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PUBLISHED
ONLINE JUNE 27, 2019
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Stories and photos by Wingate Lassiter
unless otherwise noted
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ON THIS WEEK'S "INSIDE"
PAGES
FEATURE:
Pastor Lee Colbert marks 40 years at
First Baptist
SPORTS
& RECREATION:
SRAC joins "World's Largest
Swimming Lesson"
OPINIONS:
A weekly celebration of our musical
heritage
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 Fireworks Sunday, neighborhood parade
Thursday highlight Smithfield's celebration
Downtown Smithfield will
celebrate the Fourth this Sunday (June 30) on
South Third Street from 6 to 9 p.m. with the Carolina
Soul Band, games and activities (including "water
wars"), food trucks, and fireworks, of course.
Next Thursday the actual Fourth at 10 a.m.,
a South Smithfield neighborhood will conduct the 26th
edition of its annual parade that's open to anyone who
wants to join in, whether it's older kids on bicycles,
younger children in wagons and strollers, adults
"marching" on foot --- decorated appropriately for the
patriotic occasion. Hosted by Evans and Patricia Horne
and Emery and Kim Ashley, it begins at 1206 Crescent
Drive not far from South Smithfield Elementary School.
Cookies and lemonade will be served at the conclusion of
the procession.
Local government meetings delayed one week: Both
the Johnston County Board of Commissioners and the
Smithfield Town Council have postponed their monthly
meetings because of the Fourth holiday. The County Board
will meet Monday, July 8 (instead of July 1) and the
Town Council will meet Tuesday, July 9 (instead of July
2).
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"IF IT'S
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New
trees have been planted in honor
of First Baptist's long-standing pastor
Lee Colbert, who has served
Smithfield's First Baptist Church as pastor since 1985
(after six years as associate pastor), stands with one
of two "coral bark" maple trees planted earlier this
month in place of two large, decaying oaks that had to
be removed. An accompanying placard "sanctifies" the
trees in honor of his 40 years of service to the
congregation.
READ
MORE about his service as pastor here on today's
FEATURE PAGE>
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SUSAN
LASSITER
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Drone photo courtesy of
Sysco's Zak Lokken
SYSCO
EXPANSION PUSHES EMPLOYMENT OVER 380
Sysco's food
storage and distribution center at Selma has
undergone an expansion that pushes the facility's
size to 500,000 square feet and local employment to
more than 380. The expansion added 75,000 square
feet to the "dry" storage warehouse and another
46,000 square feet to "freezer" components. Although
the company's designation here is "Sysco Raleigh,"
the plant is actually located within the town limits
of Selma, beside the US 70 Smithfield Bypass just
east of Buffalo Road. At a ribbon-cutting event last
Friday, Selma's Mayor Cheryl Oliver called Sysco "a
shining star in our business community." It opened
here in 2006 with about 130 employees. More than 50
of them are still on the job, according to Tom
Woods, Sysco Raleigh's president. Sysco Corporation
distributes food products to more than 600,000
restaurants, health-care and educational
institutions, and other bulk-buying customers from
330 centers worldwide. Its headquarters are in
Houston, Tex.
JOHNSTON'S LARGEST INDUSTRIAL EMPLOYERS
From Johnston's Economic
Development Office, here's the latest list (from
2018) of the county's largest industries (by levels
of employment): Grifols at Clayton
(1,000+ employees), Novo Nordisk at Clayton
(1,000+), Caterpillar at Clayton (500-999),
Flanders Precisionaire at Smithfield
(250-499); Sysco Raleigh at Selma (250-499);
Airflow Products at Selma (250-499); 3C
Packaging at Clayton (250-499); OPW
Fueling Containment at Smithfield (100-249).
Johnston's largest public-sector employers (each
with 1,000+ on the job) are the County of Johnston,
Johnston County Public Schools, and Johnston Health.
County reports sewage spill at Smithfield
The
Central Johnston County wastewater collection system
had a discharge of untreated sewage on June 20-21 of
an estimated 84,000 gallons from a force main in the
vicinity of 101 NC 210 at Smithfield (near US 70
Business).
The
untreated wastewater discharged into the Neuse River
and into a pond that drains into the Neuse River. The
spill was caused by an air-release-valve failure. The
spill was reported to the Johnston County Department
of Utilities at 10:30 p.m. on June 20 and ended at
3:30 a.m. on June 21.
The
Division of Water Resources was notified of the event
and is reviewing the matter. For more information,
contact the Johnston County Public Utilities
Department at 919-989-5075.
News item above from
the County of Johnston
EDITOR'S
NOTE: The sewage discharge into the Neuse River
occurred downstream from the Town of Smithfield's
water-treatment plant.
