4-H Poultry Team Named State Champions

October 25, 2019
By: By: Leigh Fuson, 4-H Agent

In a true underdog story, DeKalb County 4-H poultry judging team members have earned a trip to the National Poultry and Egg Conference that will be November 20-21^st in Louisville, Kentucky.  After placing 7^th at the regional level, the team was named Tennessee State Champions on October 19^th at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.  This is only the second time in history that DeKalb County has achieved the title.

Clayton Crook, Lily Martin, Megan Price, and Jacob Williams are the winning team members. Lily was awarded 4^th high individual, which really helped to launch the team to success. However, it truly was a team effort because the lowest score in each class of the contest is dropped with a 4-man team. This allows each member to have strengths and weaknesses going into the contest.  These youth know they have a big challenge ahead of them going to the national level.

“We were honestly surprised when we won, but we are going to keep working hard to do well at Nationals,” said Martin.  The national contest will have twice as many classes as the state contest with an added level of difficulty.  Poultry judging involves determining egg & meat quality, as well as live bird evaluation and oral reasons.  Price, who is interested in becoming a veterinarian, stated, “I’ve loved learning about past production hens and the basics of the poultry industry.”  Poultry is one of the biggest animal agriculture industries in Tennessee.

The team is excited to be representing DeKalb County and the whole state of Tennessee in Louisville, and we wish them the best of luck! Anyone wishing to help monetarily to assist with the trip may contact the UT-TSU Extension office at 615-597-4945.  4-H is a proud part of UT Extension, the UT Institute of Agriculture, and TSU Cooperative Extension.  UT-TSU Extension provides equal opportunities in programs and employment through the cooperation of county, state, and federal governments.

October 25, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

DeKalb County will not be able to purchase a new tanker truck for the fire department using CDBG grant funds this year.

County Mayor Tim Stribling informed the county commission Thursday night, in a meeting of the whole workshop, that the county’s application for a $315,000 Community Development Block Grant has been denied.

“DeKalb County did not score high enough to be awarded a CDBG grant. The cutoff was 178 points and DeKalb County scored 159,” said County Mayor Stribling.

In January the County Commission gave formal approval of a resolution to apply for the grant through the CDBG program which is administered by the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development. Had it been approved the county would have been responsible for payment of a local grant match of 16% of the total project cost plus any additional funding required to complete the project beyond the grant amount. The Upper Cumberland Development District prepared all necessary documents for the completion of the grant application at no charge to DeKalb County.

County Fire Chief Donny Green said the grant would have been used to purchase a new tanker truck.

“We currently only have one tanker in the county. With the barriers and obstacles we have with water supply because we don’t have a lot of hydrants out in the county we really do have a dire need for another way to get water to the fire scenes in the rural parts of the county,” said Chief Green.

Although not awarded a CDBG grant this year, County Mayor Stribling said the county could re-apply next year. “It isn’t unusual for a grant application to be turned down on the first try,” he said. Stribling pointed to the fact that the county had to apply three times on behalf of the DeKalb Utility District before being funded a CDBG grant for water line extension in portions of the county in 2016.

October 25, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

The artist spotlight will shine on Natalie Weems this morning (Friday) during WJLE’s “Jammin at the 428 program” hosted by Jim Hicks.

“Jammin’ at the 428” airs at 8:30 a.m. following the “Old Time Country Community Radio Show”

Weems will talk about her career and perform some of her music on today’s show.

“We had a great time visiting with Natalie. She is a great singer and songwriter. This world would be a better place if there were more Natalie’s in it,” said Hicks.

To hear this show click the link below or click the dropdown box under the “Community” section of the WJLE homepage near the top and look for “Jammin’ at the 428” .

Jammin at the 428 October 25

Weems records at Rick Scruggs’ Studio in Smithville, also known as the 428.

« First ‹ Previous 1 1564 1654 1662 1663 16641665 1666 1674 1764 2457 Next › Last »