Tennessee Downtown Programs Steering Committee Members Wade Smith, Suzanne Williams, Steve White, Alan Webb and Mark Ashburn (not pictured) were guests of the Smithville Rotary Club last Tuesday and presented the two plans for an open-air pavilion to be constructed at Evins Park in the near future.
These citizens are our local committee that is planning for improvements to downtown Smithville under the umbrella of the “Tennessee Downtowns Program,” a statewide initiative to revitalize downtowns and increase tourism in Tennessee.
The Smithville Rotary Club became the first organization in DeKalb County to pledge $1000 toward completion of the pavilion.

The DeKalb County Beer Board met Thursday night and received five applications for new beer permits. Final action on them will come at the next meeting on Thursday, April 5 at 7:00 p.m. at the courthouse.
Filing applications for both on and off premises permits are Viva Gail Johnson of Jewel’s Market and Pizza on North Congress Boulevard, Smithville; Back 9, LLC doing business as Riverwatch; and Jesus Villa of the Stop Market, LLC, formerly One Stop Market on Short Mountain Highway.
Those filing applications for off premises permits are Debra W. Sacran of D & D Market on Short Mountain Highway, and Araceli Godinez Soto of Nicole’s Market on Short Mountain Highway.
All applicants must meet the new minimum distance requirement as established by the county commission along with any other regulations. As WJLE reported Tuesday, the county commission Monday night voted seven to five to rescind the 2,000 foot rule that the county has had in place since 1939 and adopt 800 feet as the minimum distance required between a store seeking a beer permit, and a church, school, or other place of public gathering measuring in a direct line, the nearest point to the nearest point. From the building to the building.
Members of the DeKalb County Beer Board voting to accept the applications for consideration Thursday night were Harrell Tolbert, Dick Knowles, Jim Stagi, Mack Harney, and Edward Frazier. Frank Thomas voted no and Robert Rowe was absent. Again, final action on these applications is scheduled for April 5 at 7:00 p.m. at the courthouse.
Meanwhile sixth district board member Harrell Tolbert announced his resignation from the board Thursday night. Because of redistricting, Tolbert has been moved from the sixth district to the fifth district and can no longer serve the sixth district as a beer board member. The county will have to appoint a new member to succeed Tolbert.
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Tonight’s (Thursday’s) scheduled closure of the Hurricane Bridge on State Route 56 over the Caney Fork River in DeKalb County has been canceled.
The closure, which is necessary to allow the contractor to pour a portion of the new concrete bridge deck, will be rescheduled. The work is part of a $26.9 million rehabilitation project which is scheduled to be complete in October 2013.
For travel and TDOT construction information visit the TDOT SmartWay web site at www.tn.gov/tdot/tdotsmartway or call 511 from any land-line or cellular phone. You can also receive traffic alerts via TDOT’s multiple Twitter feeds, including statewide traffic tweets @TN511 or Chattanooga area alerts @Chattanooga511. Smart phone users can use the TDOT SmartWay Mobile website at http://m.tdot.tn.gov/SmartWay/ to access TDOT’s SmartWay cameras and information on construction related lane closures and incidents on interstates and state routes.
As always, drivers are reminded to use all motorist information tools wisely and Know Before You Go! by checking travel conditions before leaving for their destination. Drivers should never tweet, text or talk on a cell phone while behind the wheel.

Local Red Cross volunteers, who have been rendering assistance at the scene of the storm damage on Cookeville Highway, are asking the public to donate food and bottled water for all those helping in the recovery and storm cleanup efforts. Monetary donations will also be accepted. If you would like to donate, stop by the Red Cross office in the new county complex on South Congress Boulevard.
DeKalb County Red Cross Volunteer Oscar Boyd explains in the following video how you can help.

