Hoyte Hale Receives Smithville Fire Department’s “Robert Eller Highest Attendance Award”

January 12, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

Smithville Volunteer Firefighter and Deputy Chief Hoyte Hale received the “Robert Eller Highest Attendance Award” Friday night during an appreciation dinner for city firefighters at the New Life Connection Center.

The award was presented to Hale by Smithville Fire Chief Charlie Parker. This is the fifth straight year Hale has earned this award which was named this year in honor of the late Robert Eller, who served the Smithville Fire Department as a member and assistant chief for 64 years until his death in 2009.

“Until the time he got sick and his death, Eller was at just about every call, every meeting, and every training that we had so we wanted to pay homage to him by naming this award after him for the firefighter who made the most calls, trainings, workings throughout the year,” said Chief Parker.

Hale, a 34 year veteran of the department, attended 158 out of 214 calls during the year 2018. This includes calls, trainings, and workings.

“This award really shows his dedication to the department and to the city. He gets up at two o’clock in the morning to do these things and it really makes a difference. Having responded to 158 calls last year, that tells you how much he is committed to what he does at the Smithville Fire Department,” said Chief Parker.

Other firefighters with high attendance responses to their credit were Lieutenant Donnie Cantrell with 154, Chief Parker 150, Lieutenant Danny Poss with 133, Lieutenant John Poss 132, and Dalton Roberts with 100 calls.

2018 was the 80th year of the Smithville Fire Department. It was established in February 1938.

In his remarks during the dinner, Chief Parker thanked the mayor and aldermen for their support and highlighted achievements during the past year.

“In addition to those 214 calls (trainings and work activities) we managed to log in over 800 hours of training collectively with this group. That is pretty good with a group of about 27 people. In that number we had a total of 46 hours of work details around the fire hall which still did not include over 75 hours of meetings. Those were not included in that 214 number. That also does not include the number of hours we spent on fire calls. We had 160 plus fire calls but that is just the number of calls. That’s does not include the number of hours they spent during the middle of the night or day away from work and family. That averages out to about a call every day and a half in our little small town of Smithville,” he said.

Chief Parker also praised the late former mayor Waniford Cantrell, who passed away this week. Cantrell served two terms as mayor from 1982 to 1986. Parker said Cantrell was a huge supporter of the fire department and as mayor budgeted funds for the department’s first “jaws of life” extrication rescue equipment and set up an interest bearing account for the department, funds of which were used in 1992 for the purchase of a new fire truck. Cantrell also came up with the idea of longevity awards to firefighters based on years of service.

Meanwhile city firefighters were recognized for years of service including the following:

Brenda Soto-Rookie
Dillon Hicks-Rookie
Caleb London-2 years
Ryan Herron: 3 years
Garrett Johnson: 3 years
Seth Wright-3 years
Kim Johnson-3 years
Robin Summers-3 years
Bradley Johnson- 5 years
Dalton Roberts-5 years
C.J. Tramel- 5 years
Shawn Jacobs-6 years
Becky Atnip- 6 years
Cory Killian-8 years
Glen Lattimore-11 years
Stephanee Wright-13 years
Gary Johnson-14 years
James Randall Hunt-14 years
Wallace Caldwell- Chaplain 15 years
Lieutenant Kevin Adcock- 20 years
William (Wink) Brown-21 years
Greg Bess-photographer 24 years
Lieutenant John Poss-28 years
Captain Jeff Wright-33 years
Deputy Chief Hoyte Hale-34 years
Lieutenant Donnie Cantrell-39 years
Lieutenant Danny Poss-39 years
Chief Charlie Parker-39 years

January 11, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

January 20-26, 2019 is School Board Appreciation Week in Tennessee. This week helps build awareness and understanding of the vital functions our locally elected boards of education play in our community. The DeKalb County School District is joining public school districts from across the state to celebrate School Board Appreciation Week and honor local board members for their commitment to DeKalb County and its children.

(Video shows DCHS Principal Randy Jennings addressing the school board Thursday night)

“I along with our staff want to thank you for the work you do and for the time you put in. We meet once a month but the community may not know that you often have to take phone calls late at night and throughout the week. We do appreciate your time that you dedicate to our students and the decisions and suggestions you make for students to better our school district and our community,” said Director of Schools Patrick Cripps during Thursday night’s regular monthly Board of Education meeting.

“Our school system is the backbone of our community, and these men and women devote countless hours to making sure our schools are helping every child,” Cripps said. “There is no greater honor that can be bestowed upon a citizen than membership on a local board of education. They spend countless hours studying the issues and regulations and make the tough decisions when called upon to ensure the type of accountability people expect.”

Cripps said the key work of school boards is to:

•Create a vision for what the community wants the school district to be and for making student achievement the top priority;

•Establish standards for what students will be expected to learn and be able to do;

•Ensure progress is measured to be sure the district’s goals are achieved and students are learning at expected levels;

•Create a safe, orderly climate where students can learn and teachers can teach;

•Form partnerships with others in the community to solve common problems; and

•Focus attention on the need for continuous improvement by questioning, refining and revising issues related to student achievement.

“Our local school board shapes the future of education in DeKalb County by influencing the high-quality of education that our children and youth receive. The DeKalb County school board shows its commitment to educational excellence and equity – and for that we are very grateful for their attitude of service.”

The members serving our district and their years of service are as follows: Danny Parkerson in the 1st district, Alan Hayes in the 2nd district, Jim Beshearse in the 3rd district, Kate Miller in the 4th district, W.J. (Dub) Evins, III in the 5th district, Doug Stephens in the 6th district, and Shaun Tubbs in the 7th district.

January 11, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

If the Alexandria Volunteer Fire Department should ever need help fighting a large structure fire, the Smithville Volunteer Fire Department would like to provide assistance with their ladder truck.

During Monday night’s regular monthly meeting, Smithville Fire Chief Charlie Parker asked the aldermen to consider adopting an automatic aid agreement between the two departments at the request of the Alexandria Fire Department.

The aldermen will most likely act on it at their next regular monthly meeting in February.

Under the agreement, Chief Parker said the Smithville Department would send the ladder truck and two firefighters to operate it in assisting Alexandria in the event of a structure fire in a commercial or any pre-identified large building within the boundaries of the town of Alexandria provided the ladder truck and firefighters are not needed at the same time in Smithville.

The proposed agreement states that “the purpose is to provide firefighting equipment and personnel as may be necessary to mitigate a structure fire in a commercial, or any pre-identified large structure within the boundaries of the city”.

The term of the proposed agreement would be from February 1, 2019 to December 31, 2022 but it could be extended by mutual written consent of authorized representatives signing the original agreement.

The parties would participate in an annual training/familiarization of equipment with at least 30 days prior notice of training. A specific written dispatch protocol for responding to automatic aid calls and agreed on by the fire chiefs and approved by the DeKalb 911 Emergency Communications District would also be required. Automatic aid may be rendered unless sufficient firefighting equipment or personnel are not available at the time of the request or it is already in use on another incident.

Under the agreement, either party may without reason submit a written 30 day notice of termination.
Alexandria already has an automatic aid agreement with the DeKalb County Volunteer Fire Department but the county does not have a ladder truck.

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