Citizen claims author of deceptive letter to City should be prosecuted for Mail Fraud (View video here)

July 13, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

The daughter of local resident and longtime businessman Jimmy Driver wants federal mail fraud charges brought against the person who sent a letter to the City of Smithville falsely in the name of her father complaining about the condition of the Town Cemetery.

Kim Driver Luton said her father never sent the letter and the person responsible should be prosecuted because it has created a firestorm of controversy. Luton added that she is disappointed in the way city officials handled the matter claiming they should have tried to contact her father to authenticate the letter.

During the public comment period of Monday night’s meeting, Luton addressed the Mayor and Aldermen.

“Last month, the city received a letter allegedly from Jim Driver concerning the Smithville Town Cemetery. The letter stated the “conditions were deplorable” and demanded action from the City. This letter was not sent by my father, Jimmy Driver, and I am disappointed in the way the City handled this matter. The letter has no return address, no phone number, and was not signed. Someone typed “Jim Driver” at the end of the letter. My father signs everything “Jimmy Driver”, said Luton.

“I think someone should have tried to contact my father to verify that the letter came from him. Instead, the City got in touch with Dr. Mary Evins who voluntarily oversees the Smithville Town Cemetery Association, to let her know about the complaint. This started a firestorm which has created an opportunity for us to discuss the cemetery,” Luton continued.

Mayor Josh Miller said when the city received the letter his first thought was to make sure the city had not failed in fulfilling an obligation to maintain the cemetery.

“I wanted to make sure it wasn’t the city’s responsibility to keep it up. I wanted to make sure we were not dropping our responsibility on that. I called (Alderman Shawn) Jacobs and wondered if the city at any time had ever maintained that cemetery and we haven’t to my knowledge,” said Mayor Miller.

“Smithville Town Cemetery was chartered in 1838. The management of the cemetery is handled by the Smithville Town Cemetery Association, a strictly non-profit, volunteer organization. Tommy Webb, DeKalb County Historian, managed the association until 2019, when Dr. Mary Evins volunteered to take it over. The association receives no money or any help from the City, and relies strictly on donations to maintain and repair the cemetery,” she said.

“There is a good chance that some of you have ancestors buried in Town Cemetery. If so, you are an automatic member of the Smithville Town Cemetery Association. The association needs your help, and it needs the City’s help. The association has a facebook page where the Beautification Committee posted information concerning plans that are underway to restore the wrought iron fence around the cemetery and other maintenance projects. Anyone can help my making a donation which can be mailed to 300 East Main Street, Smithville 37166,” said Luton.

“As far as the bogus letter, we would like to get the original letter and envelope to deliver to the U.S. Post Office to file federal mail fraud charges. There is still someone, who falsely used my father’s name as well as tried to cause a lot of problems between the City, the Drivers, and the Evins’. My only hope is that the City will verify the authenticity of such inflammatory letters in the future,” Luton concluded

City administrator Hunter Hendrixson said Luton was welcome to the letter and the envelope it came it.

July 13, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

The DeKalb County Redistricting Committee met for the first time Monday night for the purpose of organizing and electing a chairman, vice-chairman and secretary.

In May the county commission appointed the Redistricting Committee which consists of eleven members including seven county commissioners, two school board members, the county mayor, and the administrator of elections.

Upon the recommendation of County Mayor Tim Stribling, the committee voted to name Administrator of Elections Dennis Stanley as Chairman. Fifth District County Commissioner Anita Puckett was selected as Vice Chairman and 4th District Commissioner Janice Fish-Stewart is the Secretary.

The committee will begin the process of preparing a redistricting plan when the population numbers from the 2020 Census count are released next month. The plan must be completed and in the hands of the county commission by no later than October 25.

In addition to County Mayor Stribling and Administrator of Elections Stanley, members of the Redistricting committee are County Commissioners Shaee Flatt from the 1st district, Myron Rhody- 2nd district, Susannah Cripps Daughtry- 3rd district, Janice Fish-Stewart- 4th district, Anita Puckett – 5th district, Matt Adcock – 6th district, and Bruce Malone from the 7th district. The two school board members appointed are Jim Beshearse of the 3rd district and Shaun Tubbs of the 7th district.

By law the county commission district boundary lines must be redrawn every 10 years following completion of the United States census. The federal government stipulates that districts must have nearly equal populations and must not discriminate on the basis of race or ethnicity.

Matthew Hill explained the redistricting process for members of the committee Monday night. Hill is the senior GIS Specialist for the TN Comptroller’s office and has presided over the Redistricting process for other Local Government officials the last 10 years.

Once the census numbers are known, the redistricting committee must produce a recommendation to submit to the county commission, which has the final say on redistricting. The approved plan then goes to the election commission to redraw precinct boundary lines so that voters and candidates for the 2022 elections know in which districts and precincts they reside.

“Based on the preliminary numbers we are looking at, I don’t see that you will have wholesale changes,” said Hill. The districts that standout in some of our projections are district 6 which we think will need somewhere around 112 people to get it up to that ideal population. As far as the districts that have grown the most, it appears to be districts 3 & 7 and they would need to lose right around 80 people each. The rest of the districts are really close. District 4 has to gain 14 people and that is probably ideally as close as you can get. Overall there can be no more than a 10% deviation in population,” Hill continued.

“When we do get the numbers we will come back and sit down with you and start the redistricting process. We are expecting to get the data on August 16. At our next meeting, we will bring in a projector and hook it up to a big screen to show you street level and block level data. It will show you the total population in there and you will be able to make adjustments based on various scenarios that you would like to see done or we (state) can come in with a plan already adjusted to present to the committee and you could take a vote to approve it,” said Hill.

Although by law, redistricting for each county must be completed by January 1, 2022 , Hill said it really needs to be done before the election commission begins issuing candidate petitions December 18 for the 2022 local primaries. That also gives the election commission time to set their voting precincts and update their voter rolls.

The redistricting committee’s next meeting is set for September 7 at 6 p.m. at the courthouse.

July 12, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

18 year old Ellisyn Kelsey Cripps is the 2021 DeKalb County Fairest of the Fair.

Cripps, daughter of Troy and Jamie Cripps of Smithville, won the crown Monday evening during the annual pageant held on opening night of the DeKalb County Fair in Alexandria. She was also named Miss Congeniality and Most Photogenic.

Cripps succeeds the 2019 Fairest of the Fair, Destiny Danielle Franklin, the 22 year old daughter of Jennifer and Charlie Ware of Smithville. There was no Fairest of the Fair pageant last year due to COVID-19.

Cripps will represent the DeKalb County Fair in the state pageant.

First runner-up in the Fairest of the Fair event was Alexis Grace Atnip, the 18 year old daughter of Veronica and Gary Johnson of Smithville.

Second runner-up: Mackenzie Leigh Sprague, 17 year old daughter of Wanda Sprague of Smithville.

Third runner-up: Caitlin Alisabeth Milligan, 19 year old daughter of Josh and Cyndi Milligan of Smithville

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