Two
families honored to mark
Farm-City Week
The
families headed by Myron
Smith and Ronnie Parker
were selected by Johnston
County's Farm-City Week
Committee to be honored
during the annual
observance this week
for contributions to
farming
and agribusiness. The
heads of the two families
are shown in screenshots
taken from last week's
meeting of the County
Commissioners when the
honors were presented. The
stories of Smith's Nursery
and Ronnie's Country Store
appear on the FEATURE PAGE>
CORONAVIRUS REPORT
CORONAVIRUS
weekly
measurements |
Case total
since 3-20
(last week) |
Deaths
since 3-20
(last week) |
Hospital
patients
(last week) |
Fully
vaccinated
(last week) |
| JOHNSTON COUNTY |
33,231
(32,859) |
354
(352) |
23
(22) |
102,799: 49%*
(102,355) |
| NORTH CAROLINA |
1,524,078
(1,510,086) |
18,676
(18,514) |
1,113
(1,049) |
5,926,764: 57%*
(5,901,781) |
| UNITED STATES |
48,018,473
(47,421,879) |
774,416
(767,439) |
|
195,973,992: 59.7%*
(195,612,365) |
| WORLDWIDE |
259,185,236
(255,193,384) |
5,171,809
(5,127,302) |
|
7,483,560,496
total doses given |
* Percentage of total population (all
ages)
Data provided
by: County
of Johnston at
5:15 p.m. November
23
N.C.
Department of
Health and Human
Services at
12:35 p.m.
November 24
Johns
Hopkins
University at
1:22 p.m. November
24 |
CLEANING
UP AFTER THE "EXPLOSION"
Thanksgiving
Week is
leaf-raking time, especially
this year in the aftermath
of one of the most
spectacular fall-color
explosions we've seen around
here in quite some time. The
Public Works Department's
high-powered vacuum was
making quick work of
collecting the piles of
fallen leaves as it
patrolled Smithfield's
streets on Tuesday.
FOR
SALE: HIGHLY VISIBLE
COMMERCIAL PROPERTY
Former Jewel
Box store at 1699 East
Booker Dairy Road on
lot with 30+
parking spaces. UNDER
CONTRACT.
SUSAN LASSITER
Fonville
Morisey Realty
•
919-669-9235
• LassiterSusan@aol.com
Energy
assistance offered to
low-income families
From Johnston County Dept. of Social Services
Applications
for the federally funded
Low Income Energy
Assistance Program will be
taken beginning December
1 for the priority
group and will continue
through March 31 or
until available funds are
exhausted.
The priority group
includes households age 60
and above or disabled
persons receiving services
from the Division of Aging
and Adult Services. Other
individuals and families
with the lowest incomes
and highest relative
energy costs are
potentially eligible and
may apply beginning
January 3.
Eligible households will
not receive a check, as
the payments will be made
directly to energy
providers including
electric-power, gas, or
fuel-oil companies.
Applications can be
completed by contacting
the Department of Social
Services
at 919-989-5300
or online at https://www.nc.gov/services/e-pass.
WHAT'S
COMING UP?
Christmas
tree lighting next week;
parade coming Dec. 9
Details
about Smithfield's
upcoming Yuletide events
in December are posted
online at SmithfieldChristmas.com>
Here's the rundown in
chronological order:
• Tree Lighting Downtown,
7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 2.
• Santa's Workshop
Downtown, various times on
weekends starting Dec. 3.
• Carriage Rides and Santa
Visits Downtown, 5-8 p.m.
Fridays, Dec. 3, 10, 17.
• Stink, Stank, Stunk 5K
Run & Jingle Bell Jog,
9 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 4 at
SRAC.
• Christmas Parade
Downtown, 7 p.m. Thursday,
Dec. 9.
• Santa Sleigh
visits neighborhoods
all over town, 1-5 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 11.
• Swim With Santa at SRAC,
1:30-4 p.m. Saturday, Dec.
18.
The town's second
annual "Light Up
Smithfield" decorating
contest is open
to all residences and
businesses with a
Smithfield address. The
categories: Griswold ("the
tackier, the BETTER!"),
Traditionally Elegant,
Best Theme, Best Window
Display. Judging Dec.
11-12. Registration is now open on the town's
website>
State
& local agencies
closed Friday; banks and
P.O. open
And
that includes banks and
the Post Office, which
will be open Friday, while
state, county, and
municipal offices and
services are closed for
the day. Of course, just
about everybody has
Thanksgiving Day off.
Retail businesses,
meanwhile, are open or
closed for this
and all other
official holidays as
they see fit.
DEATHS
& FUNERALS
Click
on the name to read an
obituary, usually posted
by the funeral home
HOWARD RAY
ROSE, 82
– died November 23
PATRICIA KAY
(TRISHA) REDMAN, 60 –
died November 22
IRENE WIGGS BRASWELL, 87 –
died November 18
JAMES
HARGETTE ELLERBE, 88 –
died November 18
JACKIE
MASSENGILL DAUGHTRY, 74 –
died November 17
JOSE MANUEL
ESPINOSA, 39 –
died November 17
WILLIAM
KENNETH HINTON, 81 –
died November 17
LARUE
LASSITER ROGERS, 60 –
died November 17
AUDREY
BLEDSOE NORRIS, 89 –
died November 16
REV. ERVIN
JUDKINS, 87 – died
November 13
Colorized
postcard made from a
photograph taken not
long after the
present-day Johnston
County Courthouse was
completed in 1922.
(Johnston County
Heritage Center
collection)
A
WORD (OR TWO) FROM THE
EDITOR
Courthouse
centennial comes next
year, not this
I've
been wondering why no fuss
was being made this year
over the 100th birthday of
the Johnston County
Courthouse on Market
Street. A trip to the
Heritage Center quickly
produced the answer:
Construction of this
magnificent edifice began
in the spring of 1921 but
the building wasn't
finished until late summer
in 1922.
Up to now I've been
mistakenly referring to it
as the "1921 Courthouse,"
which replaced a smaller
brick structure on the same
site that was built in 1843.
The N.C. General Assembly
got the ball rolling in
August 1920 with adoption of
a local act to erect at
Smithfield "a new courthouse
and jail of sufficient size
to accommodate the present
and future needs of the
county."
Smithfield, especially, was
enjoying "boom times" during
the years following the
First World War. Two other
major Downtown structures of
that era still standing are
the Austin Building on South
Third Street and the Hood
Building on the corner east
of the Courthouse.
And how much did that
majestic new courthouse cost
to build? "An expenditure,
we are told, of
approximately $425,000,
including plumbing, heating,
elevator, and furniture,"
reported The Smithfield
Herald following the
building's dedication on
September 26, 1922.
The newspaper concluded its
coverage with a note that
the owner of the Sanford
company that built the
courthouse, J.W. Stout,
hosted dignitaries at "a
barbecue dinner at Holt
Lake, bringing to a close
ceremonies the like of which
Johnston County may not see
again." (Presumably, that
dinner was held in one of
the screened picnic shelters
that stood near the lake's
bath house at the time.)
Will the county make that
much fuss when the new
Detention Center and
adjacent Public Safety
Center are finished
east of town in 2023? The
projected costs for
those two buildings, by the
way, are $44.5 million and
$21 million.
If
you're not a subscriber and
want to be
alerted each Thursday
when a new edition
of the Smithfield
Weekly Sun is
published, send your
name and e-mail address
to wingate.lassiter@nc.rr.com and
I'll add you to the list
(at no cost).
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