The Smithville Police Department has charged a 24 year old man with the statutory rape of a 16 year old girl.
Chief Thomas J. Stufano says Jason Knowles of 8956 Short Mountain Road is charged with three counts of statutory rape. His bond is set at $30,000. He turned himself in at the DeKalb County Jail late Tuesday night.
According to Chief Stufano, “On Tuesday, police investigated the crime of statutory rape of a minor. The victim’s father had suspected that there may have been some inappropriate attention directed toward his 16 year old daughter by an older male acquaintance of the family.”
Stufano says “Investigators discovered that Knowles had been sexually intimate with the minor on three separate occasions at the minor’s residence while other family members were asleep. The juvenile stated that Knowles was aware that she was only 16 and still attending high school. During the course of the investigation, the minor also disclosed that Knowles would routinely ‘snort’ drugs just prior to the intimacy. The father became concerned when the adult male subject started becoming ‘over-friendly’ with his daughter. Both the Division of Child Services and authorities of the DeKalb County School system were also contacted about the incident.”
Chief Stufano says “Smithville Police are committed to actively investigating these serious crimes that put our children in harm’s way. With the strong support of our citizens, criminals now know that crime will not be tolerated in our community.”

A 33 year old man, arrested Wednesday by Smithville Police for shoplifting, was also found to have in his possession illegal prescription drugs.
Chief Thomas J. Stufano says Jason Bradley Cripps of 774 Four Seasons Road, Smithville is charged with theft under $500 and possession of a schedule II and III controlled substance for resale.
According to Chief Stufano, ” On February 14th Smithville Police responded to Smithville Food Store for a reported shoplifter. Upon arrival Police made contact with a Food Store employee who identified a white male now known as Cripps as the person responsible for trying to conceal store items without paying for them. Further investigation noted that Cripps did in fact have a number of items concealed inside his clothing which included (2) Crossword Puzzle Books and packages of pens along with sufficient funds on him to pay for the items. Cripps was arrested and transported to the Police Department for further processing. What Police later discovered was that Cripps was also in possession of illegal prescription drugs that amounted to felony distribution charges. Police were able to recover over 21.5 Hydrocodone and 6 Xanax pills with a street value of over $825.00.. He was transported to the DeKalb County Jail with a bond set at $11,000
Chief Stufano says “During the course of the investigation, Cripps’ background noted that he had just been arrested by the Smithville Police for a similar charge of shoplifting a power tool from Walmart on February 5th. At the time of his arrest he had over $435.00 in cash on him.”
“Smithville Police are finding a direct correlation between the illegal use of prescription drugs and other types of crime and are committed to actively investigating all crime in an effort to curtail illegal drug activity in our community. The continued support of the citizens and merchants has shown to be very beneficial in our crime prevention partnership.”

A total of forty five students will be competing during the Fourth Annual DeKalb County Spelling Bee Friday night, February 16th at 6:30 p.m. at DeKalb County High School.
WJLE plans LIVE coverage
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 12th 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. with all expenses paid by the Tennessean Newspaper.
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- Peter Antoniak, Justin Johnson, Kelsey Hedge, Savannah Driver, Brandon Chapman, MaKayla Redmon, Ashland Dillon, Brandon Leiser, and Haley Davis
Fifth Grade- Travis Ferrell, Serena Lucci, Emily Snow, Rebecca Luke, Courtney Rice, and Josh Davidson.
DeKalb Middle School:
Sixth Grade- Jacob Parsley, Ben Driver, Dalton Vaughn, Bradley Mullican, Taylor Poston, Shawna Puckett, Kyra Dickens, Martelia Tallent, and Kayley Green.
Seventh Grade- John Hayes and Michael Braswell
Eighth Grade- Josh Henry, Taylor Poss, Jessica Hodges, and Alison Thomas
DeKalb West School:
Fourth Grade- Leah Burchfield, Dalton Freeney, and Bruce Wilson
Fifth Grade- Cori Jennings, Paige Lohorn, and Dylan Young
Sixth Grade- Zach Martin, Will Molander, and Nick Sackman
Seventh Grade- Chelsea Crutcher, Katy England, and Dylan Freeney
Eighth Grade- Natalie Barrett, Logan Clark, Shelby Mulloy, and Vickey Vickers.

