At least two business customers of Smithville Electric System were recently targeted in a scam in which callers demanded payment of their bills under threat of having their power turned off.
Smithville Police Chief Randy Caplinger cautions customers not to be taken in by the scam.
“A couple of customers have said they were called from a company saying that their electric bill had not been paid.,” said Chief Caplinger. ” When Smithville Electric learned of the scam, a representative of SES called this company and acted like she was with the business (victim). The girl (SES representative ) said the man told her that he was an employee of Smithville Electric and he said if the bill wasn’t sent in immediately to the address ( he provided), her electricity was going to be cut off,” he said.
Chief Caplinger said both the Smithville Police Department and Smithville Electric System want you to know this is a scam and that if you should be targeted, please don’t send any money to this company and notify police.

Donny Green, County Executive Director of the DeKalb/Cannon County Farm Service Agency, says the DeKalb FSA and Cannon FSA County Committees met in regular session on Tuesday, January 21 to canvass and tabulate the ballots received in the 2013 Local Administrative Area (LAA) # 3, # 4, and # 5 County Committee Elections. The deadline to return ballots was January 17.
In DeKalb County’s LAA-3 election, R.V. Billings, Jr. was elected to serve as Committee Member and Carl Douglas Cantrell was elected to serve as 1st. Alternate. In Cannon County’s LAA-4 election, Javin Fann was elected to serve as Committee Member, James Joyner was elected to serve as 1st. Alternate, and David George was elected to serve as 2nd. Alternate. In Cannon County’s LAA-5 election, Charles Brown was elected to serve as Committee Member and Robert Barton was elected to serve as 1st. Alternate. All elected members will begin their terms on February 18, 2014. Alternates elected by write-in ballots will not officially be elected until they have submitted their written agreements to serve.
The 2013 election was a transitional election resulting from the October 2012 closing of the Cannon County FSA Office. Beginning on February 18, 2014, DeKalb and Cannon counties’ farmers will be represented by one 5-member committee (two LAA’s in Cannon County and three LAA’s in DeKalb County), instead of two 3-member committees. The DeKalb/Cannon FSA County Committee will meet on February 18, 2014 for its Organizational Meeting. The Committee will select a Chairperson and a Vice-Chairperson from among the members. The Committee meets quarterly at the DeKalb/Cannon County USDA Service Center located at 647 Bright Hill Rd.
Green says that the DeKalb/Cannon FSA County Committee and office staff wishes to express their appreciation to voters in LAA’s # 3, # 4, and # 5 who participated in the elections by voting and returning their ballots. “The local County Committees are a very important part of Farm Service Agency’s program delivery and administrative processes,” added Green.
For more information about FSA’s County Committees or other program inquiries, call 597-8225 (extension 2) or come by the DeKalb/Cannon County Farm Service Agency office at 647 Bright Hill Street in Smithville. You can also visit the agency’s web site at: www.fsa.usda.gov.

DeKalb County’s unemployment rate for December was 6.8%, down from 7.1% in November and below the 7.2% rate for December 2012.
The local labor force for December was 9,430. A total of 8,780 were employed and 650 were without work
County unemployment rates for December 2013 show the rate decreased in 51 counties, increased in 29 counties, and remained the same in 15.
DeKalb County’s jobless rate for December was fifth lowest in the Upper Cumberland Region. Here is how the fourteen counties ranked from highest to lowest:
Pickett: 12.1%
Clay: 9.8%
Van Buren: 9.7%
White: 9.6%
Jackson: 8.9%
Cumberland:8.8%
Fentress: 8%
Overton: 7.9%
Warren: 7.6%
DeKalb: 6.8%
Putnam: 6.6%
Smith: 6.2%
Macon: 6.1%
Cannon: 5.6%
Davidson County had the state’s lowest major metropolitan rate of 5.7 percent, down from 5.8 percent in November. Knox County’s December rate was also 5.7 percent, down from 5.8 percent the previous month. Hamilton County was unchanged at 7.3 percent. Shelby County was 9.1 percent, down from 9.4 percent in November. Tennessee’s unemployment rate for December is 7.8 percent, which is three tenths of one percentage point lower than the November revised rate. The national unemployment rate for December 2013 was 6.7 percent, down three tenths of one percentage point from November.

