A Century of Resilience
The Smithfield Times marks 100 years of publication
Wednesday, September 30, 2020
Page 12 – The Smithfield Times – Wednesday, September 30, 2020 Nov. 1, 1930 — Jesse and Lillian Scott purchase the paper. During their ownership, the paper was first located in a row of buildings that formerly sat across from the Smithfield Inn on Main Street. After a while, the paper moved down the street into a row of buildings that once sat in front of the paper’s current residence. 1962 — Tom and Betty Phillips purchase the paper from the Scotts.
1920 — First edition published. The Smithfield Times was owned and operated by Hill A. Goodman from 1920 to 1922.
1963-1986
March 30,1923 1930s
1935
1972
1954
1976
1922 — W.F. Bennet owned the paper from 1922 to 1925. Early 1950s — Scott had the newspaper’s present building built at 228 Main St. 1925 — Percy N. Bristow owned the paper from 1925 to 1928.
1964 — The printing press in The Smithfield Times’ building broke down, and the decision was made to begin outsourcing the printing of the paper.
1928 — R.T. Hunter owned the paper from 1928 to 1930.
1930-1963
1972 — John Edwards begins working at The Smithfield Times as a reporter and managing editor.
March 6, 1985 — The Smithfield Times announces it will change its name to the simpler “The Times” to give the paper a more regional identity.
The SmithfieldTimes-line
Congratulations to The Smithfield Times on 100 years!
Since 1936, Smithfield Foods has proudly called Smithfield, Virginia home. The high-quality food we produce to feed millions of families started right here. We are proud to share our hometown with The Smithfield Times – another organization that’s as iconic as The Genuine Smithfield Ham. Hitting 100 is a huge milestone and our entire Smithfield Family wishes The Smithfield Times many more years of continued success.
smithfieldfoods.com
The Smithfield Times – Wednesday, September 30, 2020 – Page 13
1986-2019 Feb. 1, 1986 — John and Anne Edwards purchase the paper from the Phillipses. John becomes editor and publisher; Anne left her career as a preschool director and teacher at Benn’s United Methodist Church to become the paper’s business manager.
May 6, 1998 — The paper restores its previous “The Smithfield Times” name after an internationally covered trademark lawsuit by The Times of London.
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1995
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www.easternfloorcovering.com 1995 — The newspaper celebrates its 75th anniversary and completes a renovation and addition to its Main Street building. Nov. 1, 2019 — Smithfield Newsmedia LLC, whose principal owner is Steve Stewart, purchases the paper.
2019- Present
Sept. 30, 2020 — The Smithfield Times celebrates its 100th anniversary with this historic edition.
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Page 14 – The Smithfield Times – Wednesday, September 30, 2020
The first draft of history By Nate Delesline III Staff writer
For 47 years, John Edwards helped write the first draft of history for Smithfield. As the The Smithfield Times celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2020, Edwards and his wife, Anne, are so far tied for being the longest tenured owners of the newspaper. John joined the paper in 1972 and in 1986, he and Anne bought it. A group of local businessmen established The Smithfield Times in 1920. In its first decade, the paper operated under several owners and managers. In 1930, Jesse Scott and his wife, Lillian, purchased the newspaper and ran it until 1962, when they sold it to Tom and Betty Phillips. John and Anne, who are both Isle of Wight County natives, returned to Smithfield in 1972 after John left the Navy. The Phillipses hired John as managing editor and reporter. The Edwardses, in turn, bought the paper from the Phillipses in 1986. Jesse and Lillian Scott ran the paper for 33 years. Tom and Betty Phillips ran the paper for 23 years. John and Anne, the paper’s longtime business manager, retired in late 2019. They sold the business to now-publisher Steve Stewart, bringing the paper under the umbrella of Boone Newspapers Inc. In a recent interview at The Smithfield Times’ office, they acknowledged it’s been a big change to step away from their passion and work, which they did for decades. “It’s been hard,” said Anne. “I can tell you that. It’s been hard. It’s just a different lifestyle.” John agreed. “I think COVID probably made retirement a little more difficult than it would have been,” he said. “We were planning to do some traveling. Our traveling now is to the drugstore and the grocery store. That’s about it. I think that probably made the transition a little duller than it would have been.” John, who has continued to write his popular “In the Short Rows” column, also said he missed being in touch with breaking and developing news. Before retiring, “I was right on top of everything for a very long time.” Having started in 1972, John is likely one of the newspaper’s longest serving employees. “I carried the title of managing editor but I was the janitor and the reporter and the darkroom and everything else,” he said. Anne joined him at work in 1986 when they bought the paper. Before that, she was director and teacher of preschool at Benn’s United Methodist Church. Along the way, they raised three kids. “And she largely raised them because I was here 60, 70 hours a week,” John said. “I always came to work at 6 o’clock in the morning on Tuesday for 40 years,” John continued. “I’d usually take
