A Smithville woman, making a court appearance last Monday, was arrested at the courthouse after she was found with drugs in her possession.
Sheriff Patrick Ray says 30 year old Amanda Mae Riley of Bright Hill Road Smithville was charged with simple possession of a schedule II drug (Methamphetamine) and simple possession of a schedule IV drug (Xanax). Riley was in Circuit Court when her probation officer asked a deputy to stand outside of the bathroom doorway while she (the probation officer) administered a drug screen on Riley. During the test, the officer heard the probation officer shouting his name. He went into the restroom and found the probation officer and Riley in a struggle. The officer assisted the probation officer in bringing Riley under control. Riley was trying to flush down the commode a pill bottle. The deputy and probation officer retrieved the bottle and found 14 pills believed to be Xanax and a small plastic baggie of a white substance believed to be Methamphetamine. Riley was charged with the crimes and her bond was set at $10,000 on the drug charges. She will appear in General Sessions court on February 25th.
43 year old Scott Douglas Griffin of Logue Road, Mount Juliet was arrested Tuesday, January 26th for driving under the influence and simple possession of schedule VI drug (marijuana). Deputies were behind a vehicle on Highway 70 west when they noticed it weaving. Officers stopped the automobile and found Griffin to be the driver. He had a strong odor of alcohol on his person, slurred speech and very poor motor skills. Deputies also found in Griffin’s front pants pocket a plastic bag that contained a green leafy substance believed to be marijuana. Bond for Griffin was set at $3,000 on the charges and he will appear in General Sessions Court on February 11th.
37 year old Sergio Sanchez of West Bryant Smithville was arrested Saturday, January 30th for driving a motor vehicle without a driver’s license. Deputies received a report of an auto accident on Highway 70 east and found Sanchez to be the driver. Sanchez told the officer that he had a Kansas driver’s license. Upon running Sanchez’s name through the driver’s license data base, authorities discovered there was no record of Sanchez having any kind of driver’s license issued to him. Bond for Sanchez was set at $1,000 and he will appear in court on February 18th.

The DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department, along with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation have been investigating the death of a DeKalb County jail inmate.
In a brief prepared statement, Sheriff Patrick Ray says that 34 year old Jackie Lee Snider of Hurricane Ridge Road Dowelltown, was pronounced dead at DeKalb Community Hospital Saturday at approximately 2:32 p.m.
Sheriff Ray asked the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation for their assistance in the case. An autopsy was performed by the State Medical Examiner’s office in Nashville.
On Sunday January 31st, Sheriff Ray said he was contacted by the District Attorney General Randy York and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation about the case. Both agencies reported that there were no findings from the autopsy that indicated any foul play. The cause of Snider’s death appeared to be of natural causes.

