Close & Paschal

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Pasley Charged with Assaulting Teenage Girl

June 11, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

A man who seriously injured a teenage girl in a recent assault is scheduled for a court appearance Thursday, June 13.

20 year old Dominic Pasley of 1327 Willis McGinnis Road was arrested on May 26 for the aggravated assault of a 17 year old girl. Police were called to Fast Pace Urgent Care Clinic due to the assault and noticed that the victim had a red mark on her throat, a contusion on the left side of her face, broken blood vessels in her left eye and swelling on the right side of her face. Due to the severity of the injury to her face, clinic staff advised the girl’s parent to take her to the emergency room of St. Thomas DeKalb Hospital for an x-ray. During the investigation, police learned that Pasley and the girl got into an argument that turned physical when Pasley grabbed the teen by the throat and shoved her into a wall before punching her several times in the face. Pasley had already left the scene by the time police arrived to investigate but he was later arrested and charged in the case. Bond for Pasley is $3,500 and his court date is June 13.

20 year old Tres Donald Haney of Spencer was arrested on May 10 for public intoxication. Police were called to F.Z. Webb & Sons Pharmacy due to a man talking to himself who was walking around in circles behind the building. Upon arrival, officers spoke to the man, Haney and noticed that his eyes were red with pin sized pupils. Haney made statements that didn’t make sense and he couldn’t answer simple questions. He would often give a blank stare. For his safety and that of the public, Haney was taken into custody. His bond is $2,000.

23 year old Nicholas Everette Fults of 1222 South College Street was arrested on May 11 for aggravated domestic assault. Police were called to Fults’ home due to a domestic assault call. Upon arrival, the officer noticed a red mark on the victim’s neck and learned that Fults and the victim had been arguing which escalated as Fults placed the victim in a head lock trying to choke her. The victim banged on the walls of the apartment trying to alert neighbors to call 911. Bond for Fults is $7,500.

Smithville Police arrested two people on alcohol related charges after a wreck May 12 on Bright Hill Road. 45 year old Marcelino Desena Diaz of 1045 Bright Hill Road was charged with DUI and cited for a driver’s license violation and financial responsibility. A passenger, 59 year old Alfonzo Cortez Celaya, also of 1045 Bright Hill Road, was charged with public intoxication. During the wreck investigation, police spoke with Diaz, the driver of a red Ford truck that had crashed into a tree and noticed a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage on Diaz’s breath and that he was unsteady on his feet. Due to a language barrier, police could not administer field sobriety tasks but a search warrant was obtained for a blood sample. Meanwhile as Celaya got out of the truck, the officer noticed that he was unsteady on his feet and that he had a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage on his person. Celaya also failed to follow the officer’s directions. Bond for Diaz is $2,500 and $1,500 for Celaya.

Angie Leanna Hollingsworth was arrested May 26 for driving on a revoked license and cited for a light violation. Around 3:00 a.m. police spotted a car on West Broad Street with no headlights or taillights and initiated a traffic stop. Upon a computer check through Central Dispatch officers learned that Hollingsworth’s license were revoked for DUI in 2018 and a prior driving on revoked license offense in 2017 for failure to pay fines. Bond for Hollingsworth is $3,000 and her court date is June 13.

27 year old Stephanie Michelle Mooneyham was cited on May 26 for criminal trespassing. Police were called to 633 Restview Avenue in reference to Mooneyham being on the property after being warned several times by residents and officers not to be back there. Her court date is June 13.

54 year old David Lloyd Close of 8021 Holmes Creek Road was arrested on May 29 for a 5th offense of driving under the influence and he was cited for driving on a revoked license, financial responsibility, and implied consent. Police were notified by an off-duty officer that Close had been observed drinking in the Wal-Mart parking lot and that he didn’t have a driver’s license. Upon arrival the investigating officer saw Close driving a silver SUV and followed him out of the parking lot. After stopping the vehicle, the officer spoke with Close but he couldn’t produce a driver’s license or proof of insurance. Close had a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage on his person and he couldn’t perform field sobriety tasks due to medical issues. Police obtained a search warrant for a blood sample after Close refused to submit to implied consent. One opened beer can and five empty cans were found in the vehicle . Bond for Close is $7,500 and his court date is June 13.

62 year old Loretta Kay Sexton of 122 Crips Lane and 51 year old Sandra Lee Sexton of 405 North Mountain Street were arrested for disorderly conduct on May 29. As officers were speaking with another person outside of the police department Loretta kept driving by harassing that person and when the officer ordered her to leave the area, Loretta shouted curse words as she left. Sandra Sexton later showed up and approached the scene of the investigation. After being ordered several times to leave that area, Sandra turned and stopped in the middle of the road refusing to move causing a hazard to other cars driving through the area. Bond for each is $1,500 and they will make a court appearance on June 13.




