One person has already picked up a petition to run for the school board in the fifth district.
Kevin D. Hale of Dearman Street plans to seek the position currently held by W.J. (Dub) Evins, III.
Petitions for the 5th and 6th district school board races can now be picked up at the DeKalb County Election Commission office.
School board members, who run as non-partisan candidates, are elected in even-numbered years in August with the membership being staggered. In August 2012, members in Districts 5 and 6 are to be elected. The qualifying deadline for this election is NOON, April 5.
Sixth district member Bruce Parsley, who was elected to the school board in 2008, resigned effective December 31, 2011. Parsley told WJLE Friday that the reason he stepped down is because he is furthering his education seeking to become a teacher. He is already serving as a substitute teacher. Under state law, teachers apparently cannot serve as members of the board of education.

Lindsay Locke, Acting County Executive Director of the DeKalb County Farm Service Agency, says the DeKalb FSA County Committee met in regular session on Tuesday, December 6 to canvass and tabulate the ballots received in the 2011 Local Administrative Area (LAA) # 2 County Committee Election. The deadline to return ballots was December 5.
Jack Campbell was re-elected to serve as a member on the Committee representing LAA-2. His second term began January 1, 2011. Mike Conley was elected as the 1st Alternate.
In addition, the Committee held its Organizational Meeting on December 6, 2011. The Committee selected Timmie Adcock to serve as Chairperson, Jack Campbell to serve as Vice-Chairperson, and Mary Sanders to serve as Member.
Locke says that the DeKalb FSA County Committee and office staff wishes to express their appreciation to voters in LAA-2 who participated in the election by voting and returning their ballots. “The local County Committees are a very important part of Farm Service Agency’s program delivery and administrative processes. I do not know of any other agency providing federal programs that can say that the delivery and decision making efforts are made on the local level by a farmer-elected committee,” added Locke.
For more information about FSA’s County Committees or other program inquiries, call 597-8225 (extension 2) or come by the DeKalb County Farm Service Agency office at 647 Bright Hill Street in Smithville. You can also visit the agency’s web site at: www.fsa.usda.gov.

The DeKalb County Volunteer Fire Department has been awarded a $103,950 U.S. Department of Homeland Security Operations and Safety Grant, U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander announced.
Even though demands of EMS providers and firefighters have increased tremendously over the years, the resources they depend on to provide their life-saving services have not. That’s why Congress initiated the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program, which is similar to the highly successful COPS program that put more than 100,000 new police officers on the nation’s streets.
Chief Donny Green said the DeKalb County Volunteer Fire Department will use this federal funding award to purchase a new 4 X 4 brush/quick attack vehicle to replace the old and unreliable 1975 homemade brush truck. This vehicle will be used in the department’s county wide operation and will be a huge asset in helping firefighters access areas around Center Hill Lake.
DeKalb County will only have to provide a 5% local match for the purchase of this new vehicle awarded in this grant. Chief Green says that the department appreciates the support of County Mayor Mike Foster and the DeKalb County Commissioners for agreeing to provide the 5% local match for this grant.

The Infinity Athletics Allstars received 2nd place at their latest competition at Nashville Municipal Auditorium on Saturday, December 10th.
The next event will be the last Tennessee competition on Saturday, February 11th at Nashville Municipal Auditorium. Then, the final competition will be the Cheersport Nationals in Atlanta, Georgia February 17-19th. Anyone interested in coming to a competition to support the All Stars and needs more information, please call Infinity Athletics at 215-9050. We would like to thank everyone for all their support.
Pictured are Top Row (L-R): Coach Jennifer Sykes, Kenzie France, Shaunta Koegler, Madison Colwell, and Callie Mulloy
Bottom Row (L-R): Shelby Sprague, Chloe Sykes, Emme Colwell, and Alley Sykes
Not Pictured: Katherine Clendenen

