PASSING THE TORCH ON VETERANS DAY

Gasoline prices plummet; what's going on?

And they started dropping even before the outcome of last week's national election was known. Prices in and around Smithfield were as low as $2.89 a gallon on Wednesday of this week – down from recent peaks above $4.

Suspension of North Carolina's 41-cent gasoline tax was a big factor, obviously; but what's going is being attributed to a drop in consumer demand as the peak summertime travel season is over.

NPR (National Public Radio) reports that "price is falling because there's a bit more oil coming out of the Middle East... and because market traders have rejoiced at the intensifying diplomatic efforts between the U.S. and Iran."

No word yet on whether North Carolina's gas-tax holiday will continue after its scheduled expiration at the end of the month.
 

James W. (Jimmy) Narron, who has retired after a half century of service as as Smithfield attorney, was honored with a public reception in the Johnston County Courthouse last Friday afternoon. Shown here are two of his long-time assistants: Amy Honeycutt (left) and Sherri Matthews. Both have been legal assistants for more than 30 years (with no immediate plans to retire).

Johnston schools rank second in the region
for improvements in academic performance

The Johnston County Board of Education got a report at Tuesday's monthly meeting that shows the percentage of Johnston's students achieving "grade level proficiency" has climbed from 53.3% in 2021-22 to 61% in 2025-26 – a gain of 7.7 percentage points that keeps Johnston above the statewide percentage of 59.2%.

And there's a 12.6 percentage-point gain for black students – from 37.1% at grade level in 2021-22 to 49.7% this past year. Assistant Superintendent Kristy Stephenson said that's the largest such gain among neighboring counties, including Wake with the region's largest overall grade-level percentage at 68.2% in 2025-26.

Since 2021-22, Johnston's Hispanic students have raised their percentage from 42.9% to 52.1% while the county's white students improved their grade-level score from 65.4% to 71.9%.

Chief Academic Officer Ashley Radford said closing the "achievement gaps" between racial "subgroups" is a significant accomplishment for Johnston County Public Schools. "The impact that a teacher makes on our students every single day can be seen in these gap closures," Ms. Radford told the board.

Board OKs replacements for computers, school buses

The board approved purchasing 3,331 Lenovo 1003 Gen 5 Chromebooks at a state contract price of $499 per device "plus applicable sales tax." The total cost is not to exceed $1,770,000 with funding from local capital funds.

Chief Operations Officer Marlon Watson said 2018 HP Chromebook devices to be replaced are "scheduled to reach end-of-life" in June of 2027 and "are becoming less reliable for current instructional applications.

The board learned that Johnston's schools are eligible for state funding to replace 17 school buses in the year ahead.

Mr. Watson said the state will be responsible for the cost not to exceed $2,797,580 under a financing arrangement with Banc of America Public Capital Corp. The County of Johnston will have "no financial obligation," he noted.

Eight of the vehicles will come from Thomas Built Buses, the other nine from IC International.
 

 

JOCO WORKS showcase for students was WOW

Eighth graders from Johnston County's middle schools converged on the Smithfield campus of Johnston Community College (JCC) over two days last week to get a first-hand lookd at career opportunities offered close to home. The JOCO WORKS "Worlds of Work Expo" – WOW – is an annual event produced by Johnston County Public Schools (JCPS) in cooperation with the Triangle East Chamber of Commerce and JCC. This year representatives from more than 40 local employers showcased their jobs. (JCPS Facebook photo) The JCPS website has the story>
 

In Smithfield, Virginia with "World's Oldest Ham"

This delegation from our Smithfield paid a "diplomatic" visit to that other Smithfield last week to renew the "friendly rivalry" that boosted our first Ham & Yam Festival in 1985. Brian Eaves, the town's Public Information Officer, holds what the Virginians claim to be the "World's Oldest Ham." With him are our downtown's Executive Director Heidi Gilmond (left) and Interim Town Manager Kim Pickett. "We talked about the idea of becoming sister cities and how we might build on a connection that goes back more than 40 years," the delegation reports. The 41st annual Ham & Yam Festival is set for May 1. By the way, May 9 will be Smithfield's 250th birthday. Virginia's Smithfield dates back to 1752. (Town of Smithfield, N.C. Facebook photo)
 

 WHAT'S COMING UP 

SRAC hosts annual "Swimsgiving" food drive Saturday
The Smithfield Recreation & Aquatics Center (SRAC) will admit each swimmer who brings in four cans of food or other non-perishable food items from 10 a.m. till 4 p.m. this Saturday. It's the annual "Swimsgiving" event held in SRAC's swim area which includes the splash pad. The Smithfield Police Department helps identify needy families who will receive the donated items for a Thanksgiving meal.

