County Commissioner Proposes Purchase of “Stop Sticks” and Radar Units for Sheriff’s Department

August 21, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

What’s the best means of stopping a fleeing suspect or felon in a vehicle during a high speed law enforcement pursuit?

Fifth District County Commissioner Jerry Adcock believes “Stop Sticks” may be the answer. A stop stick is a tire deflation device for high speed pursuits.

During Thursday night’s “Committee of the Whole” meeting of the County Commission, Adcock proposed the county purchasing 20 stop sticks for the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department which would cost around $11,000.

Adcock referenced a pursuit just a month ago in which a Rock Island man led Warren County deputies on a pursuit from McMinnville to near Smithville before being forced off the road. Had the local Sheriff’s Department had stop sticks, the suspect may have been intercepted earlier.

Along with the stop sticks, Adcock proposed purchasing dash mounted radar units for county patrol cars for better enforcement of speed limits on county roads. Adcock said up to 20 cars could be equipped with radar devices for around $2,500 each.

Adcock said stop sticks and radar units are needed in the interest of public safety. The purchase could be made from an appropriation out of the county’s capital projects fund.

Sheriff Patrick Ray said while the stop sticks would be useful there could be problems enforcing speed limits even with radar units because so many county roads do not have authorized posted speed limits by the county commission and others are posted with unauthorized signs. Under state law, if a county road is not posted, the speed limit is 55 miles per hour.

“Some signs are posted that were not approved by the county commission. Its where somebody just put up a homemade sign. In some cases the signs even look like the real thing but they are no good and can’t be enforced,” he said.

“I know of a case once where someone was pulled over for violating a speed limit on a county road which turned into a drug case. Their attorney went back and checked and the posted speed limit never was voted on by the county commission. They (officers) lost that case because it wasn’t a good stop”.

Given the choice of one or the other, Sheriff Ray said he would prefer the stop sticks over the radar units.

“It’s a whole lot cheaper to buy stop sticks if we were to get in a pursuit and then they crashed into somebody resulting in a lawsuit. Right now we have no way to stop them once we get after them. A few months ago we chased one through three counties trying to get him to stop. What you see on TV, patrol cars knocking people off the road, there is liability that goes with that. We can’t just go out and do pit maneuvers on somebody because we are not trained to do that. There is a certain way to safely knock someone off the road. There have been times when we have done it but we carry that liability when we do it. Most departments go with stop sticks. It’s a lot cheaper and they don’t blow out tires, when they run over them. Its a slow release of air from the tires but they will have to stop or run on rims,” said Sheriff Ray.

No action has been taken.

August 21, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

Hugh Washer has been reappointed to a new four year term on the DeKalb Utility District Board of Commissioners.

County Mayor Tim Stribling will formally announce his appointment of Washer during Monday night’s county commission meeting.

Washer is one of three members on the board who serves DeKalb County. Each term is for four years.

By law, the DUD board must submit the names of three nominees to fill each position, listed in order of preference. During a recent meeting, the board voted to submit the names of Washer, Paul Blair, and Kerry Davis in that order to the DeKalb County Mayor for this year’s appointment.

The general provisions of Tennessee Code Annotated (State Law) TCA § 7-82-307 provide that the utility board members must submit three nominees, listed in order of preference, to the county mayor (where the vacancy exists). The county mayor has the authority to appoint one of the nominees to the vacant position on the board or reject all of the nominees. If the county mayor rejects all three nominees, then the board of (utility) commissioners has to submit three additional nominees to the county mayor for consideration.

The DUD Board is made up of five members, three from DeKalb County (Jimmy Womack, Joe Foutch, and Hugh Washer), one from Cannon (Roger Turney), and one from Smith County (Danny Bass). The terms are staggered.

August 20, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

The DeKalb County High School Tigers will renew their annual season opening football rivalry Friday night, August 21 at home against the Warren County Pioneers.

Kick-off is at 7 p.m. and WJLE will have LIVE coverage on FM 101.7/AM 1480 and LIVE streaming at www.wjle.com with the Voice of the Tigers John Pryor and Luke Willoughby.

Due to TSSAA guidelines there will be a limited number of tickets for this game and all other DCHS home games this football season. Everyone must submit to temperature checks and have a face covering/mask to enter the stadium.

Although there have been uncertainties and changes necessitated because of COVID-19, Coach Steve Trapp said his players and coaches have adapted well and is hoping to get the season off to a great start. He is beginning his 16th season at the helm of the Tiger football program.

“The changes for us really started on the second week of March when school was let out. We were a couple of weeks away from starting spring football but we didn’t get to. Ultimately we were not able to do anything for a little over two and a half months up until June 1. Even then our practice schedule was a little bit different. We had multiple practice sessions with small groups of kids but we were able to get the same work done. We just had to find new and creative ways to do that,” said Coach Trapp, speaking on WJLE’s Tiger Talk Program.

Having a good group of upperclassmen returning this season has made the transition easier.

“Its not like a few years ago when we had a lot of sophomores who were starting out on the field and still trying to grasp everything we do. When we came back on June 1 we could pretty much call some plays with these older guys and they had a pretty good grasp of it. Having a veteran squad with a lot of guys coming back with a lot of experience is really a benefit in this situation,” said Coach Trapp.

While it may be inconvenient for some, Coach Trapp said following the protocols is worth it to keep players and coaches safe while getting to play football.

“I have told our players there are things we have to be willing to sacrifice with these extra protocols in order for us to have the opportunity to stay together and play. We are probably taking extra steps that we don’t have to in order to keep these guys safe like continuing to have small groups in the weight room but its all in an effort to put a product on the field and give this community some bit of normalcy as far as watching somebody play sports,” added Coach Trapp.

Coach Trapp will be joined on the sidelines this season by assistant coaches Thomas Cagle, Corey Rathbone, Michael Shaw, Brad Trapp, and Luke Green.

Last year’s Tiger football team advanced to the quarterfinals of the TSSAA Class 4A Playoffs before falling to Nolensville 42 to 6. The 2019 Tigers concluded the season at 8-5 overall and 2-1 in the playoffs. The season was historic for the Tigers in that it was the first time in school history that the football program had advanced to the 3rd round of the state playoffs.

WJLE’s Pre-Game shows begin with “Murphy’s Matchups at 6:00 p.m., a look at Tennessee High School Football from Murphy Fair with commentary on games and coaches interviews.

“Tiger Talk” debuts at 6:30 p.m. with the Voice of the Tigers John Pryor interviewing Coach Steve Trapp and Tiger football players Axel Aldino, Desmond Nokes, Caven Ponder, and Evan Jones.

The game kicks off at 7:00 p.m. with play by play coverage on WJLE.

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