The county commission can’t decide on who should take Bruce Parsley’s place on the school board in the sixth district.
Two persons, Boyd Trapp and Doug Stephens, want the position but the county commission was deadlocked six to six Monday night on which of the two should get the seat.
County commissioners voting for Trapp were Elmer Ellis, Jr from the first district, Bobby Joines from the second district, Jerry Scott from the third district, Jeff Barnes and Marshall Ferrell from the sixth district, and Jimmy Poss from the seventh district.
Those voting for Stephens were Jack Barton from the second district, Bradley Hendrix from the third district, Wayne Cantrell and David McDowell from the fourth district, Jerry Adcock from the fifth district, and Larry Summers from the seventh district.
Two members, John Green from the fifth district, and Mason Carter from the first district were absent Monday night.
County Mayor Mike Foster could have broken the tie but chose not to do so.
Later in the meeting, following a short recess, the commissioners took another vote but the result was the same, a tie.
The commission will likely try again at the next meeting on March 26. The position will remain vacant until then.
Last month, the commission voted to accept applications from anyone in the sixth district who was eligible to apply. The deadline for receiving applications was February 6th. Trapp and Stephens were the only persons who responded.
The commission conducted interviews of both men last Thursday night during an all-committees meeting and scheduled a vote to select one of the two men during Monday night’s regular monthly meeting (last night).
Parsley, who was elected in 2008, resigned as of December 31, 2011 to pursue a teaching career. His term expires August 31st. The person appointed by the commission to fill the vacancy will serve through August 31st.
Both Trapp and Stephens have said they intend to run for a full four year term in the August County General Election.

Three people charged in the robbery of Liberty State Bank at Liberty in August 2010 pleaded guilty under negotiated settlements in criminal court Friday
40 year old Craig Hill, 46 year old Ricky Estes, and 27 year old Roxanna Landis all of Smithville were each indicted on the charge of aggravated robbery in April, 2011.
Standing before Judge David Patterson Friday, Hill pleaded guilty to robbery and received a ten year sentence to serve in the Tennessee Department of Corrections as a range III offender. The term is to run concurrently with any other sentence against him. He was given jail credit of 559 days.
Hill, who is accused of actually committing the robbery in which $6,000 was taken, turned himself in at the DeKalb County Jail on Saturday, August 14th, 2010 eleven days after the robbery on Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010.
Estes and Landis were arrested on August 20th, 2010.
Estes pleaded guilty to facilitation of aggravated robbery. He received a six year sentence in special needs as a range one offender. The sentence is to run concurrently with a violation of probation case against him. Estes was given jail credit of 553 days
Landis pleaded guilty to facilitation of attempted aggravated robbery. She received a five year TDOC sentence suspended upon time served. Her probation will be supervised by community corrections. Landis was given jail credit of 123 days.
After Hill’s arrest, Sheriff Patrick Ray said that “On August 3rd, 2010 through an investigation into the robbery, Hill was identified through (bank surveillance) video tapes and other investigative tools to be the person responsible for the robbery. Lawmen had been searching for Hill ever since. Hill, who had been living out of town since this incident, came to the DeKalb County Jail to turn himself in on a violation of probation warrant. While there, he was questioned by Sheriff’s Department Detectives about the robbery and admitted his involvement in the robbery of Liberty State Bank”.
The warrant for his arrest alleged that “On or about the 3rd day of August 2010, Craig Anthony Hill did enter the Liberty State Bank in Liberty Tennessee presenting the teller with a note stating “Give me the money in 20’s and 100’s, I have a gun” thus putting the teller in fear of her life. The teller at that point took the cash from her drawer and gave it to Craig Hill as instructed. The amount of money taken during the robbery was in excess of $6,000.”
According to Sheriff Ray, Estes “aided in the robbery of Liberty State Bank by being involved in the planning of the robbery and driving the get away car. He also shared in the proceeds from the robbery.”
Sheriff Ray added that Landis “aided by being involved in the planning of the robbery, freely leaving in the get away vehicle, and sharing in the proceeds of the robbery”.

