DeKalb County has its own Medal of Honor recipient.
The late Charles P. Cantrell of Smithville was a private in the U.S. Army and fought in the War with Spain.
Born on February 13, 1874, Cantrell was a member of Company F in the 10th U.S. Infantry. Cantrell’s Medal of Honor Citation states that he “Gallantly assisted in the rescue of the wounded from in front of the lines and under heavy fire from the enemy.” The engagement apparently took place at Santiago, Cuba on July 1, 1898.
The citation was issued on June 22, 1899

DeKalb Middle School will be hosting a visit by two Medal of Honor recipients on Friday, August 7.
Leo Thorsness, a retired colonel in the United States Air Force and Hal Fritz, a retired United States Army Officer will land on campus around 9:00 a.m. in a Blackhawk helicopter and then address students at a school assembly program.
Thorsness and Fritz both received the Medal of Honor for their actions in the Vietnam War.
The Medal of Honor is the highest award for valor in action against an enemy force which can be bestowed upon an individual serving in the Armed Services of the United States. It is generally presented to its recipient by the President of the United States of America in the name of Congress.
DeKalb Middle is one of only a handful of mid-state schools receiving Medal of Honor recipients as part of “Nashville Salutes”, a three day event focusing on these heroes and what they stand for while preserving their legacy through the Medal of Honor Foundation’s Character Development Program, which incorporates the ideals of courage and selfless service into the middle and high school curriculum to build character and promote responsible citizenship.
Tena Davidson, an educator at DeKalb Middle School, told WJLE Thursday that she discovered the program and introduced it to students in her class last year. “When I became the writing instructor for the entire Middle School last year, I searched for material I could use and found the Medal of Honor Character Development material online. It was excellent material that teaches kids to look up to someone who really has courage, integrity, citizenship, patriotism, commitment, and sacrifice. These kinds of things. It was very inspiring for the students to view these Medal of Honor recipient’s stories so we began to do this program last year. I then went to a workshop in Nashville and learned that the City of Nashville was going to host 30 of the living Medal of Honor recipients. There are only 79 in the world today. It worked out that 28 are going to be in Nashville on August 6, 7, & 8 and we happened to be chosen as one of five schools where two Medal of Honor recipients are going to be visiting. They will be flying in on a Blackhawk helicopter and landing on the lawn of the school at 9:00 a.m. on Friday morning, August 7,” she said.
While the assembly program will be just for students, Davidson said the entire community is encouraged to be on hand to help welcome the arrival of these war heroes to our town. “We are hopefully going to give them a huge greeting. We really want the town to come out and to support this. We welcome anyone to come and bring your flags or wear red, white, and blue. We would love for our veterans to come and welcome these guys who went above and beyond the call of duty for our country. After landing, they will be speaking in a private setting in our gym with just our seventh, eighth, and ninth grade students who participated in this program last year in my writing lab. Our kids and teachers are super excited. We are honored to have these two men come and speak to our students. We are just thrilled about it and hope everybody will come and be there for this momentous occasion in our town,” said Davidson.
Colonel Thorsness’ Medal of Honor Citation reads:
“For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. As pilot of an F-105 aircraft, Lieutenant Colonel Thorsness was on a surface-to-air missile suppression mission over North Vietnam. Lieutenant Colonel Thorsness and his wingman attacked and silenced a surface-to-air missile site with air-to-ground missiles and then destroyed a second surface-to-air missile site with bombs. In the attack on the second missile site, Lieutenant Colonel Thorsness’ wingman was shot down by intensive antiaircraft fire, and the two crewmembers abandoned their aircraft.
Lieutenant Colonel Thorsness circled the descending parachutes to keep the crewmembers in sight and relay their position to the Search and Rescue Center. During this maneuver, a MIG-17 was sighted in the area. Lieutenant Colonel Thorsness immediately initiated an attack and destroyed the MIG. Because his aircraft was low on fuel, he was forced to depart the area in search of a tanker.
Upon being advised that two helicopters were orbiting over the downed crew’s position and that there were hostile MIGs in the area posing a serious threat to the helicopters, Lieutenant Colonel Thorsness, despite his low fuel condition, decided to return alone through a hostile environment of surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft defenses to the downed crew’s position. As he approached the area, he spotted four MIG-17 aircraft and immediately initiated an attack on the MIGs, damaging one and driving the others away from the rescue scene. When it became apparent that an aircraft in the area was critically low on fuel and the crew would have to abandon the aircraft unless they could reach a tanker, Lieutenant Colonel Thorsness, although critically short on fuel himself, helped to avert further possible loss of life and a friendly aircraft by recovering at a forward operating base, thus allowing the aircraft in emergency fuel condition to refuel safely.
Lieutenant Colonel Thorsness’ extraordinary heroism, self-sacrifice and personal bravery involving conspicuous risk of life were in the highest traditions of the military service, and have reflected great credit upon himself and the U.S. Air Force.”
Captain Fritz’s Medal of Freedom citation reads:
“For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Capt. (then 1st Lt.) Fritz, Armor, U.S. Army, distinguished himself while serving as a platoon leader with Troop A, near Quần Lợi.
Capt. Fritz was leading his 7-vehicle armored column along Highway 13 to meet and escort a truck convoy when the column suddenly came under intense crossfire from a reinforced enemy company deployed in ambush positions. In the initial attack, Capt. Fritz’ vehicle was hit and he was seriously wounded. Realizing that his platoon was completely surrounded, vastly outnumbered, and in danger of being overrun, Capt. Fritz leaped to the top of his burning vehicle and directed the positioning of his remaining vehicles and men. With complete disregard for his wounds and safety, he ran from vehicle to vehicle in complete view of the enemy gunners in order to reposition his men, to improve the defenses, to assist the wounded, to distribute ammunition, to direct fire, and to provide encouragement to his men. When a strong enemy force assaulted the position and attempted to overrun the platoon, Capt. Fritz manned a machine gun and through his exemplary action inspired his men to deliver intense and deadly fire which broke the assault and routed the attackers. Moments later a second enemy force advanced to within 2 meters of the position and threatened to overwhelm the defenders.
Capt. Fritz, armed only with a pistol and bayonet, led a small group of his men in a fierce and daring charge which routed the attackers and inflicted heavy casualties. When a relief force arrived, Capt. Fritz saw that it was not deploying effectively against the enemy positions, and he moved through the heavy enemy fire to direct its deployment against the hostile positions. This deployment forced the enemy to abandon the ambush site and withdraw. Despite his wounds, Capt. Fritz returned to his position, assisted his men, and refused medical attention until all of his wounded comrades had been treated and evacuated. The extraordinary courage and selflessness displayed by Capt. Fritz, at the repeated risk of his own life above and beyond the call of duty, were in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Army and reflect the greatest credit upon himself, his unit, and the Armed Forces”.