A 58 year old White County man was killed in a one vehicle traffic accident around 1:45 p.m. Tuesday on Highway 70 east near Sligo Bridge.
Dead is Baxter Griffith of Lonnie Car Road, Sparta.
Trooper Brian Raymond of the Tennessee Highway Patrol says Griffith was traveling east on Highway 70 in a 1997 Chevrolet Blazer when the vehicle went off the shoulder of the road, struck a culvert, and overturned, coming to rest upside down in the roadway.
Griffith was taken by DeKalb EMS to DeKalb Community Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Members of the DeKalb County Volunteer Fire Department were also summoned to the scene to provide extrication services, but the man wasn’t trapped, so no extrication was needed.
Trooper Raymond says Griffith was not wearing a seat belt and it appeared that alcohol may have been a factor.
Trooper Raymond was assisted by Sergeant Billy Prater and Lieutenant Brian Lawson of the Tennessee Highway Patrol. The DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department was also on the scene.

The DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department has arrested two men in connection with a recent vandalism and theft at a home under construction on Aunt Helen Road near Silver Point.
Sheriff Patrick Ray says 36 year old David Condon of Bryan, Ohio and 43 year old Walter Condon of Manchester are each charged with theft over $1,000. Bond for Walter Condon is set at $10,000.
David Condon is also charged with vandalism over $10,000. His bond is set at $35,000.
Sheriff Ray says the men are accused of stealing approximately $1,700 worth of tools including ladders, saws, wire, etc.
A total of seventeen windows were broken out, seven doors busted, and several concrete blocks and house support posts were also damaged.
Total damage to the home is estimated at $12,190.
The men will be in General Sessions Court on the charges February 22nd.
Meanwhile, in a separate case, 19 year old Troy Allen Cunningham, Jr. of Keltonburg Road was pulled over by a county deputy during a traffic stop Monday morning.
Sheriff Ray says the deputy conducted a search and found some marijuana in the pocket of Cunningham’s jacket. Cunningham was charged with simple possession.. He will be in General Sessions Court on the charge March 1st. His bond is $1,000.
Finally, 21 year old Victor Maguel Godinez of Bank’s Pisgah Road, who was involved in a motor vehicle accident Sunday, was charged with driving under the influence and violation of the implied consent law. His bond is set at $1,500 and he will be in court on the charges March 8th.

The DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department is investigating a suspicious fire Monday morning at a vacant double wide mobile home at 1558 Banks Pisgah Road.
County Fire Chief Donny Green says Vanderbilt Mortgage Company, the owner, recently repossessed the mobile home. The previous tenants moved out December 15th.
Green says the fire is suspicious because there were no utilities connected to the home.
He says the fire gutted the structure causing significant damage. There were no personal belongings or contents inside the mobile home.
No one was injured.
Members of the Blue Springs, Keltonburg, and Short Mountain Highway stations responded along with a tanker truck.

