Deputy Chief Hoyte Hale Receives Smithville Fire Department’s “Robert Eller Highest Attendance Award”

January 31, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

Smithville Volunteer Firefighter and Deputy Chief Hoyte Hale received the “Robert Eller Highest Attendance Award” Monday night during an appreciation dinner for city firefighters at Ace’s Steakhouse, Seafood, and Italian Restaurant downtown.

The award was presented to Hale by Smithville Fire Chief Charlie Parker. Hale earned this award named in honor of the late Robert Eller, who served the Smithville Fire Department as a member and assistant chief for 64 years until his death in 2009. Hale has won this award seven times since it was established.

Deputy Chief Hale, 38-year veteran of the department, responded to 179 incidents, the most of anyone during the year including trainings, workings, and meetings in addition to incidents. Others in the running for the award were Captain Donnie Cantrell who responded to 174 incidents, and Captain Danny Poss and Captain John Poss each with 134 incident responses.

Four longtime leaders of the department received new officer badges marking their promotions which were formally announced last October. With the new rankings Former Captain Jeff Wright is now Assistant Chief and former Lieutenants Danny Poss, Donnie Cantrell, and John Poss have been promoted to Captains. Their badges were pinned on them during the dinner Monday night by their spouses Nicole Wright, Pamela Poss (Danny’s wife), Pat Cantrell, and Lori Poss (John’s wife).

Dalton Roberts, one of the department’s three full time paid fighters employed by the city, received a Training Award for logging the most training hours during 2022 at 141 hours. Roberts had been a volunteer member of the department for over six years when he was hired as the city’s second full time paid firefighter in October 2020, eight years after Chief Parker, now a 43-year veteran firefighter, was employed as the city’s first paid full timer in the fire department. Glenn Lattimore, who has been with the city fire department for 15 years, became a full timer last September after the city funded the third position.

Another training award was presented to a strictly volunteer city firefighter and Captain John Poss received the honor having put in 128 hours of training during the year 2022.

According to Chief Parker, the Smithville Fire Department’s 22 firefighters combined logged a total of 1,331 training hours participating in 44 training events throughout the year which included fire, rescue, medical, hazardous materials awareness and operations training along with specialty events like basic and advanced swift water training classes. “We also have five members who are in the process of going through their fire commission practical and testing for professional firefighter certification,” said Chief Parker.

Twelve firefighters were recognized who qualified for training incentive pay, a bonus pay program offered by the state of Tennessee. “We had 12 firefighters who qualified for this. That is 30 hours of training for volunteers and 40 hours of training for the full-time people. We had 12 people who qualified for that this year. We offer as incentive pay 63 hours of training,” said Chief Parker.

Those firefighters and the number of hours they put in to qualify for the incentive pay program are as follows: Chief Charlie Parker- 137 hours, Tyler Cantrell-97 hours, Deputy Chief Hoyte Hale-92 hours, Glen Lattimore-87 hours, Bradley Johnson-74 hours, Captain Donnie Cantrell-69 hours, Assistant Chief Jeff Wright-68 hours, Gary Johnson-63 hours, Captain Danny Poss-59 hours, Wink Brown-51 hours, Seth Wright-48 hours, and Kim Johnson-39 hours.

“As these numbers reflect, these firefighters didn’t just do the minimum training. They went well above what is required of them and I want to thank Assistant Chief Jeff Wright. He has been very instrumental in helping put all this training together. He and I do some of the training, but we also contract with the Tennessee Fire & Codes Academy who come in and do several classes with us. We do some classes in house. We do classes and training in addition to what the fire academy comes in and does. Remember all this training is in addition to everything else that we do including incident responses, coming to all the meetings, workings, and other things. This really shows the dedication these men and women have to our fire department,” said Chief Parker.

The Chief singled out two longtime officers and department leaders for their contributions. “We are so lucky to have our Deputy Fire Chief Hoyte Hale. He brings so much to the table from EMS (where he is director) and the years of training and knowledge he has along with Assistant Chief Jeff Wright, who works at the Murfreesboro Fire Department. He also adds his years of knowledge and experience to our department. Others like Seth and Cole Wright who work elsewhere have amassed a lot of training and experience which they share with this department. Each and every one of our firefighters and not just the ones I have mentioned here brings a different skill set to our department,” said Chief Parker.

Members of the department recognized and presented certificates for their years of service are as follows:

Tyler Cantrell-2 years, Mark Riggsbee (Auxiliary)- 2 years, Cole Wright- 2 years, Dakota Nokes-3 years, Kayla Johnson (Auxiliary)-4 years, Andrew Cooper-4 years, Dillon Hicks-5 years, Seth Wright-7 years, Kim Johnson-7 years, Dalton Roberts-9 years, Bradley Johnson- 9 years, Shawn Jacobs (Auxiliary)-10 years, Becky Atnip- 10 years, Cory Killian-12 years, Glen Lattimore-15 years, Stephanee Wright-17 years, James R. Hunt-18 years, Gary Johnson-18 years, William (Wink) Brown-25 years, Greg Bess (Photographer)-28 years, Captain John Poss-32 years, Assistant Chief Jeff Wright-37 years, Deputy Chief Hoyte Hale-38 years, Captain Donnie Cantrell-43 years, Captain Danny Poss-43 years, and Chief Charlie Parker-43 years including 31 years as Chief.

