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PUBLISHED
ONLINE DECEMBER
4, 2025
• VOL. 7,
NO. 48
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Content
produced by WINGATE
LASSITER unless
credited otherwise
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the editor
A
SLIGHT "CHANGING OF THE
GUARD"
Smithfield
Town Council gets a new
member
 Doris
Wallace moved into the
council's West Smithfield
seat Tuesday night,
succeeding David Barbour,
who has represented District
4 since 2017. (She is shown
taking the oath of office
administered by retired
District Court Judge Addie
Rawls).
Gettys Cohen was also sworn
in to begin a four-year term
as East Smithfield's
representative. He was
elected last month following
his appointment in August to
fill the District 1 seat
vacated by the death of
Councilman Marlon Lee in
May.
 Three
other incumbents took their
oaths Tuesday to begin new
terms: Mayor Andy Moore for
two more years (beginning
his sixth term as mayor);
Councilmen Travis Scott
(District 3, North
Smithfield) and Sloan
Stevens (District 2, South
Smithfield) for four more
years (third term for Mr.
Scott, second for Mr.
Stevens).
A new
mayor pro tem
Mr. Stevens (shown
here taking his oath of
office) was elected
by the other council members
to serve as mayor pro tem.
He succeeds Roger Wood, who
remains on the council along
with John Dunn and Steve
Rabil. Those three, elected
at large by all the town's
voters, are halfway through
their current four-year
terms under the town's
staggered-term arrangement.
County
Commissioners elect a
new chairman
 Patrick
Harris (left) was
chosen by his colleagues
Monday morning to be the new
chairman of the Johnston
County Board of
Commissioners. He succeeds
Butch Lawter (right),
who has held the position
the past four years. Board
members elected Mr. Lawter
to succeed Mr. Harris as
vice chairman.
Both men filed this week as
candidates for re-election
in 2026. Mr. Harris is
seeking a third four-year
term representing District
5, which includes Smithfield
where he resides. Mr. Lawter
is seeking a third term
representing District 7,
which includes Clayton where
he resides. (County of
Johnston photo)
First
batch of candidates sign
up
to
compete in next year's
elections
Noon this past
Monday was the start of
filing by candidates seeking
election to local, state,
and national offices in
2026. Here's who had filed
for local and regional
offices through Wednesday:
For Johnston County
Commissioner, District 3
Adam Caldwell (Republican)
Michael David Rose
(incumbent Republican)
For Johnston County
Commissioner, District 5
Patrick Harris (incumbent
Republican)
For Johnston County
Commissioner, District 7
R.S. (Butch) Lawter Jr.
(incumbent Republican)
For Johnston County
Board of Education,
District 1
Michelle
Antoine (incumbent)
For Johnston
County Board of
Education, District 2
Terry Tippett (incumbent)
For Johnston
County Board of
Education, District 5
Kevin Donovan (incumbent)
For Sheriff of
Johnston County
Roger Steve Bizzell
(incumbent Republican)
For Johnston
County Register of Deeds
Craig
Olive (incumbent
Republican)
For
Clerk of Johnston
Superior Court
Michelle
Creech Ball (incumbent
Republican)
For District
Attorney
Jason
Waller (incumbent
Republican)
For District Court
Judge, District 12, Seat
No. 1
Joy A. Jones (incumbent
Republican)
For District Court
Judge, District 12, Seat
No. 2
Travis N. Wheeler
(incumbent Republican)
For District Court
Judge, District 12, Seat
No. 3
Jason P. Kimble (incumbent
Republican)
For N.C. House of
Representatives,
District 26
Donna McDowell White
(incumbent Republican)
Margie Beth Riedel
(Republican)
For N.C. House of
Representatives,
District 28
Larry C. Strickland
(incumbent Republican)
For N.C. House of
Representatives,
District 53
Howard L. Penny Jr.