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John and Anne Edwards ran The Smithfield Times for more than 30 years. (Nate Delesline III) a break for breakfast at some point, but I’d go to work at 6 and back in the ’70s, we could be here until 8 or 9 o’clock at night, putting a 12-page paper together.” Today, newspaper production is mostly electronic, done with computers and digital files. But back in the 1970s, it was hands-on work. “We pasted up the pages in the back,” Anne said. John recalled the process. To write a story, “you’d keep a paste pot of rubber cement and paste your pages together in order so they didn’t get scrambled up so that whoever was typesetting them could roll it over and double space everything and edit with a big bold pencil, a copy pencil,” he said. The paste-up production process continued for about a year when they bought Macintosh Plus computers. “I would say by ’87 or ’88, we had bought the first Mac Pluses, the little square computers.” Although the production process evolved, the paper’s atmosphere didn’t change. Anne left her career to support the paper. “We bought the paper, and we didn’t have any money, and it was better for me to come and do the accounting than to pay somebody else to do it. That’s how I started working at the paper.” She ran the paper’s business operations. “It was our life. Our kids, our baby particularly, took her naps and everything else in our office,” she said. “My office always had a little daycare in it,” she said. “Children and grandchildren have all grown up here.” From tediously placed hand-set type, to linotype machines, and now to pixels on smartphone screens displayed through social media, the presentation of news has evolved through various mediums and processes, and it must continue to do so, John said. The future of newspapers “has almost got to go electronic,” John said. “Nobody has come up with a formula that replaces advertising as a major revenue source for newspapers. Subscribers help — (but) they don’t pay the bills,” he said. Sometimes, changes are pursued for style. On the recommendation of a media expert from Richmond, and with the blessing of former owner and publisher Phillips, the paper changed its
name and was known simply as “The Times” for about 13 years in the 1980s and ’90s. “Sure enough, circulation increased fairly sharply in Zuni, Ivor and out in Surry, so it was a resounding success,” John said. But one day, a letter from a lawyer, acting on behalf of The Times of London, arrived in the mail. The letter alleged trademark infringement. The conflict with the London newspaper became national and international news. Although they can laugh about it now, “It wasn’t funny at the time,” Anne said. The Hampton Roads law firm that failed to check for the possibility that “The Times” name was already internationally trademarked “did have the good grace to do all the work for free to change (the name) back,” and secure “The Smithfield Times” trademark, John said. Over a nearly 50-year career in writing and editing local news, John said the environment was a topic he always felt deeply passionate about covering. Feature stories on local people and places are great, too, but he said he also found deep fulfillment in hard news. Sometimes telling people what they need to know instead of what they want to hear doesn’t sit well, especially in a small town. “It is more difficult,” he said. “Somebody stays mad with you all the time. You either get a thick skin or you don’t do it, because somebody’s going to stay mad with you.” But both said they felt a responsibility to show and tell people what’s really going on. “You just have to do it with integrity,” he said. “People may be mad with you, but as long as they know you’re doing an honest job, they’ll tolerate it,” John said. “You’ve just simply got to call it like it happens. It’s just going to be unpopular at times, but people are pretty tolerant actually, and I think we’ve enjoyed pretty broad support.” In an era when shouts of “fake news” ring out when people see or hear a story they don’t like, don’t agree with or simply don’t understand, John said local newspapers are more important than ever. To rebuild and keep the trust of the community,
newspapers must put “all our effort toward accuracy and fairness, and that’s what we hope they’ll focus on. I think people still respect that, and I think they expect that.”
