On 3rd day of school: brief lockdown at SSS

And it was over in short time, prompting this official announcement sent to news media at 7:56 a.m. Wednesday – shortly after the start of the school day:

Please be advised that Smithfield-Selma High entered its lockdown procedures this morning due to a report of a weapon being on campus. Immediately upon being notified, school officials and local law enforcement conducted an investigation and immediately apprehended the student in possession, discovering an airsoft BB gun through the school’s weapon detection system. The lockdown has been lifted and the school will continue its normal operations.

Please note that all students and staff were safe during the lockdown. Our school staff are trained to enter these lockdown procedures anytime it is deemed necessary out of an abundance of caution for our students and staff.

Other than that, Johnston County Public Schools has reported normal operations since Monday's opening of the fall semester.

SROs at Smithfield's public schools   Warren Frey at Smithfield Middle School is one of seven School Resource Officers assigned or to be assigned for duty at Smithfield's public-school campuses. The others are Kayla Taylor at South Smithfield Elementary, Duane Ealy at West Smithfield Elementary, Jacob Gibbons and a second yet to be hired at Smithfield-Selma High School, Aubrey Banks at the Innovation Academy, and Stephanie Archino at Choice Plus. Sergeant Matthew Parrish of the Smithfield Police Department supervises these SROs. Johnston County Public Schools provides most of the funding for the positions; the Town of Smithfield puts up the balance. (Town of Smithfield Facebook photo)

Remember when teenagers drove our school buses?

That continued until the late 1980s in Johnston County, and could have been sooner after Congress amended the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1966 to bar anyone under age 18 from "hazardous" employment, and that included driving a bus. But North Carolina got exemptions for more than 20 years and thereby continued to rely on high-school students to drive our buses until 1988 (according to an historical account in the current edition of Our State magazine). The scene comes from 1937, when Johnston County's entire school-bus fleet was massed on the Second Street playground behind Smithfield School. (Photo from Heritage Center archives)

Here's a timely reminder of the rules on stopping for school buses:


 

 HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL REPORT 

Last Friday's results for Johnston County teams:
SOUTH JOHNSTON 7, SMITHFIELD-SELMA 2
CLEVELAND 60, PINECREST 19
CLAYTON 52, WILSON PREP 12
CORINTH HOLDERS 35, NORTH BRUNSWICK 27
NORTH JOHNSTON 40, BEDDINGFIELD 0
PRINCETON 40, AYDEN-GRIFTON 35
SOUTH GARNER 20, WEST JOHNSTON 0
AMERICAN LEADERSHIP ACADEMY 42, LEJEUNE 0
For game summaries and schedules, visit JoCoSports.com>
 

From Johnston Community College

JCC has partnered with Corning Incorporated, a global leader in optical communications technology, to introduce an advanced Train-the-Trainer Fiber Optic Technician Course.

Hosted at JCC’s Smithfield campus, the five-day course provides hands-on training in fiber-network design, splicing, and field deployment.

This collaboration comes at a critical moment, as the nation faces urgent demand for skilled technicians to support the rapid expansion of Broadband infrastructure, specifically in rural America. The effort positions JCC on the front lines of closing the workforce gap in digital infrastructure, particularly for under-served communities in Johnston County and beyond.

Starting in October, Fiber Optic Technician classes will be offered at JCC’s new Advanced Manufacturing Facility opening soon at Four Oaks.

For more information on course registration, contact Vic McCormick by e-mail at kvmccormick@johnstoncc.edu or by phone at 919-464-2383.
 

July produced yet another record number of Johnstonians holding jobs, according to the latest county-by-county report from the N.C. Department of Commerce, which shows 126,216 employed here – up from the previous record-high of 124,811 in June. At the same time, the number of Johnstonians filing for unemployment benefits declined from 4,360 in June to 4,185 in July, reducing the county's jobless rate to 3.2%. The statewide rate for July was 3.8%; the national rate was 4.2%.
 

A thorough look into the work of Social Services
Department's director presents first "Annual Overview"

Christine Dowdell, director of the Johnston County Department of Social Services, presented an "Annual Overview" for the 2024-25 fiscal year at last week's meeting of the County Commissioners. Preparation of an annual report for the agency is one of several organizational initiatives under Ms. Dowdell's leadership since she took over as director in December 2023. (County of Johnston photo)

Here are some statistical highlights from the report:

• Food and Nutrition Services (food stamps) – 44,094 persons in 19,543 households were issued benefits totaling $54,060,341 from July 1, 2024 through June 30 of this year. The reports notes "a small decline in active cases" earlier this year and cites as one cause an average unemployment rate of 3.1% in Johnston that was below North Carolina's average of 3.7%.

• Crisis & Energy Assistance – $865,964 was distributed under the Low-Income Energy Assistance Program in one-time payments to eligible families for heating bills. An additional $1,091,252 was distributed under the Crisis Intervention Program to help households "in danger of experiencing a heating or cooling-related crisis."

• Childcare Subsidy – $12,275,416 was spent to assist eligible families to afford childcare enabling employment. As of June 30, 194 children were on the wait list.

• Fraud and abuse – Under the department's Program Integrity unit that handles prevention, detection, and investigation of fraud and abuse, $353,702 was recouped this past year from benefit over-payments.

