Donate Blood Today (Monday, July 20)

July 20, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

Another “Blood Assurance” drive is coming up today (Monday July 20) from 12 noon until 5 p.m. at the county complex senior citizen center inside the bloodmobile.

Schedule an appointment at www.bloodassurance.org/dekalb or contact Jimmy Poss at 615-464-7426 or jimposs72@yahoo.com

Remember to eat a good meal, drink additional water, and avoid energy drinks and bring a photo ID.

Save time on your donation by answering your health history questions the day of the blood donation before you arrive. Just download “bloodassurancequickscreen” on your phone.

All donors will be given a special beach towel or cooler tote bag and donors age 18 and older who donate two times this summer will be automatically entered to win a medium Big Green Egg and Eggcessories Grill.

Blood Assurance is the sole blood provider for the local hospitals and your donation is needed for an adequate supply.

July 19, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

Parents need to let the DeKalb County School District know by Tuesday, July 21 if they plan to opt for remote learning for their children starting Monday, August 3. But can parents who currently want to send their children to school change their minds between July 21 and August 3?

Director of Schools Patrick Cripps and Attendance Supervisor Joey Reeder appeared on WJLE Thursday morning to address this question and many others.

If you missed the program or would like to hear it again click the link below

https://www.wjle.com/reopening-dekalb-county-schools

One caller asked “if something were to change between July 21 and the first day of school would parents who are still planning to send their kids to school have the chance to change and do remote learning since this is a changing situation (COVID-19) everyday?”

“We are not saying you can’t but probably if something changes that drastically between July 21 and August 3 we may all (students) be doing remote learning. We are not locking ourselves in and saying you can’t do this or that but we really need an answer by 2 p.m. Tuesday, July 21 because our principals and counselors have to get the schedules for these kids made for their classes. You can’t do that in just a few minutes. It’s a process that takes several days. We already have parents concerned because they don’t know who their child’s teacher is yet. We first have to see what kind of numbers we have so we need to know by July 21 what your plans are,” said Reeder.

Another caller inquired about the availability of internet access especially for low income families who want remote learning.

“I was wondering if you opt to do the remote classroom, if there are any government or state grants to help low income families get Wi-Fi at their house?”

Reeder explained that chromebooks will be provided to all students in kindergarten through 12th grade this year and hot spots will be made available by DTC Communications for those who don’t have access to the Internet at home.

“We are not aware of any government or state grants to help families but every student will have a chromebook. DTC Communications has provided hot spots and additional hot spots are being worked on right now but we want DTC to announce those locations. They have been great through all this and a willing partner. We certainly appreciate DTC CEO Chris Townson and his board of directors and employees. They have been a big help in providing hot spots,” said Reeder.

“We do want people to realize that if you do not have Internet in your home we will allow you to do remote learning but it will be a very difficult proposition. Each day you will have to go to a hot spot and download class work. It can be done. You can do remote learning without home Internet but it will be quite a chore for you,” added Reeder.

July 19, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

A total of 263 people have taken advantage of early voting for the August 6 elections through Saturday.

According to the DeKalb County Election Commission Office, 73 people cast ballots Saturday. Of that number 49 voted in the Tennessee Republican Primary, 20 in the State Democratic Primary, and 4 voted only in the DeKalb County General Election without voting in either state primary.

The City of Smithville vote stands at 41 through Saturday (19 Friday and 22 Saturday) including in-person and absentee ballots but does not include property rights voters.

For the first two days of early voting (Friday and Saturday), a total of 137 have voted in the Tennessee GOP primary, 116 in the Tennessee Democratic Primary, and 10 have voted only in the DeKalb County General Election without voting in either state primary.

Early voting started Friday, July 17 and runs Monday to Saturday until Saturday, Aug. 1 in the downstairs courtroom of the courthouse.

Hours for early voting are Mondays 1-5 p.m.; Tuesdays 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Wednesdays 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Thursdays 2-6 p.m.; Fridays 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.; and Saturdays 9 a.m. to 12 noon. Election day voting at all 15 precincts will be from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday, August 6.

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