DeKalb County to Participate in the Great American Clean Up

April 18, 2022
By:

The Smithville-DeKalb County Chamber of Commerce and the DeKalb County Mayor’s office would like to invite residents across the county to participate in the DeKalb County Clean Up on Saturday, May 14th. You are encouraged to form teams at your work, neighborhood, or organization, then post pictures with the name of your team to the Smithville-DeKalb County Chamber or DeKalb Clean Up Facebook Page.

The DeKalb Clean Up event will be held in conjunction with the Keep America Beautiful initiative going on across the country. This year’s theme “Trashercise Across Tennessee” promotes exercise while picking up trash.

DeKalb Clean Up volunteers are asked to stop by the DeKalb County Complex on May 14th between 9 AM and 10 AM to sign-in and pick up the provided trash bags, rubber gloves, and bottles of water. A group picture will be taken at 9:30 AM for the media if you like to participate in that. If you can’t be there to sign-in, call the Chamber office at 615-597-4163 to be counted as a DeKalb Clean Up volunteer — just give your name and the general area where you will be working.

The Great American Clean Up takes place annually with an estimated 500,000 volunteers taking part in 15,000 community events nationwide through programs that deliver positive and lasting impact through events focused on waste reduction, recycling, beautification, and community greening.

County Mayor Tim Stribling says, “We invite people to come out and help clean up around our communities and highways. Folks are welcome to pick up litter at places of their choice, or we will be glad to assign a safe place for you.”

Suzanne Williams, Executive Director of the Chamber of Commerce, would like to remind everyone that DeKalb County’s peak tourism season is about to begin, so now is a great time to start getting things spruced up for our coming visitors. According to Williams, “Working together, we can better ensure that our public places are beautiful and healthy spaces.”

To get a head start on clean up, dumpsters will be set up at highly visible and convenient locations a few days prior to the main event. Dumpster locations will be at the Dowelltown Community Center, Liberty Community Center, Alexandria City Parking Lot (behind square), and the DeKalb County Complex parking lot.

Whether you’re cleaning up around a street, a highway, park, ball field, stream, or your own home, what a difference we can make through working together to make our communities safer, healthier and more livable! Don’t Just Sit There…Do Something Beautiful

April 18, 2022
By: Leigh Fuson, 4-H Agent

The DeKalb County 4-H Horse Judging teams had a very successful day at the Central Region and open MTSU contests held at the Miller Coliseum in Murfreesboro. All 3 teams placed in the top ten, with the Senior High Team placing 1st.

The Junior (4th & 5th grades) team of Natalia Johnson, Kenzie South, and Lydia Wright placed 9th. In the Junior High (6th-8th grades) division, Carsyn Beshearse, Izayah Dowell, and Trinity Young placed 9th overall but 3rd in the performance category. Our high school team of Sydney Ailes, Riley Fuson, and Hannah Redmon took top honors. Hannah also placed 9th individually. They will be heading to the State contest in Shelbyville in late June.

During the event, youth put their decision-making skills and horse knowledge to the test. Contestants watched four performance (riding) classes that included hunter under saddle, Walking Horse pleasure, horsemanship, hunt seat equitation, and ranch riding. The horses in each class were ranked 1-4 based on specific criteria needed for that discipline of riding. Three halter, or conformation, classes were also judged. These horses were judged on muscling, structure, and balance. After ranking the horses, the 4-H’ers’ decision was compared to that of the official judge, and a score was awarded. Senior high 4-Hers have an added challenge of giving oral reasons to defend why they placed the class the way they did.

Teams practiced several times and even attended a mock contest at MTSU before the contest. They worked hard and represented DeKalb County very well. To learn more about horse judging, or any 4-H activity, please contact the DeKalb County Extension Office at 615-597-4945.

April 18, 2022
By: Bill Conger

The D.C.H.S. Winter Guard recently performed at the Tennessee State Championship, placing 9th out of 14 color guards in the Novice class at Columbia Central High School.

The Winter Guard put on a 3-minute 20-second show titled “The Crown.”

“The concept is a chess game where two queens battle for the throne and ultimately the Crown and only one can rule the kingdom,” explains Shannon Johns, Color Guard Director for the D.C.H.S. Fighting Tiger Band. “We start with a white and black team and emerge with a red queen who is the final ruler of the kingdom.”

The guard practiced every Saturday in November through March and added extra Friday night practices as possible. They also competed at Wilson Central High School and placed 8th out of 14 color guards in the Novice class while they placed 9th out of 18 teams at Summit High School.

“This group of kids has been amazing,” Johns says. “They range from 7th to 12th graders and have been so great to work with. They have great attitudes and a wonderful team spirit. I truly believe some have made lifelong friendships from this activity. They have improved tremendously since the start of the season. A handful of them had never touched a piece of equipment before November, and they fit right in with the rest now.”

Johns explains how the group of rifle/flag/sabre members devise the show.

“First, we come up with a song that we can live with hearing on repeat for four months (lol but really true) and then we build the whole concept of the show around it. After that, we decide where it makes sense to have dance, flag, rifles and sabres or combinations of each. Next, we start writing equipment work and choreography that goes with the music and putting it together with drill including transitions on and off the floor. Throughout the season we make improvements as we see things not working or based on judge’s feedback.”

Members of the Winter Guard are as follows: Serenity Burgess, Jacklyn Kleparek, Crissy White, Bairon Hernandez-Avalos, Olivia Diego, Jamey Bradshaw, BJ Mosley, Ashton McClain, Eli Martin, Hannah Swoape, Hannah Finan, Elizabeth Cardin, Yoana Hernandez-Avalos, Jazmine Wagner, Ally Morris, Elizabeth Mosley, Kamryn Knowles, and Cameron Smith. Hannah Finan was the Captain, and Hannah Swoape and Eli Martin served as Co-Captains.

Johns says she would like thank all those who helped make the winter color guard season a success.

“We had wonderful support from our parents, my assistant Emily Wallace, who is a former color guard captain from the 2017 season, Erica Birmingham, who helped with our music and choreography for the queens, [Band Director] Don and Kim Whitt for their never ending support and for coming to every competition.”

Anyone interested in following the group on Facebook can go to the private FB page (contact Shannon Franklin Johns to be added) and Instagram (@dekalbcgrox).

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