Kay Quintero Retires from Counseling

January 17, 2022
By: Bill Conger

Mental Health Counselor Kay Quintero has decided to retire from counseling after 13 years of service at the Haven of Hope of DeKalb County.

“I just knew God was leading that way,” Quintero says of her retirement. “I had ultimate peace about the decision and I still do. I will miss my clients, but I am looking forward to the next chapter of my life.”

Initially, Kay and her husband, John, former Executive Director of the Haven of Hope, started as volunteers 17 years ago and hadn’t envisioned opening a counseling center in Smithville.

“John and I originally were volunteering to use whatever skills we had to serve DeKalb Countians, asking God to lead us and use us,” Quintero said. “We did not know how that would develop. We started here with boundary classes, grief groups and a “Making Peace with Your Past,” group which is for adults dealing with childhood trauma.”

Growing up in the little community of Shop Springs in Wilson County, Quintero went to M.T.S.U. where she majored in Social Work. It was there that she met John, her husband of 49 years.

“After his National Guard basic training, we were married, and he found a job at Smithville Controls, later named Kingston Timers. This Nashville boy adapted to small town life, and we both have enjoyed living here.”

During her ten-year tenure with the state Department of Human Services she learned of many needs in the area.

“I wanted to be better equipped to help so I returned to MTSU and obtained a Masters in Clinical Psychology. After obtaining my master’s degree, I worked in Lebanon for two years at Cumberland Mental Health. Then, I contracted with our local school system to do some counseling and assist the school psychologist. I took off a couple of years to help my aging parents. Later I worked part time with Healing Hearts Counseling in McMinnville.”

Her experience also included volunteering for a few years in the chapel at Tennessee Prison for Women where she offered counseling, led grief groups and boundary classes. Eventually, she felt called to be a servant to the people in her home community.

“We have had opportunities and open doors. I had planned to work with women, but I had many requests to work with children so that is when we seriously considered having a counseling center.”

“I have enjoyed providing play therapy to children. Young children can’t sit down and have a long conversation about their thoughts and feelings. However, these come out in a play environment where all the attention is focused on them, and I follow their lead.

“Another rewarding aspect has been seeing people who have been willing to join us in volunteering or working with us. We have had a wonderful board of directors to help and advise. Several of those board members are still serving with us today. We currently have dedicated support staff and contract counselors in the professional counseling division. Over the years there have been numerous volunteers to teach classes and be encouragers on the ministry side.”

Quintero’s last day on the job was December 30, but the member of Smithville First Baptist Church will maintain a presence at the Haven.

“I hope to be able to volunteer with John and help in the ministry division of Haven of Hope. One new class I want to start is ” Hurt to Hope” or “New Hope.” John and I recently attended a four-day training about this. It uses stories of people in the Bible, such as Joseph, who had difficult times and a lot of unfair things happened. People meant it for evil, but God used it for good.”

January 16, 2022
By: Dwayne Page

DeKalb County would have a new state senator if a redistricting plan to be considered by the Tennessee General Assembly is adopted.

According to the plan adopted in committee and revealed by Tennessee Republican state lawmakers last week, DeKalb County would be moved from the 17th State Senatorial District, now represented by Mark Pody (R) of Lebanon, to the 16th District represented by Janice Bowling (R) of Tullahoma. In addition to DeKalb County, the 16th District would include the counties of Warren, Grundy, Coffee, Franklin, and Lincoln. Senator Bowling currently represents Coffee, Franklin, Grundy, Marion, Sequatchie, Van Buren, and Warren Counties.

The proposed redistricting plan calls for Senator Pody’s 17th District to include all of Wilson County and extend into Davidson to include portions of Donelson and Hermitage, along with areas near the Nashville International Airport and Percy Priest Lake. Pody currently serves Cannon, Clay, Macon, Smith, and Wilson counties in addition to DeKalb.

Meanwhile, 40th District State Representative Terri Lynn Weaver (R) would represent all of DeKalb County under the State House Redistricting Plan. Weaver’s proposed new district would include Jackson, Smith, and Cannon in addition to DeKalb and a small portion of Wilson. She currently represents Smith, Trousdale, and a portion of DeKalb and Sumner Counties.

District 46 State Representative Clark Boyd (R), who currently serves Cannon and a portion of DeKalb County and Wilson County would no longer serve either DeKalb or Cannon but he would represent a large portion of Wilson County if the State House Redistricting plan is adopted.

The new 6th Congressional District, represented by Congressman John Rose, would be made up of all of Sumner, Macon, Clay, Pickett, Scott, Trousdale, Smith, Jackson, Overton, Fentress, Putnam, Cannon, DeKalb, White, Cumberland, and Van Buren, and part of Wilson and Davidson counties.

The current 6th Congressional District is made up of Cannon, Clay, Coffee, Cumberland, DeKalb, Fentress, Jackson, Macon, Overton, Pickett, Putnam, Robertson, Smith, Sumner, Trousdale, White, and Wilson. It also contains very small pieces of Cheatham and Van Buren.

The map plans must be approved by both the House and the State Senate and then signed by Governor Lee before they can take effect.

Redistricting is necessary every decade when lawmakers use the latest federal census to equalize state and congressional districts to ensure “one man one vote.”

Democrats don’t like the overall redistricting plans and are vowing a legal battle. Specifically, they contend that the Republican-controlled chambers in the Tennessee General Assembly are splitting up Davidson County’s 5th Congressional District into three separate districts in an attempt to water down the Democratic vote and give a Republican a chance to defeat Democratic incumbent Congressman Jim Cooper.

Republicans control seven of nine U.S. congressional seats, with the only Democratic strongholds in Nashville and Memphis. Republicans say population losses in East Tennessee and West Tennessee led map drawers to move district lines closer to Nashville and Middle Tennessee, which experienced heavy growth over the past decade.

Lawmakers are expected to move relatively quickly to settle the new maps ahead of an April filing deadline to ballot access in the August primaries.

January 15, 2022
By: Dwayne Page

The DCHS basketball teams were unable to ground the Jets of Cumberland County Friday night at Crossville. The Lady Tigers lost 59 to 36 while the Tigers were handed a 76 to 70 defeat.

https://www.wjle.com/tiger-talk/

In the girls’ game, DC trailed 22 to 11 after the 1st period, 36 to 20 at halftime, and 52 to 28 after the 3rd period before losing 59 to 36.

Ella VanVranken led the Lady Tigers in scoring with 19 points followed by Kadee Ferrell 6, Madison Martin 4, Avery Agee 3, and Ally Fuller and Xharia Lyons each with 2 points.

The Tigers led 15 to 11 after the 1st period of the boys’ game and held a 31 to 26 halftime advantage but fell behind 46 to 44 after the 3rd period and lost 76 to 70.

Conner Close scored 19 followed by Elishah Ramos 17, Stetson Agee 12, Isaac Knowles 8, Brayden Antoniak 6, and Robert Wheeler and Jordan Young each with 4.

The Tigers and Lady Tigers are scheduled to play makeup games against Macon County in Smithville Monday night, January 17 starting with the girls’ game at 6 p.m. followed by the boys’ game. WJLE plans LIVE coverage.

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