Christmas Spirit Descends on Downtown Smithville

December 8, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

Holiday lovers young and old by the hundreds gathered downtown Smithville Saturday evening for the sights and sounds of the annual parade followed by other activities, entertainment and special treats.

For the first time, the Smithville Christmas Parade and Christmas on the Square, usually held on separate days, were combined into one night of holiday fun with the parade kicking it all off just as the sun was starting to set.

Many parked along the route to see the show as the parade motored from Smithville Elementary School down Congress Boulevard before turning onto Don Cantrell Street by City Hall into the Public Square. Others gathered downtown to get a closer look as the parade passed by and to scoop up some candy tossed to them by Santa and other participants.

DeKalb Funeral Chapel won 1st place for their float entry. Second place went to First Bank and Wilson Bank & Trust took 3rd place. The DeKalb Junior Pro Football Team won the Spirit Award presented by the Smithville Business and Professional Women’s Club.

The parade was sponsored by the Smithville Fire Department.

The Alexandria Christmas Parade is scheduled for Sunday, December 15 starting at 2 p.m. The line-up begins at 1 p.m. on West Main Street. To enter contact the Alexandria City Hall to fill out an entry form. Call 615-529-2171 for more information.

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.

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