A 32 year old woman has been charged with vandalism of a residence at the housing project in Liberty.
Bond for Robin Lee Keaton is $1,000 and she will be in court on February 9.
Sheriff Patrick Ray said that on Sunday, January 15 a deputy responded to Cedar Street in Liberty where someone was reported to be breaking out windows of a building belonging to the Smithville Housing Authority. Two windows were found to be broken including one in the kitchen and one in the bedroom. The complainant stated that Keaton was the person responsible. When confronted Keaton allegedly admitted to the vandalism.
A DeKalb County High School student, 18 year old Juan Carillo Perez of Talley Road, Smithville, has been cited for simple possession and carrying a prohibited weapon. He will be in court on February 2.
Sheriff Ray reports that on Thursday, January 12 a student told the school resource officer that Perez left school and then returned. Principal Kathy Hendrix and the SRO got Perez out of class. Perez submitted to but performed poorly on all sobriety tasks. He allegedly had bloodshot eyes. Perez consented to a search of his vehicle and a marijuana cigarette was found inside the automobile along with a bb gun which was made to look like a “real” gun. Perez allegedly admitted to having smoked some marijuana during lunch time. He said the marijuana cigarette belonged to him.
45 year old Bobby McMen Hullett of Smithville is charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor and filing a false report. His bond totals $4,000 and he will be in court February 2.
Sheriff Ray said that on Friday, January 13 deputies and detectives of the sheriff’s department went to Hullet’s home on Morse College Road to pick up a 17 year old runaway who was believed to be at this residence. Hullet denied knowing the whereabouts of the runaway, telling the officer that he had not seen him. Upon searching the home, the officer found the runaway hiding in Hullet’s bedroom closet. Hullett is charged with contributing to the unruly behavior of the child by allowing him to stay at his residence knowing that the child had run away from home.
45 year old Mark Gregory Brock of Webb Lane, Smithville is charged with a first offense of driving under the influence. Brock was also issued a citation for failure to maintain his lane of travel. His bond is $1,500 and he will be in court February 9.
Sheriff Ray reports that on Sunday, January 15 a deputy got behind a vehicle on Highway 56 south after observing him crossing the center line of the highway several times. The officer stopped the automobile on Highway 56 south at Joe Tittsworth Road. Brock was identified as the driver. The deputy noticed that Brock’s speech was very slurred and he had a very strong odor of an alcoholic beverage on his person. Brock submitted to but performed poorly on several field sobriety tasks. Brock was very unsteady on his feet. He also submitted to a blood alcohol test.
41 year old Kathy Jo Massengail of Keltonburg Road is charged with domestic assault. Her bond is $2,500 and she will be in court February 9.
Sheriff Ray said that on Sunday, January 15, a deputy responded to a residence on Keltonburg
Road to a physical domestic. Upon arrival the officer saw a man who had a towel wrapped around his left forearm. The man’s arm was bleeding. He had a busted lip, a scratch on his nose, and a red pump knot on his forehead. The man and Massengail told the officer that they began arguing and that she punched him several times in the face. The man got mad and ran his hand through a window. It was determined the Massengail was the primary aggressor.

The Board of Directors of Habitat for Humanity of DeKalb County had its Annual Meeting on January 10 and officers elected for the upcoming year include Nancy Lewis, secretary; Nolan Turner, president; Brenda Hooper, treasurer; and Larry Green, vice president.
Habitat plans to build with a DeKalb County family in 2012. Anyone wanting to learn more and apply for a Habitat 0% interest mortgage, may attend a meeting on Feb. 16, 6-7 p.m. at the Methodist Family Life Center. Please call 615-215-8181 for more information.
The Board of Directors also welcomed the following new board members, who will serve for a two-year term: Nolan Turner of DeKalb Community Bank; Rob Willingham of Middle Tennessee Natural Gas; and John Carpenter, pastor of First United Methodist Church. The Retiring board members are Sharon Evans, president, and Kim Wheeler, treasurer.
TOP PHOTO: (pictured left to right) Nancy Lewis, secretary; Nolan Turner, president; Brenda Hooper, treasurer; and Larry Green, vice president. Habitat plans to build with a DeKalb County family in 2012. Anyone wanting to learn more and apply for a Habitat 0% interest mortgage, may attend a meeting on Feb. 16, 6-7 p.m. at the Methodist Family Life Center. Please call 615-215-8181 for more information.
BOTTOM PHOTO: Nolan Turner of DeKalb Community Bank; Rob Willingham of Middle Tennessee Natural Gas; and John Carpenter, pastor of First United Methodist Church (not pictured). The Retiring board members are Sharon Evans, president, and Kim Wheeler, treasurer.

