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| PUBLISHED
ONLINE NOVEMBER 19, 2020 • VOL.
2, NO. 54 |
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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 REPORT
Johnston
among counties flagged by N.C.
• 6,969 cases, 71 deaths,
26 hospitalized + 1,509 at home for a
total offor having "Substantial Community Spread" Johnston is one of 43 counties across the state classified in a new COVID-19 County Alert System as experiencing "Substantial Community Spread" of the virus based on a combination of case rate, percentage of tests returned positive, and hospitalizations over a two-week period through last Saturday. Of the state's 100 counties, 10 are classified by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services as having "Critical Community Spread" --- the highest stage of alert --- while the remaining 47 are experiencing "Significant Community Spread." On the map below, Johnston --- colored orange --- is shown next to two counties colored red for "Critical Community Spread": Wilson to the east and Sampson to the south.  Johnston made the "Substantial Spread" group because it has recorded between 101 and 200 new coronavirus cases per 100,000 residents and a positive testing rate of 8-10% during the 14-day measuring period. Johnston's hospitalizations have remained below levels of alarm so far. Based on the new alert system, the state is recommending actions to be considered by local officials according to the severity of COVID-19 outbreaks. Details are posted on a Health and Human Services web page> Meanwhile, the number of cases reported in Johnston County over the past week exceeded 500 --- the largest weekly increase since reporting began last March. JOHNSTON COUNTY'S LATEST MID-WEEK REPORT The County of Johnston's daily report issued at 5:40 p.m. Wednesday: 1,535 active cases --- up from 971 a week ago --- with 5,363 presumed recovered. • 3,664 female cases; 3,305 male. • Cases by age: 1,002 ages 0-17 (924 last week); 933 18-24 (879 last week); 2,862 25-49 (2,642 last week); 1,371 50-64 (1,236 last week); 801 age 65+ (720). • Cases by race: 4,078 white, 849 black, 936 other (1,106 not known). • Cases by ethnicity: 2,377 Hispanic, 3,729 non-Hispanic (863 not known). INSTITUTIONAL OUTBREAKS Johnston County Jail: 5 inmates, 20 staff. Johnston Correctional Institution: 99 inmates (63 last week), 5 staff. Nursing and adult-care centers: 17 residents, 89 staff. VIEW the county's latest report with additional details> SCHOOL SYSTEM'S MONTH-TO-DATE REPORT Here's what was posted at 8:31 a.m. today (Thursday): STUDENT DATA: 75 cases among 21,660 students who have returned to face-to-face learning at school this week --- 33 in elementary schools, 16 in middle schools, 26 in high schools (last week: 50 total cases among 21,660 students in school). EMPLOYEE DATA: 35 cases, 281 quarantined among approximately 5,000 employees including teachers, administrators, and support staff ---16 cases in elementary schools, 2 in middle schools, 14 in high schools, 4 in Central Office administration (last week's totals: 19 cases, 191 quarantined). Starting this week, the school system's report now lists "Active Student Quarantines" and "Active Staff Quarantines" at each and every school campus. Data updated every weekday on the school system's COVID-19 Dashboard>
VIEW the current list of COVID-19 test sites and testing events in all of Johnston> |
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 Last Thursday's rainfall produced flash flooding that temporarily closed a number of Smithfield's streets, including Church Street east of Fifth --- next to the site of an upcoming flood-control project along Spring Branch beside the Community Garden. ANOTHER UNEXPECTED FLOOD EVENT We've dodged several proverbial bullets this fall as one tropical storm after another passed over the eastern half of the nation. And it appeared we'd be spared the wrath of the latest disturbance last week --- until a steady rainfall on Wednesday turned into a deluge last Thursday.
