The Carolina Mudcats baseball team will be hosting their fourth annual job fair on Saturday, March 3 for game day employees.  The job fair will be held from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. in Cattails Restaurant at Five County Stadium.  Cattails Restaurant is located on the 4th floor of the stadium.
Interviews will be conducted on site for various game day positions, including: food and beverage services, ushers, parking attendants, the picnic staff, stadium clean up, ticket sellers, bat boys and the Lady Mudcat mascot.
For more info, contact the Mudcats front office at (919) 269-2287 or  carolinamudcats.com.

The president of Raleigh-based First Citizens BancShares has been elected to the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.

The three-year term of Ed Willingham will begin Jan. 1. He will be one of three Class A directors, representing the banking industry, on the nine-member board.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond is one of 12 district banks that make up the Federal Reserve System.

Willingham has been president of First Citizens BancShares and its subsidiary, First Citizens Bank, since Feb. 2009. He joined the bank in 1987.

Willingham has a bachelor's degree in economics from Davidson College and an MBA from UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a member of the N.C. Bankers Association's board of directors.

First Citizens has 435 branches in 17 states and Washington, D.C.

Clayton High School and Horne Memorial United Methodist Church are raising money to purchase food for a meal-packing event on March 26.

The church and school are also seeking volunteers for that event, which will get under way at 9 a.m. at the high school, 600 S. Fayetteville St., Clayton.

To help buy food, make a check payable to Horne Memorial Church and send it to Horne Memorial United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 475, Clayton, N.C. 27520. On the memo line, write Stop Hunger Now.

To volunteer, call JoAnn Brace at 359-2991.
 

Prosecutors have postponed the case against a Smithfield police captain charged with passing a stopped school bus.

Capt. Bruce Gentry was due in court Tuesday, but the case likely won't be resolved in court until March or April, District Attorney Susan Doyle said.

Doyle said she's asked an outside prosecutor from the Greenville area to take over the case, since Gentry is a local officer.

The Greenville prosecutor is coordinating with witnesses and hasn't yet set a date for Gentry's hearing, Doyle said.

The Ava Gardner Museum in Smithfield was recently ranked No. 2 in the country.

Livability.com, a website that rates quality of life in towns across the U.S., featured the downtown museum in an article on the "Top 10 Fun and Unusual Museums." The website's editors wrote that they "went digging for these weird museum gems in dynamic cities across the U.S."  and the hometown homage to Gardner  came out near the top.

The museum ranked just ahead of the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame in Fort Worth, Texas, and the Great American Dollhouse Museum in Danville, Ky. But the National Museum of Roller Skating in Lincoln, Neb., edged out the Ava Museum for the top spot.

Click here to read what the website had to say about the museum.

Talks are set for this week on a proposal to largely ban the use of firearms within 600 feet of any occupied building.

The Good Neighbor Firearms Ordinance Work Group will meet 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 20, at the Emergency Operations Center, 120 S. Third St. The work group includes County Commissioners, planning officials and residents charged with crafting the ordinance.

Those who want to attend should come through the Third Street entrance.

The meeting was originally scheduled for last week but was postponed due to winter weather.

To read more about the recently proposed firearm ordinance, click here.

Screenings of six short films about Smithfield and Johnston County are scheduled for 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 12, at the Neuse Little Theatre, 104 S. Front St., Smithfield. Admission is free, but seating is limited.

The films are:

“Post 518: Johnston County, N.C.,” by Jessie Landerman. The film explores how military service affects race relations and how small-town veterans cope with the reality of racism in America.

“The Banks of Smithfield,” by Wendy Redfield. This film tells the story of the Bank of Smithfield, now First Citizens Bank, and the roles its historic buildings have played in Smithfield and in five neighboring communities.

“Percy’s Run,” by D.L. Anderson. Joshua Percy Flowers was a moonshiner and foxhunter. This film attempts to cover the ground between the two pursuits and reveal a picture of the man apart from the legends.

“The Red Dog,” by Sara Washington. Since 1941, Carolina Packers has made what many describe as “the best hotdogs in Eastern North Carolina.” This short documentary takes a look at the people who work hard to make the hotdogs.

