| PUBLISHED
ONLINE FEBRUARY 10,
2022
• VOL.
4, NO. 6 |
Stories
and photos by WINGATE
LASSITER unless
credited otherwise
(Click
on highlighted link to
e-mail the editor)
"Nice
day for a town the size of
Smithfield"
That's
one of my all-time favorite
quotations, attributed years
ago by my father to N.L.
Perkins, long-time fixture
on the Smithfield Tobacco
Market. And so it was such a
day on Wednesday along the
Neuse Riverwalk as a warming
sun raised the
afternoon's temperature to
60 degrees. Nice to see
folks enjoying the break
from recent wintry weather –
and a pleasant place for it.
CORONAVIRUS
REPORT
School
masks optional starting
Feb. 21 if ...
...fewer
than 4% of students and
staff at a
particular school
campus are infected by
COVID-19 or quarantined at
home because of exposure to
it.
This week all of Johnston
County's public schools are
in the safe zone, but
measurements recorded at
each school on Friday, Feb.
18 will determine whether
mask wearing is optional
therein starting Monday the
21st.
After that, mandatory
masking could return at any
time to a school
exceeding the 4% threshold –
and would remain in
force for at least 10
days. The masking status of
each school will be updated
daily on the school system's
online COVID
dashboard>
Johnston's Board of
Education approved the plan
at Tuesday's monthly meeting
by a 6-1 vote, with Kay
Carroll the only member
voting no. Previously, the
board had voted 4-3
every month since last
summer to require mask
wearing, with members Lyn
Andrews, Al Byrd, and Terri
Sessoms joining Mr. Carroll
in the majority while
Chairman Todd Sutton along
with Ronald Johnson and Mike
Wooten consistently voted
against the mandate.
Mr. Carroll, a pharmacist by
profession, said during
Tuesday's discussion that
it's premature to drop the
mask mandate before more
evidence is produced about
the effectiveness, or
ineffectiveness, of face
coverings. "We're in a 'red'
county: transmission is big;
positivity is high," he
pointed out. "We're all
getting tired of it but I
don't want us to quit before
we finish the race and we
get to a point where we have
a comfort level that the
transmission rate is not
gonna go out of sight."
Ms. Andrews, who has been
serving on a COVID review
committee that includes the
county's health director,
made the motion to approve
the mask-option plan,
yet she predicted the
number of cases in schools
will rise once the masks
come off. "The number
4% was selected because
that will keep us from being
any worse than we have been
so far," she said. "The
exclusion rate will not
allow us to explode with
quarantines."
Following Tuesday's vote,
Assistant Superintendent
David Pearce reminded the
board that mask wearing will
still be required on school
buses after Feb. 21 because
of a federal
mandate. He also said
contact tracing of
individual COVID cases among
staff and students will have
to resume once masks are
off.
This
morning's report from
Johnston County Public
Schools showed
87 active cases among
students and staff (down
from last week's
166) with 261 students
and 34 staff members
quarantined (down from 506
students and 57 staff a
week ago). Only one
school in the county –
Polenta Elementary – had
more than 20 students in
quarantine, according to
today's report. South
Smithfield Elementary had
eight, Smithfield Middle had
three, West Smithfield
Elementary and Wilson's
Mills Elementary had one
apiece, and Smithfield-Selma
High had none.
The Johnston County
Public Health Department's
mid-week report shows
a sharp decline in the
number of new cases: 1,343
this past week, down from
4,588 the previous week.
Also down is the number of
Johnstonians hospitalized
because of COVID: 44 this
week, down from 58 a week
ago. Even so, 15 more COVID
fatalities were reported
here this past week, raising
the total since the pandemic
arrived two years ago to
412.
Another local institution
has been added to the
county's list of major
outbreaks: Barbour Court
Nursing & Rehabilitation
Center, with 60 current
and/or former residents and
25 staff members infected.
Remaining on that list this
week are Smithfield Manor
Nursing & Rehab (31
residents and 40 staff
infected) and Johnston
Correctional Institution (81
inmates and one staff
member). The Johnston County
Jail is not listed among
major outbreaks in
Wednesday's report.
