DeKalb Countians Urged to Register for Tornado Warning Alerts through Hyper-Reach

March 11, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

During severe weather providing the public with life-saving alerts and warnings quickly is imperative and the tornado last week in neighboring Putnam County underscores the need for all to be vigilant.

(Click link below to register for weather alerts)

Tornado Alert Signup

In DeKalb County, residents have access to a service called Hyper-Reach, a state of the art mass emergency notification system, designed specifically for public safety, according to Brad Mullinax, Director of the DeKalb Emergency Communications District (E-911). Through Hyper-Reach residents can get automatic tornado warning alerts over landline telephones or cell phones the moment they are issued for DeKalb County.

Landline phones are automatically registered but weather alerts to mobile phones are only included by enrolling in the system.

“When the National Weather Service issues a tornado warning it is based on a polygon so it may be for only one area of the county. You may see on TV that DeKalb County is under a tornado warning but it may really be only for the northern or southern portion of the county. It may not always affect the entire county. This system will notify hundreds of people within a minute. It is very fast in the notification process and I encourage everyone to sign up for this,” said Mullinax.

Charlie Parker, DeKalb County Emergency Management Agency Coordinator, said he also recommends people registering for the service.

“Even though there are multiple ways of getting weather alerts including from TV and radio, storms can cause interruption in service. Even with the storm last week, Comcast and other cable and TV providers were down so you can’t always count on those for the information you need. We strongly encourage everyone to have more than one way of getting storm alerts. You can also get a weather alert radio. Those are battery operated and programmable for your county. There are apps you can download on your phone. Red Cross also has an app you can download. The biggest thing is don’t get complacent. Sometimes we are bombarded with threats and warnings and get to the place where we don’t pay attention to them. When it comes to severe weather always take it seriously,” said Parker.

The service is free and you may register for the weather alerts by visiting www.dekalb911.org and clicking the link or by clicking the link below.

“There is a link on our website (dekalb 911.org) to click for a community weather alert sign up. It will allow you to register a cell phone. If you do have a home landline telephone your number is already registered by your house number in the system and you will automatically get the weather alerts without any further action from you. If you do not have home landline telephone service or if you want to register your cell phone in addition to your home landline phone you can go to our signup page and do that. It will make a phone call to you with a pre-recorded message and or it will also send you a text message or an email to notify you as well in the event there is a tornado warning that has been issued for the affected area,” said Mullinax

Tornado Alert Signup

If anyone has questions or needs help programming their weather radio contact Charlie Parker at dekalbtnema@gmail.com., DeKalb Emergency Management on facebook, or at the Smithville Fire Department at 615-597-4141.

March 11, 2020
By: Bill Conger

People from DeKalb County joined in the efforts to help the survivors from last week’s tornadoes that ripped a path of destruction through several middle Tennessee counties. 14 people from DeKalb and 10 people from Cannon County left last Saturday (March 7) in a disaster relief trailer from Elizabeth Chapel Baptist Church to team with the Tennessee Baptist Association Disaster Relief in Cookeville.

“We went out and assisted home owners in cleaning up where their houses were completely gone, trying to find belongings that were still usable in the rubble, and trying to aid in anything we could do for those people,” said Aaron Young, Salem Baptist Association’s Disaster Relief Director, who lead the team to Cookeville.

Young says volunteers helped in an area where the tornado had progressed to category EF-4.

“Pretty much anything that was in the path of that was completely destroyed,” Young said.

One of the volunteers, Daniel Leslie, youth pastor at Elizabeth Chapel Baptist Church, has personal ties to Putnam County. A former Cookeville resident, he lived on the side of town where the tornado stormed through. Prior to the team’s trip, he paid a visit March 4 to the home of one of his friends.

“It used to be a beautiful brick home that’s just completely gone,” Leslie says. “The highest point out there was actually the front porch. Everything else had fallen underneath where the front porch had gotten up to. It had all just collapsed.”

The youth minister says helping the survivors of the tornado gave him and the other volunteers an opportunity to put into practice his recent Bible lesson on Philippians 1:21, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

“It’s not about the things that we have; it’s about the lives that we’re given a chance to live,” explains Leslie. “We had actually just talked at church Wednesday night with my youth group about Philippians. This was another opportunity for them to live out their lives as Christians. They get to have a chance to live and to be. That’s what matters. That’s what God has given us an opportunity to do. I got to see both of those situations. There was the death, but there also were those that were spared. Looking at the destruction—there was nothing left—there is no way they should have lived through what they did, but they get that opportunity to continue to live out their lives through the gospel.”

Leslie says the volunteer effort was about more than cleaning up debris.

“There was a lady that lived just behind the houses that we mainly worked at. She was in shock. Her mind was everywhere, and we got to talk a lot to her and her son and encourage them. That’s another part of the disaster relief effort … helping the families recover emotionally too.”

Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief has set up a command center in Cookeville and Nashville, and they will be there until no one is asking for help. Young has worked two previous disasters, but he was stunned by the number of volunteers who showed up.

“We’re called the Volunteer State, and you could really see why. There was almost too many volunteering. You hate to say that, but it was impressive how many people were just showing up and helping out. They were just neighbors helping neighbors.”

March 10, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

47 year old Christopher Nicholas Orlando has received good news from members of the Tennessee Board of Parole

Orlando is serving a 35 year prison sentence for facilitation of first degree murder in the death of 20 year old Joshua Murphy. He is incarcerated at the Morgan County Correctional Complex in Wartburg, Tennessee. A previous conviction against Orlando for possession of cocaine ran consecutively with the murder case and expired in 2009. Orlando’s sentence in the murder case is due to expire in 2039. He has served almost 18 years.

Members of the parole board held a hearing for Orlando on Thursday, March 5 and voted to recommend his release. The decision was finalized on Friday, March 6, according to Rachel A. Hitt, Staff Attorney for the Tennessee Board of Parole. At his last parole hearing two years ago, Orlando was denied parole due to the seriousness of the offense.

Murphy was shot and killed in a secluded area in the Laurel Hill Community at the end of Old Eagle Creek Road on Sunday, September 15, 2002. His body was discovered three days later. Officials said Orlando and a co-defendant, 48 year old Melvin Turnbill suspected Murphy of stealing methamphetamine. Orlando was tried and convicted of the crime by a DeKalb County Criminal Court Jury in April, 2004.

Turnbill entered a guilty plea to facilitation to first-degree murder in September, 2003 and was given a 25-year sentence. Turnbill was granted parole in March 2015 after serving more than twelve years but he ran afoul of the law again in Putnam County and was sent back to prison in 2016. Turnbill was again granted parole after a hearing in 2018.

In previous parole hearings Orlando has said he was sorry for the death of Murphy and for the first time took responsibility for being the triggerman in the shooting. He initially blamed Turnbill for actually committing the murder.

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