Members of the DeKalb County Board of Education joined school board members from across the state in Nashville on Tuesday, February 24th for a day of legislative networking at TSBA’s annual “Day on the Hill” event. This year, featured program speakers included Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, House Speaker Kent Williams, Senate Education Committee Chair Dolores Gresham, and House Education Committee Chair Harry Brooks.
“Day on the Hill” is designed for school board members and superintendents to study pending education legislation and discuss priorities with local legislators. The event began with a breakfast at the Downtown Sheraton Hotel and was followed by visits to legislators’ offices and committee hearings.
Kenny Rhody, Third District School Board member, said in a prepared statement that ” As your Tennessee Legislative Representative, I along with Charles Robinson, Chairman of the DeKalb County School Board, and Mark Willoughby, Director of Schools, had the pleasure to represent DeKalb County Schools, at the annual Day on the Hill sponsored by the Tennessee School Board Association, where your school board members and directors are turned loose on Capitol Hill to meet with and discuss issues that affect the needs of the children of DeKalb County. We had the chance to sit down with Representative Terri Lynn Weaver, Senator Mae Beavers and other dignitaries that affect our concerns. The issues this year that will affect us most are the stimulus package that is now law and will help our education system statewide.”
“Day on the Hill provides a terrific opportunity for school board members throughout the state to
promote public education and seek assistance from the General Assembly with one collective voice,” said David Pickler, TSBA President and Shelby County school board chairman. “We look forward to partnering with the General Assembly to continue to improve the quality of our schools in Tennessee and showcase the many successes of public education in our state.”
In addition to the elected vs. appointed superintendent issue, TSBA hopes the General Assembly will have a serious discussion of Tennessee’s system of funding public education at the local level.
2007’s adoption of the Basic Education Program (BEP) 2.0, provided much-needed revenue to school systems and a substantial step toward more appropriate funding for education in the state; however, several local governments used the increase to reduce local effort to public education. At a minimum, TSBA believes local governments should have to provide an inflationary adjustment to schools each year to recognize natural increases in education costs. In addition, TSBA would like to see school boards have more fiscal autonomy in school budgeting. Tennessee is one of only 11 states in the country where boards of education have no ability to raise revenue for schools.
“Boards of education have embraced accountability, but accountability without the authority to address funding to meet the very performance standards that have been mandated is, in our opinion, unreasonable,” said Smith.
Smith added that the association will continue to urge legislators to recognize the importance of local management of schools and resist attempts to remove local flexibility. “There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution in public education,” said Smith. “All of our priorities are designed to give school boards the flexibility, authority and tools they need to do the best jobs for their individual students and communities, all of which have their own unique strengths and challenges.”
The Tennessee School Boards Association, a statewide, nonprofit organization, is a federation of the state’s local school boards. It serves as an advocate for the interests of Tennessee’s public school students and school districts.

Five people have qualified to run for alderman in the Smithville Municipal Election so far.
The latest person to get in the race is Incumbent Alderman Jerry Hutchins, Sr. Others who have qualified include Incumbent Alderman Willie Thomas, former Alderman W.J. (Dub) White, former Alderman Aaron Meeks and Gary Durham.
Three other persons have also picked up qualifying petitions but have not yet returned them including Incumbent Alderman Tonya Sullivan, Shawn Jacobs, and Danny Washer
Lisa Peterson, Administrator of Elections, says candidates have until NOON on Thursday, March 19th to qualify. The deadline to register to vote in time for the election is May 18th.
Three Aldermen will be elected on Tuesday, June 16th. The positions are currently held by Jerry Hutchins, Sr., Tonya Sullivan, and Willie Thomas. Each term is for two years.

The operator of a City of Smithville garbage truck was involved in a wreck with a Dodge Durango around 11:40 a.m. Friday morning on Highway 70 east near Sligo bridge.
Trooper Dewaine Jennings of the Tennessee Highway Patrol says 57 year old Ronnie Walker of Smithville, a city employee, was operating a 1999 freightliner garbage truck going west on Highway 70. Another city employee, 39 year old Jerry Rackley of Smithville, was a passenger in the truck. The two were apparently returning from the landfill where they had dumped a load of garbage.
Meanwhile, 33 year old Allison Long of Sparta was going east on Highway 70 in a 2007 Dodge Durango.
According to Trooper Jennings, Long claims as she was negotiating the curve coming down the hill, she saw the garbage truck in her lane. As she applied her brakes, the Durango slid on the rain slick highway and struck the side of the truck at an angle in the westbound lane. Long’s vehicle came to a final rest in the ditchline facing a rock wall. The truck continued west for a few feet and also went off the road in the ditchline and struck the rock wall.
Walker and Rackley were taken by DeKalb EMS to DeKalb Community Hospital. Long was to have gone to the Cookeville hospital by a private vehicle.
Neither of them were believed to have been seriously injured.
Trooper Jennings says Walker was cited for failure to exercise care.

