Sixth district school board member Doug Stephens has issued a statement thanking the county commission for appointing him to the position Monday night.
“I am very thankful for the consideration of the commission and look forward to serving the county to the best of my ability,” said Stephens.
“I pray for wisdom to make the right decisions and represent the sixth district in an honorable fashion,” he said.

A Smithville man has been charged with vehicular homicide in a Jackson County accident last month that killed a Cookeville man and his girlfriend.
29 year old Randy B. Johnson is charged with two counts of vehicular homicide in the death of 21 year old Brian C. Walton of Cookeville and 22 year old Kayla C. Biddy of Cleveland. Johnson was also charged with driving on a suspended license.
According to the Herald Citizen, Johnson was driving a 2005 Dodge Ram pickup and had three passengers, Kandle R. Bethcher of Cookeville in the front seat and the young couple in the back seat. He lost control of the vehicle on a curve, and the truck ran off the road, went airborne, struck a tree and landed on its top. The accident happened on Saturday, February 25, on Highway 135 near Spring Creek in Jackson County.
Walton and Biddy, who had just recently become engaged to be married, were killed instantly, according to the report. Investigators said the four occupants of the truck had been at a gathering of four-wheeler enthusiasts.
THP Trooper Darren Butler said the charges against Johnson were for allegedly being “unable to operate the vehicle safely” thus causing the deaths of Walton and Biddy. Johnson is under a $250,000 bond and he will be in court April 6.

The UCHRA has delayed a decision on the future of Lakeside Resort in DeKalb County until April 17.
Members of the UCHRA Policy Council, chaired by DeKalb County Mayor Mike Foster, met Monday morning in Cookeville to review proposals from four groups wanting to either buy, lease, or manage the facility. But members of the council wanted to find out more about these groups, so they have postponed action until April 17. In the meantime, those submitting proposals will be asked to provide references, financial statements, and if chosen, to put up a $750,000 insurance policy against any damages to the facility. The groups have until April 9 to comply with the council’s request. Another committee will review the proposals and make a selection recommendation to the full policy council.
Robin Driver of Center Hill Chalets, Inc is among those who have submitted a proposal to manage Lakeside Resort, and to “purchase the facility once it is profitable”.
Others who have offered bids include Donnie Davidson of the Davidson Investment Group and Deanna Ebert Pierson of PeopleBuildersUSA, both of whom want to purchase Lakeside, and Bob Sortis who wants to initially lease the facility to be used as a Christian Retreat.
Lakeside Resort, consisting of 139 acres on the banks of Center Hill Lake off of the Cookeville Highway, has created problems for UCHRA financially, apparently being unable to support itself or to service the debt on the $1.6 million note owed on property there.
UCHRA acquired Lakeside Resort several years ago, securing a 25 year lease at a dollar a year from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who owns the property. According to UCHRA officials, the lease included provisions that the property be used for area recreation and an educational facility. Whoever the UCHRA sells or leases the property to will most likely have to continue to agree to those same provisions.
UCHRA currently partners with Tennessee Tech to offer a Professional Resort and Quantity Food Management course, which was formerly taught through Pellissippi Community College. But the funding for that class will no longer be available once the current students graduate the program in June.
Lakeside offers guest cottages and apartments along with the lakeside lodge, featuring 26 units, 18 lake front and eight pool front, classrooms, and boat slips.
The lodge was built using funds from Rural Development, who offered UCHRA a $1.5 million low-interest loan, aimed at helping with job and educational development in rural counties.
Last October, 10 Lakeside employees, including full and part time, workers were laid off, reportedly saving approximately $165,000 for the 2012 fiscal year.
Robin Driver’s plan calls for Center Hill Chalets, Inc to “manage Lakeside Resort and all facilities associated with it, as well as weddings, banquets, corporate and business gatherings while at all times promoting the best interests of UCHRA”.
Under the proposal, Center Hill Chalets would charge a management fee of 40% on all revenue generated by the lease management and rental of the facilities. UCHRA would retain ownership of the Lakeside Complex and keep the remaining 60% of the revenue, most of which would be used to service the debt still owed on the facility.
According to the company’s background information, “Center Hill Chalets, Inc has been managing vacation rental property on Center Hill Lake since 2002 and is the only state licensed company on Center Hill Lake, managing over forty individual properties in the Center Hill Lake and Rock Island areas. Having managed resort property the past ten years, Center Hill Chalets, Inc has a vast knowledge of the market and how to maximize the revenue from the property while keeping the overhead in check. Center Hill Chalets has been profitable every year and has had increased revenue for the past three years in a row.”
Bob Sortis wants to convert Lakeside Lodge into a Christian Retreat. Sortis currently serves as the Resort, Food, and Hospitality Management teacher at Lakeside and operates catering for Lakeside Resort. He is also a licensed realtor and is a property manager for several different rentals in Cookeville.
In his proposal, Sortis wrote that “Lakeside Lodge would continue to be the prime alternative corporate meeting spot and a gorgeous wedding location. In addition, Lakeside Lodge would become the premier event locale by hosting events such as Marriage Enrichment Seminars, Church Retreats, Pastor’s Getaways, Music/Fine Art Festivals, Car Shows, and educational seminars.”
Sortis wants to add a prayer room, fitness room, spa services, recreation room including original fine artworks in cabins/rooms, horseback riding, teach art, photography, cooking, and canoeing classes, expand the gift shop, create a fishing and a swimming area in the lake, and open hiking trails.
Sortis proposes to lease Lakeside Resort with the intention to purchase under certain conditions.
The lessee (Sortis) agrees to pay UCHRA a monthly rental fee of $5,000 per month.
In 2011, Lakeside sales were $608,000 at a 24% occupancy rate. Based on a 50% occupancy rate, anticipated 2012 sales will be $1.2 million. If sales reach or exceed $1 million, lessee (Sortis) will pay UCHRA a yearly bonus of $60,000.
Sortis proposes ten, one year contracts to be signed upon acceptance of the proposal.
Contracts would be automatically renewed yearly unless UCHRA is notified by the lessee (Sortis), thirty days prior to the renewal date. In the first five years, lessee (Sortis) will assume the loan from Rural Development.
Donnie Davidson of the Davidson Investment Group wants to purchase assets of Lakeside Resort and has proposed a cash offer of $500,000, contingent upon the Corps of Engineers extending the lease of the Lakeside Resort operation through the year 2042. All assets and property improvements would become the ownership of Davidson Investment Group upon payment to UCHRA.
Deanna Ebert Pierson, of PeopleBuildersUSA, proposes to purchase and create a true resort atmosphere at Lakeside Resort. PeopleBuildersUSA, founded in 2006, is a faith-based 501(c) 3 organization.
Pierson proposes to establish Lakeside as a year round, full service lodging and educational facility for corporate retreats, small meetings, and church groups.
She is offering a purchase price of $1.8 million for the entire holdings of Lakeside Resort and to enter into a lease management contract pending approval of the loan and any and all other necessary documents. Yearly payments of $130,000 would be made to USDA to service the debt on the existing loan.

