73 year old Helen Burgess Mabe VanStrander of Alexandria died Thursday at University Medical Center in Lebanon. She was born in Brush Creek, the daughter of the late Nellie Anne Howell and Harvey McMillan Burgess. She was preceded in death by her husband, Johnny Franklin Mabe; a daughter, Mary Christine Mabe; and a son, Steve Mabe, Sr. She was later married to Richard Van Strander. She worked for the Wilson County Shirt Company in Watertown and later at Kroger in Lebanon. VanStrander was a homemaker and a member of the Auburntown Church of Christ. The body is at Avant Funeral Home in Alexandria where the service will be Monday at 11:00 a.m. David Dunn and Glenn Ramsey will officiate and burial will be in the Brush Creek Cemeter. Visitation will be at Avant Chapel on Sunday from 11:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. and Monday from 10:00 a.m. until the service at 11:00 a.m. Van Strander is survived by her husband, Richard Van Strander of Alexandria. A son and daughter-in-law, Larry and Janet Mabe of Chicago, Illinois. A grandson, Steve Mabe, Jr. and his wife Rachel of Smithville. Granddaughters, Monika Mabe and Tabitha Mabe of Chicago, Illinois. Great grandsons, Heath Mabe and Lance Mabe of Smithville. Brothers, Eldon and wife Carol Burgess of Cookeville and Billy and wife Linda Burgess of Brush Creek. Sisters, Ann and husband Lee Armstrong of Nashville and Wanda and husband Sidney Williams of Brush Creek. Avant Funeral Home in Alexandria is in charge of the arrangements.
Tag Archives: 2010
DCHS Student In Juvenile Detention After being Found with “Hit List” at School
A 14 year old DeKalb County High School student is in trouble with the law after he was allegedly caught with a “hit list” in his possession at school on Monday.
Director of Schools Mark Willoughby told WJLE Thursday that the student allegedly made written threats against seventeen other high school students along with three school employees including the principal of another local school, a supervisor, and a high school teacher. The threats were not carried out.
The School Resource Officer was informed about the “hit list” on Monday and the student was taken into custody. The “hit list” was also confiscated.
A juvenile petition was taken against the boy alleging that he committed a delinquent act. He will appear in juvenile court next week. He is currently in the juvenile detention center at Cookeville.
Sheriff’s Department to Post “Flaggers” at Hurricane Bridge Starting Today (Thursday)
If you’re planning to cross Hurricane bridge anytime Monday through Friday from seven a.m. until five p.m., be prepared to stop.
Starting today (Thursday, April 15th), County Mayor Mike Foster says the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department will have a “flagger” on each end of the bridge to monitor traffic across the bridge, which has state posted weight limits. “We’re going to start escorting loaded trucks across Hurricane bridge in an effort to try and help our industries and our school buses get across. The way it will work, a loaded truck must stop at each end of the bridge whenever they approach it and it (bridge) will be cleared to where they are the only vehicle on the bridge and then they will proceed across. As soon as they get across, then normal traffic flow will resume across the bridge. If the trucks are not loaded, they will proceed across the bridge like they normally would (without having to stop). This way, instead of having to go by the weight limited posted on the bridge, which are 10 tons for a straight truck and 18 tons for a semi, they can now carry a normal load that they would normally carry across the bridge. However, only one truck at a time will be allowed on the bridge. Other than that, normal traffic flow will be as it has been.”
Sheriff Patrick Ray adds that “any vehicle (trucks, school buses, emergency vehicles, etc) above the posted weight limit now will have to stop and we will stop traffic on both ends of the bridge and allow that one truck to come across the bridge. Then we will re-open traffic.”
Sheriff Ray says he and his department are proud to be able to provide this service to help our local industries, school buses, emergency vehicles, and others. This, he says, will ease safety concerns and greatly benefit everyone, especially people living in the Silver Point and Rock Castle areas.
In January, the DeKalb County Commission approved a plan to provide the “flaggers” through at least September and to apply for a state grant to help recoup the county’s costs.
Under the proposal, County Mayor Foster says the county will appropriate around $20,000 to pay at least a couple of people, through the sheriff’s department, with experience in law enforcement or traffic control who would work several hours per week monitoring traffic across Hurricane Bridge.
