Groundbreaking Coming Soon for New Smithville Police Department Building

August 4, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

A groundbreaking could come this month for construction of a new City of Smithville Police Department building.

During Monday night’s regular monthly meeting, Mayor Josh Miller informed the aldermen that the architect and contractor are ready to move forward. Janice Plemmons-Jackson, the city’s financial advisor said the city has also earned a AA- bond rating because of its good financial position which will qualify for a lower interest rate for the project.

“Last Wednesday I met with the architect and the contractors and they are ready to get started. They are hoping to get started by the end of the month setting up with the equipment. They want to get everything dried in before winter. I think they are going to start selling bonds next Wednesday. We got an excellent bond rating,” said Mayor Miller.

“We (city) got a AA-bond rating. I think the negatives were based on the unknown economy and what the impact might be from that but John Werner (Vice President of Cumberland Securities of Knoxville), our representative said this bond rating is excellent. To be a AA- I think is really good. It means we will get a better interest rate on our bond which is awesome,” said Jackson.

The Boyce Ballard Construction Company of Murfreesboro had the lowest bid at over $2.6 million for a total roofed area of 12,800 square feet which includes a 1,400 square foot sally port. Th city has budgeted the full amount to be funded by a bond issue with a payout schedule over 20 years at a debt service payment the first year (2020-21) at $172,310 or less.

June 17, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

The City of Smithville will soon have sirens to alert the community in the event of a tornado threat.

During Monday night’s monthly meeting, the aldermen awarded a bid to Capitol Electronics for a Federal Signal system. The cost is $71,497. One time state grant funds coming to city will cover the purchase.

Smithville Fire Chief and DeKalb Emergency Management Agency Director Charlie Parker said two sirens will be installed including one on the city’s water tank near the high school on Highway 70 and the other at the city’s water tank on Miller Road. The system is capable of adding more sirens later if needed including the reactivation of a siren on top of city hall.

“With this system it is completely upgradeable. We are looking at placing two sirens including one at the water tank at the high school and a second one at the water tank on Miller Road. We may look at doing a little adjusting for better coverage. We considered placing a siren at the water tank by the airport but we will get really good coverage with the two sirens. I also talked to them (company) about using the siren we have on top of city hall. We could probably have it upgraded for about $4,000. This is a turnkey system which has everything we need to get started. It is an automated system that originates from the National Weather Service and goes to another source which will send out the alert. The 911 Center, where the (system) is to be housed, will receive the alert and activate the sirens. The system will also automatically send out other text and tone alerts that we may utilize that would be beneficial not only to the city but the county and 911. The bid package includes training and an annual software upgrade (about $2,500 for the upgrade). The system is also expandable. If we need to add more sirens we can do that up to 10 sirens,” said Parker.

August 3, 2020
By: Bill Conger

How many hamstring pulls can you have in a softball season? Quite a few if you’re running the bases in church league softball. The second season begins the week of August 10, and one of the league’s five commissioners Jordan Atnip says he can guarantee a night of entertainment regardless of the numbers on the scoreboard.

“Nothing goes together as good as athleticism and aging bodies,” Atnip says, laughing. “I now know by looking at someone within five steps if they’ve pulled their hamstring. We all say that we’re going to train before the next season, but we never do.”

In shape or not, players will hit the field on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday nights for games at 6:00, 7:00, and 8:00 p.m. Nine churches—Smithville First Baptist Church, Elizabeth Chapel, Church of the Nazarene, Cumberland Presbyterian, New Life Pentecostal, Refuge, Sparta Nazarene, Outreach Baptist, and Calvary Baptist Church—will play in the eight week regular season.

Tournament action will happen the week after the schools’ Fall Break in mid-October.

At first the league commissioners wondered whether the season could begin during a pandemic. Since softball is a low contact sport and playing is optional, they decided to move forward. People who choose to step up to the plate will need to have been in a game by September 3 to be eligible for tournament play.

“That’s basically to keep a ringer out of there,” Jordan said. “We want folks to be involved if they are going to play in the tournament.”

Church League Softball came to an end several years ago because some say the league had lost sight of its purpose.

“Everybody was bent on winning games but not necessarily winning souls,” Jordan says.

This time around the league is used as an outreach tool for churches.

“We want you to recruit people who are not going to church, but we are going to enforce that they have to attend. You have to attend four services before you can play your first game, if you weren’t going to church somewhere. If you just want to play ball and you go to church just through the season and then as soon as tournament is over you don’t go to church again, that’s between you and the Lord. If you’re going to play, you’re going to hear the gospel on a weekly basis because you have to attend four services a month to retain your eligibility.”

Unlike secular sports, the teams in church softball put faith and fellowship above winning scores and championship trophies.

“Everyone goes out there with the mentality of I’m having fun. I don’t think anyone takes themselves too seriously. Our friends and brothers and sisters in Christ are on the other team. We poke at them. We high five them. We tell them good hit. It’s very friendly.”

Still on occasion, the competitive nature seeps out.

“Last season we had a couple of moments where tensions got a little hot, and you hear somebody on one team or another say, ‘Hey, it’s church league!’ And it would dissolve the tension.”

“On one particular play, I was umpiring, and there was a hit out in the outfield. I saw the ball go down as the outfielder was running towards it. I couldn’t tell if the ground hit the ball first or not. I didn’t know if it was an out or not. I was asking the field umpire [when] someone from the dugout of the team said, ‘Just ask him. It’s church league.’ The outfielder turned around and said, ‘Oh, it hit the ground first.’ In a competitive league that didn’t have faith built into it, who knows what would have happened in that situation?

The first run of the season will light up on a new score board that is “In Loving Memory of Bill and Jo Ann Page,” who founded the field and ran it. Before Ms. Page passed away last year, she had secured funding from Liberty State Bank for the score board. Darrell Gill with Gill Automotive used his company’s equipment recently to mount the sign while Smithville Electric positioned the posts.

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