Dog day
afternoon?
We'll take it!

County records first measles case since 2018
Johnston joins Wake and Durham reporting incidents

From County of Johnston Public Information Office

The Johnston County Public Health Department and UNC Health Johnston in Smithfield have confirmed a case of measles in an adult who lives in Johnston County. This is the county’s first confirmed measles case since 2018.

The department is working with UNC Health Johnston and the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) to identify and contact people who might have been exposed. Officials will determine whether those individuals are immune to measles and discuss steps to reduce the risk of further spread. Health officials do not recommend laboratory testing for people who were exposed unless they develop symptoms, such as fever and rash.

“As soon as the patient arrived, our emergency department team quickly masked and moved the patient to a negative-pressure room to limit exposure,” said Tom Williams, CEO of UNC Health Johnston. “They followed all procedures and protocols."

“We are prepared,” he continued. “Our physicians work closely with infectious disease experts and others across the UNC Health system. We’ve applied lessons learned from the pandemic and work hard to ensure we’re ready to care for patients while protecting our teammates and the community.”

Measles is highly contagious but can be prevented through vaccination with the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine – proven effective for decades. Anyone unsure of their immunity status can use the “Check Your Immunity” tool on the NCDHHS website.

The Johnston County Public Health Department is based at 517 N. Bright Leaf Boulevard in Smithfield. For more information, call its hotline at 919-989-5550.

Early voting has begun for March 3 Primary
Choices in local races limited to Republican ballots

Today (Thursday, Feb. 12) is the first day of early voting for this year's Primary Election in Johnston County. Four sites will be open 8 a.m. till 7:30 p.m. weekdays through February 27 and on Saturday, February 28 from 8 a.m. till 3 p.m.

Smithfield's early-voting site is The Bridge Church at 951 M. Durwood Stephenson Parkway (instead of the First Baptist Church Ministry Center). The other Johnston County sites: Oakland Presbyterian Church at 8927 Cleveland Road, The Church at Clayton Crossings Annex at 11407 Clayton Boulevard, and the Archer Lodge Community Building at 14009 Buffalo Road.

If you are not yet registered to vote in Johnston County, you may sign and cast your ballot during the same visit to one of the early-voting sites.

VISIT today's FEATURE PAGE for information about candidates in local races>

Elections director to join state modernization panel

Johnston County’s director of elections will serve on the state’s new Commission on the Modernization of Election Data Systems. Leigh Anne Price joins 21 others on the Commission, which State Auditor Dave Boliek appointed and will chair.

The commission’s goal is to help develop a secure, user-friendly, and modernized election data management system that will meet the needs of North Carolina voters, election administrators, and candidates. The N.C. Office of the State Auditor and the N.C. Board of Elections are currently working in tandem on a three-phase plan to modernize the system, known as the Statewide Elections Information Management System, or SEIMS.

Ms. Price has been Johnston’s director of elections for the past 19 years.

The commission will also assist with a separate overhaul of North Carolina’s campaign finance reporting system that will make it easier for the public to track political spending, for candidates to comply with rules and regulations, and also reduce unintentional errors and omissions.

Story & photo from County of Johnston Public Information Office
 

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The Johnston County Board of Education Tuesday approved Monday, March 9 as a make-up day for students and staff following the recent closure of schools because of two separate spells of wintry weather.

Five of those missed days were replaced with Internet "remote learning" classes – the maximum number allowed by state law during an academic year. That brought forth a wish from board member April Lee that no more instructional days will be lost this year because of bad weather.

If more days are lost, do Johnston's schools have a cushion regarding required instructional hours? The answer is yes, replied Associate Superintendent Patty Whittington, noting that the state requires a minimum of 1,096 hours while Johnston has built 1,096 hours into its calendar. As a result, she said, 9.6 instructional days are currently "banked" that could be missed without remote learning or make-ups.

Principal contracts include a change at Smithfield Middle

The board approved two-year contracts for five school principals:
• Nicholas Taylor (pictured here) at Smithfield Middle School where he has been serving as an assistant principal.
• Tobias Hocutt at Clayton's Cooper Academy.
• Lauren Strickland at Glendale-Kenly Elementary.
• Melissa Edgerton at Princeton Elementary.
• David Shawn Bates at Thanksgiving Elementary.

Ashley Radford was given a three-year contract as the school system's Chief Academic Officer, Curriculum, Instruction, and Accountability.

