Massive Response to Petition Drive Expected to Trigger Public Referendum

July 12, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

Should DeKalb County borrow up to $65 million through the issuance of general obligation bonds for the development and construction of a judicial center/jail?

The voters of DeKalb County may get to answer that question at the ballot box in the November election but even so they won’t be able to force a repeal of the 51-cent property tax increase for debt service levied by the county commission with passage of the 2024-25 budget last month.

With less than a week until the deadline for turning in signatures, organizers and volunteers of a petition drive Thursday afternoon turned over to County Clerk James L. (Jimmy) Poss, as required by law, names of 2,471 presumptive registered voters who have signed that they want a public referendum on the bond issue. Aside from those submitted Thursday, Poss said another petition had already been turned in to him a few days ago with eight names and others are possibly still being circulated in the community. Poss said he will accept other petitions that may come in prior to next week’s deadline before he is required to turn them all over to the election commission, which has a limited time frame for checking and verifying the signatures.

Petitioners are concerned, upset, and in some cases downright angry with the county commission and county mayor for saddling them with a 51 cent tax hike, only a year after imposing a 27 cent increase, and for taking action to borrow money to build either a new 190 bed jail or more likely a judicial center that many don’t want or believe is needed.

As part of the bond resolution, the public was given 20 days to file a protest from the date of publication of the notice in the newspaper which was Wednesday, June 26.

“The public has 20 days from the date of publication to file with the county clerk a petition signed by at least 10% of the registered voters of the county (1,361) protesting the issuance of the bonds”, the public notice stated.

Although the signatures still have to be verified the petition effort with already at least 2,471 names appears to have more than exceeded the 10% threshold in order for the protest to proceed to a referendum.

The petition drive was launched last month only a couple of days after the county commission approved an initial and detailed resolution authorizing the issuance of general obligation bonds not to exceed $65 million for the development and construction of a judicial center/jail as well as the 51-cent property tax increase for debt service to fund it. In each case, the commission was deadlocked on the vote at 7 to 7 but County Mayor Matt Adcock, as Chairman of the Commission, cast the tie breaker in favor of passage.

Jon Slager, a DeKalb County native and Lascassas resident and attorney, assisted in organizing the petition drive and in a prepared statement Thursday said he is pleased with the overwhelming public response.

“On behalf of the people that asked me to assist with this, thank you to everyone who worked so hard supporting this petition. The response by the people of this county has been overwhelming. Because of the hard work of so many, nearly double the number of signatures required have been obtained, and the deadline is still several days away. Ultimately, the DeKalb County Court Clerk will send all the petitions to the election commission next week and that is who will do an official count,” said Slager

“The people I got to speak with over the last few weeks had a genuine concern about the real costs of a sixty-five-million-dollar criminal justice center. Even at an interest rate of just four percent, that sixty-five million dollars would balloon to over one hundred and ten million dollars. Then where does the money come from for the additional costs of nearly doubling the corrections staff? Are the taxpayers also being asked to pay over three-hundred thousand dollars to Steve Bates (county’s fiscal agent) for issuing these bonds? What about the threat of imminent domain and taking someone’s property? The true costs of this project are staggering and will undoubtedly leave other necessary projects unfunded for decades without additional future tax increases,” added Slager.

“When is it ever wrong for the public to have a voice in government decisions,” said Dennis Stanley, one of the volunteers in the petition drive.

“I saw the people’s voice in action. The days I helped with the drive the people who signed the petition were of various ages and socio-economic backgrounds. As expected, comments varied on what to do with local tax revenues from building a new school to better roads, but a criminal justice center did not appear to be high on their priority list”.

“In short, the people were obviously not happy with recent actions of the county commission as evidenced by the number of signatures on the petition, he added.

County Commissioner Beth Pafford, another volunteer in the petition drive, downplayed her role saying only she wanted the public to be aware of it.

“My involvement in this was minimal but I felt I had to let the people know that they can do something about this,” said Commissioner Pafford. “I feel strongly we have other options that we have not explored thoroughly enough and this plan with this much money for 30 years is what people have a problem with. If all of these petitions are cleared, people can vote to decide whether they want the county to move forward with taking out the $65 million bond that would be paid off over 30 years to support a new jail and justice center,” she said.

The action by the county commission and mayor to move forward last month came after months of discussion and planning to address long standing deficiencies at the jail and annex as defined by the Tennessee Corrections Institute in order to maintain state certification.

July 10, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

Early voting begins Friday, July 12 for the upcoming August 1 elections through July 27

Early voters may cast ballots at the courthouse in Smithville during a six-hour period on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. and Tuesdays from 12 noon until 6 p.m. Early voting on Saturdays will be from 9 a.m. until 12 noon as in the past. No early voting on Sundays.

