newsobserver.com blogs -- betweenthelines

Mudcats set game day operations job fair for Saturday, March 3

dclaybest — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 14:02:40 -0500

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.

Willingham elected to Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond's board

davidranii — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 17:32:24 -0500

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.

Want to Stop Hunger Now?

sbolejack — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 09:34:06 -0500

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.

Police captain's court date postponed

colincampbell — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 15:24:15 -0500

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.

Museum picks up national accolade

colincampbell — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 17:01:26 -0500

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.

Firearms meeting rescheduled to Thursday

colincampbell — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 13:01:45 -0500

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.

Documentaries to screen in Smithfield

sbolejack — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 14:11:13 -0500

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.

Schools ease lip balm rule

colincampbell — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 13:43:38 -0500

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.

Underwood: Victim 'jumped on car'

colincampbell — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 17:31:15 -0500

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.

Meeting scheduled for Buffalo/Third realignment

colincampbell — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 16:56:54 -0400

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.

Smithfield: No water restrictions here

colincampbell — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 11:33:23 -0400

Smithfield officials want residents to know there's no shortage of water for its utility customers.

Folks might easily get confused, given the amount of publicity surrounding Johnston County's water restrictions that went into effect Monday. Apparently, there was a TV crew that used Smithfield's water plant on North Second Street as a backdrop for their report.

That plant isn't part of the county's system, though it's been providing water to the county as they cope with the shortage.

Smithfield utilities director Earl Botkin offers an update on how Smithfield's dealing with the extra demand:

"Our production rate was well over six million gallons yesterday afternoon (we actually exceeded our permitted quantity for a short time)," Botkin wrote in an e-mail Tuesday morning. "Ray [Peal, plant manager] says that he was not able to get our tanks completely full last night, so we will monitor everything very closely. We will make every effort to help the county through their tight water situation, but if a severe capacity problem looms, we will have to ask them to cut back."

I'll admit I can't be too smug about the TV folks' mistake, since I had to look up where the county's own plant is located. Turns out, it's out by the Neuse River near Wilson's Mills.

Benson hires new town manager

colincampbell — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 12:12:50 -0400

Benson commissioners hired a new town manager Tuesday night.

He is Matthew Zapp, town administrator of Madison Village, Ohio. Madison Village is a town slightly smaller than Benson in terms of population and town government, and Benson commissioners said Zapp is a good fit.

"Mr. Zapp was really a standout," Commissioner Fred Nelson said, noting Zapp's experience recruiting new jobs to Madison Village. "The board wants the next town manager to really have a hands-on approach to economic development."

Earlier this year, Zapp helped land a lawn-mower factory for the town, which is expected to bring about 20 or so high-paying jobs, he said.

Zapp is scheduled to start on Aug. 2. He replaces Keith Langdon, who is retiring June 30 after decades as town manager. Town Planner Braston Newton will serve as interim manager in July.

Zapp will have a salary of $70,000, plus an education stipend of $5,000 per year for tuition as he completes his master's degree in public administration.

Read a full profile about Zapp in next week's Herald.

Four Oaks says no to Internet sweepstakes

colincampbell — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 12:05:30 -0400

Internet sweepstakes businesses have been cropping up around Johnston County in the past year or so, but most towns have little power to regulate them since they lack rules governing the facilities.

Four Oaks commissioners on Monday rejected an application for an Internet sweepstakes business, making it one of the first area towns to say no to the rapidly growing industry that some liken to gambling.

Raleigh businessman Sherwood Newkirk had hoped to open an Internet sweepstakes business in the Peachtree Center shopping center on U.S. 301 South. But commissioners said they couldn’t support such a venture anywhere in town.

“It was the board’s thought that we’d prefer to have some other type of business rather than internet gambling,” Mayor Linwood Parker said.

Parker said the board was also hesitent because the N.C. General Assembly is considering legislation that could ban sweepstakes parlors or tax them heavily. He says they told Newkirk he could apply again after the state decides how to handle it. Also, Parker said, approving Newkirk’s application would open the floodgates to more sweepstakes operations.

In next week's Herald, read more about the decision, the town's legal grounds for making it and what other towns are doing about Internet sweepstakes.

Clayton native shares memories of mill village

colincampbell — Tue, 11 May 2010 17:11:30 -0400

The Clayton of years past isn't as distant as one might think. Just take a ride around town with Jack Lee, who grew up in the Bartex/Liberty mill community known as "Cotton Mill Hill."

