School spirit was on display Friday afternoon as students from DeKalb County High School celebrated the last day of Homecoming Week with a parade from the school to downtown.
The Tiger football team’s homecoming opponent Friday night was the Hixson Wildcats and the floats in the parade had a Tiger versus Wildcats theme.
The parade featured Homecoming Queen Quincie Paige Winchester and her court, the DCHS Fighting Tiger Band, lots of decorated cars and trucks, county and city law enforcement officers, and fire fighters, among others. The event concluded with a pep rally on the square led by DCHS Football cheerleaders.
The Senior Class took first place with their float called “Seniors Servin’ up Wildcat Soup”
Second place went to the Junior Class with their float called “Whack- A-Wildcat”
The Freshman Class received third place with the theme “Rumble in the Jungle”
Winners of the best decorated vehicles in the parade were: First place-Camry Lou Colvert White; Second place- Martha Webb; and Third place- Alex Meadows. Tanner Davis and Justin Bragg received honorable mention.

IBMA Entertainers of the Year Dailey & Vincent are proud to announce their inaugural homecoming charity concert to raise money for the newly formed Dailey & Vincent Fund to benefit disadvantaged children in DeKalb and Jackson County. The concert will be Saturday, October 2nd at 5:00 p.m. at the Jackson County High School Football Field in Gainesboro
Funds raised will be distributed through the Cookeville Regional Foundation, an affiliate of Cookeville Regional Medical Center, The Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization that is exclusively charitable. The Foundation is an independent corporation with its own Board of Directors. The purpose of The Foundation is to solicit and receive gifts of money and real or personal property to aid Cookeville Regional Medical Center Authority in fulfilling its obligation to the community and to make contributions and grants in the furtherance of this purpose.
The Dailey & Vincent Fund exists to provide financial assistance to disadvantaged children of Jackson and DeKalb Counties to meet immediate medical, nutritional and educational needs not covered by insurance or other means, while acknowledging the God-given gifts, potential and dignity of each child.
Concert tickets are $15 and are available in Smithville at Cantrell Furniture and Webb’s Drug Store, or by calling Julie Vincent (615-418-5759). Tickets are also available online at www.daileyvincent.com. Tickets will also be sold on the day of the concert in the Gainesboro town square.
Those attending the concert need to bring lawn chairs. The first 1,000 tickets sold will be accompanied by preferred parking privileges at the football field. Additional free parking will be off-site with shuttle service provided to the concert. In the event of inclement weather, the concert will be moved indoors. No refunds.
Fans of award-winning bluegrass duo Dailey & Vincent know that they take their music seriously. It’s also obvious that they believe strongly in giving back—to their community, their industry and their fans, as first seen with the release of Singing From the Heart, a CD that helped raise fund for Tennessee Bible College. Now, Jamie Dailey and Darrin Vincent are taking it a step further with the formation of their own charitable fund and an annual homecoming charity concert.
Dailey & Vincent signed with Rounder Records in 2007 and released their self-titled debut in 2008. They are the reigning International Bluegrass Music Association Entertainers of the Year and Vocal Group of the Year, taking home the coveted trophies in 2008 and 2009. They are the only bluegrass act ever to win IBMA’s Emerging Artist and Entertainer of the Year awards in the same year (2008). Their current release, Dailey & Vincent Sing the Statler Brothers, features bluegrass versions of 12 of the Statlers’ most-loved hits and is available exclusively at Cracker Barrel Old Country Store and www.crackerbarrel.com. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard Bluegrass Albums chart, where it has spent nine weeks at #1 and 19 weeks in the top 3. It also debuted at #19 on the Billboard Country Albums chart. The album, as well as lead track “Flowers on the Wall,” were the most-played on Sirius XM’s Bluegrass Junction during the month of June. More information on Dailey & Vincent, including tour dates, is available at www.daileyvincent.com.