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The Smithfield Times – Wednesday, September 30, 2020 – Page 15
Times of Resilience In the last 100 years, Smithfield and Isle of Wight County have changed much, and the Smithfield Times has been there to cover it all. From the celebrations, like the expanded James River Bridge, to the devastation, like the Smithfield Baptist Church fire, the town and the newspaper have gotten through a century together with fortitude and resilience. Nobody has been there to cover all of the good and all of the bad like the Smithfield Times. On the following pages, you’ll read about some of the happenings in the last 100 years — about the positive things that happened, the negative things that happened, this community’s capacity for growth and change and resilience, and the newspaper’s coverage of all of it.
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James River Bridge When there’s heavy traffic or the traffic lights turn red for no apparent reason, it takes a resilient spirit to not get frustrated. But the convenience of a quick trip across the river didn’t exist nearly a century ago. Realizing the importance that transportation access would bring to Isle of Wight and Smithfield, a group of local businessmen created a corporation that, in turn, built the 4-½ milelong James River Bridge linking Newport News and Isle of Wight. At the time of its opening on
Nov. 17, 1928, it was the world’s longest bridge over water. The occasion of the bridge’s opening was cause for celebration. The Nov. 15 Smithfield Times carried several front-page stories detailing the long list of visitors and dignitaries from across the region and state who would participate in the ceremony, as well as a hourly schedule listing all details of the program, which included military units and a parade. Even President Calvin Coolidge was involved
— he pressed a button in the Oval Office, sending an electronic signal to lower the new drawbridge’s span. In September 1928, weeks before the bridge’s opening, the paper opined and correctly predicted that it “is not far fetched to presume that ere long people will be making their homes in Smithfield, while their business will be in Norfolk or Newport News.” The 1928 bridge was replaced in 1982 with a new, wider span, which is still in use today.
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Page 16 – The Smithfield Times – Wednesday, September 30, 2020
Great Fire of Smithfield, 1921
William Henry Sykes Jr. recalls the first sign of trouble in Smithfield on Aug. 17, 1921. It was an early, oddly timed whistle before 6:30 a.m. from the steamboat Hampton Roads. Sykes bore witness to what was arguably one of the most tragic events in the town’s 20th century history — the great fire. Back then, there was no organized fire department in Smithfield, Sykes, an eyewitness to the event, told Helen Haverty King in her book “Historical Notes on Isle of Wight County, Virginia.” The town owned two hose reels on two wheel carts with a shaft that could be connected to a car bumper.
Among the facilities destroyed by the fire were a large frame peanut factory and warehouse that “was loaded with peanuts and lard, and the whole thing burned, peanuts and all,” Sykes recounted. The result was a large black slick of “peanut oil that floated all over the river, onto every boat hull and mooring line.” Smithfield asked the Suffolk Fire Department for help, which was provided, and in its account of the incident, King mentions The Virginian-Pilot report that the Suffolk Fire Department made the call in record time of less than an hour, which was impressive given that “the
highway from Smithfield to Suffolk was a dirt road at that time.” As the town was dependent on the steamboat for commerce and transportation, the burned dock and warehouse at the waterfront were first to be rebuilt. “The town lost its main business that day, peanut processing, and that just about ended Smithfield’s share of the market. Cleaning and grading peanuts probably began right here in Smithfield, but Suffolk, had gotten into the act. They had railroads; we had none and that made the difference,” Sykes said.