In an emergency meeting held Friday morning in Cookeville, the board of directors of the Upper Cumberland Development District voted 16 to 5 to place Executive Director Wendy Askins on administrative leave for 30 days along with her deputy director, Larry Webb of DeKalb County, pending the outcome of an internal investigation.
The action comes as the result of a NewsChannel 5 investigation over recent allegations regarding the Living the Dream project and alleged mismanagement of UCDD funds.
Neither Askins nor Webb were present at the meeting
The five members voting against administrative leave preferred an immediate dismissal of Askins.
Both Askins and Webb will be paid for two weeks of the 30-day leave. As part of the motion, the board also voted to take their credit and gas cards, along with keys and vehicles and they will not be able to sign any checks while the investigation is underway.
Earl Carwile was appointed as interim director and Ashley Pealer was named as interim deputy.
Meanwhile, the board voted to rescind a vote in a previous meeting adopting language from bogus minutes approving a transfer of $300,000 to Living the Dream and asked attorneys to get the $300,000 back by whatever legal means is necessary.
The board also voted to seek new auditors while requesting a state investigation of the man who has been their auditor for several years, Tom Jones. In light of the revelations by NewsChannel 5’s investigation, board members question why Jones has never turned up any findings during his audits of agency finances.

The two men seeking the vacant sixth district school board seat were interviewed by members of the county commission Thursday night.
The all-committees meeting was held at the UT Extension office in the new complex on South Congress Boulevard.
Last month, the county commission voted to accept applications through February 6 from anyone in the sixth district wishing to fill a vacancy on the school board created with the recent resignation Bruce Parsley.
Doug Stephens and Boyd Trapp applied for the position. One of them is expected to be appointed Monday night by the county commission to serve out Parsley’s unexpired term through August 31.
Stephens said he believes the school board and county commission should work together and develop a five and ten year plan for the betterment of the school system. “We’ve got a lot of issues at hand. I think that I am a good negotiator. I think I can bring some values to the table. I think the school board members need to be able to get along and communicate their issues better with the county commissioners. Just from what I’ve read and have knowledge, there’s a lot of issues there. I know how to look at finances. I deal with lots of money. I am extremely conservative in my view and values. I know some of the things that we need. We have a fifty year old school. We’ve got a forty year old school. They’re both in need of a new school. I know that. But we’ve got to have a way to pay for it. We’ve got to figure it out. We’ve got to have a plan. We don’t that I know of. We all agree that we need some new stuff. What are we going to do without a plan?. I want to have a five year plan and a ten year plan. In my work life, I have monthly goals and yearly goals. I have five year plans,” said Stephens.
A resident of Bethel Road, Stephens said he has lived here for twenty years and is active in the community. “We moved here in the county in 1991. I sell construction equipment and have since 1984. I went to high school in Sparta and graduated there. I am a club scout master here in DeKalb County and have been for four years. I am heavily involved in that. I have two kids, Emily and Will. Emily is in the ninth grade and Will is in fifth grade. I have a vested interest in the school system here. I go to Elizabeth Chapel Baptist Church and have for eleven or twelve years. I am involved there. My wife, Mary Beth is from Smith County. She is a pharmacist here in town. I have a vested interest in seeing that the school system becomes better,” said Stephens.
Trapp, a lifelong resident of DeKalb County, said he would like the opportunity to serve. “The reason I am interested in it is that I would like to see DeKalb County have the best schools there are in the State of Tennessee. I think we’ve got some good schools already. We’ve got some good teachers but I just thought I’d give it a try (run for the school board) to try and help the school system as much as I can. I’d like to put a little input in it,” said Trapp.
Trapp and his wife Linda are residents of L. Hendixson Road in the Blue Springs community. “I have lived there forty six years ever since me and Linda married. I went to Liberty High School for three years and came up here in 1964 and was a member of the first graduating class at the high school (DCHS). I’ve got two grand kids, Jayrah and Jamison. Jamison is in the second grade and Jayrah is in the seventh grade. My daughter-in-law, Janet is a teacher. I have two sons. One of them, Dwane, has passed away. The other, Darrel works at Star Manufacturing. I have been involved a lot with the kids in Little League baseball. I was president of the Quarterback Club,” said Trapp.
Both Stephens and Trapp say they will run for a full four year term on the school board in the August 2 DeKalb County General Election.

