Family Medical Center Pharmacy is under new ownership.
Blake and Susannah Cripps Daughtry have bought the business from Susannah’s parents, Gary and Susan Cripps.
“I’m a Smithville native. I’m living in Dothan, Alabama right now,” said Susannah Daughtry. ” I’m married to Blake Daughtry and we have four children. I graduated from the Auburn Pharmacy School in 1995. I have been a pharmacist for several years. Pharmacy has been a part of my family my whole life. My dad and my sister are both pharmacists,” said Daughtry.
Blake Daughtry, a native of Alabama, said he and Susannah look forward to serving this community. “We’re just excited to be back in Smithville and taking over her family’s pharmacy which has been here for 38 years. We’re looking forward to it, ” said Daughtry.
Rumors have surfaced recently that Family Medical Center Pharmacy was going out of business, but Blake said nothing could be further from the truth. He said “we are alive and well and eager to continue serving our customers. Some of the big chain stores in town sent out letters to people in Smithville saying that we were closing our doors. That’s not the case. We’re happy to be here and proud to be here. We’re really looking forward to the future. One of the things we looked at when this opportunity came along was keeping small town businesses in Smithville. Its been a tough economy for everybody. I know in different places businesses have closed down and moved on. You’ve got your big box stores, your Walmarts and Rite Aids and things coming in. We think its important to keep the community together and have locally owned small town businesses that have been here for years continue to be here and thrive. So we’re excited to be able to keep those jobs here and to be able to give a service back to the community as well as have a good thriving business. We’re excited about the opportunity,” said Daughtry.
The Family Medical Center Pharmacy’s history goes back 38 years. “It started as Price-France Pharmacy, “said Susannah Daughtry. “My dad came back from the University of Tennessee. He taught pharmacy school there. When he came back he bought in with Gordon Price and Erby France. The store was known as Price-France Pharmacy at that time. Later on it became Cripps-France Pharmacy when they bought out Gordon Price. Years later Erby retired and it became dad’s store. He and mother then ran the store. I’ve been raised in that store. We used to be over there by the First Methodist Church. That was the old building where the doctor’s building was. Then when there was an opportunity to move the practice and the pharmacy with it, they built the new building there (North Congress Boulevard) which is really nice. It gives us a great location in Smithville,” said Daughtry
A new pharmacist will soon be joining the staff and some new product lines may be added . A grand opening will be held within a few weeks. “The staff is going to be the same,” said Susannah. “We’ll have all the same friendly faces that have been there for several years. We will have a new pharmacist come December 14. When she comes on board we’ll share with everybody a little bit more about her. The changes we’re making, we’re working on doing things that are going to position us to take better care of our patients and meet all of their pharmacy needs. Things that will make us more efficient and faster. We just want to make sure we’re taking the best care we can of the patients that come into our store. Its really a nice opportunity for me. It just gives me an excuse to come home so much more and be a part of the community that I was raised in. I will be working in the store some too as a pharmacist,” said Susannah.
“We’re bringing in new products and re-stocking shelves so the transition is going to take a few days but you’re going to see some nice new signage and new products in the store,” said Blake Daughtry. ” We’re going to try and freshen things up. Gary and Susan have built a great business there and we just want to continue that going forward. I think over the next couple of weeks everybody will see some big changes. We plan on having a grand opening maybe by the first of the year. We’ll let everyone know because we’d love to have everybody come out and see us,” said Daughtry.

The Christmas shopping season has arrived and local businesses hope you’ll give them a chance to serve you more this year.
Phillip (Fluty) Cantrell of Cantrell’s the home of Fluty says before you go out of town, try home first. “We know you can’t buy everything at home but we would like to encourage people to at least try home first. Merchants have been here for years. We’ve made our living here and we appreciate everything everybody has done for us to keep us here.”
Cantrell says some stores around town will be opening early on Friday morning for early bird shoppers, including downtown. “We started this thing (opening early on the morning after Thanksgiving Day) several years ago. People were shopping out of town and all the big sales were going on. We said let’s try it and see what happens here. We tried it and it went over really good. Some downtown merchants will be open at 7:00 a.m. Friday with door buster specials. We encourage people to shop early.”
Meanwhile, Jerry Lee Cantrell of Cantrell’s Furniture and Appliances says when you buy at home, you’re helping support the local tax base which means you’re helping fund schools and other local government services. “We really appreciate all the people who trade with us. I think it’s a very important thing that we keep our tax dollars in our community. We get the tax dollars back from the state. Of course, we have to send them in. It goes to the state and then comes back to us. This helps our community immensely.”
The Chamber of Commerce is urging businesses in Smithville and DeKalb County to display messages on their marquees or changeable signs to encourage shoppers to spend their tax dollars at home this holiday season.

