Stories and photos by WINGATE LASSITER unless credited otherwise
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Marking the 50th anniversary of Vietnam War's end  

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Smithfield eyes 2% electric-rate hike, same tax rate

That's the starting point for the Town Council's deliberations toward adoption later this spring of a budget for fiscal 2023-24, which begins July 1.

Town Manager Mike Scott led the council through two budget sessions this past week, presenting a balanced budget based on minor adjustments in tax and utility rates yet omitting several requests from department heads for new personnel and equipment. Some of those requests are likely to be added to the final budget.

The town's current property-tax rate of 57 cents per $100 valuation will almost certainly remain the same for another year, and the only proposed change in utility rates is a 2% hike for electricity usage by residential and commercial customers of the town's system. (Customers in West Smithfield are facing significant increases in their electric rates if the N.C. Utilities approves what has been requested by Duke Energy, which has served that part of town, originally as Carolina Power & Light Company, long before it was annexed in 1994.)

Manager Scott said the 2% electric-rate increase this year and another 2% hike next year have been recommended by a consultant's rate study. Asked if that might change, Mr. Scott said he doesn't expect an increase in wholesale rates the town pays ElectriCities before April of next year.

While water and sewer rates as well as monthly charges for garbage and trash pickup remain unchanged in the tentative budget, the town manager said that could change if the County of Johnston increases charges for treating Smithfield's wastewater at its sewage plant and "tipping fees" for refuse dumped at the county's landfill.

Among department requests not yet included in the draft budget:
• A list of Police Department wants totaling more than $400,000, including three additional officers, two police cars, and a number of laptop computers.
• Six more firefighters at a total cost of $400,000 along with $900,000 for replacement of a fire engine.
• A $500,000 truck, a $342,400 street sweeper, and two equipment operators costing $120,000 for the new Stormwater Department.
• A couple of trucks for the Sanitation Department costing a total of $350,000.
• For Parks & Recreation, three additions to the maintenance staff at a cost of $102,420 after savings from elimination of a mowing contract.
• $20,100 for software to archive postings from the town's social-media sites.

A source of funding for some of those capital needs could be the town's unused balance of federal ARPA money. Manager Scott reports that $1,330,988 of $4,138,286 coming the town's way is presently uncommitted (it must be spent by the end of 2024). That money – from the American Rescue Plan Act adopted by Congress in response to the coronavirus epidemic – has been used for several capital expenses to date, among them a million-dollar rescue truck for the Fire Department and cost overruns for expanding the Police Department's headquarters.

The Town Council will continue budget deliberations at 7 p.m. Monday at Town Hall. The council's regularly scheduled monthly meeting will follow at 7 p.m. Tuesday (agenda details below, under What's Coming Up?).
 

Town requesting grants for tourism-related projects

At the start of last Thursday's budget session, the Town Council approved a list of capital projects recommended by the Parks & Recreation Department for 50% matching grants to be awarded by the Johnston County Tourism Authority:
• Conversion of two tennis courts at Smithfield Community Park into six Pickleball courts at a cost of $60,000 (grant of $30,000 would be matched by the town).
• Addition of eight benches, six waste receptacles, and two more shade structures for the new trail and expanded splash pad at East Smithfield's Eva Ennis Park at a total cost of $25,700 (matching grant of $12,850).
• Drainage improvements at the Community Park's soccer field and walkway at a total cost of $18,500 (matching grant of $9,250).
 

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The year's "Main Street Champion" for Smithfield

Gloria Brindle (center), who operates The Gilded Pear Brew House on Market Street, was honored as Smithfield's 2022 "Main Street Champion" at the N.C. Main Street Center's annual conference (she's in this photo posted on Facebook with N.C. Secretary of Commerce Machelle Baker Sanders and Kenny Flowers, Assistant Secretary for Rural Economic Development at the N.C. Department of Commerce).

