TDOT Working to Improve Dangerous Portion of Highway 70 at Liberty

May 14, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

Quick action!

The Tennessee Department of Transportation has had a maintenance crew in Liberty this week working to improve the cross-slope of Highway 70 where so many wrecks have occurred in recent years including a few fatal crashes due to hydroplaning.

19 year old Savannah Buckley of Cookeville lost her life in a crash there Monday, May 3.

After learning of Buckley’s death, State Representative Terri Lynn Weaver last week contacted the Tennessee Department of Transportation urging the commissioner to have TDOT fix the drainage problem immediately in the “kill zone” on Highway 70 at Liberty. TDOT crews arrived on the scene within days.

WJLE reached out to TDOT Thursday for a comment on the scope of the work being done there.

“TDOT Maintenance is milling and repaving this area to try to improve the cross-slope of the roadway at this location to better drain water off the travel lanes during heavy rains,” said Jennifer Flynn, TDOT Region 2 Community Relations Officer.

“This location is in a transitional area toward the beginning/end of the curve, so the cross slope is flatter (not as steep) than other sections of the roadway. We are going to build up and steepen the slope across the road to better push water off the driving lanes to the shoulder and into curb and gutter so that the catchbasins/drainage system can take it away,” said Flynn.

May 13, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

Eli Cross is a champion!

The former DCHS football standout and his teammates at Lindsey Wilson College in Columbia, Kentucky are celebrating their first NAIA National Championship.

The Blue Raiders defeated Northwestern (Iowa) 45-13 at Grambling State University in Louisiana in the title game Monday night, May 10 completing an undefeated spring football season at 11-0 including the Mid-South Conference Championship

Cross, a two year All-Conference player, is a starting left tackle on the offensive line for the Blue Raiders of Lindsey Wilson.

“It hasn’t really sunk in completely yet,” said Cross when asked about his team’s winning the national title.

In every game, the Blue Raiders beat their opponents this season by at least 21 points. Cross said the team was so dominant, winning the national championship wasn’t too surprising.

“We had a really good team this year. We just killed everybody we played during the season and we blew them out of the water in the championship game too. I was really confident we would win it all because we have played really good all season. Our coach Chris Oliver is awesome too. He has been with the program since it started in 2010,” said Cross

Cross, a 2017 DCHS graduate, has already completed four years of college at Lindsey Wilson and earned a business administration degree with an emphasis in management and a minor in psychology. He plans to further his studies at Lindsey Wilson working toward a Masters Degree. Because of his having been redshirted as a freshman and this season not counting against his eligibility, Cross, son of Tony and Shelly Cross of Smithville, plans to continue his collegiate football career for two more seasons at Lindsey Wilson.

After college, Cross said right now he would like to become a certified teacher and high school football coach somewhere.

The NAIA, a college athletics association separate from the NCAA with nearly 100 schools that participate in football, postponed its fall 2020 football season to this spring due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In the national title game Monday night, LWC jumped out to a 17-0 lead and then coasted for the win. Quarterback Cameron Dukes, the 2020 Mid-South Conference Male Student-Athlete of the Year, led the Blue Raiders by completing 18-of-24 passes for 157 yards and also added three rushing touchdowns.

It marked the school’s first-ever NAIA championship. The program’s previous best postseason run came in 2019, when it reached the national semifinals. LWC went 5-6 in its first re-launched season in 2010, and then followed it up by going 7-3 and 3-8 in 2011 and 2012. Since then, it has posted eight-straight winning seasons.

When the school announced that football would return to campus in 2010, it marked the first time since 1935 that the school would field a football team.

May 13, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

Greeted by cheering youngsters, the DeKalb County High School Class of 2021 paid a call on Smithville Elementary and DeKalb West Schools for the Annual Senior Walk  today (Thursday).

Administrators and staff at each school joined the younger students in welcoming the soon to be graduates upon their arrival by school bus. Many of the elementary kids, lined down the halls, greeted the seniors with  signs, waves, high fives and a few even offered treats as the high school students passed by. Some seniors also got hugs from proud parents and former teachers.

The Senior Walk is an opportunity for  high school students to return to the elementary campuses where they once attended school to stroll through the hallways in their caps and gowns while the Graduation Pomp and Circumstance (song) is played over the P.A. While we hope this will inspire our future graduates, we are excited about our seniors being able to see their elementary school teachers one last time before they graduate,” said DCHS Principal Randy Jennings.

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