Secretary of State Tre Hargett Presents DCHS with Anne Dallas Dudley Gold Award for Voter Registration

May 1, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett Tuesday presented DeKalb County High School with the prestigious Anne Dallas Dudley Gold Level Award. The school earned this designation by registering 100 percent of its eligible students to vote.

Student Ambassadors Westin Wright and Dayanna Martinez received special recognition for helping their fellow Tigers go for gold through the support of DCHS Tigers faculty and staff like Principal Bruce Curtis and Government Teacher Ms. Debi Loring DePriest.

The Secretary of State’s office launched the Anne Dallas Dudley Award program for the 2023-2024 school year to promote voter registration among Tennessee high school students. High schools that registered 100 percent of eligible students earned the Anne Dallas Dudley Gold Level Award. High schools that registered at least 85 percent of eligible students earned the Anne Dallas Dudley Silver Level Award.

The award is named in honor of renowned Tennessee suffragist Anne Dallas Dudley, who helped lead the successful effort to ratify the 19th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. On Aug. 18, 1920, Tennessee became the 36th and final state needed to give women the right to vote.

“We created this award trying to recognize schools in taking the necessary steps to get their students registered to vote,” said Hargett. “This is one of 33 schools in the entire state that got 100% of its eligible students registered to vote. For all of us as Tennesseans and Americans its important to make our voices heard and the most fundamental way we do that in our form of society and our form of government is to get registered and go vote,” he said.

Also on hand for the occasion Tuesday at DCHS was State Representative Michael Hale, DeKalb County Administrator of Elections Dustin Estes, and Election Commission member Kim Luton.

“I am thankful to the Secretary of State and his office and the work they do, first of all for secured elections and doing this recognition for our high schools to encourage students to take part in the election process,” said Representative Hale.

Election Administrator Estes gave special recognition to Ms. DePriest who has helped supervise this student voter registration effort for several years. “I really appreciate Debi DePriest,” said Estes. She was one of my high school teachers. I registered to vote in her class and I appreciate everything she does for the students and for my office. It’s a tremendous help and I really appreciate her,” he said.

“The election commission also wants to recognize Ms. Debi,” said Luton. “She has been here for almost 30 years. She has been one of the best teachers around and has done an amazing job in getting these kids to vote”.

“I am a firm believer in voting,” said DePriest. “ We have always had great success as far as getting students to register. It doesn’t matter who they are we want them to register and they tend to do that in class under my supervision and we turn it into the election commission. We have had that going on for probably 25 years or more now,” she said.

All Tennessee public, charter/private school, and home school associations can participate in the Anne Dallas Dudley Award program.

The Anne Dallas Dudley Award is part of the Secretary of State’s civics engagement initiative to increase voter registration in Tennessee and prepare students to be actively engaged citizens. For more information about the Anne Dallas Dudley Award and other Tennessee Department of State civic engagement efforts, visit sos.tn.gov/civics.

April 30, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

A trio found with methamphetamine during a traffic stop last Tuesday, April 23 will be making an appearance in court next week on the charges.

48-year-old Stephanie Ann Pierce of Blue Springs Road, Sparta, 23-year-old Hunter Ray Murphy of Green Hill Road, Smithville, and 59-year-old David Lloyd Close of Holmes Creek’s Road, Smithville are each charged with possession of methamphetamine with intent to manufacture, sell or deliver. Murphy and Close are also charged with possession of drug paraphernalia. Bond for Pierce is $20,000. Murphy and Close are each under a $22,500 bond. All will appear in General Sessions Court May 9.

Sheriff Patrick Ray said that on Tuesday, April 23 a deputy pulled over a gray Nissan Altima on Midway Road at the intersection of Dunn Lane after noticing the vehicle’s driver side taillight was out. The officer spoke to the driver, Pierce who volunteered that her vehicle had no valid insurance. Both Murphy and Close were in the automobile with Pierce. Close was seated on the front passenger side and Murphy was in the back seat on the driver side. All three gave consent for the deputy to search them but Pierce didn’t want the officer to search her vehicle. The search of Close yielded a gray metal cylinder which had a crystal-like substance believed to be methamphetamine. After discovery of the cylinder, which was in Close’s pants pocket, the deputy conducted a full vehicle search and found a green L & D cigarette pack in the rear seat which held 0.94 grams of a crystal-like substance believed to be methamphetamine. A further search of the vehicle produced drug paraphernalia from a black bag in the rear seat floorboard with Murphy’s wallet and driver license in it. A black digital scale with a white powdery substance believed to be meth was also recovered. After all three denied that the substances found belonged to them they were placed under arrest.

April 30, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

This year, the National Day of Prayer celebrates 73 years of prayer for America! This observance acknowledges the blessings of living in a country where, by law, every year on the first Thursday of May, the President proclaims a day of prayer for the nation.

The National Day of Prayer observance was created in 1952 by a joint resolution of Congress and signed into law by President Harry Truman. Each year since then the president has called upon the citizens of the nation to pray, and in 1988 President Ronald Reagan established this day of prayer to be the First Thursday of May. The significance is that it enables everyone nationwide to recall and to teach the way in which the founders sought the wisdom of God when faced with critical challenges and decisions. It stands as a call for everyone to humbly come before God, seeking His guidance for the nation’s leaders and His grace upon us as a people.

Local pastors and churches would like to invite you to join with them, others from your community, and people from across our nation, as they plead for God’s mercy and guidance in our country. Smithville will have a gathering on May 2, 6:00pm at Northside Elementary School gymnasium. They hope to see you there as we seek God together!