Suspicious Early Morning Fire Under Investigation

November 8, 2022
By: Dwayne Page

A suspicious fire early Monday morning is under investigation by the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department.

Members of the DeKalb County Fire Department were dispatched at 2:32 a.m. to a single wide mobile home on South Judkins Lane in the Jefferson Community where the residence and a bass boat were reportedly on fire.

“Upon arrival firefighters found the mobile home with heavy fire showing through the roof on one end of the residence in the bedroom area. The bass boat also had heavy fire in the engine and fuel tank areas. Firefighters were able to quickly extinguish the fire containing the blaze to the bedroom of the mobile home. The remainder of the residence received extensive heat and smoke damage. Two caged dogs perished inside the home. The boat was extensively damaged by the fire,” said DeKalb County Fire Chief Donny Green.

No one was injured and no other nearby properties were damaged. The incident is being investigated by DeKalb Sheriff’s Department detectives.

The Keltonburg, Belk, Blue Springs, Four Seasons, Short Mountain Highway, and Main Stations responded along with the tanker, DeKalb EMS, and the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department.

November 8, 2022
By: Dwayne Page

The Smithville Mayor and Aldermen Monday night took the next step toward eventually installing a new irrigation system for the fairways and greens at the Smithville Golf Course replacing the 55-year-old infrastructure.

During the regular monthly meeting, the Aldermen adopted a budget amendment ordinance on second and final reading in the amount of $375,000 to purchase materials for the project. The labor costs will be addressed later estimated to be around $215,000. Bids were advertised recently but none were received.

The city’s financial advisor Janice Plemmons Jackson said last month that the funds are available for this project in the city budget thanks in part to golf course generated fees over the years.

The Aldermen also adopted on final reading as part of the same budget amendment ordinance an expenditure in the amount of $15,832 toward the purchase of a new garbage truck and $112,541 to do street paving. These are funds needed to meet costs above what was budgeted for these projects.

The total amount to cover the extra costs for all these projects named in the budget amendment ordinance comes to $503,373 to be taken from the city’s unreserved general fund balance.

The Aldermen also adopted on first reading another budget amendment ordinance to cover extra costs for other specific projects in both the general fund and water and sewer fund.

In the general fund, the city needs an extra $31,783 to cover costs of replacing the city hall roof for which the aldermen had budgeted $100,000; $14,000 for repairs or reconstruction of a used backhoe; and $27,151 to repair or replace an arm on a city sanitation truck. The total amount of the budget amendment for these projects comes to $72,934 to be taken from the unreserved general fund balance.

In the water and sewer fund, the budget amendment ordinance includes $50,000 needed for a sewer pump station upgrade on Jennings Lane. The money will be taken from the water and sewer funds retained earnings or reserves.

Meanwhile, the Aldermen voted to promote Josh Hawkins to the position of Public Works Supervisor and increase his hourly pay from $ 22.31 to $25 per hour. Hawkins will work under Public Works Director Kevin Robinson.

November 7, 2022
By: Dwayne Page

Thirteen DCHS Football players and an assistant coach have earned 2022 All-Region honors including Tiger Senior Running Back Colby Barnes who has been named the Co-Offensive Most Valuable Player in Region 4, Class 4A with Kaleb Flowers of Stone Memorial.

Barnes, who set a school single season rushing record at DCHS with 2,073 yards on 287 carries and 19 touchdowns through 11 games, is joined by Tyler Estes, the region’s Co-Most Outstanding Linebacker with Brady Lane of Stone Memorial; Ean Jones- Co-Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman with Bo Harrel of Upperman; Josh May- Most Outstanding Tight End, Malachi Trapp- Co-Most Outstanding Wide Receiver with Jackson Bush of Upperman; Holden Trapp-Co-Most Outstanding Returner with Nick Osmun of Stone Memorial, and Nolan Gottlied-Co-Most Outstanding Punter with the punter from Cumberland County.

Tiger Assistant Michael Shaw was named the Region’s Co-Defensive Assistant Coach of the year with Justin Qualls of Stone Memorial and Spencer Young of Macon County.

All Region 1st Team from DeKalb County: Wil Farris, Ty Webb, and Ari White

All Region 2nd Team from DeKalb County: Shadie Rankhorn, Johnny Skinner, and Trace Hamilton.

The State Football Play-Off run ended for the DeKalb County Tigers Friday November 4 at Ooltewah with a 21-14 loss to the East Hamilton Hurricanes in the first round.

The Tigers concluded the season at 6-5 and finished in 4th place in Class 4A Region 4 at 2-3.

This marked the 12th consecutive State Football Play-Off appearance for DeKalb County, the most in school history.

Tiger game results for the 2022 season:

August 19: Warren County-(Tigers won 35-34).
August 26: Smith County-(Tigers won 17-14)
September 1 (THURSDAY): Macon County*- (Tigers lost 21-13).
September 9: Watertown-(Tigers won 26-14)
September 16: Cumberland County* (Tigers won 48-13)
September 23: Cannon County- (Tigers won 55-7)
September 30: Livingston Academy* (HOMECOMING)-(Tigers won 48-0)
October 14: Upperman*- (Tigers lost 17-16).
October 21: Goodpasture-(Tigers lost 24-17)
October 28: Stone Memorial* (Tigers lost 29-28)
November 4: East Hamilton (Tigers lost 21-14) TSSAA Class 4A Playoffs

The following are the 2022 Region 4, Class 4A Superlatives:

Co-MVP: Hunter Heavilon of Stone Memorial and Gabe Borders of Macon County

Co-Offensive MVP: Colby Barnes of DeKalb County and Kaleb Flowers of Stone Memorial

Co-Defensive MVP: Terrance Dedman of Upperman and Mason Swindell of Macon County

Co-Most Outstanding Linebacker: Tyler Estes of DeKalb County and Brady Lane of Stone Memorial

Most Outstanding Defensive Lineman: Clayton Harris of Upperman

Co-Most Outstanding Defensive End: Jordan Collins of Stone Memorial and Brody Frey of Macon County

Most Outstanding Defensive Back: Bear Eldridge of Stone Memorial

Co-Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman: Ean Jones of DeKalb County and Bo Harrel of Upperman

Co-Most Outstanding Running Back: Jackson Rollins of Upperman and Lockland Hammock of Livingston Academy

Most Outstanding Tight End: Josh May of DeKalb County

Co-Most Outstanding Wide Receiver: Malachi Trapp of DeKalb County and Jackson Bush of Upperman

Co-Most Outstanding Quarterback: Jonathon Rushing of Upperman and Kyle Shockley of Macon County

Co-Most Outstanding Returner: Holden Trapp of DeKalb County and Nick Osmun of Stone Memorial

Co-Most Outstanding Punter: Nolan Gottlied of DeKalb County and punter of Cumberland County

Most Outstanding Kicker: Sebastian Stanfill of Upperman

Offensive Assistant Coach-Tony Leckie of Stone Memorial

Co-Defensive Assistant Coach-Michael Shaw of DeKalb County, Justin Qualls of Stone Memorial, and Spencer Young of Macon County

Co-Special Teams Coach: Vince Ferguson of Upperman and Drew Scott of Macon County

Coach of the Year: Derrick Samber of Stone Memorial

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