The DeKalb County unemployment rate for the month of August was 9.6%, down slightly from 9.7% in July. The rate for August 2009 was 10.6%
The local labor force for August was 9,880. A total of 8,930 were employed and 950 were without work.
DeKalb County’s jobless rate for the month was sixth lowest in the fourteen county Upper Cumberland region. Here’s how they rank from highest to lowest:
Pickett County-12.8%
White- 12%
Fentress- 11.4%
Jackson- 11.2%
Warren- 11.1%
Clay- 10.9%
Van Buren- 10.7%
Cumberland-9.9%
DeKalb-9.6%
Overton-9.5%
Smith- 9.3%
Cannon- 9.1%
Putnam- 8.9%
Macon- 8.7%
Tennessee’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for August was 9.6 percent, down one-tenth of a percentage point from the revised July rate of 9.7 percent. The national unemployment rate for August 2010 was 9.6 percent.
County non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rates for August 2010 show that the rate decreased in 46 counties, increased in 33 counties and remained the same in 16 counties.
Lincoln County registered the state’s lowest county unemployment rate at 6.4 percent, unchanged from the previous month. Scott County had the state’s highest unemployment rate at 19.8 percent, up from 19.4 percent in July, followed by Marshall County at 16.0 percent, up from July’s rate of 15.7 percent.
Knox County had the state’s lowest major metropolitan rate of 7.6 percent, up from 7.5 percent in July. Davidson County was 9.5 percent, up from 9.3 percent. Hamilton County was 8.7 percent, up from 8.4 in July, and Shelby County was 9.9 percent, unchanged from the previous month.

The Remote Area Medical Volunteer Corps is returning to DeKalb County on Saturday and Sunday, November 13th & 14th at DeKalb County High School providing free health care services to people of all ages regardless of income. A similar event took place in DeKalb County at the high school in August, 2005.
Remote Area Medical (RAM) is a non-profit, volunteer corps dedicated to serving mankind by providing free health care, dental care, eye care, and technical and educational assistance to people in remote areas of the United States and the world.
Founded in 1985, Remote Area Medical is a publicly supported all-volunteer charitable organization. Volunteer doctors, nurses, and support workers participate in expeditions (at their own expense). Medical supplies, medicines, facilities and vehicles are donated.
County Mayor Mike Foster says the November clinic will be open to anyone, no matter where you live. There are also no income guidelines. All you have to do is show up. “We had this remote area medical clinic here a few years ago. That year they treated, checked, or had dealings with about six hundred or seven hundred people. I believe they pulled about eight hundred or nine hundred teeth, prepared two hundred or three hundred pairs of glasses, and did lot of other things. I know of one woman they discovered had breast cancer and she was referred to a doctor. They told me that this absolutely saved her life. Because of the economy, they’re expecting maybe 1,200 patients this year.”
“They’re planning on having about forty doctors here. Some of them will check eyesight, some will be dentists, and it’s all free to the public. There will also be some other checks and screenings for things like blood pressure, and general health concerns.”
“We’re looking for volunteers from the medical profession to assist. The last word I heard is that they are hoping to have forty doctors here. They do extractions, pull teeth. They fill teeth. They check your eyes. They offer free glasses and they grind them on site and provide them. We don’t know for sure yet but we think they will have a truck there to provide mammography services. ”
“Again it’s all free to people inside or outside the county but we have to seek donations to help pay for the hotel expenses for the doctors. We would ask that some of the churches help provide meals on Saturday and Sunday, November 13th & 14th.”
“It’s going to be at the high school. They’ll come in on Friday, November 12th and get everything set up. There’ll be people (patients) lined up all night I’m sure, there always are. We actually had this set up for January but they had a cancellation and moved it up to November so the weather should be better. We applied four years ago (for this visit) so it’s something that’s hard (to get scheduled) but it’s a very useful thing.”
“If anybody wants to donate their time, we need about one hundred people to actually help fill out forms and assist doctors. We need people from all walks of life but especially if you are a dentist assistant, if you work for an optometrist, if you work for a doctor, any of those type people, we need you. Of course, we need doctors, dentists, and eye doctors too. Anyone who wants to volunteer for this, you may donate as much or as little time as you want to.”

The chance to have fun while helping to preserve the natural beauty of Center Hill Lake is coming. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is once again sponsoring the annual Fall Shoreline Cleanup at Center Hill Lake and seeking volunteers for the effort.
This year’s cleanup is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 2, from 9 a.m. – noon, rain or shine. Sign-in and garbage pick-up sites will be located at the Floating Mill and Ragland Bottom Recreation Areas. Participants will be provided gloves and garbage bags and assigned a section of shoreline to work. A free lunch for all participants, complete with door prizes, will be provided. Volunteers should wear work clothes and sturdy footwear and, depending on the weather forecast, pack rain gear . . . just in case.
A clean-up will also be conducted on the upper end of the lake originating at the Pinhook Recreation area near Pates Ford. Lunch will be served. Please call 597-4225 or 597-5175 for more information about that particular cleanup effort.
All participants should pre-register for the cleanup by calling the Center Hill Lake Resource Manager’s Office at (931) 858-3125. Pre-registration will help planners prepare the proper number of lunches and select desired lakeshore cleanup areas. On the day of the cleanup, individuals and groups not pre-registered may still take part by signing in at Ragland Bottom or Floating Mill Recreation Area.
Organizers predict one of the best ever such events and invite all to help keep one of Tennessee’s lakes one of the most beautiful in the country.

