Hembree Charged with Arson

September 5, 2018
By: Dwayne Page

A Smithville man is facing an arson charge after allegedly setting fire to a vehicle last month.

34 year old Jeff Scott Hembree of Halls Hollow Road, Smithville is under a $7,500 bond.

Sheriff Patrick Ray said detectives received a report of a 2012 Nissan Rogue found burned in the parking lot of the boat ramp at Holmes Creek. They conducted an investigation and developed Hembree as a suspect. He was subsequently arrested in the case. Hembree is believed to have set fire to the vehicle which belonged to another person on Sunday, August 12. The Rogue was valued at 10,000.

September 4, 2018
By: Dwayne Page

DeKalb County Circuit Court Clerk Susan Martin began her first day on the job Tuesday.

“I am excited but it is a little overwhelming,” she said.

Martin already has some ideas she would like to implement to make the office more user friendly for the public and her staff.

“One of the things I am really interested in is having a website for our office because it offers so many advantages. For example jury panels could look on there to see when they are needed for court. Also if someone had a ticket they could pull up the website and find their court date or check dockets coming out to see if they had a case on there. When it snows you could check and see if the courthouse is open that day. I would also want the website to offer an option for payment online for any type of ticket or fine someone may have,” she said.

Martin said she also wants to be able to send text messages to jurors concerning jury duty.

“I want to get it set up where anybody selected on a jury panel would have the option to receive text messages about when they would need to come in. That would provide more options. They would have a text message from us or they could still call in at the automated number or they could look on the website,” Martin continued.

“I would also like to have a scanner at the desk of each employee that way they could scan in files if somebody needed something pulled up right away. Instead of us having to go through files on three floors of the courthouse looking for something they could pull it up from their desk,” she added.

“I also want to start an in-house collection service so that we could contact anyone who has old debts owed for fines and court costs and maybe work out some kind of payment arrangement to help them get that reconciled,” Martin said.

September 4, 2018
By: Dwayne Page

DeKalb County Road Supervisor Danny Hale hit the ground running on his first official day at work Tuesday.

“We looked at a couple of roads this morning (Tuesday) that we are going to try and re-do before it gets too cold to do any tar and chipping. It gets to a point that you can’t do anything through the winter because of the cold weather. You can’t get any good result from it,” said Hale.

After the mowing season ends, Hale said he plans to keep busy right on through the winter with various projects.

“We’re about to get most of the mowing done as far as the sides of the roads but we have a lot cutting back to do especially with limbs hanging over the roads. This winter we will be bush hogging on the cutting back part. The sides of the roads don’t necessarily need mowing then but we will be cutting back limbs all winter long. We will also be pulling some ditches. You will see us out there so just watch for us and everybody be safe,” he said.

Asked if he plans to be a hands-on working Road Supervisor, Hale said “I plan on it. I have done that (work) all my life. That’s what I like. I like to be involved”.

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