Two men have been arrested by the Alexandria Police Department in separate burglary investigations.
19 year old Marv Richardson Cash of 109 Lavergn Street was picked up on Friday, January 20 and charged with breaking into a residence on Flemming Street in Alexandria while 21 year old Andrew Dalton West of DeKalb County was arrested on Thursday, January 26 and charged with burglary and theft at 137 Avant Circle in Alexandria.
In the case involving Cash, Alexandria Police Chief Mark Collins told WJLE Thursday that police were called to a residence on Flemming Street on Friday, January 20 to take a burglary report. “Someone had taken a brick and busted out a window to gain entry. While inside the home, they took a 55 inch LED TV valued at $1,300 and left through the back door. Later in the investigation, an eye witness stated they saw a black male around 6:30 a.m. identified as Marv Cash carrying a large object from the home covered in a blanket. The TV and blanket were later recovered in some nearby bushes.” said Chief Collins.
Cash was arrested and charged in the case. His bond is $16,000 and he will be in court on February 2.
Meanwhile, in the West case, Chief Collins told WJLE that police responded to a call at 137 Avant Circle on Thursday, January 26 to investigate a burglary. “The victim told police that someone had entered their home by cutting a screen and raising a window. While inside, they had taken two car speakers and other miscellaneous objects. While speaking with neighbors, one witness stated they had seen West inside the home going through personal belongings while another witness stated they had seen West around 6:30 a.m. loading the objects into a blue van. Later that morning, West was found and arrested in the case. Some of the items were recovered at the residence where West was staying,” said Chief Collins.
Bond for West is $20,000 and his court date is February 2.

Smithville Police apparently solved a Wilson County auto theft with the arrest of a 34 year old Woodbury man last Saturday.
Brady Gordon Cunningham is charged with possession of stolen property, a second offense of driving under the influence, and driving on a revoked license. His bond is $9,000. He also faces an auto theft charge in Lebanon. Cunningham is further charged with introduction of a controlled substance into a penal institution where prisoners are quartered. His bond on that offense is $1,500 and he will be in court on all local charges February 2.
Chief Randy Caplinger reports that police received a call on Saturday, January 21 to be on the lookout for someone driving toward Smithville in a 2007 Chevy Silverado that could have been stolen. Cunningham had stopped to get gas in Alexandria and when someone there had paid him a compliment about his truck, Cunningham reportedly replied that he had just stolen it. The incident was then reported to central dispatch.
Smithville Police spotted a truck fitting the description and pulled it over on West Broad Street. The driver, Cunningham, had slurred speech and appeared to be under the influence. He was asked to get out of the truck. He was unsteady on his feet. Cunningham submitted to but performed poorly on field sobriety tasks. A computer check of his drivers license revealed them to be revoked for a previous DUI conviction. According to Chief Caplinger, the license tag on the truck belonged Cunningham but was registered to a Honda car. Cunningham told the officer that he had recently traded the car for the truck and had left his registration paper work at home. The pickup had not been reported as stolen. Police then conducted an Internet search using the serial number of the truck and found that it came from the Highway 231 auto dealership in Lebanon. The owner of the business was contacted. After checking, he discovered that the truck was missing from the car lot. After he reported it stolen, Cunningham was charged in the theft. Cunningham had in his possession the original key to the truck. Authorities are not sure how he obtained it.
Sheriff Ray said that after Cunningham was arrested by the Smithville Police Department he was brought to the sheriff’s department. While correctional officers were searching Cunningham, they found on him a prescription bottle that contained three yellow pills believed to be Hydrocodone with Ibuprofen. These pills were in a bottle that did not belong to Cunningham.

The DeKalb County unemployment rate for December dropped to 8%, down from 8.3% in November and 1.4% under the December, 2010 rate of 9.4%
The local labor force for December was 9,870. A total of 9,080 were employed and 790 were unemployed.
DeKalb County’s unemployment rate for December was the third lowest among the fourteen counties of the Upper Cumberland region as follows:
Pickett County- 14.9%
Jackson- 10.9%
Clay- 10.8%
White- 10.7%
Van Buren- 10.6%
Cumberland- 9.9%
Warren-9.6%
Fentress- 9.5%
Overton- 8.7%
Smith- 8.5%
Macon- 8.4%
DeKalb-8%
Putnam-7.5%
Cannon- 7.2%
County non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rates for December 2011, show that the rate decreased in 56 counties, increased in 27 counties, and remained the same in 12 counties.
Tennessee’s unemployment rate for December fell to 8.7 percent, down from the November revised rate of 9.1. The national unemployment rate for December 2011 was 8.5 percent, a decrease of 0.2 percentage point from the November rate.
Williamson and Lincoln counties registered the state’s lowest county unemployment rate at 5.4 percent. Both counties had higher rates in November with Williamson at 5.8 percent and Lincoln at 5.6 percent. Scott County had the state’s highest unemployment rate at 18.8 percent, up from 17.5 percent in the previous month, followed by Obion County at 15.3, which was unchanged from the November rate.
Knox County had the state’s lowest major metropolitan rate of 5.9 percent, down from 6.3 percent in November. Davidson County was 6.9 percent, down from 7.3 percent in the previous month. Hamilton County was 7.2 percent, down from 7.4 percent, and Shelby County was 8.8 percent, down from the November unemployment rate of 9.3 percent.

