JCC unveils Advanced Manufacturing Facility
It's described as "an incredibly impressive building"

That's what Johnston Community College's Board of Trustees Chair Lyn Austin had to say about the brand-new $40-million, 67,000-square-foot training center during last Friday's ribbon-cutting celebration. Already equipped and in service, the building stands beside the interchange of I-95 and Keen Road at Four Oaks.

The price tag: $41.9 million, covered by $22.5 million from the N.C. General Assembly, $17.5 million from the County of Johnston, $1.4 million in the form of a federal grant secured by former Congressman Wiley Nickel for furnishings and equipment, and another $500,000 from the Golden Leaf Foundation for equipment.

The Town of Four Oaks donated the 16 acres occupied by the training center.

The Advanced Manufacturing Training Facility was the brainchild of the I-95/I-40 Crossroads of America Economic Development Alliance established by leaders in Four Oaks, Benson, and Dunn to promote job growth in the region. It's the new home of JCC's Welding, Applied and Mechanical Engineering, and Machining programs.

Here's a bird's-eye view of the equipment inside one of the facility's training areas:



MORE PHOTOS from last week's opening on today's FEATURE PAGE>
 

Johnston County's unemployment rate went from 3.2% in July to 3.4% in August as the number of Johnstonians holding jobs was revised from 126,216 to 123,390 while the number filing for unemployment benefits rose from 4,185 to 4,402, according to this week's monthly report from the N.C. Department of Commerce. The statewide rate for August was 4.0%; the national rate was 4.3%. Both were slight increases.
 

Selma's Eastfield is coming along much faster now

Eastfield Crossing off reconfigured US 70-A east of I-95 has an impressive array of brand-name retailers, and the biggest one of them all – a Target department store – is now under construction. Launched by Kevin Dougherty of Selma-based AdVenture Development 20 years ago, Eastfield's 435 acres will eventually contain industrial, hospitality, and residential components, including the area's first Olive Garden restaurant. (Aerial photo posted online by AdVenture Development)

Pine Level and Wilson's Mills seeing a lot of new houses

A subdivision with single-family dwellings is going up beside Pine Level-Selma Road not far from Pine Level's downtown. Nearby, it appears another subdivision will pop up soon as streets and utilities have recently been put in place.


Wilson's Ridge is a subdivision with both single-family and townhouse dwellings that straddles old highway 70-A near the heart of Wilson's Mills. Within a few miles of this location are several large subdivisions already built or under construction, with grading going on for more to come.
 

September produced 2.93 inches of rainfall measured at Cornell Cox's Backyard Weather Station in South Smithfield. That's below the month's normal of 5.51 inches yet brings the total for 2025 to 41.48 inches – above the average of 39.77 inches for Smithfield January through September, according to U.S. Climate Data>
 

Boys & Girls Clubs get a boost from Heidelberg Materials

 HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL REPORT 

Past week's results for Johnston County's teams:
(season's records in parenthesis)
CLAYTON 43 (5-1), SMITHFIELD-SELMA 7 (1-5)
AMERICAN LEADERSHIP ACADEMY 41 (4-2), JORDAN-MATTHEWS 6
CLEVELAND 42 (5-0), SOUTH GARNER 28
BROUGHTON 38, CORINTH HOLDERS 0 (2-3)
NORTH PITT 40, NORTH JOHNSTON 24 (3-3)
UNION PINES 15, SOUTH JOHNSTON 0 (2-3)
LEE COUNTY 10, WEST JOHNSTON 7 (1-4)
PRINCETON (3-2) DID NOT PLAY
For game summaries and schedules, visit JoCoSports.com>
 

 WHAT'S COMING UP 

Beach Music's Catalinas at the amphitheater Friday
The second monthly concert in the Town of Smithfield Parks & Recreation Department's "Fall Fridays" series features the Catalinas, a Charlotte-born Beach Music band formed in 1957 that's well known for its 1975 hit "Summertime's Calling Me." The music starts at 7 p.m. at the Neuse River Amphitheater below Front Street Admission is free of charge.