More than 60 People Indicted in Undercover Drug Investigation
A lengthy investigation by the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department, Alexandria Police Department, TBI and other law enforcement agencies into a drug running operation here and in other counties of the Upper Cumberland has resulted in grand jury indictments against sixty one people charged with the illegal sale or conspiracy to sell prescription drugs. Three others were indicted on unrelated charges of theft (stealing trailers).
A special session of the DeKalb County Grand Jury met Monday and returned indictments against people locally and from other counties, who either allegedly sold or conspired to sell drugs to undercover operatives in DeKalb County. According to Sheriff Patrick Ray, authorities believe the drugs were being supplied from a contact in New York.
Sheriff Ray says his department presented to the grand jury cases against forty people from throughout the county on drug charges, plus an additional twelve people in Alexandria, who were indicted as the result of a joint investigation between the sheriff’s department and the Alexandria Police Department. The TBI presented cases to the grand jury against nine people, mostly from the Jackson, Overton, and Putnam County area who allegedly conspired to sell drugs in DeKalb County.
Richard Brogan, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge, says defendants in the TBI investigation were facilitating the availability of drugs locally. “The main focus of our investigation was a man by the man of Timmy Young of Gainesboro, who is known as “fat boy” on the street. He had a direct connection with the main suppliers that were bringing them in from Nashville and New York. Those pills were then distributed out to what we call “runners” that would sell to other individuals on the street level.”
Agent Brogan says prescription drug abuse is a major problem in this state. “Prescription drug abuse has probably become our fastest growing problem in the State of Tennessee such as dilaudid which is synthetic morphine and oxycontin which is also a highly addictive drug. Oxycontin, for example, is selling for $80 a pill on the streets today. You can see how expensive these pills are just to buy one so you can imagine what other crimes that leads to such as burglaries, shoplifting, robberies, and things like that to take care of their habits.”
Sheriff Ray says this was a “three phase drug operation. One of the phases was with the Alexandria Police Department, where we’ve been focusing on the housing project down there. We have been getting complaints of illegal drug sales and drug use. We’ve netted twelve defendants out of there”, said Sheriff Ray.
Alexandria Police Chief Mark Collins said he is appreciative for the cooperation of the sheriff’s department in this investigation. ” Several months back we started receiving complaints and actually most of it originated from the housing project about a lot of drug activity. Through our informants we heard that there were illegal drug sales going on at times in the housing project and other places in Alexandria. With ours being a small department, I summoned the help of the Sheriff’s Department. Sheriff Patrick Ray and his detectives and I, along with my Sergeant Chris Russell, began an undercover operation to see if we could buy some of these illegal drugs in Alexandria to rid the problem. We were able to make several undercover buys of illegal narcotics in the Alexandria area and outside the Alexandria area, some of them even stemmed, from our sources, out into other counties. We were able to get a total of twelve defendants actually inside the city limits of Alexandria. Most of these people who were arrested came from the housing project. They are living there in assisted living and most of these defendants are on TennCare. The government is supplying them with their medicine and they’re bringing that medicine back and selling it to anyone who knocks on their door. I don’t agree with that and I think it’s my job and duty as a sworn police officer to try to rid that.”
In addition to facing possible jail time, Chief Collins says these defendants may also be evicted from their housing project homes. “The way I understand it and speaking with the housing authority in the past is that if someone who lives there gets arrested for violations like we’ve got, they’re subject to losing their home (evicted) and I think they should”
“When I became the police chief about three years ago, I promised the citizens of Alexandria that I would give them the best law enforcement I possibly could and I am still going to commit to that. Alexandria is a great place and we have a lot of good people.”
“I just want to extend my gratitude to all the departments who have helped, especially to Sergeant Russell and the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department, Sheriff Ray, and his detectives for making this operation a success.”
In addition to the Alexandria investigation, Sheriff Ray says his department worked with the TBI on it’s cases and conducted a probe of it’s own.”We worked probably a nine month to a year long investigation with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. It focused on our local drug dealers here. It also focused on other places within our drug task force region. The investigation led into Nashville and from there to New York, the source of the drugs.”