Board approves $5,000 cap on funding JCC student fees

The board approved renewal of a Memorandum of Understanding with Johnston Community College that limits that amount of funding Johnston County Public Schools will have to put up to cover fees beyond state-funded tuition costs for students participating in Career and College Promise programs based at the college.

Superintendent of Schools David Pearce said JCC's administration, including its Board of Trustees, have agreed to put a cap of $5,000 on the yearly amount JCPS must contribute for the extra fees. Up to now, JCC and JCPS shared those additional costs on a 50/50 basis.

Dr. Pearce said it's JCC's intent to ask the County Commissioners to budget future funding to cover additional costs resulting from growing enrollments in the programs, which allow high-school students to get a head start on completing college courses.

Also known as "Early College," North Carolina's Career & College Promise enrolled 1,792 Johnston County students this past fall, 1,758 in the current spring semester.
 

Johnston jobless rate down to 2.9% in December

The N.C. Department of Commerce reports that 124,428 Johnstonians held jobs in December – up from 123,318 in November. Meanwhile, the number of Johnstonians unemployed dropped from 4,585 in November to 3,769 in December, reducing the county's jobless rate from 3.6% to 2.9%. North Carolina's rate in December held steady at 3.9% while the national rate declined from 4.5% to 4.4%.
 

SEWAGE SPILL REPORTED AT BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION SITE

But the incident apparently was unrelated to the US 301 bridge-replacement work going on, reports Adam Carroll, the county's public information officer. He said "approximately 81,900 gallons of untreated wastewater" was discharged into wetlands beside the Neuse River February 5-6. "The discharge was a result of an electrical fault shutting down the pumps and controls" at a county-maintained sewage pumping station located just across the river in this view. Replacement of the bridge on a new alignment will require the pump station to be relocated, with safeguards to prevent a shutdown like the one that just occurred, Mr. Carroll noted.
 

 WHAT'S COMING UP 

Presidents Day U.S. holiday Monday; school's out, too
That means banks and post offices will be closed along with agencies of the Federal Government (state and local governments will operate as usual). Monday will also be a holiday for Johnston County's public-school students.

County Commissioners' "make up" session Monday
The regular third-Monday 6 p.m. meeting of the Johnston County Board of Commissioners will include agenda items scheduled for the board's first-Monday sessions that were canceled because of wintry weather. As a result, this Monday's agenda includes not only the chairman's annual "State of the County" report but also the county's annual audit report and an update on plans for Johnston's celebration of the 250th birthday of the Declaration of Independence this summer. Two rezoning cases will also be heard. VIEW the complete agenda for Monday's meeting>

Town Council to hold several rezoning hearings Tuesday
One of the hearings before the Smithfield Town Council is a revised plan for Bellamy, a large residential subdivision proposed for 500 acres on the west side of Wilson's Mills Road along Lee-Youngblood Road. A previous request for conditional zoning was denied by a 5-2 vote of the council in October. Other hearings are scheduled Tuesday on conditional zoning to allow "flex commercial building and site development" on 1.15 acres on the north side of Market Street between Sixth and Seventh streets and conditional zoning for a small tract at the West Smithfield Amazon entrance for a convenience store. VIEW Tuesday's complete agenda>
 

Join us for a morning of inspiration
and community at our inaugural
CIRCLE OF CHAMPIONS BREAKFAST
featuring keynote speaker Mike Glennon,
former N.C. State and NFL quarterback.
This event will support Boys & Girls Clubs of Johnston County and our commitment to providing safe, nurturing, and opportunity-rich spaces for local youth. For SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES use the QR code, or e-mail Lstanley@johnstonbgc.org, or call 919-369-4951.

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

 A WORD (OR TWO) FROM THE EDITOR 

If only our high-school sports could draw so many!

Monday night's fund-raising basketball game featuring the show-business Harlem Wizards was a sell-out, packing the gymnasium at Smithfield-Selma High School with a raucous crowd School Board Chair Lyn Andrews described as "a little loud – but a good night" for the Johnston County Education Foundation, the beneficiary of proceeds from the event which featured Johnston County Public Schools staff (including Ms. Andrews) "taking on" the unbeatable Wizards.

Here's a photo from the event posted on the SSS Facebook site>



For me, it brought back memories of attending Johnston County high-school basketball tournaments in the early 1960s in the Smithfield High gym that was literally "packed to the rafters" with fans in the days when we had more than a dozen smaller high schools in this county alone competing for the championship.

Such attendance at high-school games nowadays appears to be rare, especially at places like SSS where its basketball teams have struggled to achieve winning records in recent years.
 

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