A total of 299 people have cast ballots to date for the May 1 DeKalb County Democratic Primary.

According to Dennis Stanley, Administrator of Elections 54 people voted Saturday.

Voters are making their choices as to who will represent the Democratic party as nominees in the August General Election for the offices of Road Supervisor, County Mayor, Circuit Court Clerk, Sheriff, Register of Deeds, County Clerk, and for the county commission in each of the seven districts. There is no Democratic candidate for Trustee.

The primary will feature two county wide contested races for County Mayor and Circuit Court Clerk. There are four contested county commission district primary races including in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 7th districts.

Early voting days and times are as follows:
Mondays—1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Tuesdays—9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Wednesdays—9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Thursdays—2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Fridays—9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Saturdays—9 a.m. to noon.

Early voting runs through April 26 on the first floor of the DeKalb County Courthouse

A landlord is in trouble with the law after a dispute with a tenant.

73 year old Eddie Wayne Cook of 856 Cooper Avenue was arrested April 5 for aggravated burglary (2 counts) and theft of property over $1,000. Smithville Police responded to 565 Frazier Street in reference to a renter having trouble with her landlord. The victim had been renting the house from Cook and was moving her things out due to having bought a house. When the victim went back to the house she was renting to retrieve more of her items she noticed that Cook had moved her things out of the house and onto his trailer. She went into the house and noticed that some things were missing. When she asked Cook about them, he informed her that he had given some things to the people helping him. Police learned that Cook had also taken the victim’s car keys from the house, removed items from her vehicle parked in the driveway, and had given some of them away. Bond for Cook is $20,000 and his court date is April 26.

38 year old Amanda Nichole Smith of Lebanon was arrested for public intoxication on March 27. Police responded to 625 Highland Avenue for a disturbance call. Upon arrival officers spoke with Smith who appeared to be disoriented. She became belligerent toward the officers, didn’t know where she was, and seemed to be hallucinating (seeing someone who wasn’t there). Upon questioning her, police learned that Smith had a prescription for suboxone and had taken the drug twice that day. Due to her condition she was taken into custody for her own safety. Bond for Smith is $1,500.

37 year old Jimmie Lee Herman of McMinnville was cited for shoplifting on March 27. Herman was observed placing a pack of Command clear hooks in his back pocket at the Dollar General Store. It was recovered and returned to the store. His court date is April 19.

Herman was arrested again on April 8 for driving on a revoked license. Police responded to McDonald’s after a man (Herman) was found passed out behind the wheel of his vehicle. After he was awakened, Herman told the officer he didn’t realize what time it was. A check of Herman’s driver’s license through Central Dispatched revealed them to be revoked for driving under the influence out of Warren County. Herman was then placed into custody. Bond for Herman is $2,500 and his court date is April 16.

28 year old Cameron Renee Page of 834 South Mountain Street was arrested on March 26 for aggravated statutory rape. Police were called to the Wal-Mart parking lot due to a possible domestic and determined that the incident was only verbal. During the investigation police learned that the parties had sexual contact and the one of them was 17 years old. A further investigation revealed that Page and the juvenile had been in a relationship over the span of a couple months which had become physical. Page was aware that teen was under the age of 18. Bond for Page is $5,000 and her court date is April 19.

25 year old Nathaniel Dylan Tippens of 348 Page Drive was cited on March 29 for simple possession. Tippens was found asleep at the wheel of his vehicle on the public square. Police conducted a search after spotting what was believed to be drug paraphernalia in plain sight. Tippens was further found to be in possession of approximately 2 grams of a crystal like substance believed to be methamphetamine.

48 year old Stephany Lee Pardue of 499 Gold Club Drive was arrested on March 29 for a first offense of driving while license revoked. Police responded to a motor vehicle accident at 322 Riley Avenue and a check of Pardue’s license with Central Dispatch revealed them to be revoked due to unsatisfied judgments out of Putnam County. Pardue also had active warrants in Putnam County for failure to appear. She was taken into custody without incident. Her bond is $2,000 and her court date is April 19.

26 year old Sonny Roman Smith of 535 Possum Hollow Road was arrested twice within 8 days for criminal trespass. On March 31, Police responded to Crestlawn Avenue due to an unwanted guest at the Smithville Housing Authority. Upon arrival the officer spotted Smith running across the street and behind the buildings. Smith had been warned last October not to be on the property. His bond is $2,500.

Eight says later on April 8, Smith was arrested for the same offense. Police responded to a call and observed Smith coming from the back of a residence on Wade Street within the Smithville Housing Authority. Knowing that Smith had been banned from the property and arrested a week prior for the offense of criminal trespass after showing up there, he was taken into custody without incident. His bond is $2,500.

