Mallory Sullivan Pfingstler Opens New State Farm Insurance Office Monday, March 1

February 28, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

A longtime insurance agency in town is getting a new leader and location as of Monday, March 1.

Mallory Sullivan Pfingstler is taking over from the retiring Jackie Smith as the new State Farm Insurance agent in Smithville and the office location has moved from the public square to 126 West Main Street across from Cantrell’s the home of Fluty.

Although new to the insurance business, Pfingstler is not new to the community. She was born and raised here. Her parents are James and Tonya Sullivan and she has a sister, Shay Sullivan Walter.

“My mom was a teacher for 30 years at the middle school and served one term as city alderman. She retired from teaching two years ago and now builds homes. My father helped get the tee ball field and soccer league going several years ago. My sister Shay also grew up here, played golf at DCHS, and went on to play golf at Belmont University. She is now a real estate agent,” said Mallory.

Pfingstler is a 2014 graduate of DeKalb County High School where she, like her sister Shay, excelled not only in the classroom but on the golf course. At DCHS, she was a four-time Class A-AA State Tournament participant, finishing in the top-10 twice. She won two district and one region title and finished second in the Tennessean Schooldays Tournament in 2013. After high school Pfingstler went to Belmont University on a golf scholarship where she majored in business administration with a concentration In marketing, and advanced her golfing career.

At Belmont Mallory played all four years carding 10 top ten finishes. She was on the OVC Commissioner’s Honor Roll three years. She was the OVC Newcomer of the year her freshman year and won the APSU Intercollegiate her senior year, where she was named the OVC golfer of the week. Mallory finished her career ranked third in school history for career average.

After earning her college degree, Mallory set out on her career path in the insurance business.

“I have been planning this career move since 2018. My husband Andrew and I decided we would open an independent agency so we started to do market research and created a business plan. At this time we lived in Columbus, Ohio. We planned to open our agency in 2019 and move back to Smithville. We started studying for our insurance license. Later I got a call from a State Farm recruiter who told me that Jackie Smith was planning to retire and there would be an opportunity for me. It felt every star aligned at that point. I have been working with State Farm for over a year working toward opening my office,” said Pfingstler.

Mallory said State Farm will continue to offer a variety of insurance plans. “We will be offering auto, home, commercial, renters, life, and health insurance including hospital income, short term, and long term disability.

As a new business person, Pfingstler also plans to keep a high profile in the community.

“ I do plan to be very active in the community. I am a member of the Chamber of Commerce. We plan to sponsor several events, support local businesses and schools. Additionally, we will be partnering with a local nonprofit organization of the month and offer to donate up to $10 for every insurance quote provided in a given month. The goal is to transform my role from a person who provides insurance into a person who facilitates altruism. This enables me to do “good” for my community and to move the business forward. I have also been networking with downtown businesses to help bring events to downtown,” said Pfingstler.

A ribbon cutting and grand opening for the business are planned for March 26 and Mallory said she and her new staff look forward to meeting everyone.

“We are inviting everyone to come out to see our new building, meet the team and enjoy refreshments. I have an entire new team, all local from Smithville. I am so excited to work with great people. One reason I wanted to open this agency was to provide job opportunities in Smithville. Each team member brings their own unique strengths. I also plan to meet everyone personally and reach out to our current book of business and introduce myself as their new agent and make sure they are properly covered”.

Office hours will be from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and outside of office hours by appointment.

Mallory said she is grateful for the support already shown her by the community.

“I want to thank you for the support that the community has already shown. If you are not comfortable meeting in person maybe because of Covid, we have the option to meet virtually through Good Neighbor Connect which is a video meeting. We are here to meet customers’ needs. Please come on by our office or give us a call. Our number is the same as before 615-597-8486. I would love to meet all current customers and review their coverages,” she said.

February 28, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

Who could resist “Delilah”?

This 14 week old cute and loveable critter is the WJLE/DeKalb Animal Shelter featured “Pet of the Week”.

“Delilah is our newest shelter resident. She came in last Wednesday. She is super cute and playful and needs a good home with children. She will probably be about a medium sized dog. Not too small but not too big. Her adoption fee is $130. She has been spayed and is up to date on all her vaccinations. She will also be micro-chipped with  a 30 day flea pill on board,” said Shelter employee Emmaly Bennett.

DeKalb Animal Shelter employee Emmaly Bennett with Delilah from dwayne page on Vimeo.

“If you would like to meet Delilah go to our website under our adoptable animals tab at //www.dekalbanimalcoalition.org/ and you will be called to set up an appointment after you fill out an adoption application. For more information call 615-597-3647 or send a message on facebook or email,” said Bennett.