Smithfield Foods For nearly 85 years, the history of Smithfield — the town — and the growth and fortunes of Smithfield Foods, formerly Smithfield Packing, have been and remain closely intertwined. In 1936, Joseph W. Luter Sr. and his son, Joseph W. Luter Jr. opened a meatpacking company in the town. At the time they established their company, the Luters were working for another meatpacker, P.D. Gwaltney & Co. “Although one of Smithfield’s youngest members of its happy, progressive business family, we are proud of our great strides since the establishment of our firm in 1936. We will continue to keep pace with Smithfield’s progress,” the company said in a Feb. 2, 1939 Smithfield Times advertisement. In a 2009 interview with Virginia Living magazine, Joseph W. Luter III
World War II
Wars have almost always been hometown news in Smithfield. Dispatches and updates on local service members regularly filled the paper during World War II. The Dec. 11, 1941, The Smithfield Times put in print for posterity what many had likely already heard: “U.S. and Japan are now at war.” “The Japanese attack Sunday morning (Sunday afternoon our time) by war planes upon Honolulu and Pearl Harbor while diplomats in America were talking peace terms came as a great surprise to the world,” the paper said in that week’s edition. Four years later, the paper noted the celebration that “War Is Ended With Japan” in the Aug. 15, 1945, edition. The edition was less than a week after the unprecedented atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In a separate headline, the Smithfield Times called the preceding seven days “One of the most momentous news weeks in history.” But perhaps as evidence of the community’s resilience, war-related news made up only a small part of the approximately 20 news items on the front page of the Aug. 15 edition. The paper that week also noted that E.E. Loomer, a “popular mail carrier” serving Smithfield, had “a very bad case of poison ivy” while delivering mail on a rural route.
described how his father and grandfather ran the business in the early years. Before World War II, the elder Luters “went to Suffolk and picked up about 15 hog carcasses a day — brought them here, cut them up, put the hams in a box and threw ‘em in the back of a truck and sold them to mom-and-pop stores in Newport News and Norfolk.” The third-generation Luter became chief executive officer in 1966. He left in 1970 and returned in 1975. His son, Joseph W. Luter IV, would also lead the company for several years before resigning in 2013. By 1986, the company today known as Smithfield Foods reported annual sales of $864 million. A decade later, annual sales reached nearly $2.4 billion and by June 2011, annual sales were $12.2 billion. But in November
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of that year, the company announced that its Portsmouth plant would close in 2013, which would eliminate 425 jobs. It was one of many ups and downs the company has survived. Perhaps the biggest story in the company’s history was in 2013 when WH Group, a Chinese company, purchased Smithfield Foods for $4.72 billion. A front page headline in the June 5 edition of The Smithfield Times summarized the initial reaction thusly: “Much of local reaction to sale is shock.” Today, about 2,000 employees work at the company’s Smithfield-area facilities. Nationally, the company employs about 40,000. You can get a taste of what the company offers at its eponymously named Taste of Smithfield restaurant in the town’s historic downtown. The eatery opened nearly a decade ago.
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The Smithfield Times – Wednesday, September 30, 2020 – Page 17
Smithfield Baptist Church fire In just a few hours, fire destroyed decades of history and memories at Smithfield Baptist Church. Although buildings are just sticks and bricks, it’s what they represent and what goes on inside of them that earns our reverence and respect for important edifices. Around 1 a.m. on Jan. 13, 1973, the church fell victim to fire. The building was a total loss. “How do you say goodbye to a building?” the Smithfield Times asked in its Jan. 17 edition. “The Rev. Warren F. Taylor didn’t really expect an answer to his question then.
