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| PUBLISHED ONLINE APRIL 24, 2020 • VOL. 2, NO. 22 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Stories and photos by Wingate Lassiter unless otherwise noted (click highlighted link to e-mail the editor) |
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| CORONAVIRUS
UPDATE: Johnston reports 125 cases; two more deaths this past week brings total to 11 Johnston County now has 125 confirmed coronavirus cases --- up from 122 on Tuesday and 118 a week ago. Statewide, the number of confirmed cases has risen to 8,052, with 269 deaths recorded, according to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services in its daily report this morning (Friday). Included in Johnston's total are 68 cases associated with staff and patients at a Clayton nursing center. Neighboring Wayne County, meanwhile, has 603 cases because of a massive outbreak at Neuse Correctional Institute, a state prison. That situation prompted the closing of Johnston Correctional Institute near Wilson's Mills so its staff could be reassigned to help handle the situation at Goldsboro. Johnston County released the following coronavirus data at 5 p.m. Thursday: • 125 confirmed cases; 11 hospitalized, 103 at home, 11 deaths. • 66% of cases female (82) and 34% male (43 cases). • Cases by age: 0 ages 0-17; 6 ages 18-24; 28 ages 25-49; 37 ages 50-64; 54 ages 65 and older. • Cases by race: 81 white, 38 black, 4 "unknown," and 2 "other." Here are the coronavirus numbers for Johnston and neighboring Wake County as well as all of North Carolina, the nation, and the world --- along with links to a couple of reporting agencies where the latest updates may be viewed:
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Churches' Food Closet is now open to all  Volunteers Georgia Pilkington and Phil
Pittman were on duty Thursday afternoon to distribute
free food to anyone in need who came by the Smithfield
Area Ministries Food Closet based at Centenary United
Methodist Church.Normally open every weekday, the Food Closet is presently open on Thursdays only --- from 9:30 a.m. till noon and from 2:00 to 4:30 p.m. During the coronavirus threat, bags of food are handed out to any and all comers, no vouchers required as in normal times. Smithfield Area Ministries includes about a dozen churches in the community. Mrs. Pilkington is a member of Whitley Memorial United Methodist Church in West Smithfield. Mr. Pittman is a member of Pine Level First United Methodist Church. MORE about the Food Closet on a Smithfield Area Ministries website> |
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 COMPANY'S CHICKEN SALE COMES TO SMITHFIELD House of Raeford Farms brought its touring chicken sales to West Smithfield's vacant Rose Manor Shopping Center Thursday morning, with Smithfield police on hand to keep things orderly. From the back of a refrigerated tractor-trailer, chicken portions were sold in 40-pound lots --- cash only --- starting at $15 for drumsticks ranging up to $60 for Frozen Jumbo Party Wings. Vehicles snaked through the parking lot, thereby avoiding traffic backups on US 70 Business. Said House of Raeford on its website: "We know it has been difficult in recent weeks to not only find, but also in some cases afford, certain food products. We hope this opportunity will be helpful to families as our nation continues to face a challenge over the next several weeks." A schedule of sales elsewhere through this weekend is posted on the company's website> |
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suspended and attendance won't be taken Johnston County Public Schools posted an announcement on Tuesday that gives more details about the system's delivery of Remote Learning to students at home --- to keep them engaged while school is out because of the coronavirus pandemic. For one thing, "attendance will not be taken," the announcement states. "Students should continue to put forth their best efforts to engage in the learning opportunities and content." Furthermore, Johnston's schools "will not engage in grading and reporting in the format typically used by our district because we cannot guarantee for all students [emphasis added in the announcement] that we are meeting all the critical factors for effective remote learning." Among those factors is a state requirement that learning at home, mostly through Internet connections, must be "accessible by all students for which the learning is intended and is responsive to diverse learning groups." Another requires that Remote Learning "maintains consistent communication between instructional staff and students." As a result, the school system has adopted a modified plan for grading students where necessary, based on guidelines from the N.C. Board of Education. READ the JCPS announcement in full, including links to how grading will be handled differently for elementary, middle, and high-school students, seniors especially> |