Welcome to the new WJLE website.
(NOTE: Most are having no problem viewing the new website but if you are experiencing difficulties with our new site not displaying correctly on your computer in Internet Explorer, please click the link below and follow the directions for turning the COMPATIBILITY MODE OFF for the WJLE website. Our site like most sites will look and perform better if using Google Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Try looking at the site using another browser.)
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1196-internet-explorer-compatibilit….
As WJLE begins its 50th year of broadcasting, serving the people of Smithville-DeKalb County, we have also updated our website with a number of significant improvements.
To keep up to date with technological advances in a mobile society, the most significant change to the site is the responsive design: The new WJLE Radio website will automatically adjust itself to display properly whether you are visiting from a desktop or laptop computer, a tablet device like an iPad, or a browser on a smartphone. The page layout will adjust depending on your device to provide the ideal interactive experience, yet all devices will share the same content.
Viewers will no longer find local news stories at the bottom of the home page. The new site allows viewers to click the link for “News Headlines”
located in the top center of the homepage for a specific local news story or to read ALL local news, click the “News” link located directly below the “WJLE” banner in the upper left hand corner. Local news and sports stories will also continue to include occasional pictures and videos to help enhance our coverage.
To further enhance viewership and provide a service to the business community, the new WJLE website will feature videos of community events on the right side of the page near the top, while on the left side advertisers will have an opportunity to promote their businesses through commercial videos. The new website also offers more space for placement of advertisements, both along the left and right sides of each page as well as at the top of each page.
On the left side of the page near the top, viewers will see links under “Community” where announcements can be found for “Church News”, “Classifieds”, and “Community Calendar”, along with audio links to the “Old Time Country Community Radio Show” and other programs as well as video links
“Obituaries” are on the top right side of the homepage.
As with the old site, the new WJLE.com offers a pictorial slideshow on the home page as well as a weekly web poll, a program guide and audio archives (in drop down box under WJLE Home) and a “Search” box near the top right side of the page where viewers can perform a word search to find older news, sports, or obituary announcements.
“LIVE Streaming” of talk programming on WJLE AM-FM such as local news, high school sports, Election return coverage, Smithville City Council, DeKalb County Commission, and School Board meetings, Chamber Chat, Sunday religious programs, and other events may be accessed next to the “Weather” link near the top center of the homepage.
“We appreciate the fact the WJLE web site is so popular, as evidenced by the over 40,000 unique or unduplicated (counted only once) visitors it receives per month,” said General Manager Dwayne Page. “The timing was right to do an upgrade to meet the needs of the public. As with any major change like this, we expect to be making adjustments over the weeks ahead, and look forward to your feedback during that process.”
Send your comments to wjle@dtccom.net or call 615-597-4265.
We hope you enjoy this new look and continue to visit wjle.com and listen at WJLE AM 1480 or FM 101.7 as we celebrate our golden anniversary of service to this community.

While most of the attention has been focused on the May primary elections, petitions for the non-partisan school board seats and the Smithville Municipal Elections on August 7th are now available.
Matthew Boss has picked up a petition from the election commission office to run for the School Board in the First District.
A petition has also been issued to Gayla Hendrix for Smithville Alderman.
Five school board seats are up for election including the First, Second, Third, Fourth, and Seventh Districts. Each term is for four years. Those positions are currently held by John David Foutch in the First District, Charles Robinson in the Second District, Kenny Rhody in the Third District, Billy Miller in the Fourth District, and Johnny Lattimore in the Seventh District.
The other two positions are held by W.J. (Dub) Evins, III in the Fifth District and Doug Stephens in the Sixth District. They are currently in mid-term and won’t be up for re-election until 2016.
A Mayor and two Aldermen will be elected on August 7th in the City of Smithville, each to serve a four year term. Those positions are currently held by Mayor Jimmy W. Poss and Aldermen Tim Stribling and Jason Murphy. Stribling will not be running for re-election. He is seeking the County Mayor’s office.
The qualifying deadline for the school board and City of Smithville is NOON April 3.
Meanwhile, petitions are still available for all the races that will be on the ballot for the DeKalb County Democratic Primary and the 13th Judicial District Democratic and Republican Primary elections. The qualifying deadline for those candidates is NOON February 20th.

Daily operating hours of the Liberty Post Office may soon be reduced in a cost saving measure by the U.S. Postal Service.
Scott Tinsley, Post Office Operations Manager for the Tennessee District, held a community meeting at the Liberty Post Office Wednesday to explain the changes. About twenty concerned postal customers in the area showed up to learn more about the plan.
“Today we discussed the changing of hours of the Liberty Post Office, basically going from a full eight hour a day office down to six hours a day at the retail window,” said Tinsley. “The hours currently at the Liberty Post Office are Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. until 11:30 a.m.. They close for lunch from 11:30 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. and then they reopen at 1:00 p.m. and close at 4:00 p.m. Saturday hours are 7:30 a.m. until 10:30 a.m. What we have proposed is for the Liberty Post Office to be open Monday through Friday from 7:45 a.m. until 3:45 p.m. with a two hour lunch from 11:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m.. Saturday hours would be from 7:45 a.m. until 10:45 a.m. It’s not a big change for the community. They will just see a reduced amount of time there where they can buy stamps and purchase other postal products,” he said.
The current staff will remain in place including Postal Support Employee, Sharon George along with the two postal carriers and substitute. The current mail routes will also remain unchanged. “Everybody will still see their carrier probably about the same time everyday out on the route and the carriers can still sell them stamps and pick up their packages. All those things remain the same,” said Tinsley.