DeKalb County’s unemployment rate for June was 7.9%, up from 7.1% in May but down from the rate for June, 2014 of 8.3%.
The local labor force for June, 2015 was 7,240. A total of 6,670 were employed and 570 were without work.
DeKalb County’s Jobless Rate for June was fourth highest in the fourteen county Upper Cumberland region.
Here’s how they rank from highest to lowest:
Clay: 9.9%
Van Buren: 9.1%
Jackson:8.7%
DeKalb: 7.9%
Fentress:7.8%
Pickett:7.8%
Cumberland:7.6%
Overton:7.5%
White: 6.9%
Putnam:6.9%
Warren:6.9%
Cannon:6.3%
Smith:6.1%
Macon:6%
County unemployment rates for June 2015 show the rates increased in 94 counties and decreased in one county.
Davidson County had the state’s lowest major metropolitan rate in June at 4.9 percent, up from 4.5 percent in May. Knox County was 5.4 percent in June, up from 4.7 the previous month. The Hamilton County June rate was 6.1 percent, up from 5.5 in May. Shelby County was 7.3 percent in June, up from 6.7 percent the previous month.
Tennessee’s preliminary unemployment rate for June was 5.7 percent, one-tenth of one percentage point lower than the May revised rate of 5.8 percent. The U.S. preliminary rate for June was 5.3 percent, two-tenths of one percentage point lower than the prior month.
The state and national unemployment rates are seasonally adjusted while the county unemployment rates are not. Seasonal adjustment is a statistical technique that eliminates the influences of weather, holidays, the opening and closing of schools, and other recurring seasonal events from economic time series.

An annual prayer for schools observance will be held Sunday, August 2 at the DeKalb County High School gym starting at 2 p.m.
Parents, church leaders, educators, community leaders are invited to attend this special “BACK 2 SCHOOL -CALL 2 PRAYER” gathering. Information and projections related to the new school year will be presented.
The prayer service has become an annual event conducted by local ministers offering prayers for each school as well as the students, teachers, transportation staff, and other employees and school related activities.
This year, instead of a closing prayer, those present will be asked to go to the geographical location of each school and pray. A prayer of blessing and protection will be offered for the students and faculty for the school year .
For more information please call Donnie Kelly 931-260-1763

A 38 year old woman has been indicted for child abuse after allegedly bruising an 11 year old girl with a belt and hitting her in the face with a shoe in January.
Rachel Sprague will be arraigned in criminal court on August 10.
Smithville Police Detective Brandon Donnell said the child is the daughter of another woman unrelated to Sprague. They were all living at the same location.
According to police, Sprague allegedly whipped the 11 year old girl with a belt and left multiple bruises all over the child’s body. She also allegedly took a shoe and struck the child in the face and picked up the girl by the shoulders and threw her to the ground.
“We got a report from the Department of Children Services (DCS) over child abuse allegations. The child told us Rachel would beat her with a belt repeatedly. She had bruising all over her body from the belt. She would take a shoe and smack the juvenile in the face with it. She went so far as to pick the juvenile up and slam her to the floor. This is not Rachel’s child. She (Rachel) was living with another woman and this was her (the other woman’s) child. DCS removed this child and other children from the home,” said Detective Donnell.

