Photo
from County of Johnston
Facebook page
JOHNSTONIANS AID VICTIMS OF WESTERN N.C. FLOODS
Leading
local efforts to collect
much-needed goods for the
victims of Tropical Storm
Helene in the western part
of the state are employees
of the Johnston County
Sheriff's Office and the
county's Emergency
Services Department.
They've been collecting
donations all this week
with an efficient
drive-thru operation
outside their new home in
the Public Safety Center
on US. 70 Business east of
Smithfield.
The
collection station will
remain open 8:30 a.m. till
5 p.m. through Friday of
this week. Most needed items: Bottled water, Non-perishable food, Paper products, Cleaning supplies, Hygiene products, Diapers & baby wipes, Sports drinks, Pet food.
Clothing donations are not being accepted at this time, but monetary donations are welcome, with checks made payable to: County of Johnston Relief Fund, P.O. Box 1049, Smithfield, N.C. 27577. Write "Western NC/Helene"
in the memo line.
According
to the JoCo Report,
the first tractor-trailer
loads of donated goods
pulled out around 5 a.m.
Wednesday, headed to a
staging area in
Hendersonville. "Nearly
seven truckloads were
filled by citizens and
businesses in the first
two days of a week-long
drive," noted the JoCo
Report.
The
County of Johnston posted
this thank-you note on its
Facebook page:
"Special thanks to AirFlow Products (Boswell and Holt Families) for providing trucks, trailers, and drivers for the delivery of four truckloads of donated items from churches, businesses, and Johnston County citizens."
Have we had three months of record
rainfall here?
Cornell
Cox reports that rainfall
measured at his Backyard
Weather Station in South
Smithfield reached 11.29
inches during September.
With 11.51 inches in July
and 7.87 inches in August,
that ads up to 30.67
during the past three
months ("maybe that's some
kind of record!" Mr. Cox
notes) and brings our
year-to-date total to
52.15 – almost as much as
last year's 12-month total
of 53.26 and already
beyond our normal annual
rainfall of 47.75 inches
(according to U.S. Climate
Data).
Tropical Storm
Helene
contributed several inches
to August rainfall here,
but we were spared the
destructive torrential
rains that ruined numerous
communities in North
Carolina's mountains. Even
so, heavy rainfall from
that storm in upper
portions of the Neuse
River Basin have pushed
river-depth readings above
flood stage this week at
Smithfield, with an
expected peak of 16.4 feet
this Saturday, according
to local readings and
projections posted online
by the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric
Administration's Office of
Water Prediction>
Jobless rate unchanged; employment
total down
Johnston
County's unemployment rate
remained at 3.9% in August
despite a drop in the
number of Johnstonians
employed – from a
record-high of 109,661 in
July to 108,236 in August.
That's because the number
filing for jobless
benefits also declined –
from 4,416 in July to
4,384 in August, according
to the latest
county-by-county report
from the N.C.
Department of Commerce.
The number of Johnstonians
employed in August this
year was nearly the same
as the number for
August 2023.
338
Johnston voters getting
two absentee ballots,
but only one will be
counted if both are
returned
From
Johnston County Public
Information Office
The
Johnston County Board of
Elections is contacting
338 voters who, due to a
human processing error,
will likely receive two
absentee ballot packets in
the mail in the coming
days.
Thankfully, because of
ballot-security
protections built into the
election system, only one
of those ballots can be
counted. An error by a
county staff member caused
two mailing labels to be
printed for these voters,
leading to two
absentee-ballot packets
being mailed to them.
Election officials are
contacting the affected
voters and advising them
to destroy and discard one
of the packets and
complete and return the
other.
Even if a voter sends back
two ballots, only the
first one would count.
This is because the bar
codes on the
absentee-ballot envelopes
are specific to each
voter, and the state’s
election management system
will only accept one
ballot for each voter. If
a second ballot for the
same voter is returned,
when the ballot envelope’s
bar code is scanned, the
system will flag the
ballot for rejection.
“This was an unfortunate
mistake, but we identified
it and are immediately
notifying the affected
voters,” said Leigh Anne
Price, Johnston County
elections director. “These
voters will be able to
cast a ballot, and there
is no possibility that
this will affect election
results."