(incumbent Republican)
For N.C. Senate,
District 10
Benton Sawrey (incumbent
Republican)
For U.S. House of
Representatives,
District 13
Paul Barringer (Democrat)
Candidates running
statewide for U.S. Senate,
N.C. Supreme Court, and
N.C. Court of Appeals file
with the
N.C. Board of
Elections>
Elizabeth A. Temple, who
this fall ran
unsuccessfully for a seat
on the Smithfield Town
Council, is among several
Republican candidates who
have filed for the U.S.
Senate seat now held by
Thom Tillis, who has said
he will not file for
re-election.
The filing period for
candidacy in the 2026
elections is noon Friday,
December 19.
The Primary Election is
scheduled for Tuesday,
March 3, 2026.
The General Election is
scheduled for Tuesday,
November 3, 2026.
NCDOT
postpones Market Street
parking removal
Mayor Andy Moore
announced at the close of
Tuesday night's Town Council
session that the N.C.
Department of Transportation
has decided to delay removal
of parking spaces along
Market Street in Downtown
Smithfield until after the
holidays.
The original schedule called
for that work to begin this
week.
"I will continue to ask that
they look for
alternatives... and keep
some parking," Mr. Moore
said, referring to the NCDOT
staff. "I applaud them for
listening to our concerns."
The state's plan for Market
Street, announced two weeks
ago, will eliminate about 70
parking spaces between
Second and Seventh streets,
widen travel lanes, and
"improve pedestrian access"
with new crosswalks and
signals. Market Street
carries US 70 Business, a
federal highway. As a
result, its operation and
maintenance falls under
NCDOT's control, not the
town's.
 National
Dog Show winner
trained
in Johnston County
Soleil, the
Belgian Sheepdog who earned
Best in Show at the 2025
National Dog Show televised on
NBC-TV Thanksgiving Day, was
professionally trained by
Daniel Martin at his home base
off Brogden Road east of
Smithfield.
County Commissioner Mike Rose
of Princeton invited the
champion dog and trainer to
Monday's board meeting. Mr.
Martin noted that Soleil
completed in a field of nearly
2,000 dogs of more than 200
breeds.
As Soleil was led away,
Commissioner Ted Godwin
quipped: "Johnston County is a
great place to live and work
and be a dog."
(County of Johnston photo)
Smithfield
granted $30,000 from Open
Space account
The County
Commissioners Monday
distributed more than $350,000
from the county's Open Space
Fund to 13 local projects,
including $30,000 to the Town
of Smithfield for replacement
of three wooden bridges on the
Buffalo Creek Greenway. The
town is required to put up 25%
($10,000) of the project's
estimated cost. The county's
Open Space Fund comes from
deposits required from
developers of residential
subdivisions who choose not to
include parks in their plans.
Four
reappointed to Economic
Development Board
Commissioners
voted with written ballots to
reappoint Edwin L. Aldridge
Jr. to a fourth two-year term
and Steve Hargis to a sixth
two-year term on the Johnston
County Economic Development
Advisory Board (two others had
applied for the at-large
positions). Also reappointed
to that board as the only
applicants were Mike Fleming
to a seventh term as
Smithfield's representative
and Linwood Parker to a third
term as the Four Oaks
representative.
Veterans Services
Advisory Board –
Ryan H. Stein of Bentonville
Township was newly appointed
as the representative from
commissioners' District 3. He
was the only applicant for
three positions available on
that board.
November
was another unusually dry
month
November
brought just 1.33 inches of
rainfall to Cornell Cox's
Backyard Weather Station in
South Smithfield – below the
month's normal of 3.25
inches. This year's total of
45.71 inches January through
November is below
Smithfield's 11-month
average total of 46.23
inches, according to U.S.
Climate Data>
Sooner-than-normal
freezing?
Air
temperature measured at the
official weather station at
Johnston Regional Airport
dropped to 28.4 degrees
shortly after sunrise last
Saturday.
DEATHS AND FUNERALS
Click on the
name to read an obituary,
usually posted by the
funeral home:
THANKSGIVING WEEK LEFTOVERS
Here are
news items that would have
been published last week
but weren't because of the
Thanksgiving holiday:
JCC gets
$3.6 million for new
industry's training
Johnston
Community College has
received more than $3.6
million in Golden LEAF
funding that will fuel a
strategic partnership with
Vulcan Elements, a
cutting‐edge manufacturer of
rare‐earth magnets that
recently announced its
intent to build a
large‐scale manufacturing
facility in Benson.
