Motivational speaker Micheal Burt will give the commencement address during the DCHS graduation program next Friday night, May 18.
Combining over a decade of winning championships as a women’s basketball coach and his new work as an entrepreneur who unleashes human capital at companies like FirstBank, Reeves-Sain, Ole South Properties, The Les Walden Real Estate Team and many more, Micheal Burt is considered a Coachepreneur—a mix between a coach and an entrepreneur.
Micheal’s unique background and education positions him as the go-to guy within companies that want to play at a different level. With a methodology scripted in the whole person theory, Micheal has driven major results by engaging every person in the company in a set of systematic and ongoing behaviors that allows them to do something tomorrow that they simply cannot do today.
Burt is the author of six books including the wildly popular This Ain’t No Practice Life. Micheal is also the host of The Coach Micheal Burt Radio Show every Sunday on WLAC in Nashville which is one hour of transformational radio positioned as Change Your Life Radio.
As a former championship basketball coach at Riverdale High School from 1999-2008 Micheal’s teams produced seven consecutive 20+ win seasons, four conference titles, three sub-state appearances, two Miss Basketball finalist, and 100 percent of his players furthered their education at the collegiate level. In 2007 Micheal’s strategies were validated when he led his team to a 2007 Class AAA state championship and a 38-3 record for the first time in over 83 years in the city of Murfreesboro and the first time in the schools 36 year history.
Coach Burt speaks, coaches, trains, and leads individuals and organizations who want to play at a different level in life. His powerful keynotes on any of his six books inspire and motivate people to dig deep into their potential with a coach that knows how to get it out of them.
The DCHS commencement begins at 7:00 p.m. Friday, May 18 on the high school football field.

Nineteen members of the class of 2012 have received the High Schools That Work Award of Educational Achievement.
HSTW is sponsored by the (SREB) Southern Regional Education Board.
HSTW is the nation’s largest and fastest growing effort to combine challenging academic courses and modern vocational studies.
Students qualify for the award by completing a college-preparatory course of study in at least two of the three subject areas (English/language arts, mathematics, or science); completing a concentration in a career/technical area, mathematics/science or the humanities; and meeting readiness goals in all three subject areas on the HSTW Assessment.
Students Names:
1.Angaran, Joseph
2.England, Whitney
3.Foster, John
4.Hughes, Heather
5.James, Adam
6.James, Jesse
7.Knowles, Danielle
8.Merriman, Mason
9.Mitchell, Kalli
10.Owens, Tevin
11.Phillips, Sebastian
12.Roller, Johnna
13.Snyder, Lindsay
14.Spare, Corey
15.Tatrow, Victoria
16.Thompson, Erik
17.White, Krystal
18.Williams, Breanna
19.Young, Alyssa

More than two years after making application, the City of Smithville has been approved for a USDA Rural Development Grant/Loan to help the city convert to a new automated water meter reading system
Mayor Taft Hendrixson made the announcement during Monday night’s city council meeting. “Probably close to two years ago, we applied to Rural Development through TAUD for a grant for the automated water meter readers. We’re probably the only utility in the county that doesn’t have the automated readers. We still have two men, five to seven days every month to read the water meters. But we’ve been approved and we got a $95,000 grant and a $315,000 Rural Development Utilities Loan through Rural Development for the automated water meters. In the budget this year we’ve got $360,000 for this. I guess we’ll decide a little later if we want to do the loan for twenty years or if we just want to pay off the loan. We have the money in the budget. But either way, we get a $95,000 grant. We’ll have to put out bids to various companies for those automated meters and the electronic things that set on top of them. It will save $25,000 to $30,000 a year, maybe more from the cost of reading meters. That’s a big cost,” said Mayor Hendrixson.
During a city council meeting in February 2010, Will Taylor of the Tennessee Association of Utility Districts, addressed the mayor and aldermen on this issue. He was to assist the city in making the application.
Taylor said through Rural Development, the city could be eligible for up to a 45% grant for the total project, with the remainder to be funded through a low interest rate loan, which the city could carry for several years.