DeKalb County Volunteer Firefighters were called to a structure fire on Belk Road Saturday night.
Central dispatch received the call at around 7:00 p.m.
County Fire Chief Donny Green said that “the Belk Station, Keltonburg Station, Blue Springs Station, Short Mountain Station, and tanker truck from the Main Station responded to the fire at 9850 Belk Road. Upon our arrival, we found a two-story residence filled with heavy smoke. The fire had occurred in the garage area and the residents had used a garden hose and buckets of water to extinguish it. The location of the fire was determined to be on the garage floor, but the exact cause of the fire is still undetermined,” said Chief Green.
“The residents had originally thought that the fire had penetrated the garage ceiling and had spread into an upstairs bedroom. However, firefighters were able to make entry and confirm that the garage fire had been extinguished and that the fire had not extended into any other portions of the structure. Crews set up ventilation fans to remove the smoke from the house. The fire damage was contained to a small area in the middle of the garage, but the entire garage suffered heat and smoke damage. Additionally, the living quarters of the residence suffered moderate smoke damage,” said Chief Green.
No one was injured in the blaze. DeKalb County Emergency Medical Services and DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department was also on the scene to render assistance.

Dan Evins, the founder of the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store chain, died Saturday in Lebanon.
Evins helped build the chain into a national brand as CEO from 1969 to 2001 and he served as chairman until he retired in 2004. Cracker Barrrel Old Country Store, Inc, headquartered in Lebanon, now operates more than 600 restaurants in 42 states.
On its website, the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store has issued the following release:
“Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. today extended condolences to the family of Founder and Chairman Emeritus Dan (Danny) W. Evins and expressed sadness at the loss of the man who first conceived of a restaurant that would provide a safe and welcoming home-away-from-home for travelers. Mr. Evins was 76 when he passed away on January 14 in Lebanon, Tenn.
In remembering Danny, Cracker Barrel Executive Chairman Michael A. Woodhouse expressed his sympathy and said, “I first met Danny when I joined Cracker Barrel in 1995 and knew immediately what a rare individual he was. Danny was a straight-shooter and dedicated to authenticity. It was an honor and a responsibility that I took seriously to follow Danny as CEO, and then as Chairman when he retired.” Woodhouse added, “Danny was the keeper of this special brand for so many, many years, and he left us with a strong culture that values quality and honesty. He will be missed deeply.”
Cracker Barrel President & Chief Executive Officer Sandra B. Cochran said, “Cracker Barrel has remained true to Danny’s vision in many ways, including the insistence on quality products at a fair price, and on genuine Southern hospitality. How Danny thought about his guests and his business from the beginning is captured in ‘Pleasing People,’ our mission statement.” She added, “We will continue to protect the concept and honor Danny’s legacy by staying true to the brand and to the principles that were there at the beginning.”
Danny was a Shell Oil “jobber” in 1969 when he decided to open up a restaurant on Highway 109 in Lebanon, Tenn., the community in which he lived. The restaurant had a small gift shop attached. Because Danny was modest and humble, he always downplayed his contributions to the business and attributed the company’s success to good luck. But Danny knew that with the new interstate highway system, people would be traveling more. He built his business by treating his guests with genuine hospitality, offering good tasting country cookin’ and charging a fair price, so that they would stop again when they were traveling back in the other direction. That approach to business led to the company’s mission statement, “pleasing people,” a mission statement which is about mutual respect, and which still guides all 67,000 employees today.
Danny named his restaurant Cracker Barrel Old Country Store® to recall the country stores of his youth in rural Tennessee where people would gather around to play checkers on top of an empty barrel that had been used to deliver crackers to the store, and catch up on the latest news in their small towns. He offered the Southern country cooking he had grown up on, using many family recipes, and decided to decorate the walls with authentic antiques. Danny never compromised on the quality of ingredients for the meals he served or on the quality of the gifts he sold in his retail shop, regardless of what corners the competition might be cutting. These traditions of quality and authenticity are carried on to this day.
Danny was often asked if he had ever thought that Cracker Barrel would grow so large and become such a favorite with guests. He would respond with a mock-serious “yes,” and then smile as he added an offer to sell the Brooklyn Bridge to anyone who was naïve enough to believe that he had planned such growth in advance. But he knew that the idea of an old country store would be well-received outside of the South, in parts of the country that had as their traditions the very similar general stores and trading posts of the old days.
Danny was beloved by so many Cracker Barrel employees and built a unique culture that encouraged them to stay. Indeed, Cracker Barrel is fortunate to enjoy very low turnover rates and has a large number of employees who have been with the company for 20 and 30 years and more. He initiated the industry-leading Personal Achievement Responsibility, or PAR, training program, which provides for increased benefits for employees as they progress through the program from “Rising Star” to “PAR IV”, and he insisted that Cracker Barrel develop computer-based-training programs years before it was standard in the industry.
Danny also kept his eye on the guest experience and was very concerned about maintaining the company’s unique culture as the chain grew from its core markets in the South to reach the 42 states that it is in today. Among other innovations, he is credited with conceiving Cracker Barrel’s popular book-on-audio program, which allows guests to purchase a book-on-audio at one location and then return it to any other location and get a new book-on-audio for only a nominal exchange fee.
Danny served as Chief Executive Officer from 1969 to 2001, and as Chairman of the Board until he retired in 2004, at which time he became Chairman Emeritus and a member of the Cracker Barrel Founders Board.”

