NEXT TUESDAY IS ELECTION DAY
Early voting is ahead of 2020's
record turnout
Through Wednesday of this week,
76,723 Johnston County
residents had cast their
ballots at early-voting
sites. Added to that are
3,272 whose absentee
ballots have been returned
and accepted by the
county's Board of
Elections. That total of
79,995 exceeds the 75,428
who had voted at this
point prior to Election
Day in 2020.
Johnston County now has
164,309 registered voters,
and more will likely be
added before Election Day
since registration is
still allowed at the
early-voting sites. The
new total is more than
20,000 above the 143,704
registered to vote in
2020, when 110,824
Johnstonians cast ballots.
You've got three more
days to vote before
Election Day
at any of Johnston
County's nine early-voting
sites including
Smithfield's First Baptist
Church Ministry Center.
Those sites are open from
8 a.m. till 7:30 p.m.
today and tomorrow
(Thursday and Friday) and
8 a.m. till 3 p.m.
Saturday, the last day of
early voting.
The
polls will be open from
6:30 p.m. till 7:30 p.m.
on Election Day next
Tuesday.
VIEW the
list of Johnston
County's polling places
with their addresses>
Results of the voting in
Johnston will be posted on the Board
of Elections website
as soon as precinct
returns are reported to
the local office after the
polls close Tuesday.
VIEW the
complete SAMPLE BALLOT
for voters residing in
Smithfield precincts>
VIEW basic
information about
candidates in county and
district contests as
well as county bond
issues for Johnston's
public schools and
community college>
Numerous
local candidates have no
opposition
Presidential
election years turn out
record numbers of voters
not only to choose the
nation's top executive but
also a large number of
state and local officers.
And yet, next Tuesday's
election will set what may
be a Johnston County
record for the number of
candidates on the ballot
who are unopposed:
For County
Commissioner –
All four seats up for
election this year have
just one candidate listed
on the ballot: incumbents
Ted Godwin and April
Stephens, recently
appointed board member
Bill Stovall, and newcomer
Michelle Pace Davis, who
will replace retiring
Commissioner Fred Smith in
December. All are
Republicans.
For District Court
Judge –
Unopposed are incumbents
Jason H. Coats, Craig
James (the only registered
Democrat in the group),
Terry F. Rose, Jimmy Love
Jr., Frank Wood, and Mary
Howard Wells along with
newcomers Jillian
(Jill) Pope, who will
succeed retiring Judge
Resson O. Faircloth, and
Brian E. Lewis, who
defeated incumbent Judge
Michael Onufer in the
Republican Primary.
Also unopposed on the
local ballot is incumbent
Charles Hill for a
non-partisan seat on the
Board of Supervisors of
the Johnston Soil and
Water Conservation
District.
How Johnston County has
voted for
President:
1960-2020 |
 |
1960
John F. Kennedy
(D)
9,914 (59.8%)
Richard M. Nixon
(R)
6,660 (40.2%)
1964
Lyndon B. Johnson
(D) 10,326
(57.9%)
Barry Goldwater
(R)
7,523 (42.1%)
1968
George
Wallace
9,212 (45.0%)
Richard M. Nixon
(R)
6,764 (33.1%)
Hubert Humphrey
(D)
4,492 (21.9%)
1972
Richard M. Nixon
(R)
14,172 (79.1%)
George McGovern
(D)
3,488 (19.5%)
1976
Jimmy Carter
(D)
10,301 (54.6%)
Gerald Ford
(R)
8,511 (45.1%)
1980
Ronald Reagan
(R)
10,444 (51.3%)
Jimmy Carter
(D)
9,601 (47.1%)
1984
Ronald Reagan
(R)
16,210 (67.4%)
Walter Mondale
(D)
7,833 (32.6%)
1988
George Bush
(R)
15,563 (64.1%)
Michael Dukakis
(D)
8,717 (35.9%)
|
1992
George Bush
(R)
15,418 (48.7%)
Bill Clinton
(D)
11,284 (35.7%)
Ross
Perot
4,939 (15.6%)
1996
Bob Dole
(R)
18,260 (57.8%)
Bill Clinton
(D)
11,155 (35.3%)
2000
George W. Bush
(R)
26,744 (66.3%)
Al Gore
(D)
13,579 (33.7%)
2004
George W. Bush
(R)
36,224 (68.2%)
John Kerry
(D)
16,733 (31.5%)
2008
John McCain
(R)
43,622 (61.4%)
Barack Obama
(D)
26,795 (37.7%)
2012
Mitt Romney
(R)
48,202 (63.3%)
Barack Obama
(D)
27,052 (35.5%)
2016
Donald J. Trump
(R)
54,372 (63.3%)
Hillary Clinton
(D)
28,362
(33.0%)
2020
Donald J. Trump
(R)
68,353 (61.4%)
Joseph R. Biden
(D)
41,257 (37.0%)
|
Five have applied for county commissioner
vacancy
Their
names won't be on the
ballot in next week's
election. Instead, the
winner will be chosen by
the six current members of
the Johnston County Board
of Commissioners – in time
to take office in December
when the board is
reconstituted with one
other new member as a
result of Tuesday's
election.
