Community Calendar Reminders

February 6, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

DeKalb T-Ball, Coach Pitch, & Girls’ Fastpitch Softball Sign-ups

DeKalb T-Ball, Coach Pitch, & Girls’ Fastpitch Softball signups will be Saturday, February 13 & 20 from 8 a.m. until 12 noon at the UT Extension Office in the County Complex.

If you signed up your athlete(s) last year and did not receive a refund you do not have to come out. You will only need to confirm uniform sizes are accurate at a later date with the coach or if address or phone number changes.

Fees are as follows:

$40 for the first kid
$30 for each sibling
$25 additional concession buyout each kid

Ages as follows:
3 and 4 year old for T-Ball, can’t be 5 before May 1st.
5 and 6 year old boys and girls for Jr Coach Pitch, can’t be 7 before May 1st.
7, 8, & 9 year old for Coach Pitch Softball, can’t be 10 before May 1st.
10, 11, & 12 year old for Girls’ Kid Fastpitch Softball, can’t be 13 before May 1st
13, 14 ,15, & 16 year old for Girls’ Kid Fastpitch Softball, can’t be 17 before May 1st.

Snow Hill Baptist Church

Snow Hill Baptist Church will give away food on Sunday, February 21 (CANCELLED FEBRUARY 7) at 1:30 at the church. Please line up on the East side of the church and drive around. Someone will put the food in your car. Please stay in your car. No restrooms will be available. Everyone is welcome. Todd Pack is the pastor.

Mobile Food Pantry February 27
As part of its community outreach ministry, the Smithville Cumberland Presbyterian Church is again hosting a drive thru mobile food pantry sponsored by the TVA, Saturday morning February 27th 2021.

In partnership with Second Harvest Food Bank, the church plans to prepare enough food boxes to serve up to 300 families regardless of their income status, on a first come, first served basis. Second Harvest will bring in pallets of food on trucks. The food will then be off-loaded and organized in preparation for the distribution. Registration begins at 8:00 a.m. Name, address, and household size are required.

Cars will line up facing north on College Street across from the Smithville Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Recipients will drive through. Please have your own box or basket for the food to be placed in. Limit 2 households per car, unless a member from each family is represented.

Others who wish to volunteer may show up Saturday or call Myra for more information at 615-597-4197.

Board of Education to Meet
The DeKalb County Board of Education will meet in regular monthly session Thursday, February 11 at the DCHS Cafeteria starting at 7 p.m. A work session will be held prior to the meeting at 6 p.m. All attending must follow social distancing guidelines, wear masks, and follow other CDC procedures.

The agenda is as follows:

Consider and act on DCHS 9th, 10th, & 12th grade students doing remote learning on March 3 to allow 11th graders to take the ACT exam in person at school.

Director of Schools Patrick Cripps will give a personnel report.

Any Board member with business that may be properly brought before the board will also be considered.

The consent agenda is as follows:
Consider and act on Utrust Grant
Consider and act on 2020-21 Carl Perkins Grant budget amendment
Consider and act on fiscal year 2022 Carl Perkins Grant budget amendment
Consider and act on CSH budget amendment
Consider and act on an Edgar Evins State Park bus utilization request for March 27 at Waterfall Tour.

DeKalb County Regional Planning Commission Meeting
The DeKalb County Regional Planning Commission will hold its regular monthly meeting on Monday, February 8 at 6 p.m. in the courthouse. The agenda for the meeting is as follows:

Consideration of a final subdivision plat for property located on Dry Creek Road (Nokes Division).

Consideration of final subdivision plat for property located on Campbell Lane. (Frontier Properties Partnership Division)

Consideration of final subdivision plat for property located on McMinnville Highway (Davis Division)

Consideration of preliminary subdivision plat for property located on John Lindsay Road (Massaro Division)

Consideration of final lot line adjustment plat for property located on Harbour Greene Place (Siggleko Adjustment)

Other business as necessary

Justin Potter Library Virtual Story Time
Justin Potter Library will host a Facebook Live Story Time on Friday, February 12th at 10:00 AM.
We hope everyone will join us online for this special Valentine’s Day Story Time that will be filmed at a local business in Smithville. They are certainly decorated for the occasion. The story will be “Pout-Pout Fish Special Valentine” by Deborah Diesen, Illustrator Dan Hanna and published by MacMillan.
Please contact the library at 615-597-4359 for additional information.

Center Hill Soccer Club Meeting
Center Hill Soccer Club will be having a public board meeting Thursday, February 11th at 6:00pm in the UT Extension Meeting Room. The agenda for the meeting will be to elect new officers for the board and to discuss the future plans for Center Hill Soccer. We encourage any and all interested parents to attend the meeting. Social distancing guidelines will be observed and all attendees are asked to wear a mask.

DeKalb Youth Baseball League Signups
Signups for the DeKalb Youth Baseball League will be held Saturday, February 6 from 8 a.m. until 12 noon at the county complex in the UT Extension office.

If you miss Saturday’s registration, there will be other dates to signup on Saturday, February 13th and 20th at the same times and location.

