DeKalb Jobless Rate Dropped to 4% in February

April 7, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

DeKalb County’s unemployment rate for the month of February was 4%, down from 4.8% in January and 4.8% in February, 2018.

The local labor force for February was 7,760. A total of 7,450 were employed and 310 were unemployed.

Jobless rates for February among the fourteen counties in the Upper Cumberland region were as follows from highest to lowest:

Clay: 5.4%

Pickett: 5.3%

Jackson: 4.9%

Cumberland: 4.7%

Van Buren: 4.7%

DeKalb: 4%

Overton: 4%

Fentress: 4%

Warren: 3.8%

White: 3.5%

Putnam: 3.3%

Smith: 2.9%

Cumberland: 2.7%

Macon: 2.7%

Eighty of Tennessee’s 95 counties have an unemployment rate less than 5 percent, a marked improvement from January’s jobless numbers.

“It is encouraging when unemployment rates drop in every county across the state,” said TDLWD Commissioner Jeff McCord.

Williamson County leads the state with the lowest unemployment in February. The county’s 2.2 percent rate is 0.2 of a percentage point lower than the previous month.

Both Davidson and Rutherford counties have the second lowest unemployment rates at 2.3 percent. That marks a 0.3 of a percentage point drop for Davidson County, while Rutherford County is down 0.4 percent of a percentage point when compared to January.

With a rate of 5.9 percent, Lake County has the state’s highest rate of unemployment for February. The latest statistic represents a decrease of 3.4 percentage points from the previous month’s rate.

Hancock County recorded the second highest unemployment rate at 5.8 percent, which is a 1.5 percentage point drop from its January rate.

“It is heartening to see unemployment rates in some of Tennessee’s rural counties rebound from last month,” McCord said. “We will continue to align our efforts with the state’s rural counties to support economic growth.”

Tennessee’s seasonally adjusted statewide unemployment rate reached an all-time low of 3.2 percent in February. That figure bested the previous record low of 3.3 percent, which was the state’s unemployment rate between October and January.

Nationally, unemployment dropped to 3.8 percent, a 0.2 of a percentage point decrease from January’s revised rate of 4 percent.

April 6, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

Jordan Wilkins was re-elected to a new term as Chairman of the DeKalb County Democratic Party Saturday during the Biennial Reorganization Convention held at Northside Elementary School.

Other incumbent party officers re-elected were Vice Chairman Harry Lasser and Treasurer Myra Miller.  Carolyn Hawkins was elected Secretary. All were unopposed.

The terms are for two years.

In his address to the gathering, Wilkins cited several achievements during his tenure as chairman including bringing more diversity to the party

“When I became chair, one of my big priorities was making sure we had diversity in the Democratic party with our candidates, executive committee, and in the things we do. Since becoming chair we now have more women and more diversity in the party as far as our elected officials locally and our appointed officials and with the executive committee. I believe diversity is our strength and I am proud of that accomplishment,” said Wilkins.

He also outlined his vision for the party as chairman over the next two years.

“Going forward some of the things I would like to build on is I want to get our local party set up on something called ActBlue. That is basically an online donation system for Democratic candidates and parties. We can get set up online to where if you wanted to give a monthly donation to the DeKalb County Democratic Party you could in any amount. Fundraising is so important to us here because the more funds we have the more outreach, public events, signs, and ads we can do for our candidates,” he said.

“I would also like to appoint special committees to help the executive committee in the work that we do. Some of those committees include events and outreach, a voter registration committee, a young Democrats organization, canvassing committee, and naming precinct captains,” added Wilkins.

In her remarks as guest speaker, Circuit Court Judge Amy Hollars stressed a need for restoring truth in politics and society.

“Truth is important and indeed the foundational principle of our judicial system. It’s not only important there but in our larger society now when we are in what they call a “post factual” world. It is more important than ever that we commit ourselves to the principle of truth.”

“Throughout our judicial system and process at every level we are required to put truth first because only when we can determine the facts can we then apply the law to those facts,” she said.

“You may remember the grand old Senator the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York who said you are entitled to your own opinion but not to your own facts. I first noticed the national lurch toward fantasy in 2004 after President George W. Bush’s political mastermind Karl Rove came up with the remarkable phrase “reality based community”. Rove told a reporter that people in a reality based community believe that solutions emerge from a judicious study of discernible reality. He said that’s not the way the world works anymore.  He was stone cold cynical but he was seeing the future. He was a rational person who understood that a large fraction of citizens don’t bother to vote with the rational part of their being. A lot of voters resent what Rove called the judicious study of discernible reality keeping those people angry and frightened and it won them elections,” said Judge Hollars.

