 |
|||
| PUBLISHED
ONLINE MARCH 7, 2019 |
|||
Stories and photos by Wingate Lassiter unless otherwise noted This week's sponsors: Attorney Allen H. Wellons; 7th Street Marketplace; Realtor Susan Lassiter; Pernell Inc.; W. Landis Bullock; John H. Scovil & Associates Inside pages: FEATURE / SPORTS & RECREATION / OPINIONS Johnston County Commissioners / Smithfield Town Council |
|||
 SMITHFIELD'S "GREAT WHITE WAY" |
|||
Radio icon Carl Lamm retiring at 92;future
of broadcast station(s) uncertain
|
 |
| Photos from the
cover of Carl Lamm's autobiography, Sixty-Three Years on the Air, published nine years ago. |
What's more, his Radio Station WTSB will cease broadcasting at the same time.
It will be the second of his local stations to leave the airwaves. WMPM, which he joined as a part-owner in 1958, hasn't been broadcasting since the first of this month.
The future of both stations has not been determined, according to Mickey Lamm, Carl's son and partner in the family business, which also includes his sister, Lynda Lamm Carroll, who was most recently WMPM's general manager.
Meanwhile, the Johnston County Report (a.k.a. "JoCoReport") will continue to operate, said Mickey Lamm, who assembles the stories for that online news service that's updated daily.
WMPM, Johnston County's first commercial radio station, went on the air in 1950.
READ MORE in a fuller story published earlier this week by the JoCoReport>
THEY'RE
RUNNING ROBOTS BUILT WITH LEGOS!
IB programme may be expanding to more
schools in Smithfield and Wilson's Mills
Smithfield Middle, Smithfield Elementary, and Wilson's Mills Elementary hope to join Smithfield-Selma High School in offering International Baccalaureate's challenging courses of study. News release from Johnston County Public Schools>
SCHOOLS'
SOCIAL WORKERS GET THEIR DUE
Johnston County
Public Schools observed National School Social Work
Week March 4-8. More than 37,000 students in the
county's 45 public schools are served by 17 social
workers. "The connections and relationships that are
built through the efforts of social workers enable
students to find success both in school and in future
endeavors," said Amanda Allen, the school system's
director of social and emotional learning. Johnston
social workers in the picture are (left to right):
front row --- Kristen Percy, Phyllis Brown, Ashlie
Pope, Elizabeth Ashley, Susan Kelly, Nan Jones; second
row --- Danielle Pleasant, Serreda Jenkins, Michele
Norman, Jamie Sessoms, Whitney Kelbaugh, Julie Hodge,
Carla Pearce; third row --- Anita Godwin, Brittany
Shedrick, and Gay Hicks.
Johnston County Public Schools photo
Johnston County Board of Education
meets next Tuesday, March 12
Open business session at 4 p.m.
Public comment session at 6 p.m.
Evander S. Simpson Building, 2320 U.S. 70 Business East, Smithfield
The agenda was not published by the Sun's "press time" on Thursday;
however, this link will lead you to it once it's posted online>
7th Street Marketplace & The Chicken Barn
Market Street (US 70 Business) at
7th Street, Downtown
Smithfield
County Commissioners pledge funds
for police officers at all middle schools
Johnston's County Commissioners agreed this week to appropriate $120,820 in the coming year's county budget to match a state grant for seven "school resource officers" to be employed by the Sheriff's Department for duty at middle schools.
Officers are currently in place in middle schools at Smithfield, Four Oaks, Benson, Clayton, and Riverwood --- provided through municipal police departments. The remaining seven schools include Selma, North Johnston, Archer Lodge, Swift Creek, Cleveland, McGee's Crossroads, and Meadow.
The request to commissioners for county funding was made at Monday evening's session by Superintendent of Schools Ross Renfrow, who explained that the state has approved a "two-for-one" matching grant that's "very likely" to be extended for a second year and perhaps beyond that.