A former deputy for the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department, accused of engaging in inappropriate behavior with two different women while he was on duty in 2004 and 2006, received a total of six years probation Monday after pleading guilty in Criminal Court to two counts of official misconduct and one charge of official oppression.
David Sharp was indicted by the August term of the Grand Jury on two counts of rape, two counts of official misconduct, one count of sexual battery, and one count of official oppression, but under a negotiated agreement, state prosecutors Monday dropped the sex offenses in exchange for Sharp’s guilty plea to the other counts.
Judge David Patterson sentenced Sharp to a total of two years on each of the three charges, but suspended them to probation for a total of six years. The first year, his probation will be supervised by community corrections, and for the remaining five years, Sharp will be on Tennessee Department of Corrections (state) probation.
The TBI began investigating Sharp in June, 2006 after two women came forward complaining that he pulled them over and demanded sexual favors.
The first allegation arose in May, 2006 when a woman claimed that Sharp, while serving a warrant, pressured her into committing a sexual act. Lloyd Emmons, who was Sheriff at the time, terminated Officer Sharp and ordered an internal administrative investigation as the TBI conducted the criminal probe into the matter, including the collection of DNA evidence.
According to Assistant D.A. Bill Locke, Sharp initially denied the woman’s allegation, but later claimed that the contact was consensual.
After the first case came to light, the second woman came forward with an allegation against Sharp.
According to state prosecutors, the woman, a dancer at the Midnight Express, was pulled over in April, 2004 by another officer on a charge of driving on a suspended license. Officer Sharp apparently came to the scene to back up the other officer. She was later taken to the jail, where Sharp and other officers allegedly talked to her about obtaining information for them concerning possible illegal activity at the club. As the woman was getting ready to leave the jail, she allegedly told the officers she didn’t know the way back to the interstate. Prosecutors say Sharp agreed to show her the way, but then pulled her over before getting to the Interstate.
Sharp, while pleading guilty to one count of misconduct and official oppression by indictment and one count of official misconduct by information, did not admit to the alleged sex offenses. He was represented by attorney Sarah Cripps.
Sharp, who is now in the mowing, landscaping, and woodworking business, is prohibited from ever serving again as a law enforcement officer. As a convicted felon, he cannot vote, and he is under a restraining order to keep away from the alleged victims.

DeKalb County will have access to help at a new after-school academy thanks
to a $10,000 grant from the Vanderbilt Center for Child and Family Policy.
The DeKalb County Board of Education plans to use the funds to improve
after-school academic programs for high school and middle school students
with a focus on improving reading skills. Students will use software that
provides individualized programs for increasing reading ability.
Administrators hope that offering after-school academic programs will
improve their school’s graduation rates and test scores.
“We?re delighted to provide the DeKalb County board with funds to improve
their after-school programs,” Debbie Miller, director of the Center for
Child and Family Policy, said. “We believe projects like this can have a
direct impact on the achievement gap.”
The grant is one of the center’s “mini-grant” for 2006-2007 and was born
out of Family Re-Union, an annual conference started by former Vice
President Al Gore and Tipper Gore that focuses on bringing together
families, and those who work with them, to discuss and design better ways to
strengthen family life in America. The 2006 event, Family Re-Union 12,
focused on the achievement gap between children of different races,
ethnicities and socioeconomic backgrounds.
Family Re-Union 12 participants were invited to submit grant proposals
detailing the programs they wanted to start or improve in their community to
close the academic achievement gap. Five recipients were chosen and invited
to a strategic planning session at Vanderbilt to help them plan how to carry
out their grant proposals, collect data and measure success.