“Our department (sheriff’s department) also did an investigation in which we made cases leading to indictments of three defendants charged with theft over $500, where they had taken some trailers. The other forty were drug cases. Altogether, there were sixty one indictments (for drugs), including nine from the TBI, twelve from Alexandria, and forty from the sheriff’s department. Those forty came from Alexandria, Liberty, some in Dowelltown, and in the Smithville area. We tried to go all over the county and buy drugs where we could. They’ve been bought on every end of the county this time.”
“We’ve bought everything from marijuana, oxycontin, dilaudid, suboxone, among other illegal drugs. The agencies involved in this operation were the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Task Force, the District Attorney General’s Office, the Alexandria Police Department, the Tennessee Highway Patrol, the THP Swat team, DeKalb County constables, federal marshals, and the county fire department for allowing us to use their main station on King Ridge Road (to book the prisoners), and also from concerned citizens who have called and informed us of people who they thought were in the business of selling illegal narcotics. We appreciate every call that we had. We try to check every call we get on our drug tip lines. A lot of people think that they can call in a drug dealer and by morning we’ll have them put in jail. That doesn’t work that way all the time. It takes a lot of surveillance work. It takes the buys themselves. We have to obtain informants to go in and make the buys. Then all the legal paper work has to be done after that to get our indictments.”
Sheriff Ray adds that some of the defendants were also charged with dealing drugs in what the law classifies as a “drug free zone” where children may be present. “We charged people with being in violation of the drug free zone laws, which is being near any school, library, ball parks, or anywhere children could be present. There’s a statute for that. We have numerous counts (charges) of those, where either the drug dealer lived in those areas and instructed our informants to come there to buy drugs or, in some cases, they told our informants to meet them at a certain location. Most of what we got (defendants/drugs) has been in those drug free zones where some of them lived.”
In order to make room for many of these extra prisoners, Sheriff Ray says some of the state prisoners who were already in jail have been moved to other facilities. “In the last few days, we have tried to prepare for this drug roundup because naturally some of these people are not going to be able to make bond. These sixty four people would overload the jail. Our inmate population is somewhere in the 90’s. That’s what it’s been for the last few months and on the weekends we’re running close to 100 with 103 beds in the jail. So yesterday (Tuesday) we sent some state prisoners to the Macon County Sheriff’s Department to serve the remainder of their time there to give us some room at the jail to house these inmates here. We also sent some (state prisoners) to the Tennessee Department of Corrections this morning (Wednesday) so that we can hold some of these individuals that can’t make bond. Some of them will have violations of parole or probation warrants that will be coming with no bonds on them so naturally they won’t be able to get out of jail on those.”
Sheriff Ray says he is proud of his department and the teamwork shown throughout this operation. “I want to commend my department. Every correctional officer that I have, every deputy, detective, all my administrative staff, court officers, every employee I have has played a very important role in this operation. Unity is the key to power. I want to stress this. All of our outside law enforcement agencies have come in and helped us. I don’t think any one department or any one officer wants to take all the credit for the operation. It’s not only our job, but it’s our obligation, we’re sworn to uphold the law and we want this done as a team effort.”
“As sheriff, I would like to dedicate our part of this operation to everyone who has lost friends and loved ones due to suicides or drug related deaths. This is the only way that law enforcement and the community can come together. If we’ll bond together we can make things happen, just like it’s happened today. We want to stress to everyone, keep calling in, keep working with us, and we’ll hope to have another one (roundup) real soon.”
As for it’s part of the investigation, the TBI, in a prepared news release, states that “Nine defendants were indicted on charges of conspiracy to sell and deliver over 50 grams of a schedule II controlled substance and violations of the drug free school zone act. The operation called “Yellow Dot” centered around the sale and distribution of hydromorphone, also known as Dilaudid.”
“In February of 2009, TBI and the 13th Judicial District Drug Task Force received information about a string of home burglaries and shoplifting thefts by subjects who were supporting a Dilaudid habit. That information prompted the drug investigation.”
“The defendants were selling Dilaudid ranging from $20 to $30 per pill at various locations in Putnam County and Cookeville, TN. Information received during this investigation prompted the TBI to open a case into the source of the prescription drugs in Smith County and Nashville, TN. That investigation resulted in the arrest of nineteen individuals in December of 2009.”