January 31, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

The DeKalb County Lady Tigers got back in the win column Monday night beating the visiting Smith County Owlettes 67 to 56 in Smithville, but the Tigers could not complete a season sweep of their border neighbors and lost to the Owls 70 to 58.

https://www.wjle.com/tiger-talk/

The outcomes were opposite on December 6 as the Lady Tigers lost at Smith County 49 to 38 while the Tigers notched a 68 to 59 win over the Owls at Carthage.

The Tigers, 11-12 (3-6) and the Lady Tigers, 13-12 (3-6) will host Macon County tonight (Tuesday, January 31) in Smithville to close out the month at home. WJLE will have LIVE coverage of the games on WJLE AM 1480/FM 101.7 and on the LIVE stream at www.wjle.com.

In the last meeting on January 6, the Tigers defeated Macon County at Lafayette 69 to 48 and the Lady Tigers won 54 to 39. The Macon County Tigers are 5-19 (0-9) and the girls from Lafayette are 7-15 (1-8)

In the girls game Monday night, the Lady Tigers led the Owlettes 14 to 6 after the 1st period, 35 to 18 at halftime, and 51 to 39 after the 3rd period before getting the 67 to 56 win.

Madison Martin led in scoring with 19, Ella VanVranken 16, Chloe VanVranken 12, Avery Agee 8, and Cadee Griffith, Tess Barton, and Ella Hendrixson each with 4 points.

The Tigers trailed the Owls 14 to 11 after the 1st period, 28 to 27 at halftime, and 47 to 39 after the 3rd period before losing the game 70 to 58.

Conner Close scored 13, Robert Wheeler and Stetson Agee each with 12, Elishah Ramos 8, Ean Jones 6, Alex Antoniak 4, and Seth Fuson 3.

DeKalb County will then close out the regular season next week with a trip to Cumberland County on Tuesday, February 7 and the finale at home against Upperman on Senior Night, Friday, February 10.

Both the Tigers and Lady Tigers are currently 5th in the district standings according to Coach T.

Division I Class 3A Region 4 District 7 Girls Standings as of Monday, January 30:
Livingston Academy: 21-3 (8-0)
Cumberland County: 18-5 (6-2)
Upperman: 21-3 (6-2)
White County: 19-7 (6-3)
DeKalb County: 13-12 (3-6)
Macon County: 7-15 (1-8)
Stone Memorial: 7-18 (0-9)

Division I Class 3A Region 4 District 7 Boys Standings as of Monday, January 30:
Stone Memorial: 19-3 (9-0)
Livingston Academy: 20-3 (6-2)
Upperman: 16-5 (6-2)
White County: 14-10 (4-5)
Cumberland County: 4-20 (2-6)
DeKalb County: 11-12 (3-6)
Macon County: 5-19 (0-9)

January 30, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

If you own property in DeKalb County you have less than a month to pay your 2022 property taxes without penalty.

The deadline for payment is February 28, 2023 before any interest begins accruing on March 1, 2023. If you choose to mail in your tax payment, it must be postmarked on or prior to February 28, 2023 to avoid any accrued interest.

To make the process more convenient, DeKalb County Trustee Sean Driver says you have several options to pay your taxes.

“The Trustee’s Office is open from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Remember, if the last day comes and you can’t make it to the post office to postmark your payment, we do have a drop box on the outside wall of the county offices section at the county complex. If you choose to use our drop box on February 28, we will gather the mail on Wednesday morning in the office, March 1 and no interest will be applied to your 2022 tax bill. Interest will accrue for walk-ins on March 1,” said Trustee Driver.

OPTIONS TO PAY 2022 PROPERTY TAXES:

1. IN PERSON AT THE OFFICE
2. BY MAILING IN YOUR PAYMENT
3. DROPBOX (Lift For Deposit)
4. ONLINE BILL PAY-AT www.tennesseetrustee.org, then select DeKalb

*There is a fee to use debit/credit card- 2.75% of your total tax bill or submit an e-check for $2.75 on any total.

*Online accepts Mastercard, Visa, Discover, and American Express

*Can receive online payments 7 days a week, 24 hours a day

*QR (Quick Response Code) on your tax bill can access the online website with smart phone

*Business Information Systems collects the fees, not DeKalb County

5.Partial payments accepted- Any Amount
*Remember: Whatever portion of taxes are unpaid for 2022, using the partial payment plan; only the portion left unpaid will accrue 1.5% interest per Month starting March 1, 2023.

Trustee Driver also reminds you that any 2021 unpaid property taxes will be turned over to the Chancery Court for collection on April 1, 2023. The Trustee’s Office can still receive partial payments on 2021 delinquent taxes up until March 31, 2023. The Trustee will mail one more notice regarding the unpaid 2021 delinquent property taxes on February 1, 2023.

“The Trustee’s Office also offers State of Tennessee Property Tax Relief. If you would like to check on a possible tax relief for 2022 for you, come see us at 732 South Congress Boulevard, Room 103, or call 615-597-5176. The last day to sign up for tax relief is April 5, 2023. The income limit to be eligible is $31,600 using 2021 income,” said Trustee Driver.

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