Joe Foutch has been appointed to a new four year term on the DeKalb Utility District Board of Commissioners.
County Mayor Tim Stribling informed the county commission Monday night that he had reappointed Foutch to the board. Foutch’s current term expires August 31.
By law, the DUD board must certify a list of three names in order of preference to the county mayor, who has the sole authority to make the appointment.
During its regular monthly meeting Thursday, July 2, the DUD board voted to certify a list of nominees to the county mayor to fill the position. Foutch’s name was listed first followed by the names of Joe Johnson and Jimmy Herndon.
The DUD Board is made up of five members, three from DeKalb County (Jimmy Womack, Joe Foutch, and Hugh Washer), one from Cannon (Roger Turney), and one from Smith County (Danny Bass). The terms are staggered. All terms are for four years.

A 53 year old Smithville man has been indicted for the rape of a child.
Jacky Lynn Fults is accused of committing anal penetration with his finger on a seven year old girl at his Foster Road residence on September 28, 2014. According to the warrant at the time of his arrest, the child was examined by Our Kids in Nashville on September 29 and doctors did find evidence consistent with abuse. The child did give disclosure on September 30 at the Child Advocacy Center in Cookeville.
The case was investigated by Lieutenant Matt Holmes of the Smithville Police Department
The Grand Jury indicted Fults on Monday. The indictment alleges that “Fults, between September 25 and 28th, 2014 did intentionally and or knowingly engage in unlawful sexual penetration of a seven year old child constituting the offense of Rape of a Child.”
Fults will be arraigned in criminal court on August 10

Kathy Bryant has been named principal at DCHS.
Director of Schools Patrick Cripps made the announcement Tuesday. “She is a very intelligent, hard working individual. She has brought a lot to DeKalb County High School already. She has the respect of the teachers and she will take it another step. I have all the confidence in the world in her,” Cripps told WJLE Tuesday.
Bryant, who has served as assistant principal at DCHS for three years, succeeds Cripps, who was recently hired by the Board of Education as the Director of Schools.
“I’m humbled and I am excited. Mr. Cripps, Mr. (David) Gash, and myself we had a good thing at DeKalb County High School and I want to keep that same momentum. I’ve got big shoes to fill from Mr. Cripps. We’re just going to keep forging on. This has really become a good place to work and learn. We want students to keep being successful. We want to offer lots of programs for students that need to be challenged and students that need extra help too,” said Bryant in an interview with WJLE Tuesday.
After earning her B.S. degree in Interdisciplinary Studies at Middle Tennessee State University in 1996, Bryant received a Masters Degree in Instructional Leadership at Tennessee Tech in 2008 and then an Ed.S. degree in Instructional Leadership at Tennessee Tech in 2010. She is now starting her fourth semester working on a Doctorate Degree from East Tennessee State University.
Bryant began her teaching career in 1996 at Coffee County’s Hillsboro Elementary School and at North Coffee Elementary School. “My first job was in Coffee County. I taught at two different schools. I taught third grade and fifth grade Title I Reading and Math. My days were split. I would travel at lunch to a different school. My second year I was also at Coffee County and I taught fourth grade permanently at one of the schools where I was teaching,” she said.
Bryant then located to Memphis where she taught at Brookmead Elementary School before becoming director of the Sylvan Learning Center in Memphis. “I moved to Memphis. I met my husband. He was from Memphis. I taught half a year at Brookmead Elementary and then in January I was asked to be the Director of Sylvan Learning Center so I took that position. Then I came back home in 1999. I wanted to start a family. I taught fifth grade and then I moved to fourth grade at Northside Elementary School before becoming Assistant Principal at DeKalb Middle School in 2011,” said Bryant.
A year later, she went to DCHS to become an Assistant Principal along with Assistant Principal David Gash and Principal Patrick Cripps.
Bryant and her husband Neal are the parents of three sons, including a soon to be freshman at DCHS, a second grader at Smithville Elementary, and a four year old who will be in kindergarten next year. “I come from a family of educators. My grandmother was a teacher. My great grandmother was a teacher. Of course my dad (Aubrey Turner, Jr.) was an educator. He was Director of Schools here for sixteen years,” she said.
Bryant is the 11th principal at DCHS since 1963. Her predecessors are Amon Snyder, Jim Butler, Tucker Hendrix, Ernest Ray, Dr. Charles Collier, Larry Johnson, Dr. Barry Roberts, Weldon Parkinson, Kathy Hendrix, and Patrick Cripps.

