Championship
show horses bred and
trained here
Brian
Bell is shown on Crystalized
Whizkey, the horse
he rode to victory in
National Reining Horse
Association competition in
December. He recently came
to his family's ranch on
Smithfield's Brogden Road
to lead a clinic on horse
reining that was attended
by riders and trainers
from several states. Old
Bell Ranch is becoming
well known as a place
where championship show
horses may be bred and
trained.
READ Susan
Lassiter's story about
it on this edition's
FEATURE PAGE>
Photo
above provided by George
Bell
What
will be priorities in
crafting next town
budget?
Suggestions
include major repairs
to streets and
pipelines
Smithfield's
Town Manager Mike Scott
had requested Tuesday's
extra session of the Town
Council to start
deliberations leading to
adoption of a town budget
for fiscal 2024-25. It
turned out to a time for
"brain storming" as
council members voiced
preferences for issues to
be addressed in the year
ahead.
Mr. Scott kicked off the
discussion by recommending
a comprehensive study of
salaries for town
employees. He noted that a
study conducted by an
independent consultant
hasn't been done for the
town since 2019, even
though the council
approved significant pay
raises, especially for
police officers, last
year.
Other items on his list
for budgetary discussion
included street and
sidewalk repairs,
storm-water drainage
problems, expansion of
parks, and enlargement of
other facilities including
Town Hall and the Public
Works complex. "Every
building we have: space
outgrown," the town
manager declared.
Council members added
numerous other concerns to
his list:
• Councilman David Barbour
suggested moving to
full-time "in house" legal
services and employment of
a grant writer and
administrator.
• Councilman Sloan Stevens
listed cleaning up street
signs, re-doing the Town
Hall's parking lot, adding
a dog park in West
Smithfield, removing and
replacing street-side
Bradford pear trees, and
offering grants to recruit
and retain restaurants.
• Councilman Roger Wood
proposed a park for
skating. "I've had several
requests for that," he
said, noting these are
heavily used in other
nearby communities.
• Councilman John Dunn
asked for stepped-up
maintenance of
Smithfield's "entryways" –
especially more frequent
mowing of grass in the
medians along Durwood
Stephenson Parkway.
• Mayor Andy Moore
advocated a massive
project to replace
deteriorating water and
sewer lines. "Our pipes in
the ground are not getting
any better," he said. "It
is not going to be cheap,"
but it needs to be done,
he added.
Councilman Steve Rabil was
also present at Tuesday's
session; Councilmen Marlon
Lee and Travis Scott were
absent.
Town Manager Scott said
his goal is to put
together a "draft" budget
by the end of February
that's based on priorities
voiced by council members
as well as requests from
department heads. The
council is obliged to
adopt a new budget by July
1, the start of the next
fiscal year for Town
Government.
Here's a portion of
recently completed
townhouses in the East
River subdivision
straddling Buffalo Road
just north of Durwood
Stephenson Parkway.
Moratorium
on additional townhouses
in Smithfield?
During
last week's lengthy Town
Council hearing on a
rezoning request for
another large subdivision
off Buffalo Road, the
petitioners were asked if
they had considered
attached townhouses rather
than detached
single-family residences
on lots half the size of
what's presently permitted
there.
"The first thought was to
go in here and just do
townhouses," said Glenn
Weeks of Adams & Hodge
Engineering, employed to
plan the subdivision under
consideration. But the
town's planning staff, he
said, responded to that
idea with: "Absolutely not
– we don't want any of
that stuff on this side of
the river."
Mayor Andy Moore
reaffirmed the staff's
position. "With what we
have and what we have
proposed," he said, "I
don't think it (another
townhouse project) would
have gone anywhere." (The
council at end of last
week's hearing asked the
petitioners to come back a
month from now with a
revised plan addressing a
number of concerns,
especially the proposed
size of building lots.)
So, what's the status of
townhouse projects already
in the works for
Smithfield? Here's a
rundown based on the
latest report from Stephen
Wensman, the town's
planning director:
East River,
Buffalo Road –
65 townhouses, all of them
finished and apparently
occupied on the east side
of Buffalo Road (triplexes
on the west side are under
construction).
Floyd Landing, US
70 Business West
– 220 townhouses (plus 89
single-family houses).
Preparation of the site
across from the Amazon
warehouse has begun for
the stand-alone dwellings;
lots are ready for 75
townhouses in a subsequent
phase.
