DeKalb County school officials are reminding parents of children in kindergarten and seventh grade whose shot records are not up to date that those students will not be allowed to attend class after a specified date unless they have the correct immunizations.
Under state law, “No children shall be permitted to attend any public school…until proof of immunization is given the admissions officer of the school”. The new Tennessee Department of Health immunization rule went into effect July 1, 2010
School Health Coordinator Dee Anna Reynolds told WJLE Friday that letters are being sent to parents of students who have not yet complied with this law. “Right now we’re in the process of notifying parents via letter, if their child’s immunization record is not up to date. That is for seventh graders and kindergarten students at DeKalb West, DeKalb Middle, and Smithville Elementary School,” said Reynolds.
“The bulk of those immunizations that aren’t current and up to date are at the middle school. This comes in with the new Tennessee Department of Health immunization rule that went into effect July 1. That is for children entering seventh grade to have a second varicella shot, which is the chicken pox shot, unless they can show that they have had the chicken pox and they have immunity to the chicken pox, then they don’t need to have that second shot. Students also need to have a booster shot called the TDAP immunization (tetanus, diphtheria, acellular pertussis vaccine),” said Reynolds
“Students who are not compliant and are receiving their first letter of notification have until September 16 to get compliant to get those immunizations. If not, then those students will not be allowed to come back to school after September 16. A few students have received a first or second letter and those students will have until September 9 to get compliant or they will not be allowed to come back to school after September 9. If you have questions, call the board of education at 597-4084,” said Reynolds.
For those who have received a notification letter from the school system of non-compliance, you may obtain the required immunizations free of charge at the DeKalb County Health Department on Thursday, September 8 or Tuesday, September 13 from 3:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. No appointment is necessary.

Jewel Redmon will have to wait another month before he knows whether he will be able to sell beer at the old Pop’s Market location on Cookeville Highway, a vacant store building he bought several weeks ago and has been refurbishing.
The DeKalb County Beer Board met Thursday night to consider the beer application, filed in the name of Viva Gail Johnson for the business to be known as Jewel’s Market and Pizza, but the board deferred action until October 6th after discovering an error in the public notice published in a local newspaper. The address of the store building is 600 North Congress Boulevard. The address published in the notice was 7592 McMinnville Highway. A new public notice will be published giving the accurate address and the date, time and place of the next meeting.
DeKalb County has a rule forbidding the sale, storage and manufacture of beer and like beverages within 2,000 feet (or some lesser distance) of schools, churches, and other places of public gathering.
The problem in this case is that Redmon’s store may be too close to the new First Assembly of God Church which was recently constructed on Highway 56 north.
According to Redmon, the store building is seventy feet short of meeting the distance requirements, measuring “as the crow flies” but he said it is in compliance if the measurement is taken by way of the highway.
Redmon said he believes the property ought to be grand fathered since the store building had long been there before the church and because of the fact that the former owner of the store had a beer license. The business, however, has been closed for several months and the license of the former owner has since expired. Redmon claims the board should take into consideration that the store property was tied up in bank foreclosure proceedings involving the former owner and no one could have bought the store and sold beer during that time. Redmon believes he should not be penalized because of that situation.
Redmon further claims that he has improved the value of the property and that even his closest neighbors to the store location don’t object to his selling beer
And as for the distance requirement, Redmon pointed out that another store across the road (Village Market) is licensed to sell beer and that business is even closer to the church than his establishment. Beer board members explained that Village Market is in the city and Smithville has different distance regulations than the county.
Board members voted to ask county attorney Hilton Conger to render a legal opinion on this license application at the next meeting, which will be held on Thursday, October 6 at 7:00 p.m. in the basement courtroom of the courthouse.
Members of the DeKalb County Beer Board are Harrell Tolbert, Frank Thomas, Dick Knowles, Jim Stagi, Mack Harney, Robert Rowe, and Edward Frazier.

A DeKalb County man lost his life early Friday morning after his Chevy 2500 crashed into a tree on private property off Dry Creek Road.
Dead is 49 year old Timothy “Tadpole” Adcock
Central dispatch received the call at 2:39 a.m.
According to Trooper Dewaine Jennings of the Tennessee Highway Patrol, Adcock, who died at the scene, was found in his truck which apparently had crossed a field and wrecked in the tree line of a wooded area.
The incident remains under investigation.

Darrell Dixon was elected alderman Thursday in the Alexandria Municipal Election.
That is not surprising since his name was the only one on the ballot. Dixon received a total of twelve votes, including ten on election day and two absentees.
Three aldermen were to have been elected but no one else qualified to run. It’ll apparently be up to the Alexandria Mayor and Board of Aldermen to appoint persons to fill those other two positions along with a third aldermen seat, which has been vacant for several months.
The Alexandria city government is made up of a mayor and six aldermen. Each term of office is for four years.

Grilling is considered one of America’s favorite past times. What could be better than a juicy steak for dinner?
The 4-H outdoor meat cookery contest held each year teaches 4-H member not only how to grill meat to perfection, but also the importance of food safety, teamwork, and food presentation.
Recently, after weeks of practice learning to start fires in a grill and being able to judge a meat’s doneness, 12 DeKalb County 4-H members entered the Central Region 4-H Outdoor Meat Cookery Contest. Each 4-Her was given two hours to set up their own grill, start a fire, grill their meat, and prepare an appetizing platter presentation along with their teammates.
Congratulations to 4-Hers who recently competed in the regional 4-H Outdoor Meat Cookery Contest held at the Wilson County fairgrounds.
Nate Sherwood, Nathaniel Theriaque, Elliott Cook, and Wyatt Martin were on the junior high team which placed 9th in the region. Nate placed 4th in the chicken grilling division; Wyatt placed 8th in the pork grilling division; Elliott placed 5th in the lamb grilling division, and Nathaniel placed 10th in the beef grilling division.
Casey Vickers, Morgan Vickers, Preston Cripps, and Justin Bass were on a separate junior high team. Their team placed 10th in the region. Casey placed 3rd in the beef category and Morgan placed 8th in the lamb category. Justin placed 12th in the chicken grilling division and Preston placed 7th in the pork grilling division.
The Senior team members included Elizabeth Sanders, Riley Young, Hunter Collins, and Kayley Green and they placed 4th in the region. Riley placed 1st in the chicken grilling division; Kayley placed 3rd in the pork grilling division; Elizabeth placed 4th in the lamb grilling division; and Hunter placed 5th in the beef grilling division.
The University of Tennessee Extension offers all its programs to everyone in the county. For more information about 4-H or other Extension programs, feel free to contact us at 597-4945 or find us on Facebook under UT Extension – DeKalb County.