Sheriff Bizzell said he would "find a way to get the vehicles and equipment to carry this out" by the opening of next year's school term this summer. "The No. 1 priority of government is public safety," he declared.
Presently, all of Johnston's high schools have "resource officers" in place. The county's elementary schools do not.
READ MORE from Monday's sessions of the County Commissioners>
 |
SUSAN
LASSITER |
 |
Smithfield Council orders water-rate
study after complaints from citizens
The Smithfield Town Council agreed Tuesday night to bring in a previously trusted consultant to evaluate costs of the town's water service and rates to be paid by all classes of customers before proceeding with expansion of the town's water-treatment plant.
That unanimous decision by council followed repeated complaints from Emma Gemmell and Pam Lampe that Smithfield's water rates are trending higher than necessary to cover the plant's expansion, which they claim isn't needed to serve the town's customers.
"Do we want to subsidize the county or do what's best for the Town of Smithfield?" Mrs. Gemmell asked.
The two women, who reside near the water plant in North Smithfield, believe the town's plant is being enlarged to serve the county's customers at the expense of the town's customers. (The County of Johnston operates its own water plant near Wilson's Mills but continues to purchase water from the Town of Smithfield.)
Councilman Travis Scott made the motion calling for "a further assessment of our water rates" by Utility Financial Solutions, a national firm based in Michigan which the town has used before to evaluate electric and sewer expenses and revenues. "We need to stay competitive with our rates," Mr. Scott said.
He also suggested the town set up a Utilities Advisory Board, including citizens, to review rates and services in the future. Mayor Andy Moore called that "a good idea."
READ MORE from Tuesday's Town Council session>
Kitchen"
open to all
The Salvation Army is serving meals most days to anyone and everyone who needs sustenance.
Here's the "kitchen staff"
on the job (left to right):
Dana Stanley, Hank Booth, and Norman Toler.
READ MORE about it on this week's FEATURE PAGE>
DEATHS & FUNERALS
Each week we'll post links to obituaries about persons who have died during the past week. We'll monitor the websites of local funeral homes to compile our list, and we welcome links provided by readers to obituaries of persons with Smithfield connections who have died outside our immediate area.
BEULAH THOMPSON PEEDIN, 89 - died March 4
RAYFORD OLIVER AYCOCK, 67 - died March 2
CLARENCE M. GEORGE, 62 - died March 1
ELLA VAY PRICE SULLIVAN, 84 - died March 1
DAISY LEIGH LASSITER PARRISH, 94 - died February 28
NELL TAYLOR ERICKSON, 81 - died February 12
Daylight
Saving Time already!
This Sunday (March 10) puts us back on Daylight Saving Time.
That means sunrise won't come till 7:30 a.m. with sunset at 7:16 p.m. It also means high-school students and teachers, starting Monday, will head for class in the dark once again.
The early return of DST dates to 2007, thanks to Congress.
THAT'S THE WAY IT WAS
In the 1950s First Citizens Bank expanded its headquarters by adding an adjacent storefront to the original "front door" of its predecessor, the Bank of Smithfield, which built the structure at the corner of Market and Third streets in 1913. After First Citizens moved its headquarters from Smithfield to Raleigh in the 1970s and then vacated its original home office in the 1990s, the building was given to the County of Johnston and renovated again to house today's Johnston County Heritage Center, which moved there from the Public Library across the street in 2000. (Photo from the Heritage Center archives)
For more
information about our community, check out
our online "newspaper parent" via the link shown
below. This website is a handy "portal" to
important sources of current information about
Smithfield and Johnston County.
Here's what you'll find there:
• Local weather data, current & past
• Monthly jobs reports
• Quarterly retail-sales reports
• Official population estimates
• Agricultural statistics
• Local government links
• Things to see and do
Here's what you'll find there:• Local weather data, current & past
• Monthly jobs reports
• Quarterly retail-sales reports
• Official population estimates
• Agricultural statistics
• Local government links
• Things to see and do
www.smithfieldselmasun.com
|
contact Wingate
Lassiter, sole
proprietor
|