A convicted felon has been busted again after he was found with drugs and weapons at his Smithville home last week.
27 year old Joshua Lynne Batey of Juniper Lane, Smithville is charged with possession of schedule IV & VI drugs for resale and possession of a weapon by a felon. His bond is $25,000 and he will be in court December 18.
Sheriff Patrick Ray said that on Friday, December 5 a drug detective and deputy of the sheriff’s department went to 415 Juniper Lane to do a probation search (visit) on Batey, who is on probation for previous offenses. Batey was convicted in 2010 for sale and delivery of a schedule II drug, a class C felony and for the sale and delivery of a schedule II drug, a class D felony. Upon arrival, the officers announced the intention of their visit and searched Batey. Found in Batey’s pocket were three plastic baggies. One of the baggies held 25 yellow diazepam pills. The other two baggies contained marijuana, totaling .51 ounces. Batey also had $859 in cash on his person, including 31 -twenty dollar bills, 2- one hundred dollar bills, a ten dollar bill, a five dollar bill, and 4-one dollar bills. After making this discovery, the detective left the premises to obtain a search warrant of Batey’s home. The other officer remained at the residence until the detective’s return. During a search of the dwelling a Weatherby 12 gauge shotgun was found upstairs under a piece of insulation. Batey also had a muzzleloader. He was taken into custody.
Later in the day, another person was arrested at the same residence after the drug detective drove by and found the man acting suspiciously around a vehicle parked there. 25 year old Ralph Edward McIntyre, Jr. of Adams Street, Smithville is charged with resisting stop, frisk, halt, or arrest. His bond is $1,500 and he will be in court on December 18. According to Sheriff Ray, the drug detective saw the man behind a vehicle at Batey’s residence, 415 Juniper Lane. When he pulled into the driveway, the man started to run. The detective called for him to stop but he kept running. After a foot pursuit, the man (McIntyre) was stopped and placed under arrest.

Main Street in Liberty was lined with Christmas lovers of all ages on Sunday for the town’s annual Parade.
Liberty Mayor Dwight Mathis and wife Shirley served as the Grand Marshals.
Memorial Baptist Church received first place in the float competition. Second place went to Jeff Odle of Middle Tennessee Mule Skinners
First place in the category for kids, four wheelers, and small animals went to Faith Womack. The Pursell family received second place.
Nathan Miller and family were awarded for antique vehicles and tractors. Will Daniel received second place for his 1946 Mac fire truck.
The parade also featured other floats and vintage automobiles, tractors, State Representative Terri Lynn Weaver, horseback riders, the DCHS band, local law enforcement, fire departments, DeKalb EMS, DeKalb Rescue Squad and Santa Claus.
After the parade, drawings were held for cash giveaways.

City of Smithville employees are requesting your help to make a child’s Christmas a little merrier this year.
Donations of new or used bicycles and toddler riding toys are being accepted by city employees to be given to needy children during the “Cops for Kids” Christmas party this month. Cash donations are also being collected which will go toward the purchase of bicycles.
City employees stress that this effort is completely being done with donations only and is not funded by the City of Smithville. The employees themselves are coming together, with your help, to make this possible.
If you would like to make a donation to ensure that every child at the party gets a bicycle stop by the Smithville City Hall during business hours or call 615-597-4745.

Enthusiastic kids and grownups alike enjoyed the sights and sounds of the Smithville Christmas Parade Saturday, sponsored by the Smithville Volunteer Fire Department.
Winning first place among the float entries was the Memorial Baptist Church. Second Place went to J&B Thrift Store and the DeKalb County Volunteer Fire Department Float received third place.
The Spirit Award, presented by the Smithville Business and Professional Women’s Club, went to the Tiger Pride Christmas entry.
This year’s parade featured other floats, horseback riders, horse and mule drawn wagons, boy and girl scouts, veterans, vintage automobiles, emergency vehicles, the DCHS band, and of course, Santa Claus.
The Liberty Christmas Parade will be Sunday, December 7 starting at 2:00 p.m.