Lee took me on a tour of the area while I was working on this week's Garner-Clayton Record story about the mill community and its ties to the child labor movement. His father worked in the mill from age 9 to his death, so Lee had heard his share of stories about the hardships.

Our first stop was the old brick mill building itself. Little about the outside has changed since it stopped producing textiles decades ago. Located near the corner of West Main and Moore streets, it now sits mostly vacant. Lee recalls that the white cinderblock building next to the main factory was where black employees worked.

But Lee never worked in the mill himself, so he gets most excited about his old haunts in the surrounding neighborhood. He showed me the cottage he grew up in, and as we passed the other remaining two-door cottages built by the mill company and sold to employees, he could name just about everybody that lived in them.

"It sounds crazy, but I knew everybody," Lee said.

He and his buddies roamed the whole neighborhood, with the exception of one spot: Kligo Street, across from what's now a park. That area was known, at least to them, as Shanghai.

"It was Shanghai if you went over there," Lee said. "It was the roughest part of Clayton."

There were separate classes of people, too, in 1930s and '40s Clayton, Lee recalls. The mill workers' kids typically kept their distance from the wealthy merchants' kids who lived downtown. Farm kids didn't mix with the others either. But even so, Lee says there wasn't much bullying.

"You didn't have to worry about no bullies coming after you," he said. "We looked after our own."

Not surprisingly, then, the folks on Cotton Mill Hill weren't too happy when their separate community was incorporated into the Town of Clayton.

"We raised cane about it," Lee said, noting that the mill community had the second-best water quality in the state. "The people that were born and bred here had a lot of pride."

Campaign finance reports are in

colincampbell — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 15:41:26 -0400

Both Joy Jones and Susan Doyle have raised upwards of $30,000 in the quest for the district attorney’s position, making it the biggest-spending political campaign in Johnston County this year.

In the race for sheriff and register of deeds, the challengers have raised significantly more than the incumbents so far, though without a primary this week, those campaigns have just begun.

The large number of candidates vying for school board seats appears to have limited fundraising in that race, with only two candidates, Strickland and Lisa Klisiewecz planning to raise more than $3,000 — the amount requiring disclosure forms.

The data comes from campaign finance forms filed last week with the North Carolina and Johnston County boards of elections. Johnston elections director Leigh Anne Price said all the candidates got their first-quarter reports in on time. “They did good this year,” she said.

District attorney’s race: By mid-April, Doyle led the fundraising totals in the highly publicized Republican primary race with $38,635 to Jones’ $30,258.92. Jones, a Smithfield attorney in private practice, was attempting to unseat Doyle, the incumbent.

Most of Jones’ biggest donors were private-practice attorneys. Doyle got her largest contributions from business owners, family members and her own staff members throughout the district.

The following people donated $1,000 or more to the Jones campaign: Clayton lawyer Elizabeth Carter, Benson lawyer John Ivey Jr., Clinton lawyers L.D. Starling Jr. and Douglas Parsons and Smithfield attorneys Vann Sauls, Frank Wood and Stephen Woodard Jr.

Sauls was one of the attorneys who pled guilty in the DWI-fixing scandal earlier this year. Several of his family members and co-workers also gave to the Jones campaign. But Jones said there’s nothing inappropriate about his donation since he’s not currently allowed to practice law. She said the donation likely stems from a lifelong friendship.

“Our families have grown up together,” she said.

Jones also got a $100 donation from Ed Roach. Roach is the N.C. Department of Insurance investigator who’s worked on the case of Mark Hall, the former Smithfield financial adviser charged with fraud. Jones is Hall’s court-appointed attorney. Roach said he gave because he’s gotten to know Jones through the case; he resides in Carteret County and has little connection to local politics.

“I’ve had a good working relationship with her,” Roach said. “She’s been very helpful and forthright.”

The following people donated $1,000 or more to Doyle’s campaign: Ralph Hodge of Wilson, Dunn lawyer Caron Stewart, assistant district attorney Paul Jackson, Smithfield pawn shop owner James Lassiter, Frank Lee of Smithfield, Raymond Doyle of Cary, Wayne Dale of Clayton, Robert Buzzard of Lillington, Trudy Hales of Clayton, Hunter Olive of Smithfield, Rebecca Riley of Smithfield, William Riley of Clayton and Scott Lockamy of Dunn.

The winner of Tuesday’s primary will face Democrat George Murphy of Benson in November.