Liberty postal customers recently received surveys outlining four different options for the Liberty Post Office. A total of 987 customer surveys were mailed and 219 of them were returned. Eighty eight percent of the respondents (193 customers) said given the options they preferred a realignment of the hours.
The Postal Service will make its final decision on the change soon. “The decision will be made no sooner than thirty days after today (Wednesday). Typically about sixty days out. We’ll post a notice in the lobby of the Liberty Post Office letting all the customers know the date the new hours will go into effect,” said Tinsley.
Many smaller Post Offices across the nation are being affected by cost saving initiatives being implemented by the U.S. Postal Service. “When the smaller facilities get vacated by Post Masters across the country, we’re going in and reducing the hours a little bit where we can. We’re looking to save about $500 million a year from implementing these changes nationwide. We’re doing this instead of closing Post Offices so that we can keep them in communities,” Tinsley concluded.

Davidson County Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle is expected to issue a ruling within 30 days in the case involving DUD ratepayers and the City of Smithville against the DeKalb Utility District.
Chancellor Lyle conducted a Judicial Review hearing today (Wednesday) in Davidson County Chancery Court in the matter which was filed as “Ratepayers of the DeKalb Utility District, Petitioners versus the DeKalb Utility District, Respondent”.
The city sought the hearing after the state’s Utility Management Review Board ruled against the petitioners in a DUD rate review hearing held in Smithville last April. The city joined the petitioners in mounting this legal challenge in an effort to keep the DeKalb Utility District from building its own water treatment plant.
Attorneys for all sides presented their cases during today’s hearing including Nashville attorney Jason Holleman, representing the city and DUD ratepayers; Nashville lawyer Dewey Branstetter, Jr,. representing the DUD, and Jason Hale for the Utility Management Review Board.
At the conclusion of the two hour hearing, Chancellor Lyle said she would hand down her ruling within 30 days.
Last July, the aldermen voted 4-0 to hire Nashville attorneys Bill Purcell and Jason Holleman to file an appeal of the Utility Management Review Board’s dismissal of a petition brought by a group of DUD ratepayers and the city who were hoping to halt DUD plans to build the water plant.
Following a hearing held April 4th, 2013 in Smithville with an administrative law judge presiding, UMRB members voted to dismiss the petition saying they (petitioners) had failed to meet their burden of proof that DUD rates or services provided were unreasonable. The UMRB entered its final order on June 5.
“I do not believe that the petitioners presented a case for water rates,” said one member of the UMRB board at the April 4 hearing. “They presented a case for not wanting Smithville to lose DeKalb Utility District as a customer. What the petitioner proved was that Smithville didn’t want to lose a customer, not that the rates were improper,” he said.
“The hearing, I believe showed that the petition was not well founded,” said Nashville attorney Dewey Branstetter, Jr. in an interview with WJLE after the April 4 hearing. Branstetter represents the DUD in this case. “There was no evidence that the DeKalb Utility District had not established sufficient rates. The district has basically done nothing wrong. I think that came out during the course of this hearing. I think it also became apparent during this hearing that even though they may have gotten the ten percent of the ratepayers to sign the petition (a requirement for forcing the UMRB hearing) that this is all really about Smithville not wanting to lose DeKalb Utility District as a customer. Fortunately, the board found that the petitioners had not met their burden of proof,” said Branstetter.
Calling the UMRB’s ruling “arbitrary and capricious”, attorneys for DUD ratepayers and the City of Smithville filed an appeal in August, 2013 asking the Davidson County Chancery Court for a judicial review of the case.
The attorneys for the city and DUD ratepayers allege that “the UMRB acted in violation of statutory provisions and followed an unlawful procedure by failing to apply the appropriate scope of review in its deliberations and otherwise acted illegally, arbitrarily, and capriciously in the case. Further, the UMRB’s decision was unsupported by substantial and material evidence in light of the entire record.”
The court is being asked to reverse the decision of the UMRB and decree that its action was illegal, arbitrary, and/or capricious and that any such further general relief be granted as the equities of this case may require and as the Court deems necessary and appropriate.”