The Smithville-DeKalb County Chamber of Commerce is asking for more financial support from the City of Smithville.
Tim Hintz, Chamber President, addressed the mayor and aldermen Monday night asking that the city double it’s annual contribution to the chamber from $5,000 to $10,000. “It will help to fill our budget. Some of her ( Chamber Director Suzanne Williams’) time is spent trying to raise money like for the Chamber banquet, the Prayer Breakfast, and things like that just to fill the budget. Our members pay dues but that doesn’t pay for everything we do so we’re asking for your help. In my opinion, this is a good investment in the future and it’ll be returned with increased business which increases taxes and funding for the city.”

The county has already doubled it’s annual appropriation to the Chamber from $10,000 to $20,000.
Mayor Taft Hendrixson said he wanted to see a copy of the Chamber budget before the city acts on the request.
Hintz said the Chamber would comply. The issue will probably be raised again at the next regular meeting on October 4th.
Meanwhile, in other business Smithville Police Officer Travis Bryant reported that the city has received a 100% funded grant in the amount of $25,000 through the Governor’s Highway Safety Office for traffic enforcement. Officer Bryant said the money will be used to fund a speed trailer, car camera systems, light bars, and more than $11,000 to compensate for overtime of officers. The aldermen voted to accept the grant.
In other business, Mayor Hendrixson appointed Hilton Conger to fill the unexpired term of the late Dr. W.E. Vanatta on the Smithville Electric System Board. The term expires June 30th, 2012. The aldermen approved the appointment.
Smithville Police Officers David Phillips and James Cornelius, who have completed their sixty day probationary period, were hired by the aldermen Monday night.. Officer Phillips was put to work on June 21st and Officer Cornelius went to work on July 1st. Both have been earning $11.71 cents per hour and their pay will increase to $13.09 cents per hour. Both are full time certified police officers.
Alderman and Police Commissioner Aaron Meeks was very complimentary of these two men “These two gentlemen have made excellent officers and I think we have really done a great job in employing them and I think they will make our community proud.”
Bradley Barrett, an employee of the sanitation department, has completed his sixty day probationary period. He was hired on June 18th. His current pay rate is $10.66 per hour but will increase to $11.03 per hour. The aldermen voted to hire him.
Farron Hendrix, doing business as Smithville Golf Management LLC has given notice to the mayor and aldermen of his intention to terminate the lease agreement with the city to operate the municipal golf course and swimming pool, effective October 23rd.
Mayor Hendrixson read Hendrix’s letter during Monday night’s meeting. “Smithville Golf Management, LLC entered into the lease with the intent to improve and maintain a beautiful city asset for the benefit of the citizens of Smithville, our school and community golf leagues, and to attract visitors and industry to our community. We also entered into the lease, not for personal gain, but with the hopes of maintaining the golf club as a non-profit entity. However, due to the downturn in the economy, extreme weather conditions, increased competition from surrounding courses, and increased expenses, we can no longer manage this city property at our own personal expense.”
“We are very proud of the many improvements that we have made during our lease agreement; improved fairways, additional tee boxes, new trees, cleaner pond, refurbished sprinkler system, and updated facilities, just to name a few. However, our tax records prove that we have lost and continue to lose money each year in the management of the property. Therefore, it is with regret that we terminate our lease agreement with this sixty day notice.”
Hendrix goes on to state in the letter that the Smithville Golf Management, LLC is willing to sell equipment and supplies to the city at a reduced assessed value for continued management of the golf club. He adds “Smithville Golf Management, LLC also agrees to assist the city in the management of the golf club until the new management can be secured.”
Basically, the city has two options: To re-bid the lease of the golf course and swimming pool to someone else; or the city could assume control of the operation and hire someone to manage it.
Aldermen Shawn Jacobs and Steve White and Mayor Hendrixson said they have already been contacted by those wanting to put in a bid to lease the facility, but Alderman Steve White suggested that the city contact the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation’s Recreation Educational Services Division first to see what grant opportunities are available to improve the golf course and pool operation, as well as other city owned parks and recreation areas before taking action on the future of the golf course.
Mayor Hendrixson appointed a committee made up of Aldermen Steve White, W.J.(Dub) White, and Aaron Meeks to join him in setting up a meeting with whoever the state sends here to tour the city’s parks and learn more about what funding sources are available to improve and possibly expand the city’s existing recreational areas.
Last year, the aldermen gave Smithville employees who have worked for the city ten years or longer a total of three weeks of paid vacation. Monday night, Alderman Steve White made a motion that these employees be allowed to exercise an option of receiving pay for that third week during Christmas time “If they do not want to use that week for vacation.”
Mayor Hendrixson said the action would have to be done as an ordinance amendment. That issue will be bought back up at the next meeting.