“The Smithfield Rescue Mission,” by Brooke Shuman. This short film shows a typical day at the Smithfield Rescue Mission men’s shelter with words from current residents.

"Tobacco Culture in Smithfield," by Maggie Smith. Residents share their memories and thoughts on the importance of tobacco culture in Smithfield and how things have changed over time.

Dry-lipped Johnston County students can tear up their permission slips — they're no longer needed to bring lip balm to class.

Johnston schools Superintendent Ed Croom on Monday sent a letter to parents informing them that they'll need to write a note only if they don't want their kids to use lip balm, hand sanitizer or sunscreen.

Croom wrote that the change is "an effort to bring clarity to this situation," after some news reports said that a doctor's note was necessary for the items.

Schools spokeswoman Terri Sessoms said officials made the change after talks with the Johnston County Health Department, which established the policy. The health department has authority over public-health issues in government agencies, including schools.

"They felt that it would be simpler for parents who did not want their children to have lip balm to notify the school rather than the other way around," Sessoms said.

The permission requirement stemmed from parent concerns that kids were sharing lip balm — and germs — and that some students were allergic to hand sanitizer.

But the policy caused confusion even before it made news. A newsletter from West View Elementary in the Cleveland community told parents lip balm simply wasn't allowed, and the school's handbook only mentioned medicated lip balm — not the over-the-counter variety most folks use.

Here's a link to The Herald's original story on the issue.

On Monday, Jeffrey Underwood took the witness stand in his own defense of second-degree murder charges. As he started to drive away, he testified, he turned the wheel to avoid hitting Messer, but he thinks Messer might have jumped onto the hood of his car.

“It was so quick, I don’t know,” Underwood said. “I don’t know if I hit him or he jumped on the car.”

In his testimony, Underwood seemed to blame Messer’s movements for the collision.

“If he hadn’t moved forward, none of it would have happened,” Underwood said.

As for why he didn’t immediately call 9-1-1, “I wasn’t aware there was anything wrong with [Messer],” Underwood said.

Prosecutors asked Underwood why he didn’t drive around Messer and his car, as other vehicles had done. “Can you choose that in a tenth of a second?” he asked angrily.

Underwood’s testimony contradicted some of what his two passengers that day had earlier told the court. He denied claims made by Charles “Chazz” Hysell and Donald “Shorty” Autry that he’d encouraged Hysell to beat J.J. Messer and shouted obscenities at another man in confrontations earlier that afternoon. Hysell also said that Underwood drove into Messer despite having space to go around him.

Autry apparently gave conflicting statements to investigators. The night of the crash, he told a Four Oaks police officer that Underwood ran into Messer by accident. But he later told an investigator from the district attorney’s office that he thought the act was intentional.

“I’m not Jeffrey – I don’t know if it was an accident or if it was on purpose,” Autry said in court Monday, explaining his earlier remarks.

In testimony from Underwood and his mother, the jury was told of Underwood’s 2006 car accident that put him in a coma for over a month. When he recovered, he had an impaired ability to think and had limited use of his left arm, he said. He’s on disability and has a home-health nurse.

Updates from last week

After prosecutors finished presenting their evidence Friday, Judge Tom Lock granted a request from Jeffrey Underwood’s attorney to drop the first-degree murder charge and try the 32-year-old Four Oaks man with second-degree murder. Lock refused to drop the charges any further.

Friday’s debate over whether to reduce Underwood’s charge centered around whether evidence showed the killing was premeditated.

Prosecutor Kelly Sandling argued that once Underwood’s car backed away from Jerry Messer, Underwood had time to decide his next move. He then chose to kill his adversary, she said.

“The defendant formed that intent when he backed up,” Sandling said. “The defendant felt like his masculinity had been called into question. The defendant chose not to go around the victim in this case.”

But Jack O’Hale, Underwood’s attorney, said his client was just trying to get away from a violent situation, and evidence supports at most a charge of misdemeanor hit-and-run.
 

Day 2 Update

On Wednesday, the court heard from a series of eyewitnesses for the prosecution. They testified that they saw Jerry Messer walking back toward his car when he was struck by Jeffrey Underwood's car. Also, they indicated that other cars had driven around Messer's parked car at the intersection of N.C. 96 and U.S. 701 in Four Oaks,  and that he had room to do so as well.