The vacancy arose earlier
this month with the
conviction of Commissioner
Dickie Braswell on a
felony charge of taking
indecent liberties with a
minor. Mr. Braswell was
not up for re-election
this year. His appointed
successor, who must be a
Republican and a resident
of Mr. Braswell's
district, will serve the
two years remaining on his
term in office.
The five who submitted
applications for the
appointment by last
Friday's deadline:
Jason
Barbour of
Four Oaks is a real-estate
who was a candidate for
the Johnston County Board
of Education in 2018.
James
Gathers Jr. of
Four Oaks is a former head
custodian at East Clayton
Elementary and West
Smithfield Elementary
schools. He retired in
2009.
Kimberly
Kornegay LeQuire of
Princeton is a wife,
mother, and small-business
owner associated with
Kornegay Family Farms and
Produce.
Michael
David Rose of
Princeton has been a
member of the Princeton
Town Board since 2014 and
is currently its Mayor Pro
Tem. He is the owner of
Quickshirts, Inc. and a
former teacher in Johnston
County schools.
Stephen
Woodard Jr. of
Four Oaks is a retired
attorney who's a former
president of the Johnston
County Bar Association.
Former
County Commissioners'
Chairman Chad Stewart of
Four Oaks also applied for
the appointment but withdrew
his name prior to Friday's
deadline. He resigned his
commissioner seat in 2021 to
begin his current job as
general manager of Johnston
County's Alcoholic Beverage
Control (ABC) system.
Ousted Commissioner Braswell
was appointed to succeed Mr.
Stewart and subsequently
elected without opposition
to a four-year term in 2022.
SMITHFIELD'S MURAL AMONG FIRST IN A STATEWIDE
ENDEAVOR
Leaders
of the Downtown Smithfield
Development Corporation
gathered Wednesday afternoon
for a ribbon-cutting to mark
completion of the "Heart of
Smithfield" mural painted on
the Fourth Street side of
the old Roses store building
on Market Street.
Max
Dowdle – shown here (on
the left) with Allen
Wellons, whose family owns
the building – was the lead
artist for the project. He's
director of N.C. Public Art,
an enterprise that does
"public art for municipal,
educational, hospitality,
and corporate applications,
as well as fine art for
private commission."
He told Wednesday's
gathering that the
Smithfield mural is the
third to be done in a
project with a goal to reach
all 100 of the state's
counties. He said two more
are now in process, with 14
"lined up" for 2025.
Mary Reece of the Downtown
Development board said the
Smithfield mural was made
possible by a grant from the
Johnston County Arts
Council.
A full,
unobstructed view of the
mural appeared in last
week's edition>
County of Johnston photo
County's
new sewage plant off 210
is in operation
And
it's already
undergoing expansion
to keep up with growth
County
of Johnston leaders knew a
decade ago that the day
was coming when its
sewage-treatment plant on
the Neuse River below
Smithfield would have to
be expanded significantly
or else replaced
altogether to keep pace
with Johnston's phenomenal
residential growth.
That turned out to be a
"no brainer" after
Hurricane Matthew's
record-high flood in 2016
put the old plant out of
commission for a while (see
photo below).
Over the years the county
has purchased more than
1,100 acres off N.C. 210
west of town, primarily
for its solid-waste
landfill operation, and
it's "high ground" well
above Neuse River's
floodplain – with more
than enough room there to
build a new treatment
plant, which went into
operation this summer.