A 21 year old DeKalb County woman, arrested in April for child neglect, and later indicted in a drug round up by the Sheriff’s Department, was granted pre-trial diversion in Criminal Court Monday.
Judge Leon Burns, Jr. presided.
Jamie Lee (Wagner) Beising, indicted on charges of child neglect, one count of conspiracy to sell and deliver a schedule II drug, and one count of theft under $500, will be on Tennessee Department of Corrections supervised probation for a period of two years under a memorandum of understanding, pre-trial diversion. Under terms of the agreement, she must make restitution to the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department in the amount of $160, complete an alcohol and drug assessment and follow all recommendations, and perform 100 hours of community service.
In August, Beising was indicted on a charge of child neglect. The indictment alleged that “On or about the 11th day of April, Beising did knowingly neglect a child under six years of age, so as to adversely affect the child’s health and welfare constituting the offense of child neglect.”
Sheriff Patrick Ray says on Saturday, April 10th, a deputy was dispatched to the residence of Beising, who lived on Old Snow Hill Road in Dowelltown, in answer to a complaint of an unattended child who was left in the home. The child’s mother, Beising, reportedly returned about fifteen minutes after the deputy arrived.
According to Sheriff Ray, the officer entered the residence and was horrified to find loose trash, piles of dirty diapers, rat waste on uneaten food, mold in the refrigerator, flies and maggots throughout the home and in a bedroom where the child slept was loose trash piled up even with the bed.
The Department of Children’s Service was called to assist in the case and the child was removed from the mother’s care.
Shortly after being arrested in the child neglect case, Beising found herself in trouble with the law again, after being named in a sealed indictment by the April term of the grand jury charging her with conspiracy to sell and deliver a schedule II drug and one count of theft under $500. The charges were the result of an undercover drug investigation by the sheriff’s department. Beising was among 64 people in the drug round-up.
In other cases Monday in Criminal Court, 48 year old Jeffery Owen Smithson pleaded guilty to arson and received a three year sentence. He was given credit for time served and will be on probation for the balance of the sentence. Smithson must make restitution and stay away from the victims in the case. He was given jail credit of 432 days from July 15th, 2009 to September 20th, 2010.
31 year old Jack Mullican pleaded guilty to two counts of forgery and received a two year sentence in each case to run concurrently with each other, but all suspended to time served. Mullican has been given jail credit of twenty seven days and he has applied for judicial diversion probation. Mullican must make restitution of $290 to the victim and pay $150 to the economic crime fund. All other charges against him are to be dropped upon payment of restitution and reinstatement of his drivers license
28 year old Jonathon Goff pleaded guilty to introduction of contraband into a penal institution. He received a three year sentence, all suspended to time served. He will be on TDOC probation. Goff was given jail credit from January 1st, 2010 to September 20th, 2010
50 year old Marti Annette Compton, charged with sale and delivery of a schedule III and IV controlled substance and violation of the drug free school zone, was granted pre-trial diversion for a period of two years. She will be on TDOC probation and must perform thirty hours of community service work
63 year old Sandra C. Heath, charged with sale and delivery of a schedule II controlled substance, was granted pre-trial diversion for a period of two years. She will be on TDOC probation.
20 year old Stephen Michael Kennedy, charged with manufacture of a schedule VI controlled substance (marijuana) was granted pre-trial diversion for a period of two years. He will be under the supervision of TDOC probation and he must perform thirty hours of community service
Leslie B. Bailey, charged with drug offenses, was also granted pre-trial diversion for a period of two years. She will be on TDOC probation and must perform fifty hours of community service.
34 year old Tracie H. Godsey pleaded guilty to simple possession and received a sentence of 11 months and 29 days, all suspended to probation. She was also fined $250.

The DeKalb County High School Band competed in the Hendersonville Golden Marching Invitational on Saturday and earned several top honors.
The band competed in “Class D”, the smallest class and won first place in class. In addition, the band received first place awards for “Best Percussion”, “Best Horn Line”, and “Best Color Guard” in class
The band placed 7th in the small division (class d and the bigger class c), beating out a few of the larger bands.
The DCHS Fighting Tiger Band will perform during the Homecoming Day parade Friday afternoon on the public square and during halftime of the football game Friday night.
The next competition will be Saturday, October 2nd at the Blue Devil Invitational