Smithville Police Arrest Cannon County Man for Breaking Into and Stealing from Local Auto Body Shop

October 5, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

A Cannon County man who broke into a local body shop over the weekend and stole a car and thousands of dollars worth of tools has been caught thanks to the Smithville Police Department.

22 year old Joseph Morgan of Sycamore Creek Road, Woodbury is charged with burglary, felony theft, and felony evading. His bond is $56,000 and he will be in General Sessions Court October 21.

According to Smithville Police Chief Mark Collins and Lieutenant Detective James Cornelius, Morgan pried open a side door and entered Custom Collision Auto Body & Repair on South Congress Boulevard around 11 p.m. Saturday night, October 2. Once inside Morgan found a Kia Soul which belonged to a customer that was in the shop for repairs and began loading into the car thousands of dollars worth of tools along with the shop’s DVR surveillance system.

While Morgan was still inside the business, a Smithville Police Officer was on patrol in the area and spotted three people behind Smithville Elementary School who were there dumpster diving. The officer got the identities of the three and ordered them to leave. Not knowing Morgan was inside the body shop a few feet away, the officer left the area and continued patrolling around Food Lion where he found people behind that store. When he chased them away, the officer returned to patrol the parking lot of the county complex and noticed Morgan near the shop. Morgan had opened the bay door from inside the shop and driven the Kia Soul out of the building. After Morgan saw the officer, he sped away. The officer got in pursuit of the vehicle and was joined by other patrolmen. Although police couldn’t catch up to it at the time, the car was later found abandoned off Holmes Creek Road near Redneck Beach but the stolen tools were not in it.

During his investigation, Detective Cornelius learned that several businesses and other establishments near the scene of the crime captured video with their surveillance systems. He then spent hours reviewing the footage which helped identify Morgan as a suspect. Detective Cornelius also discovered that one of the people dumpster diving behind the elementary school was an acquaintance of Morgan although he has not been connected with Morgan’s illegal activities that night.

Police located Morgan Sunday and brought him in for questioning but he initially denied committing the crimes. Morgan was later released as more evidence was being gathered. By Monday evening Detective Cornelius was ready to make an arrest and again picked up Morgan.Once confronted with the proof, Morgan confessed and led officers to the place where he had ditched the stolen tools near the scene of the crime before making his getaway.

The stolen Kia Soul and almost all the stolen tools were recovered. There was some minor damage to the body shop where Morgan had pried open a door to gain entry. The value of the stolen car is $23,490; $20,000 in shop tools, and $2,300 for the DVR equipment which has not been recovered.

Chief Collins said he is proud of his team of officers and detectives for the work done in solving this case.

October 5, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

The stars of the DeKalb Saints Football and Cheerleading programs came out Monday night for the annual awards banquet held at the First Baptist Church Life Enrichment Center.

The biggest honors of the night went to Most Valuable Player Jon Hendrix and Most Valuable Cheerleader Deanna Agee.

The Offensive Player of the Year award was presented to running back Juan Ortega, while Wyatt Carter received the Defensive Player of the Year honor. Bryson Arnold was recognized with the Best Lineman award, while Turner Bryant was named as Most Improved. The “Saints” award was presented to Aiden Turner while Jon Hendrix, Juan Ortega, and Wyatt Carter received DMS Football All Conference awards.

Meanwhile Khloe Grandstaff won the Best Cheerleading Stunts award, while Landen Tubbs received the award for Best Jumps. Brooklynn Blaylock won the Outstanding Leadership award, while the Most Spirited award winner was Lillie Young. The Most Improved award went to Jaycee Daley.

October 5, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

DeKalb County High School continued its monthly observance Monday of recognizing a teacher, student, and parent or guardian of the month.

Each received a certificate from the school and a gift card for a meal from KFC. A different restaurant will be offering a meal gift card to each month’s honorees.

DCHS substitute teacher Ginger Caplinger was selected as Teacher of the Month while 9th grader Katya Hennessee, daughter of Brad and Renee Hennessee, is Student of the Month, voted on by the teachers, faculty, and staff. The parent of the month recognition was presented in memory of Mel Thompson, mother of DCHS student Kaydence Thompson. Kaydence wrote the winning essay in honor of her mother, who passed away last month, to qualify for the award

Katya is originally from the Ukraine, a country in eastern Europe, but she along with her now 13 year old sister and 11 year old brother were adopted by the Hennessee’s five years ago. For the last four years Katya and her siblings have attended school at Dibrell where her father worked as a school resource officer. This is their first year attending school in DeKalb County.

Until she came to this country, Katya didn’t speak English but over the last five years she has learned the language well and speaks it fluently.

“We met the children through an organization in Clanton, Alabama called Bridges of Faith,” said Katya’s mother. “They bring over 10 Ukrainian orphans three times a year for a cultural experience in the United States but their mission is to find forever homes for them,” she said.

Katya said she is thrilled to have been named student of the month and is enjoying her first year at DCHS. “I like all the positivity in the school. My favorite subject is math and I am in the FFA club”.

Caplinger was excited too after learning she was named teacher of the month.

“I am absolutely overwhelmed and floored. This is nothing I would have expected, I currently substitute for Jessica Griffith while she is on maternity leave and teach sophomore English,” said Caplinger.

For the last six years, Caplinger has made being a substitute a full time career. “ She has full on accepted the role as a full time teacher for those students. She has been doing everything in and out of the classroom. She has helped us with watching additional classes on top of the classes she was assigned to as a substitute. She was out for a little while but still she was assigning work for all her students and grading papers. I have never met a sub who would have even closely attempted to do something like that while they were not going to be at work at all. She goes above and beyond any of our expectations to help us out as a substitute and as a teacher. This is the perfect opportunity to award her for all the things she has done to help us and the students of DeKalb County,” said Assistant DCHS Principal Thomas Cagle.

“These awards are a way for us to acknowledge students who are performing exemplary each month. This isn’t always going to be for your straight “A” student . Its for those putting in the effort to make DeKalb County better each and every month. Every teacher can nominate a student and all teachers vote on the student nominated. Teachers are voted on by the administration. The parent of the month award is determined by student essays. Students can write an essay each month and nominate their parent for a chance to win. In the essays, students can highlight things the parents are doing in their life outside of school that we may not know about. For this month’s parent award we had double the amount of essays from last month,” said Cagle.

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