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Observations
July 25, 2019 |
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Wednesday's sudden rise in the Neuse River here illustrates my point in this space last week that Raleigh's runoff is Smithfield's No. 1 concern when it comes to river flooding. Heavy rainfall upstream on Tuesday produced stormwater runoff that raised the river's level here from just 5 feet in depth on Tuesday afternoon to 11.9 feet at 2:15 p.m. Wednesday before retreating back toward normal. Fortunately, 11.9 is below "flood stage" at 15 feet, and therefore this week's episode didn't inundate portions of the Buffalo Creek Greenway. Even so, it shows what happens when Raleigh drains its rain. You can view the recent as well as projected river readings at Smithfield on the National Weather Service's website>
 Wingate Lassiter |
Still talking about our Klan sign
The News & Observer published a lengthy history on Wednesday's front page about Smithfield's infamous Ku Klux Klan sign. The story was prompted by an online "tweet" last week by NAACP leader William Barber, who posted a photograph of the billboard that stood near the Neuse River bridge at the western entrance to Downtown Smithfield. "This is Klan Country: Love It or Leave It" was part of the billboard's message. "Help Fight Communism & Integration.... Welcome to Smithfield."
Actually, there were several KKK signs in our region during the turbulent 1960s. The largest one I remember seeing was beside I-95 just north of Dunn greeting southbound travelers with "Welcome to North Carolina," even though the Virginia state line was a hundred miles back.
I well remember our sign's dismantling in March 1977 because I covered the story for The Smithfield Herald. I was especially relieved to see the billboard come down before the big celebration of Smithfield's 200th birthday in April 1977.
The first Klan sign here went up in 1967 and was subsequently replaced by a much taller billboard mounted on steel poles after the original sign was vandalized.
I've always thought Smithfield "took the wrap" for all the Klan signs in Eastern Carolina because it was the one most noticed by the news media, perhaps because so many Raleigh folks drove through our town on their way to the coast in those years before the US 70 bypass.
Smithfield's leaders, I recall, did all they could to get our Klan sign removed. But it was protected from legal measures to take it down because it was erected on private property --- and protected by First Amendment constitutional rights of free speech.
It's sad to see the bigotry behind the Klan sign rearing its ugly head once again, more than a generation after our nation put an end to legalized segregation.
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