The DeKalb County Commission Monday night adopted a resolution making application for a $500,000 Community Development Block Grant for DUD to run water line extensions to areas of the county in need.
Amanda Mainord of Grassroots Planning & Consulting, grant administrator, said the project will serve thirty eight households on Tramel Branch, Oakley Road, Carter Lane, Old Givens Hollow, and the Dismal to Alexandria Road.
“There are six houses left to complete the (existing) water line on Tramel Branch and that’s just a half mile left there. On Old Givens Hollow, there’s nine houses there in a mile and three tenths. The Alexandria to Dismal and the first part of Oakley Road, there’s actually thirteen houses there and that is in 2.6 miles. There is kind of a spot on Oakley Road where I call no man’s land because there is one house in a whole mile so we’re going to leave that. It’s not cost effective to run a water line to serve one person or one household. To start at the other end of Oakley Road and go on to Carter Lane, there are ten houses there and that’s just a mile and eight tenths,” said Mainord.
The county’s grant application will be through the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, which if approved would assist the DeKalb Utility District in extending water lines into these areas of the county not already served.
The DUD would be responsible for paying the grant’s local 20% matching requirement or $96,000 plus any additional funds required to complete the project.
Several residents in the area to be served showed up for a public hearing Tuesday night, January 7 at the courthouse expressing their desire for water services.
County Mayor Mike Foster said surveys were conducted to determine which areas could benefit most from this project. The public hearing was held as part of the grant application process.
According to Foster, many of the residents in the targeted areas have to live with poor quality water or little or no water. “I think it’s a really important thing that we try to get water into some of these areas. Some of them (residents) have sulfur water and salt water. Some have no water. They are using cisterns . Some haul water and put it in a tank. Some just have seasonal water. When the spring gets dry in the summer they don’t have water. Others have no water pressure much. It’s in an area that really does need help. I’ve heard of them digging wells several hundred feet deep and not getting water,” said Foster.
A similar grant was approved two years ago to extend water lines to a portion of this area but that project did not include everyone who needs water. “We did one grant that went (extended lines) from Liberty to Dismal. One went about half way up Dismal. Another one went up Dismal to Tramel Branch and turned right. It’s just in sections that we’ve been trying to piece all this together. Now we want to come back down Dismal toward Oakley Road in that area,” said Foster
The grant application is due by the end of February.
“We will send in the application in February. We’ll probably be notified in October (if the grant is approved). If we get the money, we’ll get started on this project,” said Foster.
There are no guarantees that the grant will be approved. “There will probably be 125 applications. Last year they (state) funded 65 so we have about a 50/50 shot of being approved,” Foster concluded.

Second District County Commissioner Jack E Barton, III has resigned his position because he has moved his residence to the Third District.
In a letter to County Mayor Mike Foster, Barton said “I am writing to inform you that I will be resigning from my office and responsibilities as County Commissioner of the second district, effective January 28, 2014. I will be moving out of my district and as such cannot continue in my elected capacity as commissioner.”
“I first took office in August 2006 and have been serving the people of the second district since then. I have enjoyed greatly the time I have given to this very important role in our county government and regret that I cannot fulfill this second term I was elected to.”
“I wish only the best for this governmental body and its role in overseeing the county. The county commission performs a very important function and I am pleased with what it has accomplished while I have been fortunate enough to be a part of it,” he wrote.
Barton has announced his intention to run for a county commission position in the Third district. He will be a candidate for the Democratic nomination for one of the two seats on May 6th. Winners will advance to the August General Election.