The county commission Monday night adopted a resolution asking the Tennessee General Assembly to name the bridge over Dry Creek on Highway 70 in honor of the late Private First Class Billy Gene Anderson, United States Army.
The resolution states “Whereas, it is fitting that the DeKalb County Commission honor residents of DeKalb County who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.
Whereas, the late Private First Class Billy Gene Anderson, United State Army, made that sacrifice for his country on May 17, 2010 while serving in Afghanistan and
Whereas, PFC Billy Gene Anderson served with courage, giving his life for his country and the beliefs he held. He deserves proper recognition for his service as a proud representative of the United States Army, and the greatest sacrifice anyone can make.
Whereas, PFC Billy Gene Anderson selfishly gave his life while serving his country and it is appropriate that we ask the Tennessee General Assembly to honor his memory by naming the Bridge over Dry Creek on Highway 70 as a lasting monument to him.
Now therefore Be it enacted by DeKalb County Commission that the Tennessee General Assembly be asked to name the Dry Creek Bridge the PFC Billy Gene Anderson Memorial Bridge and signs be erected and maintained to permanently honor the memory of PFC Billy Gene Anderson”

The DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department has arrested two men in the recent burglary of a local business on Highway 70 east.
28 year old Matthew Malachi Lawson of Haley Road, Smithville and 29 year old Willie Ray Murphy of West Bryant Street, Smithville are charged with burglary and theft of property over $1,000 on Saturday, March 17. They were arrested on Friday, March 23. Bond for each is $10,000 and they will be in court on April 5.
According to Sheriff Patrick Ray, “Murphy went around to the side of the building (a business) and busted out a glass door. He then entered the business. While Murphy was in there, he took out some power tools for concrete work. Lawson, who brought Murphy to the business, sat in the vehicle and served as the lookout person. Lawson then left and later returned to pick up Murphy and the stolen equipment”.
59 year old Bobby Wright Washer of Gay Road, Smithville is charged with driving under the influence. His bond is $1,500 and he will be in court on April 5.
Sheriff Ray reports that on Sunday, March 25 a deputy was dispatched to a vehicle which had run off the roadway on Highway 56. The officer arrived and saw that Washer’s truck was in the ditch. He had a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage on his person and he was unsteady on his feet. His speech was also very slurred. Washer performed poorly on all field sobriety tasks and he submitted to a blood test. Sheriff Ray said Washer admitted to drinking more than a six pack of beer.

