Filing ends with 14 running for
school board seats,
8 for county
commissioner seats, 14
for U.S. House
Although
Election Day is almost a
year away, time's up for
candidates who wanted to
be on the ballot. North
Carolina's filing deadline
came at noon last Friday.
That's because the Primary
Election is just two
months away.
Incumbent Johnston
County Board of
Education member Kay
Carroll changed
his mind and filed shortly
before the cutoff after
incumbent Mike Wooten
decided not to seek
re-election. Mr. Carroll
had stated previously that
he would not run since
newly drawn residency
districts for electing
members put him and Mr.
Wooten within the same
district.
Two other
school-board incumbents
– Lyn Andrews and Ronald
Johnson – also
filed for re-election. All
three have opposition in
non-partisan races for
specific seats under the
new residency districts
plan. A fourth seat up for
election has attracted six
candidates since no
incumbent board member
resides in that district.
In all, 14 candidates have
entered the four separate
school-board races. Two of
the four will be among
contests on the ballot for
the March Primary Election
because more than two
candidates are seeking the
seats.
County
Commissioner April
Stephens filed unopposed
while Commissioner Ted
Godwin has opposition in
seeking re-election to
their district seats.
Incumbents Tony Braswell
and Fred Smith chose not
to seek re-election,
opening the door for two
new commissioners. Three
candidates filed for one
of those seats, two for
the other.
Although candidates for
the Board of Education and
the Board of Commissioners
are required to reside in
separate districts,
they'll compete for votes
countywide.
The redrawn 13th
Congressional District,
which includes all of
Johnston County and all or
parts of seven others, has
attracted 13 Republican
Party candidates but only
one Democrat. Among the
Republicans are two
Johnstonians who ran
unsuccessfully for the
seat two years ago: DeVan
Barbour of Federal Road,
Benson and Kelly Daughtry
of Ventasso Drive,
Clayton.
Incumbent U.S.
Representative Wiley
Nickel, a Democrat,
decided against seeking
re-election after the
Republican-controlled
General Assembly redrew
boundaries of the 13th
District to favor GOP
candidates.
The four
Republican incumbents in
the N.C. General
Assembly who
represent all or parts of
Johnston County have filed
for re-election, and all
have opposition –
Representative Larry
Strickland in the March
Primary (with a Democrat
waiting in the wings for
November's General
Election); Representatives
Donna White and Howard
Penny by Democrats in
November's election;
Senator Benton Sawrey by
both a Democrat and a
Libertarian Party
candidate in the General
Election.
While all of Johnston
County constitutes a
single N.C. Senate
district, we're split
among three districts that
vote separately for
members of the N.C. House
of Representatives.
Smithfield is in District
28, presently represented
by Mr. Strickland.
Here's the rundown of all
the candidates in
Johnston's races for
county and district
offices, listed in the
order of their filing:
• For Board of Education,
District 3 – Jason
Shuler of Zacks
Mill Road, Benson;
incumbent Kay
Carroll of
South Lakeside Drive, Four
Oaks. They will compete as
non-partisan candidates in
November's General
Election.
• For Board of Education,
District 4 – Ken
Ramey of David
Circle, Angier;
David Spain
of Wyndham Drive, Garner;
Emily Burke
of Kasey Dee Circle,
Garner; Telia Y.
Virgin of
Willowcroft Court, Garner;
April Lee
of Coaster Court, Angier;
Tasa McGowan
of Glenbrook Court,
Garner. They will be on
the ballot in March's
Primary Election, with the
top two finishers
advancing to November's
election.
• For Board of Education,
District 6 – Rick
Walker of of
Slateford Drive, Clayton;
incumbent Lyn
Andrews of
Hickory Crossroads Road,
Princeton. They will
compete as non-partisan
candidates in November's
General Election.
• For Board of Education,
District 7 – Jeff
Sullivan of
Wedgewood Place, Clayton;
David Marshburn
of Robertson Street,
Clayton; incumbent Ronald
Johnson of
Westminster Drive,
Clayton; Sam
Solmonson of
Lynn Drive, Clayton. They
will be on the ballot in
March's Primary Election,
with the top two finishers
advancing to November's
election.
• For County Commissioner,
District 1 – Bennett
Jones of Hill
Row Lane, Clayton; Michelle
Pace Davis of
Buffalo Road, Clayton; Harold
De Lancey of
Peach Blossom Court,
Clayton. All are
Republicans competing in
the March Primary.
• For County Commissioner,
District 2 – incumbent Ted
G. Godwin of
Hawkins Road, Selma;
Caleb Johnson
of Lowell Mill Road,
Selma. Both are
Republicans competing in
the Primary Election.