Even before the new plant
was finished, the county
awarded a contract to
construct an addition that
will double its treatment
capacity from 4-million
gallons per day to 8 MGD.
That work has already
begun (visible in the
photo above).
And that still won't be
enough. The older sewage
plant purchased by the
county from the Town of
Smithfield in 1977 will
remain in operation, at
least for now, with a
treatment capacity of 8
MGD. Eventually it will
become a secondary
treatment station as the
new plant off 210 is
expanded even more.
Officially labeled as the
210 Wastewater Treatment
Plant, the new facility's
construction consisted of
three projects using three
contractors:
• Adams Robinson, Inc.
based in Dayton, Ohio
built the basic treatment
plant at cost of
$69,071,980.
• Wharton-Smith, Inc. of
Sanford, Florida handled a
"Biosolids Dewaterting
Facility" and other
improvements at a cost of
$25,097,000.
• North Carolina's Sanford
Contractors, Inc.
installed pipes
transporting sewage to the
new plant along with a
"Dechlorination Building"
at a cost of $17,271,430.
The Raleigh office of the
engineering firm Hazen
& Sawyer, Inc.
designed all three
projects at a cost of
$11,960,448.
Funding for all that
includes a $91,686,695
Clean Water loan issued by
the N.C. Department of
Environmental Quality in
partnership with the U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency and $34,665,833
from the county's
allocation of COVID-relief
funds authorized by the
federal American Rescue
Plan Act (ARPA). The
balance is coming out of
capital funds set aside by
the county from monthly
fees paid by its water and
sewer customers as well as
real-estate development
assessments.
An environmental
footnote: The
new 210 treatment plant
sits on a plateau above
nearby Middle Creek, but
its wastewater won't be
sent there. Instead,
"highly treated" effluent
will be pumped four miles
away to a discharge point
on the Neuse River across
from the older Smithfield
plant upstream from the
U.S. 301 bridge.
Johnston's jobless rate fell to 3.0%
in September
Johnston
County's unemployment rate
dropped from 3.9% in
August to 3.0% last month
as the number employed
rose modestly to 108,813
in September – up 577 from
the previous month's
total. The bigger reason
for the much lower jobless
rate was the number of
Johnstonians filing for
unemployment compensation
– a drop from 4,384 in
August to 3,324 in
September. Last month's
unemployment rate of 3.0%
was the same rate recorded
for Johnston in September
2023. County-by-county
monthly employment data
comes from the
N.C. Department of
Commerce>
UNC
Health Johnston gets
more five-star ratings
UNC
Health Johnston has achieved
new five-star ratings from Healthgrades
for treatment of stroke and
outpatient back and neck
surgery. Ratings are based
solely on patient outcomes.
As
part of its 2025 hospital
assessment, Healthgrades
evaluated risk-adjusted
mortality and complication
rates for more than 30 of
the most common conditions
and procedures at
approximately 4,500
hospitals nationwide to
determine the top performers
in specialty care.
UNC Health Johnston operates
what opened in Smithfield as
Johnston Memorial Hospital
in 1951 and a second
facility at Clayton, opened
as an outpatient medical
center in 2009 before it
became a full-service
hospital in 2015.
"Trusted
by families since
1977"
840
S. Bright Leaf Blvd.
• 919-934-7164
• www.carrollpharmacy.com
MEDICARE
OPEN ENROLLMENT TIME
IS NOW. WE CAN HELP!
WHAT'S COMING
UP
Downtown's Wine Walk Friday evening
to benefit Harbor
The
fall edition of Downtown
Smithfield's Wine Walk
continues from 5 to 9 p.m.
Friday, starting at the
Public Library and moving
through participating
shops and offices offering
samples for tasting.
Admission is $25, with
proceeds going to Harbor,
Johnston County's
domestic-violence shelter.
Junior Women's annual Touch-A-Truck
for kids Saturday
It's
the 9th annual event put
together by the Junior
Women's League of
Smithfield to collect
non-perishable foods for
its Blessing Boxes placed
at fire stations
throughout Johnston
County. From 9 a.m. till 2
p.m. children with adults
will be allowed to climb
into all sorts of large
vehicles including fire
trucks, police cars, and
construction equipment.
