Names Needed Now for “Love Lights a Tree” Board in Time for Christmas Parade

December 6, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

Names are needed now to honor and remember loved ones for the American Cancer Society’s “Love Lights A Tree” display board in time for the Smithville Christmas Parade and Christmas on the Square Saturday, December 7. “Love Lights a Tree” has been a fixture during the Christmas and New Year holidays downtown for many years.

Forms are available at the banks in the city at Region’s Bank, FirstBank, Wilson Bank & Trust and Liberty State Bank.

For a $5.00 donation to the DeKalb County Unit of the American Cancer Society you can have a name placed on the display board. You can either remember a friend or loved one lost to cancer or for any other reason. You may also honor someone still living including those who have struggled with cancer.

For more information call Melanie Judkins at 615-464-7664, Nancy Young at 615-785-3496, Renea Cantrell at 615-684-2688, Gail Taylor at 615-597-5936 or Iva Dell Randolph at 615-464-8129.

December 6, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

Smithville Elementary would like to recognize its Students of the Month for November. These students were selected for their outstanding character, academics, and other traits that make them an all-around excellent student. Selected as Students of the Month for November are:

PreK – Braydon Brumbach, Kennedy Fitts
Kindergarten – Reese Gard, Angelina Andres Juan
1st Grade – Maverick Puckett, Rozlyn Prichard
2nd Grade – Skylar McGriff, Lila Powell

December 5, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

The Tennessee Corrections Institute Board of Control met Wednesday, December 4 in Nashville and voted to continue certification of the DeKalb County Jail for another year under a plan of action upon the recommendation of TCI Deputy Director Bob Bass. The facility currently has 52 certifiable beds for male inmates.

County Mayor Matt Adcock, Sheriff Patrick Ray, and Jail Committee Chairman Larry Green attended the TCI Board meeting.

As of today (Thursday, December 5) Sheriff Ray said the DeKalb County Jail has 50 inmates and 30 others from DeKalb County are in other jails where the county pays a daily rate to house them. The number of inmates fluctuates regularly.

A “plan of action” allows a facility to maintain a certified status after failing to meet all minimum standards while demonstrating to the TCI Board of Control that the facility is making measurable progress over a period of time (months or years) to rectify deficiencies found during inspection.

Since 2019 DeKalb County has been under a plan of action with the Tennessee Corrections Institute to keep the jail certified as it works toward a solution with some type of building program. In the election on Tuesday, November 5 the voters of DeKalb County rejected in a referendum issuance of general obligation bonds for construction of a 190-bed judicial center/jail in an amount not to exceed $65 million by a margin of 85% to 15%.

A month ago the jail committee of the county commission met and voted unanimously to drop the judicial center concept for now and pursue construction of only a jail. The committee has not yet settled on the location for such new jail construction.

Bass, who also attended the jail committee meeting last month, made it clear that unless the county could agree to focus on solving the jail problems, he could not recommend to the TCI board that the DeKalb County Jail continue to be certified.

Bass recommended building at least a 150-bed jail with one arraignment court room. Although it wasn’t part of the motion, Commissioner Tony Luna said he would like to see a design for 120 beds with initial shell space for 30 additional beds and future plans (shell space) for 50 more beds “way down the road” as a cost saving move.

“The jail is the problem we have to deal with through TCI right now so if we can build a jail and we find we have extra money we could do courtrooms before we get too far in this process but to keep the jail certified we have to go forward with the jail,” said Jail Committee Chairman Green.

All fourteen members of the county commission make up the jail committee and all were present for the jail committee meeting last month except for Commissioner Susannah Cripps. Since it was only a committee meeting, the action amounted to only a recommendation for the full county commission to again act on which it did on Monday night, December 2 voting 9 to 0 to explore the jail only option. Members Tom Chandler, Sabrina Farler, Greg Matthews, Mathias Anderson, and Susannah Cripps were absent.

Bass, who is soon retiring from his position as TCI Deputy Director, will remain as a consultant and he plans to meet with the jail committee again on January 6 to give advice on the next step in this process.

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