Cornell Cox recorded 8.16 inches at his Backyard Weather Station in South Smithfield. The official National Weather Service observatory at Johnston Regional Airport northwest of town measured a total of 7.82 inches between noon Wednesday and sundown Thursday. The deluge produced nine instances where more than 1,000 gallons of untreated sewage was washed out of the Town of Smithfield's collection system. "Approximately 150,000 gallons was discharged into tributaries leading directly to the Neuse River," the town reported as required by state law. The spills occurred near these addresses: 2003 W. Crestview Drive, 310 S. Fourth Street, 309 S. Fifth Street, 312 Third Street, 301 S. Second Street, 319 W. Wilson Street, 302 Hillcrest Drive, 2500 US 70 Business, and 109 Ray Drive. The two-day event produced a rapid rise in the Neuse River, which crested at 22.3 feet Saturday before falling back within its banks on Monday morning (official flood stage here is 15 feet; normal depth is 5-6 feet). Enough already for 2020! And yet, the dangerous storms continue to pop up in the warm waters to our south. VIEW two more flood photos, past and present, on the OBSERVATIONS page |
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With more than a hundred extra workers and $338,000 in extra aid, record-setting Johnston election went off without a hitch Director Leigh Anne Price said Johnston County's Board of Elections office employed more than 100 extra helpers to handle an unprecedented number of early voters and absentee ballots in this year's General Election --- made possible by a large infusion of extra funding from the federal CARES Act, the N.C. General Assembly, and a little-known nonprofit responding to the coronavirus pandemic. The result: Of the 111,732 Johnstonians who voted, 76,659 did so at seven early-voting sites over a three-week period while 15,934 voted by absentee ballot. Just 19,139 voted at precinct polling places on Election Day. The total is almost 78% of Johnston's 143,693 registered voters --- 77.76%, to be exact. (The county's number of registered voters rose by 6,330 from the first of September through the last day of "one stop" early voting October 31.) Even with the record-setting turnout of voters, Johnston's election office had the results tabulated and posted on its website by 10 p.m. Election Night. Director Price said the county's election process benefited from an allocation of $180,000 from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act passed by Congress last spring, $46,000 in state aid appropriated by the N.C. General Assembly, plus a $112,000 grant from the Center for Tech and Civic Life, a nonprofit started in 2012 to help "modernize" U.S. elections. She said the nonprofit's grant was based on a formula assessing local needs. The organization's website says it awarded more than 2,500 "COVID-19 Response Grants" throughout the nation this election season. The Johnston County Board of Elections met last Friday to certify results of the November 3 election and submit those numbers to the state board. Normally, its work would be done to wrap up this year's election. But not this time. On Friday, Johnston's election office will join all the others across North Carolina in recounting the votes in a close race for Chief Justice of the N.C. Supreme Court.
VIEW official Johnston County returns for all races> SEARCH results of all North Carolina contests> MORE about Johnston's handling of this year's election on OBSERVATIONS> |
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Dr. Marilyn Pearson receives Chamber's Athena Award for women's leadership
"Dr. Marilyn Pearson is known and well respected... as a health professional who is focused on building partnerships to improve the access to health care in this community," reads a statement placing her name in nomination for the award, which is presented annually by the Triangle East Chamber of Commerce (formerly the Smithfield-Selma Chamber). "She has become one of the primary public-health resources of the county (especially) during this COVID-19 period," the Chamber's statement continues. "With close collaboration with town leaders, the state division of health, and Johnston Health, she and her team are able to provide a continuous flow of screenings and up-to-date guidelines and statistics to keep our local residents aware and safe." Furthermore, the statement notes, "Dr. Pearson has mentored a lot of women within the Health Department who have grown professionally through the years." Other nominees for this year's award: • Donna Bailey-Taylor, president and CEO, Johnston County Visitors Bureau. • Cassandra Brooks, owner/operator of Little Believers Academy in Clayton/Garner. • Joyce Jenkins, owner/chef of The Serving Spoon in Pine Level. • Evelyn Sanders, president and CEO, Southeastern Healthcare of NC. • Gabriella Woodson, owner, Chefella's of Smithfield and Clayton. Patricia Chisholm-Jones joins hospital board  The Smithfield resident is one of three
