DeKalb West announces the May Students of the Month. Selected for the prestigious honor were Kira Wilbur, Kindergarten, Jordyn Agee, 1st grade, Charlotte Cripps, 2nd grade, Mireya Barrett, 3rd grade, Jordyn Turbeville, 4th grade, Jaxon Humphrey, 5th grade, Aniston Farler, 6th grade, Summer Crook, 7th grade, and Abby Lawson, 8th grade.
Students are chosen for their academics, character, and other traits that make them outstanding students.
Pictured front row left to right: Jaxon Humphrey, Mireya Barrett, Jordyn Agee, Kira Wilbur, and Charlotte Cripps. Back row left to right are Abby Lawson, Summer Crook, Aniston Farler, and Jordyn Turbeville.

Cookeville Blood Assurance and DeKalb County Clerk James L. (Jimmy) Poss are teaming up again for another blood drive and several elected and appointed county officials are joining the effort in support of local senior citizens centers.
The blood drive is scheduled for Wednesday, June 21 from 11:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. at the county complex and for every blood donation, these county officials will donate $2.00 to the senior citizens centers to be divided equally between the Smithville and Alexandria Centers.
“I have received commitments from Assessor of Property Shannon Cantrell, Trustee Sean Driver, Register of Deeds Jeff McMillen, Road Supervisor Butch Agee, Circuit Court Clerk Katherine Pack, County Mayor Tim Stribling, Sheriff Patrick Ray, and General Sessions Judge Bratten Cook, II along with Clerk and Master Deborah Malone and Administrator of Elections Dennis Stanley,” said County Clerk Poss.
“All blood collected from the Cookeville Blood Assurance Center will supply the needs of hospitals in our communities first including DeKalb, Cannon, Smith, Wilson, White, Putnam, Warren, Jackson, and Overton Counties,” Poss continued.
The blood drive will take place at the County Complex, Smithville Senior Citizens building on South Congress Boulevard. Those who wish to schedule an appointment may go online at www.bloodassurance.org/dekalb or contact County Clerk Poss or Blood Assurance Coordinator Trudy Cody.
Drinks and snacks will be provided and each donor will receive a T-shirt

After wrapping up another regular season and district tournament championship, the DCHS Tigerettes will begin region tournament play Monday evening in Smithville.
The Tigerettes, 27-5 overall and 13-1 in district play this season, will face Sequatchie County, 17-10 overall and 7-3 in the district, at 6:00 p.m at the Danny Bond Field at DCHS. WJLE will have LIVE coverage.
“Any time you get to this time of year it’s the best playing the best. We are glad we are at home playing Sequatchie County. They are a very solid program. They have won the state tournament before in Class AA. They beat us down there three or four years ago in the regional finals. We’ve still got that in the back of our minds. It gives us a little more fuel for the fire but they will be a formidable challenge. Hopefully we will continue to play well. I think we played really well in the district. Hopefully we will continue to swing the bats like we did in the district tournament,” said Tigerette Coach Danny Fish.
If the Tigerettes win Monday, they will host the next game on Wednesday. A win then would put them in the sub-state with another possible home game on Friday.

Mid-State Construction Company, Inc. is again the bidder on the repair project of the Veterans Memorial Bridge on South College Street in Smithville.
The Tennessee Department of Transportation let bids for the project Friday, May 12 and Mid-State submitted a bid of $222,894. 68. There were apparently no other bids.
The question now is will Mid-State get the bid for that price?
In the February 10 letting, Mid-State bid $238,600.58 but there were no other bids and TDOT rejected it as too high.
The bridge has been closed since Monday, June 27, 2016 when a county landfill truck hit it causing major damage.

The Annual All Day Gospel Singing will be Saturday, May 20 at the DeKalb County Fairgrounds from 10 a.m. until 7 p.m. WJLE will broadcast LIVE.
The lineup is as follows:
*Malone’s Chapel Baptist Church: 10 a.m.
*Bethany Harrison: 10:30 a.m.
*Jim Bishop: 11:00 a.m.
*Jason Sanders: 11:30 a.m.
*David Turner and Friends: Noon
*Tristan Pope on the piano: 12:15 p.m.
* The King’s Way: 12:30 p.m.
*Terri Lynn Weaver: 1:00 p.m.
*Short Ridge Sisters: 1:30 p.m.
*Truly Blessed: 2:00 p.m.
*Right on Time: 2:30 p.m.
*Calvary Trio: 3:00 p.m.
*Kaylee Baker: 3:30 p.m.
*Three Parts Grace: 4:00 p.m.
*Faith Singers: 4:30 p.m.
*Dessa Ray: 5:00 p.m.
*Amanda Crawford: 5:30 p.m.
*Glory 2 God- Doug Collins and Family: 6:00 p.m.
*Spence and Friends: 6:30 p.m.

DeKalb County High School basketball MVP Hanah Panter will be trading one Lady Tiger team for another next season.
Panter, a senior, will continue her basketball career at Chattanooga State Community College, having signed with the Lady Tigers on Friday at the DCHS library. Members of her family, teammates, and coaches joined her for the signing.
“I’ve always wanted to continue to play basketball and this is a great opportunity and I love the campus. Right now I don’t know if I want to be a nurse or a physical therapist but they offer both of those so that is very good,” said Hanah.
Panter was named Most Valuable Player and Best Offensive Player for the DCHS Lady Tigers at the team banquet in March and she made the District 8AA 2nd team All-District.
“Hanah is a good player, great kid, and a great student and she really improved for us this year throughout the season. We’ve seen that happen over her four years here at DeKalb too. She has really matured into a nice kid and nice player. She shot the ball really well and led us in scoring. She is going to do well at Chattanooga State. Hanah is very athletic. She can defend and shoots the three ball very well. Hanah went down to Chattanooga State for a workout and they really liked her. I am very happy for Hanah. She worked very hard for us,” said DCHS Lady Tiger Basketball Coach Danny Fish.
Chattanooga State Community College is a member of the National Junior College Athletic Association and the Tennessee Community College Athletic Association.