According to Taylor, benefits to the city by having an automated meter reading system are that it would reduce water loss by an estimated seven to fifteen percent and cut costs associated with the current manner of reading meters. For example, with an automated system, an employee could read all water meters in the city in just a day or two each month. This would also save fuel costs and wear and tear on city vehicles.
Many utilities are using AMR as a way of improving customer service while reducing the cost of reading meters. Some AMR systems use miniature radio transmitters attached to each water meter. These utilities are then able to collect the readings from handheld radio receivers and from moving vehicles. With this process, one driver in a vehicle is able to read more meters in one day. At the end of the day, the meter reader unloads the information to the city’s billing system.

After thirty years as an educator including seven years as Principal of DeKalb County High School, Kathy Hendrix is retiring.
She will be stepping down as principal when the school year ends. Director Mark Willoughby has not yet officially named her replacement.
Looking back over her career, Hendrix, in an interview with WJLE Monday, said being an administrator was never something she had set out to do. ” I never thought I would want to be an administrator. When I got my Masters degree I went into curriculum instruction. But later on when I got my Ed.s, it just seemed like I didn’t have anything else to get that in so I got that in administration. It just worked out. The opportunity came up and I have enjoyed it. I’ve enjoyed all of it. I enjoyed teaching too. Teaching is very rewarding,” she said.
It’s not surprising that Hendrix chose education as a career since her parents, Louise and the late Woodrow Frazier, were educators and two of her sisters became teachers. “Both my parents were educators. My mother was a teacher. In fact, she was my (elementary school) teacher at Pea Ridge and my dad was the principal there. My mother later started the library at Smithville Elementary and my dad later became the first principal at DeKalb West School. I have a sister, Peggy Thomas, that lives in Las Vegas. She is an educator out there. My sister Lisa Cripps, currently works in the central office here. Other family members didn’t go into education but they have well respected jobs and have done good for themselves too,” she said.
A 1974 graduate of DeKalb County High School, Hendrix furthered her education at MTSU in Murfreesboro. “I have three degrees from MTSU. I got my BS, a Masters in curriculum and instruction, and an Ed.s as an administrator,” she said. ” I always knew I wanted to go to college. Education just seemed to be the (career) path that I needed. I loved math. I took all the math courses I could take while I was in college. I had some good math teachers growing up that gave me a good foundation. I guess I had an aptitude for that,” said Hendrix.
Among the teachers she admired most as a young elementary and high school student were Carolyn Adcock and Jean Harney. “I had Ms. Carolyn in grade school. She gave me a good foundation. I had Ms. Harney in math and she was an excellent teacher. They sort of built that foundation for me in math,” said Hendrix.
As a teacher and assistant principal, Hendrix said she fostered a great respect for three people in particular. “As a teacher, I had a lot of respect for Mr. Ernest Ray as a principal. He was also my teacher. I worked under him and learned a lot from him as well as Mr. Steve Hayes. While I was an assistant for two years, I learned quite a bit from Mr. Weldon Parkinson. He taught me a lot,” said Hendrix.
Before her years at the high school, Hendrix was a classroom teacher at the middle school. ” I started out in the middle school teaching sixth grade overload. I taught every subject. They later moved me to the high school where I taught science and math. Until I became administrator that’s where I stayed in the classroom teaching math. I’ve been teaching for thirty years. This is my ninth year as an administrator. I served as two years as an assistant principal and this is my seventh year as principal,” said Hendrix.
Asked about her views on today’s education standards, Hendrix said she is concerned that some goals have become near impossible to meet. ” There are some good things. It has forced us to demand more from students. Our expectations have been raised so high. The curriculum has changed and there’s lots of other changes coming down the line, even in the lower grades, probably down in the third and fourth grade, maybe even lower. Things have really changed. What they’re having to do now in high school is a lot more demanding on them. There’s a lot more rigorous things now because of the testing and the goals the federal and state governments have set. Its almost impossible to meet what they’re asking us to do. But we’re expected to get these students to achieve all of these things. We try our best. We’ve got good teachers and they work hard but its putting a lot of stress on everybody, trying to meet the goals that’s being demanded of us,” she said
As for her future, Hendrix said she plans to spend more time with family and relax. “I’m hoping to be able to travel some and spend more time with my grandchildren and just relax and enjoy life. My mother will be ninety five years old in July and I need to help more with her,” she said.