Here's
a drone's-eye view of the
county's drive-thru COVID
testing site behind the
Brightleaf Flea Market on
US 301 South in
Smithfield. It's open 9-6
Monday-Saturday. (Photo
captured from county's
Facebook page)
CORONAVIRUS
weekly
measurements |
Case total
since 3-20
(last week) |
Deaths
since 3-20
(last week) |
Hospital
patients
(last week) |
Fully vaccinated *
[got boosters] |
| JOHNSTON COUNTY |
53,632
(52,289) |
412
(397) |
44
(58) |
110,637: 53%**
[47,896] |
| NORTH CAROLINA |
2,509,470
(2,442,891) |
21,482
(20,904) |
3,812
(4,725) |
6,345,826: 61%**
[3,025,148] |
| UNITED STATES |
77,267,876
(75,681,241) |
912,257
(894,316) |
|
213,246,140: 65%** |
| WORLDWIDE |
404,010,392
(385,511,886) |
5,780,320
(5,703,131) |
|
10.1-billion+
doses
worldwide |
* 2 doses
Moderna or Pfizer
vaccines or 1 dose
Johnson &
Johnson vaccine
** Percentage of
total population
(all ages)
Data provided
by: County
of Johnston at
8:15 a.m. February
9
N.C.
Department of
Health and Human
Services at
12:00 p.m.
February 9
Johns
Hopkins
University at
7:21 a.m. February
10 |
There's
good reason
you've seen this
sign
in many yards
around
Smithfield
lately...
www.CallPernell.com
Six
more schools to be built
in the decade ahead?
That's
the recommendation
planning consultants
delivered to Johnston's
Board of Education at
Tuesday's monthly meeting.
Representatives from OREd,
the Operations and
Research Education
Laboratory based at N.C.
State University, said
Johnston's population
growth during the next 10
years is projected to add
more than 6,000 students
to the county's public
schools: 2,800 in
the elementary grades
K-5, 750 in middle grades
6-8, and 2,600 in
high-school grades 9-12.
With most of that growth
forecast for Johnston's
northwestern quadrant
closest to Wake County,
the consultants
recommended a new high
school and a new middle
school for that region
along with expansion of
Cleveland High School.
They recommended planning
for four new elementary
schools plus three
expansions – at Cooper in
Clayton, Corinth-Holders
Elementary, as well as
Princeton Elementary.
Board member Mike Wooten
voiced concern about
availability
of properties for new
schools and suggested the
county start "land
banking" potential sites.
In the meantime, Kay
Carroll is heading a
committee of board members
who will sit down with
county commissioners soon
to work out the size and
timing of another major
bond issue to pay for new
facilities in the years
just ahead. Bond
issues require
approval by the county's
voters.
SSS
basketball court to be
named for Coach Carl
Spragins
The
school board on Tuesday
favorably received a
recommendation to name the
court inside the gym at
Smithfield-Selma High
School for the former
teacher and coach, who
passed away in October. A
Health & PE teacher,
Mr. Spargins was the boys'
basketball coach at SSS
from 1981 until 2000, when
he stepped aside to serve
as the school's athletic
director until his
retirement in 2004. A
Johnston County school
policy requires a 60-day
waiting period before the
naming can be ratified.
On another matter
regarding
Smithfield-Selma High,
the board approved a
$210,000 contract with
Moseley Architects to
design
a multi-purpose
auxiliary gymnasium at the
school that will be
financed by the bond
issue approved by voters
in 2018. Moseley
Architects, by the way, is
the firm overseeing
construction of the
county's new Detention and
Public Safety centers.
Smithfield-Selma High's academic honor
lists for the second
quarter>
Annual
audit finds county "in
really good shape"
Johnston's
County Commissioners
received the required
independent auditor's
report for fiscal 2020-21
on Monday. It showed
County Government's total
net position increased by
$67,772,517 last year,
mostly from increases in
property and sales-tax
collections and charges
for various services (such
as building permits and
recordings by the Register
of Deeds Office).
"Johnston County's
governmental funds
reported combined ending
fund balances of
$239,366,240, an increase
of $89,650,560 in
comparison with the prior
year," the audit report
noted. That includes
$78,116,283 that "is
restricted or
non-spendable."
As of last June 30 (the
fiscal year's end), the
uncommitted balance
in the county's General
Fund was $129,951,222,
according to the report.
That's 52.9% of total
General Fund expenditures
for the year – well above
the 8.33% standard set
by North Carolina's
General Statutes.
The county's total debt
increased by more than $69
million during 2020-21,
mostly to finance water
and sewer projects,
school-bond issues
approved by voters in
2018, and borrowing for
the Detention Center
currently under
construction. That brought
the county's total
indebtedness to $507.5
million – about a third of
the "legal debt margin" of
$1,474,097,463 for
Johnston County, according
to the audit report.
"The county overall is in
really good shape
financially," stated Alan
Thompson, a principal in
the Whiteville-based
auditing firm under
contract in recent years
to review the county's
books.
The audit
report's full summary is
posted on the county's
website>
County
Commissioners appoint
six to three boards
With
more applicants than
positions available for
appointments to three
advisory boards,
commissioners voted by
paper ballot in favor
of the following:
• Johnston County Board of
Health – Gary W. Carter
reappointed (three others
had applied for the
General Public slot).