In Alexandria, early voting will take place on two dates, Tuesday July 16 from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. and on Tuesday, July 23 from 12 noon until 6 p.m. at the Kenneth Sandlin Center on the DeKalb County Fairgrounds.

Meanwhile, the election commission has released the sample ballot for the elections on Thursday, August 1 which will include the DeKalb County General Election, Municipal Elections in Smithville, Dowelltown, and Alexandria, and the Tennessee Republican and Democratic Primaries.

Sample Ballot

The deadline to update an address on voter registrations is Friday, July 26.

All the local Republican nominees from the March primary will be unopposed in the DeKalb County General Election including Incumbent Assessor of Property Shannon Cantrell, Sixth district incumbent school board member Jason Miller, Fifth district school board candidate Megan Moore; Constable candidates 1st District: Tyler Cripps, 2nd District: Danny Adamson, 3rd District: Incumbent Travis Bryant, 4th District: Incumbent Lane Ball, 5th District: Incumbent Mark Milam, and 7th District: Jeremy Neal, and Judge Shawn C. Fry for the newly created Criminal Court Judge position in Part III of the seven-county 13th Judicial District.

For the county commission to fill unexpired terms, Andy Pack in the 6th district and Mathias Anderson in district 7 were recently nominated and certified as Republican candidates through the local GOP caucus process and their names will appear on the August 1 ballot.

The Smithville Municipal Election will be uncontested on August 1. The three incumbent aldermen up for re-election, Shawn Jacobs, Danny Washer, and Jessica Higgins will be running unopposed. The terms are for four years each.

Only three people qualified for the Alexandria Municipal Election ballot on August 1. In this election, the positions to be filled are for mayor (unexpired term), three aldermen, and three other aldermen (unexpired terms). Beth Tripp will run for the unexpired mayor’s term while Jeff Ford is seeking to fill an unexpired alderman term and Jonathon Tripp is running for a full alderman term. No one qualified on the ballot to run for the other positions.

No one qualified to run in the Dowelltown Municipal Election on August 1 in which a mayor and two aldermen are to be elected.

The following have filed a certificate of write-in for the following offices, but their names do not appear on the August 1 ballot:

Constable- District 6:
Keith Elkins

City of Alexandria:
Mayor
Allen Lawson
Russell “Rusty” Bradshaw

Alderman
Bobbie Ford

Robert “Bobby” Simpson

Lucas “Luke” Prichard

Curtis Rutter

The August 1 ballot will feature two State Judicial Retention questions as follows:

Shall Dwight Tarwater be retained in office as a Judge of the Supreme Court At Large or be replaced?

Shall Matthew J. Wilson be retained in office as a Judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals, Western Division or be replaced?

In the Tennessee Republican Primary on August 1 the candidates are as follows:

United States House of Representatives District 6: John Rose

United States Senate: Marsha Blackburn and Tres Wittum

Tennessee Senate District 16: Janice Bowling

Tennessee House of Representatives District 40: Michael Hale

In the Tennessee Democratic Primary on August 1 the candidates are as follows:

United States House of Representatives District 6: Lore Bergman, Clay Faircloth, and Cyril Focht

United States Senate: Marquita Bradshaw, Lola Denise Brown, Gloria Johnson, and Civil Miller-Watkins

Tennessee Senate District 16: Wayne Steele

Tennessee House of Representatives District 40: Daniel T. Hawthorne

State Executive Committeewoman District 16: Rupa Blackwell.

Sample Ballot

July 10, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

An argument which led to an assault has resulted in charges against one man.

44-year-old Leonel Sanchez Rodriquez of Allen Street, Smithville is charged with aggravated assault and vandalism. His bond is $8,500 and he will be in court July 25.

Sheriff Patrick Ray said that on July 4 Rodriquez and another individual got into an argument when Rodriquez picked up a cinder block and threw it. But instead of hitting his intended victim the cinder block hit a truck belonging to someone else. Rodriquez then threw another cinder block hitting the victim in the head causing a laceration. The victim was transported by EMS to the hospital.

44-year-old Elisha Marie Boles of McMinnville is charged with forgery and bringing contraband into a penal institution. Her bond is $7,500 and she will be in court July 18.

Sheriff Ray said that on June 11 Boles forged a check in the amount of $700 and cashed it at Liberty State Bank. After Boles arrived at the jail, she was found with a bag containing 1.1 grams of a green leafy substance.

41-year-old Jason John Grady of Sparta is charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to manufacture, sell, or deliver, tampering with evidence, and simple possession of a schedule II drug. His bond totals $40,500 and he will be in court July 25.

