Another Fire, Another Homeless Family

January 20, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

Several devastating fires have occurred across the county in recent weeks and the latest was early Friday morning at 470 Rolling Acres Road.

A grease fire may have been to blame for this one at the home of Leanna Mongar.

Central dispatch summoned county firefighters to the residence at 4:23 a.m. after E-911 received the call.

Upon arrival, firefighters could see heavy flames coming from the residence and through the roof and although they sprang into action quickly to bring it under control the home could not be saved and Ms. Mongar lost all her belongings.

Ms Mongar told firefighters that grease splashed on the stove and burst into flames as she was cooking breakfast before heading off to work and while she tried to extinguish it herself, the fire got out of control. She escaped unharmed and no one else was injured.

Members of the Cookeville Highway, Tanker truck, Main Station, Liberty, Midway, and Temperance Hall stations of the DeKalb County Fire Department responded along with the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department and DeKalb EMS.

American Red Cross volunteers were also called to assist the family with immediate lodging and personal needs.

In his report, Lieutenant Blake Cantrell provided a further narrative of the incident.

“DCFD arrived on the scene to a fully involved structure fire. Flames were showing from all sides including the roof at the time of arrival. Engine 61 (Cookeville Highway Station) was the first engine on the scene.  We deployed 2-1 ¾” and 1-3” hand attack lines to the flame. We were not seeing enough progress, so we used the deck gun from Engine 63 (Midway Station). We were getting control of the fire at this point. The basement of the house was down a steep grade with smoke emitting so we cut an opening in the deck to be able to open a back door safely. Two firefighters opened the back door and deployed and 1 ¾” line to extinguish any flames in the basement. Basement entry was shallow and cautious due to safety concerns. The fire seems to have started on the B side of the house, but the flames traveled quickly to the rest of the structure. The entire first floor of the home suffered severe fire damage. I advised the homeowner the structure was unsafe and asked her not to try to go in. Upon interviewing the homeowner, she stated she got up around 3:30AM and was going to cook egg rolls in oil. She turned the oil on and when it heated up it popped on the cabinets and caught fire. She tried to get to a fire extinguisher, but it just flamed up to fast. The owner also stated the cabinets were re-finished recently and that that could have been the reason,” Lt. Cantrell’s report concluded.

January 19, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

Getting acquainted!

For the first time, the new members of the county commission Wednesday night learned directly from officials of the Tennessee Corrections Institute and the County Technical Assistance Service the condition of the DeKalb County Jail and Annex and the requirements for correcting structural deficiencies to maintain state certification of the operation which may at some point in the future require a new building program.

Bob Bass, Deputy Director of the Tennessee Corrections Institute (TCI) along with Jim Hart, Jail Consultant and Field Manager of the County Technical Assistance Service (CTAS) met with the County Mayor, County Commission, and Sheriff in the lower courtroom of the courthouse.

The meeting was an informal workshop question and answer type setting where Bass and Hart updated the group on some of the specific problems related to the physical plant of the jail and what TCI expects of the county in meeting standards. “Tonight (Wednesday) was kind of a kickoff meeting. You have some new county commissioners and a new county mayor from when we were here the last time in 2021 so we needed to reorganize because the jail issue has not gone away. Going forward we will be working with the commission to more closely examine the issues at the jail and to better educate them on what needs to be done,” said Bass.

The mission of TCI and CTAS is mostly advisory. Its up to the county commission to decide on a specific course of action, whether it be future construction of a new jail or criminal justice center, or expansion of the existing facility. A decision of that kind is not expected to happen anytime soon. Months of meetings and planning have to go into any project under consideration. “The only role we (TCI) play in this is the educational part of it. We are not here to say you have to do this or that. TCI oversees compliance. We are not regulatory. It just behooves a county to be in compliance to ensure that you are running a constitutionally correct jail so that if you have to go to court, we can go to court with you. We (TCI) certify the officers’ training and certify the jail to make sure it follows certain guidelines to standards,” Bass continued.

“The particular standards you are in trouble with are physical plant. How the jail was built. It has nothing to do with what the sheriff’s department has done or the staff when it comes to operation. In fact, its one of the cleanest jails I have been in. Even the part you shouldn’t be operating (the oldest building) is clean and well organized. You just don’t meet TCI standards in some areas,” he said.

The oldest building, which has been in operation since 1959 and houses prisoners in its basement, poses perhaps the greatest concern. “Your jail is in trouble because of the housing units. You are housing people in the basement with twenty beds which don’t meet standards and you have some makeshift cells down there and when they are no longer in use which may occur after our next inspection cycle that will bring your total bed count down to around 85 which will probably put you immediately over (capacity),” said Bass.

