Bid Awarded to Purchase Tornado Sirens for City of Smithville

June 17, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

The City of Smithville will soon have sirens to alert the community in the event of a tornado threat.

During Monday night’s monthly meeting, the aldermen awarded a bid to Capitol Electronics for a Federal Signal system. The cost is $71,497. One time state grant funds coming to city will cover the purchase.

Smithville Fire Chief and DeKalb Emergency Management Agency Director Charlie Parker said two sirens will be installed including one on the city’s water tank near the high school on Highway 70 and the other at the city’s water tank on Miller Road. The system is capable of adding more sirens later if needed including the reactivation of a siren on top of city hall.

“With this system it is completely upgradeable. We are looking at placing two sirens including one at the water tank at the high school and a second one at the water tank on Miller Road. We may look at doing a little adjusting for better coverage. We considered placing a siren at the water tank by the airport but we will get really good coverage with the two sirens. I also talked to them (company) about using the siren we have on top of city hall. We could probably have it upgraded for about $4,000. This is a turnkey system which has everything we need to get started. It is an automated system that originates from the National Weather Service and goes to another source which will send out the alert. The 911 Center, where the (system) is to be housed, will receive the alert and activate the sirens. The system will also automatically send out other text and tone alerts that we may utilize that would be beneficial not only to the city but the county and 911. The bid package includes training and an annual software upgrade (about $2,500 for the upgrade). The system is also expandable. If we need to add more sirens we can do that up to 10 sirens,” said Parker.

August 3, 2020
By: Bill Conger

How many hamstring pulls can you have in a softball season? Quite a few if you’re running the bases in church league softball. The second season begins the week of August 10, and one of the league’s five commissioners Jordan Atnip says he can guarantee a night of entertainment regardless of the numbers on the scoreboard.

“Nothing goes together as good as athleticism and aging bodies,” Atnip says, laughing. “I now know by looking at someone within five steps if they’ve pulled their hamstring. We all say that we’re going to train before the next season, but we never do.”

In shape or not, players will hit the field on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday nights for games at 6:00, 7:00, and 8:00 p.m. Nine churches—Smithville First Baptist Church, Elizabeth Chapel, Church of the Nazarene, Cumberland Presbyterian, New Life Pentecostal, Refuge, Sparta Nazarene, Outreach Baptist, and Calvary Baptist Church—will play in the eight week regular season.

Tournament action will happen the week after the schools’ Fall Break in mid-October.

At first the league commissioners wondered whether the season could begin during a pandemic. Since softball is a low contact sport and playing is optional, they decided to move forward. People who choose to step up to the plate will need to have been in a game by September 3 to be eligible for tournament play.

“That’s basically to keep a ringer out of there,” Jordan said. “We want folks to be involved if they are going to play in the tournament.”

Church League Softball came to an end several years ago because some say the league had lost sight of its purpose.

“Everybody was bent on winning games but not necessarily winning souls,” Jordan says.

This time around the league is used as an outreach tool for churches.

“We want you to recruit people who are not going to church, but we are going to enforce that they have to attend. You have to attend four services before you can play your first game, if you weren’t going to church somewhere. If you just want to play ball and you go to church just through the season and then as soon as tournament is over you don’t go to church again, that’s between you and the Lord. If you’re going to play, you’re going to hear the gospel on a weekly basis because you have to attend four services a month to retain your eligibility.”

Unlike secular sports, the teams in church softball put faith and fellowship above winning scores and championship trophies.

“Everyone goes out there with the mentality of I’m having fun. I don’t think anyone takes themselves too seriously. Our friends and brothers and sisters in Christ are on the other team. We poke at them. We high five them. We tell them good hit. It’s very friendly.”

Still on occasion, the competitive nature seeps out.

“Last season we had a couple of moments where tensions got a little hot, and you hear somebody on one team or another say, ‘Hey, it’s church league!’ And it would dissolve the tension.”

“On one particular play, I was umpiring, and there was a hit out in the outfield. I saw the ball go down as the outfielder was running towards it. I couldn’t tell if the ground hit the ball first or not. I didn’t know if it was an out or not. I was asking the field umpire [when] someone from the dugout of the team said, ‘Just ask him. It’s church league.’ The outfielder turned around and said, ‘Oh, it hit the ground first.’ In a competitive league that didn’t have faith built into it, who knows what would have happened in that situation?

