Elizabeth Chapel Baptist Church Wins Top Honor during Festival of Trees Event

December 8, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

More than 2,300 toys were collected for the Lighthouse Christian Camp Christmas Ministries and DeKalb County Foster Children during last week’s 2nd Annual Festival of Trees held at the County Complex.

The Elizabeth Chapel Baptist Church took top honors for DeKalb County Tree of the Year with 276 votes (gifts). To be named Tree of the Year, it had to have the most gifts placed under it.

Other award winners:
*Prettiest Tree: DeKalb Funeral Chapel
*The Spirit of Christmas Tree: Center Hill Realty & Chalets
*Christmas Unique Tree: The Vintage Owl
*Best Overall Themed Tree: DeKalb County Florist
*Most Touching Tree: Beth Tripp
*The Tree I want in my Living Room: Middle Tennessee Natural Gas & Smithville Assemblies of God

The 2nd Annual Festival of Trees opened to a packed house last Monday night at the county complex for the unveiling of an impressive collection of uniquely decorated Christmas trees.

The festival has quickly become a local holiday favorite and serves as a charity venue for non-profit groups.

The trees remained on display throughout the week and visitors to the complex were urged to vote for their favorites in several categories and to place gifts under the tree they liked the best.

Monday night’s event also featured FREE pictures with Santa on the North Pole Stage, refreshments, and the Christmas Shopping Court where vendor booths displayed delightful Christmas gift ideas for sale.

“The Festival of Trees has been a great success,” said founder and creator Josh Issac . The Festival of Trees has taken on a spirit of its own. So many people jumped in to help and participate this year and you could feel the excitement as we got closer to the event,” Issac continued. “With over 40 trees this year it was a must see and all the trees stepped it up this year. You could tell everyone was competitive for charity. This is such a reflection of how our community comes together and cares. That’s why I love to live here,” added Issac.

Rounding out the top 5 Trees this year were:
2nd Place: Christpoint Church
3rd Place: Outreach Baptist Church
4th Place: DeKalb West Jr. Beta Club
5th Place: DeKalb Department of Human Services

December 7, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

The DeKalb County Republican Party caucused this morning (Saturday) to formally nominate candidates for the offices of Assessor of Property and Constable in the August 2020 County General Election.

Incumbent Assessor of Property Shannon A. Cantrell of Smithville was nominated for re-election.

Cantrell was first elected Assessor of Property in 2016.

“I appreciate the nomination by the party and the support of the people in DeKalb County. I look forward to their continued support in the August 2020 election. As always my door is open. Come by to see me. Give me a call. Whatever I can do for you I will,” said Assessor Cantrell.

Cantrell said he has enjoyed his service to the people of the county as Assessor of Property and he praised his staff for the work they do.

“I can’t say enough about my staff. They do a tremendous job. We have done our best to streamline the office to make it run more efficiently and I think we have done a really good job in picking up new construction. We have put some systems in place to be notified when people are building so we can get out in a timely manner and pick those up. With all the building being done in DeKalb County right now, its been a little bit overwhelming but we are doing the best we can with that. The assessment levels and appraisals are definitely going up as far as overall values in DeKalb County which is a good thing for homeowners. I also want to thank the county commission for allowing us to add a staff member to the office which has been a tremendous help. We appreciate the commission and others in supporting us in what we need to work in the office,” said Cantrell.

“Some people have come into the office with questions about the increase in their taxes for 2019. In a lot of those cases it was simply because of the property tax rate increase we had here in DeKalb County as set by our county commissioners for budgetary reasons. That is not something we do in our office. This year because of budgetary reasons they (county commission) decided they had to increase the tax rate,” added Cantrell.

Cantrell and his wife Tonya are the parents of two, 24 year old Kaylee and 16 year old Levi.

Meanwhile Travis Bryant, who currently serves as a Democratic Constable in the 3rd district has switched parties and will be seeking the same office as a Republican in 2020.

“The Democratic Party has done a lot for me. I don’t want to take anything away from them. They work hard and are good people. I just feel like the things I believe in are more in line with the Republican Party and they have been for a while. That is just what I believe in and where I am at. But to me this (serving as constable) has always been a job. I have always taken pride in law enforcement work and plan to continue to do that. I enjoy serving the people of the county in the 3rd district and I’ll continue to as long as they will have me,” said Bryant.

Bryant works for the Smithville Police Department where he serves as Sergeant.

Jerry Adcock, Republican member of the County Commission in the 5th district moved to nominate Incumbent 5th District Democratic Constable Mark Milam as the GOP’s candidate too for the same constable position since no other Republican has announced for the office. Adcock’s request was tabled by the caucus.

Adcock, who apparently made this move without Milam’s knowledge or approval, said it was his way of honoring Milam who is from his home district. Milam, a Democrat, did not attend the Republican caucus Saturday.