Although no foul play is suspected, the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department is still awaiting findings of an autopsy before issuing a statement on how 21 year old Lauren Taylor Agee died.
The Hendersonville woman’s body was found Sunday afternoon by a fisherman on Center Hill Lake near the Still Point Boat Ramp across from Pates Ford Marina.
Reports say she had been enjoying an outing with friends known as “Wakefest” over the weekend and was camping near the edge of a steep cliff overlooking the lake prior to the tragedy.

Fifty seven people were indicted by the DeKalb County Grand Jury Monday including nine named in sealed indictments.
Those indicted will be arraigned in DeKalb County Criminal Court on Monday, August 10 at 9 a.m.
Names of the defendants and their charges in the indictments are as follows:
Jeremy Mark Ashburn: driving under the influence (2nd offense) and possession of a firearm while under the influence
Clay Andrew Bain: disrupting a meeting or procession and assault (2 counts)
Jeri Nicole Beckham: forgery (18 counts)
Eddie Dean Blair: driving under the influence (4th offense), driving on a revoked license (4th offense), and speeding
Willard Darrell Brown: vandalism over $1,000
Kelli Rae Bullard: driving under the influence and failure to maintain lane
Anthony Tyrone Crews: first degree murder
Darrell Wayne Crook: domestic assault and resisting arrest
Lindsey Paulette Davenport: assault on a viable fetus
Christina Ervin: driving on a suspended license, financial responsibility, registration violation, and speeding
Jimmy Lane Estes: Robbery
Douglas Ray Ferrell: driving under the influence, reckless driving, and leaving the scene
Jacky Lynn Fults: rape of a child
Clint Garrett: worthless check
Candice Rochelle Guidry: possession of schedule IV drug, possession of paraphernalia, and light law violation.
Victor Gingerich: driving under the influence (2nd offense), driving on a revoked license, driving on a revoked license (2nd offense), financial responsibility, registration violation (two counts), and open container
Rhonda Goff: driving under the influence and failure to maintain lane
Cheryl Gotro: driving under the influence and registration violation
Joel Thomas Hayes: theft under $500 (2 counts)
Jeffrey Hennessee: reckless driving
Paul Cox Herron, Jr.: driving under the influence (2nd offense) and failure to maintain lane
Nicholas Alton Hollingsworth: initiation of a process to manufacture methamphetamine
Jesse Jones: possession of a schedule II drug for resale, possession of a prohibited weapon, possession of paraphernalia; driving under the influence, financial responsibility, and registration violation
Chad Knowles: violation of the habitual motor vehicle offender status (2 counts), driving on a revoked license (2 counts), evading arrest, reckless driving, speeding (2 counts), possession of a schedule II drug, possession of paraphernalia, and financial responsibility.
Michelle Lasser: driving on a suspended license, registration violation, and light law violation.
David Linnear: possession of a schedule VI drug
Bradley Luna: driving under the influence
Carl Everett Martin: domestic assault
Patsy Lynn Estes McCoy: auto burglary (2 counts), theft under $500 (3 counts), theft over $500, and resisting arrest
Clayton Allen Moore: driving under the influence
Lynda Michelle Neville: theft under $500
Charles Payne: possession of a schedule VI drug and violation of an order of protection
Jerry Edward Perdue: aggravated burglary
Wallace Marlon Rackley: false report
Connie Nicole Randolph: driving on a suspended license
Michael Brandon Redmon: assault (2 counts), aggravated burglary, and theft over $1,000
Teesha Reynolds: fraudulent use of a credit card (2 counts) and theft under $500
Clarence Eddie Sexton, Jr.: driving on a suspended license, financial responsibility, and seatbelt violation
William Drane Smallwood, II: driving under the influence (2nd offense), driving on a suspended license, financial responsibility, reckless driving, and seatbelt violation (2 counts)
Amanda Louise Smith: introduction of contraband into a penal institution
Sara Nicole South: driving on a revoked license (2nd offense), financial responsibility, and seatbelt violation
Rachael Sprague: child abuse
Max Arnold Teeples and Kenneth Lavon Teeples: possession of a weapon by a felon; hunting without a license, failure to wear orange, tagging violation, illegal possession of wildlife
Mark Thompson: driving under the influence (3rd offense)
Joshua McNeil Vincent: driving on a suspended license, financial responsibility, seatbelt violation, and light law violation
Andrew Wesley Wilbert: driving under the influence
Michelle Yarbro: driving under the influence and possession of a schedule IV drug
Tina Beth Young: driving under the influence (2nd offense), driving on a revoked license, financial responsibility, seatbelt violation, and failure to maintain lane