A man and woman were wounded in a shooting Thursday night at a residence on Earl Avenue.
42 year old Darrell Brown and 34 year old Jennifer Arrington were both airlifted to Vanderbilt Hospital.
WJLE has learned that Brown and Arrington had been arguing during the day and that Arrington became concerned that Brown, who had a handgun, might try to harm himself. As she tried to intervene, Brown allegedly fired one shot which wounded him in the facial area and passed through to strike Arrington in the hand.
The case remains under investigation by the Smithville Police Department

The senior Beta Club of DeKalb County High School attended the state convention on November 30 through December 2, 2014. The event was held at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville, TN. Thirty-nine students with their sponsors, Mrs. Debi DePriest and Mrs. Melissa Ruch joined schools from across the state to compete in a wide range of academic and non-academic contests.
The club did not come home empty handed! Lydia Trail, senior, won second place in the area of English. She was invited to compete in the national convention which will be held in June. “The students were some of the best we have ever had the privilege of taking to the convention. Their behavior and character were exemplary. We were thrilled to represent DeKalb County with such a fine group of young people,” replied Debi DePriest.
Students Attending Beta Convention
JUNIORS:
Chase Bryant
Ashli Chew
Haden Cripps
Tyra Graham
Hannah James
Hannah Lasser
Anna Malone
Keeley McKay
Eli Oliver
Max Pafford
Noah Parsley
Alex Rhody
Kyra Slager
Kirkland Smallwood
Morgan Vickers
Hailey Walker
Hannah Walker
Carlee White
Seth Wright
SENIORS
Rachel Adcock
Kathryn Blair
Leah Burchfield
Michael Caplinger
Loren Cripps
Lenzi Dickens
Savannah Driver
Taylor Ellis
Bailey Hayes
Kelsey Hedge
Destiney McCardell
Jackie Overbey
Brooke Reffue
Zach Roberts
Makalee Ruch
Lydia Trail
Darrian Turner
Jacob Washer
Bruce Wilson
Charlie Young

Many shared in the fun and excitement of “Christmas on the Square” Thursday evening downtown Smithville.
The Community Chorus entertained and led the crowd in singing Christmas carols. Members of Boy Scout Troop #347 participated in a Flag-Raising Ceremony as Josh Isaac sang and the program concluded with a tree lighting ceremony outside the courthouse. As the crowd counted down, Chamber Director Suzanne Williams and Shan Burklow lit the tree.
On the first floor of the courthouse, county officials and their employees greeted visitors and served refreshments during the annual open house while at Justin Potter Library, children were treated to Christmas Carols and a Story Time, followed by a visit from Santa.
More holiday fun is scheduled for this weekend with the Smithville Christmas Parade set for Saturday at 1:00 p.m. and the Liberty Christmas Parade on Sunday at 2:00 p.m.

DeKalb High School was successfully awarded re-accreditation last school year by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The other four schools in the county are now going through the renewal process preparing for re-accreditation, which is required every five years.
The mission of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) is the improvement of education in the South through accreditation. The accreditation process for any school that participates allows an inward look at shared values and practices that assures the educational quality and effectiveness of each school. Accreditation by the SACS Committee is a statement of the school’s continuing commitment to integrity and its capacity to provide effective programs and services based on agreed-upon accreditation standards.
The SACS Committee is a non-profit, non-partisan group of educators that conducts rigorous, on-site reviews of PreK-12 schools and school systems to ensure that all learners realize their full potential. The SACS Committee’s mission is to help schools improve the remediation process with a balanced, systemic approach combining standards, stakeholder feedback and student performance to measure quality programs, relationships and results. It helps schools make the most of their talents and resources. The process aligns accreditation with accountability, emphasizing learner outcomes when evaluating the school’s quality; however, it is not the outcome but the course taken over time that yields the greatest return on investment.
The journey to accreditation is a long one. Five school committees made up of teachers, stakeholders, parents and students are set up within the schools up for renewal of accreditation. These school committees focus their work on five standards of what makes up a quality school. To gain or maintain accreditation with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, an institution must comply with the standards contained in the Principles of Accreditation. The standards are: Purpose and Direction, Governance and Leadership, Teaching and Assessing for Learning, Resources and Support Systems, and Using Results for Continuous Improvement. Each standard is reviewed thoroughly by the school’s committee members and a written report of their findings is presented to the SACS Committee during the site visit. The SACS Committee will review each school’s committee’s work and in turn will provide recommendations for accreditation renewal. The SACS Committee will provide each school with a committee final report of the schools evaluation rating on a given rubrics scale. This allows each school to see their strengths that can be built on and their weaknesses to improve.
School administrators and teachers say they look forward to sharing the final performance rating with our community after the SACS Committee’s visits.

