DeKalb Democrats Reorganize

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

March 10, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

The DeKalb County, City of Smithville, and Town of Alexandria Volunteer Fire Departments are each receiving 2023 grant awards from the state through the Volunteer Firefighter Equipment and Training Grant Program.

The local departments are among 147 across the state who are getting a share of a $5 million allocation through the program according to the State Fire Marshal’s Office. Created through legislation overseen by Governor Bill Lee and approved by the Tennessee General Assembly, the Volunteer Firefighter Equipment and Training Grant Program awards grant monies to volunteer fire departments across Tennessee’s three Grand Divisions. The grants will be used to purchase firefighting equipment or to help volunteer departments meet local matching requirements for federal equipment grants.

DeKalb County Fire Chief Donny Green, Smithville Fire Chief Charlie Parker, and Alexandria Fire Chief John Partridge met with State Senator Janice Bowling and State Representative Michael Hale Friday morning at the DeKalb Fire Department’s Main Station on King Ridge Road to make the announcement. All three local grant awards are funded 100% with no local match requirements.

The DeKalb County Fire Department will use its $19,810 grant award to purchase turnout gear according to Chief Green.

“We will purchase five sets of turnout gear which includes boots, bunker pants, bunker coats, helmets, and gloves. We are excited about getting this assistance to do that. We have tried to keep a rotation of that going (turnout gear replacement) so this will help us in our operating budget in replacing more sets. We have about 80 firefighters and that turnout gear has a useable life of about five years. With that many firefighters the amount it costs to replace the gear is a substantial burden on our local budget, so this assistance is greatly appreciated. We want to thank State Representative Hale and State Senator Bowling for being staunch supporters of emergency services and we look forward to continuing working with them as we go forward,” said Chief Green.

Chief Parker said the grant award to the Smithville Fire Department is $16,500.

“We are grateful for this grant because otherwise money for this equipment would have had to come out of our budget,” said Chief Parker. “On our grant portion we are buying self-contained breathing apparatus air bottles and face masks so that we can assign individual masks to some of our firefighters. We have 12 bottles that will go out of service this year so this grant money will be used to replace those with new air bottles which is what the firefighters use when they go inside house fires or anywhere in a dangerous environment. We must also have extra bottles because they only last about 20 minutes at a time and if a firefighter is in there working hard about 15-20 minutes is the only air he has so we have to rotate those bottles out because we don’t have any way to fill them on site. We have to carry extra bottles on our vehicles,” said Chief Parker.

The Town of Alexandria’s grant award is for $22,480 according to Fire Chief Partridge.

“This could not have come at a better time for us because we are in dire need of replacing some turnout gear that is approaching 15 or 16 years old. This turnout gear is what allows us to go inside of a house to make a rescue and put out somebody’s fire and do it safely. We are going to purchase eight sets of firefighter turnout gear including coats, pants, and boots with this grant. That will replace about half of our department’s turnout gear we have right now which is all out of date. We have sixteen firefighters so this will get us about halfway back to where we need to be. Being in a smaller community at Alexandria, our tax base is smaller than the rest of the county and region as well so this is a huge benefit for us. This grant is more than our yearly budget so there is no way our town would ever be able to go out and purchase eight or ten sets of turnout gear without assistance from a grant like this or some type of donation,” said Chief Partridge.

“I am grateful they (local fire departments) made the grant applications,” said Senator Bowling. “You have to go through the process and that money (through this program) has increased this year to $5 million from $500,000 last year. I am hoping to see more increases in funding (for firefighting). Tennessee is blessed. We have an incredible budget. We have had a $9.5 billion surplus and with that amount of money it needs to be directed and budgeted carefully so it can go to the places that Tennessee’s Constitution says we are supposed to help. We are supposed to help transportation, education, and public safety. Those are the three mandates in our Constitution, and this (grant program) is of course for public safety. With 70% of Tennessee’s firefighters being volunteer, the state needs to recognize that without these men and women who are willing to volunteer and go into harm’s way when everybody else is running from it, Tennessee couldn’t have towns, businesses, or churches. There must be a fire department to be able to afford your insurance. We are really grateful to all the volunteer firemen. Tennessee cannot survive without them,” said Senator Bowling.

“We are grateful anytime we get extra money for our fire departments,” said State Representative Hale. “For me, being from DeKalb County, these (firefighters) are people I have known all my life. I was raised and went to school with them and their families and I have seen firsthand the sacrifices they have made when their families didn’t know if they were going to return back from a fire so we are humbled and thankful for them and what they do every day. We hope we can get more money into their hands to be able to improve their firefighting equipment and tools and other things necessary for them to be able to do the job the very best they can. Any way we can help from the state’s standpoint, we want to be here to fight for our local fire departments and emergency services across the board,” said State Representative Hale.

The grant program strengthens the commitment from Governor Lee and TDCI to protecting property and helping reduce fire fatalities in Tennessee.

“Since the program’s creation in 2020, $6.5 million has been used to purchase the turnout gear, firehoses, thermal imaging cameras, and other important pieces of equipment that helps ensure the safety of the brave men and women who volunteer to protect their communities,” said TDCI Commissioner and State Fire Marshal Carter Lawrence. “Because volunteer fire departments’ needs are so great, Governor Lee and the General Assembly have been steadily increasing the assistance during each grant period in order to replace aging, unsafe equipment. It is my honor to help serve the Tennessee fire service so that they can save lives and protect property across Tennessee.”

During the program’s inaugural year in 2020, 41 departments were awarded $500,000 for equipment purchases through the program. In 2022, 62 fire departments received grants totaling $1 million. A list of fire departments receiving $5 million in grant funding in 2023 can be found here.

Volunteer fire departments are crucial to providing fire safety in Tennessee as over 70% of the Volunteer State’s fire departments are staffed entirely by volunteers. Of Tennessee’s 19,510 active firefighters, an estimated 11,229 are volunteers.

“Volunteer fire departments are the backbone of fire protection in our communities, and it is crucial that they have the equipment they need to safely complete their mission,” said Assistant Commissioner for Fire Prevention Gary Farley. “As a lifelong member of the fire service, I am proud to be associated with a program that is helping protect Tennessee firefighters who risk their lives every day.”

During the application period (Nov. 1, 2022 – Dec. 1, 2022), the SFMO received a total of 191 applications from Tennessee fire departments. The applications were reviewed, scored, and submitted to a seven-member committee for the final award selection. As required by law, the grants were awarded equally to fire departments across Tennessee’s three Grand Divisions.

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