David Gash Resigns as Judicial Commissioner

November 3, 2022
By: Dwayne Page

Almost two years after first being appointed as one of the county’s three judicial commissioners, David Gash has resigned.

Applications to fill the vacancy can be obtained at the County Mayor’s Office. The application deadline is 3 p.m. on Friday, November 18. Resumes are preferred along with the application.

The County’s Judicial Committee will meet on Monday, November 21 to select an applicant to recommend to the full county commission for final approval.

During the regular monthly meeting on Monday, November 28, the county commission will make the one-year appointment and is expected to re-appoint the other two judicial commissioners, Tammy Ashburn and Joy Whitman to new one-year terms.

Duties of the Judicial commissioners include processing the following: Criminal summons for the general public; Orders of protections; signing all arrest warrants for the Smithville, Alexandria, and DeKalb County Sheriff’s Departments, Tennessee Highway Patrol, Edgar Evins State Park Rangers, and TWRA Officers; signing search warrants and search warrants for blood draws; signing Mittimus; setting bonds; speaking with every person who has been arrested; answering any and all calls from the public; and attending certification classes three days each year with no pay for hours attended.

Judicial Commissioners are subject to call at all hours of the day and night when on duty. Only one judicial commissioner works at a time during a one-week period on call for 168 hours. They rotate their weeks one week on duty and two weeks off.

The county commission has the sole authority in appointing judicial commissioners and terms may be from one to four years according to state law. For several years the county has had a judicial committee to vet and recommend applicants for appointment to the county commission. The committee is made up of Sheriff Patrick Ray, County Mayor Matt Adcock, Circuit Court Clerk Susan Martin, General Sessions/Juvenile Court Judge Brandon Cox, and Assistant District Attorney General Greg Strong.

Each judicial commissioner is paid $14,900 per year.

November 4, 2022
By:

Country music legend John Anderson to be honored this month in Smithville, TN. On Saturday, November 19th at 10:00am Smithville City, Chamber of Commerce, and DeKalb County officials will hold a dedication of the previously named Walnut Alley. The new name of this historic walkway in downtown Smithville will be ‘John Anderson Alley.’

John Anderson has been immersed in music his entire life. At age 15, while playing in a Rock band, he heard some of the Country greats (Haggard and Jones) and decided that Country was his passion. Anderson moved to Nashville when he was 17 to pursue a career in music, which paid off in 1977 when he signed with his first music label, Warner Brothers Records. Since his first single in 1977, ‘I’ve Got a Feelin’ (Somebody’s Been Stealin’)’, John has had over 40 singles hit the Billboard Country music charts! He’s been nominated several times for the CMA awards- Male Vocalist of the Year, Song of the Year, and Album of the Year. He’s also won the CMA Horizon Award and Single of the Year for his song ‘Swingin’’. In 1993, the Academy of Country Music awarded him the Career Achievement Award.

After attending a special event featuring John at the Grand Old Opry, Smithville resident and business owner Tony Luna had the idea to name the alley after the Country icon. John, his wife, and children have lived in Smithville for over 30 years and at one time owned a downtown building attached to the alley. “I couldn’t believe our community didn’t already have something commemorating John’s local connections,” says Luna. “I remembered seeing John as a kid around our family’s marina and he was always so friendly and down to Earth. So, I took the idea to our City Mayor, Josh Miller.” Miller says, “We felt it was good recognition for John and to show him that we appreciate what he does for Smithville.” He presented the idea to the City Council for their approval to change the name of the alley. After hearing that the Council would approve the name change, Tony Luna, and his wife Sommer, immediately had a mural commissioned for the alleyway. Mayor Miller says, “I was amazed at the mural they had done, it’s a beautiful tribute to John.”

All City and County officials would love to invite and encourage you to attend the dedication on November 19th at 10:00am. John Anderson and his family will be in attendance as well as many community leaders. Please come show your support and respect for this giant in the Country Music industry. John will be saying a few words and plans to do a free concert for Downtown Smithville in the Summer of 2023. This is just a small way for the community to show their love and appreciation!

November 3, 2022
By: Dwayne Page

The DeKalb County Tigers will begin their Class 4A State Football play-off run Friday night, November 4 as they travel to Ooltewah to face the East Hamilton Hurricanes.

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

Kick-off will be at 7 p.m. (Eastern Daylight Time) which is 6 p.m. Smithville time.

It will be the second straight meeting between these two schools in the first round of the state football playoffs. Last year the Tigers journeyed to Ooltewah and won 35-21 to advance.

The Tigers concluded the regular season last week at 6-4 and 4th place in Region 4-4A at 2-3 while East Hamilton finished 7-3 and won the Region 3-4A regular season championship at 6-0.

The Hurricanes this year defeated Ooltewah 52-21, East Ridge 38-0, Sequoyah 48-6, Chattanooga Central 27-10, Soddy Daisy 42-0, Red Bank 14-0, and Hixson 26-14. East Hamilton has lost to Heritage, Georgia 24-9, McMinn County 29-20, and Friendship Christian 31-14.

Tiger Coach Steve Trapp sizes up the Hurricanes.

“They are a quality football team. They wouldn’t be first in their region if they weren’t. They won some close games within their region. The top couple of teams in their region are pretty close together. It’s a little bit different for their bottom end teams although they did compete. They (Hurricanes) are a little bit different from last year in that they don’t have a true quarterback. Their true quarterback got hurt early in the season or maybe even before the season started so their running back from last year has been playing quarterback all year and he has been doing a great job. He is going to run the football a lot but when he throws it they have a big time receiver who has made a lot of plays for them. That is kind of their forte so we will need a big time focus on stopping the quarterback run game and then the things that come off that as far as the read game because he can hand it off, keep it, or simply throw it down field 50 yards for a jump ball. We have worked hard to prepare for that and we have a plan to do it. Offensively we have to make sure we are executing. Last week in the second half of the Stone Memorial game we were not very efficient on first down and that put us behind the chains and that makes things a little bit more difficult. Those third downs and 10s or 12s (to get a first down) is not where we need to live. We need to make sure we do a good job on first down and eliminate any possibility of turnovers and penalties but to play very aggressively, physical, and smart,” said Coach Trapp.

WJLE’s Pre-Game shows begin with “Coach to Coach” at 4:30 p.m. featuring former UT assistant coach Doug Matthews with former coach and Tennessee Titans Radio Play by Play Color Analyst Dave McGinnis and broadcaster Larry Stone talking Tennessee and SEC football.

“Tiger Talk” airs at 5:30 p.m. with Coach Steve Trapp and Tiger football players Austin Nicholson and Ari White and Senior Manager Sheridan O’Conner.

Kick-off is at 7:00 p.m. (Eastern Daylight Time) which is 6: 00 p.m. Smithville Time with play-by-play coverage on WJLE AM 1480 and WJLE FM 101.7 with the Voice of the Tigers John Pryor and Luke Willoughby. You may also listen on the LIVE Stream at www.wjle.com.

The DCHS 2022 Football Schedule is as follows:

REGION OPPONENTS (*)
August 19: Warren County-(Tigers won 35-34).
August 26: Smith County-(Tigers won 17-14)
September 1 (THURSDAY): Macon County*- (Tigers lost 21-13).
September 9: Watertown-(Tigers won 26-14)
September 16: Cumberland County* (Tigers won 48-13)
September 23: Cannon County- (Tigers won 55-7)
September 30: Livingston Academy* (HOMECOMING)-(Tigers won 48-0)
October 14: Upperman*- (Tigers lost 17-16).
October 21: Goodpasture-(Tigers lost 24-17)
October 28: Stone Memorial* (Tigers lost 29-28)

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