As clocks move ahead this weekend for daylight saving time, Tennessee State Fire Marshal and Commerce & Insurance Commissioner Julie Mix McPeak would like to remind Tennesseans to change their homes’ smoke alarm batteries, as well.
“ ‘Change your clock, change your battery’ is an easy phrase to remember and practice when you update your clocks this weekend,” says McPeak. “Smoke alarms, even those that are hard-wired, should have their batteries replaced regularly and tested monthly to ensure you have the protection you need,” McPeak says. “Use this time to protect your home and family.”
A working smoke alarm will double your survival chances during a home fire by giving you the critical time needed to escape. Most home fires occur at night when people are sleeping. A fire’s smoke and toxic gases can actually deepen your sleep, diminishing your chances of survival.
More than 90 percent of all American homes have smoke alarms, but as many as one-third of them don’t work – because of old or missing batteries. It is critical to replace batteries regularly – even if they appear to be working fine. Twice a year is recommended. This helps prevent the warning, low-battery “chirp” emitted by alarms. All too often, alarm batteries are removed but not replaced, putting home occupants at risk. There is no way to predict when a fire will occur, and just one night in a home without a working smoke alarm can prove dangerous. Replacing batteries for daylight saving time is just one fire safety step. Here are a few more:
Smoke alarms should be put inside and outside every room where residents sleep, and on each home level. All residents should know how the alarm sounds and what it means.
Smoke alarms need to be cleaned and maintained according to their instructions.
Have a fire escape plan with two ways out of every room; teach it to everyone in the home, especially children.
When the smoke alarm sounds, get out of the home immediately and go to a pre-planned meeting place.
Many local fire departments have supplies of donated smoke alarms, and departments will help install them in the homes of the elderly and disabled. Visit www.tn.gov/commerce/sfm/. The Department of Commerce and Insurance works to protect consumers while ensuring fair competition for industries and professionals who do business in Tennessee. www.tn.gov/commerce/, @TNCommerceInsur (Twitter), http://on.fb.me/uFQwUZ (Facebook), http://bit.ly/ry1GyX (YouTube)

Tennessee Department of Transportation crews are assisting with debris removal in several Tennessee counties in the wake of last week’s severe storms. Most of the clean-up efforts are concentrated in Cumberland, Dekalb, Jackson, Overton, and Putnam Counties.
Residents in those areas are asked to separate brush and tree debris from other types of storm debris, and to place those items as close to the public right of way as possible. Storm debris should not be placed in the travel lanes of any state or local roadway. Debris will not be removed from private property.
Debris removal will continue until Monday, April 2, 2012.

