Still a Mystery!

August 21, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

Still a mystery!

Almost two weeks since dead fish and minnows were found floating in Hickman Creek in Alexandria federal and state environmental agencies along with local officials have been trying to get to the bottom of what is in the water and what caused it. Still no answer.

Until further notice the public is urged to avoid fishing or wading in the creek and to use an alternate source for watering animals. The affected area of Hickman Creek is located from Edgewood Street in Alexandria, approximately one and a half mile downstream to the Highway 53 Bridge.

A concerned citizen apparently made the discovery of the dead fish in the creek on Monday, August 9 and reported it to the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency who then contacted the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. What EPA contractors found was an unknown substance seeping into the creek, believed to have contributed to the kill of around 3,500 fish, which was coming from the creek bank behind the Alexandria Senior Citizens Center.

A staging area was established there with a sump well which was dug to catch and contain the substance before any more of it could get into the creek. The dingy, dark liquid substance is being pumped into five above ground mobile FRAC storage tanks at the site to be shipped off for testing. Although the source of the seepage has been difficult to pinpoint, officials do not believe it to be coming from any pipes or drains, but rather from groundwater in the area.

“They are holding the material that is coming from the sump pump for storage until we get a positive identification on exactly what the substance is, and how it can be disposed of,” DeKalb Emergency Management Director Charlie Parker told WJLE. “They are 21,000 gallons each, but will not be filled completely. They will hold between 19,500 and 20,000 gallons in each tank, leaving a little room.”

“At the present time, Tank 1 is full, with the second tank about three quarters full,” Parker continued. “We have a total of five tanks. If they are full before we know what the substance is, then the EPA will send a truck to offload the material and transport it to a hazardous waste site. We’re still waiting on confirmed analytics. We do have some preliminary data in from samples taken last week. There are some chemicals in this liquid, but some are presumed to be naturally occurring materials.”

Mitigation efforts may already be paying off. According to Parker some aquatic life is returning to the creek. “There are minnows, and water bugs running along the top of the water. With a combination of the rains, and keeping the chemicals from reaching the creek, we are getting some aquatic life back in the area.”

Representatives on site include the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), EPA contractors, the Tennessee Department of Environmental and Conservation (TDEC), the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA), Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA), DeKalb County Emergency Management, and the Town of Alexandria and representatives.

August 20, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

Due to COVID exposure in the Warren County football program, the scheduled season opener for the DeKalb County High School Tigers and the Warren County Pioneers in McMinnville for tonight (Friday, August 20) has been cancelled. A make-up date is tentatively set for Friday, October 8, which was supposed to be a BYE week for the Tigers.

Anyone who already purchased tickets for this game through the Go Fan App may still use them on October 8th if the game is played. If not refunds will be issued.

August 20, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

Should nurses be provided around the clock, seven days a week for inmate healthcare at the DeKalb County Jail?

The County ‘s Health, Education & Public Welfare Committee is making that recommendation and the county commission will consider it during the regular monthly meeting Monday night.

Currently the county is under contract with Advanced Correctional Healthcare of Franklin to provide a 12 hour nurse, seven days a week for inmate care at the jail but that deal expires August 31.

Although it will cost more on the front end, Sheriff Patrick Ray is recommending that the county sign on with a new company to provide 24/7 nursing care at the jail. He formally made the request at the Health, Education & Public Welfare Committee meeting on Monday, August 9 and representatives of three companies including Advanced Correctional Healthcare were also there to present proposals for the county to consider.

The committee voted to recommend that the county commission enter into a contract with Fast Access of Chattanooga to provide 24/7 nurses at the jail. The annual cost would be $377,880, which is an increase of $134,223 above what the county currently pays Advanced Correctional Healthcare for providing a 12 hour, seven day a week nurse. Since the 2021-22 county budget has already been adopted, the extra funds needed to pay for this new service, if approved, would be allocated from the county’s fund balance.

Fast Access’ proposal was the least expensive of the three submitted. Advanced Correctional Healthcare offered to provide 24/7 nursing care for $421,679 including $20,000 pool money while Quality Correctional Healthcare presented a plan for $420,348.

During Thursday night’s county commission committee meeting of the whole, Sheriff Ray said the liability risk to the county is too great not to have 24/7 nurses at the jail and in the long run it could save the county money.

“Currently during the 12 hour period when the nurse is not there, our correctional officers have to fix the inmates’ medications, draw insulin out of a bottle, take blood pressures, and do assessments on inmates for the doctors. We are going beyond the scope of what our expertise is as correctional officers at the jail. I am very concerned about the liability of our department taking on medical things. To cover the county, myself, and my department we ask for a 24 hour nurse and while it costs more there will be cost savings later in terms of emergency room visits. A lot of ER visits we make are due to inmate chest pains when the nurse is not there because they (prisoners) know we have to send them to the ER. An average ER bill is now probably $5,000 to $7,000 and if there are any extras the bill goes up from there. We can buy an EKG machine at a discounted rate from them (Fast Access) and let them do the EKGs in the jail instead of having to carry them to the emergency room to do them. I think that will save us some money on ER trips. I also called our insurance carrier for liability insurance and it will save us some money on our premiums next year by having 24 hour nurses,” said Sheriff Ray.

The county commission will meet Monday night, August 23 at 6:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the Mike Foster Multi-Purpose Center.

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