Eight year old Mary Elizabeth Murray was crowned Little Miss Princess at the DeKalb County Fair Wednesday night.
Murray is the daughter of Angel Brown and Dwight Murray of Smithville.
She succeeds the retiring 2006 Little Miss Princess, 10 year old Kelsey Sueanna Hedge, daughter of David and Trina Hedge of Smithville.
First runner-up in the pageant was Mallory Dickerson, the eight year old daughter of Terry and Tracy Dickerson of Carthage.
Eight year old Rosa Maria Payne of Alexandria was second runner-up and also named Miss Photogenic.. She is the daughter of Tammy and Randy Payne.
Third runner-up was seven year old Caitlin Tyree, daughter of Josh and Carrie Tyree of Liberty.
Meanwhile, Rick Martin was the winner of the $1,000 cash giveaway Wednesday night.

The 2007 DeKalb County Fair Miss Sweetheart is 12 year old Chelsea Lewis of Smithville.
Lewis, the daughter of Jimmy and Gina Lewis, was crowned Wednesday night during the annual pageant at the fair.
She succeeds the 2006 DeKalb County Fair Miss Sweetheart, 12 year old Kelley Beth Walker, daughter of Shane and Michelle Walker of Smithville.
The first runner-up in the pageant was 12 year old Arielle Corinne Davis, daughter of Eddie and Beth Davis of Brush Creek.
Brittany Wilkerson was the second runner-up. She is the 11 year old daughter of Michelle Cantrell of Smithville and Sean Wilkerson of Lebanon.
11 year old Sarah Elizabeth Edwards of Liberty was the third runner-up. She is the daughter of Clay and Tena Edwards.
Meanwhile, 11 year old Shauna Faith Taylor, daughter of Ken and Cindy Taylor of Smithville, was named Miss Congeniality.

Levi Katon Driver and Sarah Anne Colwell were crowned Little Mister and Miss at the DeKalb County Fair Tuesday night.
Driver, who was also named Mister Congeniality, is the four year old son of Brad and Kelly Driver of Dowelltown and Colwell is the six year old daughter of Trent and Christie Colwell of Smithville.
They succeed the retiring Little Mister and Miss Hunter Vaught and Macy Elizabeth Hedge. Vaught is the seven year old son of Ronnie and Bethany Vaught of Brush Creek and Hedge is the six year old daughter of David and Trina Hedge of Smithville.
First runner-up in the Little Miss contest was Alexis Diann Bly, the seven year old daughter of Steven and Cristy Bly of Smithville.
Second runner-up was four year old Taylor Nicole Gibbs, daughter of Teesha Gibbs of Smithville.
Six year old Madison Elaine Colwell was third runner-up. She is the daughter of Gabriel and Heather Colwell of Smithville.
Meanwhile, four year old Sarah Rose Smith was named Miss Congeniality. She is the daughter of Shane and Amy Smith of Gordonsville.
First runner-up in the Little Mister contest was Bryson Lee Stewart, the four year old son of D.J. Stewart and Dallas Parker of Smithville.
Five year old Colin Howell was the second runner-up. He is the son of Michael and Juanita Howell of Brush Creek.
Third runner-up was Ethan Lane Evans, the five year old son of Sherry and Ricky Evans of Smithville.
Meanwhile Alan Cox was the winner of the $1,000 cash giveaway Tuesday night.

Three concerned citizens from the Austin Bottom area of DeKalb County attended the county commission meeting Monday night complaining of a recent disturbance at the Austin Bottom landing and the lengthy amount of time it took for authorities to respond.
Chuck Stacey says Austin Bottom Landing, which is a gathering spot for people who like to drink and party, is increasingly posing a safety concern for residents in the area and they want it closed or restricted for use only as a boat launching ramp.
Stacey says one person was seriously injured there last week in an assault.
Most of the problems occur late at night and Stacey would like to see more law enforcement patrols in the area.
Sheriff Patrick Ray says his deputies have patrolled the community but it’s “hit and miss” on catching the troublemakers, not knowing when they are going to be there. Sheriff Ray says his officers are doing their best but can’t be in the area seven nights a week because there are usually only two officers on duty at night to cover the entire county.
Foster proposed an idea which he says might make things better. ” I’ve talked with several people about it and we think cleaning up the area, making it a better ramp, making it more user friendly, getting more people in there would probably be a better solution than trying to close it. If you’ve got families there you’re less likely to have these people that you’re talking about in there(undesirables). We’ve got approximately forty ramps around the lake and four hundred plus miles of shoreline. I live at Holiday Haven and it’s the same way down there. You go down there on a given night and there’s nobody there and you go back another night and there’s forty partying and you can’t get your boat in. From working that area years ago, I know it is out of the way. I think improving it to the point that you do get more families down there and patrolling it maybe a little more will help, maybe talking to the TWRA officers and getting them to run by there more often, because I know we did when I worked for them. The Corps also maybe needs to do some more. We could put up the signs (boat launching only) but it’s federal property. Even though technically the ramp area is leased to the county, the county can’t enforce federal laws, which would have to do with camping on that property. We can enforce state laws that have to do with firearms, alcohol, and that kind of thing.”
County Commissioners say a constable position is open in the fourth district and they asked Stacy, who is a retired law enforcement officer, if he would be interested in being appointed until the next election. Stacey said if he had to provide his own vehicle, he probably wouldn’t want the position. Constables also receive no pay other than fees from serving papers.
Stacey says he and a group of residents in the Austin Bottom area plan to meet with officials of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to further discuss possible solutions.

