Five people were injured in a two vehicle accident around 5:05 p.m. Saturday evening on Highway 70 East in front of the Gentleman’s Club.
Trooper Jimmy Tisdale of the Tennessee Highway Patrol says 22 year old Joseph Wayne Jenkins of Smithville, driving a 1996 Buick Century, was in the eastbound lane, turning left into the Gentleman’s Club parking lot, when he crossed the path of a westbound 2002 Chrysler Sebring, driven by 61 year old Ruth L. Ladd of Sparta.
Jenkins was not transported but a passenger of his vehicle, 31 year old Robert H. Mattox of Smithville was taken to the hospital.
Ladd was also transported along with passengers of her vehicle,, 37 year old Melissa Shay of McMinnville; 7 year old Braxton Worthington of McMinnville, and 10 year old Austin Shay of McMinnville.
Trooper Tisdale says all six persons were buckled in during the crash and were not believed to have been seriously injured.

Officials of the Tennessee Department of Transportation met Thursday night with property owners who will be affected by the proposed widening and improvement of Highway 56 south between East Bryant Street and Magness Road in DeKalb County.
The meeting was held at Northside Elementary School.
Bryant Williams, TDOT Transportation Specialist from the Right of Way Office in Chattanooga, said property owners got a chance to see the plans and to ask questions. “We’re here to show the property owners the plans and explain how the plans will affect their properties. We’re also here to see if there’s any mistakes as far as property lines or names of the owners, on the plans.”
“This project starts at Magness Road and extends about five miles to East Bryant Street. Part of the project will be curbs and gutters and part of it down to the south will be a divided highway with four lanes. The part toward town will be four lanes with curbs, gutters, sidewalks, and a turning lane.”
“Right now we’re showing six relocation tracks. We have a total of 70 tracks we’ll have to buy. We should be out buying in the spring of 2007. The appraisal work is going to be starting soon. The project letting date is the spring of 2008, that’s when the project will go to letting for construction. The construction work will start sometime after that.”
In addition to the six relocations, the county’s garbage collection convenience site on Highway 56 will have to be removed.
Officials say a portion of Highway 56 will be redesigned taking a new path, east of the existing route, from near the Smithville City Limits to near Smithville Nursery.
Intersections at Old Blue Springs Road and Keltonburg Road are also expected to be redesigned.
Many property owners affected by the new road are unhappy with the proposed project and some expressed their opposition during Thursday night’s meeting.

The DeKalb County High School Football Game at Macon County has been postponed (due to the weather) until Saturday, October 28th at 6:00 p.m. in Lafayette.

Approximately 300 people enjoyed chili Friday at Habitat for Humanity?s Third Annual Chili Cook-off, which was held at the First Methodist Church CFC. The Inn at Evins Mill took the top honors for Best Chili, with ?The Chuckwagon Chili Crew? from the DeKalb County Board of Education following in second place and Middle Tennessee Natural Gas in third. In the decorating contest, ?Great Bowls of Fire? from Bradley Printing placed first, followed by Middle Tennessee Natural Gas in second place and the ?Edgar Evins Chili Peppers? from Edgar Evins State Park in third.
According to Tecia Puckett Pryor, Habitat board president, the event raised $3,300.00, which will be used toward the building of the second Habitat house in DeKalb County. ?We were really pleased with the turnout, especially in light of the weather,? said Pryor. ?We appreciate all the teams for their participation and for their flexibility and good sportsmanship. We also appreciate everyone who came out to eat chili and those who donated baked goods to sell. I think everybody had a great time, and we look forward to another successful cook-off next year.?
Nine teams participated in the event, including ?Great Bowls of Fire? from Bradley Printing, ?Curves Divas? from Curves of Smithville, ?Chuckwagon Chili Crew? from the DeKalb County Board of Education, ?The Hot Checks Chili? from DeKalb Community Bank, ?The Courthouse Crew? from the DeKalb County Courthouse, ?Edgar Evins Chili Peppers? from Edgar Evins State Park, ?The Bean Counters? from Tom Janney, CPA and Associates, Middle Tennessee Natural Gas, and The Inn at Evins Mill. The Middle Tennessee Times had a ?Times Tummy Table,? and sold items for post-chili relief.
Habitat for Humanity of DeKalb County is a locally run affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International, a nonprofit, ecumenical Christian housing organization. Habitat for Humanity builds and renovates houses in partnership with volunteers and families in need, regardless of their ethnic or religious background. The houses then are sold to those in need at no profit and with no interest charged. To contact Habitat for Humanity of DeKalb County, please call 215-8181.

