Early voting dates and times are set for the May 4th DeKalb County Democratic Primary
Dennis Stanley, Administrator of Elections, says early voting will be Wednesday, April 14th through Thursday, April 29th. Voting times will be from 9:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, and from 2:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. on Thursdays.
The primary will feature three contested races for county wide public offices, county clerk, county mayor, and register of deeds, and three contested races for the county commission in the third, fourth, and fifth districts. All other candidates will be unopposed.
The offices and candidates listed on the ballot are as follows in this order:
Circuit Court Judge, Part 1, 13th Judicial District to fill unexpired term: Amy Hollars
District Attorney General, 13th Judicial District to fill unexpired term: Randall A. York
County Mayor:
Mike Foster
Bob Snyder
County Commissioner (Vote for Two)
1st District- Elmer Ellis, Jr.
2nd District- Jack E. Barton, III
3rd District:
Bradley Hendrix
Roy Merriman
Jerry Scott
4th District:
Jesse Baker
Wayne Cantrell
David McDowell
Ron Rogers
5th District:
Randy Braswell
Johnny Ringo Colwell
John Green
Bobby Taylor
6th District:
Jeff Barnes
Marshall Ferrell
7th District:
Jimmy W. Poss
Larry Summers
Trustee: No Candidate
Sheriff: No Candidate
Circuit Court Clerk: Katherine Pack
County Clerk:
Mike Clayborn
Glynn Merriman
Chris Smithson
Register of Deeds:
Jeff McMillen
Clarence R. Trapp
Road Supervisor: Jimmy D. Sprague

Lou Ann Zelenik of Rutherford County, Republican candidate for Congress in the sixth district, campaigned in Smithville on Thursday.
Zelenik will be seeking her party’s nomination in the Tennessee Republican Primary on August 5th. “A little bit about me, I’m a graduate of Vanderbilt University School of Engineering. I built a heavy construction company during the ‘80s, and for twenty-three years I created jobs, balanced a budget, and met a payroll. And that’s kinda what it’s about here, and for citizens across the fifteen counties of the district. So many are worried about having a job, and so many business owners and those are the ones I’ve really been meeting and speaking a lot with, to hear their concerns and worries, and they’re worried about meeting that bottom line; they don’t know what Congress will be placing upon them next year or even this year, or what new regulation, or tax, or bill. So many people are very concerned about the health care bill that’s being debated back and forth. It seems like it’s become more about the buying of votes. It’s about so many in Congress and not about real people doing the real business for the people of their district. I just met with a mother who has a child that is critically ill and concerned that under these new bills that their child would not get the healthcare needed, because it’s cystic fibrosis, a very serious disease.”
“One of the problems that has gone on in Washington is those that we work really hard to get elected, they forget their roots and are more worried about winning the next time or getting their campaign coffers up. My campaign is about sending a real person to Washington, someone that has walked in the boots of so many in DeKalb County. You know, I put two nickels together to start a business and paid those taxes and created jobs. I’m not a career politician and anyone running for office becomes a politician but I’m going to Washington to bring that representation back. For too long it seems like people forget what’s important, and I’ve already built my career, I’m proud to have built it in business, and I’m privileged to represent Tennesseans and go to Washington to not build another career but to go up there and stand strong for our principles, our values, to join with others, and have our voice heard in a large number.”
” I am a fiscal conservative, a faith, family, and freedom conservative. I’ve also been in Rutherford County, the GOP party chair and Vice Chair. Last year in February I put my name on a national website to organize a Tea party on April 15th and almost three thousand showed up for the largest rally in Rutherford County history. We did it again in July and then we did a health care forum for our seniors after Bart Gordon voted for HR 3200 out of committee and for taxpayer funded abortions. We had over 750 senior citizens come to the square in August to find out more about HR 3200 and get involved to try and get the latest information. That’s what we’re seeing. People who have never been involved are getting involved.”
As for putting people back to work, Zelenik says “When you deregulate business, when you take away some of the restraints on business and you give them real tax breaks, that does give incentives to those businesses to hire and create jobs. That’s something that was done in the 1980’s and it worked. It was also done again with the Bush tax cuts on the first wave of tax cuts for businesses. I was a business owner at the time and I saw that I could depreciate more equipment so I bought more goods. When my tax bracket was lowered, we didn’t have to pay as much come April 15th so what we did instead, we gave it to our employees in the form of raises and hired new people. We gave a little bigger Christmas bonus. Those are the things you do to encourage that innovation and morale. Right now even though businesses may be holding their own, they don’t know where to look because they don’t know if Cap and Trade and job killing energy taxes will be placed upon them, which would really impact manufacturing and really hit hardest our farmers and family’s electric bills. They also don’t know what’s going to happen with this health care bill. I talked to one business owner who has 250 employees and he said, based on the U.S. House of Representatives version of the bill, it will cost him over $200,000 more next year if this bill is passed just based on additional penalties added to businesses. So give businesses something to base on for the future, give them tax breaks right now, and let our free market, free enterprise system work. That’s what has worked in the past and it’s a really great way to do it in the future.”