“The following defendants from TBI cases were booked into the DeKalb County Jail. Three currently have active warrants.
Charles Dowis, Cookeville, TN
Lakrisha Willis, Livingston, TN
Ron Stewart, Gainesboro TN
Tabbie Wilson, Cookeville, TN
Ted Hooten, Gainesboro, TN
Tim Young, Gainesboro, TN
Stephanie Jill Kennedy
34 year old Stephanie Jill Kennedy of Smithville died Monday at Centennial Medical Center in Nashville. She was a homemaker and a member of the Findley Church of Christ. The funeral will be Friday at 11:00 a.m. at DeKalb Funeral Chapel. Michael Hale and Dwight Fuqua will officiate. Burial will be in DeKalb Memorial Gardens. Visitation will be Thursday from noon until 9:00 p.m. and Friday from 9:00 a.m. until the time of the service at 11:00 a.m. She was preceded in death by her father, Robert Henry Moore and two brothers, Tony and Michael Moore. Survivors include children, Courtney Whiteaker and Ben Whiteaker both of Smithville; her mother, Mary Pack of Smithville; two sisters, Diane Austin of Mount Juliet and Teresa Johnson of Murfreesboro; a brother, Jason Moore of Smithville; and several aunts, uncles, and cousins. DeKalb Funeral Chapel is in charge of the arrangements
Gadberry Sentenced in Aggravated Robbery of Dollar General Store
A man charged in an armed robbery at the Dollar General Store on South Congress Boulevard on September 15th, 2009 was sentenced in DeKalb County Criminal Court Monday.
29 year old Jacob Gadberry pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery under a negotiated settlement and received an eight year sentence to serve. The term is to run consecutive to another sentence he is now serving in the Tennessee Department of Corrections. Other charges against him including criminal impersonation were dismissed. Gadberry was given jail credit from September 15th, 2009 to April 12th, 2010.
Judge David Patterson presided in court on Monday.
Gadberry’s partner in the crime, 20 year old Nina Natasha Sullivan pleaded guilty in March to criminal responsibility for facilitation. She received a six year sentence in the community corrections program. She was given jail credit from September 15th to March 22nd.
According to Smithville Police Officer Scott Davis’ report, Sullivan entered the Dollar General store in Smithville around 7:20 p.m. on Tuesday, September 15th and asked to use the restroom. After she left, Gadberry came in the store, opened an office door where the manager was counting money, and ordered her at knife point to open the safe where he took more than three thousand dollars and left the store. No one was injured.
Shortly after the robbery, county deputies Chris McMillen and Steven Barrett stopped a 1991 Nissan at Walnut and North Mountain Street, where the two suspects were taken into custody.
Officer Davis’ actual report states as follows:” I was dispatched to 513 South Congress (Dollar General Store) in reference to a robbery. Upon my arrival, I made contact with the witness who advised that the suspects were a white male wearing an orange Tennessee shirt, and a white female who was driving an older model red Nissan.”
The defendant (Sullivan) opened the door where management was counting money and asked if she could use the bathroom. The witness, Dawn Allen, stated “yes” and the defendant (Sullivan) went to the bathroom. Ms. Allen stated that a few minutes later the male suspect (Gadberry) yanked open the door and had an open utility tool knife and stated ” open the safe, don’t hit the alarm or be stupid, get back into the chair”. The suspect then took a blue and red money bag from the safe and fled the store.”
County deputies McMillen and Barrett, who were apparently at the jail at the time, heard the radio traffic and saw a vehicle fitting the description driving around the public square the wrong way. They pulled the car over at the intersection of Walnut and North Mountain Street
Officer Davis’ report states that “the suspects vehicle had money thrown inside the floor board and some of it was stuffed under the passengers seat. Once both suspects were removed from the vehicle, Sullivan was placed into Sergeant Joey Jones’ patrol car where she attempted to hide money taken from the robbery. The amount of the money taken in the robbery is estimated at $3,011. The money was recovered in the suspects’ vehicle and placed into the evidence room. At 11:59 p.m., I was attempting to locate the money bags that were taken during the robbery. I located the money bags at 201 South Third Street. These items were placed into evidence. ”
Meanwhile, in other cases Monday, 25 year old Wallace Rackley pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary and received a three year sentence, all suspended to supervised probation except for 180 days to serve. He was given credit for time served. Rackley must make restitution for the cost of a door damaged during the incident. A vandalism charge against him was dismissed.