County Commissioners to discuss UDO Monday p.m.
The Johnston County Board of Commissioners at one time had hoped to adopt a new Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) at the meeting scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday at the Courthouse. Now it appears the board will receive additional revisions for discussion. VIEW the complete agenda once it's posted>

Town Council will face a busy agenda next Tuesday
Having canceled its normal first-Tuesday meeting because of the election, the Smithfield Town Council will take up several major issues when it meets at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Town Hall. Among the highlights:
• Public hearing on proposed "cost of service" electric-rate increases projected at 3.2% annually for residential customers over the next three years.
• Public hearing on economic-development incentives up to $1.49 million for new commercial development at the corner of Market and North Seventh streets.
• Public hearing on conditional rezoning for "Neuse Bluffs," a proposed 264-lot subdivision on 90 acres alongside Huntley Street off South Bright Leaf Boulevard.
• Report on plans including a fund-raising campaign for renovation of the former Howell Theatre building as the Smithfield Performing Arts Center.
• A proposal from The Maps Group for recruitment and selection of a new town manager. Kim Pickett has been working as interim manager since last spring.
VIEW the complete agenda for Tuesday's meeting>

"County Close-Up" on utilities at 6 p.m. next Wednesday
The second in a series of "County Close-Up" sessions is scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Johnston County Agricultural Center off NC 210 west of Smithfield. The county’s Public Utilities team will inform residents about the department’s operations and upcoming capital projects, including plans to expand the water supply with an intake on the Neuse River below Princeton. After the presentation, residents will be invited to ask questions.
 

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

FLOYD REX BRITT, 80– died November 11

PATRICIA JANE GRIFFITH, 92 – died November 7

ERNESTINE ROBERTA RAIFORD LOWE, 80 – died November 7

MICHAEL MILLER CHESTNUT, 74 – died November 5

JAMES HENRY JENKINS JR., 84 – died November 4
 

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 A WORD (OR TWO) FROM THE EDITOR 

It was an election that didn't turn out as planned

Let's start with legislative redistricting that was supposed to add another Republican member of Congress to the North Carolina delegation. For the past two years we've had 10 Republicans and four Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives. For the next two years we're going to have 10, maybe 11, Democrats and four, and possibly just three, Republicans.

The same trick was tried in several other states. In most instances, the same thing happened and, as a result, the U.S. House has been flipped from Republican to Democratic control.

Perhaps that will lead more states, including ours, to come up with a fairer method for drawing those gerrymandered district lines. (That may be wishful thinking.)

District boundaries for electing members of the N.C. General Assembly were also skewed in favor of Republicans following the 2020 Census and hasn't been changed. Yet the N.C. House of Representatives has been flipped by this year's election from a sizeable Republican majority to a sizeable Democratic majority (the smaller Senate remains in Republican control, but just barely).

All but one of Johnston County's incumbent Republicans were able to hold onto their seats in the General Assembly but all the races were much closer than usual.

On the local level, all incumbent Republicans survived the national "blue wave" that produced more Democratic winners than we've seen in quite a while. But that was no surprise here because there were no contests since Democrats didn't bother to put up candidates for Johnston County offices.

You might have thought that county commissioners, especially, would have been vulnerable in light of last year's real-estate revaluation that produced "sticker shock" property-tax bills for many Johnstonians. But there were no takers on the Democrats' side of the ledger this year.

So what does the future hold? Will we see more Democrats file for local offices two years from now?

One factor producing unanticipated election results is voter registration. Johnston County has more voters registered "Unaffiliated" (68,123) than are registered "Republican" (61,674) or "Democrat" (41,538). Statewide it's the same story: 2,907,308 Independents; 2,181,478 Republicans; 2,157,772 Democrats.

But what was the cause of the "blue wave" that almost overtook Johnston County's electorate? One of our surviving Republican incumbents had a one-word answer: "Trump." And, "we saw it coming," he added.
 

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