The first run of the season will light up on a new score board that is “In Loving Memory of Bill and Jo Ann Page,” who founded the field and ran it. Before Ms. Page passed away last year, she had secured funding from Liberty State Bank for the score board. Darrell Gill with Gill Automotive used his company’s equipment recently to mount the sign while Smithville Electric positioned the posts.

August 3, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

Public comments are permitted during a County Commission meeting but new rules have been established on when and for how long a citizen may speak.

During the regular monthly meeting last Monday night, the commission voted 9 to 5 to adopt Rule 16F regarding Public Comments along with separate provisions as part of its new policies and procedures manual. Basically the Rule allows for persons to speak for three minutes at the end of the meeting, whether it be at a Regular Monthly Meeting or a “Committee of the Whole” meeting.

Commissioners voting in favor were Janice Fish Stewart, Myron Rhody, Beth Pafford, Dennis Slager, Bobby Johnson, Jenny Trapp, Julie Young, Scott Little, and Bruce Malone. Those voting against were Commissioners Anita Puckett, Jeff Barnes, Sabrina Farler, Jerry Adcock, and Matt Adcock.

The county commission typically has two meetings each month including the regular monthly session on the 4th Monday night of the month at 6:30 p.m. in the courthouse and a “Committee of the Whole” workshop formerly referred to as an “All-Committees” meeting which takes place on the Thursday evening at 6 p.m. prior to the Monday night regular meeting in the courthouse or any other day agreed upon by a majority vote of the County Commission.

The initial proposal under Rule 16F would have permitted public comment at the “beginning” of each meeting of the “Committee of the Whole” but 1st District Commissioner Dennis Slager offered an amendment to put the public comment period at the “end” of the meeting and to allow citizens to make comments at either the “Committee of the Whole” or the “Regular Monthly” County Commission meeting.

“I have a hard time telling a taxpayer or citizen they don’t have a right to speak at a county commission meeting but I believe it should be orderly and they should abide by the rules we set. I also think they should speak at the end of the meeting because if somebody comes in with a concern we may address their issue during the meeting without them having to speak,” said Slager.

Sixth District Commissioner Matt Adcock disagreed saying “I think it is important to hear their opinions and what they have to say before we take action on issues”.

Fifth District Commissioner Jerry Adcock said the public should have the right to speak before any agenda item is voted on by the commission during the meeting.

“They won’t have any reason to speak at the end of a meeting if we have already acted on everything and if they can only speak at the beginning they may not know what we have on our agenda when they walk in. They should be allowed to speak before each issue,” said Adcock.

Slager’s amendment was adopted by a 9 to 5 vote. Commissioners voting in favor were Janice Fish Stewart, Myron Rhody, Beth Pafford, Dennis Slager, Bobby Johnson, Jenny Trapp, Julie Young, Anita Puckett and Bruce Malone. Those voting against were Commissioners Scott Little, Jeff Barnes, Sabrina Farler, Jerry Adcock, and Matt Adcock.

Under Rule 16F, citizens of DeKalb County will be permitted to make public comments at the end of each regular monthly meeting of the “Committee of the Whole” or the “Regular Meeting” in accordance with the following:

*The person desiring to speak should rise, address the Chair, and when recognized, state their name and address.

*After providing the required information, the person shall be allowed to speak for a period of three (3) minutes on any matter of concern.

*All comments shall be directed to the Chair. The Chair may address questions to individual Commissioners, but in no event will the citizen be permitted to call names, question the integrity or motive of the individual Commissioners or the County Mayor or make personal or derogatory comments.

*The Committee of the Whole (County Commission) will not consider any item addressed during this time. Issues raised may be referred to appropriate persons for response at a later date or may be scheduled for discussion by the Committee at a later time.

*It is the responsibility of the Chair to maintain order at County Commission meetings.

*The Committee of the Whole (County Commission) may impose a more restrictive time limit if a large number of persons desire to speak. If a large number of speakers are present to address an issue, the Committee of the Whole may set a limit on the total time allowed for all speakers or ask that a Spokesman be named to speak on the issue.”

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