new members of the Johnston Health Board of Directors
that oversees hospital services at Smithfield and
Clayton. Now retired, she taught school for 32 years
before serving as a public-school administrator in
Dayton, Ohio for 17 years.Other new board members are William W. Massengill Jr., CEO of Benson Area Medical Center, and Jeff Parlier, senior vice president of retail banking at First Citizens and a resident of the Cleveland School community. Other members of the Johnston Health Board of Directors are Dr. Eric Janis (chairman), David Mills, Dr. Octavio Cieza, Steve Burriss, Dr. Linda Butler, Chris Ellington, Ted Godwin, Dr. Dennis Koffer, Ana Lucia Milazzotto, Brad Oakes, Dr. Marilyn Pearson, and Bobby Parker. READ MORE about the board members on the Johnston Health website> |
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 Susan Woodard and Flora Grantham of Keep Johnston County Beautiful present the donation to James Narron and Carolyn Ennis of the Historic Smithfield Foundation. (Photo and story below from the Johnston County Heritage Center) Freedmen's Schoolhouse restoration gets a donation from Keep Johnston Beautiful
Keep
Johnston
County Beautiful, organized in 1978, spearheaded
countywide surveys of historic architecture in
1981-1983 and 2003-2005. Thousands of files
created by these and other architectural surveys
are available in the Margaret McLemore Lee Reading
Room of the Heritage Center. In 2016 KJCB
published The
Historic Architecture of Johnston County, North
Carolina --- a 330-page volume that's
available for purchase at the Heritage Center, the
beneficiary of all proceeds from those sales. |
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WHAT'S COMING UP? SOMETHING DIFFERENT FOR A DIFFERENT KIND OF SEASON  It's a
"virtual banquet" to celebrate
Farm-City Week --- in place of the
usual sit-down dinner hosted by
Johnston County's Cooperative
Extension Service --- to be
presented at 6:30 p.m. next Monday
(Nov. 23) on the Johnston County You
Tube page. There's no charge to
"attend" but guests are asked to
register by clicking this
llnk>Featured speaker is Jolene Brown, a professional motivator, author, family-business consultant, and, appropriately, a farmer. THANKSGIVING HOLIDAYS NEXT WEEK Just about every government office and public service will observe a holiday on Thanksgiving Day next Thursday. Closed on Friday as well are state, county, and municipal offices and services. Banks and the Post Office will be open Friday as usual. Johnston County's solid-waste "convenience centers" and landfill will be closed Thursday and Friday but open as usual on Saturday. Johnston's public-school students and staff will be off duty Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday next week. AND THEN COMES CHRISTMASTIME . . . Ho, ho, ho, hey, hey, hey: Five weeks away is Christmas Day! Getting an early jump on the season are some playful residents of South First Street:  |
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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.... MYRTLE LEE CLIFTON KORNEGAY, 88 - died November 16 DENNIS EARL SMITH, 61 - died November 16 IDA CAMPEN ODOM MILLER, 76 - died November 16 QUEEN ESTER FARRAR, 84 - died November 12 RUBY LEE DUBLIN, 85 - died October 27 |
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THAT'S THE WAY IT WAS  DOWNTOWN LANDMARK FROM OUR AGRARIAN ROOTS Proprietors L.T. and C.E. Heavner opened this business in the fall of 1934, and the building stood on the east side of the 100 block of North Fourth Street until it was demolished in 1995 to make way for the new home of First Citizens Bank. The business was perhaps best known for its prominently displayed advertising come-on: "WE TRADE FOR ANYTHING THAT WALKS OR ROLLS." (Photo from the Johnston County Heritage Center) |
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LINKS TO MORE PAGES IN THIS EDITION OBSERVATIONS Rewind with our archives |
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For more information
about our community, check out my 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 government website links • Local weather data, current & past • Neuse River levels & forecasts • Official time & Farmer's Almanac • Monthly unemployment reports • Quarterly retail-sales reports • Official population estimates • Agricultural statistics • Things to see and do www.smithfieldselmasun.com |
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