Sheriff’s race: By mid-April, former state trooper Gerry Mouzon had raised almost seven times as much as incumbent Steve Bizzell, though without a primary, the race has been low key so far. Mouzon gathered $14,818.32 in donations; Bizzell garnered $2,159.54.
Much of Bizzell’s total came from himself and several smaller donors; Scott Lockamy of Dunn gave $1,000.

The following donated $1,000 or more to Mouzon’s campaign: Dell Richards of Willow Spring, Coates Hauling and Grading owner Michael Coates of Willow Spring, Manuel Cruz of Clayton and Cleveland Medicap Pharmacy owner Lance Wheeler.

School board race: Incumbent board chairman Strickland led fundraising in this race with $3,421. He received $500 from Pine Level Town Market owner Billy Daughtry, but much of his total stemmed from smaller donations.

Klisiewecz raised $1,749, with her biggest donation a $1,000 check from W.A. Holland of Smithfield.

The other nine school board candidates did not plan to raise more than $3,000 and were not required to file disclosure forms.

Register of deeds’ race: Challenger Donald Byrd of McGee’s Crossroads raised a bit more than incumbent Craig Olive, with $1,050 to Olive’s $688.23.

About half of Byrd’s total came from Pine Level Commissioner Jimmy Garner’s N.C. House campaign fund. Garner, who ran unsuccesfully for that office in 2008, is serving as Byrd’s treasurer.

Olive received $480 from Jerry Brown of Clayton and $100 from County Commissioner Cookie Pope.

Avoid I-40/N.C. 42 area Saturday morning

colincampbell — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 16:19:31 -0400

Road crews will be closing the Interstate 40 eastbound off-ramp at N.C. 42 (exit 312) in the Cleveland community on Saturday morning, as well as several lanes of N.C. 42 near the intersection.

From 7 a.m. till about 1 p.m. Saturday, drivers heading out of Raleigh and Garner who need to get off at N.C. 42 will have to stay on the interstate until McGee's Crossroads, then exit and get back on I-40 in the opposite direction.

That's about 14 miles out of the way, so I'd suggest taking the U.S. 70 Clayton bypass to N.C. 42, or getting off in Garner and taking N.C. 50 depending on where you're headed.

Also, three westbound lanes of N.C. 42 will be closed from the I-40 overpass to the off-ramp, so there'll be just one lane of traffic going each way. Back-ups are likely.

"It's going to be a big inconvenience for about five hours," said N.C. Department of Transportation engineer Marcus Lee.

What's the occasion? Lee says it's the last stage of a widening project. Crews are finishing work on a second left-turn lane for drivers headed off the interstate and going east on N.C. 42. They're also extending the right turn lanes back so cars have more space to back up during the afternoon rush hour.

On N.C. 42 itself, they're doing some pavement improvements in the westbound lanes.

The other three ramps at Exit 312 won't be affected by Saturday's project.

Benson looks to restrict livestock

colincampbell — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 16:15:11 -0400

One of Ray Smith’s neighbors recently moved out because she was tired of having horses next door on a small in-town lot.

Smith, a Benson commissioner, said complaints like that are what’s prompting the Mule City to take a closer look at its livestock ordinance. “You wouldn’t want horses 25 feet from your bedroom window,” Smith said. “That’s what we’re trying to solve.”

But several residents and commissioners dismissed a new draft ordinance — which would have limited properties to one animal per acre — as too restrictive, sending town staff members back to the drawing board.

“If horses are your problem, address your problem,” said Carolyn Lambert, who has five sheep on her five-acre property on the north end of town. She added that no one has complained about her animals, and only meter readers even notice that they’re there. And she wants to make sure her grandkids can keep animals on her pasture if they join Future Farmers of America or other agricultural activities.

Several commissioners said the ordinance needs to be crafted in a way that doesn’t restrict the larger, farm-like properties toward the edge of town. Town Attorney Ike Parker said that the law could be rewritten to increase the allowed number of animals based on the size of the property, with fewer restrictions for large tracts.

Commissioners will consider a revised draft of the animal rules at their meeting Thursday, April 22.

Some residents missing census forms

colincampbell — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 11:00:23 -0400

I got a call today from Gene Britt of Princeton. He'd read our story about census participation and wanted to know how he could get a form. Though many of his neighbors get home mail delivery, he gets his through a post-office box and because of that, he didn't get his form in the mail.

