News
Smithville Police Charge Two with Child Abuse and Neglect
March 29, 2025
By: Dwayne Page
Smithville Police have charged two people with child abuse and neglect for leaving a disabled child home alone.
33-year-old David Ferrell and 21-year-old Kayla Raymond of Smithville are each under a $5,000 bond.
Chief Mark Collins said that on February 24 police were summoned to a residence on West Broad Street to conduct a welfare check on a child. Upon arrival, officers found a nine-year-old boy with a disability who was locked inside the home alone. The child was unable to reach the lock to open the door. Police gained entry through a window and were eventually able to contact by phone the child’s father, Ferrell.
Detectives interviewed Ferrell and his girlfriend, Raymond and learned that the couple had left the child alone for about two hours which was apparently a common practice. Both Ferrell and Raymond were placed in custody. The child was placed with the Department of Children Services.
45-year-old Anthony Atnip of Smithville is charged with sexual battery.
Chief Collins said that on March 5 Smithville Police Detectives began an investigation of Atnip regarding an alleged sexual assault on a juvenile. During the probe, detectives concluded that Atnip had committed the offense of sexual battery on a juvenile in the city limits of Smithville. His bond is $1,500.
46-year-old Christina Wood of Buffalo Valley is charged with public intoxication, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, and three counts of assault on a first responder.
According to Chief Collins, an officer stopped a motorcycle on East Broad Street for speeding on March 8. As he approached the bike Wood, a passenger, got off the motorcycle without being asked and informed the officer that she was drunk and had just left the strip club. During the stop, the officer said Wood became angry and followed him back to the patrol car. As he asked her to return to the bike, another officer showed up and Wood again became angry. When they placed Wood under arrest and tried to handcuff her, she began kicking and fighting with the officers. Due to her unruly behavior, Wood fell to the ground as police tried to gain control of her. Wood was subsequently taken into custody. Her bond is $16,000.
42-year-old Gregory Sims of Smithville is charged with DUI and resisting arrest. He is also cited for failure to maintain lane of travel, violation of implied consent, driving on a suspended license, and improper display of plates.
Chief Collins said that on February 24 an officer pulled over a vehicle on East Broad Street for failure to maintain lane of travel. While speaking with the driver, Sims the officer noticed that he showed signs of impairment. Sims submitted to but performed poorly on all field sobriety tasks. At the hospital during a blood draw, Sims refused to cooperate with officers. They had to physically escort him from the hospital. Bond for Sims is $5,000.
51-year-old Mariano Reyes of Smithville is charged with a second offense of DUI. Chief Collins said that on March 16 police responded to an incident involving two vehicles on Carter Street. Upon arrival, officers spoke with Reyes who was operating one of the automobiles and noticed that he showed signs of impairment. Reyes admitted to having been drinking. He submitted to but performed poorly on field sobriety tasks. Reyes was placed in custody. His bond is $3,500.
22-year-old Jacob Brown of Smithville is charged with domestic assault and public intoxication. Chief Collins said that on March 22 police were summoned to Highland Drive due to a domestic complaint. Upon arrival they found Brown outside, and he showed signs of impairment. According to police, Brown became angry and uncooperative as they were trying to investigate the incident. Officers discovered physical evidence of an assault and determined that Brown had been the primary aggressor. He was placed in custody. His bond is $5,000 and he will be in court April 3.
DeKalb Fishing Team Wins 1st Place at Priest State Open
March 28, 2025
By: Jeff Taylor
Four teams from the DeKalb Fishing Team competed on Percy Priest Lake on Saturday, March 22. The youngest team Jacob Johnson and Slade Bennet brought in 9.36 pounds while senior boys Mason Taylor and Wesley Kent had 21.59 pounds with back-to-back wins on Percy Priest. The next stop is on April 5th, at the Central Trail TN Bass Nation Championship to be held on Center Hill Lake. “We will be going out of Edgar Evins State Park and would like to invite everyone to come out to watch the weigh-in at 3:00 pm. Several teams are battling it out for first place and Mason & Wesley are one of those teams so come out and cheer us on. Thank You Sponsors for your support,” said Coach Jeff Taylor.
Concerns about SRM Quarry Raised during TDEC Public Hearing (View Video Here)
March 28, 2025
By: Dwayne Page
Several people showed up Thursday night to speak out against the state issuing a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit for the discharge of wastewater and storm water from Smyrna Ready Mix (SRM) Smithville Quarry on North Driver Road at Snow Hill. The public hearing held at the county complex was conducted by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation’s Division of Mineral and Geologic Resources.
(View video below of the public comments at the SRM NPDES permit hearing Thursday night. WJLE will post a separate story on the public comments at a later time)
During the hearing, the state took no questions but gave members of the public up to five minutes each to speak. Prior to the hearing, the state had information tables set up around the auditorium where staff showed plans and took questions from the public about the project.