It was too soon — early Saturday — and in front of him stood the Smithfield Baptist Church, 70-yearold home of the town’s largest congregation, hopelessly ablaze, the courageous efforts of the volunteer firemen unable to stop its destruction.” “We have been burned out but we are still very much alive!” the church said in an Jan. 24, 1973, Smithfield Times advertisement. In the immediate aftermath of the fire, the congregation gathered for worship at Smithfield High School. Apparently, the fire also failed to destroy Taylor’s sense of
humor or resilient spirit, as the ad also noted that he was working at the town library because “I have lost my study but not my job!” Organized in 1830, the church’s first building was on Hill Street. The building on Church Street destroyed by fire had stood for 70 years and featured stained glass windows. Two additions were added to accommodate Sunday School, according to a church history. The church decided to rebuild in a new location on Wainwright Drive. Services were first held there on June 22, 1975.
Hurricane Floyd Hurricane Floyd flooding slammed property and roads but spared lives in Smithfield and Isle of Wight. Initially the severity of the threat was uncertain. In the Sept. 15, 1999, edition of The Smithfield Times, local officials said they were watching the approaching storm. But Floyd apparently didn’t initially concern local leaders beyond readying local schools for use as storm shelters. And they planned to keep the county fair open while watching the weather. “We won’t cancel unless we have to,” county fair manager Alan Nogeic told the paper that week. The paper summarized what happened next week with an all-caps banner headline: “Flooded By Floyd.” “Hurricane Floyd didn’t produce the winds which had been feared here, but the rain associated with it left an area which is generally shielded from the worst nature can offer with a disaster of monumental proportions,” the paper said in a front page story. In Zuni, some homes “were flooded to the rooftops.” And in some cases flood survivors said the water rose so fast, “they had to leave most belongings behind as they fled.” Zuni is no stranger to flooding — another hit in 2006 — but the community remains resilient.
November 2009 nor’easter Sometimes natural disasters don’t speed through Smithfield. They linger, increasing the misery and risk. That was the case in November 2009, when a nor’easter lingered for three days, bringing winds close to 60 miles per hour and leaving nearly a foot of rain in its wake about a week before Thanksgiving. The wet and windy weather was a remnant of Hurricane Ida, which had earlier made landfall on the Gulf Coast. The storm caused more than $500,000 in estimated damage to public and private property. The nor’easter also washed out a portion of Morgart’s Beach Road; the cost to repair the road was about $200,000. More than 20 roads around Smithfield flooded during the storm, officials said at the time.
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Page 18 – The Smithfield Times – Wednesday, September 30, 2020
At your local library
What’s Happening?... with you, your neighbors, your community... Let us help you get the word out!
Send us your ideas for stories, items for the community calendar, letters to the editor,... tell us about people, places and events that impact the lives of residents in Isle of Wight and Surry counties. Send the who, what, when, where, why and contact information by fax: 357-0404 email: news@smithfieldtimes.com telephone: 357-3288, mail: P.O. Box 366, Smithfield, VA 23430 or visit the office located at 228 Main Street in the heart of downtown Smithfield The Smithfield Times offers the Community Calendar to promote events of community interest by nonprofit or community organizations within this area. The deadline for submitting items for the current week is noon Monday.
Community calendar Saturday, Oct. 3 WORLD FAMOUS CHICK-A-QUE - 11 a.m.-3 p.m. at Benn’s United Methodist Church, 14571 Benns Church Blvd,, Smithfield. Half chicken, baked beans, cole slaw, roll. $9. Drive-thru pickup only. Call 357-3373 for tickets. THE ANGEL QUILTERS - Will be at Farmers Market from 9 a.m.noon selling raffle tickets for a patriotic quilt. Tickets are $2 or three for $5. Angel Quilters makes quilts for children in need. WALK TO END ALZHEIMER’S - All day starting at 8 a.m. The Walk to End Alzheimer’s is the world’s largest event to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimer’s care, support and research. This year, Walk to End Alzheimer’s is everywhere — on every sidewalk, track and trail. Register at www.alz.org/walk. For more information call 757-793-5077.