"I would like to fill one out, but I don't know how to get one," Britt said.

It's difficult to tell how many folks in Johnston County are in Britt's position, but the U.S. Census Bureau wants to make sure he's counted. Their Web site asks anyone who didn't get a form by Monday (April 12) to pick up and fill out a "Be Counted" form.

Here are some of the places where those forms are available:

Smithfield:

-Johnston-Lee-Harnett Community Action, 101 N. Fourth St. Forms are available from 8 a.m. till 3 p.m. Monday through Friday; someone's there to help people fill out forms from 2 till 3 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

-Johnston County Board of Elections, 205 S. Second St. Forms are available from 8 a.m. till 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

-Johnston County Mental Health, 521 N. Bright Leaf Blvd. Forms are available from 8 a.m till 8 p.m. on Tuesdays and 8 a.m. till 5 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays. Someone's there to help people fill out forms from 8 a.m. till 1 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays.

Benson:
-Benson Chamber of Commerce, 303 E. Church St. Forms are available from 9 a.m. till 5 p.m. Monday through Friday; someone’s there to help fill out forms from 8 a.m. till 5 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Wilson’s Mills:
-Wilson’s Mills Town Hall, 101 Railroad St. Forms are available from 9 a.m. till 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9 a.m. till 3 p.m. on Fridays. Someone’s there to help from 11:30 a.m. till 2:30 p.m. weekdays.

Princeton:
-Princeton Town Hall, 503 Dr. Donnie H. Jones Jr. Blvd. Forms are available from 8 a.m. till 5 p.m. weekdays with help available from 10 a.m. till 1 p.m.

Four Oaks:
-Four Oaks Town Hall, 304 N. Main St. Forms are available from 8 a.m. till 5 p.m. weekdays.

Selma:
-Partnership for Children of Johnston County, 1406-A S. Pollock St. Forms are available from 1 p.m. till 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

The Census Bureau site doesn't list any Clayton locations.

DOT issues travel advisory

sbolejack — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 11:50:42 -0500

The N.C. Department of Transportation today released the following advisory about the winter weather forecast for this weekend.

Central North Carolina

The central part of the state is forecasted to see snow and ice from this storm. To prepare, crews in many counties have already started pre-treating the highways. They plan to continue spraying salt brine on these heavily traveled roads until precipitation starts falling.

Crews are also checking equipment such as plows and spreaders and preparing to work special shifts to conduct snow removal.  

Eastern North Carolina

The storm is expected to generate a wintry mix in Eastern North Carolina. Crews are pre-treating the primary routes in counties forecasted to get more than just rain.   Crews throughout the region will remain on standby until the storm is over. During their shifts, they will check equipment to ensure it is ready for use.  

Snow Clearing Policy

The department prioritizes which roads are cleared first, focusing on strategic corridors such as interstates and other multi-lane primary routes that are essential to the movement of intrastate and regional traffic.

The DOT then works to clear lower-volume primary roads and secondary roads and then subdivision streets.  

Driving Tips

Motorists are asked to give snow plows and other DOT equipment plenty of room and to avoid unnecessary travel, both for their safety and to give crews time to clear the affected roadways.   If travel is absolutely necessary, motorists should use the following precautions: 

• Clear windows and mirrors.

• Reduce speed and leave plenty of room between you and other vehicles.

• Bridges and overpasses accumulate ice first. Approach them with extreme caution and do not apply your brakes while on the bridge.

• If you begin to slide, take your foot off the gas and turn the steering wheel in the direction of the slide. Do not apply the brakes as that will cause further loss of control of the car.

• Come to a complete stop or yield the right-of-way when approaching an intersection where traffic lights are out. Treat this scenario as a four-way stop.

• If you have a cellular phone, take it with you; you can contact the Highway Patrol statewide by calling HP (*47) or call the county emergency center by dialing 911.

For real-time information on road conditions, visit www.ncdot.gov/traffictravel/ or call 511, the state’s free travel-information line. The DOT also provides alerts about road conditions on Twitter. To access them, go to www.ncdot.gov/travel/twitter/.

Pizza in Cleveland

sbolejack — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 11:23:52 -0500

From 5 till 9 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 2, Pizza Inn in the Cleveland community will donate a portion of sales to the youth ministry at First Missionary Baptist Church in Clayton. The cost is $8.59 for adults and $3.99 for children. The restaurant is at 63 Son-Lan Parkway near N.C. 42 and Interstate 40.