Kelsey Gets Probation for Illegal Possession of Weapon

January 21, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

A convicted felon arrested in November after he was found illegally in possession of a handgun was sentenced Wednesday in DeKalb County Criminal Court.

38 year old Jerry Shawn Kelsey of Sparta entered a plea by criminal information to felon in possession of a weapon and received a five year TDOC sentence on probation and he must forfeit his weapon.

Sheriff Patrick Ray said that on Sunday, November 11 at 1:35 a.m. a deputy was patrolling  when he noticed two occupants in a black car with its headlights off setting at a business on East Broad Street.. The deputy stopped and spoke with the driver, Kelsey. An NCIC computer check revealed he had active warrants against him in Van Buren and White Counties. A further background check found that Kelsey has multiple felonies against him including theft of property over $10,000, aggravated burglary, and other charges. The officer recovered a handgun under the driver seat after Kelsey admitted it was there. The gun was a black  380 caliber pistol Jimenez Arms.

26 year old Nathaniel Dylan Tippens entered a plea to unlawful possession of a weapon and sale of over 0.5 grams of methamphetamine.

Tippens received a six year sentence on the weapons charge and eight years in the drug case to run concurrently and all suspended to supervised probation except for 180 days to serve. He was given jail credit from August 5, 2018 to the present. Tippens must also forfeit his weapon.

On August 5, Central Dispatch received a call stating that Tippens was walking down Restview Avenue  carrying a rifle. As the officer was enroute, the caller further reported that Tippens had gotten into the passenger side of a gold car. The vehicle then left the area.  Police spotted the gold car on Highland Avenue and initiated a traffic stop. The officer ordered Tippens to get out of the car and then removed a black “Buckhunter” rifle from the passenger seat where Tippens had been sitting.   Tippens has a 2015 felony conviction against him for burglary and theft.

The drug offense occurred on May 9, 2018.

January 21, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

January 20-26, 2019 is School Board Appreciation Week in Tennessee. This week helps build awareness and understanding of the vital functions our locally elected boards of education play in our community. The DeKalb County School District is joining public school districts from across the state to celebrate School Board Appreciation Week and honor local board members for their commitment to DeKalb County and its children.

“I along with our staff want to thank you for the work you do and for the time you put in. We meet once a month but the community may not know that you often have to take phone calls late at night and throughout the week. We do appreciate your time that you dedicate to our students and the decisions and suggestions you make for students to better our school district and our community,” said Director of Schools Patrick Cripps.

“Our school system is the backbone of our community, and these men and women devote countless hours to making sure our schools are helping every child,” Cripps said. “There is no greater honor that can be bestowed upon a citizen than membership on a local board of education. They spend countless hours studying the issues and regulations and make the tough decisions when called upon to ensure the type of accountability people expect.”

Cripps said the key work of school boards is to:

• Create a vision for what the community wants the school district to be and for making student achievement the top priority;
• Establish standards for what students will be expected to learn and be able to do;
• Ensure progress is measured to be sure the district’s goals are achieved and students are learning at expected levels;
• Create a safe, orderly climate where students can learn and teachers can teach;
• Form partnerships with others in the community to solve common problems; and
• Focus attention on the need for continuous improvement by questioning, refining and revising issues related to student achievement.

“Our local school board shapes the future of education in DeKalb County by influencing the high-quality of education that our children and youth receive. The DeKalb County school board shows its commitment to educational excellence and equity – and for that we are very grateful for their attitude of service.”

The members serving our district are as follows: Danny Parkerson in the 1st district, Alan Hayes in the 2nd district, Jim Beshearse in the 3rd district, Kate Miller in the 4th district, W.J. (Dub) Evins, III in the 5th district, Doug Stephens in the 6th district, and Shaun Tubbs in the 7th district.

January 21, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

The DeKalb County Volunteer Fire Department is applying for a 2019 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) to purchase fire equipment (tanker) for the county wide volunteer fire department. Part of the application process includes conducting community household surveys with randomly selected addresses in the areas served by DeKalb County Volunteer Fire Department (all areas of DeKalb County outside the city limits of Smithville and Alexandria).

“The county gets to select a project to apply for through the CDBG program each year and this year we will be applying for fire equipment and specifically our project is to add another tanker. We only have one tanker in the county. With the barriers and obstacles we have with water supply because we don’t have a lot of hydrants out in the county we really do have a dire need for another way to get water to the fire scenes in the rural parts of the county. Part of the application process is that we have to do these community household surveys. We are doing them by telephone and in person,” said County Fire Chief Donny Green.

IMG_4033 from dwayne page on Vimeo.

The survey process takes less than 3 minutes and all information will be secure and not used for any other purposes.

“We want to make sure our residents understand that these surveys are legitimate and necessary for us to submit this grant application. We would greatly appreciate cooperation from those who are selected for a survey. The surveys will be conducted by telephone or personal visits. All surveys will be completed by DeKalb County Volunteer Fire Department personnel who will be able to provide identification proving they are members of the DeKalb County Volunteer Fire Department. Anyone can also feel free to contact me at 615-464-7176 if they have any questions or concerns,” said Chief Green.

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