The Smithville Mayor and Aldermen have scheduled a workshop to begin developing an ordinance regulating retail package stores for the sale of liquor in the city.
The workshop will be held after adjournment of a special meeting set for Monday, December 15 at 5:00 p.m. at city hall to adopt other unrelated ordinances on second and final reading.
The liquor store issue was briefly discussed during Monday night’s regular monthly meeting. City Administrator Hunter Hendrixson passed out ordinances from other towns where liquor stores are already operating. These “sample” ordinances may serve as a guide for the aldermen to consider in establishing regulations for the City of Smithville. “This is about five or six different cities and their ordinances that regulate package stores. This is just something to study. We need to do a lot more research before we start issuing any regulations. We need to sit down and talk about it because we’ve got to meet all the state regulations. They (state) have more say so on this than we do. We need to do a little more homework before passing these laws because I’m not comfortable enough with giving you information on everything,” said Hendrixson.
City Attorney Vester Parsley suggested inviting a representative of the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission to join the mayor and aldermen at the workshop to provide more information. ” This is something that when we finish, we want to have it compliant with state law and to meet the needs of Smithville. I think it would be good to have someone from the ABC to appear. Hunter and I both, and the mayor has had several calls regarding making applications. We’re not to that point yet. I feel we’re at least a month or two away or possibly longer before we get a workable ordinance and get it approved and get the procedure in place. I think it’s important that we work on this and remember we’re setting an ordinance that will be used in the foreseeable future for any application for packaged liquor stores in the City of Smithville. If someone asks you, just tell them that we are working on it. We haven’t forgotten about it and it’s going to take some time to get that in compliance with Tennessee ABC rules and other state statutes we have to comply with,” said Parsley.
While the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission actually issues liquor licenses, the city can adopt some restrictions. ” Usually municipalities from what I can tell, regulate what zoning they (liquor stores) go in, the number of stores, and the distance from government buildings, churches, and schools. Some (cities) base them (number of stores allowed) on population. Some like Cookeville are wide open based on the free market. There are all sorts of ways to go,” said Hendrixson.
Once an ordinance is in place and a store owner makes application, he or she is subject to background checks. ” The application starts here and then the chief of police or city attorney does a background check and then we send it to Nashville and they (ABC) give final approval,” Hendrixson said.
“Even though they (applicants) may meet our requirements, it’s up to ABC to go forward,” Parsley added.

DeKalb Community Hospital held a toy and diaper drive for needy babies as part of the Healthy Beginnings program of DeKalb County. Hospital staff, along with the Chamber of Commerce, and the local community, donated hundreds of diapers along with clothes, blankets and necessary care items. These babies come from low to zero income homes.
“We were so very happy to help these babies and their mothers have a merry Christmas. Our staff immediately responded to the need and we had all the babies sponsored in less than 24 hours. Each sponsored baby received diapers, new clothing, a toy and other requested items,” said Shan Burklow-Marketing Director for DeKalb Community and Stones River Hospitals, “We literally ran out of babies to sponsor and asked that the community donate diapers instead. In this fragile economy, it warms my heart to see that people still have such a heart for giving.”
Sue Conley, CEO of DeKalb Community and Stones River Hospital agrees, “Our staff are some of the finest people around. They are caring and empathetic with our patients and that carries over in how they serve our community. We are pleased to help meet this important need in DeKalb County and hope that these families have a little brighter holiday due to everyone’s combined generosity.”
“Our program (Healthy Beginnings) was so very grateful to partner with the hospital this year. It will be such a blessing for these babies and their moms,” said Essie Tucker of Healthy Beginnings, “We’d like to personally thank everyone that has helped us provide for these babies for the holidays including our donations for a Christmas party. Kilgore’s Restaurant helped us with the food, the staff at DeKalb Community Hospital donated the gifts, and so many in the community helped out wherever they could. We just can’t thank everyone enough.”
For more information, or to request help for a new mother or baby, please contact Healthy Beginnings at (931) 265-7424. DeKalb Community Hospital will be holding another diaper drive in the spring, but Healthy Beginnings will accept donations for babies 0-24 months anytime throughout the coming year.
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Pictured: Shan Burklow of DeKalb Community Hospital and Essie Tucker of Healthy Beginnings stand with a portion of donated Christmas items for needy babies and their families located across DeKalb County. Hundreds of diapers, clothing, blankets and toys were donated to local babies from low to zero income homes.