Rhonda Perez, charged with worthless check over $1,000, was granted pre-trial diversion. She must perform 30 hours of community service work and abide by all other terms of her probation.
Toby L. Young pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and received a three year sentence. He was given credit for 320 days of time served.
26 year old Jessica Barrett pleaded guilty to promoting the manufacture of methamphetamine. She received a two year sentence all suspended to supervised probation except for time served. She must pay a fine of $2,000. Barrett was given jail credit of 170 days.
44 year old Teresa Beasley pleaded guilty to facilitation to sell a schedule II controlled substance. She received a two year sentence, all suspended to TDOC probation. She is to be considered as a candidate for judicial diversion. Beasley must pay a $2,000 fine and undergo an alcohol and drug assessment.
36 year old Freddy S. Stringer, Jr. pleaded guilty to driving while suspended. He received a sentence of 11 months and 29 days. The term is to run concurrent with a violation of probation against him
42 year old Melissa Kay Walther pleaded guilty by information to violation of the implied consent law. Her license will be suspended for two years. She may apply for a restricted license to help meet her child’s medical needs.
36 year old Sharon C. Groshon pleaded guilty to theft under $500 and received a sentence of 11 months and 29 days on supervised probation. She was fined $50 and must perform 25 hours of community service work.
31 year old Jason K. Cline pleaded guilty to a second offense of driving under the influence. He received a sentence of 11 months and 29 days with 45 days to serve. The last 28 days of the sentence may be served in an inpatient rehab program. He will then be on supervised probation. Cline will lose his license for two years and he must pay a fine of $610. He was given jail credit of 48 hours.
35 year old Brad Elliott Johnson pleaded guilty to simple possession of a schedule II controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. He received a sentence of 11 months and 29 days in each case, all suspended to supervised probation. The sentences are to run consecutively. He was also fined $900.
35 year old Christopher Bush pleaded guilty to one count of theft over $500, three counts of theft under $500, and one count of burglary of a boat. He received a total sentence of four years, suspended to supervised probation after serving 90 days. Bush must pay over $3,000 in restitution to the victims and $375 to the economic crime fund.
Mother Charged with Child Abuse and Neglect
The DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department arrested a woman for child abuse and neglect on Saturday after finding the residence in an unsanitary condition.
Jamie Lee Beising will be in court on the charges April 22nd. Her bond is set at $10,000.
Sheriff Patrick Ray says on Saturday a deputy was dispatched to the residence of Beising, who lives on Old Snow Hill Road in Dowelltown, in answer to a complaint of an unattended child who was left in the home.
Upon arrival, the officer talked with the father of the two year old child. The father, who does not live at this residence, said he heard his child screaming when he approached the home and found the youngster there alone. The mother returned about fifteen minutes after the deputy arrived.
According to Sheriff Ray, the officer entered the residence and was horrified to find loose trash, piles of dirty diapers, rat waste on uneaten food, mold in the refrigerator, flies and maggots throughout the home and in a bedroom where the child slept was loose trash piled up even with the bed.
The Department of Children’s Service was called to assist in the case and the child was removed from the mother’s care.
In other crime news, 37 year old Gary Edward Matthews of Four Seasons Road Smithville is charged with simple possession of a schedule III drug (Hydrocodone). His bond is $2,500 and he will appear in General Sessions Court on April 29th.
Sheriff Ray says on Monday, April 5th, a deputy responded to a call at the Puckett’s Point boat ramp and spotted Matthews who he knew had an active state warrant against him for failure to appear at the DeKalb County Jail to serve weekends. Matthews was arrested and during a pat down search, the officer found five pills believed to be Hydrocodone in his pants pocket.