Anyone wanting to run for mayor or alderman in the Smithville Municipal Election has one week left to qualify with the election commission office.
A mayor and two aldermen will be elected on Tuesday, June 19. The seats are currently held by Mayor Taft Hendrixson and Aldermen Steve White and Cecil Burger.
The qualifying deadline for the Smithville Election is NOON March 15. The last day to register to vote in that election is May 21.
Those who have picked up and returned petitions so far are Taft Hendrixson and Jimmy Poss for mayor and Jason Judd Murphy for alderman. Scott Davis has also picked up a petition for alderman.
Meanwhile, Dowelltown and Liberty will have elections on August 2. In Dowelltown, a mayor and two aldermen will be elected. The seats are currently held by Mayor Gerald Bailiff and Aldermen Joe Bogle and Elizabeth Redmon.
The qualifying deadline for the Dowelltown election is NOON April 5 and the last day to register to vote is July 3.
Those who have picked up petitions so far are Gerald Bailiff for Mayor and Joe Bogle for Alderman
In Liberty, three aldermen will be elected. The seats are held by Todd Dodd, Dwight Mathis and Paul M. Neal
The qualifying deadline is NOON April 5 and the last day to register to vote in that election is July 3.
Both Dwight Mathis and Paul M. Neal have picked up petitions to run for alderman.
Petitions are also being accepted for school board races in the fifth and district districts. Kevin D. Hale and W.J. (Dub) Evins III have picked up petitions for the fifth district seat. Boyd Trapp and Doug Stephens have obtained petitions for the sixth district position.
The qualifying deadline is NOON April 5 and the last day to register to vote in that election is July 3.
Administrator of Elections Dennis Stanley said there are two important messages voters should remember before going to the polls on Election Day or for early voting.
“If your address has changed since the last time you voted, you should contact the local election office to begin the process of updating your records,” Stanley said. “If you show up at the polls with a voter’s card that has an address different than where you currently live, you will have to fill out a ‘Fail-Safe’ form and you may even be sent to another location to vote.”
“Also, voters are reminded that with all elections in 2012, voters will have to have a valid federal or state government issued photo i.d. to vote on the machines,” he added.
Acceptable forms of photo identification, even if expired, are any of the following: a Tennessee Driver License with your photo; a United States Passport; Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security photo I.D.; a Photo I.D. issued by the federal or state government, such as an employee I.D. from the U.S. Department of Energy with your photo; United States Military photo I.D., including a Veteran Identification Card; and a state-issued handgun carry permit card with your photo.
“If you do not bring a photo I.D. to the polls, you will vote a Provisional Ballot,” Stanley said. “Then you will have two business days after Election Day to return to the election commission office to show a valid photo I.D. If not, the ballot will not be counted.”

The DeKalb County School System is looking into the possibility of purchasing an electric powered school bus for transporting handicapped students.
Director of Schools Mark Willoughby, during Thursday night’s school board meeting, said that a representative of a company that produces electric school buses will be meeting with him and Transportation Supervisor Jimmy Sprague next week to discuss the issue further.
According to Director Willoughby if the school system were to buy an electric bus, it could be the first school system in the state to have one
The school system is apparently in need of a bus for handicapped students but they’re expensive. “A handicapped bus costs over $100,000 that we’re bidding out,” said Willoughby. But if grant funds can be secured, the cost to the local system might be as little as $15,000. According to Willoughby, that’s all some districts in California have had to shell out to get one. “California has only $15,000 in this electric bus,” he said.
By going green with an electric bus, Willoughby said the school system would save on fuel costs and maintenance. “These electric buses have been very successful as handicapped buses. They will run approximately 80 miles before a recharge. There’s no fuel costs, no oil, and little to no maintenance,” said Willoughby.
He said the people he’ll be meeting with next week have their own grant writers and would help in writing the grant for the school system.
Meanwhile, the school board Thursday night adopted a resolution of appreciation honoring Professional Services Staff including school nurses, guidance counselors, school resource officers, psychologists, speech therapists, and others.
PLAY VIDEO BELOW TO SEE THREE PRINCIPALS ADDRESSING SCHOOL BOARD
Board chairman Charles Robinson read the following resolution:
“Whereas, the DeKalb County School System is dedicated to showing appreciation for our special services staff members that include guidance counselors, librarians, school nurses, school resource officers, school psychologists, speech and hearing specialists, and others;
Whereas, the special services staff members in DeKalb County Schools are responsible for the safety and welfare of our students;
Whereas, this group of professionals serve a very important role in providing a variety of special services to our students on a daily basis;
Whereas the DeKalb County Board of Education wishes to honor the special services staff members for their commitment and loyalty to their students and schools.
Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Board of Education hereby establishes March 15 as Special Services Staff Appreciation Day in all DeKalb County Schools; and
Be it further resolved that the Board of Education expresses our appreciation to all the school employees who provide special services in our school system. We encourage each school and community to recognize these individuals for their role in the success of our school system.
In other business, the board approved articulation agreements with the Tennessee Technology Center at Murfreesboro in the areas of Industrial Electrical Maintenance Computer Information Technology, Computer Information Systems Online, Computer Operations, Automotive Technology, and Computer Aided Drafting.
Brad Leach, Career and Technical Education Director,in addressing the board Thursday night said that through these agreements high school students, upon successfully demonstrating competency in certain high school courses, may be awarded a specific number of contact hours at the tech center in Murfreesboro in those course offerings. “We’ve been working for about two years with the Tennessee Technology Center in Murfreesboro to take competencies and standards in our courses and to tie them into courses that are at the Tennessee Technology Center in Murfreesboro and these are the agreements that we’ve reached and signed. What this basically says is that the courses that we’re teaching at the high school will be in line with the courses at the technology center and they will award us so many hours of credit in these particular courses, depending upon the courses students take in high school. It’s a win win situation for the kids. It’s a great thing especially for the kids going to the technology center. These are students that have graduated and are now attending the tech center,” said Leach.
Stephanie Walker, School Nutrition Supervisor, said the school system is participating in a contest this month with other districts through the Fuel up to Play 60 initiative to get more students to participate in the breakfast program.
Walker said If your children eat every day for the month of March and their school wins the contest then their name will be put in a drawing for two 2012-2013 Tennessee Titans Tickets. If your child eats everyday for a week their name will be in a drawing for free items each Friday for the month of March. (PLAY VIDEO BELOW TO LEARN MORE)
Director of Schools Mark Willoughby updated the board on personnel.
Those employed since the last meeting include:
Brenda Bandy, Special Education Assistant at Smithville Elementary School
Tammy Ferrell, custodian at DeKalb Middle School
Jeremy Haas, custodian at DeKalb Middle School
Gary Caplinger, teacher at DCHS
Debra Londan, substitute bus assistant
Transfers:
Brenda Bandy, Special Educational Assistant from Smithville Elementary School to DCHS
Resignations:
J. Annette Davis, Special Education Assistant DCHS
Charles Cantrell, custodian at DeKalb Middle School

