Filing Deadling Thursday, April 2 for August 6th Elections

March 31, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

If you want to be a candidate for certain races on August 6th you have until noon Thursday, April 2 to qualify with the DeKalb County Election Commission.

The office is open to receive and issue candidate petitions. However, candidates and potential candidates should call the office in advance to make arrangements for someone to give them access to the building.

The election office phone number is 615-597-4146. Office hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. The qualifying deadline for the August election is NOON April 2.

Four persons who had picked up petitions for city races have not yet returned them to the election commission office to be a qualified candidate including Jimmy Taylor for Smithville Alderman, James White for Dowelltown Alderman, Pam Redmon for Dowelltown Mayor, and Bridgett Rogers for Alexandria Alderman.

Charles Anderson, who had obtained a petition to run for Alexandria Alderman, has withdrawn.

Meanwhile Incumbent 5th District School Board member W.J. (Dub) Evins, III has also withdrawn after having earlier obtained a petition to enter the race for re-election.

Chris Walker is the latest candidate to qualify. He is running for Alderman in Dowelltown. Phillip Byford is also a qualified candidate for Dowelltown Alderman.

Three Aldermen positions will be filled on August 6th in the Smithville Municipal Election. The candidates who have already qualified for the race are Incumbent Aldermen Shawn Jacobs, Danny Washer, and Donnie Crook along with newcomers, Jessica Higgins and Timothy John Perricone.

In addition to city races in Smithville, Dennis Stanley, Administrator of Elections, said petitions are available for school board seats in Districts 5 and 6 along with the following other city races: five aldermen seats in Alexandria; and a mayor and two aldermen seats in Dowelltown. Meanwhile, any local voter interested in running for State House 40 and 46 can also get a petition at the local election office.

“All the local offices will be for four-year terms, except two of the five aldermen seats in Alexandria will be for two-years to fill unexpired terms,” Stanley said. “The state house seats are also two-year terms.”

For the school board in the 6th district Jason Miller and Shawn Washer have both qualified as candidates. Incumbent Doug Stephens will not be a candidate for re-election.

In the 5th district Jamie L. Cripps has qualified for the school board race.

In Alexandria, Lynne Dickerson is a qualified candidate for a 4 year alderman term.

Meanwhile, State Representatives Terri Lynn Weaver of Lancaster in district 40 and Clark Boyd of Lebanon in district 46 have qualified for re-nomination in the August 6th Tennessee Republican Primary while Suanne Bone of Lebanon has qualified for the Tennessee Democratic Primary on August 6th to fill a vacancy as State Executive Committeewoman in District 17.

March 31, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

Two days after a severe thunderstorm disrupted service for thousands of Caney Fork Electric Cooperative members in three counties, crews are still working to restore power to households affected by the outage.

“While we had a productive day Monday restoring power to our members following the severe storms on Sunday, March 29th, we found that there was no possibility of being able to get the lights back on for all of our members before we finished working Monday night between 8-9:00 p.m. In my 35 years at CFEC, this weather event has resulted in more broken poles at one time (between 75-80) than any other storm we have ever encountered,” said CFEC General Manager Bill Rogers.

“The hardest hit areas were in Northwest and Northern Warren County; Southern DeKalb County and Southern White County. At this time, we still have approximately 3,000-4,000 of our members still without power,” said Rogers.

“We are grateful for the assistance of four local power companies, four right of way contractors and two line contractors; without their help, we would not have made nearly the progress Monday that we were able to accomplish”.

“After a night’s rest, we will be back on the job at 6:00 a.m. on Tuesday, March 31st to continue our efforts to repair the extensive damage to our system. We beg for and appreciate the patience of our members as we work to restore your power; please know that nothing is more important to us than our responsibility to you and we will do everything we possibly can to get your lights back on as quickly and safely as we can,” added Rogers.

March 31, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee on Monday issued a two-week statewide order closing non-essential businesses and telling Tennesseans to stay home in an effort to combat the spread of the coronavirus.

Lee made the announcement during his daily briefing, saying the order is not a shelter-in-place mandate, but instead strongly urges Tennesseans to stay at home when at all possible.

The order mandates businesses or organizations that do not perform essential services to close its public access and are encouraged to use delivery, takeout, online or telephone operations.

Essential activities are defined as things like going to the grocery store, getting medications, providing or facilitating food orders, outdoor activities within the health guidelines and caring for or visiting a family member or friend within the health guidelines.

Under both state and federal guidelines, election officials are also considered essential employees. As a result, the DeKalb County Election Office will be open to issue and receive petitions through the qualifying deadline on Thursday, April 2.

Other Essential Services Include:
*Health Care and Public Health Operations

*Human Services Operations

*Essential Infrastructure Operations

*Essential Government Functions

*Food and Medicine Stores

*Food and Beverage Production and Agriculture

*Organizations that Provide Charitable and Social Services

*Religious and Ceremonial Functions

*Media

*Gas Stations and Businesses Needed for Transportation

*Financial Institutions and Insurance Entities

*Hardware and Supply Stores

*Critical Trades

*Mail, Post, Shipping, Logistics, Delivery, and Pick-up Services

*Educational Institutions

*Laundry Services

*Restaurants for Off-Premises Consumption

*Supplies to Work from Home

*Supplies for Essential Businesses and Operations

*Transportation

*Home-based Care and Services

*Residential Facilities and Shelters

*Professional Services

*Manufacturing, Distribution and Supply Chain for Critical Products and Industries

*Hotels and Motels

*Funeral Services

“This is not a mandated ‘shelter in place’ order, because it remains deeply important to me to protect personal liberties,” Lee said at a Monday afternoon news briefing.

The order takes effect at 11:59 p.m. Tuesday and lasts through April 14, during which time only essential businesses are to continue operating and residents are to stay home “as much as possible,” per Executive Order 22, which was filed Monday with the Tennessee Secretary of State’s office.

Executive Order 21 was also filed Monday, which specifically orders the temporary closure of salons, spas, concert venues, theaters and other indoor recreational facilities.

Lee previously held off on shutting down Tennessee for more than a week, insisting statewide orders are difficult to enforce and that he preferred to advise social distancing instead of mandating it. The governor cited Tennesseans’ willingness to do the right thing.

But desperate pleas from mayors and medical professionals have increased pressure on the governor to take more aggressive action.

As of Monday, state health officials had tallied 1,834 cases and 13 deaths in Tennessee as a result of the coronavirus, with some of the largest clusters in Nashville, Memphis and Williamson County. At least 148 people are hospitalized.

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