Early Voting Update

February 17, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

The DeKalb County Election Commission reports that 66 people voted Saturday, February 17 in the March 5 primaries including 62 in person and 4 absentees by mail.

For the first four days of early voting combined, a total of 373 people has cast ballots including 340 in person, 11 by absentee, and 22 from the nursing home/assisted living center combined.

Of the 373 total, 344 have voted in the Republican Primary and 29 in the Democratic Primary.

The early voting period is underway through Tuesday, February 27 at the courthouse in Smithville. One more day has been set for early voting in Alexandria at the Fairgrounds Kenneth Sandlin Center building, Tuesday, February 20 from 3 p.m. until 6 p.m. The Absentee ballot request deadline is Tuesday, February 27.

The remaining dates for early voting in Smithville are as follows:

No voting Monday, February 19 due to President’s Day.

Tuesday, February 20: (9 a.m. until 1 p.m.)

Wednesday, February 21: (9 a.m. until 1 p.m.)

Thursday, February 22: (2 p.m. until 6 p.m.)

Friday, February 23: (9 a.m. until 1 p.m.)

Saturday, February 24: (9 a.m. until 12 noon)

Monday, February 26: (1 p.m. until 5 p.m.)

Tuesday, February 27: (9 a.m. until 1 p.m.)

February 15, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

DeKalb County High School Thursday recognized its staff member, student, and parents of the month for January.

Each received a certificate from the school and a gift card for a meal from KFC/Taco Bell. A different restaurant offers a meal gift card to each month’s honorees.

School Resource Officer, Sergeant Chris McMillen of the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department was selected by the administration as Staff member of the Month while Senior Kathryn Hale is Student of the Month, voted on by the teachers. The parents of the month are Candace and Will Garrett and this honor was based on a winning essay written by their son, Colton Crow, a freshman at DCHS.

“For parents of the month to be able to win, a student has to write an essay about why their parents should be the parent or guardian of the month,” said DCHS Assistant Principal Thomas Cagle. “We read through these essay submissions and pick the one that touches us the most in the way they write about their parents and things their parents do for them. This month, Colton wrote the winning essay for his mom and dad,” said Cagle.

“My mom works really hard and so does my dad and I thought this would be great for them. I love my mom and dad,” said Crow.

“I am very surprised. I did not expect this,” said Candace. “They (DCHS Administration) pulled a fast one on me. I thought that Colton was getting an award this morning (Thursday) but I am honored. I have a very special child and we are very thankful and happy parents with him. Thank you son for writing this for us,” said Candace.

Colton’s dad Will was unable to attend the award presentation. Colton also has an older brother.

Will and Candace have lived in Smithville for a little over 10 years. They are originally from Nashville. The make their home in the Pates Ford community and are local business owners. Candace also serves as Director of Operations for Medical Offices and Practices with Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital. “I cover a large territory including everything in the Upper Cumberland and everything we do primary care related in Murfreesboro,” said Candace.

Colton said he is enjoying his high school experience. “I am in honors right now and currently my electives are Agri-science and auto mechanics, and I am in an Advanced Placement (AP) course,” he said.

Colton said he plans to attend Tennessee Tech after high school and one day become a geologist.

“For our Student of the Month we have Kathryn Hale,” said Cagle. “She is one of our exceptional students here. Kathryn is in different clubs and programs and she is always a good help to us. She has served as a teacher’s aide and is one of those students who seems to be in and out of every teacher’s classroom and nothing but good things are said from any teacher she has ever been able to help in any kind of way. The teachers vote on the Students of the Month and Kathryn was nominated this month. All the teachers agreed that she should be the student of the month for January,” said Cagle.

“I was really shocked to receive this award. I didn’t expect it at all but I am really thankful for this,” said Kathryn.

Hale said she has plenty to keep her busy as a student at DCHS.

“I am in dual enrollment classes, and I have been in a couple of Advanced Placement (AP) classes. I am in a lot of different clubs including the Beta, Service Society, Literature, and Science Clubs and I am a member of the academic bowl team.” She said.

After graduation, Kathryn said she plans to attend MTSU to study anthropology and forensic science in hopes of becoming a forensic anthropologist.

Kathryn is the 18-year-old daughter of Shannon and Yvonne Hale of Smithville, and she has one brother. Her mother works in the office at DCHS as a secretary.

“The staff member of the month is voted on by the administration at the high school and this month we chose SRO officer Sergeant Chris McMillen,” said Cagle. “Officer McMillen and I work really close together here at the school dealing with different issues whether it be parking, events, sports, or discipline and I could not be prouder to have him as our Staff member of the Month. A lot of times what he does here behind the scenes to keep our school and students safe goes unnoticed. He does a great job of recognizing anything and everything that could be a potential problem and trying to solve problems before they become problems,” said Cagle.

Sergeant McMillen is a 20-year law enforcement veteran working for the Sheriff’s Department and half of those years he has served as a school resource officer. He is also a minister having preached at the Temperance Hall Pentecostal Church for over 10 years.

“It’s my 10th year being an SRO,” said Sergeant McMillen. “I spent seven years at DeKalb Middle School, and I have been here (DCHS) for the last three years. I enjoy my job here and working with this age group of students”.

Originally from Alexandria, McMillen lives in Smithville with his wife Kristina, and they have two children, Lacey, a CDC educational assistant at DeKalb Middle School and Cole, a junior at DCHS. Kristina, a former dispatcher at the 911 center, has worked for several years at Caney Fork Electric Cooperative.

Sergeant McMillen explained what a day in the life of an SRO is like at DCHS.

