Death investigation of man found two weeks ago takes new twist as his car is recovered from Center Hill Lake

April 20, 2022
By: Dwayne Page

The death investigation of man found two weeks ago takes new twist as his car is recovered from Center Hill Lake

According to Sheriff Patrick Ray, a 2013 Chevy Malibu was recovered from the water at the Cookeville Boat Dock ramp in DeKalb County on Tuesday, April 19. The vehicle belonged to 37-year-old William Houghtaling, Jr of Baxter, whose body was found in the water at the Johnson Chapel Boat Ramp on April 6.

“No other details will be released at this time,” said Sheriff Ray.

The case is being investigated by the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

In a statement released last week, Sheriff Ray said “Houghtaling was reported missing out of Cookeville City by the Cookeville Police Department in March 2022. The evening when the body was found (April 6), I contacted the District Attorney General’s Office and requested the assistance of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation due to a possible multi-county case. (Putnam and DeKalb) District Attorney General Bryant Dunaway requested the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to assist the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department with the case. No other information is available,” said Sheriff Ray.

The body was found floating face down in the lake Wednesday afternoon (April 6) at the Johnson Chapel Recreation area only a few feet from the boat ramp in about 3-4 feet of water.

According to Sheriff Ray the body was nude except for the pair of socks he was wearing, and identification was found tucked in one of the socks which matched that of Houghtaling.

The discovery was made by a fisherman.

“A man came to the area to check the lake to see if it (lake level) was up because he was going to go fishing when he noticed something near the boat ramp. At first, he thought it was an animal but as he got a closer look, he found it to be a human body. Because of the poor phone service in that area, the man went to the top of the hill to call 911 which did a transfer to White County and then the White County 911 center transferred it to DeKalb County,” added Sheriff Ray.

April 19, 2022
By: Dwayne Page

Tiger Pride will be reaching new heights this fall as DCHS unveils a brand-new video display board at the Dr. John L. Vanhoosier football stadium in time for the 2022 season which also happens to be the 60th year of Tiger football.

Tiger Coach Steve Trapp said the board is 16 x 10 feet and will be incorporated with the existing scoreboard. It will feature opportunities for video replays of game highlights and statistics, advertising sponsorships, and interaction for the fans, all to enhance the game night experience.

“It started five years ago when we got a new scoreboard and shortly after that I began wondering what it would take to get a video board at the football field,” said Coach Trapp.

“At that time we were under five year advertising contracts for the scoreboard but after those contracts came back up we started looking into what it would take to get a video board included with what we already have. I got some prices and got together with a group of people and came up with an ad campaign to raise money to get this thing paid for up front and then after four or five days we had enough funds to purchase a video board so this coming next season it will be incorporated with our scoreboard,” Coach Trapp continued.

“The video board is basically a big monitor and comes with its own computer and software and anything we play on that computer can be shown on the screen and while our current scoreboard will still be used the video board will be contained in that which will offer more advertising opportunities with panels around it,” said Coach Trapp.

The video board will also be used to get the crowd more into the game during certain situations. “We always play those bells on third down and now in addition to hearing those bells we will have something visually, animated or whatever that says things like its third down, get loud for the crowd to respond to,” he said.

“It will also be a way to recognize our sponsors more including a lot of our in-game sponsors like for first downs, touchdowns, and things like that. Not only do we want to hear those things but we also want to see something visually incorporated with it,” said Trapp

“When the kids make a big play or score, we want to have a video of them smiling or celebrating to add more excitement for the families of the players and fans. We want it to be interactive. We don’t want to use it just to display ads. We are going to use it for that but we want it for other things as well,” Coach Trapp said.

Plans are for installation of the video board to begin on May 2 with hopes of it being ready to use during the first pre-season scrimmage on May 6 and perhaps even to show some live shots during the high school graduation on May 13.

Coach Trapp said once its up and running the video board will also be used to promote other local sports programs like Junior Pro Football. “The Jr Pro program will be allowed to use the video board during their games on Saturdays and if they can get us a few video clips of their games we would like to make a highlight tape of them and play it on Fridays just to promote them,” he said

April 19, 2022
By: Dwayne Page

A total of 132 people cast ballots in Smithville and 38 in Alexandria Tuesday on the fifth day of early voting for the May 3 primaries in DeKalb County. That brings the five-day total of early voting to 722 including 678 in person and 44 by absentee. Through Tuesday, the DeKalb County Republican Primary turnout has totaled 470 compared to 252 for the Democratic Primary.

During the four hour early voting period in Smithville on Tuesday, 132 voted including 125 in person and 7 by absentee. In Smithville, 77 voted in the DeKalb County Republican Primary and 55 in the Democratic Primary.

For the first time ever, the election commission held an early voting site in Alexandria for two hours on Tuesday in which 38 cast ballots, all in person. A total of 32 voted in the GOP Primary and 6 in the Democratic Primary.

Here’s how the early voting total breaks down for each of the first five days (Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday)

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13:
TOTAL—106
In person—92
Absentee—14
Republican—71
Democrat—35

THURSDAY, APRIL 14:
TOTAL-187
In person-183
Absentee- 4
Republican-109
Democrat-78

NO VOTING ON GOOD FRIDAY, APRIL 15

SATURDAY, APRIL 16:
TOTAL-134
In person-132
Absentee- 2
Republican-94
Democrat-40

MONDAY, APRIL 18:
TOTAL-125
In person-108
Absentee/one assisted living-17
Republican-87
Democrat-38

TUESDAY, APRIL 19 (SMITHVILLE)
TOTAL-132
In person-125
Absentee-7
Republican-77
Democrat-55

TUESDAY, APRIL 19 (ALEXANDRIA)
TOTAL-38 (all in person)
Republican-32
Democrat-6

TOTAL FOR FIVE DAYS COMBINED:
TOTAL-722
In person-678
Absentee-44
Republican-470
Democrat-252

Early voting will run through Thursday, April 28 at the DeKalb County Courthouse in Smithville with limited hours at the Fairgrounds in Alexandria for the DeKalb County Democratic and Republican Primaries. This is the first time both political parties are having a local primary to select nominees for the general election.

“Voters are reminded these are primary elections and they can only vote in one of the elections,” said Dennis Stanley Administrator of Elections. “Under state law, a voter cannot vote in two primaries which are held at the same time, such as is the case on May 3rd.”

Stanley encouraged voters to study the ballots and make their decision which primary they wish to vote in before heading to the polls, either for early voting or election day.
Early voting hours in Smithville are as follows: Mondays 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.; Tuesdays 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Wednesdays 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Thursdays 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.; Fridays 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Saturdays 9 a.m. to Noon.

Early voting hours in Alexandria will be Monday April 25 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.

All properly registered voters can vote early at either location.

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