Sunday, Oct. 4 SURRY BAPTIST CHURCH - Will celebrate its 135th anniversary with a special service at 10:30 AM. For information, call 757653-1763.
Monday, Oct. 5 SOLAR, NATURAL RESOURCES, ENERGY REQUIREMENTS .... AND YOU ! 7 p.m. at Windsor Town Center, 23320 N.Church St. The Isle of Wight Citizens Association, Southern & Central Isle of Wight Citizen’s Group and Carrollton Civic League will host Amy Ring, Isle of Wight director of planning; Jake Browder, district conservationist; and Steve Harmon, CEO of COMELEC, to discuss solar plans present and planned, conservation/protection of natural resources and future energy requirements in COMELEC’s service region. Attendees will practice compliance with COVID guidelines, including masks. For information, contact Herb De Groft, 357-6210.
Tuesday, Oct. 6 AMERICAN LEGION POST 49 OF SMITHFIELD - Will hold its monthly meeting at the Legion Hall, 818 South Church Street. Social hour begins at 5 PM, dinner at 6 PM and a business meeting at 7 PM. Post will be planning for upcoming veterans and community events to include Veteran’s Day events. Commonwealth social distancing guidelines will be adhered to.
Regular business hours have resumed at all branches of Blackwater Regional Library system. The library will follow Phase III guidelines in the state’s COVID-19 reopening plan: * A mask is required when entering the library (age 10 and over) * Observe social distancing - 6 feet Branches are still offering curbside assistance for any patron who wishes to not enter the library at this time.
Carrollton Public Library 14362 New Towne Haven Phone: 238-2641
Claremont Public Library Phone: 866-8627
Smithfield Public Library
255 James Street Phone: 357-2264, 357-4856
Surry Public Library
11640 Rolfe Highway Phone: 294-3949
Windsor Public Library 18 Duke Street Phone: 242-3046
On the Internet:
www.blackwaterlib.org
Tween 12 & 20 Seek another opportunity DR. WALLACE: A cute and very nice girl attends my church. She’s very pretty, and all the guys, including me, usually smile and even stare at her. A while ago, she came up to me and asked me if I wanted to take her to a dance sponsored by her mom’s club. We are both 16 and seem to have a lot in common. I couldn’t believe my ears! I told her yes, and she gave me her phone number and asked me to call her about all the details. But then COVID-19 came along, and the event has been canceled, and I won’t be able to dance with the cutest girl I’ve ever seen. I’m devastated to have missed this chance! Then I found out that she only asked me because her mother told her to because her mom approved of me and the way she’s seen me act in our small town. What should I do? -- Missed Opportunity, via email MISSED OPPORTUNITY: Unfortunately, COVID-19 has canceled
many events around the world, so the bad luck was not only related to you. At this point, you’re likely wondering if this girl’s invitation was only due to her mother’s encouragement or if she had her own level of interest. Why not ask your mother to contact this girl’s mother to see if a smaller event could be arranged? At least you’d then know if there is any ongoing interest in getting together or not. I suggest this because this girl’s mother seemed to be a fan of yours -- meaning you’d likely have her approval. Therefore, if a smaller gathering were to occur, this young girl, most likely, would be interested in getting to know you a little bit better. Dr. Robert Wallace welcomes questions from readers. Although he is unable to reply to all of them individually, he will answer as many as possible in this column. Email him at rwallace@thegreatestgift.com. To find out more about Dr. Robert Wallace and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
HOW HAVE YOUR PLANS CHANGED? Help us better understand... Please help us by taking this online survey to determine what’s most important to you now. What do you plan to buy and shop for in the coming days and weeks? Your answers will help us navigate through these unprecedented times. None of the responses will be shared or used for any other purpose except to help us better serve our community.
Everyone who completes the survey will be able to enter a contest to win $1,000 as our way of saying “thank you” for your time. The survey is available at:
www.pulsepoll.com