Franklin Townes,
Wilson's Mills Road
– 134 townhouse lots
approved, with streets and
other amenities including
a playground now in place.
Marin Woods, NC
210 – 94
townhouses (plus 49
single-family units).
Construction of a couple
of single-family houses
along with overall site
preparation has begun.
Harvest Run, NC
210 – 69
townhouses (plus 96
single-family units). This
project "appears to be on
hold," reported Mr.
Wensman.
Whitley Townes,
West Market Street
– 68 townhouses beside
the abandoned Heilig-Meyers
and K-mart shopping plaza;
no construction activity
observed so far.
Woodleaf
– a proposed
subdivision with 2,005
residences including 691
townhouses between US 70
Business and Brogden Road
east of I-95 – won the
Town Council's approval in
2022, but that project has
not moved forward.
Meanwhile, the county's
Inspections Department
reports 295 permits were
issued for townhouses
throughout Johnston in
2023 – up from 136 the
previous year. At the same
time, the number of
permits for single-family
houses declined from 2,232
in 2022 to 1,612 this past
year, according to the JoCo Report.
Marcia
Armstrong gets state
Professionalism Award
Honored
for her recent
leadership of the N.C.
State Bar
Smithfield
attorney Marcia Armstrong
was one of four recipients
of the 2023 Chief
Justice's Professionalism
Award – presented by N.C.
Supreme Court Chief
Justice Paul Newby at a
joint dinner of the N.C.
State Bar and the N.C. Bar
Association. (Photo on
the right provided by
the Armstrong family)
This past year Mrs.
Armstrong served as
president of the N.C.
State Bar, the government
agency responsible for
regulation of the legal
profession in North
Carolina.
Here's the published
announcement of her
Professionalism Award:
Marcia Armstrong (“Marci”) is a partner in The Armstrong Law Firm,
P.A., in Smithfield,
North Carolina. She was
admitted to practice in
1983 after receiving her
B.A. in 1980 from Salem
College and her J.D.
from Wake Forest
University in 1983. She
has also served as an
adjunct professor of law
for the UNC School of
Law.
Armstrong’s practice is
limited to family law.
In 1989, she was
certified by the North
Carolina State Bar as a
specialist in Family
Law. She has been a
Fellow in the American
Academy of Matrimonial
Lawyers since 1993 and
is a past president of
the North Carolina
Chapter. Armstrong has
appeared in trial courts
throughout eastern North
Carolina.
"My desire is always to
model professionalism
and in doing so to
hopefully have a
positive influence on
all attorneys,
especially young
attorneys," said
Armstrong. "I believe
that you can be an
effective lawyer and at
the same time a kind
person and that our
justice system works
best when the parties,
counsel, judge, and
court staff are treated
with respect and
dignity."
On Sunday, February 12,
2023, Armstrong was the
first lawyer in North
Carolina to file using
the court’s new eFiling
system. The next day she
sent a statewide message
of encouragement to the
members of the Bar
urging them to "embrace
eCourts with patience,
grace and resilience"
and reminding the Bar to
"personally thank the
clerks and their staff
for their tireless
efforts."
During her term as State
Bar President, Armstrong
was instrumental in
establishing the Access
to Justice Committee
tasked with studying the
lack of lawyers in small
rural communities. On
August 31, 2023, the
North Carolina State Bar
and the Chief Justice’s
Commission on
Professionalism hosted a
Legal Desert Summit at
the State Bar building
in Raleigh led by Chief
Justice Newby and
herself. The summit
brought interested
parties to the table to
share their experiences,
concerns, frustrations,
success stories, and
ideas on this prevalent
topic.
The
other recipients of the
2023 Chief Justice's
Professionalism Award are
Superior Court Judge Jim
Ammons of Cumberland
County, District Court
Judge Ashleigh Parker of
Wake County, and Charlotte
attorney Richard Vinroot.
Another slight drop in total employed
in December
The
N.C. Department of Commerce
reports that 108,497
Johnston County residents
were employed in December –
a reduction from 108,862 in
November. Even so, the
jobless rate declined from
3.1% to 2.9% as the number
of unemployed Johnstonians
dropped from 3,520 to 3,256.
The statewide jobless rate
for December was 3.2% while
the national rate held
steady at 3.7%.