Smithville Police made two arrests last week in a shoplifting incident at Wal-mart
56 year old Danny Petty of 225 East Bryant Street and 48 year old Roy Douglas Atnip of 232 Meadowbrook Drive were arrested on Saturday, January 23rd for theft and public intoxication. Corporal Travis K. Bryant was dispatched to Wal-Mart on a theft call. Upon arrival he saw Atnip on video surveillance leave the store with a 12 pack of Busch beer, without paying for it. Corporal Bryant found him a short time later in the field behind Restview Avenue consuming the beer. With him was Petty who Corporal Bryant determined had been an accomplice. Petty could be seen on the video tape with Atnip. Both appeared to be intoxicated. Each had an odor of alcohol on their persons and their speech was slurred. Bond for both was set at $1,000 and their court date is February 4th.
80 year old William R Mabe of 310 Locust Street was arrested on Saturday, January 23 for a first offense of driving under the influence. Officer Matt Holmes was dispatched to the area of West Broad Street where an off duty State Trooper was following a vehicle. Even though the tires were blown out, the vehicle continued traveling west bound. Officer Holmes stopped the automobile at Wal-Mart Drive and West Broad Street. Upon speaking with the driver, Mabe, Officer Holmes noticed he appeared to be disoriented. As Mabe exited the vehicle he was unsteady on his feet and fell to the ground numerous times. Due to the high volume of traffic on the highway and Mr. Mabe’s unsteadiness, no field sobriety tests were given for his safety. A half full bottle of Peppermint Schnapps was found in the driver’s side floor board. Mr. Mabe was arrested and transported to the Smithville Police Department where he was informed of the implied consent law. Mabe submitted to a breathalyzer test, the results of which were .178. Bond for Mabe was set at $1,000 and his court date is February, 18th.
27 year old Michael Ray Reeder of 754 Pine Orchard Road was arrested Saturday, January 23rd for simple possession of a schedule VI drug and driving on a suspended driver licenses. Officer Scott Davis was dispatched to Juniper Lane in reference to a suspicious vehicle parked in front of the complainant’s house. Upon arrival, Officer Davis discovered that the vehicle was gone but the complainant gave him a description of it. Later, as Officer Davis was traveling down Highland Street, he saw the vehicle traveling north. He stopped the automobile and found that the passenger was not wearing a seatbelt. Upon making contact with the driver, Reeder, Officer Davis could smell a strong odor of marijuana coming from inside the vehicle. He asked Reeder if there were any illegal drugs in the automobile. Reeder replied that all he had was a joint. During the search incident to arrest, police found a plastic bag under the seat with a green leafy substance believed to be marijuana. A check of Mr. Reeder’s driver licenses revealed them to be suspended for failure to satisfy a citation in Putnam County. Bond for Reeder is $2,000 and he will be in court on February 4th.
30 year old Christopher Pearson Myers of 848 Anthony Avenue was arrested on Tuesday, January 26th for driving on a suspended licenses and evading arrest. Officer Matt Farmer received a call about a domestic violence in progress at 848 Anthony Avenue. As he was approaching the residence he saw a vehicle that appeared to be leaving the scene. Central Dispatched informed Officer Farmer that the subject, Myers, was leaving in a small black vehicle. At that time Officer Farmer got behind the vehicle which made an abrupt left turn and when he activated his blue lights Mr. Myers ran a stop sign and turned south onto Luttrell Avenue where he finally stopped. Myers informed Officer Farmer that he shouldn’t be driving because his license was suspended. After a check with Central Dispatch,. Myers was arrested for driving on a suspended, evading arrested and he was cited for failure to stop at a stop sign. His bond is $2,500 and his court date is February 11th.
23 year old Brandy Nicole Hale of 114 Highland Drive was arrested on Tuesday, January 26th for a Capias. Corporal Travis Bryant was traveling south on North Congress Boulevard when he saw a black SUV driven by Hale. He knew there was an outstanding warrant against her in DeKalb County for failure to appear in court on November 19th. She was arrested without incident.
Meanwhile, anyone having information on the following offense is asked to please contact the Smithville Police Department at 597-8210 or the Tip Line at 464-6046.
On Sunday, January 24th around midnight a red dirt bike with a long front silver front fork with a broken rear fender was stolen from 425 Kendra Drive. It also has MTX & 100 on the right side of the seat with a 90 hp motor.
Any information received that will help the Smithville Police solve this or any criminal offense will be greatly appreciated. All information is confidential.

Many residents of Smithville and portions of DeKalb County were without power early Saturday morning because of the winter storm
Charlie Parker, DeKalb County Emergency Management Agency Coordinator, says in most cases tree limbs weighed down by ice and snow, snapped causing them to fall across power lines. Caney Fork Electric also reported problems with a TVA transmission line. “Earlier this morning we had some power outages in the City of Smithville and in the county. We had some trees on power lines that knocked out service. There was also report of a TVA transmission line down. Since then all those (lines) have been fixed that we know of and everyone should have electricity in the city and county. There may be some interruptions throughout the day because the ice is still weighing heavy on power lines and tree limbs and they may continue to fall.”
Road conditions remain hazardous and Parker is advising people to stay home today (Saturday) unless you have to venture out. “The roads are not the best. We’re encouraging people to stay in today as much as they can and not be out and about on the roads. Secondary roads are still very slick due to ice and snow. As far as the primary roads, the city and state (TDOT) have done an excellent job trying to get those cleared off, but many of them are still icy in spots.”
With temperatures expected to plummet tonight (Saturday) into the lower teens, Parker says standby emergency shelters will be established for anyone in need. “We do have some shelters available on stand by. We’ve been trying to get set up this morning (Saturday) where we could have some shelters in case we had to start moving people. If there are problems, we will set up some shelters. We don’t want anyone freezing. If we do open shelters we will notify the radio station. You can call the non emergency number at (central dispatch) 215-3000 if it’s a situation that gets crucial. Anyone with medical emergencies, we will try to address those needs first, make sure we get somebody to them and get them to a shelter or make sure they get heat. If it’s an emergency, you can call 911, the emergency dispatch.”
Sheriff Patrick Ray also cautions motorists not to travel unless it’s absolutely necessary. He says several traffic accidents were reported Friday afternoon and Friday night because of the snow and ice, including some with personal injury.
Meanwhile, if you are an employee of the local hospital, nursing home, or other health care or emergency service in DeKalb County, Sheriff Ray says the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department will be glad to give you a ride to work today (Saturday) if you cannot drive to work on your own because of the hazardous road conditions.

