Janney & Associates Marks 30 Years of Service

October 24, 2019
By:

Local accountant Tom Janney has witnessed the growth of technology and major tax code changes. He will soon celebrate three decades of business in DeKalb County and, as he put it, “it’s been quite a ride.”

“We would love to have all friends, former employees, colleagues, and clients attend” the 30^th anniversary of Janney and Associates on November 1 from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. at 297 West Broad Street, Smithville,” he said.

“We will have a barbeque lunch, which you need to register for because we have to give a head count. But we will also have some fun,” he continued. “We will have a wheel of fortune, I call it. We’ll spin for some prizes and other things to give away. It’s just a big thank you to the whole community because I am very grateful for what we have been able to do here.”

Janney moved to DeKalb County when he was a youngster after his “parents retired here mostly because of Center Hill Lake.”

“They came here and said that lake is beautiful and then we met Fowler Stanton (then the band director at DeKalb County High School.) He recruited me to play trombone in the band. He was quite the ambassador so we came here when I was in the 7^th grade in about 1975. I loved it.  I loved going to school at DCHS.”

After graduating high school, Janney attended the University of Tennessee where he and another DeKalb County resident, Richard Eller, performed in the famous marching band.

“I got to play in the inaugural parade that year when Ronald Reagan was elected President so it was really a great experience being in the band.”

Initially, Janney planned on studying architecture while at UT but “I changed majors somewhere along the way and decided that accounting is basically the language of business,” he said. “Out of all majors offered in the college of business I felt like accounting gave you the most options in business because if you can understand the accounting side of things a lot of the ball is moved down the field at that point and you’re really teed up to do some good work in business.”

After college graduation Janney returned to Smithville and joined an established CPA practice. “When I started doing tax returns in Mr. Ed Fuqua’s office we did all the returns in ink by hand as people sat and waited in front of you,” he recalled. “You talk about learning how to do a tax return. You did it that way and if you messed up you had to get the white-out which was a pain in the neck.”

Thankfully over time technology came to the forefront.

“Just amazing the technology that has happened over these 30 years,” he said. “I remember I was one of the first people in Smithville to get a fax machine. I remember somebody asking me, ‘who on earth in Smithville needs a fax machine. You can just walk across the street and hand them a piece of paper.’ That’s how technology works. At first you think that is the craziest idea I have ever heard and then the next thing you know everybody has a fax machine. Now fax machines are a little bit out-moded. Isn’t that funny?”

In October 1989, Janney opened his own business on Market Street in downtown Smithville. Later he moved across the street and “then I was blessed to be able to purchase the building where I am now on Broad and Short Mountain Streets.”

During his time in the business, Janney has witnessed major changes in the tax code.

“It just piles one thing on after another “I would love it if they would listen to me and other practitioners about how we could make this easier on taxpayers because it is a really tough thing to know all the rules,” he said. “Everybody wants to comply as much as they can but nobody likes paying taxes so you really have to be up on it to know how to save your clients some money. It makes for some fun and interesting conversations with people, I’ll put it like that.”

Also during that time, the business has grown to include clients from various parts of Middle Tennessee.

“There are nine of us on staff, including me,” he said. “I used to have a few locations outside of Smithville but I decided I was not meant to be a McDonalds chain. I decided to bring it all back in one house here because I have this wonderful building, but I do have clients from all over the Upper Cumberland and even Nashville now. It’s amazing what you can do with technology between staying connected on email and portals and all sorts of fun stuff like that.”

And, Janney said the business is still growing as he looks to the future.

“We are really going gangbusters and I am trying to think about the future, not that I am going anywhere anytime soon. We have a wide range of ages here and I don’t want to be in a situation where my clients aren’t able to move on with someone else at some point,” he explained.  “I am trying to run a business that will live longer than I do.”

Janney makes it clear he is grateful for his success here.

“I want everyone to know I am truly grateful,” he said. “I am not from here originally. Nobody had to welcome me in. Nobody had to include me in this community. I am very grateful for that. I just want everyone to know that and that is what November 1 is all about. Please come out that day even if you (only) spend 10 minutes.”