Drone Fly-in Demo at West Smithfield park Saturday
The Town of Smithfield is hosting this annual event that features drone-flight demonstrations, competition, and racing. It will continue from 10 a.m. till noon this Saturday at Gertrude Johnson Park off West Market Street (US 70 Business). Admission is free of charge.

Faith & Blue family event at Smith-Collins Saturday
It's part of a national movement to bring law-enforcement officers and local residents together "through the connections of faith-based organizations." Smithfield's event – featuring free food, pumpkin painting, bounce houses, "and more" – continues from noon til 4 p.m. this Saturday at Smith-Collins Park in East Smithfield. Sponsors are the Police Department, LifeSpring Church, and Carolina Bright Leaf Brand.

County Commissioners will meet two times on Monday
The board's normal schedule calls for two sessions on the first Monday of each month. The first begins at 10 a.m. at the Courthouse. Among items on that agenda are a "project update" on a Smithfield ballpark (related to an item on the Town Council's agenda below) and approval of a contract for a "Cost of Community Services" study. VIEW the complete agenda for the 10 a.m. session>
The board's 6 p.m. agenda contains a single hearing on a rezoning case>

Smithfield Council facing two major decisions Tuesday
• The first concerns annexation and rezoning requests for a proposed 1,147-lot residential subdivision on 498 acres bisected by Lee-Youngblood Road west of Wilson's Mills Road. The public hearing on that project was postponed from the council's September 16 session, which had drawn a room full of citizens apparently present to voice their objections to the plan.
• The second major decision on Tuesday's agenda is a staff recommendation to employ a design-build firm to prepare plans for a stadium beside Buffalo Road at Community Park for the proposed relocation of a collegiate summer-league baseball franchise from Wilson to Smithfield. Tuesday's meeting starts 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:

JUDITH (JUDY) PATRICIA BLOYER, 64 – died September 28

MARY LOU DAVIS, 80 – died September 19

DOROTHY FAYE LASSITER JOHNSON-LILES, 84 – died September 18

 

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2.4 acres for sale at 1558 W. Market St. in West Smithfield
Located across from Rose Manor Shopping Center close to intersection with M. Durwood Stephenson Parkway. Just west of Downtown Smithfield. Zoned B-3 (Highway Business). $498,000 MLS# 10021671

SUSAN LASSITER

Long & Foster Real Estate

919-669-9235
 

 A WORD (OR TWO) FROM THE EDITOR 

A Smithfield connection to Selma's railroad history

The Town of Selma recently relocated what may be North Carolina's oldest railroad depot to a lot behind the town's current train station, presently in use as an Amtrak stop. The photo above shows the new site for what was originally built as "Mitchener's Station" before the Town of Selma was born. In the background are carnival rides set up for this weekend's 50th celebration of Selma's Railroad Days.

The old structure, which hasn't been used for many years, dates back to the mid-1850s when it was built on the newly constructed North Carolina Railroad in the vicinity of today's Selma Oil Terminal as the station for Smithfield, which was inexplicably bypassed when the state-financed line was built between Goldsboro and Raleigh on its way to Charlotte.

It was moved shortly after the Civil War to a site a couple of miles to the east after a Confederate war veteran named John Sharp (or Sharpe) bought land there to establish a town that was eventually chartered as Selma.

Had the North Carolina Railroad been built from Goldsboro through Smithfield, the county seat since 1771, there likely would not have been a Selma as we know it.

What today's leaders in Selma do with the old station remains to be seen, but it's an obvious place for a local museum – something every town ought to have.

P.S. Four passenger trains make daily stops at Selma's present-day depot at the junction of two major rail lines, and it's designated by Amtrak as "Selma-Smithfield Station" (perhaps the only instance where Selma comes ahead of Smithfield for places or organizations bearing both names).
 

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