The DeKalb Middle School basketball program held its basketball banquet, Thursday night, at the Smithville First United Methodist Church Christian Fellowship Center.
Eighth grade guard, Cody Puckett, was named the Most Valuable Player for the Saints, this past season, while eighth graders, Chelsea Lewis and Lydia Foutch, shared Co-MVP honors for the Lady Saints. Emily Webb, meanwhile, was named Most Valuable Cheerleader.
In addition to the MVP award, Puckett – who averaged 15.2 points per game for the Saints, this season – was also named Best Offensive Player, and was recognized with a trophy for earning All-Tournament honors at the James C. Haile State Invitational Tournament. Puckett started all but one game in his three-year career at DMS.
Other Saints awards were as follows:
Hardest Worker – Kalab Ferrell
Most Improved – Eli Lomas
Team Player – Alex Hall
Hustle Award – Dillan Reeder
Best Sixth Man – Braxton Howell & Lucas Phillips
Best Passer/Ball-Handler – Evan Curtis & Stephen Howell
Best Rebounder – Braxton Howell
Best Defensive Player – Hunter Graham
For the Lady Saints, Lewis also earned the awards for Best Defensive Player and Most Assists, while Foutch was named Best Rebounder and took the award for Most Steals.
Other Lady Saints awards were as follows:
Best Passer – Abbey Caldwell
Best Sixth Man – Loren Cripps
Most Improved & Coaches Award – Veronica Ingram
Best Offensive Player & Free Throw Shooter – Cori Jennings
Jennings also earned a trophy for making the All-Tournament team at the James C. Haile State Invitational Tournament.
Other Cheerleading awards were as follows:
Most Improved – Mariah Jones
Most Spirit – Callie Gash
Coaches Award (the D.E.A.R. award) – Ashley Medlin
Each individual player, cheeleader and manager were also recognized with a certificate of participation during Thursday night’s banquet. Awards were presented by DMS coaches, Josh Agee and Joey Agee.
(Pictured: Front Row-left to right, Lydia Foutch (Lady Saints Co-MVP), Chelsea Lewis (Lady Saints Co-MVP), Emily Webb (Most Valuable Cheerleader). Back Row- left to right, Saints Coach Joey Agee, Cody Puckett (Saints MVP), and Saints Coach Josh Agee)

A Smithville woman and another person have been charged with the armed robbery of a Discount Tobacco Outlet in Manchester.
The Manchester Times reports that 25 year old Tiffany Gora of Smithville and 39 year old Donald Taylor of Manchester are charged in the case. Bond for each is $50,000 bond and they will be in Coffee County General Sessions Court March 4th.
According to the report, Gora allegedly went into the store around 6:45 p.m. Tuesday armed with a handgun and demanded money from the clerk. Gora, who was dressed in camouflage, left the store with an undisclosed amount of cash. But on her way out, she dropped the gun, before getting into a waiting Ford F-150 pickup truck, driven by Taylor, and leaving the scene.
They were spotted Thursday morning and taken into custody by Manchester Police and officers of the Coffee County Sheriff’s Department
Police say Gora used a BB gun during the robbery and, according to an investigator, the two admitted to committing the crime to get money to buy drugs to further their habit.

The Internal Revenue Service announced today that taxpayers who qualify for the first-time homebuyer credit and purchase a home this year before Dec. 1 have a special option available for claiming the tax credit either on their 2008 tax returns due April 15 or on their 2009 tax returns next year.
Qualifying taxpayers who buy a home this year before Dec. 1 can get up to $8,000, or $4,000 for married filing separately.
“For first-time homebuyers this year, this special feature can put money in their pockets right now rather than waiting another year to claim the tax credit, “ said IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman. “This important change gives qualifying homebuyers cash they do not have to pay back.”
The IRS has posted a revised version of Form 5405, First-Time Homebuyer Credit on IRS.gov. The revised form incorporates provisions from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The instructions to the revised Form 5405 provide additional information on who can and cannot claim the credit, income limitations, and repayment of the credit.
This year, qualifying taxpayers who buy a home before Dec. 1, 2009, can claim the credit on either their 2008 or 2009 tax returns. They do not have to repay the credit, provided the home remains their main home for 36 months after the purchase date. They can claim 10 percent of the purchase price up to $8,000, or $4,000 for married individuals filing separately.
The amount of the credit begins to phase out for taxpayers whose adjusted gross income is more than $75,000, $150,000 for joint filers.
For purposes of the credit, you are considered to be a first-time homebuyer if you and your spouse did not own any other main home during the three-year period ending on the date of purchase.
The IRS also alerted taxpayers that the new law does not affect people who purchased a home after April 8, 2008, and on or before December 31, 2008. For these taxpayers who are claiming the credit on their 2008 tax returns, the maximum credit remains 10 percent of the purchase price, up to $7,500, or $3,750 for married individuals filing separately. In addition, the credit for these 2008 purchases must be repaid in 15 equal installments over 15 years, beginning with the 2010 tax year.