“Here at DCHS I go through the building and check doors. I am in the halls when classes change. I go out and check vehicles in the parking lot. I also work a lot of extracurricular activities like ballgames, dances, etc. and do paperwork”.

“I try to build a good relationship with the kids and help lead them in the right direction. I like having a good time with them and see everything go smoothly. I especially love being around special needs kids. We have a lot of fun picking at each other.”

Part of the SRO job, McMillen explained is counseling kids and resolving conflicts.

“Anytime we have a kid who may want to fight another student, we talk to them in order to diffuse the situation and get them to let us take care of it. I tell them they don’t need to get in any trouble, and we don’t need any problems. If it’s a case where we have a kid vaping or something like that, we try to educate them or do what we can to steer them away from things that will harm them,” said Sergeant McMillen.

February 15, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

Another first!

Almost two years ago DCHS teacher and coach Danielle Tyson Horton made history by becoming the first ever female head coach of the Tigerette softball program. Horton has done it again by being named the first ever coach of the newly created DCHS girls volleyball program which will launch its inaugural season this summer for the 2024-25 school year. In addition to volleyball, Coach Horton will continue to lead the girls softball program as well.

DCHS Principal Bruce Curtis made the formal announcement Wednesday. An assistant to Coach Horton will be named later.

The Board of Education last Thursday granted a request by the DCHS administration to bring girls volleyball to the high school.

Principal Curtis said interest for such a program has been growing in recent years.

“We had multiple students come to us about getting a volleyball team started. We have had a couple of girls over the last few years who had gone to Warren County and co-op with them (playing for Warren County under a cooperative agreement between the two schools) but we had more and more kids showing interest in that sport so we decided to propose to the Board of Education to start a program. We had probably 75-80 kids who had signed that they were interested in possibly playing so I thought that would be a good thing to give our kids another outlet in which to play an athletic sport,” said Principal Curtis.

Under TSSAA Classification, the DCHS Volleyball program will be in District 7AA with Livingston Academy, Cumberland County, Stone Memorial, Upperman, and Watertown. The schedule will follow the same as girls’ soccer. The season will officially begin on July 29, 2024 with the regular season to start August 19, 2024. All district matches must be completed by October 11, 2024. The playoffs and state championships will conclude on October 25, 2024.

Curtis explained that DCHS volleyball will be for girls only in that the TSSAA does not sanction a boys volleyball program.

All home games will be played at the DCHS gymnasium.

The estimated startup cost of the program is $12,460 which includes the expense of home and away jerseys and basic equipment such as volleyballs, etc. Principal Curtis said all those necessities will be addressed in preparation for the start of the season this summer.

“It’s a process of getting everything ready and getting the gym floor set up for volleyball. We will have to put in nets and things for the nets and stripe off the floor for a volleyball court to get it ready as soon as possible by the start of the season. We will also have to put in two metal inserts for the posts to go into in the floor,” said Principal Curtis.

Originally from South Louisiana, Horton and her family moved to Smithville during her Freshman year in high school and then she joined the DCHS softball program as a player. But she had also played volleyball before coming here and always longed for a program at DCHS.

“I played volleyball before we moved here. I moved here in high school. I remember them (DCHS) not having a team and as a student, that was something that was sad on my part because it was a sport I loved but I continued to watch games,” said Coach Horton.

After graduating high school in 2014, Horton furthered her education and softball career at Trevecca Nazarene University, but she still had a love for volleyball and in recent years has attended games involving family members.

“I went to school at Trevecca and a lot of times the softball team would go and support the volleyball team there. That was really fun to watch. There was a really high energy about the game of volleyball. All of my nieces play as well and we travel a lot and go watch games with them, so I have been around the game quite a bit and have seen how different travel and high school teams work,” she said.

After she returned to DCHS as a teacher, Horton said she was thrilled to have been named to head the Tigerette softball program after the departure of former Coach Danny Fish. Horton had competed in the program as a player under Coach Fish and former Coach Danny Bond before him and she had served as Coach Fish’s assistant his last year here.

After learning that DCHS would be starting a volleyball program, Horton did not have to be talked into taking the job as head coach. It was a position she sought. Coach Horton said she believes over time this program can be competitive although there are opponents in the district who have had great success over the years and will pose unique challenges.

“It’s a very competitive district. Stone Memorial, Livingston Academy, and Upperman have all made state appearances in volleyball so expecting us to come out of the gate and be exceptional would be unrealistic, but I think putting us in a district like this will cause us to be competitive and force us to know what we need to do to be competitive. I think we can get there but it may take three to four years,” said Coach Horton.

“I think we will have a good turnout for tryouts and with enough interest, heart and work ethic we can start building a solid program,” she continued.

“Typically, six players are on the court at a time during a game, but you are able to do substitutions. It seems pretty simple, but the way volleyball works is with three (players) in the front (court) and three in the back, but you have setters, a libero who is usually a smaller individual that is really good at digging things out, an inside and an outside hitter which is the right and left side, and a middle hitter. There are a lot of different aspects that go into the game so while six can play you really need probably 12 for substitutions of that nature just for a solid foundation. For junior varsity you probably want to go as far as 18. I don’t know if we will have that many this first year starting out but when it comes time for tryouts, we will see where we are at,” said Coach Horton.

When the season gets underway, Coach Horton said she hopes fans will come out and show their support.

“Volleyball is usually such a high energy game that a lot of people do like to come out and watch the girls play. It goes by quickly but its fun to watch them hustle and the crowd usually gets involved. I think the community will enjoy this sport,” said Coach Horton.

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