The Johnston County Board
of Elections was able to
determine the total amount
of duplicate packets sent
to voters by manually
sorting through more than
3,000 mailing labels. Ms.
Price has contacted the
N.C. Board of Elections
staff to make them aware
of the situation.
Absentee-ballot
requests falling short
of 2020's numbers
Elections Director
Price reported to the
Weekly Sun on
Tuesday that her office
has mailed 4,501
absentee ballots to
voters who have
requested them.
"Compared to 2020 it is
low," she noted. "We
mailed out over 26,000
absentee ballots in
2020."
The deadline to request
an absentee ballot falls
on October 29, but
election officials are
recommending that voters
act earlier than that to
make sure ballots are
returned by mail to the
Board of Elections
office by 7:30 p.m.
November 5 (Election
Day).
Another reminder: Early
voting in person doesn't
begin until October 17
at nine sites throughout
Johnston County
including the First
Baptist Church Ministry
Center at 125 South
Fourth Street in
Smithfield. That
continues through November
2.
MUCH MORE
INFORMATION on the
Johnston Board of
Elections website>
"Trusted
by families since
1977"
840
S. Bright Leaf Blvd.
• 919-934-7164
• www.carrollpharmacy.com
MEDICARE
OPEN ENROLLMENT BEGINS
OCT. 15. WE CAN HELP!
Town
to quiz Amazon about
trucks using streets
Councilman
Sloan Stevens brought up
the subject as the
Smithfield Town Council
was winding up its
first-Tuesday monthly
meeting this week. He
cited reports of Amazon
trucks coming into town on
Market Street from the
company's new distribution
center and turning onto
Second Street through a
residential area.
He wondered if GPS
satellite-fed navigation
devices are sending the
trucks that way because
it's the shortest route
out of town to the south.
(GPS stands for Global
Positioning System.)
Town Manager Mike Scott
said he would question
Amazon officials about the
situation to see what
could be done to stop the
practice. (Some years ago
the town erected a "No
Trucks" sign above Market
Street for turns onto
South Third.)
"The biggest complaint I
get is our road
situation... potholes and
Amazon trucks!" Councilman
Stevens exclaimed.
Town Manager Scott noted
that repaving of selected
streets with this year's
allocation of state Powell
Bill money is scheduled to
begin October 15.
WHEN
WILL POLICE GET BODY
CAMERAS?
On
another matter, Councilman
Marlon Lee asked when the
town's police officers
would begin using body
cameras to be purchased
with a $124,000 federal
grant announced in
mid-June by Congressman
Wiley Nickel.
"We're currently at the
mercy of the Federal
Government," responded
Town Manager Scott. "They
have not authorized the
draw-down of funds."
TOWN
STANDARDS FOR STREET
LIGHTING?
During
a review of numerous
revisions to the town's
Unified Development
Ordinance (UDO),
Councilman David Barbour
asked why regulations
aren't more specific about
the placement of street
lights in residential
neighborhoods – not only
by the town's Utilities
Department but also by
Duke Energy, which serves
West Smithfield.
Planning Director Stephen
Wensman said he "believes
they are not required" but
said he will review the
town's rules and recent
practices by developers to
clarify exactly how
lighting has been handled
up till now.
That's being added to
several items Mr. Wensman
advised the council to
review before adopting his
staff's proposed ordinance
revisions next month.
Another, he said, is a
suggestion from the
county's Environmental
Health Division to require
residential lots with
septic tanks to be at
least one acre in size. A
summary of the proposed
UDO revisions begins on
page 31 of Tuesday's
council agenda>
PROCLAMATIONS
FOR UPCOMING OBSERVANCES
Mayor
Andy Moore read
proclamations at the
outset of Tuesday's
council session drawing
attention to three
observances:
• Fire Prevention
Week October 6-12.
This year's emphasis is on
smoke alarms and making
plans for escaping one's
residence in case of a
fire.
• Public Power
Week October 6-12.
Smithfield is one of
70-plus municipalities in
the state and 2,000-plus
across that nation that
operate their own
electrical systems.
• National Family
Literacy Day November 1.
Established by
Congress in 1994, this is
an annual event promoted
by the National Daughters
of the American
Revolution.
Tree lighting moved to Friday after
Thanksgiving
The
council approved a request
from the Downtown
Smithfield Development
Corporation and the town's
Parks & Recreation
Department to move the
annual Christmas-tree
lighting event from the
first Thursday in December
to Friday, November 29,
the day after
Thanksgiving.