She looks back on her career fondly and said she will miss it “I know I’m going to miss it. I’ve had a lot of fun. We used to decorate for the prom. I was once a prom sponsor and we had a lot of fun doing that. You have to laugh. I will say to anybody that’s in education, you need to laugh when you can,” said Hendrix.
Asked if she had any advice for her successor, Hendrix said don’t try to go it alone. “Whoever becomes principal, just remember that they need support from everybody because you can’t do this job alone. The teachers also need support. You can’t do this kind of work and not have support from the parents, the community and everybody. That’s something I do feel like I’ve had and I appreciate that. I appreciate the opportunity that I was given to do this job. I want to say thanks for all the support and help that everyone has given me. I wish everybody the best,” said Hendrix.

The Smithville Municipal Pool may open as early as next week.
The aldermen Monday night, at the request of golf course tenant Tony Poss, voted to amend his lease giving him the discretion to open the pool sooner than the contract calls for in the spring and to close it later in the summer, depending upon the weather. The original lease specifies that the pool is to open Memorial Day and to remain open until the beginning of school. Poss said he would like to open the pool by late next week. “We’ve had an unusually warm spring and we’ve had calls after calls wanting to use the pool and we’re losing people who are going out of town because we can’t let them in the pool. The pool is ready, the permits are paid and the lifeguards are certified. We’re looking at opening around the 18th or 19th of May. We’re waiting for school to get out,” said Poss.
Alderman Gayla Hendrix said she thought opening the pool sooner is a good idea, given the warmer weather this spring. ” I think we should amend that lease to just state at the lessee’s discretion to open the pool and close the pool upon weather permitting. This has been an unusual spring. Usually its not warm enough to open the pool until Memorial Day, but it is warm enough now and kids are getting out of school soon. Even if you opened it temporarily on weekends only til Memorial Day all its going to do is generate revenue. To me it only makes sense, if you’ve got everything ready to go,” she said.
The aldermen also approved Poss’s request to amend the lease to allow him to book pool parties after hours, at no extra expense to the city. The city is responsible for paying wages of lifeguards during all hours of pool operation, but the city legally can’t bear that cost for private pool parties. Poss said he would assume the cost of hiring lifeguards for pool parties after hours and that would solve the problem. “I’ve checked with insurance and it pretty much covers anything we do over there. It wouldn’t cost the city anything. We’ll pay them (lifeguards) for those private parties. Its something we’re missing out on. We’ve had I’ll bet ten calls this weekend and if we don’t accommodate these people, they’re just going out of town. We could keep people here in town. We’ll be open til 6:00 p.m. or 6:30 p.m. and have parties after that, maybe until 8:30 p.m. or 9:00 p.m.” said Poss.
The aldermen further voted, at Poss’s request, to have some work done at the clubhouse bathroom facilities to make them more handicapped accessible. “We need to know when the city is going to get the bathrooms and pool facilities up to ADA standards. We have a deadline this month of May 21 but as of today (Monday) we’re still not compliant with those laws,” said Poss.
We’ve been up here several times (to the city council meetings) about the 2012 ADA standards. I think the board voted a couple of months ago to research this and see what the best option is to update the bathrooms and showers to make them handicapped accessible. As of today, nothing has been done. I just don’t want this to be a liability on the city’s part or our part. I called the ADA Thursday and from what I’ve been told, they say anything that is accessible to the public has to meet ADA standards. It doesn’t matter when it’s built,” said Poss.