Doug Stephens was appointed by the county commission Monday night to fill a vacancy on the school board in the sixth district.
By a vote of 7-6-1, Stephens got the nod over Boyd Trapp to serve out the unexpired term of Bruce Parsley, who resigned effective December 31.
Members of the commission voting for Stephens were Jack Barton from the second district, Bradley Hendrix from the third district, Wayne Cantrell and David McDowell from the fourth district, Jerry Adcock from the fifth district, Jeff Barnes from the sixth district and Larry Summers from the seventh district.
Those voting for Trapp were Elmer Ellis, Jr from the first district, Bobby Joines from the second district, Jerry Scott from the third district, John Green from the fifth district, Marshall Ferrell from the sixth district, and Jimmy Poss from the seventh district.
Mason Carter from the first district passed.
During the February 27 meeting, neither Stephens or Trapp received enough votes to get the appointment. Two roll call votes were taken and in each case, it was a six to six tie. Two members of the commission, John Green and Mason Carter were absent that night and County Mayor Mike Foster chose not to break the tie.
Jeff Barnes, who had voted for Trapp last month, switched his vote to Stephens this time.
Stephens will serve in this appointed position until August 31.

A Disaster Recovery Center to help survivors of the February 29 to March 2 storms is now open in DeKalb County.
Gene Kauffman, FEMA Public Information Officer, said If you were affected in any way, visit the Recovery Center at the County Administrative Building, 724 South Congress Boulevard in Smithville. Hours are 8:00 a.m until 6:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday and Sunday from 1:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m.

Specialists can answer questions about FEMA assistance, the SBA Disaster Loan Program and the status of your FEMA application.
Register with FEMA by calling 1-800-621-FEMA or register online at disasterassistance.gov.

A Smithville man was reportedly found stabbed to death in Kentucky on Saturday.
Dead is 52 year old Patrick L. Dunlap
Nashville media are reporting that police responded to the call at 380 Hatcher Valley Road in Horse Cave, Kentucky of a person being stabbed Saturday around 5 p.m.
When police arrived they found Dunlap lying motionless on the ground with knife wounds to his body.
Police arrested Douglas Miller and charged him with murder.
Police also arrested Deborah Thistlewaite and placed her in the Hart County Jail on unrelated warrants.
Kentucky State Police are continuing their investigation into the death.

Mary A. Evins of Smithville, daughter of the late Congressman Joe L. Evins, has been elected as one of three female delegates, along with a female alternate, to attend the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte North Carolina this September from Tennessee’s 6th congressional district.
Local delegates who attended to elect the congressional district delegates to the National Convention were Mary Evins, Jimmy and Joyce Poss, Jim Judkins, Harry Lasser, Joyce Hendrixson, Vincent Baker, Jerry Comfort, and Barbara Comfort. “DeKalb County was allotted only nine delegates or votes in the process while larger counties such Rutherford, Sumner, Bedford, and Putnam counties were alocated many more votes. There were approximately 30 total individuals who initially tried to qualify to be a delegate to the National Convention from the 6th congressional district.” said Jim Judkins, chairman of the local party.
Evins teaches U.S. History at MTSU. Her mother was the late Ann Smartt Evins. Her paternal grandfather was the late Edgar Evins of DeKalb County, a former Mayor of Smithville and State Senator and her maternal grandfather was the late Judge Robert Smartt of Warren County.
Evins is one of a few to have ever been a delegate to the Democratic National Convention from DeKalb County. Among others were the late Joe L. Evins, McAllen Foutch, and M.T. Puckett.
(Bottom Photo: Bottom Row left to right: Barbara Comfort, Joyce Hendrixson, Harry Lasser,Mary Evins, Joyce Poss; Top Row: Jim Judkins, Jimmy Poss, Vincent Baker, Jerry Comfort

