Cleveland Springs Wins in Close Race In all, 1,074 votes were cast in
an election to determine the name of a growing area of Johnston County commonly referred to as Cleveland or 4042. "It was close, but when a dozen area residents counted the returned postcards on October 30, Cleveland Spring (273) won over New Cleveland (253) by 20 votes," said Deirdre Jersey, president of the Greater Cleveland Chamber of Commerce which sponsored the mailing and election. "Besides changing the chamber's name, the next step is to call the district office of
the United States Postal Service and have them start the process of boundary surveys." That process Jersey noted could take 18 – 36 months. Jersey said she thought a 25.2 percent return on the 4,257 postcards that were mailed was excellent. "Direct mail usually results in 1-3 percent return. Ten percent is great. Twenty-five percent is outstanding and says that the community is definitely interested in the outcome and involved in the process," said Jersey. The postcards were
mailed to businesses and residents in seven carrier routes – two in Clayton and five in Garner although all are located in Johnston County. "Our area needs to have an identity so our commercial entities can be competitive with other areas of the county. Also, people who live here often have to explain where they live and would like a name. Most of us know 'Cleveland' but since we cannot have that name as it is already taken, we needed to have this vote," said Jersey indicating that
30 people who attended a public meeting in April agreed that Cleveland had to be part of the name. She also noted that Lowe's Home Improvement is located on 42, just yards from Interstate 40, is known as Clayton and "that becomes confusing for people who are looking for Clayton businesses on Highway 70," said Jersey. Identifying a name is the first step to having mail delivered to Cleveland Springs with Clayton's zip code, 27520. Choices of New Cleveland, Cleveland Hills,
Cleveland Springs, Cleveland Fields, and Clevelandton were selected from a list of two-dozen names identified by a group of 30 residents who came out to a public meeting in April 2000. When the two-dozen names were suggested, that meeting's guests voted on their top five. The top five were offered to all area voters as was a write in option. "We had many suggestions and as in all democracies, we go by majority rule. So Cleveland Springs is our new name," said Jersey who thanked the
vote counters - Rick Childrey, Johnston County Association of Chambers, Donna Bailey Taylor, Executive Director Johnston County Visitors Bureau, Jackie Anderson, First Citizens Bank, Don Wells & Scott Johnston, attorney's with Mast, Shulz, Mast, Mills & Stem, Jerry Boone, chamber member, Tony Cox, Lowe's Home Improvement, Jacqueline Lippard, 4042.com, Chuck Arnold, Arnold Communication, Lynne Loving, Meeting Details, Calvin Bagley, Clayton Postmaster and J. H. Langdon and Cookie Pope,
Johnston County Commissioners. Members of the media also observed the process. |