Mayor Taft Hendrixson said while some work has already been done at the clubhouse bathrooms to make them more accessible, a complete renovation is not necessary. The city has also ordered a portable lift chair for handicapped users to get in and out of the swimming pool. “We have researched that. The (handicapped) lift (for the pool) is on back order and I’m not sure when it will be here but it shouldn’t be long. As far as the restrooms, bringing them up to ADA standards, we don’t have to do anything. Existing buildings before 1990, you don’t have to redo them unless you are reconstructing or remodeling, tearing out and redoing, then you have to bring them to ADA standards. We have taken out partial walls so the (women’s) bathroom is accessible with a wheel chair. The men’s bathroom was already (accessible). But as far as the latrine being a certain height, we don’t have to do that,” said Mayor Hendrixson.
Alderman Hendrix suggested that the city go ahead and make whatever changes are needed. “When this was brought to us a month or so ago, things like making the sink a certain height and the urinals a certain height, it didn’t seem like it was going to be a big ordeal and it sounded like city employees had the capability of doing these things. If its not a big ordeal or big expense and it will make it more accessible to people, what’s the draw back in doing it? Actually I thought we already agreed to do it,” said Alderman Hendrix.
Alderman Danny Washer agreed. “Lets fix what needs to be fixed. It won’t cost the city a lot of money,” he said.
Mayor Hendrixson said the work would begin possibly this week. City building codes inspector Eugene O’Neal will be consulted to get his input on whatever further renovations should be made.
Fire Chief Charlie Parker announced that a bid opening on the purchase of a ladder truck is set for Friday, May 11 at 2:00 p.m. at city hall. He said bids will be reviewed on Friday and brought to the next city council meeting on May 21.
Chief Parker said he is also working with City Secretary-Treasurer Hunter Hendrixson and the Municipal Technical Advisory Services (MTAS) to get advice on the best way to go about replacing the fire department’s turnout gear, by coming up with the best means of bidding those items for purchase.
Meanwhile, in his monthly fire report, Chief Parker said during the last month the department responded to one grass fire, one dumpster fire, a landing zone, one structure fire, and one training.
Police Chief Randy Caplinger said he recently applied for and the city has been approved for a BURNS grant. It is a non-matching grant at no cost to the city. “We have been approved for a $12,061 grant, subject to board approval. Its free money for the department to buy equipment. We’ve looked at new shotguns for the patrol cars and some other equipment that we need for the department. With board approval, we’ll go forward,” said Chief Caplinger.
The aldermen voted to accept the grant.
Chief Caplinger also announced that the police department has received two humvees at no cost to the city. “One of them has 22,000 miles on it and the other has 27,000 miles. They haven’t been used that much. We received those through the military. I actually applied for four, hoping to get one but we were lucky and got two. There were 450 of them and they were gone in less than twelve hours. I’m glad we got them. The only cost to the city was going down and driving them back from Montgomery, Alabama. We are looking at painting them black and using them in emergency situations, whether it be drug operations, inclement weather such as street flooding or snows, helping stranded motorists. They can go into areas where we might not be able to get to in a four wheel drive truck or a patrol car. They can be used for tactical operations, transporting officers to the scene of a crime. We can do whatever we decide we want to do with them,” said Chief Caplinger
Water Plant operator Todd Bowman reported that the water treatment plant, during the month of March ” treated 48-million 900-thousand gallons of water. We used 200,000 gallons for backwash and 125,000 gallons to re-wash. To drain the basin was 710,000 gallons. We used 276,000 gallons at the plant and we also did a system wide flush during the month of March. We used 625,000 gallons there. So we left the plant with 46.9 million gallons. We sold 35.6 million gallons which left a total unaccounted for of 11.3 million gallons which is a 24% water loss,” said Bowman.

The Tennessee Titans Caravan made a stop at Smithville Elementary School Tuesday morning.
Students and school staff met Tennessee Titans kicker Rob Bironas, the “Voice of the Titans” Mike Keith of Titans Radio, and Titans Mascot T-Rac.
The Caravan consists of 24 visits to schools and 26 public stops. The school program features a high-energy, educational message from seven time Pro Bowl Titans mascot T-Rac, host Rhett Ryan and at least one Titans player. The Titans use the opportunity to speak to youngsters about the NFL’s Play 60 program, which stresses the importance of getting at least 60 minutes of active play each day, and also the benefits of making good choices in all parts of their lives. T-Rac and the Titans school program are sponsored by Tennessee State Parks.