Rescue workers and volunteers will resume efforts Thursday morning to recover the body of a woman who died when her home collapsed from high winds Wednesday afternoon on Alpine Lane in the Holiday Haven area.
The name of the woman has not yet been released.
The storm, which some believe produced a tornado, left a scattered path of destruction just to the north east of Smithville off Cookeville Highway from the Pine Grove Road and Holiday Haven area to Ponder Road, Puckett’s Point, and then on to the Falling Water and Backbone areas in the Johnson’s Chapel Community.
Aside from the fatality, no injuries were reported but several homes, garages, and other structures were damaged by the high winds or from trees that fell on them and power lines are down which has caused power outages for many residents.
DeKalb County Fire Chief Donny Green said the recovery operation was called off Wednesday night but will resume at daybreak Thursday. “At this point, we’re in the recovery stage of the operation. We have confirmed we have a body trapped inside a collapsed structure. That (home) has pretty much been demolished. We’re going to stop operations tonight but we’re still going to be planning our approach on how we’re going to try and do this (recovery operation) safely,” said Chief Green.
“We’re going to try and pick back up at daybreak tomorrow (Thursday) and continue the recovery operation to get in and recover the body. We’re sending a lot of our outside resources back tonight but they’re coming back early in the morning to help us get in with the planning process on how we’re going to approach this,” he said.
When asked if this storm actually spawned a tornado, Chief Green said there has been no official confirmation but a county firefighter claimed to have spotted a funnel cloud.
Sheriff Patrick Ray said he called in all deputies Wednesday afternoon to help in providing security. “We’re providing security and backup to the rescue squad and fire department. We’ve gone around searching houses. That’s what we’ve done today. We’ve also secured the scenes where there has been damage to homes. Tonight a lot of them don’t have electricity so we’ve got a security plan in effect. I called in all the deputies today to assist with this and we’ll have them throughout the night and into tomorrow,” said Sheriff Ray.
In addition to local law enforcement agencies, fire departments, EMS, rescue squad, and Emergency Management Agency coordinator Charlie Parker, several agencies and emergency services from outside the county have also responded. “Its really been overwhelming at the support we’ve received from all of our agencies in the county as well as adjoining counties and cities and beyond who have come to help us. We’ve had extra law enforcement to come in. Extra fire and EMS and rescue services have come in. We can’t say enough about the support we’ve had during this unfortunate event,” said Chief Green.
Local Red Cross volunteers, who have been rendering assistance on site, are asking the public to donate food and bottled water for all those helping in the recovery and storm cleanup effort. Monetary donations will also be accepted. If you would like to donate, stop by the Red Cross office in the new county complex on South Congress Boulevard.

If early voting is any indication, turnout may be lower for the DeKalb County Democratic Primary and Tennessee Presidential Preference Primary than four years ago.
The DeKalb County Election Commission reports that a total of 696 people cast ballots during the early voting period from February 15-28 including 447 who voted in the Democratic Primary and 249 who voted in the Republican Primary.
In 2008, a total of 4,507 people cast ballots in the local and state primaries including 3,206 who voted on election day and 1,294 who either voted early or by absentee. There were seven provisional ballots cast.
In the 2008 Assessor of Property race alone, 2,903 people voted. There were three candidates vying for the Democratic nomination that year. This was the total vote for that race including election day and early voting/absentees.
A total of 3,057 voted in the Tennessee Democratic Presidential Preference Primary in 2008 which featured Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and other contenders for the nomination. In DeKalb County, Clinton received 2,410 votes to Obama’s 347. Three hundred voters went for other candidates.
In the Tennessee Republican Presidential Primary, a total of 1,344 voted locally four years ago with Mike Huckabee getting the most support in DeKalb County at 573 followed by 399 for John McCain and 267 for Mitt Romney. The rest of the votes were divided among the other candidates.
Polls at all sixteen precincts will be open across the county on Tuesday, March 6 from 8:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m.
WJLE will have exclusive LIVE local election return coverage when the polls close at 7:00 p.m. on AM 1480/FM 101.7 and LIVE streaming at www.wjle.com.