Rollins Gets Six Year Sentence for Vehicular Homicide

August 11, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

A man indicted for vehicular homicide in a 2018 fatal crash has been sentenced in DeKalb County Criminal Court.

32 year old Raymond Rollins entered a guilty plea to the charge Monday and received a six year sentence to serve at least 30%. The term is to run concurrently with another case against him. Rollins has been given 904 days of jail credit.

The crash occurred December 13, 2018 on Highway 70 at Liberty.

According to the accident report filed by Trooper Chris Delong of the Tennessee Highway Patrol, 28 year old Amanda L. Smith and Rollins were in a white 1998 Ford Mustang traveling west in the eastbound lanes and struck a 2014 Honda Accord, driven by 37 year old Charlie R. Holman of Sparta who was eastbound in the right hand lane. As Holman attempted to swerve left to avoid a collision, the right front end of the Mustang struck his car on the passenger side. Both Rollins and Holman sustained non-life threatening injuries in the crash

DeKalb EMS performed CPR on Smith at the scene and transported her to Ascension Saint Thomas DeKalb Hospital where she was pronounced dead. A helicopter ambulance had been summoned but was later cancelled.

Members of the DeKalb County Volunteer Fire Department and DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department were also on the scene.

August 11, 2021
By: Leigh Fuson, 4-H Agent

Over 250 high school aged 4‐H members from across the state traveled to the University of Tennessee at Martin for State 4‐H Roundup and All Star Conference during the week of July 19‐23rd.

Representing DeKalb County this year were Riley Fuson, 10th grade, and Jacklyn Kleparek, 11th grade.
4‐H’ers competed in projects such as communications, livestock, computers and technology, healthy living, and photography for college scholarships and trips to National 4‐H Congress in Atlanta. The State 4-H theme in 2021 is “The Great Comeback” which is fitting after a challenging year of virtual and postponed events due to the pandemic. Both youth and 4-H leaders were excited for this in person event to take place.

After years of hard work, 4-H involvement, and record keeping, both Fuson and Kleparek were State Finalists in their project areas and attended Roundup on scholarship. This is an award and great honor within itself! They submitted portfolios at the regional level and then were selected to participate in competition interviews at Roundup. Fuson competed in the Horse project, while Kleparek was named a Level 1 State Winner in the Creative Arts and Design project. She received the Horizon Award along with a $500 college scholarship to a University of Tennessee school.

Fuson and Kleparek also attended as State 4-H All-Star members where they participated in a service project, special ceremonies, and elections. As a whole, Tennessee 4-H All Star members complete hundreds of thousands of service hours each year. DeKalb County is proud to be a small part of this endeavor and to be able to give back to our wonderful community.

Conference attendees also enjoyed a banquet, dance, learning sessions, and campus tours, all while making lifelong friends. Roundup is one of the highlights for Tennessee’s 4‐H program. Delegates who attend have spent years of work in their respective project areas. Over $75,000 in scholarship money is awarded each year.

For more information about DeKalb County 4-H, please call 615-597-4945. 4‐H is the Youth Development program for University of Tennessee Extension and Tennessee State University. Tennessee Extension offers its programs to all eligible persons regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability and is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

August 10, 2021
By: Shan Stout

The City of Smithville, along with the Smithville Fiddlers’ Jamboree & Crafts Festival received a heart-warming message, and photo, from seven of the Virtual Inclusive Jamboree contestants that participated in this year’s festival via online video submissions.

“After last year’s virtual competition, we were so very glad to get back to a LIVE event,” said Shan Stout. Director of Marketing for the Smithville Fiddlers’ Jamboree, “We decided, however, that although we were able to have it in person for 2021, that there still may be those in our vulnerable population that were unable to attend due to travel barriers, so we agreed to host a Virtual Inclusive Jamboree for special needs teens and adults. We were thrilled with the response of video submissions, and it melted our hearts when a group of competitors from California sent a photo of their dance troupe holding their awards that were received by mail. They have inspired us in so many ways, but most of all in making us aware of the need for more handicap accessibility for our festival. This year, we built a brand new ADA compliant handicap ramp, guard rails, along with our new stage being constructed of the most stable materials. Moving forward, we are looking for more ways to make the Jamboree accessible to anyone that wants to come.”

“I would just like to thank Smithville, and the Jamboree, for doing this,” said Dance Coach Brian Bon of the Bon Family California All Star Cloggers, “We really don’t have anything like this to do in California. There are no clogging competitions here, and all of the events are very small, so our dancers really appreciate this virtual opportunity so very much.”

Among those shown in the photograph are Zachary Hughes and Sarah Jensen, the adult and teen Virtual Inclusive Bluegrass Dance Award Winners. Zachary and Sarah’s competition videos can be seen on the Smithville Fiddlers’ Jamboree FaceBook page, along with the other video dance submissions for 2021. They were awarded certificates and a cash prize for their accomplishments. According to their coach, the group is hoping to raise funds to travel to the Jamboree to compete on stage in 2022.

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