D.C.H.S. Band All Jazzed Up

March 13, 2023
By: Bill Conger

D.C.H.S. Band Director Don Whitt is all jazzed up. A small troupe of his musicians are working on a jazz concert to be performed at the Harvester Performance and Event Center on March 23.

“The Harvester has a smaller stage so we could not have everyone perform,” Whitt explained. “We will have 9 of our students perform to cover the parts we need. We will be playing a lot of jazz music from the 40’s. “Sing, Sing, Sing.” “My Funny Valentine,” and some arrangements from Grammy-award winning singer Michael Buble. We may just get out of the jazz era and into some rock and roll. I’m going to have some surprises because I don’t want to give it all away.”

Musicians performing will be Gavin Conger, Karson Smallwood, Owen Warren, Nate Hall, Ayden Jones, Jaden Wildes, Alexis Stanley, B.J. Mosely, and Cadence Orcutt.

Harvester owner Bert Driver approached Whitt prior to Christmas with the idea to host a benefit concert for the band.

“He could see what the band was doing, and he and a lot of people have watched how the band has come along just this year with awards, etc,” Whitt said. “He invited me to come to the Harvester, and it is just magnificent with the layout. We are very excited to play in that room.”

The D.C.H.S band concert will start at 6 o’clock March 23. Admission to the Thursday night event is free but donations are welcome to benefit the band. On Saturday, March 25, at 6 p.m. The Harvester will also raise money for the band through a spring formal with the Beasley Court Big Band. People will dress in 1920s theme attire with jacket required Check with the Harvester for Saturday event ticket prices.

March 13, 2023
By:

DeKalb County Democrats met Saturday for a re-organization convention at the high school cafeteria.

Members of the party’s executive committee and officers were elected to serve a two-year term.

Officers are Chairman Jonathan Bradley, Vice Chairman Jeff Law, Secretary Susan Loberg, and Treasurer Tecia Puckett Pryor.

Members of the party’s executive committee are Lucas Antoniak, Karley Thompson, Jack Barton, Darren Dilligard, Tecia Puckett Pryor, Deb Goodwin, Jeff Law. Bill Luton, Amanda Blair, Teresa Miller, Jonathan Bradley, Patrick Jackson, Susan Loberg, Donna Comer, and Angelia Law.

“Enthusiasm ran high as the convention was again addressed by TNDP chair Hendrell Remus,” said Party Chaiman Bradley. “The newly elected executive committee and officers are excited to work with the community to support Democratic values and improve everyone’s quality of life. Anyone interested in learning more about the DeKalb County Democratic Party can join our Facebook group or contact us at dekalbtndems@gmail.com.” said Bradley.

March 11, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

Where is Brittany?

Eight months after she went missing there is still no clue as to the whereabouts of 32-year-old Brittany Ann Miller even after a massive day-long controlled ground and air search effort Saturday spearheaded by the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office which also involved the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency and teams of local, regional, and state law enforcement officers, K-9 units, search and rescue volunteers among others.

Miller’s disappearance is still considered a missing person case according to Sheriff Patrick Ray and she has apparently had no communication with her family.

The Saturday search covered 187 acres of mostly rugged terrain near Miller’s home on Hurricane Ridge Road, where Brittany was last seen on July 4, 2022 and the place where she worshipped, the Indian Creek Memorial Baptist Church, served as the command post for the search effort.

At the time of her disappearance, Sheriff Ray said Brittany was wearing a black tee shirt, possibly saying “DCHS Tigers”. She was also wearing black shorts knee length, and black tennis shoes with black “no show” socks. Brittany is 5 feet, 4inches tall and weighs 150 pounds. Her eyes are blue and she has dark brown shoulder length hair. She also has a tattoo of “Adam” across her forearm and “Tyler” on her right ankle. At the time of her disappearance, Sheriff Ray said Brittany had reportedly taken her medication, cellular telephone and dentures with her. “After we learned Brittany had gone missing, we reported that to news media outlets and we provided them a description and a picture of her,” he said.

From the start of the investigation, every lead and tip has been checked out according to Sheriff Ray

“Detectives from the Sheriff’s Department along with the assistance of the 13th District Attorney General’s Office and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, have served numerous search warrants, judicial subpoenas, court orders and taken statements from several people hoping it would lead to a breakthrough in the case. The Sheriff’s Department has reached out to other agencies with aerial equipment to assist in the search. During the months of July and November, we used drones and helicopters to fly the area where Brittany was last seen looking for anything that would help us in our investigation. We have searched many areas in the county including other parcels of property and boat ramps on Center Hill Lake. We have also used several tracking and cadaver dogs. Numerous searches were conducted by members of the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department and the Smithville-DeKalb County Rescue Squad. Detectives have taken DNA from family members and entered Brittney’s information into the U.S. Department of Justice National Missing and Unidentified Persons system. Her information has also been entered into the National Crime Information Center as a missing person. All tips we have received have been investigated,” he said.

