17th Annual Shred Event shreds over 12 tons of documents

The Johnston County Register of Deeds held its 17th annual free shred event on Saturday. The annual event invites Johnston residents to bring canceled checks, old bank statements and other sensitive documents for shredding.

 

In all, 429 people brought 25,000 pounds of paper to shred.

 

Register of Deeds Craig Olive welcomed the “great turnout” and called the event a “success in fighting identity theft.”

 

“Protecting our community remains a top priority, and I remain a steadfast advocate for the citizens of Johnston County in our ongoing efforts to safeguard personal information and prevent identity theft,” Olive said. “As long as I am in office, I will continue this annual event for the citizens of this great County.”

 

The event was held in the parking lot of Smithfield’s Rose Manor Shopping Center.

 

“I would like to publicly thank Dan Heavner of Heavner’s Furniture for the use of their parking lot to host the event,” Olive said. “I also would like to thank Boy Scouts of Troop 124 and my office staff for their help in this year’s event.”

 

The following sponsored this year’s shred event: the Local Government Federal Credit Union, Civic Federal Credit Union, the Johnston County Report, Speedy/Neal Signs, Hinson’s Printing, and InterState Outdoor Inc.

 

Olive’s office records property transactions in Johnston County, and he invited residents to learn more about its property fraud protection program at www.johnstonnc.gov/fraudguard.

 

“Back in 2009, I was proud to play a major role in passing legislation in North Carolina that significantly strengthened identity theft protections,” Olive said. “This law empowered Registers of Deeds across the state to redact sensitive personal information from public records posted online, removing the burden from citizens to manually notify their county offices or identify specific books and page numbers to secure their data.”