Rescue Squad Asks County for Fuel Reimbursement Funds

March 16, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

Members of the Smithville-DeKalb County Rescue Squad are counted on during times of emergencies for body recovery after a drowning, cave rescues, and to help clean up from storm damage among other missions.

Although the Rescue Squad, a non-profit organization, receives funds from the County and City of Smithville the members themselves get no pay and have to rely on fundraisers to help keep the operation viable .

To recoup some of their personal expenses as volunteers, the Rescue Squad is asking the county to allocate $12,000 in the 2019-20 budget for fuel reimbursement to its members.

Captain Dustin Johnson made a formal request during a budget committee meeting of the county commission last Wednesday night.

“We are not asking for any more money as far as our budget. We are asking for $12,000 in fuel reimbursement. It’s getting harder and harder to find volunteers. It used to be that they would come out of the wood work,” said Johnson.

“Our members spend a lot of hours, especially at a drowning. We may work a drowning for a week. I have been there for a month at a time. These volunteers come out during storms and use their own vehicles and chainsaws. We have around 32 members so if you divided that up ($12,000) it would be like $375 per member a year. If possible I would like for you to consider it,” said Captain Johnson.

The county currently donates $22,821 annually to the Rescue Squad as a non-profit organization since it is not considered an entity of county government. The City of Smithville donates $2,000 to the Rescue Squad.

The county upped the ante from $16,000 two years ago to support the Rescue Squad’s plans to purchase a pontoon boat.

Johnson said the Rescue Squad is expensive to operate.

“When I took this over several years ago we had members who didn’t even have pagers. Now the pagers are getting older and we’re trying to buy three new pagers a year and that’s about $400 each. It’s really expensive but we have a lot of fundraisers so we don’t have to come back to you so much. If we didn’t have fundraisers it would really be hard to operate,” added Johnson.

The local rescue squad is also a member of the Tennessee Association of Rescue Squads (TARS).

“We have to pay over $500 a year just to be a member but by being a member we benefit from their training. If we get into a situation in our county I can make a call to TARS and I can have 10 counties here from this region within a couple of hours and we have done that,” said Johnson.

The Rescue Squad has improved services in recent years and plans to continue upgrading as money becomes available. “ I am running three certified divers and we have SCUBA gear but we want to invest in a $50,000 robot with sonar to up our technology,” Johnson concluded.

The budget committee took no action on Johnson’s request Wednesday night but will consider it when finalizing the 2019-20 spending plan to send to the county commission.

March 16, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

A state prisoner originally from DeKalb County who escaped Wednesday after walking away from a work detail at the landfill in Clay County is back in custody.

Jackson County authorities announced that 30 year old Travis Eric Patterson is back behind bars. He is being housed in the Jackson County Jail.

Patterson is due to appear in DeKalb County Criminal Court on April 8 to be arraigned after being named in grand jury indictments last November stemming from a drug raid on his Toad Road home on June 20, 2018.

He has been serving the balance of a four year prison sentence in a previous drug case after violating his probation.

Patterson is under indictment for the June offenses which include possession of marijuana (6 ounces) for resale, possession of a schedule II drug (15 grams of methamphetamine), simple possession of a schedule IV drug (xanax), and possession of a firearm by a felon (6 counts- six weapons).

March 16, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

Raiden Martin, a Junior at DeKalb County High School, has been elected President of the Tennessee Future Business Leaders of America.

Martin, son of Tim and Michiko Martin of Smithville, was elected during the FBLA Spring Conference in Chattanooga March 10-13. He has served for the past year as the state FBLA Treasurer. As President, Martin will serve as an advocate for the FBLA and will be attending the national leadership conference.

The purpose of FBLA is to prepare members for careers in business and to assist them by becoming better employees and citizens. FBLA helps students develop leadership abilities, prepares them for entry into a business-related occupations, and offers a setting where members compete at regional, state and national levels in business and technology curriculum.

Director of Schools Patrick Cripps praised Martin during Thursday night’s monthly Board of Education meeting. “We are super proud of Raiden. He is a charismatic young man and he will serve this state and our community well. We are very proud and ecstatic of his accomplishments,” he said.

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