Local Angler Competes in YETI FLW College Fishing National Championship Tournament

June 10, 2019
By:

The nation’s top collegiate bass-fishing anglers competed last week at the YETI FLW College Fishing National Championship in Charles County, Maryland on the Potomac River.

One team from Tennessee Tech University, Casey Taylor of Smithville and Tyler Thompson of Philadelphia, Tennessee was among the 155 teams competing in the event.

The 2019 YETI FLW College Fishing National Championship was comprised of the top qualifying teams from 15 regular-season tournaments around the country, along with the top 20 teams from the annual FLW College Fishing Open.

As of day two, the team of Taylor and Thompson ranked 18th place with a 27-13 total and 10 fish.

Anglers in the no-entry-fee tournament competed for a prize package that included a new Ranger Z175 boat with a 115-horsepower Mercury or Evinrude outboard and an automatic qualification to move on to compete against the best bass-anglers in the world at the 2019 FLW Cup, this August at Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs, Arkansas.




Smithville Aldermen Vote 3-2 on 1st Reading to Raise City Property Taxes by 25 cents

June 10, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

Smithville Aldermen have taken the first step to raise city property taxes.

By a vote of 3-2, the aldermen Monday night voted in special session to increase the city property tax rate by 25 cents per $100 of assessed value and to adopt the new $6.8 million budget for the 2019-20 fiscal year on 1st reading.

Aldermen Danny Washer, Shawn Jacobs, and Gayla Hendrix voted in favor. Aldermen Brandon Cox and Donnie Crook voted against it.

Second and final reading is scheduled at another special meeting on Tuesday, June 25 at 5:30 p.m. at city hall following a public hearing. Aldermen will be permitted to make changes to the proposed budget if they desire before final passage.

The 25 cent tax rate increase from the current rate of 64.9 cents to the new rate of 89.9 cents per $100 of assessed value is expected to generate $350,000 in new money for the general fund but even so projections are that the city will finish in the black by only $66,162 as of June 30, 2020 if all funds budgeted are spent The city is projected to end the current fiscal year 2018-19 in the red by $279,048 come June 30, 2019.

The water and sewer fund is not faring much better. Although water and sewer rates were last increased in 2017 the revenue is not keeping pace with expenditures which may force city leaders to take another look at rates again next year (2020-21).

By June 30, 2020 the city’s water and sewer fund is expected to be in the red by $237,542. Projections are that the city will be in the hole by $205,147 in the water and sewer fund as of June 30, 2019.

Under state law, if a utility continues to operate at a loss for more than two years and doesn’t address it, the state has the authority to force rate increases to make it solvent.

City water customers currently pay $7.25 per thousand gallons of usage. Rates for customers outside the city limits are $10.88 per thousand. City sewer customers pay $6.75 per thousand gallons. Those rates will remain the same over the next year.

Water tap fee increases have been included in the new budget for customers both inside and outside the city.

Although the municipality has water/sewer and general fund surpluses totaling several millions of dollars, city leaders say the government can’t continually dip into those surpluses to operate.

The largest project on the table in the general fund is a new police department building. The proposed 7,805 square foot structure would be built on property donated to the city on the north side of the city hall/fire department complex at Don Cantrell Street.

The cost of the new facility could be as much as two million dollars to be funded either on a long term note or bond issue. From the start date of construction, projections are the building could be completed possibly within one year.

The mayor and aldermen recently met with Wayne Oakley of Studio Oakley Architects, LLC who submitted a bid to design the new police department building for the city at $105,000 and that cost has been included in the new budget as engineering fees.

A 2% pay raise has been figured into the budget for city employees who have topped out on the wage scale and funds for employee disability insurance coverage to help protect city employees from loss of income in the event they are unable to work for a period of time due to illness, injury, or accident while off the job. Capital outlay expenditures total $622,100 much of which includes grants for airport easements and clearing and a grant match for sidewalk improvements. Plans are to purchase two used police cars and a 16 foot flat bed trailer for the fire department.

Although three aldermen, Danny Washer, Brandon Cox, and Donnie Crook have signaled opposition to it this year in a previous workshop, Alderman Gayla Hendrix said she may ask at the next meeting that another paid firefighter position be added to the budget which would increase spending by $45,000 and decrease the projected year end surplus from $66,000 to $21,000. Creation of the new position in the new budget would require at least three votes in the affirmative.

Capital outlay expenses for the water and sewer include the purchase of a Kubota trackhoe, trailer, diesel truck, 9 foot dump body, camera system for leak detection, and engineering fees and sewer rehab project construction costs. The city has applied for a $500,000 Community Development Block Grant to help fund the sewer rehab project.




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