Smithville Police Charge Fuson with Theft

August 1, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

Smithville Police have charged a former employee of Regions Bank in Smithville for allegedly stealing a large sum of money from the bank account of another.

45-year-old Brenda Fuson of Old Highway 53, Liberty is charged with theft over $250,000.

Police Chief Mark Collins said that on July 30 detectives began investigating the theft of $331,499 from a customer’s savings account at Regions Bank in Smithville. During that probe, Fuson became a person of interest and while interviewing her, Fuson allegedly admitted to police that she took the money out of the account and deposited it into her own. Fuson is under a $100,000 bond and her court date is August 15.

In response to this story, a Regions Bank spokesperson issued the following statement:

“Our teams are working closely with law enforcement in support of the investigation. We have zero tolerance for the type of behavior that is alleged in this case. Rest assured; we will take all appropriate steps to resolve this matter based on the results of the investigation.”

35-year-old Terry Ray Barnes of Rock Island and 25-year-old Gabriel James Hesson of Murfreesboro are charged with aggravated assault, illegal possession of a weapon and drug paraphernalia. Bond for each is $21,500 and they will be in court August 8.

Chief Collins said that on July 21 police were summoned to 149 Village Place due to a burglary and an aggravated assault involving firearms According to the complaint, the suspects had left the scene in a black vehicle. Police spotted the automobile traveling north on Riley Avenue, pulled it over, and confronted Barnes and Hesson. While searching the vehicle, the officers found two loaded firearms along with several items of drug paraphernalia. Both men were taken into custody.

20-year-old Brooklyn Taylor Green of Shady Rest Drive is cited for simple possession and possession of drug paraphernalia. Her court date is August 8. During a routine traffic stop, Chief Collins said an officer spoke with the driver, Green and detected an odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle. He conducted a search and found 9 grams of a green leafy substance along with a large pipe. Green admitted the items found by police in the automobile belonged to her.

20-year-old Anderson Burnett of Sparta is cited for vandalism and his court date is August 8. According to Chief Collins, police were called to investigate a vandalism which occurred at Spring Street The Baptist Church on July 14 in which someone used a vehicle to do donuts in the graveled parking lot, resulting in gravel being thrown into the siding of the building causing damage in excess of $700. During the investigation, Burnett was identified as a person of interest, and he was issued a citation.

36-year-old Candice Chitwood of Knoxville is charged with public intoxication. Her bond is $1,500 and she will be in court August 15. Chief Collins said that police were summoned to a residence on South College Street after receiving several calls about an intoxicated woman causing a disturbance. Upon arrival, officers spoke with the woman, Chitwood who smelled of alcohol and appeared to be intoxicated.

54-year-old James Crawford of Michigan is charged with driving under the influence and leaving the scene of an accident. His bond was set at $7,000. Chief Collins said that on July 19 officers responded to an accident at Liberty State Bank where a vehicle had left the scene. While enroute, central dispatch provided police a description of the vehicle and one of the responding officers spotted it on West Broad Street and made a traffic stop. Upon speaking with the driver, Crawford, the officer observed that he appeared to be impaired and smelled of alcohol. Crawford admitted to having consumed alcohol earlier and he submitted to but performed poorly on field sobriety tasks.

20-year-old Gregory Scott Smith of Wade Street is charged with public intoxication. His bond is $1,500 and he will be in court August 8. Chief Collins said that on July 19 police were summoned to Mapco Express due to a physical altercation between persons inside the store. Police spoke with one of the suspects, Smith who appeared to be intoxicated. Smith admitted to having consumed alcohol prior to the altercation.

34-year-old Dustin Williamson of Oak Drive, Smithville is charged with driving under the influence. His bond is $2,500 and he will make a court appearance on August 8. According to Chief Collins, police conducted a traffic stop on East Main Street July 21 after spotting a vehicle failing to maintain its lane of travel. The officer pulled over the automobile and spoke with the driver, Williamson who appeared to have red, watery eyes, and he seemed to be drowsy. Williamson said he had purchased a five pack of THC gummies and had consumed three of them prior to driving. He submitted to but performed poorly on field sobriety tasks. He also consented to implied consent for a blood draw.

July 31, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

The DeKalb County Highway Department will be having short, temporary stops on at least 14 different roads across the county over the next few days because of storms.

Road Supervisor Danny Hale made the announcement in the following statement.

“Tuesday afternoon there were 14 roadways blocked. At approximately 10:30 p.m. the highway department had the roadways open, but the tree debris still has to be cut up and hauled off out of the right of way. The temporary stops will be on these roads: Captains Point, Holiday Haven, Lafever Ridge, Blackberry Hill, Ford Road, Midway Road, Fishhook Road, Johnson’s Chapel, Church Road, Floyd Drive, Hurricane Ridge, School House Road, Cecil Hale Road, and Long Branch. Thank you ahead of time for your patience as we continue to make your roadways safer,” said Road Supervisor Hale

July 31, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

When will a new Smithville Elementary School be built?