Milam has already qualified to run for re-election in the DeKalb County Democratic Primary on March 3.

December 6, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

Fourteen months ago the Board of Education was sold on building a new pre-kindergarten to 2^nd grade school to replace Smithville Elementary School and voted in October, 2018 to seek funding from the county commission for this building model once a suitable site was found.

The school board has now had a change of heart.

School Board member Shaun Tubbs from dwayne page on Vimeo.

During a special meeting Thursday night, the Board voted 6-1 to scrap the plan for a Pre-K to 2^nd grade school and recommend to the county commission funding two new Pre-K through 8^th grade schools in the Smithville area and a renovation of Northside Elementary School to make it a Pre-K to 8^th grade facility. That would give the district a total of four Pre-K to 8^th grade schools including DeKalb West while eliminating both the existing Smithville Elementary and DeKalb Middle Schools.

Without any hard numbers, the board is relying on its architects’ latest estimates for construction which puts the new 2 school project at a minimum of $48,685,000 (not counting the total renovation which would be needed at Northside Elementary) and it does not include the purchase of land. In fact, no site has yet been selected for any new school. Board members say they can’t move forward on the purchase of property until they know if the county commission is willing to support funding or at least the concept of this new Pre-K to 8^th grade schools proposal. According to the board’s architect, Upland Design Group about 25-30 acres would be needed for each of the two new schools

If the county commission should agree to fund the plan through a bond issue or note once actual costs are known, it will have to find the money to meet the debt obligations, possibly through another property tax hike, implementation of a wheel tax, a combination of the two, or some other revenue source.

Seventh District Board of Education member Shaun Tubbs, a proponent of the Pre-K to 8^th grade building model, advocated his position to fellow board members in a power point presentation during a workshop held prior to the special meeting Thursday night. Members of the county commission attended the workshop and asked questions.

Tubbs insists his plan solves all the major issues with the existing middle and elementary schools in Smithville particularly overcrowding and security. Plus, he said it gives the county more bang for the buck.

According to Upland Design Group, the cost of building a new Pre-K to 2^nd grade school has shot up from the original estimates two years ago of over $19 million to more than $30 million today while the cost of building two new Pre-K to 8^th grade schools at the same time would be around $48,600,000 (total). Tubbs said that’s like building one school and getting the other at 50% off. Others say the plan could also bring on more recurring administrative costs and require more teachers in the system

Tubbs’ further stressed that by building two new Pre-K to 8^th grade schools (each with a capacity of 700 students) and also making Northside a Pre-K to 8^th grade facility, there would be no future need of building a new middle school and it would free up space at the existing middle school campus for future construction of possibly a new 2-3 story high school. With a new high school built at or next to the same campus as the existing school, Tubbs said there would be no reason to build new high school athletic facilities there which would also save the county $10 to $15 million.

If the school district were to have a total of four Pre-K to 8^th grade schools (3 in the Smithville area along with DeKalb West School), the county would be divided into zones and students would have to attend the school in the zone where they reside. Student population would be divided as evenly as possible among the schools which means DeKalb West School with a current enrollment of around 400 would have to take on more students. Bus routes would also have to be altered because of the zoning which could result in fuel savings and less traffic congestion at the schools.

Overall, Tubbs said the pros in implementing the plan outnumber the cons.

“Like DeKalb West it would create a more community school environment at each facility and foster more cohesiveness/familiarity. Statistics show that grades do better with fewer moves. Currently students will change schools three times before reaching high school but at DeKalb West School students experience a tighter bond than other students according to information provided to me from parents, students, and faculty at DWS. Upper grades also show leadership qualities by helping and supporting lower grades at one school,” said Tubbs.

All school board members voted in favor of the new school plan Thursday night except 3^rd District member Jim Beshearse.

In a statement to WJLE after the meeting, Beshearse explained his reasons for opposing it.

“The cost of the K-8’s is very expensive and if they are voted in and the county commission approves the money, we will be looking at more than $50 million and the thoughts of ever getting a new high school would be extremely jeopardized. If we build a K-2 school the cost would be less than half and then maybe we could focus on a new high school that is desperately needed as well,” said Beshearse.

“I have researched a lot on K-8s and the potential for bullying due to the age difference in the children all under one roof drastically increases and the middle school years are prime for bullying. The largest age difference in middle school students is three years whereas in a K-8 the age  difference is up to nine years,” he continued.

“I also believe not being able to go to a middle school could create a culture shock for these children by spending all of their time in one school and not being able to transition to middle school as they always have in Smithville and DeKalb County excluding DeKalb West School”.

“If we build K-8s throughout Smithville and DeKalb County the schools would all have to be zoned accordingly meaning where you live is where your child would go to school,” said Beshearse.

“Everyone has their own opinion on what we should build and I totally respect each and everyone’s opinions on what we decide to go further with in the near future,” added Beshearse.

The proposal now moves to the county commission for discussion.

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