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SHERRON ROOFING AND SHEETMETAL

Call TOM SHERRON to learn
how his crew can help you!
 

919-631-2695 (cell)

919-934-1160 (office)

 

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CORONAVIRUS REPORT

574 new COVID cases here during the past month

The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services reported this week that the total number of COVID cases in Johnston County since the pandemic's start in March 2020 is now 76,158 including 504 deaths. Over the past month Johnston has reported 574 new cases and three more COVID-related fatalities.

Johnston County Public Schools reported Wednesday just nine cases throughout the system: five among students, four among staff. No cases were reported in schools within the Smithfield-Selma attendance district.

The Johnston County Health Department continues to provide COVID-19 vaccines free of charge to the public.
Children age six months to four years who have finished their three-dose, primary series with the monovalent Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccination more than two months ago are now eligible for a single booster dose of the bivalent Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. To schedule a visit, contact the Health Department at 919-989-5200. For more information, visit JohnstonNC.com/Health.
 

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Story & photo from the Gale Healthcare Foundation

Foundation offering nursing scholarships at JCC

As the nursing shortage crisis looms in North Carolina, some Johnston Community College students are getting a special gift to encourage them to stay on track and finish their nursing degrees.

The Gale Healthcare Foundation is making $30,000 in scholarships available to help nursing students cover the cost of tuition and expenses, and giving an additional $7,000 toward nurses aides scholarships at JCC. The donation comes at a critical time – with more than a third of North Carolina nurses saying they’re burned out from the pandemic – and a projected statewide shortage of 17,500 nurses by 2033.  

 

“With the nursing industry in crisis, we’re doing everything we can to inspire students to start and finish a career in nursing," said JCC President Vern Lindquist. 

Gale Healthcare Foundation is a national non-profit organization that has special ties to the local community. Its founder, Tony Braswell, grew up in Johnston County, working on his family’s tobacco farm. After college at East Carolina University, he spent a career in health care and in 2016 launched a health-care technology company called Gale.

Often called the "Uber of Nursing," Gale connects health-care providers to nurses who accept open shifts. Nurses use an app to choose when and where they work and get paid the same day. Gale now operates in 40 states with more than 60,000 nursing professionals nationwide.

Mr. Braswell started the Gale Healthcare Foundation in 2022, committing more than half-a-million dollars to help nursing students, with a goal to raise a total of $1 million for nursing education in two years.

In addition to the JCC scholarships, nursing students have until April 15 to apply for individual scholarships at GaleHealthcareFoundation.org. The foundation will open up another round of scholarships again this fall. Both nursing and certified nursing assistant students are eligible.
 

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SMITHFIELD-SELMA HIGH SCHOOL Principal's List, Honor Roll
posted for second nine-week grading period>
 

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HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS REPORT

Smithfield-Selma girls' soccer team gets a win

The SSS girls' soccer team is 2-3 in Quad County 3-A Conference play, 4-6 overall, after a 5-0 win at home versus Southern Wayne last Friday and a 6-0 loss at C.B. Aycock on Monday. Senior Emily Stuckey scored three goals for the Spartans in Friday's win; freshmen Jana Olaya and Layla Jones scored one goal apiece.

The boys' baseball team is 2-7 after four losses this past week: 13-0 at home versus Southern Wayne last Friday, 7-1 at Cleveland High on Saturday, 25-0 at home versus Rolesville on Monday, and 9-3 at C.B. Aycock on Tuesday.

The girls' softball team is winless in 13 starts, including two losses this past week: 26-1 versus Southern Wayne last Friday and 23-0 at C.B. Aycock on Tuesday.
 

Neuse Charter girls' soccer gets two conference wins

The Cougar girls' soccer team is 3-1 in Carolina 1-A Conference play, 5-3 overall, after a 4-2 defeat at home versus Hobbton last Thursday, a 4-0 win at Rosewood on Tuesday, and a 5-0 triumph at home versus Lakewood on Wednesday. (Individual statistics for those matches have not been posted on MaxPreps.)

