DESA Delivers More than 1,000 Meals to Community on Thanksgiving Day

November 28, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

A record breaker!

A large group of caring people from the community gave up part of their Thanksgiving Day to see that hundreds of their needy friends and neighbors had a hot delicious meal on this special holiday.

In what has become an annual tradition on Thanksgiving, the DeKalb Emergency Services Association (DESA) and volunteers gathered together early Thursday morning at the kitchen of the county complex to do some cooking for others in the community who might not otherwise have had a hot delicious meal for Thanksgiving.

This year’s meal consisted of turkey, dressing, gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans, roll, and a homemade dessert.

According to DESA spokesperson Blake Cantrell, 1,035 meals were delivered Thursday morning at stops throughout DeKalb County, which is more than ever.

“We don’t ever know for sure until Thanksgiving morning how many volunteers will turn out, but we have been blessed and in awe of the community’s effort in this and how many people have come out,” said Cantrell.

“If others would like to support this financially you can go to Wilson Bank & Trust to make a donation or to the DeKalb ESA website to access the Pay Pal link there. We buy the majority of the food for the meals we prepare including the turkeys and hams. We also take Thanksgiving donations for desserts,” said Cantrell.

DESA will be conducting another meal delivery on Tuesday, December 24 in time for Christmas and all those who received meals on Thanksgiving will be on the list for that event”.

To get your name on the delivery list for December 24 call 615-464-0575 or 615-712-4286 or visit www.dekalbesa.com/meal.

November 28, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

Almost unanimous

The Alexandria Mayor and Aldermen met briefly in a special called session Wednesday night and hired Matt Boss on a 5-1 vote as the new city attorney succeeding Vester Parsley, who resigned last week as the town’s attorney after 17 years of service in that role.

After Mayor Beth Tripp called the meeting to order, she allowed Boss to give an introductory statement to the board.

“I have lived in Alexandria my whole life other than the three years I lived in Alabama to go to law school,” said Boss. “I practice here in Smithville and DeKalb County. I still live in Alexandria. I have served on the city council before, and I am also President of the Fair Association. Boss, a former member of the Liberty station of the DeKalb County Fire Department, said he is no longer an active firefighter but an honorary member.

Although Boss got the nod, Alderman Sherry Tubbs was the lone no vote. Tubbs, who said she didn’t know Boss personally or as an attorney, questioned him on a range of issues from his experience and expertise as a lawyer, whether he had any write ups, his willingness to communicate and be transparent with the board, any potential conflicts of interest he might have; and whether he could withstand attempts by others to bully him and speak up for the board, etc.

“Do you think with all the hats you carry you could properly carry out the role of our city attorney,” asked Tubbs

“I think you need someone who can give you that time and I think I am very well qualified to do that knowing the challenges the city faces,” replied Boss.

Boss said he has been an attorney for almost five years and while his is a general practice, he is familiar with municipal law. Boss said he is in good standing with the board of professional responsibility with no write ups and that as city attorney he would not and could not represent anyone in an action or complaint against the town.

Aldermen voting in favor of Boss being the city attorney were Luke Prichard, Bobby Simpson, Jonathon Tripp, Jeff Ford, and Tiffany Robinson.

Meanwhile, after the meeting the mayor and aldermen rescheduled a workshop for Thursday, December 5 at 5 p.m. at city hall to discuss the pros and cons of leasing the doctor’s building in Alexandria for the new location of the police department using a portion of the salaries of the police chief and an officer for up to two years to fund the lease.

November 27, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

Since the death of Tommy Webb five years ago the county has been without an official historian.

During Monday night’s regular monthly meeting (December 2), the county commission will consider appointing Freddy Curtis as county historian, which is a volunteer position.

Curtis, a DeKalb County native, was educated here but spent 37 years as a teacher and Director of Schools in Cannon County before his retirement. His first wife Trena, who passed away nine years ago, taught school locally for 24 years.

Curtis addressed the county commission during its monthly committee of the whole meeting this past Monday night (November 25). If named county historian, Curtis said he would like Bobby White to be his assistant and for a committee to be formed to make recommendations on converting the now vacant history room in the county complex into a local history museum.

“After my wife passed away I went back to school at MTSU to work on my second master’s degree in history, but I had to step away from it when I became Director of Schools in Cannon County. After retirement, I picked it back up and one of my classes this semester was in museum management. As part of that we have to do a project. Dr. Carroll Van West, state Historian is my mentor and my professor for this class, and he asked me what was happening in DeKalb County,” said Curtis.

“I knew about the history room at Liberty and had heard about a history room in the county complex, so I came up and looked in the history room and found there was no history in the history room. Originally that was meant to have a small museum of DeKalb County, but nothing has ever been done,” Curtis continued.

“I think most of us can agree that the history of DeKalb County is not only very interesting, but we need to be teaching it and talking about it. The only exhibits we have in DeKalb County outside of the Liberty History room is what they have at the DeKalb County Fairgrounds and at Justin Potter Library and some displays at the courthouse”.

“What I would like to do if appointed county historian is to name Bobby White as my assistant and then create a committee to look at doing some history in the history room. Bobby has worked many years and he recently retired from the Tennessee State Museum where he was a curator. After the committee is formed we would make recommendations as to what we need including security, panels, cabinets, display cases, etc. which would cost some money, but Bobby may be able to find some things at state surplus from the state museum that we could use. We would then ask the community for artifacts they would like to loan or donate to the museum,” said Curtis.

To serve as county historian, Curtis added would be an honor following in the footsteps of the late Tommy Webb, who was also a mentor to him and his former high school teacher.

“I am honored to be considered for county historian, but nobody can replace Tommy Webb”, said Curtis.

« First ‹ Previous 1 11 19 20 2122 23 31 121 2492 Next › Last »