“In January, 2017 we heard something similar from Kellyanne Conway and her phrase “alternative facts” was remarkable too when she was trying to talk about the President’s and Sean Spicer’s view of the crowd size at the inauguration”.

“Before the Internet crackpots were mostly isolated and they found it harder to spread their alternative facts. Now all fantasies can be made to look real. Today each of us is freer than ever to custom make our reality to believe whatever we want and pretend to be whatever we wish. Actual and fictional begin to blur. Truth in general becomes flexible, personal, and subjective. I can tell you as a judge if this happens we might as well all hang up our robes because we can’t solve problems and resolve disputes,” she continued.

“What is to be done? There is no silver bullet or sure solution to this problem. If we are splitting into two different cultures, we here in the reality based America must try to keep our zone as large and robust and attractive to other people as we can. We must unashamedly declare ourselves to be committed to the truth, to consistency, to respect for learning, for real evidence, for experts and expertise. We must firmly commit to Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s premise saying you cannot have your own facts,” said Judge Hollars.

“This will require a struggle in order to make our politics reality based again. Fight the good fight in your private life. Do not give acquaintances or family members a free pass when they spout hogwash. If you have children and grandchildren teach them to distinguish between truth and untruth as fiercely as you do between right and wrong. We need to adopt a new attitude toward information that I call media hygiene. You would not feed your kids a half eaten casserole that someone handed you on the street. You would not give them medicine that someone gave you at the gas station. We must be just as discriminating  about the quality of the information that we consume and pass on to others,” she continued.

“We must fight the good fight in the public sphere. We have to join our voices, our political will, and our votes to combat this insidious “truthiness” (being felt to be true, even if not necessarily true) that presently holds sway in our country and in our state. I remind you again what I instruct jurors. Listen carefully to what someone is saying. Observe their demeanor. How they look and act when they are telling their story. Is it inconsistent with the real evidence? Do they have some selfish interest to make their statements? As responsible citizens we have to retune ourselves to discerning the truth because only then can we solve problems, resolve disputes, and perhaps as members of the reality community reclaim this state and this nation. Maybe in this next election cycle we can get some blue billed hats that say “truth matters again”, concluded Judge Hollars.

In other business, the following members of the DeKalb County Democratic Executive Committee were named to two year terms.

At Large- Joyce Hendrixson

At Large- Darren Dilligard

At Large- Pat Parkerson

At Large- Vacant

Hispanic Liaison- Yessica Leon

Hispanic Liaison- Juan Rodriguez

1st District-

Johnny Florida & Yvette Carver

2nd District-

Ed Organ & Nora Harvey

3rd District-

Terry Little & Katie Parker

4th District-

Billie Ann Tubbs & David Reed

5th District-

Dennis Boland & Shara Cowan

6th District-

Gary Prater & Dianne Hawkins

7th District-

Vacant & Amanda Blair

April 6, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

DeKalb County needs more foster families.

Currently 51 children from DeKalb County, victims of child abuse, have been removed from their homes and are in state custody through no fault of their own.

To heighten awareness, recruit more foster families, and provide a fun outdoor event for the community, the DeKalb Prevention Coalition and the DeKalb Community Advisory Board hosted “A Day at the Park” on Saturday at Greenbrook Park in conjunction with Child Abuse Prevention Month featuring information stations from various partner agencies, games, and food.

“We just wanted to have a fun day at the park where families could come out and enjoy all the free things we had to offer. We also had the Bikers Against Child Abuse (BACA) here and they worked the crowd giving out fake tattoos and stickers and played all these games with the kids today. We are thankful for the community’s support and we hope everyone continues to become foster families in our community. We definitely need foster families to help with the children in custody,” said Norene Puckett, Coordinator of the DeKalb Recovery Court and member of the DeKalb Prevention Coalition and the Community Advisory Board.

IMG_5372 from dwayne page on Vimeo.

“We have 51 children in state custody for child abuse. We are here to draw attention to that because it is Child Abuse Prevention Month and that is what we want..prevention,” added Lisa Cripps, DeKalb Prevention Coalition Coordinator.

Megan Kinslow, public health educator for the DeKalb County Health Department offered information and materials to discourage tobacco use and Elise Driver, Coordinated School Health Coordinator had special treats including a trail mix bar for Saturday’s event. Cathy Shehane, Director of the LBJ & C Smithville Head Start Center was on hand to share information about the program recruit more students.

Bikers Against Child Abuse, or BACA, is an international organization of motorcycle riders that works to create a safer environment for abused kids. Their goal is to empower children not to live in fear of the world in which they live.

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