The DeKalb County unemployment rate for December, 2009 was 11.3%, an increase from 10.6% in November. The rate for December 2008 was 9.2%
The local labor force for December, 2009 was 9,410. A total of 8,350 were employed and 1,060 were without work.
Meanwhile, Tennessee’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate for December was 10.9 percent, up 0.7 percentage point from the revised November rate of 10.2 percent. The United States’ unemployment rate for the month of December was unchanged at 10.0 percent.
County non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rates for December 2009, show that the rate increased in 91 counties, decreased in one, and remained the same in
three counties.
Lincoln County registered the state’s lowest county unemployment rate at 7.1 percent, up 0.4 from its November rate. Lauderdale and Marshall counties had the state’s highest unemployment rate at 18.9 percent. Lauderdale was up 0.4 from the November rate, and Marshall County increased from 16.8 percent in November.
Knox County had the state’s lowest major metropolitan rate of 8.1 percent, up 0.4 percentage point from the November rate. Hamilton County was at 8.9 percent, up 0.5 percentage point from the November rate. Davidson County was 9.2 percent, up 0.4 from the previous month, and Shelby County was 10.3 percent, up 0.3 from the November rate.

A total of forty three students will be competing during the Seventh Annual DeKalb County Spelling Bee Friday night, February 5th at 6:00 p.m. at DeKalb County High School.
WJLE will record the spelling bee for play back at a later time.
Students from DeKalb Middle School, DeKalb West School, and Northside Elementary School recently competed at the school level to become eligible for the county competition.
Along with students from thirty nine other counties, the first and second place winners in the DeKalb County Spelling Bee will compete in the Tennessean Regional Spelling Bee on March 4th at Belmont University in Nashville.
The winner of the Regional Spelling Bee will compete in the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C.
The purpose of the County Wide Spelling Bee is to help students improve spelling skills, increase vocabularies, learn concepts, and develop correct English usage that will help them all their lives.
Participants in this year’s County Wide Spelling Bee are:
Northside Elementary School:
Fourth Grade- Hannah Brown, Grace Godowns, and Hayley Martin
Fifth Grade- Erica Birmingham, Madison Bouldin, Timothy Cassinera, Katlyn Cox, Caelin Crips, Eli Cross, Madison Dickens, Hali Huang, Sara Beth LeFever, Baylee Phillips, and Taylor Spare.
DeKalb Middle School:
Sixth Grade-Chase Bryant and Kyra Trapp
Seventh Grade- Peter Antoniak, Nichole Casselberry, Brandon Chapman, Lenzi Dickens, Matthew Foutch, Justin Johnson, Brandon Kircher, Makalee Rush, Makayla Starnes, and Jacob Washer.
Eighth Grade- Josh Davidson and Jacob Pittman
DeKalb West School:
Fourth Grade- Breanna Gibson and Danielle Theriaque
Fifth Grade- Jayra Plattenburg, Brandy Rock, and Paige Snyder
Sixth Grade- Chasity Garrett and Ashley Grater
Seventh Grade- Leah Burchfield, Cason Oakley, Lydia Trail, Tony Tramel, and Bruce Wilson
Eighth Grade- Zach Bandy, Megan Nichols, and Crystal Vickers