Early Morning Fire Leaves Dowelltown Family Homeless

January 6, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

A space heater may have been the source of a structure fire that destroyed a home in Dowelltown Friday morning.

DeKalb County Fire Fighters were summoned to the home of Ms. Terry Ricketts at 242 Corley Street at 6:06 a.m.

“Upon arrival firefighters found one end of the home heavily involved with flames showing through the roof and eaves. Firefighters confirmed that everyone had safely evacuated, after a neighbor alerted Ms. Ricketts that her home was on fire, and there were no injuries. There was a neighboring home, a storage shed, and an outbuilding threatened by exposure, but fire crews were able to successfully extinguish the fire and protect those structures. However, the home and contents were a complete loss. Indications are that the fire possibly originated from a space heater in the utility room,” said DeKalb County Fire Chief Donny Green.

The Liberty, Main, Temperance Hall, and Cookeville Highway stations responded, along with the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department and DeKalb County Emergency Medical Services.

January 6, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

Unlike many pets, Lenny has not always had a loving home of his own. In fact, when this lovable and cuddly cat came to the DeKalb Animal Shelter as a rescue, he was near death. Lately things have been looking up for Lenny. Now all he needs is a good home to make his life more complete. That’s where you come in.

Meet Lenny, the WJLE/DeKalb Animal Shelter featured “Pet of the Week”.

“Lenny is our cuddly boy, super sweet and about one year old. When we rescued this boy he was near death but he has made a huge turnaround,” said DeKalb Animal Shelter Director Emmaly Bennett. “He is a talker so if you love talking cats he will just walk around and talk to you. Lenny is an all around good cat. He loves other cats and people. Lenny is sponsored so his adoption fee is only $40. He has been neutered, micro-chipped, and is up to date on all vaccinations with flea prevention on board. If you are looking for a cuddly lap cat Lenny is your boy,” she said.

“If you are interested in adopting Lenny please check out the adoptable pets link on our website at https://www.dekalbanimalsheltertn.com/to fill out an application and see his picture and we will call you to come in and meet him. Please give us a call so we can find Lenny a good home ,” said Bennett.

The shelter is open Monday-Friday from 8 to 4 and Saturday from 8 to 12 at 186 Transfer Station Road.

January 6, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

County Mayor Matt Adcock has called for a special meeting of the DeKalb County Commission Monday night, January 9. Apparently, the only item on the agenda is to approve the lease agreement for the property owned by the towns of Liberty and Dowelltown for the construction of a new fire hall. The meeting will be at 6:15 p.m. in the auditorium of the Mike Foster Multi-Purpose Center of the County Complex.

Both the Liberty and Dowelltown Boards of Mayor and Aldermen met and approved this lease agreement with the county earlier this week.

“After consulting with (County Attorney) Hilton (Conger) about the lease agreement for the Liberty Fire Station project, we have agreed that we need to make a special call meeting just for the purpose of approving the lease agreement with the towns of Liberty and Dowelltown,” said County Mayor Adcock. “ Both of the towns have agreed to the terms of the lease and the lease has been signed and notarized by both municipalities. We just have to have the County Commission vote to agree on these terms as well. We are calling a special call meeting because time is of the essence with signing the contract with our contractor. This project is time sensitive and we would like construction to begin as soon as possible. The agreement is for the entire acreage of the parcel which is 8 acres more or less. The length of this term is 99 years for the price of $1. If anyone has any questions, reach out to me at any time,” said County Mayor Adcock.

Although the county commission has already allocated $382,912 in ARP funding for the project, it must act on the lease agreement the same as Liberty and Dowelltown.

The new fire hall is expected to improve firefighting and EMS services in the western portion of the county. Under the plan the current Liberty Fire Hall located in downtown Liberty will be replaced by the new Liberty/Dowelltown Fire Hall and the new station will house a fire engine and a tanker truck. The fire hall could also serve as an EMS satellite station subject to the wishes of the county commission.

« First ‹ Previous 1 409 499 507 508 509510 511 519 609 2414 Next › Last »