JCC will play a pivotal role
by training new employees
for Vulcan Elements at its
newly established Advanced
Manufacturing Training
Facility in Four Oaks prior
to the plant’s operational
launch.
Vulcan Elements’
manufacturing investment,
which will bring
approximately 1,000 new jobs
and an estimated $1 billion
capital investment to the
region.
Thanks to the grant from the
state's Golden LEAF
Foundation, JCC will procure
and install advanced
equipment and develop
customized hands‐on training
programs tailored to
Vulcan’s unique
manufacturing requirements.
While initially focused on
Vulcan’s workforce, the
training infrastructure will
also serve regional industry
over the long term,
enhancing the local
workforce pipeline and
strengthening the region’s
competitiveness in advanced
manufacturing.
JCC will begin
“train-the‐trainer”
instruction in the summer of
2026, and ongoing
production‐employee training
from August 2026 through at
least December 2030.
Announcement
from Johnston Community
College
Vulcan says
average salaries to
approach $82,000
According
to terms of an incentives
agreement with the County of
Johnston, the Vulcan Elements
plant at Benson must hire at
least 900 "permanent
full-time" employees with
salaries averaging at least
$73,109 to qualify for annual
county incentive grants over
15 years starting in March
2027.
"Vulcan has said its average
salary in Benson will be
nearly $82,000," states a
Facebook post by the county.
If earned, the grants from the county would equal a percentage of property taxes the company would pay each year. For the first five years of the agreement, Vulcan would receive grants equal to 90% of property taxes paid on real estate; for the next three years, 80%; two years, 70%; one year, 60%; and 50% during the final four years. For property taxes paid on equipment the first six years, the company would receive grants equal to 75%, then 50% of taxes paid over the next eight years.
In all, Vulcan could receive $42.58 million in grants over 15 years, according to the county. "But because the grants are less than 100% of taxes paid, the benefit to the county would be a net $27 million over the same period," the county estimates.
Cullman
Endowment grants $113,000
to SSS
The
Nan Ogburn Cullman Education
Endowment for Johnston
County – a fund of the North
Carolina Community
Foundation – has
awarded $113,000 in
grants
to 13 programs or
projects at Smithfield-Selma
High School:
•$10,000 for the Annual
Leadership Conference.
• $10,000
for AVID and college
tours and experiences.
• $15,000 to the
band for marching
equipment, uniforms,
and other needs.
• $10,000 for
the chorus
and theater programs.
• $9,950.40 for an
engineering trip to the
Outer Banks.
• $3,922.30 to
the Hospitality and
Tourism Academy.
• $13,922 for
the International
Baccalaureate programs.
• $15,705 for the JoCo
Teach program.
• $5,000 for Model UN
(a club dealing with
international relations and
diplomacy).
• $10,000 for
the Senior Leadership
trip and experiences.
• $9,500 for
the Unified Champion
Schools program (for
handicapped students).
The endowment supports
public education in Johnston
County for art, travel,
and leadership. It
was established through
the estate of the late Nan
Ogburn Cullman, a Johnston
County native who led an
extraordinary life as a
professional singer and
civic leader in Westchester
County, N.Y. and was a
worldwide traveler and
explorer.