DSDC Executive Director
Heidi Gilmond said the
move will place that event
the evening before the
nationwide observance of
Small Business Saturday,
which encourages citizens
to "Shop Small" with local
retailers during
Thanksgiving weekend. The
Friday event, she noted,
will begin at noon with
vendors set up on Third
Street beside the Public
Library along with musical
entertainers later on and
the tree lighting in the
library's courtyard with
Santa Claus at 7 p.m.
Because that event and two
others held annually
require prior approval
from the N.C. Department
of Transportation to close
parts of state-maintained
Third and Market streets,
the council adopted an
ordinance scheduling the
tree lighting on its new
November date from now on
while continuing the
Christmas parade on the
second Thursday evening in
December and the Martin
Luther King parade on the
third Saturday in
February.
"Ding,
dong, the witch is dead!"
sing the Munchkins as they
dance around Dorothy
(Hannah Quinlivan) and
Glenda the Good Witch (Ava
Wilson) during last
weekend's performance of The
Wizard of Oz
in the Paul A. Johnston
Auditorium to open the 50th
season of the
all-volunteer Neuse Little
Theatre. (NLT Facebook
photo)
Neuse
Little Theatre has
endured for half a
century
The
wheels were set in motion
when Johnston Community
College hired dramatist
Kathie deNobriga in August
1974 to fill a slot as
"artist in residence."
That October she brought
together a group of
volunteers to organize a
"Johnston County community
theater," which wasted no
time scheduling its first
performance that November.
It was a "reader's
theater" production of
"Spoon River Anthology,"
based on the 1915 verse of
renowned author Edgar Lee
Masters.
The group had given the
name Encore to its
startup, but that was
changed to Neuse Little
Theatre by the time of its
first full-length
production in April 1975.
That was The
Star-Spangled Girl,
one of Neil Simon's
classic comedies. The
NLT's three-member cast:
Myra Laughter Wallace,
Richard Thayer, and Dennis
Griffin.
The Neuse Little Theatre
was off and running.
Oklahoma! – the first
musical – "bloomed
like daffodils'
And
it drew an audience of
2,645 to six performances
presented over two
late-winter weekends in
1976 inside the old
Smithfield High School
auditorium that was
destroyed by fire later
that same year. In her
review of the show, The
Smithfield Herald's
Doris Cannon said the
production "bloomed like
the daffodils."
(Photo below from NLT
scrapbook collection,
Johnston County Heritage
Center)
Oklahoma!
– that's where my
personal story comes
in....
I was sitting in front of
the stage as a member of
the orchestra when Darius
Rose came strolling down
the aisle singing the
opening number, "Oh, What
a Beautiful Mornin'." What
an unforgettable moment.
Darius was one of my
classmates at Smithfield
High back in the 1960s.
Not only has he played
leading roles in several
NLT musicals over the
years; he has also
faithfully assembled
annual scrapbooks since
1975 for safekeeping in
the archives of our
Heritage Center. (That's
where the photo above was
found.)
Others playing leading
roles in Oklahoma! were
Sue Goldstein, Bruce
Johnson, Myra Laughter
Wallace, Tommy Wood, Jim
Penny, and Edna Tart.
Following up that NLT
blockbuster, in April of
'75, was Inherit the
Wind, a powerful
drama built around the
famous 1925 "monkey trial"
about the teaching of
evolution in a Tennessee
school. What made that
particular NLT production
memorable was its setting
– the majestic main
courtroom inside the
Johnston County Courthouse
– where District Court
Judge Yates Dobson
portrayed the bombastic
William Jennings Bryan and
local radio personality
Ned (the Tack) Attayek
played the part of the
unflappable defense
attorney Clarence Darrow.
All that was done under
the direction of Ms.
deNobriga, thanks to the
Community College – which,
by the way, in 1972 had
encouraged its Dean of
Students John Hobart to
shepherd establishment of
the Johnston County Arts
Council.
And so it was appropriate
that the first show of
NLT's 50th season was
staged in the auditorium
at JCC. Last weekend's Wizard
of Oz was a repeat
of a 1998 NLT production
on that same stage.