DWS Junior Beta President Morgan Vickers won the prestigious John W. Harris leadership award at this year’s state convention. She was one of 25 students Junior Beta students across the country chosen for this honor based in large part for her service to the school and community. Only three were selected from Tennessee. The 400-student body at DeKalb West School has had a winner for this award four out of the last five years.
8th grade Junior Beta students at DeKalb West were asked to turn in a presentation on why they were eligible for the honor. Then, a committee of parents and teachers selected a candidate, and the club’s sponsor wrote a nominating letter to the National Junior Beta office, which made the final choices for the award. Another remarkable candidate for the honor, 8th grader Hailey Walker, was a strong contender for the award.
National Junior Beta Club Sponsor Judy Cummings presented Vickers with the award on stage Monday morning in front of some 7,000 students attending the first session of the convention.
Vickers is the daughter of Joe and Wanda Vickers. In addition to the recognition at the state convention, Vickers will have her photo published on the student Beta website and will have her registration fee paid to attend the Broyhill Leadership Conference in July 2012.

The DeKalb West School Junior Beta Club won its first-ever club award at the annual Tennessee Junior Beta state convention on Tuesday (Nov. 22) at the Gaylord Opryland Convention Center . A team of five 8th grade boys took second place in the Tower of Power event. Under the direction of parent John Cain, Will Cain, Ted Tippin, James Sherwood, Kirkland Smallwood, and Lane Davenport constructed a straw tower more than 10 feet tall within 15 minutes.
Each participating team was given 150 plastic drinking straws and a roll of masking tape. They were charged with the task of building the highest free-standing tower they could in a 15-minute time frame. The team with the highest tower that could support a tennis ball at its pinnacle for a minimum of one minute was the winner.
The club also made a specially designed T-shirt geared towards the convention’s theme, “Betas, Start Your Engines.” Participating in the Living Literature event were Chasity Garrett, Katie Roehner, Casey Vickers, Caitlin Tyree, Kyleigh White, Cody Hale, Nate Sherwood, and Jacob Frazier. Participating in the Banner event were Alexis Nokes, Madison Hayes, Nick Staley, and Mackenzie Knowles. Also in the Arts and Crafts category were Anna Malone, black and white photography; Katie Hall, color photography; Breanna Gibson and Noelle Driver, painting; and Hanna Evans, sketching. In the poster contest were Ethan Martin, Jasmine Parker, Samantha Street. In Battle of the Books were Bailey Redmon, Caitlyn Lawrence, and Maegan Harris; and in Spelling, Mary Mofield; in the Quiz Bowl: Keely McKay, Hailey Walker, Alex Foutch, and Morgan Vickers. Thirty-three students from the 6th-8th grades and 16 parental chaperones attended the convention Sunday-Tuesday (Nov. 20-22).

The DeKalb County October unemployment rate was at 8.7%, down from 9.6% in September but up slightly from 8.6% in October 2010.
The local labor force in October was at 10,070. A total of 9,190 were employed and 880 were without work.
DeKalb County’s unemployment rate for October was the fifth lowest among the fourteen counties of the Upper Cumberland region as follows:
Pickett County- 13.7%
Jackson- 10.8%
White- 10.7%
Van Buren- 10.6%
Warren- 10.5%
Clay- 10.3%
Fentress- 10%
Cumberland- 9.3%
Overton- 8.8%
DeKalb-8.7%
Smith- 8.6%
Macon- 8.2%
Putnam-8.2%
Cannon- 8%
County non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rates for October show that the rate increased in one county, decreased in 92 counties, and two counties remained the same.
Tennessee’s unemployment rate for October fell to 9.6 percent, down from the September revised rate of 9.8. The national unemployment rate for October 2011 was 9.0 percent, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the September rate.
Lincoln County registered the state’s lowest county unemployment rate at 5.8 percent, down from the September rate of 6.6 percent, followed by Williamson County at 6.3 percent, down from 7.0 percent. Scott County had the state’s highest unemployment rate at 18.1 percent, down from 19.5 percent in the previous month, followed by Obion County at 15.6, down from 16.9 percent in September.
Knox County had the state’s lowest major metropolitan rate of 6.7 percent, down from 7.7 percent the previous month. Hamilton County was 7.8 percent, down from 8.6 percent in September. Davidson County was 7.8 percent, down from 8.7 percent in September, and Shelby County was 10.1 percent, down from the September unemployment rate of 10.8 percent