• Johnston County Planning
Board – Debbie Edwards
Howard newly appointed;
Adam Caldwell, Michelle
Pace Davis, and Freddie
Hudson Jr. reappointed
(three others had
applied).
•Johnston-Lee-Harnett
Community Action Board –
Derrick Applewhite Jr.
reappointed (one other
person had applied for the
position).
Summaries of
all matters considered
by the Board of
Commissioners at
Monday's two sessions is
posted on the county's
website>
First
phase of expanded Water
Treatment Plant is done
At
the western end of what
was once Hospital Road
stands a new
million-gallon "clear
well" – a key component of
a $17.5-million project
expanding Smithfield's
Water Treatment Plant.
Town Manager Mike Scott
reported to the Town
Council last week that the
massive in-ground tank
(the second of two on the
premises) "will be
operational in March." He
noted that the overall
project, scheduled for
completion by July 2023,
is on budget. The
expansion will increase
the plant's daily
treatment capacity from
its current 6.2-million
gallons to 8.3-million
gallons in anticipation of
residential and commercial
growth headed our way.
WHAT'S
COMING UP?
Smithfield
Pedestrian Plan public
forum next Thursday
Rescheduled
because of recent wintry
weather, the meeting to
get public input into the
development of the plan is
set for 6-7 p.m. at Town
Hall. Here's a
preview>
Little
Theatre's next
show, The
Outsiders, opens
Feb. 18
Back
in business after last
year's COVID-interrupted
season, the Neuse Little
Theatre is presenting the
third show of this,
the 47th season for
the all-volunteer
performing troupe. Details
about The Outsiders – including
show times, ticket
reservations, and
the cast list – are
posted on the NLT
website>
 Smithfield
artist's work
part of new Selma mural
Sue
Avera was one of five
artists invited to produce
paintings to grace
a brick wall on the
side of a commercial
building in the heart of
Uptown Selma. The project,
one of several celebrating
the 50th anniversary of
the Johnston County Arts
Council, focused on the
theme of "Celebrating Love
through Art, Community,
and Culture." Ms. Avera's
panel portrayed music,
using notes and concentric
swirls "to help viewers
visualize healing,
uplifting music being sent
out into the community."
(Arts Council photo)
DEATHS
& FUNERALS
Click
on the name to read an
obituary, usually posted
by the funeral home
ROSA LEE
EVERETTE MARBLEY, 92 –
died February 9
GEORGE A.
JOHNSON, 58 – died
February 6
REV.
BEATRICE REAVES PENNY,
99 – died
February 5
TERI
(TURDIE) CALL PEARCE, 66 –
died February 3
EULEE
JAMES (E.J.)
STEPHENS, 101
– died February 3
FRANCES
McCRACKAN BLILEY, 77 –
died February 1
A
WORD (OR TWO) FROM THE
EDITOR
Extra
half year in office for
mayor, 4 councilmen
Smithfield's
mayor and four of the
seven members of the Town
Council are getting an
extra six months in
office since last
November's municipal
election here was
postponed till May 17 (and
perhaps beyond that).
The immediate blame is the
redistricting lawsuit over
North Carolina's federal
and state legislative
seats. But the root cause
was last year's late
delivery of U.S. Census
results.
The four council seats on
the ballot this time are
elected by residential
districts; therefore,
state policy required
those boundaries to be
reviewed in light of 2020
U.S. Census results that
weren't released to town
officials in time for the
normal filing period for
candidates last July. That
resulted in delaying the
usual November municipal
election until the
statewide Primary
Election, normally held
in March.
Then came the expected
judicial challenge of
state and federal
electoral districts
adopted by the the N.C.
General Assembly's
Republican Party majority.
That has delayed the
Primary Election to
mid-May – if the state's
legislators can come up
with a new districting
plan accepted by N.C.
Supreme Court justices
before the end of this
month.
Meanwhile, Smithfield's
Mayor Andy Moore and
Councilmen David Barbour,
Marlon Lee, Travis Scott,
and David Stevens are
bound to continue serving
out their current terms in
office till early June
(and longer if there's
another election delay).
And that means they'll be
responsible along with the
other three councilmen for
the most important task
facing local elected
officials year in and year
out: crafting the
town's annual
operating budget, which
must be in place before
July 1.
Fortunately there are no
burning financial issues
confronting the town just
now, so things should turn
out OK once all is said
and done. Even so, here's
another example of how
biased redistricting by
the state's legislature
throws a
monkey wrench into
the gears of democracy.
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