The Smithville Beer Board has delayed action on possible punishment against two local stores accused of selling alcohol to a minor after managers at both businesses claim the clerks who made the transactions mistakenly entered the wrong date of birth into their computers when making the sales.
During a hearing Tuesday evening at city hall, managers of both Mapco Express on East Broad Street and the Discount Tobacco Store on West Broad Street (across from Dairy Queen) say they can produce receipts and video evidence of the transactions to back up their claims.
The beer board voted to reschedule the hearing for Tuesday, November 3 at 5:30 p.m. at city hall.
The two store clerks, 32 year old Jennifer Sims of McMinnville, an employee of the Discount Tobacco Store, and 56 year old Allison Ferguson of Smithville, a store clerk at Mapco Express were cited last month for the illegal sale of alcohol to a minor under 21 years of age as part of an undercover operation conducted jointly by the Smithville and Alexandria Police Departments and the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department. Two other stores, one in the county and the other in Alexandria are also accused of making an illegal beer sale. All four defendants are to appear in General Sessions Court on October 29.
In each case, the same operative, a 20 year old man, was sent into the stores and bought beer.
During Tuesday evening’s hearing, Lieutenant Detective Matt Holmes informed the beer board that the undercover operation was conducted based on general public complaints of illegal beer sales in the city. The two stores were not targeted based on any specific complaints. “After receiving several complaints periodically about illegal sales to minors within the city limits, we conducted an undercover investigation using a 20 year old (operative). We encompassed all licensees in the city that sell alcoholic beverages. We visited each one individually,” said Detective Holmes.
But while all other store clerks in the city carded and refused to sell beer to the underage operative, Detective Holmes said sales were made to him at both the Discount Tobacco Store and at Mapco Express. In both cases, he bought a six pack of Bud Lite. The first buy was made from Sims at the Discount Tobacco Store at 12:44 p.m. on September 23. The second purchase was made thirty six minutes later at 1:20 p.m. from Ferguson at Mapco Express .
Local and district managers from the two stores appeared before the beer board Tuesday night to give an explanation. While they admit that beer sales were made to the young man from their establishments, they claim it was unintentional in that both clerks simply misread the birth date on the identification he presented and they entered the very same incorrect information into their computers to verify whether he was of legal age to buy beer. Instead of his actual birth date of December 22, 1994, both clerks entered into their systems the date of December 22, 1984.
Could it be merely a coincidence that both clerks made the exact same mistake?
The store managers don’t think so.
“We have an electronic system where we enter the data. We have found out that the two violators on this entered the exact same date. There are two people (Sims and Ferguson), blocks apart that don’t know each other who entered the exact same date for this young man. Instead of entering his birth date as December 22, 1994 they entered December 22, 1984 at both locations,” said the Manager of Mapco Express.
“They both checked the ID but neither one saw it right,” said the district manager of the Discount Tobacco Store.
“On our Point of Sale (POS) system, they (clerks) actually have to type in the birth date of this person (customer) to allow the sale and it will compute whether they are old enough. She (Ferguson) was trying to type this in and it wouldn’t accept it. She tried multiple attempts and she finally got it to go in. I don’t know what she saw, but she told me later what she thought she saw was the year 1984 (on the young man’s ID),” said the manager of Mapco.
“When you scan the beer, the birthday (data request) will pop up. You basically do (enter) the month, day, and the year and if they (customers) are under 21 it will say under legal age and will become unable to process,” added the district manager of the Discount Tobacco Store.
Although Ferguson has apparently lost her job at Mapco due to this allegation, the Mapco manager said she had worked there since the 1990’s and had never been accused of this before. “She had done a wonderful job controlling second party sales for this city. The kind of sales that really hurt us. The person coming in who is 20 years old trying to buy beer is not the problem. The real problem is that person who has a friend who is 21 years old. Allison has done probably the best of anybody I have ever seen at controlling all sales,” said the Mapco manager.
Beer Board member Steve Hays asked City Attorney Vester Parsley whether a decision by the board could be delayed until after the outcome of the criminal citations against Sims and Ferguson in court.
Parsley said the beer board could do whatever it wishes but added that a final court decision may not come on October 29th. He said there may also be delays in court that could drag on for weeks or months.
The city attorney also reminded the beer board that it’s job is not to act as judge and jury on the guilt or innocence of the clerks who are alleged to have made the beer sales, but only to find whether illegal sales were actually made from the stores in violation of the city’s beer ordinance.
If found in violation, the city’s ordinance calls for a first offense 90 day suspension of the stores’ beer licenses.
The Smithville Beer Board is made up of members Annette Greek, Steve Hays, Farron Hendrix, Danny Washer, and Lloyd Black. All were present Tuesday night except Black.