Next up on the schedule is
Arsenic and Old Lace,
another repeat production
– the first version staged
by NLT in the Smithfield
School auditorium the
night before it burned in
October 1976. How's that
for some historical irony!
CHECK OUT
the full 2024-25 season
on the NLT's website>
WHAT'S COMING
UP
Annual Ava Gardner Festival Downtown
this weekend
This year’s festival features movies, guided tours, and the museum that showcases the life story of the famous movie star, who was born in the Grabtown section of the Brogden community east of town in 1922.
On Friday, take a tour through the museum at 325 East Market Street, then head down to the Neuse River Amphitheater at 6:30 p.m. for food trucks, concessions, and a screening of Pandora and the Flying Dutchman.
Saturday at 9:30 a.m. the Howell Theatre will host a pre-screening talk by Rob Davis,
executive director of River
Run International Film
Festival, followed by a showing of Mogambo, for which Ava earned an Academy Award.
Starting at 1 p.m. Saturday, tours will be offered through Ava’s hometown including a visit to her final resting place. At 5 p.m. back at the museum, Mr. Davis will present a talk about the 100 years of MGM Studios, where Ava worked. Tickets are limited.
On Sunday,
there's "Breakfast at
Ava’s" at
the museum
featuring "The Goddess
Blend," a coffee
designed for Ava
herself, and a screening
of One Touch of
Venus in the
museum’s theater. Seats
are limited, so tickets
should be purchased in
advance. Sunday's event
concludes with a short
documentary film about
Ava.
To purchase
tickets for each
festival event or a
three-day pass, follow
this link>
County
Commissioners will meet
twice on Monday
The
regular first-Monday
sessions of the Johnston
County Board of
Commissioners are
scheduled for 10 a.m. and
6 p.m. Monday at the
Courthouse.
VIEW the
agendas for Monday's
sessions once they're
posted>
School
board's monthly meeting
scheduled Tuesday
The
Johnston County Board of
Education will convene at
4 p.m. with a closed
session followed by the
open business session that
usually begins around 5
p.m. at the Evander S.
Simpson Building on US 70
Business east of
Smithfield.
VIEW the
agenda once it's posted
online>
DEATHS
& FUNERALS
A
WORD (OR TWO) FROM THE
EDITOR
Gasoline prices have defied inflation
in the long run
I've
been recording gasoline
prices paid to fill up my
personal vehicles for many
years now. Most of those
purchases took place at
the same locally owned
convenience store, so it's
a valid historical record
of the ups and downs of
the cost of gasoline in
our neck of the woods.
Let's look at some notable
benchmarks of prices per
gallon over the past 10
years:
October 4, 2014 –
$3.16. That was
down from $3.21 a couple
of weeks earlier. Prices
continued to drop over the
next several months.
February 7, 2015 –
$1.92. Only
time below $2 during that
period – at the end of a
steady decline in prices
over several months.
June 10, 2015 –
$2.66. Back up
in time for the summertime
travel season.
November 24, 2015
– $1.90. More
volatility related to the
worldwide market. After
that low point, prices
remained relatively stable
around $2-$2.50 for
several years.
Let's jump ahead:
April 18, 2020 –
$1.40. Lowest
price I've seen over the
past decade. Didn't last
long as the COVID pandemic
was moving in.
October 13, 2021 –
$3.10. First
time above $3 since 2014.
January 4, 2022 –
$2.50. A
short-lived drop below $3.
May 12, 2022 –
$4.20. In the
aftermath of
Russia's invasion of
Ukraine.
June 8, 2022 –
$4.70. Highest
price I've recorded over
the past decade.
Fortunately, that didn't
last long:
July 21, 2022 –
$3.92. Under $4
once again.
December 12, 2022
– $2.88. Back
under $3 for a short
while.
August 7, 2023 –
$3.60. Another
summertime seasonal peak.
October 1, 2024 –
$2.92. Lower
than what it was 10 years
ago.
Meanwhile, the Consumer
Price Index has gone up
33% over the past 10
years, according to the
U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics.
What will happen to prices
at the pump in the months
just ahead? Your guess is
as good as mine...
Subscribers
to this edition: 1,570
MISS
A PREVIOUS EDITION?
You'll find
it in the Weekly
Sun archives>
the SMITHFIELD
WEEKLY SUN
|