• For County Commissioner,
District 4 – Republican
incumbent April
Stephens of NC
50 North, Benson is
unopposed.
• For County Commissioner,
District 6 – Bill
Stovall of
Little Creek Church Road,
Clayton; Tim
Little of Evans
Road, Princeton. Both are
Republicans competing in
the March Primary.
•
For N.C. House of
Representatives, District
28 – Republican Elizabeth
Anne Temple of
Chestnut Drive,
Smithfield; Republican
incumbent Larry
C. Strickland
of Kingston Street, Pine
Level. They will compete
in the March Primary
Election. Democrat Tawanda
Shepard of
Lincoln Street, Benson
will be on November's
General Election ballot.
• For N.C. House of
Representatives, District
26 – Republican incumbent
Donna McDowell
White of Main
Street, Clayton;
Libertarian Kevin
Terrett of
Channel Drop Drive,
Clayton; Democrat Matthew
Wood of
Lightfoot Drive, Clayton.
All three will be on the
General Election ballot in
November.
• For N.C. House of
Representatives, District
58 – Republican incumbent
Howard Penny Jr.
of Coats; Democrat Kevin
G. Thurman of
Old Stage Road, Erwin.
They will compete in
November's General
Election.
• For N.C. Senate,
District 10 – Republican
incumbent Benton
Sawrey of
Riverglade Drive, Clayton;
Democrat Felicia
C. Baxter of
Massey Street, Smithfield;
Libertarian Christopher
Sessions of
Black Angus Drive, Garner.
All three will be on the
General Election ballot in
November.
• For District Court judge
(Johnston, Harnett, and
Lee counties) – Just one
of eight seats up for
election in 2024 is being
contested: incumbent Michael
J. Onufer of
Coats and Brian
E. Lewis of
Sanford – both registered
as Republicans – will
compete for Seat No. 11 in
the March Primary
Election. Unopposed are
incumbent Jason
H. Coats of
Coats Road, Four Oaks for
Seat 4, Jillian
(Jill) Pope of
Dunn for Seat 5, incumbent
Craig James
of Caledonia Lane, Clayton
for Seat 6;
incumbent Terry
F. Rose of
Smithfield for Seat 7,
incumbent Jimmy
Love Jr. of
Sanford for Seat 8,
incumbent Frank
Wood of Benson
for Seat 9, and incumbent
Mary Howard Wells
of Prestwick Drive,
Clayton for Seat 10.
• For U.S. House of
Representatives, District
13 – Republicans Josh
McConkey of
Holly Springs, Chris
Baker of
Zebulon, Eric
Stevenson of
Spring Lake, Kenny
Xu of Raleigh,
Brad Knott
of Raleigh, Fred
Von Canon of
Wake Forest, Siddhanth
Sharma of
Garner, James
Phillips of
Lillington, Matt
Shoemaker of
Kenmore Drive, Clayton, Marcus
Dellinger of
Wendell, DeVan
Barbour of
Federal Road, Benson, David
Dixon of
Garner, and Kelly
Daughtry of
Ventasso Drive, Clayton.
The winner of the Primary
Election (very likely
requiring a runoff) will
face Democrat Frank
Pierce of
Raleigh in November's
General Election.
The Primary Election is
scheduled for Tuesday,
March 5. A second primary,
if necessary (mostly for
statewide and district
contests), is set for May
14.
VISIT the
JoCo Board of Elections
website for additional
information>
Retail
sales up just 1.9% during
year's 3rd quarter
That's
a downturn from the trend
coming out of the COVID
pandemic, which saw sales
jump by a whopping 21.4%
in the third quarter of
2021 and 8.4% a year ago.
Even so, quarterly sales
in Johnston County
continue to climb as
residential growth
continues upward, with a
total of $781,069,934
reported by the N.C.
Department of Revenue for
the months of July,
August, and September – up
almost $14.7 million above
the quarterly total a year
earlier. Of those three
months, August produced
the highest number:
$271,137,825.
The all-time highest
number for a single month
in Johnston County is
$298,986,121 – recorded
last December,
consistently the yearly
peak for retail sales.
Lots
of new plants along
rebuilt Spring Branch
Town
of Smithfield employees,
including Town Manager
Mike Scott and Chloe Allen
of the Planning Department
(shown at work above),
took time at last week's
end to set out more
than a thousand plants
along the reconstructed
banks of Spring Branch and
a new overflow channel
between South Fifth and
Sixth streets.