31 year old James “Freddy” Summers of Hodges Road, Smithville and 25 year old Stephanie Jean Perry of Sparta Highway Smithville were charged Wednesday, April 7th with manufacture of methamphetamine. According to Sheriff Ray, a deputy stopped their vehicle for a traffic violation at the intersection of College Street and McMinnville Highway. After receiving consent to search, the officer found components used to manufacture methamphetamine. Found in the trunk of the vehicle were a plastic container wrapped in electrical tape that contained 30 pseudoephedrine pills, a gallon of muratic acid, lye, alcohol, charcoal lighter fluid, 2 packs of cold pack wraps, 2 mason jars, a glass measuring cup, black tape, duct tape, 10 lithium batteries, 3 knives, pipe cutter, screw driver, plastic funnel, aluminum foil, 28 feet of tubing, rubber gloves, a gas can, and a one liter bottle all packed in a duffel bag. Bond for Summers and Perry is $10,000 each and they will appear in court on April 22nd.
29 year old Nieka “Nikki” Patton of South College Street, Smithville was arrested on Friday, April 9th after she was stopped for a traffic offense at the intersection of Bright Hill Road and Sparta Highway. A driver’s license check was conducted and Patton was found to be driving on a suspended license for failure to satisfy a citation on April 24th in DeKalb County. Her bond was set at $1,000 and she will appear in court on April 21st.
22 year old Brittney Danielle Barnes of West Church Street Smithville was arrested on Friday, April 9th and charged with possession of drug paraphernalia, simple possession of a controlled substance (Xanax), and resisting arrest. Her bond is set at $4,500 and she will appear in court on April 15th. Sheriff Ray says a deputy spotted Barnes in a vehicle at the intersection of Allen Ferry Road and Cookeville Highway and had knowledge of an active warrant against her to serve a jail sentence for violation of probation. As the officer walked to the door of the vehicle he saw Barnes shoving something down her pants. Barnes said it was cigarettes. When the officer tried to remove her from the vehicle Barnes became combative. Before placing her in the back of the patrol car, the deputy conducted a search to make sure that there was nothing there. After arriving at the jail, the officer checked the back seat again after Barnes was removed and found cigarettes and a pill believed to be Xanax. Barnes also had two hypodermic needles in her purse.
23 year old Kenny Dyal Jr of Floyd Drive, Smithville was charged on Saturday, April 10th with two counts of theft of property and one count of aggravated burglary. Officers from the Sheriff’s Department were dispatched that day to investigate a burglary on Oak Drive Smithville. They also had information about another break-in. Upon arrival at Dyal’s home, deputies saw Dyal running through his residence and trying to hide a television. They obtained consent to search and found items in the home believed to be stolen. Dyal was taken to the Sheriff’s Department for questioning and admitted to detectives that he broke into a residence on Lakeview Circle and that he also bought property which he had knowledge was stolen. Bond for Dyal was set at $7,000 and will appear in court on April 15th.. More arrests are pending.
22 year old Andres Loradeo Martinez of West Avenue, Crossville and 20 year old Juan Carlos Valencia of Joe Tabor Road, Crossville were arrested on Sunday, April 11th for public intoxication Sheriff Ray says officers received a call to break up a fight at a bar on Sparta Highway. These two men were found to be intoxicated having blood shot eyes. They were unsteady on their feet and had and an odor of an alcoholic beverage on them. Bond for both was set at $1,000 and they will they appear in court on April 22nd.
Meanwhile on Monday, April 5th the DeKalb County Grand Jury toured and inspected the DeKalb County Jail and Annex. The following is a statement from the Grand Jury.
“We the Grand Jury of April 5, 2010 visited the DeKalb County Sheriff’s facility. We found the Sheriff to be cooperative and open with the running of his department. The facility was very clean. Sheriff Ray gave us a financial report that informed the group of his being well within his budget.”
Signed by members of the Grand Jury and the Grand Jury Foreman.