Among the witnesses was J.J. Messer, the victim's son who was with him during the deadly incident. "[Underwood] made it his choice to run my father over and murder him," the younger Messer said, choking up with emotion.

Judge jails witness

A failed alarm clock sent a witness to jail during the Jeffrey Underwood murder trial Wednesday.

David Bradley “Brad” Wicker, 23, was set to wrap up his testimony at 10 a.m. He was nearby when Jerry Messer, the victim in the case, was hit by Underwood’s car.

But at 10, Wicker wasn’t in Johnston County Superior Court. Judge Tom Lock sent a Selma police officer to Wicker’s home, and the officer brought him to court.

Wicker told the judge that his power had gone out during a storm overnight, and his alarm clock didn’t go off in the morning. He’d been up until about 1 a.m. the night before with his kids, he said.

“I cannot afford to stay out of work and go to jail,” Wicker said.

But Wicker’s pleas didn’t sway Lock, who found him guilty of contempt of court and sentenced him to 24 hours in the Johnston County Jail. Lock said Wicker was “grossly negligent” in adhering to the court’s schedule.

Original story

After almost two days of jury selection, attorneys made their opening remarks Tuesday in the murder trial of Jeffrey Underwood, who's accused of killing 43-year-old Jerry Messer with a car in 2008.

Both the prosecution and the defense attorney agreed that Underwood's car hit Messer after the two men had a confrontation involving a knife at the intersection of N.C. 96 and U.S. 701 in Four Oaks. But they gave the jury differing perspectives on how it happened and whether Underwood hit Messer intentionally.

"This case is about a father protecting a son, and it cost him his life," prosecutor Lori Goins said. She said the highway confrontation happened after Messer's son, J.J., felt threatened by Underwood and others earlier in the afternoon at the home of J.J. Messer's girlfriend.

Goins told jurors her evidence will show that as Jerry Messer walked away from Underwood's car, Underwood backed up about 20 feet and drove directly toward Messer.

"This defendent kept going," Goins said. "He didn't stop, even when his friends pleaded with him. He left Jerry Messer laying in the road with head trauma, bleeding, making gurgling sounds."

But Jack O'Hale, the defense attorney representing Underwood, told the jury a different story. O'Hale said that, in the confrontation between Jerry Messer and Underwood, Messer grabbed a knife, put it to Underwood's throat and threatened to kill him.

"Because he is scared, and he wants to extricate himself from the situation, Jeffrey Underwood's vehicle accidentally strikes Jerry Messer," O'Hale said, citing witness accounts.

Shortly after Underwood drove away from the accident, O'Hale said, his client went with his mother to the Four Oaks Police Department to report what happened.

A straighter drive down North Third Street to Buffalo Road could soon be a reality.

Smithfield is holding a neighborhood meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 20, to gauge residents' opinions on realigning the intersection of Third Street, Buffalo Road and North Street. The meeting will be held at the Smithfield Junior Women's Club, 405 N. Second St.

The project would eliminate the "turn right, turn left" hassle drivers connecting from Buffalo to Third or vice versa currently face. To make it happen, part of Talton Park's soccer field would need to be cut off, making room to move over Buffalo Road to line up with Third.

The project's details aren't set, but Town Manager Eric Williams listed off a few possibilities in an e-mail to town officials:

-a possible four-way stop at Buffalo and North Street
-a possible sidewalk/trail connection from Third to the water plant and on to the greenway trail
-possible traffic calming improvements (that are aesthetically pleasing) at crossing intersections along Third, Hancock, Caswell and even Bridge Streets.
-a leveling of the traffic flow between and among Second, Third and Fourth Streets.
-the opportunity to make other visual/landscape improvements along the corridor
-the opportunity to create additional recreational type improvements once the soccer field is 'shifted' toward the west (even potential space for a requested dog park has been mentioned......one idea anyway). There are likely others.

The N.C. Department of Transportation would foot the bill for the road work, while the town would be responsible for any changes or movements of its facilities and utility lines. Work could start as early as this fall; the Town Council will review plans at its Aug. 3 meeting.