Constable Lane Ball to Enter GOP Primary Race

October 24, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

Fourth district constable Lane Ball is the latest to pick up a qualifying petition for the March 5th DeKalb County Republican Primary.

Ball was elected to the position a year ago to fill an unexpired term. He is now planning to seek a full four-year term.

A total of four people has obtained petitions to date for the GOP Primary. Two of them plan to be in the race for Property Assessor including incumbent Shannon Cantrell and challenger Amy Clare Lockhart.

Incumbent fifth district constable Mark Milam has also picked up and returned his petition for re-election with the required number of signatures and he is now a qualified constable candidate for the primary.

Both the DeKalb County Republican and Democratic Parties will be holding primaries simultaneously on Tuesday, March 5th for the offices of Property Assessor, Constable (districts 1-7), and Board of Education (5th & 6th) districts along with the newly created position of criminal court judge-Part III in the 13th judicial district. The primaries will be held in conjunction with the Tennessee Presidential Preference Primary.

The qualifying deadline is Thursday, December 14 at 12 noon. The voter registration deadline for the March 5th primaries is February 5 and the early voting period will be Wednesday, February 14 through Tuesday, February 27. The Absentee ballot request deadline is Tuesday, February 27, 2024.

Independents wishing to run for Assessor of Property or Constable (districts 1-7), Board of Education (5th & 6th) districts, or for criminal court judge-Part III in the August 2024 County General Elections must also qualify by noon on Thursday, December 14

Party nominees and independents for these offices will run in the DeKalb County General Election on Thursday, August 1, 2024 and those elected will take office September 1, 2024.

The incumbents in these offices are Assessor of Property Shannon Cantrell and Constables- 1st District: Waylon Kyle, 2nd District: Darrell Johnson, 3rd District: Travis Bryant, 4th District: Lane Ball, 5th District: Mark Milam, 6th District: Jason Brown, and 7th District: Johnny King.

The school board seats up for election in 2024 are currently held by Jamie Cripps in the 5th district and Jason Miller in the 6th district.

October 24, 2023
By: Bill Conger

The DeKalb County High School Fighting Tiger Marching Band has kept up its winning streak. Under the direction of Don Whitt, the musical troupe returned October 14 with more hardware for its exemplary show at the Wolfpack Classic at Liberty Creek High School in Gallatin. The band placed second in its class in music effect, visual effect, and overall band for its Heart and Soul/Sounds of Motown show.

“I just wanted to pinch myself because of the way our students performed,” Director Whitt said. “Yes, I picked out a few mistakes here and there, and there were things that I want to clean and fix before the state competition in November. However, it has been very exciting and enjoyable to see the students at the level they are now to where they came from back at band camp in July. This has been a very successful year. I am proud of everyone that has been involved.”

“The students are being consistent in their practice time, and it requires hard work and effort,” Whitt said. “I am seeing maturity and growth. They are working very hard and it shows. The second thing is that this is a fun and exciting show. I am surprised at the people who have come up to me randomly after a performance or at the checkout line at Wal-Mart who have given me very positive feedback on our band’s performance. Several have come up to me and said we love your music. Someone grabbed my arm after we played a half time show and said, ‘That takes me back to a time when I would listen to that song “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” on the radio growing up.’ I was at Wal-Mart and a lady came up to me and said, ’I love your show this year. I remember the time I bought that record just for the song, “When A Man Loves A Woman’.”

In addition to Whitt, Maxwell Patterson is the Assistant Band Director/Percussion Director, and Shannon Johns leads the Color Guard.

“This year we have had a tremendous amount of Senior leadership help and also upperclassmen leadership that have stepped up to the plate. We have some truly remarkably talented individuals in this organization. We have a wonderful group of staff (Max Patterson and Shannon Jones) Band Boosters, volunteers, and parents that have come along and helped me.”

Fans can see the band perform its Heart and Soul/Sounds of Motown show next for the high school’s Open House on Thursday, October 26 at 6 p.m. They’ll play the last regular season football game on Friday night at Upperman High School in Baxter. On November 4th the band will take the field at Stewarts Creek High School at the 42nd Annual Tennessee Division II State Marching Band Championship.

October 23, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

A Smithville businessman is among three people indicted by a federal grand jury in what the Department of Justice is calling a multi-million-dollar scheme to defraud a used car auction in Murfreesboro.

Last week, a federal grand jury indicted Jerry W. Hutchins, 48, of Dowelltown; Stephanie Louise Baker, 53, of Mount Juliet, and Brian Baker, 52, of Mount Juliet for wire fraud and money laundering.

All three surrendered to federal agents on Friday and appeared before a U.S. Magistrate that same day, the DOJ said.

Both Stephanie and Brian Baker, who are married, and Hutchins have been charged with wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy along with substantive offenses for acts of money laundering.

The DOJ said the trio defrauded Dealers Auto Auction Group of more than $2 million.

“According to the indictment, between February 2017 and November 2018, Stephanie Baker was the General Manager of the Dealers Auto Auction Group’s Murfreesboro auction location. Brian Baker and Jerry Hutchins each owned and operated used car dealerships and did business at the auction. The defendants devised a scheme to defraud Dealers Auto Auction Group, LLC by creating fake transactions to make it appear that the defendants’ businesses had sold cars at the auction and were entitled to receive funds from Dealers Auto Auction Group, when in fact the defendants had not sold vehicles at the auction,” ,” the DOJ said. “Based on the fake transactions, Stephanie Baker caused Dealers Auto Auction Group to issue checks to Brian Baker’s and Hutchins’ businesses. Then, monthly, the defendants would create additional fake transactions using the same vehicles in order to conceal the original fraud and avoid detection. Brian Baker and Hutchins then converted proceeds of the fraud scheme for their own personal use and benefit.”

If convicted, the defendants face up to 20 years in prison for the wire fraud conspiracy, the money laundering conspiracy, and the concealment money laundering offenses, and up to 10 years in prison for money laundering.  The indictment also contains a forfeiture allegation in which the government seeks to forfeit any property derived from the proceeds of the crimes, including a money judgment in the amount of at least $2,041.170 from Stephanie Baker, $1,357,310 from Brian Baker, and $683,830 from Jerry Hutchins.

This case was investigated by the IRS-Criminal Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Suedekum is prosecuting the case.

Hutchins owns and operates Hutchins Auto Sales and Service in Smithville. He is also a former Smithville Police Department Investigator.

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