45 year old Anthony Sharod Johnson of Jackson, Tennessee was arrested on March 31 for public intoxication. Police responded to Bridgeway Motel at 713 West Broad Street in reference to a verbal altercation. Upon arrival Johnson was found in the parking lot of the motel. His speech was slurred. Johnson was difficult to understand and he was unsteady on his feet. Police learned that Johnson had been drinking a lot that day and had been staying in a local halfway house before being ejected due to his drinking. For his safety and that of the public, Johnson was arrested without incident. His bond is $1,500.

27 year old Patrick Jerome Murphy of 377 Tommy Harrell Street was arrested on April 12 for child abuse. Police were informed on April 10 by the Department of Children Services that the victim child had a hand print bruise on her bottom. Upon investigation, police learned that Murphy had spanked the child on April 9 which caused the imprint to still be visible three days later. Bond for Murphy is $2,500 and his court date is May 3.

56 year old Jeffrey D. Caldwell of Sparta was arrested on April 12 for driving while license revoked and altering or forging a title or plates. Police initiated a routine traffic stop of a vehicle for an expired registration. A check of Caldwell’s plate with Central Dispatch revealed that the 2018 expiration sticker belonged to a vehicle in Jackson County. Caldwell’s license were found to be revoked for failure to comply with financial responsibility. Caldwell was taken into custody. His bond is $6,500 and his court date is May 3.

County Mayor Tim Stribling and members of the County Commission’s Education and Library Committee will meet Monday night in a work session with Director of Schools Patrick Cripps and the Board of Education to review plans for a school building program.

The informal meeting will take place at 6:00 p.m. at the Ernest Ray Education Center and all DeKalb County Commissioners are invited to attend. No action can be taken.

Following an evaluation of current school facilities and projected future needs, the DeKalb County Board of Education has been presented a variety of construction plans at a cost ranging from $17 million to $45 million for new or renovated facilities.

Members of the local board of education met in a workshop in December for their first look at results of a School Facilities Study prepared by the Upland Design Group of Crossville.

The study concluded that Smithville Elementary School, the oldest core building in the district, should be replaced and repurposed for other uses.

The board hired the architectural firm last September to conduct a county-wide facilities study in planning for future building needs. Upland Design was paid $19,500 for its services.

The school board plans are to narrow the number of options but wants input from the county commission’s education committee before any plan is formally presented to the county commission for consideration.

The facilities study by Upland Design concluded that DeKalb West School was in the best condition and should remain as is; that Smithville Elementary needs to be replaced and repurposed; and that issues exist at Northside Elementary, DCHS, and DeKalb Middle Schools which need to be addressed.

Derrick Clemow and Brian Templeton of Upland Design Group met with the school board during the December workshop to review the findings and to offer options for addressing them.

Upland Design presented six (construction) options (schemes) for the board to consider along with the pros and cons of each option or scheme.

A summary of those options is as follows: (CLICK PDF LINK BELOW EACH OPTION TO VIEW SPECIFICS)

A-OPTION (SCHEME): (2) Pre-K to 5th grade elementary schools; middle and high schools expanded for increased lifespan (CLICK LINK TO VIEW OPTION)
Scheme A

B-OPTION (SCHEME): Replace Smithville Elementary School; middle and high schools expanded for increased lifespan (CLICK LINK TO VIEW OPTION)
Scheme B

C-OPTION (SCHEME): All schools Pre-K to 8th grade; high school expanded for increased lifespan (CLICK LINK TO VIEW OPTION)
Scheme C

D-OPTION (SCHEME) Pre-K to 8 grade options; high school takes over middle school campus(CLICK LINK TO VIEW OPTION)
Scheme D

E-OPTION (SCHEME) All schools Pre-K to 8th grade; high school takes over middle school campus(CLICK LINK TO VIEW OPTION)
Scheme E

F-OPTION (SCHEME) New high school; middle school takes over high school campus; elementary school takes over middle school campus (CLICK LINK TO VIEW OPTION)
Scheme F

Upland Design was asked to come up with another option involving the middle school and to report back to the school board.

Following is a synopsis of each school:

*SMITHVILLE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL:

Smithville Elementary School, originally built in 1958, now is 70,557 square feet in size, and has a current enrollment of 575 students.

“For the purpose of this study, Smithville Elementary is to be obsolesced,” said Clemow. Basically, we evaluated and started with a premise that this is a site (Smithville Elementary) that should be repurposed for some other purpose. We looked at maybe moving the central office there. Maybe maintenance could move there. Maybe an alternative school could be located there.”

The facilities study concluded that “as the oldest campus facility, condition is a major concern. In consideration of the following providing an alternative location for the students is a consensus:

A. Campus location is undesirable
B. Traffic flow is poor
C. Cafeteria/Kitchen is undersized
D. Oldest portion is over a crawl space and mold is potential
E. Security is difficult to maintain when multiple buildings are present
F. Spaces are not functionally ideal
G. Three of the second-grade classes are currently at Northside Elementary

Upland Design gave options how Smithville Elementary School could be used for other purposes:
A. Move central office staff to Smithville Elementary
B. Move maintenance storage and staff to area in and around kitchen/cafeteria
C. Relocate Adult Education or Alternative School Classrooms in the eastern wing
D. Make the site available for other county programs.

