News
Smithville Beer Board Fines Local Restaurants for Illegal Alcohol Sales
May 19, 2023
By: Dwayne Page
A $2,500 fine!
The Smithville Beer Board met Wednesday, May 17 and fined two local restaurants $2,500 each for illegally selling alcohol to someone underage.
The undercover investigation was conducted on March 16 by the Smithville Police Department and agents of the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission.
Owners of the Los Lobos Restaurant at 106 East Broad Street appeared at the beer board meeting Wednesday but didn’t contest the punishment. The owner of the Fiesta Jalisco Restaurant at 130 Walmart Drive was not present.
Smithville Police Chief Mark Collins said that Trina Guerra of Los Lobos Restaurant and Jose Barajas of Fiesta Jalisco Restaurant were cited for illegally serving beer for consumption on the premises to a 19-year-old informant working for the Smithville Police Department. A third person, Brandy Jackson, a clerk at Smithville Discount Wine & Spirits located at 413 East Broad Street, was also cited for illegally selling the informant a bottle of wine from the liquor store. This was her second citation within a month for the same type of offense.
The liquor store has reportedly been fined twice now by the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission for the actions of Jackson, their clerk.
The cases against these three clerks from the March investigation are apparently still pending in court.
Career Day Held at DeKalb Middle School
May 19, 2023
By: Dwayne Page
DeKalb Middle School hosted a Career Day for students in 6th-8th grades on Tuesday, May 9. A total of 40 businesses and careers were represented. Students explored various careers while completing a Career Questionnaire. Several businesses provided interactive activities for the students, giveaways and door prize drawings.
If any business would like to participate in the next Career Day (May 2024) please contact Suzette Barnes at 615-597-7987 or email to suzettebarnes@dekalbschools.net.
2023 Career Day Participants
1. Army Corps of Engineers
2. Boles Tool Inc.
3. Carbide Crossfit and Nutrition
4. Casey Agee, DPT with Kids Express Therapy
5. Colton Rhody and Cody Purvis, Musician
6. Coordinated School Health
7. DC Health Department
8. DC Sheriff Department
9. DeKalb Ambulance Service
10. DeKalb Animal Shelter
11. DeKalb Fire Department
12. DeKalb Highway Department
13. DeKalb Funeral Chapel
14. DeKalb Telephone Cooperative
15. First Bank
16. Foutch Industries
17. Gentiva Hospice
18. Healthier TN/DeKalb Prevention
19. Hywater Title
20. KFC/Taco Bell
21. Lauren Parsley, Esthetician
22. Middle Tennessee Natural Gas
23. Motlow State Community College
24. NHC
25. Rebecca Parker, Translator
26. Rochelle Davis, Sign Language Interpreter
27. Smithville Police Department
28. State Farm Insurance
29. Suncrest Home Health
30. TCAT- McMinnville
31. Teaching As Profession
32. Tenneco
33. The Arts Garage
34. The Realty Firm-Smithville
35. Teaching As A Profession (TAPS) students from DCHS
36. THP
37. TWRA
38. UT Extension
39. Vanderbilt Life Flight
40. Wilson Bank
Board of Education Adopts New Budget with Pay Raises for Educators and Support Staff
May 18, 2023
By: Dwayne Page
DeKalb County teachers and support staff will be getting another pay raise with passage of the 2023-24 budget, and they have the Board of Education and Director of Schools to thank for it.
During Thursday night’s regular monthly meeting, the School Board adopted the new 2023-24 budget which includes a raise of $3,000 per teacher and other certified personnel and a $2,000 increase in pay for support staff. That’s up from the $2,000 per teacher pay hike and the $1,000 increase for support staff granted this past year.
According to Director of Schools Patrick Cripps, this pay raise would put starting salaries for teachers in DeKalb County at $50,000 per year.
Director Cripps will present the proposed spending plan for schools to the budget committee of the DeKalb County Commission next Tuesday night, May 23. The school budget must be recommended by the county budget committee and approved by the full county commission before it can be implemented.
In other business, the Board voted 6-0 to grant Director Cripps a one-year contract extension. Board member Jason Miller was absent. Member Danny Parkerson had earlier moved to grant a two-year contract extension, but the board opted for a one-year extension instead.
Cripps’ contract was to run through June 30, 2023, but a year ago he was granted a one-year extension by the Board to run through at least June 30, 2024. This new extension would make his contract run through June 30, 2025. Cripps has been Director since July, 2015.
Cripps’ base salary according to the contract is $100,000 in the 2023-24 budget but he is entitled to the same salary raises that the Board shall grant to all licensed employees going forward.
The director’s contract is typically reviewed after his annual performance evaluation which shows if he is meeting “most” expectations of the board. According to Chairman Shaun Tubbs, the board gave Cripps and overall average score of 4.32 out of a possible 6 score in its performance evaluation of him.
The board adopted school calendars for both the 2024-25 and the 2025-26 school years and gave permission for the DCHS Football Program to build an addition to the press box provided that the plans meet safety and code regulations.
A motion by Board member Jim Beshearse was approved for DCHS to have a TSSAA sanctioned track and field/cross country program of its own without local high school athletes having to compete in the Warren County program under a cooperative agreement between the two schools.
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