“That basement has no natural light. You must have skylight. Windows that produce natural light. You must have an 8-foot ceiling height. Your basement ceiling is 7 feet, 6 inches. Its not sprinkled. Sprinklers are not part of our standards unless you are building a new facility but old facilities like yours are not grandfathered in and you have a cage down there which serves as a makeshift cell for trustees with a 12-inch gap on top of it. That is unauthorized housing. An inmate could come over that gap and have access to appliances, water heater, chemicals, etc,” said Bass.

The basement cells each have 10 beds, but the square footage only exists for six inmates and while the cells have porcelain sinks and toilets the state requires they be stainless steel. The cells also have no floor drains and conduit is exposed.

Cells for females in another part of the jail have similar issues.

As for the jail annex, which has been in operation since 2001, there are 46 beds with adequate space for only 32 inmates.

According to Bass new and existing facilities must have at least a minimum size multiple-occupancy cell for 2-64 occupants with twenty-five (25) square feet of clear floor space for each occupant in the sleeping areas, and a ceiling elevation of not less than eight (8) feet. At least thirty-five (35) square feet of clear floor space must be provided for each occupant when the occupant is confined for more than ten (10) hours per day.

“Your population is growing and as your community grows, chances are you will need a bigger jail. Of course, any given day you could be overcrowded for various reasons. In 2018, our inspection showed you had 90 inmates. In 2019 there were 107. After COVID you were back up to 77 inmates in 2021 and 99 in 2022 with 102 beds total capacity for 78 males and 24 females, ” said Bass.

More than three years ago the county initiated a long-term plan of action through a partnership with TCI and CTAS in order to keep the jail state certified until deficiencies are addressed. As part of that plan the sheriff has to submit monthly progress reports to TCI on what measurable progress is being done by the county to eventually make the jail compliant with the standards established by the state. Immediately after forming the partnership, the county requested that CTAS conduct a feasibility study of the jail operation which has been done that counts toward the ‘measurable progress “requirement as do meetings with TCI and CTAS like the one held by the county Wednesday night.

Although no measurable progress had to be shown during the height of the COVID 19 pandemic, Bass said the problems will eventually have to be solved. “There had to be a grace period because an issue like COVID really changed the way nearly everybody did business, so we (TCI) worked with them (county) during that process. I hope and pray that COVID is in the rearview mirror. I am concerned about whether it is or not. The jail population numbers which dropped during COVID are now back up if not more than they were before so its time now to re-focus our efforts and energy. Its going to be a long process. Its not something you do in one or two meetings. There will be deliberations for probably at least twelve to sixteen months before decisions are made,” Bass continued.

Bass suggested that the county commission start thinking about developing a master plan.

“A master plan would allow us to set up those steps to identify where you want to be six months from now, finding out cost factors and things like that, finding the property to put it (building project) on and all along the way the county commission could vote to either move forward or stop. There is no specific time limit. It takes time to get these things done. You could be in a plan of action three years. If you made a decision to build a jail tonight just in the design phase alone it would be a year so that plan of action is a good thing to have and as long as you have it and show measurable progress, we are not going to take away your certification,” said Bass.

Although jails in Tennessee may operate without state certification Bass said he doesn’t recommend it because of the risk of liability and lawsuits against the county.

January 19, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

You’ve heard of “Felix” the Cat and “Morris” the Cat but how about “Cameron” the Cat?

“Cameron” is the WJLE/DeKalb Animal Shelter featured “Pet of the Week”

“Cameron is a male cat just a year and a half old and he is super sweet. Cameron has been neutered, vaccinated, and micro-chipped. He is up to date on everything. Cameron is such a good boy and would make a great pet. He has a good personality and loves people and other cats. Cameron is the ultimate lap cat. He enjoys being indoors or even outdoors if you have a good space for him and he likes treats. His adoption fee is only $40,” said Shelter Director Emmaly Bennett.

“If you are interested in adopting Cameron please check out the adoptable pets link on our website at https://www.dekalbanimalsheltertn.com/to fill out an application and we will call you to come in and meet him. Please give us a call so we can find Cameron a good home,” said Bennett.

The shelter is open Monday-Friday from 8 to 4 and Saturday from 8 to 12 at 186 Transfer Station Road.

Meanwhile the DeKalb Animal Shelter will host an adoption event Saturday, January 28 at Tractors Supply from 9-12 and Cameron will be one of the featured pets there if he has not already been adopted by then.

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