Since she went missing, several searches have been conducted for Miller but perhaps none as intense and thorough as Saturday’s effort.

“The purpose of Saturday’s operation was to do a more in-depth and coordinated search of the area where Brittany was last seen to find additional information during our investigation and to make sure places were covered that may have been overlooked in previous searches. We reached out to the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) to help coordinate the effort. TEMA was able to assist us in the mapping of the area. Prior to the search, we had meetings with our local TEMA liaison, TEMA officials, Smithville DeKalb County Rescue Squad, DeKalb EMS, DeKalb County Mayor, Alexandria Police Department, Smithville Police Department, DeKalb Central Dispatch along with other agencies. The search area was from Highway 70 (Nashville Highway) to the 1100 block of Hurricane Ridge Road. We got here at about 6 a.m. and the search teams began arriving at 7 a.m. to register. The search then began around 8:00 am and ended at 5:30 pm,” said Sheriff Ray.

“During the day members of law enforcement and rescue squads were divided into teams. Each team was sent to a designated area and supplied with a GPS device to track their movements so we could make sure we thoroughly covered the area. Cadaver dogs and drones were also used in the search”.

“We had 146 people searching Saturday and there were 9 K-9 dogs. The groups were divided into 13 search teams and 9 K-9 teams. We also had cave and cliff rescue teams who looked into caves and sink holes. All the teams searched 187 acres of land. The terrain was rough land with sink holes, bluffs, and a small area of flat land”.

Although no human bones were found, Sheriff Ray said search teams came across some animal bones.

“Throughout the day, search teams called into the Command Center bones and other items which might be of interest. Detectives went to the marked locations and evaluated the items. When bones were found, the Detectives contacted an anthropologist from Middle Tennessee State University to determine if the bones were animal or human. All bones found were animal bones,” said Sheriff Ray.

Although there was no breakthrough in the case Saturday, Sheriff Ray said investigators remain hopeful.

“We will continue to search this area and more parcels in DeKalb County and possibly in other counties. Our investigation is not over until we find Brittany,” said Sheriff Ray.

With the case still unsolved, Sheriff Ray is issuing an appeal to the public to be cautious about what they post on social media platforms.

“A lot of what we have read on social media is somebody’s opinion and not a fact. We have not identified a suspect in our investigation of this case and it is very dangerous when someone starts accusing someone of something on social media that can’t be proven. That can be hurtful to Brittany’s family. We have gone non-stop since July and put in a lot of hours in this case. We take it very seriously. We had started planning this search back in November and we had Saturday as the projected date to do the search weather permitting. We wanted this to be a surprise search but it leaked out on social media earlier in the week so we went ahead and announced the search Friday and with it having been leaked the social media rumors started up again. Everything in the world has been posted about this case and its just a disgrace to the family. If anybody has any credible information we urge you to call the sheriff’s department, central dispatch, or our crime tip line to report it and I assure you we will go check it but to blast it on social media is not the way to do it,” he said.

“I want to thank the Indian Creek Memorial Baptist Church for all their assistance. This is where Brittany went to church and the congregation here is very concerned about her. They were here today along with her pastor. He led a prayer before our search. I also want to thank everyone who donated food or helped us in any way as well as the property owners who gave us consent to search their land,” said Sheriff Ray.

In addition to the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department, agencies and others who assisted in the search and investigation are as follows:

13th District Attorney General’s Office
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation
Tennessee Highway Patrol
Rutherford County Fire and Rescue
Rutherford County Sheriff’s Department
Murfreesboro Police Department
Tennessee Emergency Management Agency
DeKalb County Tennessee Emergency Management Agency
Smithville DeKalb County Rescue Squad
Alexandria Police Department
Smithville Police Department
DeKalb EMS
DeKalb County Mayor Matt Adcock
DeKalb Central Dispatch
Storm Point Emergency Response
Watertown Police Department
S&R K-9
Cam Search and Rescue
Beersheba Springs Rescue Squad
Williamson County EMA
DeKalb Fire Department
Cannon County Rescue Squad
Putnam County Rescue Squad
Hardy Chapel Overton County Fire Department
Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency
Hamilton County Rescue Squad
Hamilton County Cave and Cliff Rescue
Davidson County Sheriff’s Office K-9
Set Safety Solution
Sequatchie County Rescue Squad
Maury County EMA
LNL
Maury County Search and Rescue K-9
Overton County Rescue Squad
FirstNet Communications
Robertson County EMA K-9
Smithville Fire Department
Sumner County EMA
Upper Cumberland Homeland Security
Knoxville Police Department
Middle Tennessee State University Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Outreach Baptist Church
Smithville Cumberland Presbyterian Church
DeKalb Market
Indian Creek Memorial Baptist Church
Property Owners on Hurricane Ridge Road

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