2016 DeKalb Suicide Rate Second Highest in Upper Cumberland

January 8, 2018
By: Dwayne Page

The Tennessee Department of Health’s Office of Health Statistics reports 8 recorded DeKalb County suicide deaths in 2016, for an age adjusted rate of 41.3 per 100,000 population. That’s an increase from 5 deaths in 2015, or 26.1 per 100,000.

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The new statistics released Friday by the Tennessee Suicide Prevention Network show that DeKalb County’s rate of suicide for 2016 was second highest among the 14 counties in the Upper Cumberland Region and above the state rate of 16.2 per 100,000 population. Clay County had the highest rate in the Upper Cumberland with 4 deaths at 51.7 per 100,000 population.

According to the Tennessee Department of Health Statistics, there were 1,110 recorded suicide deaths in Tennessee in 2016, up from 1,065 the past year (representing a 4% increase).

The crude suicide rate went up from 15.6 to 16.2 per 100,000 (representing a 4% increase.) Firearms remain the most common means of suicide death in Tennessee, accounting for 677, or 61%, of the recorded suicide deaths in 2016. 222, or 20% of the deaths, were hangings or suffocations and 144, or 13% of the deaths, were poisonings or overdoses. All of these proportions are roughly the same as last year’s figures. Whites account for 79% of the general population of Tennessee but 91% of the suicide deaths. Males are also disproportionately represented, making up 49% of the population but 77% (857) of the suicide deaths recorded in 2016.

For the record, the latest figures from the American Association of Suicidology (AAS) give a national rate of 13.9 per 100,000 as of 2016, with Tennessee’s rate that year placing it at 22nd among the states. Nationally, there were 44,965 suicide deaths in the U.S. in 2016, the latest year national data is available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This comes out to 123 suicide deaths each day and one death every 12 minutes. Suicide is the 10th-leading cause of death in the United States and is responsible for 1.6% of all deaths recorded in 2016. Firearms were the leading mode of death, involved in 22,938 suicide deaths, or 51% of the total.

In any given day, three people in Tennessee die by suicide. In 2016, the number suicides increased in young people (ages 10-18) in Tennessee, with one person in this age group lost to suicide every week. We lose one person between the ages of 10-24 every four days, and every day we lose at least one person over the age of 45, with adults in midlife and older adults remaining at higher risk. While suicide rates in Tennessee went up only slightly in 2016, the new figures are the highest recorded in Tennessee in over 35 years of record-keeping and the suicide rate remains above the national average.

Are you feeling desperate, alone or hopeless?

Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), a free, 24-hour hotline available to anyone in suicidal crisis or emotional distress.

Your call will be routed to the nearest crisis center to you.

TTY line: 1-800-799-4TTY (4889)

For non-emergency information on suicide prevention, contact the
Tennessee Suicide Prevention Network at (615) 297-1077 or tspn@tspn.org.

January 8, 2018
By: Dwayne Page

Three months after completion of the $2.8 million upgrade at the Smithville Waste Water Treatment Plant, city officials now want to begin a rehabilitation of existing sewer lines in the system.

During Monday night’s meeting, the Aldermen voted to apply for another $525,000 Community Development Block Grant through the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development for this purpose. The Upper Cumberland Development District will administer the grant application on behalf of the city. If approved, the city will have to pay the required local grant match.

Although the bulk of the funding for the sewer plant rehab project came from the city’s water and sewer fund surplus, the municipality received a previous $525,000 CDBG grant for that project two years ago.

City Administrator Hunter Hendrixson said now that the sewer plant upgrade is completed, the city can apply for another grant. “As you know we’re closing out our grant for the sewer plant so now we can apply for another Community Development Block Grant from the state to do sewer line rehabilitation. Although we have done the sewer plant work, there are a lot of lines in the system that need to be replaced,” said Hendrixson.

January 8, 2018
By: Dwayne Page

The Smithville Volunteer Fire Department will reach an important milestone next month.

During Monday night’s meeting of the Mayor and Aldermen, Fire Chief Charlie Parker said the department will officially be turning 80 years old on Saturday, February 3. The department was established on that date in 1938.

Chief Parker said members of the department hope to have a special observance soon to mark the occasion.

There will also be another reason to celebrate.

Chief Parker said the city is scheduled to take delivery on a brand new fire truck by next week. Members of the department plan to make a trip to Wisconsin this week to make sure the manufacturer has built the truck to specifications. “We leave Wednesday to go and do the final inspection on the truck. If everything is up to par the way its supposed to be then it should be delivered hopefully next week. They will deliver it to us on site. It will take a little time to get it in service. Some of the equipment that goes on it is already in but there is still more to come. Some equipment will come on the truck and the rest of it will be brought in over the next two weeks. We should be up and running by sometime in February,” said Chief Parker.

In January, 2017 the aldermen voted to spend $751,575 over a two-year period to purchase the new fire truck, a Pierce Impel PUC Rescue Pumper, which is a combination fire engine/rescue vehicle. It will replace the fire department’s oldest truck, a 1992 model, and a 20-year old rescue and service truck. The new vehicle will also come equipped with five air packs and other tools and equipment.

Once the new fire truck is in the fleet, the city plans to sell the 1992 truck along with the rescue truck and service truck.
The fire department has three fire trucks, a 1992 and 2001 model along with a 2012 ladder truck.

In other business, the aldermen approved Chief Parker’s request to approve the current list of volunteer firefighters and officers serving the department for the city.

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