The DeKalb County Commission Monday night adopted proposed amendments to the Subdivision Regulations on first reading upon the recommendation of the Planning Commission.
Second and final reading passage will be scheduled following a public hearing at the next county commission meeting in November.
One of the proposed amendments pertains to the design and construction of new roads in subdivision developments.
County Mayor Mike Foster, reading from the proposed resolution Monday night, said “A revision of minimum standards for new roads has been determined as necessary in order to help protect the DeKalb County taxpayers from excessive and unnecessary expenditures for road maintenance, in order to provide fair and equitable treatment to all persons seeking to have suitable roads within the county.”
Under the proposed amendment, Foster says developers would be required to put down two inches of hot mix. “They would still do the six inch base and 20 foot width of surface but they would also, after completing the two inches of asphalt binder, come back and add 1 ? inches of wearing surface after everything is done for a total of 3 ? inches of concrete.”
The following is the proposed amendment:
Cross Section
Right of Way- Local 50 feet, Collector 60 feet
Roadbed Width- Local 28 feet, Collector 34 feet
Width of Base- Local 22 feet, Collector 32 feet
Thickness of Base- Local 6 inches, Collector 8 inches
Width of Surfacing- Local 20 feet, Collector 26 feet
*Thickness of Asphalt Binder- Local 2 inches, Collector 2 inches
*Thickness of Wearing Surface-Local 1 ? inches, Collector 1 ? inches
Thickness of Total Surface- Local 3 ? inches, Collector 3 ? inches
*The compacted thickness of the asphalt concrete surface (Hot Mix) shall be determined by road classification and shall not be less than as indicated above.
Another proposed amendment would revise the “Hillside Development Standards” by adding the following text, ” Lots that have slopes thirty percent or greater shall be inspected by the Planning Commission. Lots that are deemed not suitable for construction and not approved, shall be left as open green space for the developments.”
The existing regulations reads, “For area and width requirements, the maximum total increase shall not exceed fifty percent for any slope of thirty percent or greater.”
Foster says the proposed change is primarily meant to stop some lot developments on the lake that are actually too steep for development.”
Another amendment seeks to revise regulation standards concerning the design of “Flag Lots”.
The proposed amendment states that “Within a subdivision, occasional “Flag Lots” may be permitted with a minimum “50 feet Road Frontage” section for driveway and utility access and a minimum 30,000 square foot acre building site at the end of a driveway-utility strip. In such situations, the strip cannot exceed 300 feet in length. Also, such lots must be restricted from further subdivision unless the strip is built to road standards. Such lots cannot exceed 10% of a total development.”

53 year old Gary Marshall Carter, sentenced last month on a charge of statutory rape, has filed a notice of appeal of the judgment to the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals.
Criminal Court Judge Leon Burns Jr., on September 25th, denied Carter’s request for judicial diversion and ordered Carter to serve nine months of a two year sentence and then be on probation for a total of four years.
The charge stems from an alleged incident dating back to the Spring of 2005 and involves a girl who was under the age of 18 at the time.
Carter had entered a plea at an August hearing but filed the request for judicial diversion hoping to avoid any jail time.
As part of the sentence, Carter was required to submit to the Sexual Offender Registration and Monitoring Act and he is now listed on the TBI Sexual Offender Registry.
On Tuesday, October 24th , Carter filed a $50,000 appearance/surety bond and will apparently be free pending the disposition of the appeal.
Sheriff Patrick Ray says he was approached Monday night by Carter’s attorney Hilton Conger asking if the Sheriff would agree to a work release program for Carter, subject to the court’s approval, so that Carter could keep his job at the county landfill.
Sheriff Ray told Conger he would not agree to such a request due to the seriousness of the offense and due to the fact that the Sheriff’s Department has no work release program.
Sheriff Ray said he also turned down Conger’s request to make Carter a trusty at the jail. Sheriff Ray says he told Conger that he doesn’t permit convicted sex offenders to be trusty’s .

