Smithville Police Treat Head Start Children to Gifts for Christmas (VIEW VIDEO HERE)

December 21, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

Children at the Smithville Head Start Center were treated to bags of gifts Friday thanks to the Smithville Police Department’s “Cops4Kids” program.

In what has become an annual event, Police Chief Mark Collins, Mayor Josh Miller and other members of the police department joined Santa in presenting the children with the gifts. Other guests included the Doug Collins Family who sang for the children and Randy Pedigo, a local minister who shared the Christmas story.

“This is the fifth year I have been doing it. It’s a really good day for us. I don’t know who gets the most out of it us (Police Officers) or the kids but we come and spend a couple of hours with the children here at Smithville Head Start and we bring them gifts. Santa Claus makes a special appearance. We have singing. Its just a good thing for them. All the guys at the police department really enjoy it,” said Police Chief Collins.

The bags of gifts for the kids were provided as a courtesy of Cash Express of Smithville who recently held a collection drive. Others make personal donations toward the effort.

Doug Collins from dwayne page on Vimeo.

“Cash Express in Smithville and the girls there are phenomenal . They put out collection boxes in the community and the public donated toys. Cash Express in turn gave the toys to us. Each year if we don’t have enough gifts we go and buy what we need for these kids but most of the gifts come from Cash Express from the donations made to them by the citizens of DeKalb County and I want to say thank you to all. You really have to be here to experience how touching this is because this may be the only Christmas some of these children get because their parents can’t afford to buy Christmas gifts,” added Chief Collins.

December 19, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

The DeKalb County Jail and Annex will be recertified for another year.

Sheriff Patrick Ray reported to the county commission Thursday night that the Tennessee Corrections Institute has granted recertification now that the county has agreed to seek a partnership with TCI and the County Technical Advisory Service (CTAS) in developing a “plan of action” for addressing deficiencies found at the Jail and Annex during recent state inspections. TCI had threatened to decertify the jail had the county not requested the partnership.

A “plan of action” allows a facility to maintain a certified status after failing to meet all minimum standards while demonstrating to the TCI Board of Control that the facility is making measurable progress over a period of time (months or years) to rectify deficiencies found during inspection.

“I went before the TCI board in Nashville on December 4 and explained to them that we had requested to enter into a plan of action partnership that you (county commission) agreed to and Tim (County Mayor) and I signed. They accepted that request and also recommended 2019-20 recertification of the jail because we had gone into that plan of action with them. We are still awaiting our certification paperwork from the state,” said Sheriff Ray.

“As part of the partnership, my office has to send a monthly report to them (state) of what we are doing . For example, I will include in my December report that I met with TCI and that I reported to you (county commission) tonight about that meeting. We have to do updates to keep the state informed on what we are doing to resolve any issues they have found at the jail,” added Sheriff Ray.

County Mayor Tim Stribling said the next step is for the county to comply with the state’s request to form an ad hoc committee to begin discussions on meeting needs at the jail.

“We entered into a plan of action partnership with the TCI for the purpose of overseeing the needs of the jail and TCI has indicated that we need an ad hoc jail committee. I am asking that county commissioners Beth Pafford, Matt Adcock, Anita Puckett, Bobby Johnson, Sabrina Farler, and Scott Little serve on that committee with me, Sheriff Ray, and Chief Deputy Robert Patrick. Our first meeting with Bob Bass of TCI will be on January 13 at 5:30 p.m. at the Veterans building. TCI has also requested that our criminal court judges, Gary McKenzie and Wesley Bray also be part of the meeting,” said County Mayor Stribling.

Several findings were identified during a state inspection of the jail on August 22 and while a follow-up inspection on October 4 revealed some of the issues had been addressed, others remain which will require a longer term fix. Although many of these same deficiencies have existed for years, both the jail and annex have consistently passed annual state inspections until this year.

December 20, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

Longtime DeKalb County Historian Tommy Webb has been remembered.

During Thursday night’s regular monthly meeting, the county commission adopted a resolution in honor of  Webb, who passed away on October 29.

Seventh district commissioner Beth Pafford recently came to County Mayor Tim Stribling with the idea.

“This fall our county lost historian Mr. Tommy Webb. A life long resident, he had a keen interest in and love for the people of DeKalb County and channeled that into his work as county historian. He firmly believed that every person and every family had a unique story to tell and saw each story as an important part of what makes us DeKalb County and that’s why I felt it was important for us as a county commission to recognize and honor him. To honor his life and dedication to all that was and is DeKalb County, I ask that we adopt this resolution as a heartfelt token of appreciation for the life and legacy of Mr. Thomas Gray Webb,” said Pafford.

County Mayor Stribling then read the resolution.

“Whereas, Thomas Gray Webb departed this life on the 29th day of October, 2019, and Whereas, Tommy, as he was affectionately known by everyone, served as the county historian for fifty five years rendering services of greatest importance to the citizens of DeKalb County, and

Whereas, the DeKalb County Commission deems it fitting to recognize Mr. Webb as a gentleman of distinguished ability and highest integrity both as a teacher and historian.

Be it Resolved that the members of the DeKalb County Commission deeply deplore the loss of Tommy Webb and extend their sincere condolence to his widow and family in their bereavement and declare our conviction that by his manners, his habits, his genial spirit, his love of DeKalb County and the history of its people, and his reverence of God, Mr. Webb has left an example worthy of imitation.

Be it further resolved that this Resolution be spread upon the minutes of the DeKalb County Commission. Done this the 19th day of December, 2019.”

In other business, the DeKalb County and Alexandria Volunteer Fire Departments have renewed a partnership started five years ago to render specific firefighting services to each other as needed through an automatic aid agreement. The effort is meant to improve response times to fires, especially to residents in the county who are within five road miles of the Town of Alexandria’s Fire Department.

The Alexandria Mayor and Aldermen recently adopted the agreement and the DeKalb County Commission approved it Thursday night during the regular monthly meeting. The agreement is effective for five years starting January 1, 2020 .

Under the agreement, both the Alexandria and DeKalb County Volunteer Fire Departments will automatically respond to fires in the county that are within five miles of the Alexandria Fire Department and dispatched by the DeKalb County 911 Emergency Communications District.

The county already has in place mutual aid agreements with fire departments here and outside DeKalb County which call for them to assist each other with resources and manpower when needed. But this is an extension of the county’s first “automatic aid agreement” which was initially adopted five years ago .

“The significance of this is that in this five mile area, the City of Alexandria Fire Department will be dispatched out on the initial call of any fire that happens in that five mile area. The result of having this automatic aid agreement will allow us to have quicker response times to structure fires and to other types of fires that happen within that five mile area,” said Chief Donny Green, when the agreement was first approved.

The agreement also calls for the county fire department to automatically respond to structure fires inside Alexandria along with the Alexandria Fire Department. ” Alexandria realizes some benefits from this as it works both ways. We assist them on structure fires in the city limits of Alexandria. Under this automatic aid agreement we are called in initially as they are to assist with structure fires in their jurisdiction,” said Chief Green.

Each department maintains its own jurisdictional authority and if at any time either party wants to opt out of the agreement they may do so by giving a 30 day written notice. The agreement also includes compliance provisions which each party must adhere to including maintaining the proper training.

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