DCHS Senior James Tramel Leader of the Band

January 7, 2021
By: Bill Conger

Senior James Tramel was the leader of the band this marching season, but the 17-year-old student didn’t get to perform drum major duties in the typical halftime marching show. He did direct the band in the stands at home football games and in the Christmas parades.

Tramel, the son of C.J. Tramel and Deana Jones, started playing music in 6th grade and has played a variety of instruments including trumpet and drum set for jazz band. Being the band’s field commander is a different role.

“It’s really cool because it’s a lot of responsibility, but at the same time you get to see all the students grow. Instead of being just a part of one section, you’re a part of the whole band. You get to see the flutes grow, the trumpets grow, the percussion grown, [and] you get to be a part of the guard.”

“James Tramel was a positive influence and was an encouragement to me personally,” Don Whitt says. “James would give me directions on how they did different traditions in the marching band this year. I watched him grow as a leader. His leadership style is not that of being dynamic. He is soft spoken; however, the young ladies and gentlemen in the band can trust him as a leader.”

James has loved his time in the band.

“It’s a way to express yourself,” James said. “At the same time you create a lot of memories and friendships that you make through it. It’s a great way to start your career. No matter what you do music is just a great thing overall.”

Tramel’s future plans are to attend Indiana Bible College to study music education and performance along with recording industry management.

January 6, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

The new Smithville Police Department building is moving on up.

During Monday night’s regular monthly meeting, Ron Duggin, Superintendent of Boyce Ballard Construction, LLC updated the mayor and aldermen on the project.

“We hope to have it all under roof within four to five weeks. My goal is to be done by July,” he said.

Groundbreaking was held in early September but construction was held up for a few weeks after the contractor encountered “unsuitable” or soft soils on the site.

The city and Boyce Ballard agreed to split the costs in fixing the problem and construction resumed in November.

Duggin said all the unsuitable soils have been removed and the site is more stable now.

“We had a tough time getting passed our unsuitable soils but all of that is behind us now. We pulled about two feet of unsuitable soils out of the whole site. It was really soft. It had to be removed and we replaced it with shot rock. We have a good solid base under all the parking lots and all over the whole pad. Anything that requires any kind of direct heavy loads we have it well supported,” said Duggin.

While digging the contractor came across an old fuel tank on the site that had been there for decades. They had not anticipated that discovery but the tank was dug up and hauled away along with the contaminated soils around it.

“We found about a 200 gallon fuel tank in the front out here. That was a surprise. It had been there for no telling how long. It had rusted through. We got that taken care of. With the help of the state and a testing firm we got all the soils tested and removed and the tank has been disposed of through recycling,” said Duggin.

Utilities are now in place as well as the asphalt and concrete slab and curbing is in progress.

“I have all my site utilities underground and it could not have been done without the help of all the city and utility people. Everyone has been real helpful. The power and data poles got set within a week and it allowed me to tie all the utilities into those poles. We have storm, water, power, data, sanitary sewer and natural gas and it all has been stubbed into the building,” said Duggin.

“We moved on to the curbing. It is in progress and about 50% complete. It should be done by the end of this week”.

“The binder has been put in. Asphalt binder is the first two inch layer that goes in before you put the top layer in. It was my ambition to get in not only the slab but the asphalt binder before the end of the year and it worked out. We got the asphalt and concrete slab in within a day of each other. We poured the slab one day and put the asphalt down the second day,” Duggin continued.

“The concrete drive that goes across the whole rear of the site will be the beginning of the site concrete. We plan to pour the section underneath the canopy Friday”.

“Masonry is moving along well. We needed to get our masonry up in order to be able to tie our walls in. We are almost complete with the evidence vault and we will be working on the holding cells hopefully by the end of the week. The tower is already up. You must have the tower there because the steel bears on it and the trusses bear on it. We will have to brick it in order to set our trusses. Next week we will be bricking that tower,” said Duggin.

“The steel structure is complete. The steel that holds up the canopy is in place. We will start standing walls up Wednesday,” he added.

The new police department building will be located on Don Cantrell Street across from city hall. The actual bid from Boyce Ballard Construction of Murfreesboro to build it was $2,395,000 but the city issued up to $2.5 million in bonds for the project.

The new police department will have a total roofed area of 12,800 square feet which includes a 1,400 square foot sally port. It is to encompass a front lobby, records clerk office, hallways, three holding cells, armory, conference and training rooms, offices for the chief, captain, detectives, and other officers, rooms for records, evidence, investigations, filing reports, locker room, electrical room, closets, restrooms, and break room. Construction is projected to be completed by July 2021.

January 6, 2021
By:

The first COVID-19 vaccination clinic for patients and staff at NHC HealthCare, Smithville will be Friday, January 8. Walgreens is partnering with NHC to administer the Moderna vaccine.

“The vaccine’s arrival at NHC is a very exciting moment in our efforts to combat COVID-19,” said Ryan Vaden, Administrator.
“We serve some of our community’s most vulnerable population, and this vaccine gives us hope that we can put this public health emergency behind us.”

Walgreens will return four weeks later to deliver the second dose. The Food and Drug Administration granted Emergency Use Authorization for the Moderna vaccine on December 18. With a 94 to 95 percent efficacy rate, these vaccines are among the most successful immunizations available.

“We have seen firsthand how dangerous this virus can be,” Vaden said. “As infection rates have spiked in DeKalb County, we have seen infections at NHC, too. It’s important for people to remember that the choices we make as individuals also affect our community.

“At NHC, we look forward to the safe reunion of our patients and families after nearly a year of COVID-19 precautions. The more people get vaccinated, the more likely that wish becomes reality.”

Some 5 million Americans have been vaccinated for COVID-19 so far, and residents and staff of long-term care facilities are among the priority recipients.

NHC Smithville offers skilled nursing, inpatient rehabilitation, hospice and continuing care services. For more information, visit www.nhcsmithville.com or call (615) 597-4284.

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