(UPDATED) Smithville Police Make Arrests in Greenbrook Park Vandalism

September 21, 2022
By: Dwayne Page

Smithville Police have made three arrests in a vandalism investigation at Greenbrook Park.

Chief Mark Collins said 19-year-old Daisy Morales and 19-year-old Alex Diaz Vidal are each charged with vandalism over $1,000 and burglary. A juvenile was also involved and will be charged in a juvenile petition. Both Morales and Vidal have been released on their own recognizance and will appear in General Sessions Court on October 6.

The three are believed to have entered the park sometime late Monday night or early Tuesday morning and spray-painted vulgar graffiti on the amphitheater and playground equipment.

Greenbrook Park was closed Tuesday and is closed today (Wednesday) as city employees work to remove the paint.

“I want to commend my officers and detectives for getting on this case and making an arrest quickly,” said Chief Collins.

September 21, 2022
By: Dwayne Page

The DeKalb County High School Golf Team competed in the AA District 7 Golf Tournament on Monday, September 19. Alison Poss and Brayden Summers both qualified for the Region Tournament. Alison Poss, a sophomore, shot an 81 to finish 4th out of 13 girls. Brayden Summers, a junior, shot 81 to finish 12th out of 34 boys. The girls team finished 4th and the boys team finished 7th.

“Alison and Brayden have played a lot of golf for DeKalb County. They are great kids and I wouldn’t trade them for anybody in the tournament,” said Head Golf Coach John Pryor.

The AA Region 4 Tournament will be held on Monday, September 26, at the Golden Eagle Golf Club in Cookeville. Brayden and Alison will be trying to qualify for the State Tournament held in Sevierville.

September 20, 2022
By: Dwayne Page

The recent announcement that DeKalb Telephone Cooperative is being awarded over $15.6 million in a TNECD grant for the expansion of internet access serving parts of DeKalb and Cannon counties is welcome news for DTC in its efforts in becoming a world-class fiber broadband provider.

The DTC grant award was included in an announcement made last week by Tennessee Governor Bill Lee and Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development (TNECD) Commissioner Stuart McWhorter that the state will fund $446,770,282 in grants for the expansion of internet access across the state of Tennessee.

In his address during the annual meeting Saturday, Chris Townson, CEO of DTC Communications, talked about how far DTC has come in recent years using available financial resources to improve the lives of the people and communities it serves with better broadband and technology solutions.

“If you’ve been around me very long, you’ve probably heard me say, “At DTC, we do everything we do because people matter.” I say it often because it is true. In fact, one of DTC’s core values is People First. It’s in our DNA and has been since the cooperative was founded,” said Townson.

“2021 saw us operating in one of the most demanding years in the cooperative’s history as we worked to benefit our members and the communities we serve. We had hoped that as we closed the chapter on 2020, our communities and our company would emerge from the pandemic, and things would go back to normal. When that did not happen exactly as planned, we longed to get to a new normal. We then discovered that there is likely no new normal; there is just the next normal. And in moving from one normal to the next, we focused even more on putting people first”.

“In the telecommunications industry, we are no strangers to challenges. Technology advancements and an ever-increasing bandwidth demand require combining a forward-thinking posture with responsiveness and flexibility. In the face of supply chain delays, rising costs, and an exponentially increasing customer demand, DTC delivered efficiently and effectively for our members. The following accomplishments represent just a portion of DTC’s total achievements on behalf of its members in 2021″.

•DTC built over 350 miles of mainline fiber network

•We passed 3,500 additional premises with fiber

•We connected more than 5,000 existing and new members and customers to the fiber network

•We met an over 30% increase in bandwidth demand year over year

•DTC provided infrastructure for local county school systems to have ubiquitous broadband connectivity

•We invested in local classrooms, promoting student advancement in video production

•We advanced work on a USDA Reconnect Grant, bringing additional dollars back to cooperative members’ benefit

•We closed out approximately ¾ of the cooperative’s fiber overlay project

•All earnings were reinvested into the cooperative to ensure members receive advanced services as soon as possible and at a reasonable price.”

“Today, we are working as hard as ever to contain costs, reduce the impacts of supply chain issues, and connect our neighbors, friends, and new area residents to a world-class network that provides limitless opportunity. We have been aided in this process by successfully winning:

•2018 TNECD Tennessee Broadband Accessibility Act Grant

•2020 TNECD Tennessee Emergency Broadband Fund Grant

•2020 USDA ReConnect Program Grant

•2021 FCC RDOF Auction 904 Funding Allocation

•2022 TNECD Emergency Broadband Fund – ARP Grant

•Four – 2022 ARP Grants from the counties we serve.  (The DeKalb County Commission committed $750,000 in ARP funds toward a grant match to help support completion of a fiber infrastructure build in portions of DeKalb County)

“At its core, our mission is to provide broadband and technology solutions that improve lives for our members and the communities we serve. We strive to do what we say, take care of people, partner with our communities, and build a network that will serve our members today and for decades to come. We hope you continue to find us trustworthy, friendly, forward-looking, engaged, and pleasant to do business with,” said Townson.

“It is an exciting time for DTC as we move toward the end of 2022. The map represented in the annual report and on the boards throughout the venue shows past, present, and future fiber build areas. As you can see, we continue working diligently to complete the fiber network. We connect new members and customers daily, and our customer satisfaction rating continues to increase”

“Be assured that your board of directors, company management, and employees are working to put you first, and we appreciate you allowing us to serve you in this capacity. Thank you for being members of DTC Communications,” Townson concluded.

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