Dog Park Under Development (View Video Here)

May 30, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

Dog lovers will soon have a designated getaway, a fenced-in venue for their pets to walk, run and strut their stuff.

Work has begun on the development of a dog park behind the DeKalb Animal Shelter on Transfer Station Road just off Highway 70 east in Smithville near Tenneco Automotive.

J & A Fencing of Smithville was on site Friday erecting a fence around the property.

DeKalb Animal Shelter Director Megan Moore said the new dog park should be completed before the end of summer.

DeKalb Animal Shelter Director Megan Moore at Dog Park from dwayne page on Vimeo.

“We get calls quite often about the dog park. We are getting started with the fencing on the grounds. The dog park should be open sometime in the summer. Keep updated on WJLE. We should also have a facebook page started soon with the city. The name of the dog park will also be released soon and we will have a community work day for some landscaping and addition of dog agility equipment, etc to help get it started so stay tuned for updates,” said Moore.

The City of Smithville was awarded a $25,000 Tennessee Dog Park Dash grant last year for the project funded through the Boyd Foundation

A dog park is a place for dogs to exercise and play off-leash in a controlled environment under the supervision of their owners.

May 28, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

The City of Smithville Police Department has said goodbye to long time employee, Lieutenant Detective Matt Holmes.

After nearly 13 years with the City of Smithville, Holmes recently announced an early retirement. On Friday, May 29, 2020, Police Chief Mark Collins and Captain Steven Leffew presented Lt. Holmes with a plaque honoring his service to the City of Smithville.

“After much prayer and consideration, I have decided to begin the next chapter in my life. The City of Smithville has been a phenomenal place to work and I consider everyone to be like family,” said Lt. Holmes.

After being employed by the City of Smithville in September 2007 as a patrolman, Holmes was promoted to Detective in 2010 and then to Lieutenant in 2014 with the responsibility for overseeing the Investigation Division within the Police Department. Holmes is a graduate of the Walter State Police Academy, Basic TBI Investigation School, as well as TBI’s Advanced Crime Scene School.

“ Lt. Holmes has been a valuable asset to the Smithville Police Department from his creative ways at solving cases to his excellent leadership skills. We will be losing someone with experience/knowledge and the desire to always do the right thing and he will be greatly missed,” said Police Chief Collins.

“Matt was an outstanding investigator. I have watched him close out cases in amazing ways. Matt is a humble person and has always gone out of his way to help. He will be missed tremendously,” added Captain Leffew.

“From the bottom of my heart, thank you to everyone who has given me the ability to serve the citizens of Smithville. I will always be indebted to you and I will regard the time I have spent here as some of my fondest memories,” said Lt. Holmes.

May 29, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

Statistics released today by the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development show a staggering increase in unemployment for each of Tennessee’s 95 counties in April as many businesses closed to help slow the spread of COVID-19.

At 22.4%, DeKalb County recorded the 8th highest April county unemployment rate in Tennessee, up by 18.4% from the 4% DeKalb jobless rate for March. The local unemployment rate for April, 2019 was 3.6%.

DeKalb County’s labor force for April was 7,793 compared to 7,724 in March while the number of unemployed jumped from 357 in March to 1,746 in April. A total of 6,047 DeKalb Countians were working in April, down from 7,367 in March.

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

Warren: 24.3%
DeKalb: 22.4%
Van Buren: 20.1%
Jackson: 17.1%
White: 16.9%
Cannon: 16.2%
Putnam 14.7%
Smith: 14.3%
Macon: 13.9%
Clay: 13.7%
Overton: 13.6%
Cumberland: 12.7%
Pickett: 10.6%
Fentress: 10.1%

The unprecedented and historic spike in unemployment impacted some counties more drastically than others, but no area of Tennessee escaped the pandemic’s effect on the state’s workforce.

Fayette County had Tennessee’s lowest unemployment rate in April. At 9.4%, the county’s rate increased by 6.1 percentage points when compared to its revised March rate of 3.3%.

Weakley County had the second-lowest unemployment rate for the month at 9.6%, followed by Hardeman County at 9.7%.

Fayette, Weakley, and Hardeman were the only counties in the state with unemployment rates below 10% in April.

Sevier County recorded Tennessee’s highest unemployment rate for the month. The county’s new jobless figure of 29.5% represents a staggering spike of 26 percentage points when compared to its revised March rate of 3.5%.

Neighboring Cocke County had the second-highest jobless rate in April at 25.6%, a 20.9 percentage point increase from the previous month. Grundy County ranked third-highest with a rate of 25.3%, which is a 21.1 percentage point spike when compared to March’s rate.

When comparing Tennessee’s three largest cities, Nashville had the highest unemployment rate in April. The city’s rate of 15.9% is a 13.5 percentage point increase over its revised March rate of 2.4%. Memphis recorded a rate of 14.3%, a spike of 10.1 percentage points from the previous month, and Knoxville’s April rate of 14.7% is an 11.8 percentage point jump.

Statewide, unemployment reached a historic high in April. The seasonally adjusted rate of 14.7% surpassed the previous all-time high figure of 12.9% in January 1983.

Unlike the statewide unemployment rate, county unemployment statistics are not seasonally adjusted.

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