The list of plantings
includes several varieties
of oak trees along with
cypress, willow, sycamore,
birch, dogwood, and others
plus a variety of grasses
and other smaller plants,
most of them protected by
a 50-foot "do not mow"
zone along the stream beds
– a restriction
accompanying state grants
for the conservation
project from the N.C. Land
and Water Fund.
The recent reconstruction
will require relocation of
the Community Garden from
the south side to the
north side of Spring
Branch near Fifth Street.
Future plans call for a
pedestrian trail through
what amounts to a new town
park.
A
HANDFUL OF CALENDAR
ITEMS:
Winter
Solstice
occurs at 10:27 p.m. today
(Thursday).
Johnston
County Public Schools
closed for the holidays on
Wednesday. Classes will
resume January 3.
January
5 is
deadline to pay
property-tax bills without
interest charges.
With
the plaque commemorating
the 50th anniversary of
Johnston Commmunity
College's radiography
program: Nancy Renfrow,
Natalie Smith, Barbara
Carter, Phil Blackman, Amy
Horne, Wendy Weaver, Ann
Jackson, Jerri Sinclair,
Melodie Batten.
JCC's
radiography program
started 50 years ago
Story & photo from Johnston Community
College
The
Associate Degree in
Radiography program is in
its 50th year – started in
1973 when Johnston
Community College was only
five years old and named
Johnston Technical
Institute.
The program received
preliminary accreditation
that first year, with full
accreditation in 1977,
from the Joint Review
Committee on the Education
of Radiologic
Technologists. The program
has maintained
accreditation ever since.
The
program’s founding
director was Sheila Smith,
who remained at the helm
of the department until
her retirement in 2006.
The program has only had
two directors in the past
five decades. Ann Jackson,
who graduated from the
program in 1994, is the
current director.
JCC’s
radiography program has
maintained a 97% pass rate
on the American Registry
of Radiologic
Technologists National
Certification exam and a
100% job-placement rate
for students over the past
five years. The program
has graduated more than
800 radiographers since
its inception.
DEATHS
& FUNERALS
A
WORD (OR TWO) FROM THE
EDITOR
Social-media
posts raise school-board
tensions
Another
not-so-funny thing
happened during the
closing hour of last
week's monthly meeting of
the Johnston County Board
of Education. Members
debated whether derogatory
Facebook postings
involving board members
ought to be investigated
by board attorneys to see
if they constitute
violations of board
policies.
Sentiments expressed
during that discussion
predictably fell in line
with the 5-2 split on
other divisive matters
that have come before the
board over the past year
or so, with Chair Lyn
Andrews, Kay Carroll,
Kevin Donovan, Terry
Tippett, and Mike Wooten
on one side and Michelle
Antoine and Ronald Johnson
on the other.
Once again things got
tense at times, prompting
Mr. Wooten to voice
outrage over the
proceedings: "I'm sick and
tired of us bringing our
garbage into this board
room and not focusing on
kids," he declared.
Added Mr. Johnson: "We
don't need to be doing
what we're doing right
now."
In the end, the majority
of board members voted not
to pursue most of the
matters at hand any
further (although a
21-minute closed session
at the meeting's end
apparently allowed the
discussion to continue
without any action taken).
And what were they arguing
about? The public watching
last week's meeting had
little to go on, since
copies of documents
pertaining to the issues
being discussed were not
provided as part of the
meeting's published
agenda. Subsequently, the
Weekly Sun
requested those documents
and received electronic
copies over the weekend. For
transparency's sake,
here's the link to what
we got>
And if you want to watch
the YouTube telecast of
what was said during last
week's meeting, follow this
link and advance to the
3:44:50 mark on the
streaming bar>
Meanwhile, The
Charlotte Observer
reported this week that
Johnston County is among
12 public-school systems
across the state that are
joining a lawsuit against
major social-media
companies, contending that
their online platforms are
harming children's mental
health and undermining
classroom performance.
And where are harmful
Facebook posts coming
from? Based on the matters
before Johnston's school
board last week, mostly
from adults. What a shame.
There
wasn't a "Light Up
Smithfield" decorating
contest this year.
And there was no need for
it as more folks than ever
lit up their front yards
with all sorts of creative
displays like this
outburst of color on Davis
Street.
The most famous editorial of them
all?
Handel's
Messiah surely
ranks among the greatest
works of Christmas music
ever written. Admittedly
not as famous yet still
among the highest-rated
newspaper editorials ever
written is Yes,
Virginia, There Is a
Santa Claus.
It's a
family newspaper
tradition to offer it to
our readers every
Christmas>
Subscribers
to this edition: 1,491
MISS
A PREVIOUS EDITION?
You will
find it in the
Weekly Sun
archives>
the SMITHFIELD
WEEKLY SUN
|