DeKalb County would have two State Representatives under a new Republican drawn redistricting plan unveiled Wednesday.
State Representative Terri Lynn Weaver would continue to represent Smith County and most of DeKalb County as part of the 40th district but the southern portion of DeKalb County would become part of another district with Cannon and a large portion of Wilson County, represented by Republican Mark Pody of Wilson County. Legislative atttorney Doug Himes told WJLE Thursday that a total of 6,126 DeKalb County residents would be in Pody’s 46th district. The precincts affected include Belk, Keltonburg, and Blue Springs in the sixth district, a small portion of the Middle School precinct in the third district, and a small portion of the Church of Christ Annex precinct in the seventh district. The rest of DeKalb County (12,597 residents) would remain in Weaver’s 40th district.
Weaver would also lose Macon County but she would pick up Trousdale County and a portion of Sumner County.
The plan would have to be enacted by the State Legislature before it could take effect.
Click Link Below to See Statewide House Redistricting Planhttp://www.capitol.tn.gov/house/docs/Statewide010412.pdf
Meanwhile, State Senator Mae Beavers would continue to represent DeKalb County as part of the 17th district under the Republican drawn senate redistricting map.
Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey announced the release of the plan Wednesday, which was put together by the Senate’s Working Group on Redistricting with the assistance of the Office of Legal Services and is now available at the General Assembly’s website.
Click Link Below to see the Middle Tennessee Senate Redistricting Planhttp://www.capitol.tn.gov/senate/redist/Plan%20H%20Middle.jpg
Under the plan, Senator Beavers’ 17th district would still be made up of Cannon, Clay, DeKalb, Macon, Smith, and Wilson Counties, but Beavers would lose Trousdale County and the one precinct she represents in Sumner County to the 18th district.
“We were committed to drawing a fair and legal state senate map and that is exactly what we have done.” said Lt. Governor Ramsey. “The map emphasizes regional integrity and adheres to state and federal laws as well as court precedent. I look forward to concluding the redistricting process swiftly and efficiently as soon as we go into session next week.”
In addition to Lt. Governor Ramsey the Senate Working Group on redistricting included three regional coordinators: Majority Leader Mark Norris, Republican Caucus Chairman Bill Ketron and Speaker Pro Tempore Bo Watson.
This release includes both a statewide map as well as regional and urban center breakout maps for public perusal. A comprehensive memorandum explaining the new map in detail can also be found at the website: http://www.capitol.tn.gov/senate/redist/redistricting.html.

Petitions for the 5th and 6th district school board races can now be picked up at the DeKalb County Election Commission office.
School board members, who run as non-partisan candidates, are elected in even-numbered years in August with the membership being staggered. In August 2012, members in Districts 5 and 6 are to be elected. The qualifying deadline for this election is NOON, April 5. The seats are currently held by W.J. (Dub) Evins, III in the 5th district and Bruce Parsley in the 6th district.
Meanwhile, the state representatives seats that serve DeKalb County will also be on the August State Primary ballot. However, due to statewide redistricting, petitions for those offices will not be issued until February 6, 2012.
“Due to the events of reapportionment (or redistricting), the Coordinator of Elections may postpone the normal beginning date petitions can be issued,” said Dennis Stanley, DeKalb Administrator of Elections. “Due to the fact the legislature has yet to approve a redistricting plan, the Coordinator has moved the date to February 6.” The qualifying deadline, however, will remain the same-April 5.
Meanwhile, Stanley reminds voters about key dates for the upcoming Presidential Preference Primary and DeKalb County Democratic Primary, set for March 6th. The last day to register to vote is February 6 and early voting will be
held from February 15 through February 28. The last day a voter may send in a written request for an absentee ballot is also February 28th.
Stanley also reminded voters that a photo identification will be required to vote on the machine during early voting or on election day. For more information, contact the election office at 597-4146.

The DeKalb County Fire Department has compiled its 2011 Incident Response Summary.
The best news in this report is that DeKalb County did not record any fire-related deaths in 2011. Overall, 2011 fire incident responses in the county were up by 54 calls from 2010. In 2010, the department responded to a total of 392 fire incidents. The department responded to 446 fire incident responses in 2011. This count does not include the 357 rural medical first responder calls that county fire department personnel responded to.
DeKalb County Fire Chief Donny Green said that the most marked increase in incidents is in the “alarms” category. This category captures responses to automated alarms such as fire/smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms. Chief Green said that this is expected because of the increased population of absentee homeowners around the Center Hill Lake area. According to Green, these property owners increasingly are using automated alarm systems to monitor their property, as their primary residences are elsewhere.
With DeKalb County’s rural population growing at rates higher than the cities’ population growth within DeKalb County, the department continues to strive to prevent fires and fire related incidents by using prevention and educational measures. DeKalb County Fire Department’s Fire Prevention and Safety Officer, Lt. Brad Mullinax, says that preventing incidents is much more economical than responding to them.
The chart as shown above provides a breakdown of each type of fire incident response that the department responded to in 2011.

Landscape Photographer, Bill Luton, exposes the beauty to one of Tennessee’s most beautiful lakes in the pages of his new book “The Lake” a photographic journey through the seasons on Center Hill Lake.
Click the following link to hear a radio interview with Bill Luton on WJLE

The book is now available for sale and Luton is inviting you to meet him during a book signing this Saturday, January 7 from 4:00 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. at the White Possum Grille on Walnut Street downtown Smithville.
Throughout the changing seasons, from early dawn through dusk, Luton is able to capture an image not often seen or viewed while exploring the lake’s secluded coves.
The lake itself snakes over 60 miles through some of Middle Tennessee’s most noted terrain. Roughly less than 1% of the shoreline has been developed and what has, is mainly for recreational usage.
Rolling hills, steep cliffs, and hidden waterfalls are just a part of what has been experienced and shared in this first series. Migrating waterfowl to human intervention awaits you with just a simple turn of the page.
Shown are 25 images from “The Lake” providing you with samples of the images found within the 48 page book. This hardback book measures 12″ wide by 9″ tall using 80# silk paper, a four color process with a spot gloss varnish to protect and enhance each individual image.
You can preview and order “The Lake” online at www.luton.us