Oct. 26, 1934 — Dec. 11, 2020 SMITHFIELD — Emma Eloise Lawhon Griffin, 86, died Friday, Dec. 11, 2020. Arrangements are by Casey Funeral Home, Princeton.

Emma Eloise Lawhon Griffin

Tracie Zukowski is stepping down from the Johnston County Board of Education.
In a statement the school board released Wednesday afternoon, Zukowski said her family was moving out of Johnston County.
&ldquo;I will no longer have a primary residence in the county, and pursuant to the residency requirement, I must resign my position on the Johnston County Board of Education,&rdquo; she said.
Zukowski won first won election in 2018. Her term was set to expire in 2022.
&ldquo;I want to thank the staff and students of Johnston County Public Schools for the trust they have placed in me as a member of the board and for their example in showing us all the meaning of public service and hard work,&rdquo; Zukowski said.
Todd Sutton is the school&nbsp; board&rsquo;s chairman. &ldquo;I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mrs. Zukowski for her service to the students and staff of Johnston County Public Schools, and we wish her health, safety and happiness in her new home,&rdquo; he said.
The statement said the school&nbsp; board would soon decide how to fill Zukowski&rsquo;s seat.

Johnston school board member stepping down

Tracie Zukowski.jpg

SELMA &mdash; It&rsquo;s been nearly two years since Johnston County commissioners backed Eastfield Crossing with $1.528 million in incentives over seven years.
Since then, progress on the $287.5 million development has been hard to see and has lately languished because of COVID-19.
Recently, Kevin Dougherty, founder and president of AdVenture Development, the company behind the Eastfield, offered an update to Selma leaders, starting with Triangle East Collaborative, or TEC, in the former JR building.
&ldquo;We continue to move forward on construction, particularly over at TEC,&rdquo; Dougherty told the Selma Town Council.
Among other things, TEC will be home to a food hall that has already announced a couple of tenants.
&ldquo;We kind of put it on hold when COVID arrived last March,&rdquo; Dougherty said. &ldquo;We were about 20%, 25% completed on the interior improvements. We just kind of stopped because we didn&rsquo;t know what we were up against, and frankly, we didn&rsquo;t want to plow a lot of money into the food hall and not be able to open it.&rdquo;
But his company hopes to move forward soon on the food hall, Dougherty said. &ldquo;One hope is that we would be able to at least be open by the summer travel season,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s no guarantees but certainly a goal for us.&rdquo;
Across U.S. 70 from TEC, AdVenture plans industrial space, medical offices, single-family homes, multifamily housing, retail shops, hotels and a senior living community.
&ldquo;We continue to plan. We continue to design,&rdquo; Dougherty said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re working closely with NCDOT on some of the necessary road improvements. We&rsquo;re working with the town and staff on the details of everything from signage to landscaping, at the same time coordinating with tenants.&rdquo;
Doughtery was able to name one name during his update. &ldquo;We have received approval for the Marriott hotel, which we also put on hold when COVID arrived,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We have that plan sitting there waiting to start and really kind of waiting for a sign that the hospitality industry is on its way back.&rdquo;
Other aspects of Eastfield are close to tangible too, Doughtery said. &ldquo;We continue to work on the business park and hope to have an announcement here in the near future for a spec building,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We continue to work on single-family design plans and also the retail component.&rdquo;
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had some pretty good success in discussions with retailers,&rdquo; Dougherty added. &ldquo;Can&rsquo;t really go public at this point, but our target right now is fall of 2022 for the first phase of that retail development.&rdquo;
Dougherty thinks his company will eventually deliver something Selma and the county can be proud of. &ldquo;We remain optimistic, committed to Selma and the county to deliver a first-class project and really appreciate your patience, help and prayers, because we need them,&rdquo; he said.
Dougherty said he is confident Selma is the right place for Eastfield. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve made a huge investment here, and we think Selma is the center of the wheel,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re on 95 and we&rsquo;re at that midpoint between Portland, Maine, and Miami, Florida. It&rsquo;s a great town, it&rsquo;s a great site for meeting the needs of the local audience, the regional audience but also the national audience.&rdquo;
Selma leaders shared Doughtery&rsquo;s optimism about Eastfield.
&ldquo;It is indeed a game-changer, and one of the things I continue to be impressed with is your interest in it being a quality development,&rdquo; Mayor Cheryl Oliver said. &ldquo;That will make it a true, true asset here in Selma.&rdquo;
Dougherty agreed. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m excited to see what Selma will be in 10 years,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I think it could really be magnificent.&rdquo;

Emma Eloise Lawhon Griffin

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