DeKalb County is getting a new Pre-Kindergarten Class.
Governor Phil Bredesen and State Representative Frank Buck Tuesday announced that 257 new pre-K classrooms will open for the 2007-08 school year serving approximately 4,000 additional four-year-olds across the state.
Director of Schools Mark Willoughby says plans are for the new Pre-K class to be started at Smithville Elementary School. With the addition of the new class, DeKalb County will have a total of five Pre-K classrooms, including four at Smithville Elementary School and one at DeKalb West School.
Eligible children must be four years of age by September 30th, and their parents must meet the federal income guidelines.
Each Pre-K class may have up to twenty students. At least sixteen students per class must be enrolled by September 30th in order for the school system to retain available funds for the program.
Governor Bredesen requested $25 million new state dollars to expand Tennessee’s Voluntary Pre-K Program, raising the investment for the 2007-08 school year to $80 million. Dekalb County Schools will receive $89,909 to fund one new classroom.
“We have expanded access to our quality pre-K program from serving 3,000 students three years ago to 17,000 today,” Governor Bredesen said. “This commitment to early childhood education means over the last three years, we’ve helped nearly 40,000 boys and girls start their education on a path designed to help them achieve academically in the long run. Tennesseans want more students to graduate from high school; the task starts with making sure students start out on the right foot from day one.”
Tennessee’s Voluntary Pre-K Program now operates in 94 out of 95 counties and 133 of 136 school systems, providing a high-quality early childhood education to more than 17,000 four-year-olds. The National Institute for Early Education Research has ranked Tennessee as one of six states maintaining the highest pre-K standards in the nation for the past two years.
“Pre-K is the foundation of a strong educational system,” said Representative Buck. “We must ensure that our children graduate on time and with the skills they need to succeed. Pre-K is critical to ensuring this success.”
The trademarks of Tennessee’s high-quality pre-K program include:
o a staff to student ratio of 1:10;
o a lead teacher with a Bachelor’s degree and endorsement in early childhood education
o 18 hours of professional development required for staff each year; and
o a maximum class size of 20 students.

The county emergency services committee may be having second thoughts about bringing the ambulance service back under the county’s control.
County Mayor Mike Foster says running the ambulance service could be a costly endeavor for the county and more study is needed before any action is taken by the county commission. But time is running short because Sumner Regional Medical Center will officially cease operation of the DeKalb County Ambulance Service within a few weeks.
Foster, during Monday night’s county commission meeting, said cost estimates are still being compiled. “I got information from eleven counties. We based our budget on numbers that we got from them as well as some that I got from Sumner County General. The guy that helps us with budgets also did a budget. We all came up with some pretty scary numbers. We’re seeing that the number of (ambulance) runs was around 2,600. We’ve averaged other counties revenues and we have estimates from ambulance directors in other counties, and they estimate that we should average $260 per run. If we do that, we come up with revenues of about $676,000. When we run (cost) numbers for the staff, secretary, director, benefits, materials, fuel, and repairs, we come up with a number in excess of $1-million,031-thousand dollars. The first year we would have to buy three heart monitors for approximately $41,000 and we would continue to buy an ambulance, so that’s another $136,000. There is an EMS software program that’s about $12,000 per year, or if we contract with someone to collect it (billing), they charge seven percent, which would be about $47,000, but the EMS consultants would furnish the software. It’s one of those things that we’ve got to look at and we’ve got to do it fairly quickly. This is a very important thing and we’re probably taking a little more time than some people would like to see, but we’re concerned about this. If we take the money that we’re currently contributing ($163,00 per year) away from the numbers we’re talking about, we still show losing somewhere between $328,000 and $400,000 and we’re not comfortable with that.”
Foster says he and members of the commission will hold an informal workshop on the issue again Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. at the courthouse.

18 year old Courtney Curtis of Smithville, daughter of Brett and Sherree Curtis, is the 2007 DeKalb County Fairest of the Fair.
She succeeds the retiring Fairest of the Fair, 19 year old Whitney Nicole Rice of Smithville, daughter of Brenda and the late Bobby Rice.
First runner-up in the pageant was 19 year old Christen Ashley Hale, daughter of Craig and Evelyn Hale of Dowelltown.
Second runner-up was 20 year old Tara Joan Griffin, daughter of Mike and Tammy Griffin of Alexandria.
18 year old Wendy Michelle Scott of Smithville was named Miss Congeniality. She is the daughter of Kathy Scott and the late Billy Ray Scott.
The pageant was held Monday night at the DeKalb County Fair in Alexandria.