Despite a heavy election-day turnout, the overall vote totals for this week’s Presidential Preference Primary and DeKalb Democratic Primary were well below the results for the same election in 2008.
“Turnout was down considerably in the national PPP and local Democratic Primary,” said Dennis Stanley Administrator of Elections. “I’ll leave it to political observers to analyze the numbers, but the fact the current president was running opposed coupled with the national media attention on the Republican side of the presidential race may have been factors in the low numbers,” Stanley said.
This election was also a little bit unusual compared to very recent elections in that the number of votes cast on election-day was just over two-thirds of the total number. “Recently, the trend has been that early votes equal a third to one-half the overall number. Some of that also depends on the type of election, the offices on the ballot and the time of the year in which the election is held,” Stanley added.
In 2008, 3,089 local voters cast ballots in the Democratic Presidential Primary and only 793 votes were cast locally this year. On the Republican side, the numbers were about the same. In 2008 1,349 votes were cast in the GOP Primary compared to 1,337 this year.
Meanwhile, the local administrator said there were no major problems relating to the state’s new Photo ID law. “We had one voter cast a provisional ballot because he did not have a
valid ID with him at the time he arrived at the polls,” Stanley explained. “In this circumstance, voters must come to the election office and show a valid ID within 2 days. This voter came back the very next morning and produced a valid ID and had no complaints about the process.”
“We only received reports of two other incidents relating to the photo ID law and each time the voter simply chose not to cast a provisional ballot and walked away,” he said. “The local election commission and the Secretary of State’s Office began spreading the word about the Photo ID law late last summer and early fall.
Based on what I’ve heard from around the state and what happened locally, it appears the effort to educate voters paid off,” Stanley concluded. “That effort will continue and as each subsequent election passes, the Photo ID law will become even less of a problem.”

In an effort to get to know the concerns of the citizens better, the Smithville Police and Fire Departments are hosting a meeting with the public Thursday night, March 22 at 7:00 p.m. at city hall.
Police Chief Randy Caplinger said the “Night Out with the Police and Fire Departments” will give the public a chance to meet and greet members of the police and fire departments and express any concerns they have.
Refreshments and door prizes will be available.