The Smithville Volunteer Fire Department was called to the residence of Stacey Campbell at 300 Wade Street early Friday morning.
Central Dispatch received the call at 12:56 a.m.
Chief Charlie Parker says the fire apparently started from an overheated pot on the kitchen stove. The wall caught fire and the blaze spread to the ceiling.
Firefighters were able to contain the blaze to the kitchen area with minimal fire damage. Smoke spread to the rest of the house.
Members of the family were present in the home at the time of the fire and escaped unharmed.

Smithville Police have released the weekly city crime report.
44 year old Sandra Lee Atnip of 1983 Capshaw Road was charged on Monday, March 15th with seven counts of fraudulent use of a credit card and two counts of theft. Detective Jerry Hutchins made the arrest. On February 3rd K-9 Officer Bradley Tatrow took a report from Debra Scruggs who stated that her credit card was stolen out of her purse at work. Authorities later discovered that the card had been used at numerous businesses.
44 year old Tony Reeder of 516 East Main Street was arrested on Tuesday, March 16th for public intoxication. Officer Matt Holmes received a call that Reeder was driving a blue Ford Ranger, that he had been at DeKalb Community Bank, and was now in the parking lot. The caller said that Reeder appeared to be highly intoxicated. While en route another 911 call came in reporting that a blue Ford Ranger had wrecked on Short Mountain Highway in the ditch but that the truck had continued traveling down the road. Central dispatch(911) then received another call from a woman who said she lived on Crestlawn Avenue and that there was a blue truck that had almost run over people in that area. Upon arrival to that location, Officer Holmes saw Reeder on the porch of a residence knocking on the door. The resident of the house said she had never seen Reeder and didn’t know who he was or why he was knocking on her door. As Officer Holmes was speaking to Reeder, he detected a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage. Reeder was also unsteady on his feet and he almost fell down several times. Bond for Reeder was set at $1,000 and his court date is April 1st.
26 year old Shana Nicole Pittman of 125 Meridian Drive was arrested on Wednesday, March 17th for theft. Sergeant Randy King made the arrest. According to Joyce Sobotka of Wal-Mart, Pittman had been observed on video taking merchandise from Wal-Mart without paying for it while employed by the store. Bond for Pittman was set at $1,000 and the court date is April 22nd.
34 year old Michael K Pelham of 245 Allen Street was arrested on Wednesday, March 17th for theft. Pelham allegedly went into the BP Station on Highway 56 and took two drinks and a candy bar to the back of the store and sat down. Employees told him he needed to pay for his items and leave. Pelham replied that he was resting. Pelham opened one drink, consumed half of it, and then placed it and the other drink and candy bar on a shelf. Officer Matt Farmer requested to see his driver’s license but Pelham advised that he couldn’t as the picture on the license was of a guy and he was a girl. He said his name was Michelle Shelton and according to the clerks, he made a statement that he was allowed 12 mistakes. Pelham gave a social security number that belonged to Michael K Pelham and Mr. Pelham finally admitted that it was him. Bond for Pelham was set at $1,000 and his court date is April 1st.
Meanwhile, anyone having information on the following offense is asked to please contact the Smithville Police Department at 597-8210 or the Tip Line at 464-6046.
On Friday, March 19th Corporal Travis Bryant met with Christine Tramel who reported that she had came out of Wal-Mart on Thursday, March 18th around 2:00 p.m. and was putting groceries into her car. Tramel said she had to get in her car to move it and then got back out and loaded up her groceries and left the property not realizing that her purse was missing until she got home. There are no suspects at this time.
Any information received that will help Smithville Police solve any criminal offense will be greatly appreciated. All information is confidential.