Infinity Athletics Allstars won 1st Place at the Tennessee Tech University Spring Fling Championship in Cookeville on Saturday, January 7th. They are coached by Jennifer Sykes and Sonja House.
Front Row L-R: Madison Colwell, Chloe Sykes, Mascot Kenna Sykes, Shaunta Koegler, Katherine Clendenen, Callie Mulloy, and Kenzie France
Bottom Row: Shelby Sprague, Alley Sykes, Emme Colwell
Chloe Sykes won 3rd Place in the 11 & up age group in the Jump Contest.
Alley Sykes won 1st Place in the 10 & under age group.

A fire Saturday night at City Walk Apartments caused extensive damage to one of the buildings in the complex on East Bryant Street but no one was injured.
Central dispatch received a call at 8:28 p.m. that a fire had started in apartment 6.
Members of the Smithville Volunteer Fire Department rushed to the scene and found flames coming from one of the upstairs apartments, according to Fire Chief Charlie Parker. “When we arrived we found flames coming from the roof and the window of an upstairs apartment. We tried to get into it as quick as we could to try and make a stop on it to keep it from going any further. The fire got up into the attic area and there’s some roof additions on the side of the building that made the fire difficult to reach,” said Chief Parker.

“The fire started in one of the upstairs apartments and then it moved over into the one beside of it. One apartment, where the fire started, is totally destroyed and the other is pretty extensively damaged with no ceiling or roof. There is also some water damage in a couple of apartments below on the first floor. There are eight apartments altogether in this building, four on each side. Four of them have been affected. The other four have not been damaged by fire or water but could have some smoke,” said Chief Parker.
Smithville Police were among the first to arrive on the scene and made sure the apartments were evacuated. “The police department got here before we did and evacuated three of the four apartments in this building and made sure everybody got out,” said Chief Parker.

The cause of the fire has not been determined, according to Chief Parker. “We do know it started in an upstairs apartment but we’re still looking into it,” he said.
Although the ceiling fell through in one of the apartments while firefighters were in there making the attack, no one was hurt.
Because the fire was difficult to reach in some places, Chief Parker said firefighters made use of a Smithville Electric System bucket truck which was on the scene.”The way the roof is straight up on the sides, Smithville Electric was here with their bucket truck so we used them to get over in the top so we could get to where the fire was on the roof. It had already burned through in a couple of spots so we used them so we could get in there to it,” said Chief Parker.
DeKalb EMS was also on the scene.

A Smithville woman is charged with TennCare fraud involving “doctor shopping,” or using TennCare to go to multiple doctors in a short time period to obtain controlled substances.
The Office of Inspector General (OIG), in a joint investigation with the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office, announced the arrest of Krista Mahaney, 26, of Smithville. She is charged with two counts of fraudulently using TennCare to obtain controlled substances by “doctor shopping.”
The charges accuse Mahaney of seeing more than one physician within a 30-day period for the purpose of getting prescriptions for Suboxone, a drug used to treat heroin addiction by mimicking the effects of the drug without the addictive qualities. The physician office visits and the medications were paid for by TennCare.
“The unauthorized use and abuse of prescription drugs is a serious crime, and it’s compounded when TennCare is used to subsidize the activity,” Inspector General Deborah Faulkner said. “We’re committed to ensuring that TennCare benefits are not used for the purchase and eventual distribution of these drugs to people they weren’t prescribed for.”
TennCare fraud is a Class E felony carrying a sentence of up to two years per charge in prison. District Attorney General Randall A. York is prosecuting.
The OIG, which is separate from TennCare, began full operation in February 2005 and has investigated cases leading to over $3.5 million paid in restitution and recoupment to TennCare, with a total estimated cost avoidance of over $173 million for the TennCare program, according to latest figures. To date, nearly 1,500 people have been charged with TennCare fraud.
Through the OIG Cash for Tips Program established by the Legislature, Tennesseans can get cash rewards for TennCare fraud tips that lead to convictions. Anyone can report suspected TennCare fraud by calling 1-800-433-3982 toll-free from anywhere in Tennessee, or log on to www.tn.gov/tnoig and follow the prompts that read “Report TennCare Fraud.”