Titans Caravan began in 1998 as a small effort to spread goodwill through the region. Today, six full-time staffers travel with Titans players and T-Rac through the Mid-South on a specially-decorated motor coach provided by Grand Avenue. Since 1998, Titans Caravan has made over 700 stops, traveled approximately 50,000 miles, visited close to 300 schools and allowed the team to interact directly with an estimated audience well-in excess of 100,000 fans.
A powerful right-footed kicker in his eighth NFL season, Rob Bironas has earned the right to be named among the best players at his position. Statistically one of the top kickers in the NFL history, he made 86.3% of his field goals in the first seven years of his career and became one of the top two scorers in club history. Prior to winning a roster spot with the Titans in 2005, Bironas spent time in training camp with the Green Bay Packers in 2002, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2003, and the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2004. He spent two seasons in the Arena Football League and one season in Af2. Bironas enters the 2012 season as the third-ranked kicker in NFL history in field goal accuracy, connecting on 86.3% of his attempts (189 of 219). Only Al Del Greco (1,060) points has accounted for more points than Bironas in the history of the Titans/Oilers organization.
Franklin-native Mike Keith, an award winning broadcaster, begins his 14th year as the “Voice of the Titans” in 2012.
The NFL’s second-youngest play-by-play announcer was actually the first ever associated with Tennessee’s NFL team. In 1996, while the team was in Houston, Keith hosted a pre-game show for Tennessee stations who carried the Oilers games. The Franklin-native served as the network’s scoreboard host in 1997 before moving into the booth as color analyst in 1998 and then assuming the play-by-play duties in 1999.
In addition to his play-by-play duties, Keith hosts the weekly Mike Munchak Show, Tuesday night at 6pm central on Titans Radio. He also contributes many of the interviews and features for Titans Countdown, the network’s pregame show. Keith also writes a regular column for Titans Radio’s web site, TitansRadio.Com.
From 1987-98, Keith was a Vol Radio Network stalwart, working with Vol football, basketball, baseball and Lady Vol basketball broadcasts and coaches’ shows on radio and television.
Keith also hosts the weekly television show, Titans ALL Access on television stations across the region every weekend.

A Cookeville man has been charged with stealing jewelry from a local resident he was working for last month.
28 year old Aaron Michael Knight of Thomas Road, Cookeville is charged with theft of property over $10,000. He was arrested April 30. Knight’s bond is $10,000 and he will be in court on June 7
Sheriff Patrick Ray reports that on or about Saturday, April 7, Knight was doing some work for a resident on Rolling Acres Road, and allegedly stole several pieces of jewelry from the home valued at over $10,000.
Meanwhile, in another case, 31 year old Jesse Robert Adcock of Obie Adcock Road is charged with domestic assault. His bond is $5,000 and he will be in court June 21. Sheriff Ray said that an officer was called to investigate a domestic complaint on Obie Adcock Road, Tuesday May 1. Upon arrival, the officer talked to a female who said that Adcock had hit her in the face and chest with his fists. Her left cheek was red and swollen and she had a mark on her chest. Adcock allegedly admitted to the officer that he had hit the woman.
45 year old Kenneth Daryl Cox of Murfreesboro is charged with public intoxication. His bond is $1,000 and he will be in court May 17. Sheriff Ray said that on Wednesday, May 2, a deputy saw a man slumped over in a vehicle parked about ten feet from the roadway at Eastside Citgo on Highway 70 east. The officer stopped to do a welfare check and found that the man (Cox) had a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage on his person. His speech was very slurred. Cox told the officer that he had been to the club and had drank too much.. He was unsteady on his feet. Cox was unable to get a ride or have someone to pick him up so due to his intoxication level and for his safety, he was placed under arrest.