New
year starts out with a
normal month's
rainfall
January
brought us 3.9 inches of
rain, according to Cornell
Cox's Backyard Weather
Station in South
Smithfield. With our
average annual rainfall
calculated at 47.75 by U.S. Climate
Data, January's
total puts us right on
schedule for a normal
year. Of course, that's no
guarantee it'll stay that
way through the rest of
2024. Last year's total
was a hefty 53.26 inches,
thanks to 5.91 inches in
December.
WHAT'S COMING UP
County
Commissioners will
convene twice next
Monday
•
The Johnston County Board
of Commissioners will get
a report from Neuse
Charter School during its
10 a.m. session Monday at
the Courthouse. Also, the
board will be asked to
establish a committee to
join a national effort to
make plans for celebrating
the 250th anniversary of
the United States. VIEW the
complete agenda here>
•
The board will get several
updates on state and local
transportation planning at
its 6 p.m. session. Also
to be received are updates
on Public Utilities
capital projects and
Johnston Community
College's master plan. VIEW the
complete agenda here>
Town
Council to consider
higher development fees
Tuesday
The
Smithfield Town Council
will conduct a public
hearing on proposed
increases in one-time
water and sewer "system
development fees" when it
meets at 7 p.m. Tuesday at
Town Hall. The council
will also receive an
auditor's report on town
finances for the fiscal
year that ended last June
30. The council will be
asked to approve the
purchase of a new fire
engine at a cost
approaching $900,000
spread over three budget
years. VIEW the
complete agenda for next
Tuesday's meeting>
Postponed
Narcan training at Ag
Center next Wednesday
The
Community Narcan Training
session that was postponed
this past month because of
the weather will be held
next Wednesday from 3 to 5
p.m. at the Johnston
County Agricultural Center
on NC 210 west of
Smithfield. Hosted by the
Johnston County Opioid
Task Force assisted by the
Selma Police Department,
the training is open to
anyone free of charge. For
more information, call
919-989-5200.
DEATHS
& FUNERALS
A
WORD (OR TWO) FROM THE
EDITOR
Are
we getting our money's
worth from taxes?
Of
course not, say a majority
of Americans, according to
a recent national poll reported
this week by the Associated
Press:
A
majority of taxpayers
feel they pay too much
in taxes, with many
saying that they receive
a poor value in
return.... Two-thirds of
U.S. taxpayers say they
spend "too much" on
federal income taxes....
About 7 in 10
say the same about
local property taxes,
while roughly 6 in 10
feel that way about
state sales tax....
The poll found that few
U.S. adults
have a high level of
confidence that the
institutions that
ultimately use their tax
dollars — whether the
federal government or
local school districts —
spend those taxes in the
best interest of "people
like them." But people
tend to trust governing
bodies closer to home
with their tax dollars
slightly more: 16% are
extremely or very
confident in their local
school district,
compared to 6% for the
federal government.
Part of the explanation
for that is a general
distrust of our
traditional institutions,
reputable and responsible
news media included. As a
result, many folks aren't
keeping up with how their
tax dollars are actually
being spent.
Despite the AP's
discouraging report, a
primary focus of the
Smithfield Weekly Sun
will continue to be the
fiscal decisions of our
local governing boards.
That's especially
important during the weeks
just ahead of us when
those boards will put
together their budgets for
fiscal year 2024-25, which
starts July 1.
And so we will "soldier
on" with high hopes that
readers will pay attention
– and let their elected
representatives at the
local level know how they
feel about decisions being
made. Toward that end,
here are online
directories for contacting
those who represent us at
the municipal and county
level:
SMITHFIELD
TOWN COUNCIL>
JOHNSTON
COUNTY BOARD OF
COMMISSIONERS>
JOHNSTON
COUNTY BOARD OF
EDUCATION>
Yes,
indeed, it is a "ratty
flag"
Ernie
Allsbrook, a past
commander of Smithfield's
American Legion Post 132,
sent me an e-mail three
weeks ago along with a
photo of what he termed a
"ratty flag" flying
outside the Smithfield
Post Office.
It's the second time he
has brought this matter to
my attention during the
past year – after getting
no satisfaction from the
local office in response
to his complaint.
Wednesday afternoon I went
by the P.O. to see if the
flag had been replaced.
Nope. It's still "ratty,"
as you can see from the
photo I took.
It's the POW-MIA flag
that's tearing apart in
the breeze beneath Old
Glory. To be sure they're
not that hard to find and
replace, especially for a
federal agency.
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