Five years ago (2019), the first schematic site plans were developed for the Board of Education by architects of Upland Design Group to build a new Pre-K to 2nd grade school adjacent to Northside Elementary School and the following year (2020) the board purchased the property, a 24.5-acre site on North Congress Boulevard. The price paid was $18,000 per acre for a total of $441,000.

School Plans

In the fall of 2022, the site plan was updated and shown for the first time to the county commission in a joint meeting with the school board and architects. The total estimated project cost at that time was $46,199,875. Today, it’s more than $53 million, according to updated cost projections.

Last week, County Mayor Matt Adcock informed the county commission that he requested and had received some preliminary new estimates from Director of Schools Patrick Cripps.

“He sent a new estimated cost of the building, which did not include everything. I haven’t yet had an opportunity to talk with him to fully understand what all of that number covers but it came to $53, 414, 625 which included construction and site work for a 124,207 square foot building at $375 dollars per square foot, additional bus and car driveways to connect the two schools, $32,000 for a survey, $10,000 for an additional sub surface investigation, $200,000 for construction testing, $1,250,000 for construction contingencies , architectural and engineering fees of $2,360,000, fire marshal review costs of $85,000, and loose furniture at $2,250,000. Playground costs were not included,” said County Mayor Adcock.

In March, the board of education rejected a request from the county to make a one-time contribution of $2 million from the school system’s ($10 million) fund balance reserves to help fund construction of the new school. Skeptical of the move, Director Cripps and the Board said taking $2 million from the school system’s fund balance or reserve account would be digging a little too deeply, especially at a time when the school district has other needs which require funding. However, by contributing the $2 million dollars, County Mayor Adcock and the county’s fiscal agent Steve Bates, said a $40 million school construction project could be funded perhaps over a 15-year period instead of 30 years without a property tax increase or even a wheel tax, coupled with using available local option sales tax funds and interest income on bond proceeds. Under that plan, the county would have needed a commitment from the cities within the county and school board to extend the existing sales tax agreements between the parties which expire July 16, 2037. In those agreements, the cities turn over to the county for schools a greater percentage of their local option sales tax collections than they are otherwise required to do. That money goes into what is called the Local Purpose Tax Fund for Schools to help fund school operation and debt.

Since then, the county commission has adopted a resolution extending the sales tax agreement for another 30 years until 2067, but the four municipalities within the county must do the same in order for the extension to take effect.

County Mayor Adcock said while the cities have been asked to follow suit with the county in extending the sales tax agreements, the municipalities want assurances from the county that a school project will be funded.

“Even though our sales tax agreement with the cities doesn’t expire until 2037, we can’t make any future plans (beyond 13 years) not knowing if that (sales tax) revenue is going to be there or not. The only way we can predict that is by doing this agreement,” said County Mayor Adcock. We (county commission) have already passed our sales tax extension agreement. That’s a 30-year extension to what we already have to 2067. We also made it contingent that the other municipalities also participate in that same sales tax extension agreement. In conversation with some of those municipalities there were a lot of questions on what the actual plan would be for a school. Some of the concerns is they don’t want to keep investing in something when there is no plan,” said County Mayor Adcock.

According to Upland Design Group, the proposed new Pre-K to 2nd grade Smithville Elementary School is 124,207 square feet in size and would be designed to accommodate 800 students with room for future expansion to house up to 300 additional students (1,100) total. The school would be built with 11 classrooms for each grade level of kindergarten, first, and second grade (33 classrooms for 20 students each) along with seven Pre-K classrooms for 20 students each plus four CDC/SPED classrooms as needed. The future expansion would accommodate 15 new classrooms at 20 students each. There would be 189 parking spaces on the campus.

In September 2020 the School Board adopted a traffic plan as proposed by T-Square Engineering based in Franklin and approved by TDOT on how best to get traffic entering the schools off of Highway 56 to reduce congestion.

Under the plan each school (The proposed new Smithville Elementary School and Northside Elementary) would have its own entrance for car traffic off of Highway 56 (North Congress Boulevard) but there would also be a lane connecting the two schools should parents have to pick up and drop off children at both places.

Buses would enter the Northside campus from Smith Road for student pickup/drop off and then would follow a bus (only) lane to the new elementary school for pickup/drop off to be located at the rear of both schools. After making a turnaround at the new school, buses would then exit the same way they entered via the bus lane and then back onto Smith Road.

No construction or alterations would be needed on Highway 56 to accommodate the school traffic plan according to T-Square Engineering.

The existing Smithville Elementary School, originally built in 1958, now is 70,557 square feet in size, and had an enrollment of 550 students in August 2023. As far back as 2017, a facilities study by Upland Design Group, concluded that the school, which has mold and other concerns, should be replaced and repurposed for other uses.

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