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Proposed budget for Johnston's schools seeks $11,967,018 increase from county A proposed budget put together by Interim Superintendent Ben Williams and his leadership team seeks an appropriation of $79,805,356 from the County of Johnston to support operations of Johnston County's public schools during fiscal 2020-21. An additional $1,204,504 is sought for capital outlay for the year that begins July 1. Added together, the request for $81,009,860 is $11,967,018 more than what the county originally budgeted for Johnston's schools for 2019-2020. However, that appropriation has been increased in recent months after the County Commissioners agreed in February to provide an additional $950,000 monthly through June to meet a budgetary shortfall for the school system. That shortfall came to light after the county's budget for the current fiscal year was adopted last June. Johnston's Board of Education will meet remotely using telecommunication hook-ups at 5 p.m. Monday (April 27) to discuss the proposed budget for the year ahead. The agenda for Monday's meeting includes online links to the proposed budget> You may watch Monday's meeting on the school system's YouTube channel> Smithfield's manager figuring on no hikes in property-tax & power rates in new budget Town Manager Mike Scott walked the Smithfield Town Council through his draft budget for 2020-21 during a meeting by teleconference Thursday evening. Here are the highlights: • No need to increase the town's property-tax rate of 57 cents per $100 valuation. • No need to increase the town's electricity rates, especially after a 1.2% rollback in wholesale rates the town pays for power that took effect April 1. • Another increase in water and sewer rates, based on a financing plan approved in 2016 coupled with a July 1 hike in sewage-treatment rates the County of Johnston charges Smithfield and other municipalities. • No new positions in any of the town's departments. • No across-the-board pay raises for town employees, although each department could get a contingency fund based on 2.5% of its employment expense for selective raises during the year ahead. • The total of proposed General Fund expenditures for 2020-21 is $15,656,057 --- an amount that's $635,907, or 4.2%, above the current year's budget. That's despite the manager's projections of a $100,000 reduction in property-tax revenues and a $353,000 reduction in sales-tax revenues from what's projected for 2019-20. He's also anticipating a reduction in fees collected by the Recreation & Aquatics Center, which has been closed the past month because of the coronavirus pandemic. An appropriation of $1,078,150 from General Fund reserves is included to balance Mr. Scott's budget as it now stands. He told the council Thursday the town currently has about $8.5 million in General Fund reserves on hand. The council recessed Thursday's session until 6:30 p.m. next Tuesday (April 28) to continue their deliberations on a budget for the next fiscal year that begins July 1. The agenda for yesterday's meeting includes Mr. Scott's budget proposal in full> |
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 FOR SOME FOLKS, EVERY DAY IS EARTH DAY Dr. Henry Wright, a retired dentist, was tilling the soil in the garden beside his residence in South Smithfield on Wednesday --- an appropriate scene for Earth Day, don't you think? Dr. Wright bought the vacant lot next door to his home in 1974 and has been gardening there ever since, although he has scaled back his plantings in recent years. His work is a reminder of our dependence on those who continue to farm our lands so we might get sustenance during these trying times. Take an Earth Day tour of Smithfield's Town Commons on the FEATURE PAGE> |
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DEATHS & FUNERALS Each week we post links to obituaries about persons who have died during the past week. We 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.... JANE JOHNSON HOBBS, 90 - died April 23 JOSEPH DAVIS PATTERSON SR., 93 - died April 23 HARVINDER KAUR RUPRA, 86 - died April 23 JOSEPH DAVID SAULS, 54 - died April 20 |
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 SOUTH SMITHFIELD'S PUTT-PUTT GOLF COURSE Those of us who grew up here in the late 1950s and early 1960s remember the official Putt-Putt miniature golf course that was part of a brand-new recreational complex on the west side of Highway 301 at Holding Street. Next door to the north was the Little League ballpark (today's Civitan Field), and across the street to the south was a modern bowling alley (the building now occupied by Twister's). In the view shown here, the vacant land in the background is where the town's Second Street Dog Park was recently developed. The Putt-Putt gave way to a drive-in branch of First Citizens Bank that was closed (and removed) just a couple of years ago. (Photo from the Joe & Warren Grimes collection in the archives of the Johnston County Heritage Center.) |
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