Effective April 1, the DeKalb County Emergency Communications District (911 Center) will implement a notification service (reverse 911 calling) in the event of local tornado warnings to alert those in the path of the storms
Brad Mullinax, Director of the 911 Center, said the calls will be placed automatically free of charge to anyone in DeKalb County who has landline telephone service with DTC Communications, Ben Lomand, or Twin Lakes and who may be threatened by a tornado. Those wanting to be alerted by cell phone, text messaging, or e-mail will have to register but there will be no charge to sign up.
The Hyper-Reach emergency notification service is integrated with NOAA weather alerts for approaching tornadoes and storm paths. The system automatically receives information from NOAA of a tornado along with its predicted path and areas that will likely be affected. Hyper-Reach can be set to automatically call all the phone numbers in that predicted area with a warning.
“The 911 center has subscribed to Hyper-Reach to provide weather warnings to the public of DeKalb County,” said Mullinax. “The way this thing works is, when there is a severe weather warning that has been issued for DeKalb County, then its going to call the people of the county on their home telephone line. It will not call everyone. It will only call the people in the path of the storm. It will use our public switch network, which is DTC Communications, or if you live across the river it’ll use Twin Lakes or if you’re close to the Warren County line it’ll use Ben Lomand’s telephone network. The calls will go out when a warning is issued so when a tornado warning is issued, these calls are going to start going out. This will not be used just for severe thunderstorm warnings, it’ll only be strictly for tornado warnings,” said Mullinax.
“When we call you at home (on landline telephone), there will be no opt out for you not to receive the service. We’re going to call you if there is a tornado warning. There will be no way for you to say, I don’t want to receive those calls. We feel its a public safety issue and we will call you in the event there is a tornado headed toward your house. The system makes up to three attempts to reach you by phone. If you don’t answer the call by the third attempt, it is supposed to leave you a message on your answering machine or voice mail,” said Mullinax.
“There are limitations to the system,” he said. “When these things (calls) go out, there is a time frame for the warning. For example, a warning might be issued at 9:00 p.m. and be in effect until 9:30 p.m. One of the limitations with the system is that once that warning expires, then it will stop calling the people of DeKalb County. If it does not get everyone (in the storm path) notified before the storm warning expires, then the calls will stop when the storm warning expires. It has the capability of calling between 300 and 500 people per minute. It will only call home telephone numbers by default. So for cell phones, text messaging and that kind of thing, it will require a different type of procedure. But by default, everyone in DeKalb County will be notified in the event of a tornado warning on their home (landline) telephone number, if you live in the path of the storm,” said Mullinax.
“Sometimes people don’t realize the limitations of a cellular network,” he said. ” For instance during the tornado here on February 29, we had problems with people in the county making calls in the area of Cookeville Highway, where the storm hit. We had responders who could not call out because the cellular network was just overwhelmed with calls. So I want to take this opportunity again to stress how important it is for people to keep their home (landline) telephone service, if for nothing else, to receive severe weather warnings. This service we’re providing to the county is free. It doesn’t cost the public anything. We’re paying for it with Emergency Communications District
(ECD) funds. It won’t increase your taxes. There is no cost associated with this. What we’re asking is that you try to maintain that home (landline) telephone service so we can get you notified quickly in the event of an emergency,” said Mullinax.
“We will start accepting sign ups on April 1,” he said. ” If you want to sign up for tornado warnings for cell phones, text messaging, or e-mail notifications, you can click the following links at http://www.hyper-reach.com/tndekalbsignup.html or visit http://www.dekalb911.org
No signs ups are required for landline customers of DTC, Ben Lomand, or Twin Lakes Telephone Cooperatives. Those telephone numbers are already in the DeKalb 911 database.
The terms and conditions are as follows:
“DeKalb County, TN” provides this notification service for informational purposes only and makes every effort to post accurate and reliable information. “DeKalb County, TN” makes neither warranties, guarantees nor representations of any type as to the content, accuracy or completeness of the information contained in or disseminated through the notification service, or any related services.
The User understands when subscribing to this notification service that “DeKalb County, TN” cannot guarantee 100 percent delivery of any message in a timely manner. “DeKalb County, TN” utilizes third parties’ infrastructure to deliver messages such as Text Messages (SMS) and voice calls that may be unavailable due to those third parties’ infrastructure issues. These may be due to congestion, weather, power, acts of terrorism, etc.
Furthermore, this notification service is dependent upon external providers such as your telephone carrier, your wireless carrier or e-mail delivery service, and it is dependent upon the proper functioning of your own telephonic equipment, such as your telephone, mobile phone, or PBX.
“DeKalb County, TN” will make every effort to ensure delivery of messages, but due to above unforeseen circumstances and due to these dependencies, “DeKalb County, TN” cannot guarantee delivery of any message to you in a timely manner, nor can it guarantee that any notification will be received by the intended recipient.
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For Text Message Notifications
While SMS text messaging service is included in the “DeKalb County, TN” package, the standard carrier charges for your land-line and mobile services will still apply. When an alert occurs, “DeKalb County, TN” will send an SMS to the designated number. If the SMS recipient does not want SMS sent to this number they can send the keyword “STOP” at any time to cancel the SMS portion only. If there are any questions during the SMS session, the user can simply call 800-737-5080 to obtain help instructions. If you have opted for SMS Service, then your “DeKalb County, TN” alert notifications will be received via SMS (text-message) to the accepted mobile number at a rate of 1 or more SMS messages per qualified event.
By selecting the “I Accept” box, you are acknowledging you understand the above statements and are agreeing to register for the “DeKalb County, TN” notification service.