Registration fees are $65 per child and $50 for each sibling. Parents who don’t want to work the concession stand may make a $25 buyout payment. Please bring proof of player age and proof of residency. Tryouts are set for February 27. See the DeKalb Youth Baseball League Facebook for details. Debit and credit cards will be accepted and transaction fees apply.

DeKalb County Youth Baseball, formerly known as Little League, is played at the park on Allen’s Ferry Road. Player ages for this league are from 7 to 15 years old.

“The way our league works if you are not familiar with it is we have 7-8 year old Coach Pitch. Last year we had Machine Pitch but we are going to Coach Pitch this year,” said League President Casey Midgett.

“Our first year of Kid Pitch Baseball we call Minor League and that is for 9-10 year olds. We will also have 11-12 year old Major League Kid Pitch. Last year was our first year to offer Senior League which is 13-15 year olds and we plan to offer it again this year and they will play at the Joe L. Evins park. If we don’t have enough kids signup to play Senior League those who do will still be allowed to play baseball on some level,” said Midgett.

Girls are also welcome to signup.

“A question I get a lot is can girls play?. The answer is yes they can play. We encourage it. We have had some really good girls come through who were every bit as good as the boys that played. Its just that its baseball and not softball. We won’t have just a girls team but girls will can get drafted just like the boys,” Midgett said.

“We hope to have both the Middle School baseball and softball players join us this year. Most of the time the Middle School season is over by May. For anyone who wants to play in that league who is on the Middle School team, we will draft you on February 27 and then basically tell you we will see you after the Middle School season is over. You will not be expected to show up for practice or a DeKalb Youth Baseball game before then,” added Midgett.

This year the league will be unsanctioned.

“There are a few changes and we don’t have all the details worked out yet but we will be going from Machine Pitch to Coach Pitch for the 7-8 year olds and we are going to be unsanctioned this year. Last year we made a big push to be with Cal Ripken and that was great. They treated us really well and we had no complaints. In past years we were with TYBA and before that Little League. We met as a board this year and decided with all that is going on in the world right now we didn’t feel like it was prudent for us to affiliate with a league because it takes away some of the local control over what we can and cannot do such as dates for All-Stars and things like that. We didn’t really want to give that up (local control) but we will still pick All-Star teams and there will be a post season. We haven’t worked out all the details yet but the All-Star teams will play somewhere,” added Midgett.

DeKalb Health Department offering COVID self-testing
The DeKalb County Health Department will be offering COVID-19 self-testing opportunities to adults beginning Monday, February 1.

The Everlywell testing will be available on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays. From 9 a.m. until 11 a.m. The self-tests are not approved for children under age 18. Anyone unable to register online can still receive standard COVID-19 tests on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 a.m. until 11 a.m. at no charge.

For the Everlywell testing:

*Persons must be 18 years of age or older to test
*Must have a smartphone to register your test and put in your information
*Need to have a working email
*Test yourself
*Results come back in 3-5 business days

Standard Covid-19 Testing will be Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 a.m. until 11 a.m.
*All ages can be tested
*Nurse will administer the test
*Results come back in 24-48 hours

THP Sobriety Checkpoint
The Tennessee Highway Patrol will be conducting a Sobriety Checkpoint February 12th,2021 on State Route 96 in Dekalb County. Impaired driving is a serious crime that kills more than 16,000 people and injures 305,000 others every year in the United States. Troopers will evaluate drivers for signs of alcohol or drug impairment. Troopers will target those who operate a vehicle while impaired and take corrective actions for other violations observed while ensuring the protection of all motorists. The Tennessee Highway Patrol recognizes that sobriety checkpoints are highly visible and effective tools in the battle against impaired driving.

UCHRA Commodities Distribution
The Upper Cumberland Human Resource Agency (UCHRA) will hold a commodities distribution for DeKalb County on Thursday, Feb. 25, 2021 from 9 a.m. until 11 a.m. at the DeKalb County UCHRA office. Sign up will be available at the distribution site. This project is funded under a Grant Contract with the State of Tennessee

Blood Assurance Drive
A DeKalb County Blood Assurance Drive will be Tuesday, February 16 from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. at the Ascension Saint Thomas DeKalb Hospital inside the Bloodmobile at the hospital parking lot.

All donors will receive a “Loyal Lifesaver” t-shirt and be entered into a drawing for a “2021 Side-by-Side ATV”

Save time by answering your health history questions the day of the blood donation before you arrive. Download “bloodassurancequicksreen” on your phone and answer the questions online.

Blood Assurance will also be doing COVID Antibodies Screening.

To schedule an appointment, go to Bloodassurance.org/saintthomasdekalb or contact Barbara Jacobs at 615-215-5302 or Barbara.jacobs@ascension.org.

Please remember to eat a good meal and drink additional water and bring a photo ID. Blood Assurance is the SOLE blood provider for our local hospitals.