February 28, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

Smithville’s new tornado alert sirens will be activated during a scheduled statewide tornado drill by the National Weather Service on Wednesday, March 3 at 9:30 a.m. as part of Tennessee’s Severe Weather Awareness Week (February 28 to March 6). The drill will also include a statewide test of NOAA weather radios.. Monthly testing of the Smithville tornado sirens will also be held on the first Wednesday of each month at noon except for inclement weather.

The tornado sirens are located on the grounds of the city’s water tower on Highway 70 near DeKalb Middle/High School, near the city water tower on Miller Road, and on top of city hall downtown Smithville.

(The video below shows the test of the siren on Miller Road in December).

DeKalb County Emergency Management is observing this week to promote preparedness for Tennesseans.

During severe weather providing the public with life-saving alerts and warnings quickly is imperative and the tornado one year ago in neighboring Putnam County underscores the need for all to be vigilant.

The National Weather Service offices in Nashville, Memphis, Morristown, and Huntsville, Alabama are planning a series of education and training events, using each day of Severe Weather Awareness Week to focus on a different severe weather threat. Information on the NWS activities is available at weather.gov/ohx/swaw2021.

In DeKalb County, residents also have access to a service called Hyper-Reach, a state of the art mass emergency notification system, designed specifically for public safety, according to Brad Mullinax, Director of the DeKalb Emergency Communications District (E-911). Through Hyper-Reach residents can get automatic tornado warning alerts over landline telephones or cell phones the moment they are issued for DeKalb County.

(Click link below to sign up)

Tornado Alert Signup

Landline phones are automatically registered but weather alerts to mobile phones are only included by enrolling in the system.

“When the National Weather Service issues a tornado warning it is based on a polygon so it may be for only one area of the county. You may see on TV that DeKalb County is under a tornado warning but it may really be only for the northern or southern portion of the county. It may not always affect the entire county. This system will notify hundreds of people within a minute. It is very fast in the notification process and I encourage everyone to sign up for this,” said Mullinax.

Charlie Parker, DeKalb County Emergency Management Agency Coordinator, said he also recommends people registering for the service.

“Even though there are multiple ways of getting weather alerts including from TV and radio, storms can cause interruption in service. Even with the storm last year, Comcast and other cable and TV providers were down so you can’t always count on those for the information you need. We strongly encourage everyone to have more than one way of getting storm alerts. You can also get a weather alert radio. Those are battery operated and programmable for your county. There are apps you can download on your phone. Red Cross also has an app you can download. The biggest thing is don’t get complacent. Sometimes we are bombarded with threats and warnings and get to the place where we don’t pay attention to them. When it comes to severe weather always take it seriously,” said Parker.

The service is free and you may register for the weather alerts by visiting www.dekalb911.org and clicking the link or by clicking the link below.

“There is a link on our website (dekalb 911.org) to click for a community weather alert sign up. It will allow you to register a cell phone. If you do have a home landline telephone your number is already registered by your house number in the system and you will automatically get the weather alerts without any further action from you. If you do not have home landline telephone service or if you want to register your cell phone in addition to your home landline phone you can go to our signup page and do that. It will make a phone call to you with a pre-recorded message and or it will also send you a text message or an email to notify you as well in the event there is a tornado warning that has been issued for the affected area,” said Mullinax

If anyone has questions or needs help programming their weather radio contact Charlie Parker at dekalbtnema@gmail.com., DeKalb Emergency Management on facebook, or at the Smithville Fire Department at 615-597-4141.

Some basic severe weather advice includes:

•Never venture into high water, either on foot or in a vehicle.

•If you’re outside and hear thunder, go indoors immediately.

•Go to a basement or an innermost, first floor room in your home if you’re told to take shelter during a tornado warning.

•Know the location of and route to your office or building’s tornado shelter.

•Never try to outrun a tornado.

•Have an emergency plan ready at places where your family spends time – work, school, daycare, commuting and outdoor events.

•Emergency plans should include where to meet, and who family members should check in with, if you are separated from family members during a severe weather emergency.

At a minimum, emergency preparedness kits should include one gallon of water per-day, per-person, and per-pet, for three to five days. The kit should also have enough non-perishable food for each family member, and pets, for three to five days.

Other items that every kit should include: flashlight, battery-powered radio, extra batteries, first aid kit, personal hygiene items, cell phone charger or solar charger, copies of important family documents, and extra supplies of medications, especially for those with chronic health conditions

Additional resources are available:
•ready.gov
•emergency.cdc.gov/preparedness/kit/disasters
•http://www.sba.gov/managing-business/running-business/emergency-preparedness
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