Bobby Lee Hall
77 year old Bobby Lee Hall of Watertown died Saturday at his residence. He was a truck driver and a member of the Watertown Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Hall, born in Wilson County, was a U.S. Army Korean War veteran. He was an AmVet, lifetime member of the V.F.W., and a member of the North American Hunting Club. The funeral will be Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. at Hunter Funeral Home in Watertown. Rodger McCann will officiate and burial will be in the Wilson County Memorial Park. Visitation will be Monday from 5:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m.; Tuesday from 10:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m.; and Wednesday prior to the service. He was preceded in death by a daughter, Yolanda Hall; father, Everette Hall; mother, Effie Hall; stepmother, Lola Hall; a sister, Doris Barney; and a brother, Charles Hall. Survivors include his wife of 55 years, Betty West Hall of Watertown. A daughter, Sherrie and her husband Hank Gore of Hendersonville. Two sons, Wesley and his wife Tiwanda Hall of Watertown and Mike and his wife Gina Hall of Abilene, Texas. Grandchildren, Zack Gore, Carl and wife Cara George, Olivia, Dylan, Kaysee, and Katie Hall, and Toy and husband Bobby Parham. Great grandchildren, Malachi, Lyric, Ellie, and Josiah Parham. Hunter Funeral Home in Watertown is in charge of the arrangements.
DCHS Graduation set for May 21st
A total of 170 students at DeKalb County High School will receive their diplomas during graduation exercises Friday, May 21st at 7:00 p.m. on the high school football field.
The program will feature remarks by the Valedictorian, Hunter Tramel, the Class President, Amanda Ours and Guest speaker Michael Burt, a championship coach, motivational speaker, leadership expert, author, and culture builder.
The prestigious White Rose and Citizenship Awards will also be presented to three outstanding members of the class. Diplomas will be presented to each graduate by Director of Schools Mark Willoughby. The DCHS Chorus is also expected to perform.
The honor students will be recognized including the 2010 Valedictorian Hunter Tramel and the Salutatorian Wesley Blair.
Students among the top twenty five senior academic ranking from numbers one to twenty five are as follows: Hunter Tramel, Wesley Blair, Grant James, Caleb Spencer, Meagan Sullivan, Hunter Poteete, Seth Willoughby, Amanda Ours, Reddy Munagala, Cynthia Woodward, Tyler Harbaugh, Tiffany Young, Haley Snyder, Erica Neely, Jared Adams, Dakota Dexter, Payne Denman, Nicholas Goff, Caroline Carter, Kendra Foutch, Kyle Hogue, Jessica Fox, Lindsey Harden, Austin Garrett, and Gabrielle Byford.
Students earning “Highest Distinction” with a grade point average of 3.8 to 4.0 include
Hunter Tramel-Valedictorian 4.0, Wesley Blair- Salutatorian 4.0, Grant James 4.0, Erica Neely 4.0, Hunter Poteete 4.0, Caleb Spencer 4.0, Meagan Sullivan 4.0, Seth Willoughby 4.0, Cynthia Woodward 4.0, Jared Adams, Caroline Carter, Payne Denman, Dakota Dexter, Kendra Foutch, Jessica Fox, Austin Garrett, Nicholas Goff, Tyler Harbaugh, Kyle Hogue, Reddy Munagala, Amanda Ours, Haley Snyder, and Tiffany Young
Students earning “High Distinction” with a grade point average of 3.6 to 3.79 include Gabrielle Byford, Axyl Chalfant, Tyler Dunaway, Kayla Ellis, Sabrina Griffin, Lindsey Harden, Katie Nixon, and Katelyn Stutts.
Those earning “Distinction” with a grade point average of 3.2 to 3.59 include Paulina Alfaro, Matthew Antoniak, Reeves Beller, Elicia Cantrell, Samantha Coe, Rachel Cunningham, Brandon Dyer, Abram Edwards, Whitney Gann, Jaylen Garrett, Jessica Goldstein, April Hale, Ethan Hale, Stephanie Hobbs, Conner Jones, Sasha Knowles, Abigail Laprad, Layne Mathis, Tyler McCloud, Brad Michaels, Travis Neal, Zachary Odom, Morgan Page, Micah Prichard, Kristian Puckett, Myra Tramel, and Joseph Vickers.