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 Photo
from Junior Women's League of
Smithfield
SMITHFIELD
RESCUE MISSION GETS A BOOST
The Junior
Women's League of Smihfield raised $15,000 for
the Smithfield Rescue Mission from their
annual "Big Night Out Gala" held last
Saturday. "We were overwhelmed by the support
of over 60 local businesses and community
members to make our fund-raising goal a
reality," stated Meredith Fordham and Jessica
Davis, co-chairs of the event. The Smithfield
Rescue Mission was established in 1977 to help
local persons in need. Its largest outreach is
a service called "Blessing Baskets," which
delivers boxes, bags, and baskets of food to
families and individuals in distress. The
Junior League's $15,000 donation will be used
to purchase food and hire a part-time driver
for deliveries. Since its start in 2016, the
Junior Women's League of Smithfield has
donated more than $71,000 and contributed more
than 7,600 volunteer hours to a number of
local service organizations. Visit the Junior League
website to learn more about its work and how
to become a member>
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First Missionary Baptist, Johnston 4-H
hosting food-collection event Saturday
Women's Heart to Heart and Christian Education
Ministries at First Missionary Baptist Church in
collaboration with Johnston County Cooperative Extension
are hosting a "Stomp Out Food Insecurities" food drive
and community outreach event this Saturday (June 29)
from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the church grounds at North
Fourth and Caswell streets in Smithfield.
Non-perishable
food items, including healthy snacks for kids, will be
collected "to assist those who are experiencing episodes
and cycles of disruption in food intake as a result of
limited resources."
 The
event will also feature a free water slide and free hot
dogs and hamburgers for all comers as well as music and
games. Cooperative Extension 4-H staff and alumni will
provide information and demonstrations on growing and
making healthy foods.
In honor of the late William H. (Bill) Clayton (pictured
at right) --- beloved 4-H agent in Johnston County and a
former deacon at First Missionary Baptist --- a tree
will be planted in his memory on the church grounds
during a ceremony at 11:30 a.m.
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 Another
"Creature"
sighting reported
Jeanene Bowman reports another sighting of
the "Creature of Spring Branch": in late May in the
backyard of her residence across Riverside Drive from
Spring Branch.
It's believed to be a groundhog --- an animal not
usually associated with Eastern North Carolina, at least
not in years gone by.
Be on the lookout for it. And try to get a photo if you
can. Jeanene thinks there may be "several" of these
roaming around the neighborhood!
(The photo above is the one Kelley Garris submitted to
us earlier.)
--- Wingate
Lassiter
WHAT'S
COMING UP?
A rundown of upcoming civic
and cultural opportunities in our community
that we've been told about or seen publicized in
other media:
DOWNTOWN
SMITHFIELD INDEPENDENCE CELEBRATION coming early
this year: on Sunday (June 30) from 6:00
to 9:00 p.m. on South Third Street with
music, food trucks, and fireworks (which
may start sooner than 9:00 because of
weather).
SOUTH SMITHFIELD NEIGHBORHOOD PARADE
at 10 a.m. next Thursday, the Fourth of
July. The 26th annual parade starts at
1206 Crescent Drive and is open to all
comers as either participants or
spectators.
MY KID'S CLUB SUMMER CAMP July
8-19 at South Smithfield Elementary School. It's
open to the first 50 kids ages 6-12 who submit an
application from a child's teacher, the office at
South Smithfield School, or by contacting Mamie
Moore, director of operations for My Kid's Club:
e-mail mamie.moore@mykidsclub.org or
telephone 919-351-1559.
MUSIC
FOR THE LUNCH BUNCH SERIES continues
takes a holiday next week, then resumes
Wednesday, July 10 at 12:15 p.m. at
Smithfield's First Presbyterian Church with a
performance by Jim Grant and Isaac Bruton,
vocals and piano. View the full series
schedule>
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  JOHN P.
(JACK) O'HALE
Attorney at Law
102 S.
Third Street
Downtown Smithfield
919-934-6021
e-mail kim@jackohale.com
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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.
BENTLEY
WILLIAM JOSEPH, infant
- died June 22
IRENE JERNIGAN GUY, 88 - died June 20
ELTON RAY (RALPH)
PEACOCK, 74 - died June 19
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THAT'S THE WAY IT WAS
Smithfield's bus
station stood facing North Second Street behind the
old Tuscarora Inn building across from the Courthouse.
In this early 1960s photograph, barely visible on the
left is the dispatching office for Riverside Cab
Company, the town's main commercial taxi service at
the time. Inter-city buses operated by Greyhound,
Trailways, and Seashore (a regional line) made several
daily stops here.
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ON THIS
WEEK'S "INSIDE" PAGES
FEATURE:
Pastor Lee Colbert marks 40 years at First
Baptist
SPORTS
& RECREATION:
SRAC joins "World's Largest Swimming
Lesson"
OPINIONS:
A weekly celebration of our musical heritage
WANT TO VIEW
PREVIOUS EDITIONS?
Visit our archives
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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
www.smithfieldselmasun.com
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