The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day is set for Saturday, April 28th. As part of this major health and safety initiative, the DeKalb Prevention Coalition will host this take-back event at Smithville City Hall around the Town Square from 10am till 2pm.

According to the DEA’s Atlanta Division, formerly Tennessee’s field division, a record 34 tons (68,053 pounds) of drugs were collected in Tennessee during the October 2017 Take-Back Day. On that one day, Tennesseans turned in more drugs than Kentucky, Michigan and Ohio combined.

“Fifty-three percent of Americans who use prescription drugs recreationally got them from a friend or relative according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention,” said Lisa Cripps, local Coordinator of the DeKalb Prevention Coalition. “Take-Back Days are a safe and easy way to protect your loved ones and to get these drugs out of your home.”

“With 64 percent of Tennesseans’ knowing someone who has become addicted to prescription pain medication, we want to provide more opportunities for people to safely dispose of their medications,” said Dr. Andrea Willis, senior vice president and chief medical officer at BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee. “National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day occurs twice a year, so we can better prevent these addictive drugs from getting into the wrong hands.”

If you can’t make it to this take-back event, our county has two drop boxes in the following locations: City Hall in Alexandria and City Hall in Smithville.

We hope to see you on Saturday, April 28th from 10am -2pm to help you dispose of any unused, out of date, or unwanted medication. We will have FREE t-shirts, pens, and lock boxes for those bringing medication to this event.

Thank you for your continued support of Count It! Lock It! Drop It!

The Smithville-DeKalb County Chamber of Commerce and the DeKalb County Mayor’s office would like to invite residents across the county to participate in the DeKalb County Clean Up on Saturday, May 5th. The DeKalb Clean Up event will be held in conjunction with the Keep America Beautiful initiative going on across the country.

County Mayor Tim Stribling says, “We invite people to come out and help clean up around our communities and highways. Folks are welcome to pick up litter at places of their choice, or we will be glad to assign a safe place for you.”

Suzanne Williams, Executive Director of the Chamber of Commerce, would like to remind everyone that DeKalb County’s peak tourism season is about to begin, so now is a great time to start getting things spruced up for our coming visitors. According to Williams, “I think we are all aware of the value and importance of beautification in our communities to attract newcomers and tourists to our area and to maintain a stable and growing economy.”

To get a head start on clean up, dumpsters will be set up at highly visible and convenient locations a few days prior to the main event. Dumpster locations will be at the Dowelltown Community Center, Liberty Community Center, Alexandria City Parking Lot (behind square), and the County Complex parking lot.

DeKalb Clean Up volunteers are asked to stop by the DeKalb County Complex on May 5th between 9 AM and 10 AM to sign-in and pick up the provided trash bags, rubber gloves, and bottles of water. We will be taking a group picture at 9:30 AM for the media if you like to participate in that.

For early sign-up, you can stop by the Chamber, located in the Courthouse, Room 201, anytime during regular office hours by May 4th to pick up supplies. Or if stopping by is not convenient, call the Chamber office at 615-597-4163 to be counted as a DeKalb Clean Up volunteer — just give your name and the general area where you will be working. Whether you’re beautifying your street, a highway, a park, ball field, a stream, or your own home, what a difference we can make through working together to make our communities safer, healthier and more livable!

Several students from DeKalb Middle School recently participated in the Upper Cumberland Mathematics Competition at Tennessee Tech on April 12, 2018.

These students were chosen by their teachers to represent the school. Pictured from left to right: Back Row: Ian Colwell, Evan Sprague, Richard Martinez, Sheridan O’Connor, Jacob Hendrix, and Tiana Clark; Front Row: Jordan Blackwell, Ryder Miller, Haidyn Hale, Evan Carmichael, Madelyn Ray, Kathryn Hale.