A 22 year old Lebanon man has been charged with the Statutory Rape of a 14 year old Dowelltown girl.
Sheriff Patrick Ray says Ricky Darnell Johnson of 135 Rogers Street, Lebanon was arrested Friday evening by Wilson County authorities.
He is under a $150,000 bond
Sheriff Ray says Johnson is accused of committing statutory rape by having sex with a 14 year old girl without her consent on October 14th in Dowelltown.
The victim identified the man to the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department and the Wilson County Sheriff’s Department was contacted since Johnson is from Lebanon.
Sheriff Ray says Johnson is a registered sexual offender having been convicted of an attempted aggravated sexual battery in Wilson County in September 2002. He has been on supervised probation.
In addition to the sex offense in DeKalb County, Johnson is also a suspect in a Wilson County rape, which occurred three weeks ago.

A total of 511 people have cast ballots during the first four days of early voting for the Tennessee General Election including mail-in ballots.
All early voting will be in the basement courtroom of the DeKalb County Courthouse through Thursday, November 2nd.
Hours are 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Thursday hours are from 2 p.m. until 6 p.m.
Election Day is Tuesday, November 7th.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has approved plans for an extensive rehabilitation to address seepage problems at the foundation of Center Hill Dam, announced U.S. Representative Bart Gordon.
“Addressing the seepage problems at Center Hill Dam will greatly enhance safety for the Middle Tenneseans who live downstream, as well as the millions of people who visit the lake each year, said Gordon. “While the improvements may cause a tempprary inconvenience, the end result will be a safer place for recreation and residence.”
The Corps is planning a $240 million rehabilitation, which will involve the addition of grouting to voids where seepage is occurring in the 57 year old earthen dam. Installation of a concrete cut-off wall into the rock foundation of the dam will provide another level of defense against future seepage.
While Corps officials say there is no immediate danger of the dam failing, they are monitoring the seepage so that emergency actions could be taken to lessen the possibility of a catastrophic breach occurring.
According to the Corps, a catastrophic dam failure could result in significant damage and loss of life if water from the Caney Fork River were to flood downstream communities.
“The approval of our Major Rehabilitation recommendation for seepage problems at Center Hill Dam and the receipt funds to begin design mark an important milestone, said Linda Adcock, dam safety program manager for the Nashville District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. “These actions show the Corps is committed to keeping Center Hill safe and functional for the future. We promise to continue close monitoring of the dam throughout the construction period and to keep the public informed through public meetings, announcements and Web site updates.”
According to Corps officials, the design stage will be completed next year, and construction will begin in 2008.
The most recent rehabilitation to the dam occurred in 1992, when grouting was added to combat seepage.
Next month, the Corps will hold public meetings in Carthage, Cookeville, and Smithville to provide more information about the rehabilitation and to address any questions from residents. For more information on the meetings, residents should call the Corps’ Public Affairs Office at 615-736-7161.

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation’s mobile household hazardous waste (HHW) collection service will be in DeKalb County on Saturday, October 28 from 9:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. at the lot between DeKalb Farmer’s Coop and the Church of God.
“Our household hazardous waste mobile collection service provides the people of Tennessee with a safe, environmentally friendly way to dispose of unwanted household chemicals and other potentially hazardous wastes at no cost,” said Environment and Conservation Commissioner Jim Fyke. “This service travels across the state holding collection events in local communities, and we encourage all Tennesseans to take advantage of the opportunity to utilize it.”
The average home in Tennessee produces 20 pounds of household hazardous waste each year. Typical items to dispose of include cleaning fluids, pesticides, batteries, mercury thermometers and thermostats, swimming pool chemicals, paints and thinners and automotive fluids. Also accepted are fluorescent bulbs and electronics such as televisions, computer monitors, keyboards, computer mouse devices and computer processing units. Console televisions must be dismantled.
Items not accepted include microwave ovens, ammunition, explosives, medical waste and any items from a school, commercial business or agri-business.
When transporting materials to the site, place containers in sturdy boxes lined with newspaper to prevent spills and cross-contamination in the trunk of a car or back of a truck, away from children and pets. Materials should be kept in the original container whenever possible. If not, place it in a plastic jug with a secure lid and label the contents.
In 2005, more than 1.5 million pounds of household hazardous waste and 309,000 pounds of electronics were collected from 22,427 households at collection events across the state. Since 1993, households have properly disposed of more than 14 million pounds of material. This material is flammable, toxic, reactive and/or corrosive and should not be placed in with regular garbage.
For more information on the household hazardous waste mobile collection service, please call
1-800-287-9013 or the County Executive’s Office at 597-5175