Graduation is two weeks away for DCHS seniors but next Friday, May 19 members of the graduating class will take a “Senior Walk” down memory lane, returning to Smithville Elementary and DeKalb West Schools where they once attended.
The seniors will stroll the halls of the schools in their caps and gowns as the elementary students look on. It will give the soon to be graduates a chance to reminisce, see their former teachers, and to inspire the youngsters to follow in their footsteps.
“On May 19 we will be traveling to Smithville Elementary and DeKalb West School. We are doing our first ever “Senior Walk”. Our seniors are going back to where they started with their caps and gowns and we are going to parade through the halls and let the kindergarten students see what graduation is all about. We are really excited about that,” DCHS Principal Kathy Bryant told the Board of Education Thursday night.
It’s the first year for a DCHS Senior Walk but it may become a yearly tradition for each graduating class.
Meanwhile, Principal Bryant updated the school board on other important dates upcoming at DCHS.
“We have our final exams next week. On Tuesday, May 16 we will administer 5th & 6th blocks, Wednesday 3rd & 4th blocks, and on Thursday 1st & 2nd blocks,” she said.
“We are also showing tonight and Saturday night our DCHS musical titled “The Little Mermaid”. That begins at 7 p.m. each night in the auditorium”.
“I would like to congratulate our softball team. They are district champs and they will be hosting the regional tournament Monday night at 6 p.m.,” Bryant continued.
“On Monday May 22 we will have our “Senior Award and Scholarship Night” at 6 p.m. in the gym and graduation will be at 7 p.m. on Friday, May 26 on the football field. We’re hoping and praying for fair weather,” Bryant concluded.
Meanwhile in her report to the board, Assistant DeKalb Middle School Principal Amanda Dakas said the 8th grade musical is scheduled next week. “This coming Tuesday night, May 16 we will have the DeKalb Middle School 8th grade musical and we invite everyone in the community to come and be apart. It has a Disney theme this year and I think everyone will be pleasantly surprised. We have a lot of faculty involved in this year’s production as well. It will be lots of fun,” said Dakas.
Karen Knowles, Principal at Northside Elementary School, said lots of activities are also set for next week there. “Wednesday, May 17 we’ll have our awards day. We’ve broken that up this year. It will be 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grades at 8:15 a.m.. Fifth grade will be by itself with their DARE graduation. Kick-off for 5th grade activities will be at 9:45 a.m. On Thursday we will have our musical at 8:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., and 6:30 p.m. On Friday our talent show will be at 12:45 p.m. You can come out anytime Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday and find something fun going on at Northside,” said Principal Knowles.
Director of Schools Patrick Cripps updated the board on personnel leaves of absences and resignations/retirements announced within the past month.
Leave of Absence: Connie Haggard.
Resignations: Jacob Parsley, James Porter, and Michael Shaw.
“I’d like to recognize three educators that are retiring and starting a new part of their life and we would like to thank them for everything they have given to our community. That is Lisa Cripps, Regina Kent, and Michael Lewis. Thank you for what you have done for DeKalb County and our educational system,” said Director Cripps.

Former DCHS Girls Basketball Coach Joe Pat Cope was announced as the new girls’ basketball coach at Coffee County Central High School in a Friday morning press release. Coach Cope met with the returning members of the Lady Raider basketball team on Friday morning at CHS. Cope comes to Coffee County after serving as an assistant coach at Ole Miss for the last year under Matt Insell. Prior to his stint at Ole Miss, Cope served as an assistant girls coach at Riverdale High School and the head girls’ varsity coach at DeKalb County High School. Cope also served as an assistant boys’ basketball coach at Lebanon High School. Cope is a two-time graduate of Tennessee Tech with a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master of Arts degree.
When asked about his reaction upon getting the call with the job offer, Cope could not hide the excitement in his voice. “I am very excited,” said Cope. “Coffee County can be a very prestigious program again. With the talent that is there, and the talent that is coming, this is a special opportunity.” Since his interview on May 5th, Cope has been gathering information about current middle school and high school players in the Coffee County and Manchester school systems. “I expect us to begin competing this summer” added Cope.
Dr. Joey Vaughn, Coffee County CHS principal, was ecstatic with Cope’s acceptance of the job. “I was very pleased with the number and quality of applicants that applied(for the position). During the interview process, Mr. Cope showed a genuine interest in our basketball program, community and players” added Vaughn. Dr. Vaughn went on to say “His experiences can help advance our program to the next level. He has experience at a great high school program, a strong AAU program and a quality SEC program. Coach Cope demonstrated a commitment to building and developing players through strong fundamentals and a tireless work ethic. He was also very familiar with the history and current state of Lady Raider basketball.”
Raider athletic director Ryan Sulkowski echoed many of the sentiments of Dr. Vaughn. “Coach Cope will bring great experience and excitement to the Lady Raiders and we are looking forward to him getting started.”
Cope will begin the transition from Ole Miss immediately and expects to be completely relocated to Coffee County by the end of the school year. “I will talk to Coach Insell and offer my assistance in helping my replacement” said Cope. “I expect to have tryouts as soon as school is out” added Cope. Cope also intends to begin the task of adding assistant coaches immediately. Cope is the proud father of a 12 year-old daughter, Reagan. Cope will also be a guest on the Coffee Coaches Show on Saturday, May 20th.