Food vendors and other
children's activities will
also be provided. The
event is spread along
streets and in parking
lots south of Market
Street Downtown.
County
Commissioners to
consider airport
projects Monday
The
Johnston County Board of
Commissioners at its
regularly scheduled 10
a.m. Monday meeting will
be asked to approve
budgets for several
projects at Johnston
Regional Airport including
preliminary studies for a
control tower, a new
hangar, and roadway access
on the east side of the
runway. VIEW the
complete agenda>
Two land-use zoning
hearings are scheduled for
the board's 6 p.m.
session.
VIEW the
agenda for details>
And don't forget: Daylight Saving
Time ends this Sunday
That
means you'll need to "fall
back" before you go to
sleep Saturday night by
moving your time pieces back
one hour to be
on time for Sunday's
activities.
Standard Time will remain
in effect till DST returns
March 9.
DEATHS
& FUNERALS
More than 300 gathered in the First Baptist
Church fellowship hall
for last Saturday's
all-classes reunion of
Smithfield High School
alumni.
A
WORD (OR TWO) FROM THE
EDITOR
An
opportunity to revisit
our high school's
history
Last
Saturday's gathering was
the second such reunion
for all alumni of
Smithfield High School,
which closed with the
graduating class of 1969
and that fall's opening of
consolidated
Smithfield-Selma High.
The first SHS reunion for
all classes, held in 2008,
was actually a celebration
of the extensive
renovation and re-opening
of Smithfield High's
former home on South Third
Street as the A.G. Glenn
Building, named in memory
of the school's long-time
principal. It serves today
as a second, and larger,
office building for
administrators of Johnston
County Public Schools (the
actual headquarters is the
newer though smaller
Evander S. Simpson
Building on the east side
of town).
The impetus
for that 2008 celebratory
reunion was a push led by
two Smithfield High grads
that produced in the
refurbished Glenn Building
a "museum" element in the
form of an authentically
preserved classroom (shown
here during last
weekend's reunion)
complemented by pictorial
panels lining the hallways
that tell much of the
school's story, which
dates back to 1904.
Working as persistent
volunteers, Julia Allen
McCullers (Class of 1951)
and Ann Lee Huckenbeck
(Class of 1954) teamed up
with Ann Williams, an
assistant superintendent
in charge of facilities at
the time, to carry out the
plan preserving the
school's history in its
long-time home.
Coincidentally, the two
ladies had returned to
their home town in their
years of retirement and
naturally bonded on this
project and others in
Smithfield, especially as
stalwarts on the Johnston
County Heritage
Commission. A widow, Mrs.
McCullers today resides in
Raleigh. Mrs. Huckenbeck
several years ago moved to
Ohio to be near her
husband's family but
passed away in August.
Perhaps not completely a
coincidence, a memorial
service for Ann Lee
Huckenbeck was held at
Smithfield's First
Presbyterian Church last
Sunday, the day after the
SHS reunion. It was also
her birthday.
The "Smithfield High
School Museum" is open to
the public Monday-Friday
except holidays, but only
during school employees'
working hours. It's best
to call ahead before
making a visit to make
sure the place is open:
919-934-4361. The old
playground behind the old
building, by the way, is
now a paved parking lot
accessible from both Third
and Second streets. That's
where you'll find the
Glenn Building's new main
entrance.
It was open last Saturday
morning so SHS alumni
coming to town for the
reunion could look it
over. That has been done
many times since 2008 for
smaller class reunions. You can
learn more about it on
the SHS Alumni
Association's
website>
Realtor Susan
Lassiter has what it
takes to sell
Smithfield.
"With
my knowledge about the
community and my
experience in real
estate, I know this is a
good time to sell your
property. Call me to
discuss your listing
plans."
•
Licensed real estate agent
since 1992
• Real estate broker since
2001
• Served on the Smithfield
Town Council for 8 years
• Past president,
Smithfield-Selma Area
Chamber of Commerce
• Past president, Downtown
Smithfield Development Corp.
• Past president, Rotary
Club of Smithfield
Subscribers
to this edition: 1,574
MISS
A PREVIOUS EDITION?
You'll find
it in the Weekly
Sun archives>
the SMITHFIELD
WEEKLY SUN
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