*NORTHSIDE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL:

Northside Elementary School, built in 2000, is 85,000 square feet in size with an enrollment of 655 students.

Upland Design concluded that Northside is at capacity.

“It (Northside) was originally planned for 650 students in grades 3-5. It is at capacity today based on the fact that there are second graders over there that fill it out all the way,” Clemow said. “If you were to pull the second graders out of there it would be back to a fair-sized school and would have a little bit of expansion in it as a grade 3, 4, 5 facility. But as a grade 3,4,5 it doesn’t have the lower grade toilet facilities that are normally connected to existing classrooms. Little kids really need to have a toilet handy. So if this school should become a Pre-K through 8 or whatever, there would have to be some modifications toilet wise. Also for the size kids there and the numbers who are run through there, the cafeteria is just about maxed out in terms of its usage. It takes a few hours to feed the kids. It basically is functioning as intended and conditionally is in fairly good shape. The school was also built during the pre-security days. A parent can walk in and make it to the back of the school without anyone knowing. That is a fairly easy correction in this case because you do have a central entrance and you could make a vestibule there” he added.

The facilities study found that “this site now accepts 3 classes of second graders due to overcrowding at Smithville Elementary. Northside was originally planned for grades 3-5 and 650 pupils. The campus is at capacity. This is quite evident in the afternoon rush. Lower grade in-classroom toilets were not provided. The cafeteria is at capacity.

The site is large enough to consider expansion, although traffic circulation is a challenge. There needs to be a security vestibule created at the entry.

The cafeteria space is limited as is other core spaces encouraging a 625 pupil population.”

*DEKALB MIDDLE SCHOOL:

DeKalb Middle School, built in 1971, is now 86,990 square feet in size with an enrollment of 550 students.

According to the facilities study, “the school was originally designed as a modified open plan and as a result acoustic problems and circulation create an interruptive classroom arrangement. Dining and library spaces lack acoustical isolation. The newer gymnasium provides needed P.E. space although it is not cooled (no air conditioning). Security is a challenge since the administrative space is a central space and students go outside to get to the gymnasium. Toilet accommodations are marginally sufficient for the student population. All spaces are currently utilized. The auditorium is too small for assemblies. The site does not provide for several sports and lacks space for addition without site drainage developments.”

*DEKALB COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL:

DeKalb County High School, constructed in 1963, is now 127,317 square feet in size with an enrollment of 860 students.

“There are portable classrooms. The high school has six to eight floating teachers. What that means is while they have other things they do in their capacity, they don’t have a home room,” Clemow said. “When they go to work they have to use a room that is shared with somebody else. What happens with high schools is that the curriculum changes all the time and with this school it is clear that with the 860 kids who are there now, they are pretty much falling out the doors (overcrowded). The first thing we always hear there (DCHS) is that the corridors are ridiculously tight and when there is a class change, it’s a zoo. That’s a difficult one to treat because it falls right at the core of the building. Security is also really difficult to handle. The only way to handle security at a campus situation like this is to gate it but once you gate it, you have to man the gate but in this case you not only have a high school but a junior high school so there is no telling how difficult it would be to create a security situation for this facility.
It is one of those things that is definitely on the radar as needing repair, update, potential replacement,” he continued. “We looked at all of it. It is not something that we found in particularly great shape and you all know it,” said Clemow

The facilities study found that “the high school has grown on this site for many years. Over the years there have been four major additions and many other renovations. The primary circulation spaces are as original and are woefully undersized. Although well maintained, the original structure shows signs of aging. Campus security is inadequate as many buildings require exterior access. Pedestrian and vehicular flow intersects. Playing field spaces are marginal and do not accommodate all organized team activities. Some P.E. programs are held outside of designated school facilities. Three or four temporary portable classrooms house educational functions. Many spaces have been repurposed for more contemporary curriculum, but many program offerings would require spaces with specific features”.

DEKALB WEST SCHOOL:

The facility study found DeKalb West School to be in the best condition of all the five schools.

DeKalb West School, built in 1974, is now 76,044 square feet in size with an enrollment of 405 students.

According to the facilities study, “this school has adequate facilities for the current population and programs for the near future. Some students are brought by parents from out of the bus routes. Uniquely, the county-wide Middle School baseball program is at this site. Class sizes vary from 40-48 with a downsized 4th grade at 30.

Administrators note that moving on to the high school is a social adjustment when compared to DeKalb Middle School entrants.

For this study, this campus is to remain as is.”