Following a 90 minute hearing Wednesday morning in DeKalb County Circuit Court Judge Amy Hollars said she would render an opinion soon in the case of former Smithville Police Chief Randy Caplinger versus the City of Smithville.
Attorneys for both sides presented oral arguments before Judge Hollars in the lawsuit in which Caplinger is seeking a declaratory judgment. No witnesses were called to testify.
Caplinger’s attorneys Sarah Cripps and Brandon Cox filed the lawsuit on Thursday, June 4.
At the heart of the case is how many aldermen votes are required to fire the police chief. In May, the council voted by a 3-2 simple majority to uphold Mayor Jimmy Poss’ termination of Chief Caplinger.
Cripps and Cox insist that the city charter calls for a super majority (four votes) for such action.
The mayor placed Chief Caplinger on suspension without pay pending termination on Friday, March 13. After Caplinger refused to resign or accept a severance package, the mayor fired Caplinger on March 19 and cited eight reasons for the termination.
Cripps and Cox then requested a due process hearing.
The attorneys for Caplinger said their client was not an “at will” employee as city officials claimed; that he could only be terminated for “just cause”; and that he could only be removed by the mayor with the approval of at least two thirds (not less than four members) majority vote of the council present and voting upon the removal according to the Smithville City Charter.
After a seven hour due process hearing Friday, May 8 the Aldermen voted 3-2 to uphold Mayor Jimmy Poss’ termination of Caplinger. Aldermen Gayla Hendrix, Danny Washer, and Jason Murphy voted in favor of the mayor’s action. Aldermen Shawn Jacobs and Josh Miller voted against it.
Again, Cripps and Cox insisted that Section 3.01 of the city’s charter requires a two thirds majority vote (four out of five) to confirm a mayoral termination.
But during the May 8 hearing City Attorney Vester Parsley cited another section in the charter, which seems to conflict with Section 3.01 in that it allows for only ” a majority of the board” to approve removal of employees by the mayor. Parsley recommended that the aldermen follow this section of the charter.
In the lawsuit, Cripps and Cox are asking the court to preserve both sections of the charter but to find that Section 3.01 (requiring a 2/3 super majority vote) controls because it is more specific than Section 3.08.
Cripps and Cox also contend that the aldermen violated section 3.08 of the charter in that they failed to convene for a vote to ratify the mayor’s unilateral suspension of Caplinger prior to the May 8 due process hearing. This, they claim renders the suspension of Chief Caplinger null and invalid.
They are further asking that Caplinger be allowed to “receive all accrued back pay from March 13, 2015 until the date of the hearing in this cause
City Attorney Parsley and Nashville lawyer Mark E. McGrady of Farrar & Bates, LLP claim that Caplinger was validly suspended and terminated by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen under terms of the charter and that he is not entitled to back pay from the City.
Judge Hollars said her written ruling is expected soon, possibly after she hears a separate medical malpractice case scheduled for the next two weeks.

The DeKalb Middle School Cross Country competed this week in the mid state regional’s which was the qualifier for the state meet. All 3 girls qualified for the state meet in Knoxville which will be held on October 24. Mya Ruch finished first, Carly Vance finished 5th, and Courtney London finished 27th.
On the boys side 4 out of 7 qualified for the state meet including Bill Miller, Jasper Kleparek, Levi Driver and Jake Ramsey. Also competing that day was Hayden Burton, Trevonte Alexander, and Conner Adcock.

A new member has been named to the DeKalb County Election Commission by the Tennessee Election Commission.
Jackie Smith, a resident of Smithville and a local State Farm Insurance Agent, is replacing Harry Lasser as one of the two democratic members of the local commission. She will serve out Lasser’s term, which expires in April, 2017. Lasser served for four and a half years. He was first appointed in April , 2011.
“I really am excited. I worked elections for several years. It’s a duty that I take very seriously. When I got the call and was asked, I was just thrilled. I am really happy to serve in this capacity. I am looking forward to another venture in my life,” Smith told WJLE.
Since the state legislature is made up of a majority of GOP lawmakers, Republicans have the right to hold majority memberships on the Tennessee Election Commission as well as all county election commissions in Tennessee. The appointments to local commissions are made by the state election commission.
“Democrats and Republicans in the Tennessee General Assembly appoint who serves on the Tennessee Election Commission. Those state people from each party have a representative from middle, east, and west Tennessee and they typically consult with the county chairs for each county on who they want on their county election commissions,” said Jordan Wilkins, DeKalb County Democratic Party Chairman.
“Mr. Harry Lasser was one of our Democratic commissioners on the election commission and he called me about two months ago telling me he needed to resign. I want to say I will miss Harry. He was a great commissioner for us. He was always good about representing us on the commission and keeping us updated on what was going on. I thought long and hard about the name of the people I wanted to submit to the state. That name is Jackie Smith. She has been a lifelong member of this party. She has always been very supportive of us. She is very progressive and I am very excited about her representing us,” said Wilkins.
Hearon Puckett is the other democrat on the commission.
The other three members of the DeKalb County Election Commission are Walteen Parker, Barbara Vanatta, and Jim Dean. All three are Republicans. Parker is Chairman.
The term of each member is for two years.