After months of planning and development, the Tennessee Downtowns Program Steering Committee members recently met with Mary Evins, Gaius Overton, and William Kooienga to view the perspective designs for the new open-air stage to be built in Evins Park in Downtown Smithville later this year. “The stage will be a welcome and beautiful addition to the county allowing for outdoor concerts, performances, and other community events for the public to enjoy and use,” says Tennessee Downtown Committee chair Steve White.
“This is just one facet of our many plans for the downtown revitalization efforts,” says Chamber Director & TN Downtowns Steering Committee Member Suzanne Williams. “We are excited to partner with the Evins Foundation on this initial project and believe this to be one of the many successes coming out of the committee’s hard work, vision, and planning.”
The 3-D Models, rendered by Architect Gaius Overton and Artist William Kooienga, are available for viewing at the Chamber’s new location in the Courthouse, Room 201. If you are interested in volunteering to help with this project, being on one of the new TN Downtown Program Committees, or making a donation to the downtown revitalization efforts, call the Chamber of Commerce office at 597-4163.
Pictured l-r:
Steve White, TN Downtowns Program Steering Committee chair; Alan Webb, TN Downtowns Program Steering Committee; William Kooienga, Sculptor/Beech Hollow Studios; Mary Evins, Evins Foundation; Gaius Overton, Architect; Jackie Smith, TN Downtowns Marketing Committee; Suzanne Williams, Chamber Director and TN Downtowns Program Steering Committee; and Wade Smith, TN Downtowns Program Steering Committee; (not pictured) Mark Ashburn, TN Downtowns Program Steering Committee

Spring time is near, signaling the return of the nation’s largest annual community improvement program, Keep America Beautiful’s (KAB) Great American Cleanup™ (GAC).
Last year, 143,053 Tennessee volunteers contributed 358,240 hours picking up 121,098,794 pounds of litter and debris from all 95 counties (visit www.ktnb.org/gac.html for more results).
Keep Tennessee Beautiful (KTnB) will once again look for improvement during this year’s GAC in Tennessee, which will take place March 1-May 31. KTnB also will look to extend its streak of achieving 100-percent participation from all 95 counties during GAC to six years in a row.
Last year in DeKalb County, a total of 136 volunteers gathered 10,340 pounds of litter during KAB’s annual spring event. DeKalb County seeks more volunteers this year to be even more successful.
Keep Tennessee Beautiful Executive Director Sutton Mora Hayes said, “The citizens of Tennessee have shown their dedication to keep our state clean, green, and beautiful over the past few years. I know that with the cooperation of our volunteer network across the state, we will accomplish even more this year.”
For more information on how you can get involved in a GAC event in DeKalb County, please call Chamber Director Suzanne Williams at 615.597.4163.
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What is your greatest fear? Some would say snakes, others would say heights, and still others say flying in a plane. You will be surprised to hear that man’s greatest fear is public speaking. For DeKalb County 4-H members, however, public speaking is a life skill which they have honed into poise, charisma, confidence, and a desire to achieve.
The DeKalb County 4-H Public Speaking Contest was held recently. According to Extension Agent April Martin, “The public speaking contest is one of the 4-H Club’s most important activities. Speaking before an audience is something that we all have to do at some point in our lives. 4-H is one of the first places that young people learn this skill. Public Speaking teaches 4-Hers writing, organizational, and speaking skills as well as equips them with confidence and a sense of accomplishment.”
Participants in the 4th grade included: Mya Ruch (1st place), Clayton Kirby (2nd place), and Christian Trail (3rd place). Other participants included: Mary Maple, Kaylee Martin, Anna Chew, Darren Waggoner, and Isaac Cross.
Participants in the 5th grade included: Kaitlyn Bain (1st place).
Wyatt Martin was the 1st place winner in the 7th grade and Lydia Trail was the 1st place winner in the 9th grade.
Mya Ruch, Clayton Kirby, and Lydia Trail advanced to the regional contest recently and received participation awards.
The University of Tennessee Extension offers all its programs to all eligible persons. More information about Extension programs can be found at https://utextension.tennessee.edu/dekalb/Pages/default.aspx.
County 4-H Public Speaking Participants (front row, left to right): Anna Chew, Kaitlyn Bain, Kelsey Wade, Jadyn Young, Mary Maple, and Kaylee Martin. Second row: Mya Ruch, Clayton Kirby, Christian Trail, Isaac Cross, and Darren Waggoner. Third row: Wyatt Martin and Lydia Trail.