Since its founding, the
endowment has awarded
over $600,000 in grants
to Smithfield-Selma High
School. To learn more,
visit:
nccommunityfoundation.org/CullmanGrants
Announcement
from N. C. Community
Foundation
Two
more "System of the
Year" awards for
Smithfield
Smithfield's
water and sewer operations
have once again been selected
among the best in the state by
NC One Water, a statewide
industry organization that
honors excellence in operation
of public utility systems. For
the eighth time over the past
nine years, Smithfield's has
been named "Water Distribution
System of the Year" among
small systems while the town's
wastewater-collection
operation was selected as
"Overall Winner" among all
entrants for "System of the
Year." Mayor Andy Moore is
shown presenting the award
certificates to Pump Station Mechanic Jordan Wilson and Public Utilities Director Ted Credle. (Town of Smithfield photo)
HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL REPORT
State
playoff results for
Johnston County's teams:
(season's
records in parenthesis)
Friday,
November 21
CLAYTON 47 (10-2),
D.H. CONLEY 7
SOUTHEAST RALEIGH 49,
CLEVELAND 37 (10-2,
end of season)
Friday, November 28
CLAYTON 35 (11-2),
SOUTHEAST RALEIGH 21
Clayton
plays Cardinal Gibbons this
Friday in the 7-A East
Region final
For game
summaries and schedules,
visit JoCoSports.com>
WHAT'S COMING UP
Christmas
shows in Downtown's
historic movie house
The
Downtown Smithfield
Development Corporation is
hosting a series of holiday
movies in the former home of
the Howell Theatre:
December 6 (this Saturday) at 11 a.m. – The
Polar Express.
Guests are encouraged to
wear their favorite pajamas.
Thanks to Carolina Packers,
each ticket includes
complimentary hot cocoa and
Christmas cookies.
December
19 (Friday) at 7
p.m. – A
Christmas Story.
December
21 (Sunday) at 1
p.m. – Dr.
Seuss’ How the
Grinch Stole
Christmas.
Tickets
for each movie are $5, with
proceeds going toward
restoration of the historic
theater as the new
"Smithfield Performing Arts
Center."
For more information and
advance-ticket links, visit
downtownsmithfield.com>
Board of
Education's monthly
meeting on Tuesday
Johnston
County's school board will
meet at 4 p.m. Tuesday in
the system's headquarters
building beside US 70
Business east of Smithfield.
VIEW the
agenda once it's posted
later this week>
Town
Council schedules extra
session for Tuesday
The Smithfield
Town Council recessed
Tuesday night's relatively
short regular meeting until
6:30 p.m. this coming
Tuesday. Town Manager Mike
Scott said the focus will be
"goal setting" and "the
process to fill the
manager's position after
February 1." That's the date
of Mr. Scott's planned
retirement.
 The two
mascots associated with
the coming of a baseball
franchise to Smithfield
made an appearance during
last Thursday's
tree-lighting festivities
downtown.
(Photo from the Town of
Smithfield Facebook page)
A WORD (OR TWO) FROM THE
EDITOR
Baseball's
"Smithfield Tobs" + "JoCo
Taterhogs"
It wasn't
emphasized during the Town
Council's recent
deliberations about building
a stadium to accommodate the
collegiate-level baseball
franchise that's moving its
operations from Wilson to
Smithfield. Now we learn
that the "Smithfield Tobs"
will also be known as the
"JoCo Taterhogs."
The franchise website offers
this explanation for what it
calls an "alter-ego":
The term "Taterhogs" is a
heartfelt homage to the
vibrant agricultural
heritage of Johnston County,
particularly our love for
sweet potatoes and iconic
North Carolina BBQ.... We
envision an alter-ego that
embodies the joy of sharing
good food, good times, and
great baseball with friends
& family.
And in case you didn't get it,
the "Tobs" label is rooted in
our region's tobacco heritage.
Wilson once claimed to be "the
World's Greatest Tobacco
Market," and Smithfield's
market wasn't far behind.
It's not the first time we've
had a tobacco-themed baseball
franchise here. In the late
1940s a Class D professional
baseball team known as the
Smithfield-Selma "Leafs"
played at Legion Field between
the two towns. That name came
from the "golden leaf"
nomenclature for tobacco (not
the fallen "leaves" of
autumn.)
Making the Tobs'
pitch for Smithfield's
support before the Town
Council last month,
franchise president Greg
Suire promised "a constant
flow of people coming to
your town," which he called
"the new capital of baseball
in Eastern North Carolina."
Plans are now being drawn
for a 1,500-seat stadium
beside Buffalo Road at
Community Park. The Tobs
won't begin playing here
until 2027 and won't have a
season in Wilson next year
where they've played in
various leagues since 1909.
READ more
about that history on the
franchise website>
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