• Non-Emergency Medicaid Transportation – $1,106,828 was spent during the year to transport Medicaid recipients to medical and mental-health appointments.

* Medicaid – 6,109 applications and 32,766 recertifications were processed this past year. The annual report notes that the department's 2025-26 budget for Medicaid assistance is $8,470,923, of which $5,784,231 is expected in federal and state reimbursements, leaving the County of Johnston with an obligation of $2,686,692. (In her Closing Summary, Ms. Dowdell noted that "the 'One Big Beautiful Bill' will bring significant changes" to food stamps, Medicaid, and other federal assistance programs, but she stopped short of speculating about specific impacts.)

• Child Protective Services – As of June 30, the department had 1,701 cases assigned to teams "for assessment of safety and risk." A Child Abuse Hotline produced an average of 81 after-hours calls per month November through June.

• Foster Care – The report includes a chart that shows the number of children legally removed from parental custody hovered around the 200-mark month to month during the past year. The report notes that Johnston has 54 licensed foster homes.

There's much more in the "Annual Overview" about the work being done by Johnston's Department of Social Services. VIEW the complete report here>

Summing up her presentation last week, Ms. Dowdell thanked commissioners for moving forward with construction of new quarters under one roof for her department's 380 or so employees. "We are so happy about that," she said, noting that Social Services is presently housed in five buildings originally built for other purposes, including the county's first hospital on Smithfield's Hancock Street and its first Agricultural Building beside North Street.

The new Social Services building is being planned for a site across from the new Public Safety Center on US 70 Business east of Smithfield.
 

 WHAT'S COMING UP 

Monday brings us "end of summer" Labor Day holiday
It's a holiday for employees at every level of government service – federal, state, county, and municipal. It's also a holiday for banks and the U.S. Postal Service. What's more, we've got a welcome break from excessively hot and rainy weather over the next several days, with temperatures ranging from daytime highs in the low 80s to around 60 at night. Enjoy this "faux fall" while we can!

County Commissioners meet Tuesday instead of Monday
Because of the Labor Day holiday, the Johnston's County Commissioners will hold their regular first-Monday sessions at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. next Tuesday inside the Courthouse. During the evening meeting, the board will conduct a public hearing on a new version of Johnston County's Comprehensive Transportation Plan.
VIEW the complete agendas for both sessions once they're posted by the county>

Town Council asked to seek bids on repaving 22 streets
On the Consent Agenda for Tuesday's meeting of the Smithfield Town Council is a staff-recommended list of street segments to be resurfaced with stepped-up funding in this year's budget (on page 149 of the agenda). Also on Tuesday's agenda is a proposal from the Johnston County Committee for America250NC for an historical mural honoring the Tuscarora people. It would be painted on the side of a building at 134 S. Third Street Downtown. Tuesday's meeting begins at 7 p.m. at Town Hall. VIEW the complete agenda>
 

  DEATHS AND FUNERALS  
Click on the name to read an obituary, usually posted by the funeral home:

 

Business Disputes • Injuries • Family Law • Appeals
Strong in results. Strong in experience. Strong in integrity.

armstronglawyers.com • 919-934-1575

L. Lamar Armstrong Jr.	Marcia Armstrong	L. Lamar Armstrong III	Eason Armstrong Keeney

---

 A WORD (OR TWO) FROM THE EDITOR 

Want farmland preservation? Where's the money?

One of the primary goals in "Envision Johnston 2040" – a major update of the county's Comprehensive Land Use Plan adopted two years ago this month – is preservation of farmland and open spaces in the face of rampant real-estate development taking over much of our rural countryside. That's what many citizens demanded in the making of the new land-use plan, and that's what Johnston's county commissioners have repeatedly declared to be one of their priorities.

And to their credit, commissioners have stepped up county appropriations pushing us toward that seemingly unreachable goal. One remarkable manifestation of that commitment has been the board's support of the Triangle Land Conservancy, a regional non-profit organization serving our region's fast-growing counties since 1983. Over the past three years, the County of Johnston has contributed more than $1.9 million to TLC's land-conservation efforts.

This year's county budget channels just under $1.4 million to TLC "for farmland and open-space preservation."

That's encouraging news, yet dark clouds on the fiscal horizon are putting a damper on hopes for continued progress. Greg Walker, director of the Johnston Soil and Water Conservation District (a "sub-unit" of North Carolina State Government), reported to the county's Board of Commissioners earlier this month that the Trump Administration has "pulled back" a $12-million grant previously authorized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for Johnston County projects.

That, Mr. Walker said, was money to purchase six conservation easements for 293 acres Johnston landowners had agreed to set aside from future development, with county matching funds already in place. What's more, owners of another 1,889 acres are waiting in the wings to sign agreements, provided funding is in place.

To make matters worse, Mr. Walker continued, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has lost 60% of its conservation-easement review team because of the Trump Administration's federal job cuts, and that further delays approval of specific candidates for farmland preservation.

The SCS director told commissioners he's hoping the N.C. Department of Agriculture will pick up some of the slack with grants from the new state budget that's still awaiting approval by the General Assembly.

It's not enough to wish more of our rural lands could be protected from development. Somebody's got to put the money where the mouth is to make that happen.
 

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