State Grants Public Hearing on Proposed Rock Quarry Water Discharge Permit Application (View Video Here)

November 14, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

Residents trying to stop Jones Brothers Contractors LLC from starting up a rock quarry in the Liberty/ Alexandria area are being afforded a public hearing to speak out against the state’s issuance of a water quality permit for the proposed operation and the potential impact on human health and the environment.

(Click link below to access mor information on this proposed project)

https://www.tn.gov/environment/ppo-public-participation/ppo-public-participation/ppo-dmgr.html

In a public notice issued Wednesday, November 13 the Division of Mineral and Geologic Resources announced that it will hold a public hearing regarding the proposed issuance of a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit. The public hearing will be held Tuesday, December 17 at 6 p.m. at the DeKalb County Complex. An information session will be held at 5 p.m.

This comes on the heels of the county commission last month, by a two thirds majority, having adopted the county powers act and regulations prohibiting rock quarries, rock crushers, gravel pits, cryptocurrency mining, landfills, adult entertainment and methadone clinics from locating within 5,000 feet of a residence, school, licensed daycare facility, park, recreation center, church, retail, commercial, professional, or industrial establishment. This regulation would apply to all such facilities that were not in existence and in operation by October 28, 2024. No word yet from the county on when the provisions of the county powers act will be enforced.

During a posted public comment period through September 27, residents in the Liberty/Alexandria area through fax, emails, and phone calls requested a hearing on the proposed permit application for a new limestone quarry to be named Jones Alexandria Quarry at 2159 Old Highway 53, Liberty in DeKalb County. The receiving stream for the proposed discharge of treated mine and wastewater and industrial waste is Helton Creek. The public hearing will be presented via video-teleconference and may be attended online, by phone, or in-person.

The purpose of the hearing is to gather information from the public relevant to a final decision on the permit application. Comments not related to water quality or to the information contained in the permit application will not be considered in the decision-making process. Issues such as air quality, zoning, blasting, noise, dust, and traffic are not related to water quality and are not regulated by the Division of Mineral and Geologic Resources or the NPDES program therefore, consideration of these issues would not contribute relevant information for the proposed permit.

While an application for a water discharge permit for Jones Brothers is pending approval, the state’s Division of Mineral and Geologic Resources website shows no such application on file for a quarry operation by Smyrna Ready Mix Concrete Company off Highway 70 at Snow Hill on North Driver Road.

Daniel Lawrence, Program Manager Division of the Mineral & Geologic Resources Mining Section in the Knoxville Environmental Field Office spoke with WJLE by phone in August to explain the reasons for a water discharge permit.

“Ultimately this is a water quality permit so this regulates any water that would be discharged from the facility,” said Lawrence. “The idea being we put limits on that water in order to protect the stream to make sure any water leaving the facility is not going to pollute the stream and cause any problems. That is the main authority the state has over mining facilities. We get a lot of questions and concerns about other aspects of mining and things like blasting, truck trafficking noise, and dust but we don’t have any authority over that and its outside of the scope of this draft permit,” Lawrence explained.

He also described the meaning of the term “wastewater” in the Jones Brothers permit application.

“When you hear that word wastewater a lot of people assume sewage, domestic wastewater and that sort of thing. That is technically the correct term but its really rain that has come into contact with processing rock so if there is any rain that falls on a rock crusher the water that runs off of that is considered to be wastewater by the legal technicalities. It doesn’t mean sewage or domestic wastewater discharge in this case,” said Lawrence.

November 13, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

The DeKalb County School District has approximately 8% of the student population that goes hungry on a regular basis, with meals provided at school being their main source of food.

The DeKalb County Coordinated School Health BackPack Program was established in 2009 to help students with food insecurity. Through this program, students in need receive a bag of non-perishable food items to be taken home every weekend during the school year. When funding allows, extra food is sent home on breaks and food boxes are delivered to each student’s home for Christmas break.

This program is funded solely on donations from individuals, churches, civic organizations, and grants. Due to these generous donations and grants, the BackPack Program has maintained its ability to feed each participant of the program thus far. However, funding is not always consistent or guaranteed. “We currently have the highest number of participants in this program’s history. We are struggling to keep up with the needs of our students, as food prices have risen tremendously,” said Elise Driver, CSH Coordinator.

“We are continuously seeking donations of food and/or money to sustain our program,” she said. If anyone would like to donate to the BackPack Program, please contact the CSH Coordinator, Elise Driver, at elisedriver@dekalbschools.net or 615-215-2118.

November 13, 2024
By: Bill Conger

He died the way he lived—serving others. Smithville native Bobby Mingle was helping the survivors of Hurricane Helen’s flood damage in western North Carolina in mid-October when tragedy struck. Affectionately known as “Hoss,” Mingle joined volunteers from Faulk Trucking to rebuild one of the bridges that had been displaced. After seeing the people suffer there, he longed to help their lives.

“When the opportunity came up to go over there, his eyes just lit up,” his widow Priscilla Mingle recalls. “It was something he could do. He could drive a truck.”

On Friday, October 18, Mingle was driving his dump truck on a mountain when he started having problems with his brakes.

“He went over the side of the mountain,” Mrs. Mingle says she was told. “They said that he was telling them that his brakes were hot and that they weren’t working. They told him they would adjust them when they got to the bottom, but he didn’t make it to the bottom.”

At first Mingle was able to talk to people who rushed to his aid and told them to call his wife to tell her he loved her. By the time the ambulance arrived Mingle was dead. EMTs were able to resuscitate him and headed to Johnson City Medical Center, but his widow says he died two more times on the way there.

“They took him into the emergency room, cut him open, and massaged his heart to get it going again. They told me that it didn’t look good and that he had broken bones in his neck. He had bleeding on both sides of his brain when they picked him up.”

Bobby Mingle died two days later, but the dash between the birth and death date on his grave marker tells the story of a strong Christian witness and devoted servant. A member of the Smithville Nazarene Church, Mingle was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver due to diabetes on August 16, 2016. He desperately needed a liver transplant, and at the end of 2018 Vanderbilt Hospital called to say they had found a potential match.

“When we got down there to Vanderbilt, they told him it matched another person that was waiting,” Priscilla says. He accepted the decision with grace.

“He just smiled and said that the person needed it more than him and that His God would get him another one. It was always like him to put people before him. He gave a great testimony because I wasn’t the one that was sick, but I was upset – not at God or nothing like that — but it was like, ‘he’s such a good person; why couldn’t he have got it?’”

But she says God miraculously provided another liver the next year. Throughout his sickness, Mingle, who was bed-ridden 18-20 hours a day, would still be in church on Sunday mornings and looked for ways to continue serving.

“He loved our little church, and whatever was asked of him, he tried his best to do. If he was able and had the means to do it, he would do it.”

Mingle earned another nickname the “Banana Pudding King” for the large tub of the desert he would make for the Christian event, “Walk to Emmaus.” In addition to that ministry, he would always share his love of Jesus with others.

“He would go up to complete strangers and start up a conversation which would usually lead to Jesus. By the time he got through talking to them, he had told them his story and what God could do for them.”

His devoted wife of 37 years is trying to adjust to living without the love of her life, but she holds dear her heart the precious memory of the person Bobby Mingle was.

“I want him to be remembered as a good person that loved God and his family and anyone that he met.”

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