February 5, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

The DeKalb County Board of Education will meet in regular monthly session Thursday, February 11 at the DCHS Cafeteria starting at 7 p.m. A work session will be held prior to the meeting at 6 p.m. All attending must follow social distancing guidelines, wear masks, and follow other CDC procedures.

The agenda is as follows:

Consider and act on DCHS 9th, 10th, & 12th grade students doing remote learning on March 3 to allow 11th graders to take the ACT exam in person at school.

Director of Schools Patrick Cripps will give a personnel report.

Any Board member with business that may be properly brought before the board will also be considered.

The consent agenda is as follows:
Consider and act on Utrust Grant
Consider and act on 2020-21 Carl Perkins Grant budget amendment
Consider and act on fiscal year 2022 Carl Perkins Grant budget amendment
Consider and act on CSH budget amendment
Consider and act in Edgar Evins State Park bus utilization March 27 at Waterfall Tour.

February 5, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

DeKalb County has secured almost $270,000 in grants (including local match funding) in recent months for various enhancement and tourism related projects thanks to the work of Chamber Director Suzanne Williams and County Mayor Tim Stribling with the support of the county commission and the Smithville Board of Mayor and Aldermen and others.

Director Williams shared the good news with the County Commission last month outlining projects approved for grant funding. She also talked about other recent or upcoming Chamber related events.

“The Three Star Grant that Mayor Tim Stribling and I wrote to get new playground equipment for the Alexandria City Park was approved and the equipment has been delivered and is ready to be installed along with the mulch”.

“The Chamber received 2 Tourism Enhancement Grants – $75,000 each, both with 10% matches. One of these grants is for the Smithville Jamboree to get a new stage. As you have probably already seen, we are having the current stage assembled now to get the measurements we need for the new stage including a backdrop with an extended porch and since we have added inclusion categories for people with special needs, we are also building a safer ADA-compliant ramp along with many other improvements. The 50th Jamboree planning is in the works. Hopefully our new stage will be ready for it,” said Williams.

“The second $75,000 Enhancement Grant that we wrote is for the Community Theater at the County Complex. The open bidding process has begun. The grant funding will be used to enhance the theater sound, lighting and we will have an Environmental Green Screen which at the touch of a button can project any image or background that is needed”.

“The Chamber also received a grant from the TN Arts Commission for $8,000 with a $2,000 match for a large mural project for our downtown here in Smithville. We will have that project finished by mid-June 2021,” Williams continued.

“The Chamber was awarded a $3,500 TVA Telework Technology Grant. Now we have a high-tech conference room here at the County Complex that has already been utilized quite a bit”.

“A Tourism Marketing Grant for $2,500 with a $2,500 match was for new DeKalb County Welcome and Resource Guides for tourists and people interested in relocating to DeKalb”.

“ A CARES Tourism Funding Grant was for $36,127. One of the uses of the funding was for branded masks to distribute. We have currently given out over 2,000 masks,” said Chamber Director Williams.

“We loved partnering with the Smithville Fire Department to put the Christmas parade and Christmas on the Square, Live Downtown Windows, and an Outdoor Movie event back-to-back on the same day. The Chamber set up a tent at the courthouse and we distributed almost a thousand masks just on that one day”.

“We look forward to partnering with the County Commission on the “Mask Yourselfie” campaign that Commissioner Beth Pafford is heading up and the Chamber looks forward to being a part of that initiative”.

Our current Grants and the match money we have raised over the last few months equals to: $269,627

36,127.00: CARES
10,000.00: Mural
75,000.00: Jamboree
7,500.00: Grant match
7,500.00: Grant match
75,000.00: Community Theater
50,000.00: Playground
5,000.00: Welcome Guides
3,500.00: TVA

Easy to Social Distance” Type of Events Coming Up:

“We’re having and have had to adjust to some of our events being virtual,” said Williams.

“The Chamber Prayer Breakfast had to be held virtually in November and we had over 2,100 views. Governor Bill Lee was one of our guest speakers. We were very honored, grateful, and honestly quite shocked when I received a positive response to the invitation. Our 2021 Annual Chamber Banquet will be virtual this year.”

“Spring & Fall FREE Outdoor Movie Events. The Chamber has some great new outdoor theater equipment, and we are partnering with the Smithville First Baptist Church to help us in hosting these family-friendly and safe events”.

“The Chamber is working with the Upper Cumberland Development District to create a Day Tripper Map to help locals and visitors alike to find special and fun places to discover and explore in our county,” added Williams.

“Edgar Evins State Park has also reported record-breaking numbers of visitors during 2020”.

“Hopefully, you have seen the 2 new billboards that we have on I-40. You can see the CHL billboard going I-40 East near Exit 273/Silver Point and the Jamboree billboard located on I-40 West close to the Smith County Welcome Center which is the most visited welcome center in the state of TN”.

“Lastly, Mayor Stribling & I are currently working together on updates for Middle TN Industrial Development Association Data Sheets for DeKalb Co. Hopefully, the new updated data sheets will be ready by Spring. I will furnish copies at a future meeting,” Williams concluded.

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