52 year old James Arvin Gooch of Nashville Highway, Dowelltown is charged with domestic assault. His bond is $3,500 and he will be in court May 17. According to Sheriff Ray, while on patrol in Doweltown Friday, May 4 a deputy turned onto Turner Road and heard a female screaming “get off of me”. The female kept on screaming. The officer noticed a man and a woman on the back porch of a residence on the Nashville Highway. The officer approached the home and saw that the woman was sitting in a chair on the porch and that the man was on her. The woman, who had bruising on her right forearm, told the officer that Gooch grabbed her arm trying to get rent money from her.
William Alton Rainey of Sewanee, Georgia is charged with driving under the influence, evading arrest, and vandalism. He was also cited for violation of the implied consent law, violation of the financial responsibility law (no insurance), simple possession of marijuana, violation of the registration law, no drivers license, and reckless driving. Rainey will be in court on May 17. His bond is $8,250.
Sheriff Ray reports that on Saturday, May 5, a deputy was dispatched to a complaint of a reckless driver on the McMinnville Highway. The officer spotted a Ford Mustang matching the description of the suspect’s vehicle on Highway 56 south near the Smithville city limits. After the deputy got behind the car, it turned onto Dearman Street, failed to yield to a stop sign, and then went down South College Street. The officer activated his emergency lights and sirens to make the stop but the car sped up, traveling at up to 80 miles per hour in a 30 mile per hour speed zone. The deputy lost sight of the vehicle near Bryant Street but central dispatch reported that the car was spotted on Jackson Street. When the officer got to Andrews Street, he saw the car, but it was unoccupied. The area was searched and the suspect (Rainey) was observed trying to hide behind a residence. The officer ordered him to stop, but he jumped a fence and fled, breaking the top board off of the fence. Rainey was subsequently apprehended on Morgan Drive. He had in his possession 1.7 grams of marijuana. The officer also noticed that Rainey had a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage on his person and he was very unsteady on his feet. Rainey submitted to but performed poorly on several field sobriety tasks. Rainey refused to submit to a blood alcohol test. Rainey told the officer that he had consumed 2-40 ounce Miller Lites and had smoked a marijuana joint that day. Rainey also claimed to have taken some methamphetamine and cocaine within the last four days.
36 year old Michael Andrew Judkins and 32 year old Crystal Dawn Judkins both of Old Bildad Road, Smithville are each charged with failure to stop resisting, to stop, frisk, or halt. Bond for each is $1,000 and they will be in court May 17. Sheriff Ray said that on Saturday, May 5 a sheriff’s department drug detective went to a residence on Old Bildad Road to assist deputies on a welfare check of children. While the detective was to trying to speak with both Mr. and Ms. Judkins, they turned around and started to walk away. They were ordered several times to stop, but they ignored the commands and kept walking. Both Mr. and Ms. Judkins had to be physically restrained. They were then handcuffed and placed under arrest.
19 year old Dakota James Stith of Page Drive, Smithville is charged with criminal impersonation. Sheriff Ray said that on Sunday, May 6 a deputy responded to an unwanted guest call and a possible break-in at a residence on New Home Road. After the officer arrived, the complainant said that the person involved in the incident had left. After obtaining a description of the person and his vehicle, the deputy spotted it and made contact with the suspect. The man (Stith) was asked to produce his identification but he replied that he did not have an ID. He told the officer that his name was D.J. Mason and that his birth date was August 26, 1991. After investigating further, the officer learned that his name is actually Dakota Stith and that his birth date is August 26, 1992. Stith, who has two outstanding warrants against him for failure to appear in court, was placed under arrest. His total bond is $10,500 and he will be in court on May 10th.
30 year old Tiffany Rena Greer of Tami Kay Road, Dowelltown is cited for driving on a suspended license and violation of the financial responsibility law (no insurance). She will be in court on June 6. Sheriff Ray reports that on Friday, May 4, a sheriff’s department drug detective pulled over Greer’s vehicle, knowing that her driver’s license were suspended. A check of her drivers license confirmed it was suspended with only an identification. She was also unable to provide proof of insurance.