In an effort to reduce the number of false fire and burglar alarms, the DeKalb County Commission Monday night adopted a resolution establishing “False Alarms Service Fees” for those who don’t keep their emergency alarm systems in proper working order.
Under the resolution, owners and or operators of emergency alarm systems that transmit a false alarm to the County Fire Department or Sheriff’s Department will receive verbal notification by the county fire chief or Sheriff for the first false alarm; a written warning for a second alarm; and a service fee of $50 will be imposed for a third false alarm. On the fourth and subsequent false alarms, a service fee of $50 will be imposed for each violation plus the actual costs of such response by the responding agency, including the costs of equipment, fuel, personnel, administration, and other such factors as determined by the County Fire Chief or Sheriff.
“We have a couple of commercial places in the county where their fire alarm is going off several times a quarter and we have to send a fire truck and the sheriff usually sends a car too,” said County Mayor Mike Foster during Monday night’s county commission meeting. “The False Alarm Service Fees are meant to tell the operator or person servicing that alarm system that they need to make sure it’s working correctly. It’s not to be punitive. It’s to be mildly corrective so that we don’t send people out there risking equipment and their lives and time when it is actually probably something that can be adjusted by the person serving that facility,” said Foster.
According to the resolution, “Activated emergency fire alarm and burglar alarm systems are many times false, and responses to such alarms reduce the available resources and finances of the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department and the DeKalb County Fire Department . Adequate maintenance of such emergency alarm systems can reduce the number of such false alarms.
The “False Alarm Service Fees” Resolution is as follows:
False Alarm Service Fees
I. Definitions.
(a) “False emergency alarm” means any signal actuated by an emergency alarm to which the Fire Department or Sheriff’s Department responds, which is not the result of fire, burglary, or other actual emergency, and not caused by an extraordinary act of nature.
(1) “False alarm” includes:
a. Negligently or accidentally activated alarm signals; and
b. Alarm signals that are the result of faulty, malfunctioning, or improperly installed or maintained equipment.
(2) “False alarm” does not include:
a. Alarm signals activated by severe weather conditions;
b. Alarm signals knowingly activated during installation or routine maintenance, IF 911 is properly notified of the testing or maintenance prior to the alarm activation and after testing or maintenance is completed.
(b) “Owner” and/or “Operator” means any person who owns the premises where the alarm signaling system is installed, or the person or persons who lease, operate, occupy, manage the premises, or are bound by the contract for services provided by the alarm signaling monitoring company.
(c) “Service Fee” means the monetary service fee reimbursement due to the responding service. This reimbursement is calculated based on approximations of expenses including, but not limited to, personnel, equipment, administrations and fuel.
II. Notices and fees
The following schedule of notices, warnings, and fees (commensurate with actual costs incurred by responding agencies) shall be assessed to the owners and/or operators of emergency alarm systems for false emergency alarms transmitted to the DeKalb County Fire Department or Sheriff’s Department within any calendar year, January 1 through December 31:
1st false alarm – Verbal notification by the Fire Chief or Sheriff of
DeKalb County, Tennessee.
2nd false alarm – Written warning informing the owner or operator of the
alarm system of the provisions of this ordinance, and of the
occurrence of a second violation.
3rd false alarm – A service fee of $50.00 will be imposed.
4th and subsequent false alarms – For each violation, a service fee of $50 shall be
imposed plus the actual costs of such response by the responding agency, including the costs of equipment, fuel, personnel, administration, and other such factors as determined by the Fire Chief or Sheriff, will be imposed.
III. Testing of alarm signaling systems
(a) No person shall conduct any test or demonstration of an alarm signaling system without first contacting the DeKalb County 911 Emergency Communications District. The dispatch center shall also be contacted when the alarm test or demonstration is completed.
(b) A violation of this section shall have fees assessed as follows (per calendar year):
(1) 1st offense; written warning; no fine
(2) 2nd offense and subsequent occurrences: $50 service fee shall be
imposed, plus the actual costs of such response by the responding agency, including the costs of equipment, fuel, personnel, administration, and other such factors as determined by the Fire Chief or Sheriff, will be imposed.
(c) For purposes of this resolution, an alarm contractor that employs a person who violates this section will be held accountable for the offense.
(d) The offenses will be cumulative for all of the alarm contractor’s employees who violate this section within a calendar year.
IV. Owner Responsibilities:
(a) The owner shall ensure that the alarm signaling system is inspected and tested. (b) The owner shall ensure that the alarm signaling system is maintained per manufacturer’s specifications. (c) All owners of premises where alarm signals are installed shall provide the monitoring companies a current contact list of at least 3 representatives or designees of the owners of which 1 will respond to the premises within 30 minutes to assist the responding agency in gaining access to the premise. (d) On 1st offense, a written warning will be issued to the owner. A $50 fee, plus an amount to offset the actual expense incurred for responding will be assessed on the 2nd and subsequent occurrences when an owner or designee does not arrive within 30 minutes of the responding agency’s arrival at the premise.
V. Fee Collections
(a) The DeKalb County Fire Chief or Sheriff shall assess all service fees as outlined in this resolution, and will provide written notification and payment instruction to the responsibly party. (b) All service fees will be paid within 30 days from the date on the written notification. (c) All service fee collections shall be submitted to the County Mayor’s Office, along with a copy of the fee assessment notification letter. Proper budget amendments will be prepared to credit the applicable agency’s respective budget. (d) An owner or alarm contractor may appeal the service fee assessment to Emergency Services Committee. (e) The DeKalb County General Sessions Court shall have jurisdiction over all unpaid service fees