Sheriff Ray said that on July 5 while serving Grady with a warrant in a separate case, an officer conducted a search of Grady’s wallet and found a piece of aluminum foil and a one-dollar bill that contained a white powdery substance believed to be heroin that weighed 0.6 grams along with two half pink pills identified as oxycodone.

As the deputy placed the suspected drugs on the hood of the patrol car to continue the search, Grady grabbed and tried to dump them in an effort to destroy the evidence so it could not be tested.

24-year-old Kristofer Ryan Barrett is charged with driving under the influence, and he was picked up on a sealed indictment returned by the grand jury last week for burglary and aggravated burglary. His bond for the DUI is $2,000 and he will be in court on that charge July 18. He will be arraigned on the burglary offense July 23.

Sheriff Ray said that on July 5 a deputy was traveling north on South Mountain Street when he spotted a black Chevrolet Silverado leave its lane of travel. The officer pulled over the vehicle at the intersection of Jacobs Pillar Road and Braswell Lane and spoke with the driver, Barrett. According to the deputy, Barrett smelled of alcohol and his eyes were red and watery. His speech was slurred, and he admitted to having consumed alcoholic beverages prior to driving. Barrett submitted to but performed poorly on standardized field sobriety tasks.

65-year-old Ricky Lee Dowell of Wade Street, Smithville is charged with driving on a revoked license. His bond is $1,500 and he will be in court July 25.

Sheriff Ray said that on July 5 a deputy was patrolling East Broad Street when he observed Dowell driving a Chrysler Pacifica. Knowing that Dowell’s license was revoked, he pulled over Dowell and confirmed through a background check that his license was revoked. Dowell had been cited for the same offense on May 12. The license was revoked for failure to maintain future financial responsibility on June 26. 2023.

30-year-old Kevin Jacob Lack of Indian Trail, Sparta is charged with driving on a suspended license. His bond is $2,500 and he will be in court July 25.

Sheriff Ray said that on July 6 a deputy was patrolling Sparta Highway when he noticed a black Dodge Ram with a broken driver’s side headlight. He pulled over the vehicle and spoke with the driver, Lack. A background check through central dispatch revealed that Lack’s driver license was suspended for failure to pay fines and court costs in White County on January 9, 2024.

27-year-old Erasmo Godinez of Blue Springs Road, Smithville is charged with driving under the influence. His bond is $2,000 and he will be in court July 25.

Sheriff Ray said that on July 7 a deputy was traveling south on South Congress Boulevard when he spotted a black Dodge Durango speeding and leaving its lane of travel. He pulled over the vehicle and spoke with the driver, Godinez. According to the officer, Godinez smelled of alcohol and he admitted to having consumed three or four alcoholic beverages prior to driving. His eyes were red and watery. Godinez submitted to but performed poorly on field sobriety tasks.

35-year-old Alberto Antonio Pardo of McMinnville is charged with driving under the influence. He is under a $2,000 bond and his court date is July 18.

Sheriff Ray said that on July 3 a deputy was traveling south on South Congress Boulevard when he saw a white Dodge Ram leave its lane of travel. The officer pulled over the vehicle and spoke with the driver, Pardo who smelled of alcohol. Pardo admitted to having consumed alcoholic beverages prior to driving. Pardo’s eyes were red and watery, and his speech was slurred. He submitted to but performed poorly on field sobriety tasks.

25-year-old Luis Fernando Alvarez of Campbell Road, Smithville is charged with driving under the influence. His bond is $2,000 and he will be in court July 18.

Sheriff Ray said that on July 2 a deputy was traveling northeast on Short Mountain Highway when he observed a blue Dodge Charger with no rear lights leave its lane of travel several times. The officer pulled over the automobile and spoke with the driver, Alvarez who smelled of alcohol. Alvarez submitted to but performed poorly on field sobriety tasks. He admitted to having consumed alcoholic beverages prior to driving.

Jalen Armani Wofford of Cookeville is charged with aggravated criminal trespassing. He is under a $2,500 bond and his court date is July 18. Sheriff Ray said that on July 3 Wofford entered a residence without the owner’s consent but refused to leave even after being confronted and asked several times to leave.

57-year-old Joe Anthony Young of New Home Road, Smithville is charged with driving on a revoked license. His bond is $2,000 and he will be in court July 18. Sheriff Ray said that on July 1 a deputy was patrolling Cookeville Highway when he spotted a maroon Chevrolet. He learned from a background check that the tag displayed on the vehicle was expired. The officer pulled over the vehicle and spoke with the driver, Young who admitted that he had no license. Another background check confirmed that Young’s license was revoked for failure to provide insurance on August 13, 2023.

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