Early voting sets an opening-day
turnout record
Both
Johnston County and North
Carolina saw a record
turnout last Thursday, the
first day of early voting
in this year's General
Election. Leigh Anne
Price, Johnston's director
of elections, said 9,714
Johnstonians cast ballots
at nine early-voting sites
which are now open
Monday-Saturday through
November 2. VIEW the
list here>
Last Thursday's turnout
was the peak during the
first three days of early
voting, followed by 8,247
on Friday and 4,669 on
Saturday, Ms. Price noted.
Through Wednesday of this
week, 43,453 of Johnston's
161,884 registered voters
have cast their ballots.
North
Carolina as a whole had
353,166 early voters turn
out last Thursday,
breaking the previous
record of 348,559 set in
2020.
Meanwhile, fewer absentee
ballots are being sent out
by Johnston's Board of
Elections compared to the
record number during the
COVID pandemic in 2020.
"We have mailed out 7,747
absentee ballots," Ms.
Price reported this
morning (Thursday). "We
sent out over 26,000 in
2020."
The deadline for
requesting absentee
ballots is 5 p.m. next
Tuesday (October 29). They
must be returned by mail
or in person to the Board
of Elections office in
Smithfield by 5 p.m.
November 5 (Election Day).
VISIT the
office's website
here>
EPA chief
makes campaign stop in
Smithfield for Harris
Michael
Regan, administrator of
the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, stopped
by the Johnston County
Democratic Party's
headquarters in West
Smithfield Tuesday
afternoon during a
campaign swing through
Eastern North Carolina for
Presidential candidate
Kamala Harris.
A native of nearby
Goldsboro, Mr. Regan
served as secretary of the
N.C. Department of
Environmental Quality
during Governor Roy
Cooper's first term in
office. He became the
first African-American man
to head the EPA when
President Joe Biden
appointed him in 2021.
Among the party faithful
who came by to greet him
Tuesday was Felicia Baxter
(with Mr. Regan in the
photo above), She
is this year's Democratic
candidate for state
senator representing the
10th District, which
includes all of Johnston
County.
Tuesday's celebration of the name change at
the club's new home in
Selma was well attended
(only a portion of the
large gathering is
visible in this scene).
My
Kid's Club affiliated as
a Boys & Girls Club
again
It
started out in 2006 as a
branch of the Boys &
Girls Club of Wayne County
but severed those ties in
2019 and renamed itself as
the independent My Kid's
Club. Now it has
established ties with Boys
& Girls Clubs of Wake
County – and carries the
label Boys & Girls
Club of Johnston County as
part of a national
network.
Headquartered
in brand-new quarters –
the SECU Community
Clubhouse beside Selma
Elementary School and its
playground – the Johnston
County branch continues to
run an after-school
program at South
Smithfield Elementary in
addition to its principal
operations in Selma.
Kourtney Whitley was
recently employed as the
club's director.
The clubhouse, completed
last year, was built with
donations to replace an
older structure (once part
of the elementary school
next door) that was ruined
by Hurricane Matthew in
2016. The State Employees
Credit Union (SECU)
Foundation was a major
contributor to that
project with a challenge
grant of $500,000. Another
$665,000 came as a federal
grant from USDA Rural
Development.
SSS celebrates homecoming in
spectacular fashion
And
if the Spartan band's
elaborate halftime show
wasn't enough (shown
above),
Smithfield-Selma High's
football team surprised
just about everyone not
only by winning its first
game in two seasons but
doing so by the astounding
score of 61-18!
Two years ago, SSS enjoyed
its best football season
in more than two decades
when the Spartans won nine
of 11 games and finished
tied with Wayne County's
C.B. Aycock High atop the
Quad County 3-A
Conference. After the
departure of Coach Deron
Donald, who had led SSS to
17 victories over two
consecutive seasons before
moving on to Garner High
School, the Spartans were
0-10 last year and 0-7
this season prior to
Friday's Homecoming game
against Southern Wayne.
Stanley Williams, a SSS
alumnus who played
football here, took over
the Spartans' head
coaching job this fall
after Coach Donald's
initial replacement didn't
return for a second
season. READ a
report on the Homecoming
victory posted on
MaxPreps>
Meanwhile, the
award-winning SSS Marching
Spartans look like another
winner as they move into
seasonal competition with
other high-school bands.
Brian Jones is in his 22nd
year directing the SSS
band program.
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WHAT'S COMING
UP
African-American
scholar at Johnston
Museum Saturday
Clayton
native Crystal R. Sanders,
an award-winning scholar of
20th Century American
history who's an Associate
Professor of
African-American Studies at
Emory University, is coming
to the Johnston County
Museum at 11 a.m. this
Saturday to discuss and sign
copies of her new book
entitled A Forgotten
Migration: Black
Southerners, Segregation
Scholarships, and the Debt
Owed to Public HBCUs.
Operated as an extension of
the Johnston County Heritage
Center, the museum is housed
in the former Roses store
building at 329 E. Market
Street in Downtown
Smithfield.
Town plans two Halloween events for
children this weekend
The
town's Parks &
Recreation and Police
departments will host a
"Boo Bash" Halloween party
geared for youngsters ages
3-13 from 4:30 till 6:30
p.m. Friday
at the Sarah Yard
Community Center at 909 E.
Lee Street (beside
Smith-Collins Park).
Activities include games,
food, crafts, and a
costume contest.
The departments will host
a "Trunk or Treat" event
from 10:30 a.m. till 12:30
p.m. Saturday
at Smithfield Community
Park, with goodies
provided by pre-registered
organizations and
businesses.
Trick-or-treating
throughout Smithfield
is limited by town
ordinance to the hours of
5-8 p.m. on Halloween
(next Thursday).
"Heart of Smithfield" mural's
ribbon-cutting next
Wednesday
Downtown
Smithfield's latest mural
graces the east wall of
the former Roses store
building at the corner of
Fourth and Market streets.
Finished earlier this
month, the mural's
completion will be
celebrated at 4 p.m.
Wednesday (October 30).
DEATHS
& FUNERALS
A
WORD (OR TWO) FROM THE
EDITOR
"Ham & Yam" not quite appropriate
for us anymore
Smithfield's
Ham & Yam Festival
surely put our community
on the map of intriguing
Tar Heel places to visit.
It was launched in 1985
when Johnston County Hams
and four other producers
of country hams were
operating within the
county's borders and we
were the No. 1
sweet-potato producer
among North Carolina's 100
counties.
We no longer have those
bragging rights. The only
country-ham producer we've
got today is Stevens
Sausage, and we've been
outpaced in sweet-potato
production by several
other counties – the
state's top three now
listed as neighboring
Wilson and Nash along with
Edgecombe, according to
the cover story in the
November edition of Our
State magazine.
Not only that, but there's
a long-standing North
Carolina Yam Festival,
which is hosted the last
Saturday in October by
Tabor City down in
Columbus County near the
South Carolina border.
(That's this weekend.)
All that points to a
reassessment of
Smithfield's annual
festival, which certainly
ought to be continued but
perhaps more fittingly
named. Our event comes up
the first Saturday in May
each year. Coincidentally,
that's close to the date
on Smithfield's municipal
charter: May 9, 1777.
That's a logical starting
point for thinking up a
new name for our yearly
festival as we head toward
the town's 250th birthday
in 2027.
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