THP Officer Charged with Assault in Off-Duty Incident

December 16, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

An officer employed by the Tennessee Highway Patrol has been charged in a criminal summons with assault in an alleged incident which occurred when he was off duty.

36-year-old Jeremy David Sean Tramel of Smithville is charged in a criminal summons with assault. He will appear in General Sessions Court January 4th.

According to the complaint, “On December 4 at approximately 3:00 p.m. Tramel did intentionally and knowingly cause reasonable fear of imminent bodily harm to Draven Harner by after a verbal confrontation spitting in Draven Harner’s face. This did occur in DeKalb County.”

December 15, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

Members of the Smithville Police Department, Santa, and others paid a visit to the Head Start Center Friday morning to help spread a little Christmas cheer.

Through the annual “Cops4kids” program, the police department joins with Cash Express and other partners to collect and distribute toys for Christmas gift giving especially to Head Start kids.

Friday morning’s program at the Smithville Head Start Center, featured some holiday musical entertainment for the children by the Collins family and Ryan Huling of the New Life United Pentecostal Church shared the Christmas story. Police Chief Mark Collins and members of the police department made sure each child had a bag of toys. Santa dropped by to spend some time with the kids. Mayor Josh Miller and Alderman and Police Commissioner Shawn Jacobs were also part of the event.

The “Cops4Kids” program began in 2012 and has served Smithville Head Start children with gifts at Christmas time since 2015 along with others requesting and needing help through the Police Department’s Association with Cash Express and others.

“We put out the collection boxes at local businesses for toys, nonperishable food, clothing and money jars in addition to our annual Fill the Cop Car and Bake Sale event. The toys and money to buy toys are then given to the police department to be distributed to head start kids and others while the food collected goes to God’s Food Pantry. God’s Grace Ministries gets from us used toys, coats, clothes, etc,” said Athena Knauer of Cash Express. Thanks to the generosity of the community, the collection effort is so successful that it gives organizers a leg up for the following year’s event”.

“We have raised over $3,000 in monetary donations this year so we will soon go with Beth Adcock, records clerk at the police department, to purchase gifts for the head start for next year. For others needing help we also buy clothes, toys, etc. for them,” said Knauer.

Chief Collins said a special thanks goes to, among others, Cash Express, Mayor Miller, Alderman Jacobs, and the entire city council for their support.

“The department has enjoyed its partnership with Cash Express and a special lady in particular, Evelyn Woods, who donates gifts throughout the year. We are truly grateful for her support”, added Chief Collins.

December 15, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

The Board of Education on the road!

Thursday night’s regular monthly meeting of the School Board was held at the cafeteria of Smithville Elementary School. The meeting was brief with only routine business transacted.

The Board plans to meet at Northside Elementary School for the January monthly session.

The school board adopted a request from Danny Jenkins to use property behind the high school and middle school, formerly the cross-country track that is no longer being used, for Frisbee Golf.

In other business, the board adopted a SPARC 4.0 Grant Amendment for expenditures in the high school’s vocational program.

In his monthly personnel report, Director of Schools Patrick Cripps announced that educator Lori Vandergiff has been granted a leave of absence as requested.

Cripps also mentioned the heroic acts of two high school students and a bus driver who tended to another student during a medical emergency on a school bus last week.

“We had a medical emergency last week on one of our buses and I want to recognize two students, Jamison Bare and Eli Redmon and our bus driver Mike Merriman for their care and their response in helping a student in need. I just want to say we appreciate their help in that situation,” said Director Cripps.

Consent agenda items were approved including the following: Granting request for the DCHS FFA to attend the State Convention in Gatlinburg, March 24-27, 2024 (Spring Break); granting a request for the DCHS Girls Basketball team to make an overnight trip for tournament play, December 27-29, 2023 at Lynnville; approval of implementation of a Teacher-Driven Dyslexia Screening Tool; and approval of a request from the DeKalb West School Junior Pro program.

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