration of local schools that was consummated in the opening of Smithfield-Selma High:
He was there when the Herald printed its "WAR ENDS!" Extra
Writes Fred Mattox, who at age 14 was working in the newspaper's press room as an assistant circulation manager on the night of August 14, 1945 when the news broke that the Japanese had surrendered:
"The presses were still running (to print that day's edition) when the word came. Tom (Lassiter, the paper's editor) stopped the press, quickly substituted a new front page, and resumed printing to about 8 p.m.
"I remember I was given about 20 copies that I could sell and keep the money. Nineteen went like hot cakes but I kept the last one. Alas, when I moved into a retirement home five years ago it disappeared.
"But the streets were full of people celebrating. What a night!"
He remembers playing ball with blacks before integration
Writes Dixon Fleming, who spent his freshman year at mostly-white Smithfield High School before moving over to to integrated Smithfield-Selma High in 1969:
"I had the opportunity to make a toast at Amby Foote's 90th birthday a couple of years ago. He and Reginald Ennis had a lot to do with how well integration was handled. The summer before we integrated... Amby put together a basketball team and we went to Johnston Central to play a team Mr. Ennis put together.
"When school started we already knew those kids and it made it so much easier when we started practicing together....
"Amby could be a tough Yankee at times but he and Reginald really understood the racial issues and handled them in advance of us having the problems Rocky Mount, Greenville, Wilson, etc. had."
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