Congressman Bart Gordon says he will vote in favor of the controversial health care bill when it comes to a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives.
In a prepared release, Congressman Gordon says “The health care bill being considered by Congress now accomplishes three things: one, it reduces health care costs for families and small businesses; two, it improves access to affordable care, regardless of pre-existing conditions; three, it lowers our budget deficit. That’s why I am supporting it.
Over the past year, I have been contacted by thousands of Middle Tennesseans with opinions on health care. Because this issue is so important, I have heard from passionate voices on all sides through face-to-face meetings, call-ins, surveys, town halls, calls and letters.
During that time, I have consistently said I would not support any version of health care reform unless it brings down rising health care costs, improves access to affordable care, and does it all without adding one nickel to the national deficit. I’ve now been presented with a bill that does all three; in fact, this proposal reduces the deficit by $130 billion over the next 10 years and $1.2 trillion in the 10 years after that. Finding solutions to the problems we face has been challenging, but we simply cannot sustain the status quo any longer.
I’ve heard from many Tennesseans in the past year who are struggling to afford health care. Since 2000, health insurance premiums for the average family have doubled. Too many hard-working families and small businesses are getting priced out of needed health care.
There is no evidence this trend of escalating costs is moderating. If no reform is passed, the average family premium in Tennessee is expected to increase from $11,550 today to $19,700 in 2019. Hundreds of thousands of Tennesseans who currently have insurance are projected to lose their coverage. Small businesses that have stretched their budgets to cover employees will be forced to either cut care or cut staff. If we do nothing, local hospitals that are already struggling to accommodate uninsured patients through emergency room care and other resources will be stretched to the breaking point; some will likely go bankrupt.
Drawing from Republican and Democratic ideas, the bill before the House now has the potential to bring about major, commonsense remedies to our system that most all Tennesseans agree are necessary. Under the bill’s reforms, Tennesseans with preexisting conditions like heart disease, diabetes and cancer would be able to purchase insurance from any insurance company in the United States. Young adults would be able to remain on their parents’ policies until they turn 26. Families in financial trouble would receive tax breaks to help them find affordable insurance plans in the private sector. And finally, for the 100,000 seniors in my district, the bill would eliminate the Part D donut hole and extend Medicare’s solvency nine years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Growing health care costs are also straining our economy and increasing our national debt. Health care expenditures now account for 20 percent of the federal budget. Without reform, that number is projected to double in the next ten years. The Congressional Budget Office calls current federal spending on health care “the single greatest threat to budget stability.” These costs must be contained if we are to get serious about cutting our national debt. I voted against the House bill in November because that version didn’t do enough to address health care inflation. The Congressional Budget Office now says the current bill will address the problem by reducing the deficit.
With this bill, we have an opportunity to address a number of inefficiencies that have drained our system and driven costs up artificially. To begin with, we can address the pressing issue of frivolous and expensive malpractice lawsuits, which force doctors and hospitals to practice defensive medicine and put a huge financial burden on the system. That’s why I introduced a measure based on Tennessee’s own successful Certificate of Merit Program, which has already brought down the number of malpractice suits in Tennessee by 60 percent.
We can attack waste, fraud and abuse in Medicare. We can hold insurance companies accountable and prevent companies from hiking premiums arbitrarily and dropping patients when they get sick. These are the measures I believe are essential to sensible reform, and these are the measures the new bill includes.
In November, I said I hoped the Senate and House could work out the difference and produce a bill I could support – one that takes responsible steps to make health care more affordable for our economy and for our families and small businesses. If I and each of my 534 colleagues in Congress had been able to write our own health reform packages, we would be looking at 535 different bills today. In the end, the question I’m faced with is this: will this reform be better for Middle Tennessee than the status quo? I think it will. That’s why I believe passing meaningful health care reform is essential and why I have made my decision to help ensure health care is affordable for Middle Tennesseans today and for generations to come.”

DeKalb Community Hospital is pleased to announce the association of a new physician. Dr. James McKinney will be seeing patients at the Medical Specialty Office and performing surgery at DeKalb Community Hospital. DeKalb Community Hospital works hard to bring in the brightest and the most reputable specialty doctors so that those in our community can receive the care they need and still stay close to home.
Dr. James McKinney grew up in Alabama. He completed Medical School at the University of Alabama in Birmingham and his residency in Orthopedics at the Wilford Hall USAF Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. He is Board Certified in Orthopedics and is a member of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons.
Dr. McKinney has lived in the Upper-Cumberland Region since 1992. He and his wife, Karla, call Cookeville their home. The couple have 2 children. When he is not in the office Dr. McKinney likes to work on his farm and has a special interest in tractors. He is also very involved with the Boy Scouts. He is looking forward to helping serve Smithville’s health care needs for years to come.