October 24, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

The DeKalb Emergency Services Association (DESA), in partnership with local businesses and volunteers, will again be preparing and delivering Thanksgiving Meals to the needy or underserved on Thursday, November 28.

“We feel that this is just another way our local emergency service providers and our supporters can serve our community. If you or a family member would like a hot meal on Thanksgiving Day, please call one of the numbers listed below to be added to our delivery list. We will need your address, phone number, and number of persons in your household. The meals are scheduled to be delivered between 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 Noon,” said Association President Blake Cantrell.

DESA will accept names of persons requesting a meal through Friday, November 15.

To get your name on the delivery list, call 615-597-7411 or 615-712-4286.

Additionally, if you want to support this community project by donating food items or volunteering your time to prepare meals and/or make deliveries, you can contact the phone numbers above or make monetary donations at Wilson Bank & Trust in Smithville. Please let them know it is for the DeKalb County Emergency Services Thanksgiving Meal Delivery. The DeKalb Emergency Services Association also plans to prepare and deliver meals on Christmas Eve. A future announcement will be publicized later for this project.

October 24, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

All the other Fearless Forecasters are still chasing Chad Kirby who continues to lead the pack heading into the ninth week of the college football season.

WJLE’s weekly pigskin picks show airs today (Thursday) at 4:30 p.m.

Kirby leads with an overall record of 77-43 closely followed by Darrell Gill and Dewain Hendrixson each at 76-44. The James Gang (Grant and Jeff James) and the guests each own a record of 72-48. Jacob Parsley, Ricky Atnip, and John Pryor are 70-50. Jared Davis and Will Graham are each at 67-53 and Scott Brown is 66-54.

For the week, Stuart Brown, the guest, had the best record at 12-3. Darrell Gill, the James Gang, Jacob Parsley, Dewain Hendrixson, and Jared Davis each went 11-4. Ricky Atnip, Will Graham, and Chad Kirby were each at 10-5 while John Pryor and Scott Brown were 9-6.

Five of the forecasters hit their underdog picks last week. Darrell Gill picked up 11 points as Oregon State defeated California 21-17. The James Gang added 6 points to their total as Georgia State knocked off Army 28-21. Jacob Parsley also gained 6 points with UCLA’s upset of Stanford 34-16. Dewain Hendrixson got 8.5 points as Eastern Michigan beat Western Michigan 34-27 and Jared Davis expanded his overall lead by 7 points as BYU defeated Boise State 28-25.

After eight weeks, Jared Davis remains the underdog points leader with 38 followed by Scott Brown 29.5, Jacob Parsley 20, Dewain Hendrixson 19.5, Darrell Gill 19, the guests 14.5, the James Gang 10.5, John Pryor 7.5, Will Graham 7 points, Ricky Atnip 4 points, and Chad Kirby 0.

Today (Thursday) the Forecasters will be picking winners in the following games:

Miami at Pittsburgh, Western Kentucky at Marshall, Indiana at Nebraska, South Florida at East Carolina, Utah State at Air Force, Arizona at Stanford, Penn State at Michigan State, Duke at North Carolina, FIU at MTSU. Texas at TCU, Texas Tech at Kansas, Notre Dame at Michigan, Auburn at LSU, South Carolina at Tennessee, and Tampa Bay at the Tennessee Titans..

Today’s special guest is DeKalb County UT/TSU Extension Director Johnny Barnes.

Catch the Fearless Forecasters on WJLE Thursday at 4:30 p.m. on AM 1480/FM 101.7 and LIVE streaming at www.wjle.com.

The program is sponsored by Graham Services, the Charles D. Atnip Realty and Auction Company, Davis Auto Body, Middle Tennessee Natural Gas, Liberty State Bank, DeKalb County Insurance, Gill Automotive, Love-Cantrell Funeral Home, DeKalb County Ace Hardware, and Domino’s Pizza.

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