Members of the DCHS Class of 2010 are as follows:
Jared Adams, Angela Alfaro, Paulina Alfaro, Schuylar Allen, Taylor Allen, Matthew Antoniak, Nathan Armour, Brandon Atnip, and Corey Atnip,
Autumn Banks, Reeves Beller, Lance Bennett, Wesley Blair, Hillary Bowman, Michael Briley, Brittany Brown, Natasha Burrage, Gabrielle Byford,
Jade Cade, Ashly Caldwell, Elicia Cantrell, Macey Cantrell, Caroline Carter, Axyl Chalfant, Mindy Chrisman, Holly Cikalo, Dakota Clark, Samantha Coe, Britany Collier, Matthew Collier, John D. Crutcher, Jordan Crutcher, Rachel Cunningham, Jodi Curtis,
Kandi Davenport, Michael Davenport, Ethan Davis, Payne Denman, Dakota Dexter, Ryan Dodd, Tyler Dunaway, Brandon Dyer,
Abram Edwards, Kayla Ellis,
Allen Faux, Kendra Foutch, Jessica Fox, Cody Fults,
Whitney Gann, Austin Garrett, Jaylen Garrett, Juan Godinez, Nicholas Goff, Jessica Goldstein, Sabrina Griffin,
Brandon Haas, Megan Hackett, Travis Hagan, April Hale, Ethan Hale, Tavisha Hall, Tyler William Harbaugh, Lindsey JoAnn Harden, Kirsten Nichole Hardison, Rebecca Lee Haynes, Ashley Breanna Hendrixson, Mizael Hernandez, Michael Austen Highers, Aaron E. Hines, Stephanie Hobbs, Daryl Lindsay Hobby, Kyle Patrick Hogue, Christopher Garrett Hoke, Chelsea Lee Holden, Kayla Dawn Hubbard,
Grant James, Bethany Nichol Johnson, Cody A. Johnson, Travon Aki Johnson, Conner Jones,
Colby Mason Kelnhofer, Tyler Kemp, Sasha Suzanne Knowles, Daniel Kosirog,
Kimberly Ann Lanier, Abigail Laprad, Heather Nicole Lee, John W. Licht, Chelsye Janae Linder,
Ryan Macy, Mark Mason, Jessica Lauren Matthews, Layne Thomas Mathis, Talisha Mathis, Ethan Matthews, Tyler McCloud, Shaun McGinnis, Heather Melton, Brad Michaels, Lyndsey Miller, Joseph Miller, Ross Moore, Kane Morgan, Frank Morris, Veronica Mullins, Tejaswi Munagala,
Jesus Narvaez, Kayla Neal, Travis Neal, Zachary Neal, Erica Neely, Katie Nixon, Jenna Norris,
William Odom, Zachary Odom, Lizabeth Oliva, Andrea Ottinger, Amanda Ours, Ashley Owen,
Brian Pack, Morgan Page, Piyush Patel, Carlos Perez, Jonathan Plattenburg, Hunter Poteete, Sarah Price, Micah Prichard, Brandon Puckett, Kristian Puckett, Salvador Puentes, Brandon Pyles,
Raul Ramirez, Chandler Robinson, Casey Rowland,
Joi Satterfield, Anthony Schellingburger, Tiffani Scott, Jason Singleton, Eddie Lee Smith, Haley Snyder, Hilda Soto, Caleb Spencer, Kristina Stephens, Britta Strayn, John Strayn, Andrea Stringer, Katelyn Stutts, Meagan Sullivan, Dustin Summers, Jesse Sutton,
Corey Tate, Nicole Taylor, Vanessa Taylor, Kyle Thomas, Nathaniel Tippens, Jaime Torres, Hunter Tramel, Myra Tramel, Joshua Tyree,
Justin Vandergriff, Katelyn Vanwinkle, Joseph Vickers,
Ashley Waggoner, Jessica Walden, Daniel Watts, Tyler Weatherby, Tiffany Wheeler, Seth Willoughby, Cynthia Woodward,
Tiffany Young.
Two Small Children Airlifted to Vanderbilt Hospital after Swallowing Lamp Oil
Two small children were airlifted to Vanderbilt Hospital Saturday afternoon after they allegedly swallowed lamp oil at their home.
Dorothy Kifer called 911 from a cell phone at 12:53 p.m. to report the incident. She said that her 2 year old and 3 year old had swallowed some lamp oil.
DeKalb EMS was sent to the residence at 1190 Smith Fork Road. The children were later airlifted by Air Evac and a Life Force helicopter ambulance and flown to Vanderbilt Hospital.
Information on the present condition of the children was unavailable to WJLE as of Monday afternoon