Jessie McBride, Office of External Affairs representative with TDEC, served as hearing officer for the meeting. “The public hearing is to receive comments on the proposed issuance of a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit to Smyrna Ready Mix (SRM) Smithville Quarry for the discharge of treated mine wastewater and storm water from a limestone mining and processing facility in DeKalb County. The receiving stream for the proposed discharge is Drivers Branch. The draft NPDES permit number is TN0070737.”
“The proposed new NPDES permit area consists of 30 acres and mine wastewater and storm water would be treated in settling ponds prior to discharge and outfalls 001, 002, 003, and 004 to Drivers Branch” explained McBride. “The sediment control structures, and all appropriate best management practices meets or exceeds the divisions designed criteria. Drivers Branch is classified by the department as fully supporting its classified uses including fish and aquatic life, irrigation, livestock watering, wildlife, and recreation. The application asserts the proposed activity will only cause Demin iMIS degradation of parameters available. The NDPES permit is proposed to be issued for a five-year term, and the permittee must maintain coverage until all permit termination requirements are satisfied”.
If approved, the permit would require the quarry operator to monitor and report water discharge levels to the state and the public.
“The permittee is responsible for monitoring discharges from the facility and reporting results to TDEC and to the EPA,” said another TDEC representative during the hearing. “The NPDES program was established as a self-monitoring program by Congress in the 1970s. This was necessary considering the sheer number of facilities covered by NPDES permits. In Tennessee alone there are approximately 13,400 permits. Nationwide there are approximately 335,000 permits. There are not enough federal and state environmental regulators to conduct all necessary monitoring which would require a massive increase in staffing and funding of environmental regulatory agencies such as TDEC and EPA. TDEC conducts routine compliance inspections at all permitted facilities to ensure they are operated and monitored as required,” said the TDEC representative.
“When it comes to limestone quarries our only authority is over the quality of water that is discharged from the facility. The mining section only has the authority which has been vested in us by the state legislature,” said the TDEC representative. “We do not have any authority over the right to mine, property rights, planning, zoning, blasting, noise, dust, truck traffic, or other concerns. We are also prevented by state and federal law from considering these concerns when making a decision on a water quality permit. These permits do not negate or supersede any local restrictions, nor do local county restrictions prevent the issuance of a water quality permit. A water quality permit is not a land use permit, and it does not grant the permit holder the right to mine”.
Neighbors in the Snow Hill area first became aware of SRM last summer after being shaken by a blast during the company’s prep work for the quarry at the site. Complaints were filed with the state and county. In August the state found that SRM had been crushing without issuance of an NPDES permit.
SRM submitted an application in September after which the site was determined to be inactive. An Inspection for Hydrological Determination (HD) Report was received on September 12, 2024.
“A hydrologic determination is Tennessee’s process for determining the presence of jurisdictional streams,” said the TDEC representative. “A completed hydrological determination was submitted for this site in September. TDEC visited the site to confirm the findings. The hydrologic determination found two streams which were removed from the project area and protected buffers were established”.
By November SRM was again found by the state to be in non-compliance for operating without a permit and halted activity at the site.
“The complete application for this project was received on November 13, 2024,” said the TDEC official “ During the public comment period the TDEC division of natural areas informed the TDEC division of mineral and geologic resources that the Short Mountain Crayfish which is known to occur in the area had its status changed from ”deemed in need of management” to state “threatened” on December 25, 2024. The division requested that the applicant submit a consultation request to the TWRA which has jurisdiction over state listed species. The consultation was submitted by the applicant as requested and TWRA responded that they did not anticipate any adverse impact to state listed species”.
Locally, neighbors in recent months have complained to the county commission because a cease-and-desist order had not been sent by the county to SRM regarding the quarry on Snow Hill due to the fact that SRM had apparently been operating illegally without a permit prior to passage of the county powers act in October.
TDEC explained during the hearing how a county powers act could be enforced.
“NPDES permits are separate from any county powers act and powers act restrictions must be administered and enforced by the county or municipality. TDEC has no authority over any powers act but we were provided with a copy of it. The powers act works by requiring the license from the county clerk which can only be issued if the powers act requirements are met. As written, an applicant must first obtain all state permits before seeking approval under the powers act.
A final decision by the state on approval of the NPDES permit application by SRM is not expected for several weeks”.
Written comments related to the NPDES permit are still being accepted by the TDEC until April 7, 2025. Comments should be emailed to DMGR.PublicNotice@tn.gov or by mail to the TDEC Mining Section at 3711 Middlebrook Pike, Knoxville, TN 37921.