The Smithville Police Department has made another round of drug arrests.
Chief Thomas J. Stufano says “On Thursday, Smithville Police Officers responded to a domestic violence complaint at 705 Snow Street and made contact with 35 year old Chad Canter who was bleeding from a hand wound he had suffered during a confrontation with his live-in girlfriend. During the investigation, officers found numerous narcotics, syringes and assorted paraphernalia lying about the residence with fresh blood on them. Canter was arrested and transported to the DeKalb County Jail under a bond of $4,000.”
Canter is officially charged with simple possession, possession of a schedule IV controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. .
Meanwhile, in recent undercover drug operations, Smithville Investigators arrested 46 year old Danny Ponder of 7851 Old Mill Road, 39 year old Sonny Gene Smith of 704 Short Mountain Street and 41 year old Tammy Denise Miller of 8956 Short Mountain Street and an un-named juvenile all of Smithville for Sale and Delivery of Narcotics.
Ponder is officially charged with simple possession; Smith is charged with possession of drug paraphernalia and sale of a controlled substance; and Miller is charged with possession of a schedule II controlled substance.
Chief Stufano says Smithville Police Officers had setup a series of undercover drug buys where these individuals delivered and sold K-4 Dilauded pills from 704 Short Mountain Street. A vehicle used to transport the illegal drugs was also seized under the state’s Drug Seizure Forfeiture Act. A large cache of drugs and money was also recovered. All of the subjects were arrested and transported to the DeKalb County Jail under a $45,000 bond each.
Shortly after these series of arrests, Chief Stufano says Smithville Police again were able to successfully stage another undercover operation and arrested 40 year old Debbie Cantrell and Gary Lynn Hale both of 848 Foster Road in Smithville for Sale and Delivery of Narcotics from their residence in Evins Manor Apartments. During this sting, officers were able to recover 25 ? K-4 Dilauded pills that sell for $25.00 each, a number of syringes, cash, and over 115 legend drugs commonly used as a numbing agent. Chief Stufano says officers had received numerous complaints over recent weeks from concerned citizens stating that possible illegal drug activity was going on due to the amount of momentary traffic coming and going from the residence. Surveillance had been setup and the buy process put in place. Hale’s bond was set at $25,000 and Cantrell’s was set at $15,000.
Cantrell is officially charged with sale of a controlled substance and Hale is charged with possession of a schedule II controlled substance.
Chief Stufano says “Smithville Police in cooperation with our crime watch partners and business merchants are actively pursuing a zero tolerance stance on illegal drug activity in our community. It is through concerned citizen contacts, vigilant watch of suspicious activity and strong partnerships with our neighboring law enforcement agencies that this goal will be possible. Your continued support in helping beautify our community is greatly appreciated.”

The Nashville District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has approved plans for the relocation of Hidden Harbor Marina from its present location at the head of Holmes Creek to Holmes Creek Recreation Area, which is located approximately one mile downstream of the current marina site.
The marina is relocating primarily due to challenges at their existing site, such as shallow water depths, limited or no vehicular access to the area during periods of high lake levels, and site limitations to modernizing the facilities to accommodate modern recreational vessels and equipment.
Various other options were considered, but they were either cost-prohibitive or not environmentally feasible.
The campground and picnic area at Holmes Creek Recreation Area was closed by the Corps under the Recreation Excellence at Army Lakes (REAL) program in 2003. The intent of the REAL program was to transfer the management of some recreation areas to other agencies or concessionaires, while other areas were closed to prevent valuable resources from being expended at little-used areas. In 2004, the area was made available for lease. However, no viable proposals were received.
This relocation is considered to be in the best interest of the Corps, the marina, and the general public. Although the full relocation process will require approximately one year to complete, the public will soon begin seeing the benefits of this relocation. The marina management plans to reopen about 15 campsites with water and electrical hookups for public use later this spring. They are also planning to have at least one boat launching ramp available to the public for a $5.00 launching fee. Relocation of the floating facilities, including the dock store and the moorage slips, to the new site is not scheduled to take place until after the summer recreation season is over. In future years, the marina may also reopen more campsites and provide cabins or other lodging facilities for public use.
Center Hill Lake, which is located near Smithville, Tennessee, is operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Primarily due to the outstanding environmental quality and aesthetics of Center Hill Lake and the pristine forested shoreline, the lake and the surrounding public property are well known to a diverse group of outdoor recreationists and attract more than three million visitors annually from Tennessee and surrounding states. The 18,220-acre lake and the 415 miles of beautiful forested shoreline adjacent to the approximately 20,000 acres of public lands draw those visitors and prompt them to add more than $94 million to the local economy as they pursue outdoor recreational activities, such as wildlife viewing and photography, boating, fishing, camping, picnicking, swimming, hiking, or just simply sight-seeing. Recreational facilities and opportunities for the recreating public are provided on Center Hill Lake by the Corps, by concessionaires, such as commercial marinas, and by numerous other state and local agencies, such as the Tennessee State Parks and the surrounding county governments.