The boys' baseball team is 1-7 after two losses this past week: 12-4 at home versus Hobbton last Thursday and 11-3 at Rosewood on Tuesday. Sophomore Alex Candes had three hits for the Cougars in Thursday's game; freshman Sam Christian and sophomore Connor Phillips each got two hits.
 

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WHAT'S COMING UP?

First of two Easter egg hunts at Community Park Sunday

The Town of Smithfield, partnering with The Bridge Church, will host an Easter egg hunt for children ages 3-12 at 3 p.m. this Sunday at Community Park. A second children's hunt is set for 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, April 8 at Smith-Collins Park.

Neuse Little Theatre's 175th show opens this weekend

Things My Mother Taught Me, a comedy, will be presented at 8 p.m. this Friday and Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday, and 8 p.m. April 7-8 (Friday and Saturday) at The Hut on Front Street by the river. For ticket information and a cast list, visit the NLT website>

County Commissioners will consider sewer policy Monday

The draft of a new Wastewater Allocation Policy is on the agenda for Monday's 10 a.m. session of the Johnston County Board of Commissioners at the Courthouse. The proposed policy would put a limit of 60% on its sewage-treatment capacity for the four towns it serves – Smithfield, Selma, Four Oaks, and Pine Level – and would reserve 200,000 gallons per day "for potential Economic Development projects."
VIEW the complete agenda for Monday's morning session>
Only one public hearing is scheduled for the 6 p.m. session – on a request to remove 15.47 acres in Cleveland Township from a designated Environmentally Sensitive Area. That will leave considerable time for commissioners to resume discussion about the county's revised Land Use Plan awaiting the board's approval.
VIEW the complete agenda for Monday's evening session>

Town Council will get Parks and Recreation plan Tuesday

The Smithfield Town Council will hear a presentation on a new Parks and Recreation Comprehensive Master Plan during its regular monthly meeting that begins at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Town Hall. Also on the agenda are public hearings on the closing of an alley between Massey and Johnston streets from South Sixth to Seventh, an ordinance amendment to allow two accessory structures per residential lot, and addition of a Comprehensive Pedestrian Plan to the Smithfield Town Plan.
VIEW the complete agenda for Tuesday's meeting>

 

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a public service announcement

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DEATHS & FUNERALS

Click on the name to read an obituary, usually posted by the funeral home

ELEANOR RUTH STEVENS, 77 – died March 25

EDNA SOUTHERLAND PEEDIN JACKSON, 94 – died March 24

RITCHIE HALE MATTHEWS, 67 – died March 22

KIMBERLY DEANNA NORRIS, 50 – died March 22

ALICE BLACKMON MOORE, 85 – died February 15
 

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A WORD (OR TWO) FROM THE EDITOR

Vietnam veterans are thanked for their sacrifice

Wednesday's gathering at the Courthouse to honor veterans of the Vietnam War was a most appropriate event – not just because March 29 was the 50th anniversary of the exit of U.S. military forces from that devastated country, but mostly because it offered a big "thank you" to the Americans who dutifully answered their nation's call to arms amidst controversial circumstances.

Yes, they were scorned by the folks back home – many of them personally –  upon their return. But that was misdirected disdain. The protests against that war shouldn't have been directed at soldiers. What was wrong with the Vietnam War was a miscalculation of purpose and outcome by the nation's political powers-that-be.

This was my generation that suffered as a result. Personally, I was able to join the Army Reserve (as an infantryman) – a duty that spared me from the horrors of combat in those Asian jungles. But I'll never get over the feeling of watching some of the young men I trained with heading to Vietnam when many of us in the Reserve and the National Guard were able to come home unscathed.

Thank God none of my Smithfield friends who served in that war are listed on the Vietnam Wall in Washington. But I still grieve for all those whose names do appear there. You could say it about any war, but this one was particularly tragic in its wasting of so many young lives.
 

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