Purple three-sided insect traps that resemble a box kite can be seen in ash trees in DeKalb County and from Mountain City to Memphis in the next few months as part of an expanded surveillance program by state and federal agencies.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA, APHIS) and the Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) are partnering to survey for Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), a non-native, wood-boring beetle that has killed tens of millions of ash trees in the eastern United States and Canada.
“Trapping is a very important tool for us to know how extensive the infestation is and whether additional control measures are needed to slow it from spreading to new areas,” TDA Plant Certification administrator Gray Haun said. “This year, we are extending our trapping efforts across the state as a part of a national survey program.”
The goal of the expanded trapping program is to provide a more complete national assessment and to locate new infestations for possible treatment and quarantine. Nearly 3,500 traps will be placed in trees across Tennessee by state and federal officials and private contractors.
The purple traps are coated with an adhesive that captures insects when they land. The color is attractive to EAB, and is relatively easy for people to spot among the foliage.
“The triangular purple traps pose no risk to humans, pets, or wildlife; however, the non-toxic glue can be extremely sticky,” said USDA State Plant Health Director, Yvonne Demarino. “It’s important people understand that the traps don’t attract or pull beetles into an area, but rather they are a detection tool to help find EAB if it is present in the area.”
EAB was first discovered in Tennessee in 2010 at a truck stop along I-40 in Knox County. In addition to Knox, five other counties in East Tennessee including Blount, Claiborne, Grainger, Loudon and Sevier are under state and federal quarantines. This means that no hardwood firewood, ash logs, ash seedlings, ash bark and other restricted materials can be moved outside these counties without approval.
State plant health officials suspect that EAB entered the state on firewood or ash wood materials brought in from another state where infestations have occurred. Other pests can also be artificially transported by individuals moving firewood. Citizens and visitors are urged to buy their firewood near where they camp and not transport it from one area to another.
At times, traps can be blown out of the trees. To report a trap that is down, contact the national EAB hotline at 1-866-322-4512 or visit www.purpleEABsurvey.info. For more information about EAB in Tennessee, contact TDA at 1-800-628-2631 or visit http://www.tn.gov/agriculture/regulatory/eab.html. An EAB fact sheet can also be found at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/publications/plant_health/2012/EAB_survey_faq.pdf.

The Smithville-DeKalb County Chamber of Commerce and the DeKalb County Mayor’s office would like to invite residents across the county to participate in the DeKalb County Clean Up campaign on Saturday, May 12th. This event will be held in conjunction with the Keep American Beautiful initiative going on across the country. This organization’s mission revolves around a core belief that beauty is a silent but powerful force that makes communities safer, healthier and more livable.
Suzanne Williams, Executive Director of the Chamber of Commerce, would like to remind everyone that DeKalb County’s peak tourism season is about to begin, so now is a great time to start getting things spruced up for our coming visitors. According to Williams, “I think we are all aware of the value and importance of beautification in our communities to attract newcomers and tourists to our area and to maintain a stable and growing economy.”
To get a head start on clean up, dumpsters will be set up at highly visible and convenient locations a few days prior to the main event. Dumpster locations will be at the Dowelltown Community Center, Liberty Community Center, Alexandria City Parking Lot (behind square), and the Shopping Center parking lot (close to DeKalb Ace Hardware), 702 South Congress Blvd., Smithville.
County Mayor Mike Foster says, “We would like for people to come out and help clean our communities and roadways. Folks are welcome to pick their own locations to clean, or we will be glad to assign a safe place for each person to participate.”
DeKalb Clean Up volunteers are asked to come to the new County Complex located at 732 So. Congress Blvd., Smithville on May 12th between 9 AM and 10 AM to sign-in and pick up the provided trash bags & rubber gloves. For early sign-up, you can stop by the Chamber office located at the Courthouse Room 201 during regular office hours before May 12th to pick up supplies. Or if stopping by is not convenient, call the Chamber office at 597-4163 to be counted as a DeKalb Clean Up volunteer — just give your name and the general area where you will be working. Whether you’re beautifying your street, a highway, a park, ball field, a stream, or your own home, what a difference we can make through working together!