Victoria Dawn Tatrow of DeKalb County, the reigning Miss Tennessee High School America, will be competing in the national pageant this March in San Antonio, Texas.
The 17 year old beauty, daughter of Corey and Vickie Funk and the late Shanna Tatrow, was crowned Miss Tennessee High School America at the state pageant held August 6, 2011 at the Buckman Performing Arts Center in Memphis.
Tatrow, a senior at DeKalb County High School, will represent the state of Tennessee at the 2012 Miss High School America & Miss Collegiate America Pageant March 7-10 . This year the pageant will be held at the BEAUTIFUL Lila Cockrell Theatre located on The Riverwalk in San Antonio, Texas.
Tatrow, who attended the county commission meeting Monday night, told WJLE afterwards that the national pageant is fun filled with many wonderful activities including a visit to Sea World, Dinner at the River Walk, River Walk Boat Tour, Photo Shoots, Alamo Tour, and so much more. ” It offers a scholarship of $10,000 to any college that I want, a $5,000 wardrobe, and a lot of other goodies”, said Tatrow.
“I want to say thank you to everyone who has supported me in this county and I hope to make you proud,” she said.

Elizabeth Sanders from DeKalb County is one of eight young people selected from across the nation to serve on the National 4-H Congress design team. Elizabeth, along with the Extension professionals and volunteer leaders comprising the team, with help give guidance to the planning and implementation of the 2012 event to be held in Atlanta. National 4-H Congress is the culminating event for high school members competing in one of the 4-H projects.
Elizabeth attended the 2011 Congress as Tennessee’s state winner in the goat project. She was initially selected as a nominee by the Tennessee delegation attending the 2011 Congress and after submitting an application and video tape, was chosen by the National 4-H Congress design team selection committee.
Congratulations to Elizabeth. She will attend the first planning meeting in February in Atlanta.

Forty two students will be competing in the ninth Annual County Wide Spelling Bee on Thursday, February 2 at 6:00 p.m. at DeKalb County High School.
The 2011 County Spelling Bee Champion is Chase Bryant
Earlier students from DeKalb Middle School, DeKalb West School and Northside Elementary School competed at the school level to become eligible for the county competition. WJLE will broadcast the Spelling Bee LIVE. Along with thirty-nine counties, the first and second place winners in the DeKalb County Spelling Bee will compete in the Middle Tennessee Regional Spelling Bee sponsored by Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz and Belmont University. The regional bee will take place on Friday, March 2, 2012 at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. The winner of the Regional Spelling Bee will compete in the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C.
The purpose in sponsoring the County Wide Spelling Bee is to “help students improve Spelling skills, increase vocabularies, learn concepts, and develop correct English usage that will help them all their lives”.
Participants in this year’s County Wide Spelling Bee are:
DeKalb West:
4th Grade: Lexy Gammons, Christian Trail, Kelsey Wade
5th Grade: Callie Mulloy, Harley Sloan, Thomas Tippin
6th Grade: Jacob Frazier, Mark Mace
7th Grade: Jayra Plattenburg, Brandy Rock, Casey Vickers
8th Grade: Madison Hayes, Mary Mofield, Kirkland Smallwood, Morgan Vickers
Northside Elementary:
4th Grade: Chantz Bowling, Anna Chew, Isaac Cross, Braxton Hutchings, Katherine Malone, Raiden Martin, Logan Speaks, Malia Stanley
5th Grade: Madi Cantrell, Malone Fletcher, Molly Hall, Dulce Marcel, Ashley Phillips, Christian Sisk, Isaac Walker, Derek Young
DeKalb Middle School:
6th Grade: Kayla Belk, Olivia Fuson, Haley Martin, Allison Maynard, Shauna Pedroza, Hunter Speaks, and Justin Stanick
7th Grade: Alexis Cantrell, Timothy Cassinera, Reagan Patton, Skylar Pease, Alyssa Sewell