A fire early Sunday morning destroyed a garage and damaged a residence at 14120 Nashville Highway between Liberty and Alexandria.
Central dispatch received the call at 1:47 a.m.
County Fire Chief Donny Green said the owner of the home is Joanne Newbell but she has it rented to Ricky and Kristy Sullivan.
The Sullivan’s were at home asleep when the fire started. “Kristy said she was awakened by a loud popping sound, looked out the window, and saw the blaze coming from the garage only about fifteen feet away from the house,” said Chief Green.
The family escaped the home unharmed. The garage and all contents including a tractor and lawn mowers were destroyed. Flames from the fire also scorched the exterior wall on one end of the residence and melted blinds in the window of the Sullivan’s bedroom. Heat from the blaze also melted a tail light and paint on the tailgate of the Sullivan’s pickup truck parked near the garage.
The cause of the fire is undetermined.

Members of the Liberty and Main Stations of the DeKalb County Volunteer Fire Department responded along the tanker truck and manpower from the Short Mountain Highway Station. The Alexandria Fire Department also responded under an automatic aid agreement between the county and Alexandria.

The family of a missing boy is asking for your help in locating him.
According to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s website, 14 year old Ian James Little went missing last month. Sheriff Patrick Ray told WJLE that Little was a resident at the New Frontiers boys home at Dowelltown. Both Little and a 17 year old youth left the home on September 28. The 17 year old was later located in Bartlett Tennessee and placed in another facility but he has gone missing again.
Little is described as a white male with blonde hair and green eyes. He stands 5 feet, 7 inches tall and weighs 120 pounds. He was last seen wearing black shorts and no shirt. He has a scar on his right cheek and a tattoo on his left leg. He may be in the company of a white male. His direction of travel is unknown. He might be wearing a black hoodie. Relatives say most of his family resides in Missouri.
To report a sighting or for more information, call the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department at 615-597-4935 or 1-800-TBI-FIND. You may also call the child’s grandmother at 615-415-8392 or his mother at 314-243-8016

The Tennessee State Board of Education launched a Standards Review website this week to collect public feedback on Tennessee’s newly revised grade K-12 math and English language arts (ELA) standards.
Revised science standards have been available on the State website since mid-September for review and feedback; however, this is the first time the revised math and ELA standards, recently improved by Tennessee educators after earlier public input, will be available online. The deadline for review of the science standards is mid-December and the math and ELA standards will be available for feedback online through mid-November.
The revised math and ELA standards, developed by expert educator advisory teams throughout the summer, set grade-specific goals that exemplify what students are expected to know and be able to do by the end of a given grade or course.
The Tennessee State Board of Education encourages Tennesseans, especially teachers and parents, to log in and review each specific standard by grade level, provide comments and make suggestions for any changes. Once data has been collected from the public, it will be aggregated and given to the Standards Recommendation Committee (SRC), appointed by the Governor, Lt. Governor, and Speaker of the House of Representatives. The SRC will review the standards and the public feedback before making their recommendation on the revised standards to the State Board at the January meeting. The revised math and ELA standards will be implemented in the 2017-18 school year.
To log in to the State website, please visit: https://apps.tn.gov/tcas/

The City of Smithville will be closing the bridge on Holmes Creek Road over Fall Creek as of Friday, October 30 due to a Tennessee Department of Transportation Evaluation Report which details various bridge deficiencies.
The bridge is to be replaced once plans are developed and bids are let for the project which could still be months away.
According to Kevin Robinson, the city’s public works director, a portion of Holmes Creek Road near the bridge on both sides will be closed next Friday and will remain closed until a new bridge is built. “I got an email Tuesday from the state saying we have two weeks to close Holmes Creek bridge down town hill behind Love-Cantrell Funeral Home. So Friday, October 30 we will be closing it down for traffic and it will be closed for months. After we close the bridge, there will only be two ways around it either by way of Riley Avenue or Allen’s Ferry Road,” Robinson told WJLE.
“It’s not a short term process. The city can’t build the bridge so the engineers will draw it up (plans) and they will send it (plans) off to the state to get it approved. Once they approve it, the engineers will put it out for bids (to contractors). If we have enough state aid it will cost the city two percent (in matching funds to help fund the bridge replacement),” said Robinson
The Holmes Creek Road Bridge is 42 feet and five inches long and 33 feet and six inches wide. The structure consists of one simply supported steel I-beam span with a concrete deck and an asphalt wearing surface. The substructure consists of concrete abutments.
At the time of the last inspection, the bridge was posted for a gross weight limit of three tons for all vehicles.
Due to the noted deficiencies, TDOT has recommended closing the bridge to all traffic with proper signs and barricades; replacing all steel I-beams, replacing the concrete deck; installing proper diaphragms or cross frames between all steel I-beams at supports and at one third point of the span; repairing the scour blowhole near abutment 2 and protecting from future scour; repairing the bridgerail on the right, and replacing the missing paddleboard on the left side of approach 1.
After the steel I-beams and concrete deck have been replaced, the bridge will need to be re-inspected and re-evaluated in order to determine its load carrying capacity and a weight limit posting, if required.

A fire early this morning (Friday) gutted a home at 513 South College Street near the intersection with Oak Street.
Central dispatch received the call at 2:50 a.m.
According to Smithville Fire Chief Charlie Parker, the home was fully engulfed in flames by the time the fire was discovered and could not be saved. At the time, firefighters were not sure who owns the property or if anyone was living there but no one was there when the fire started. It appeared the home was in the process of being remodeled. The cause of the fire is undetermined.

Members of the Smithville Volunteer Fire Department fought the fire and the Smithville Police Department was also on the scene.

The Alexandria Senior Citizens Center has a new director.
Sandy C. Brown, a former substitute rural mail carrier for the Dowelltown Post Office, was named to the position last month.
“I started on September 14 and I’m still feeling my way in but I am having a ball. The folks there have been extremely helpful. The governing board has answered all my questions. I haven’t done anything quite like this. They are a 501c3 and I have experience with that but at this level there are different things I have to handle,” said Brown.
Although the center serves a small number of seniors, Brown hopes to offer activities to attract more people. “The active members who come in on a regular basis is right at around 18 or 19. It’s a small group but we’re looking to build that up a little bit. We’re also shooting for the new seniors. The baby boomers who are coming in now. We are going to bring back the exercise programs and the art programs. I am looking for someone to teach ceramics and painting. The computer classes are starting slowly because the computer equipment has to be updated but we can do one on one with somebody if you want to bring in your laptop or Ipad,” she said.
As part of her seniors listening tour, State Representative Terri Lynn Weaver will be visiting the center on Monday. “She will be coming out on Monday, October 26 at 10:00 a.m. She will do some singing and have a question and answer from the folks who are there,” she added.
“Remember we’re open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday from 8:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. but you can reach me at seniors@dtccom.net. We’re also going to start up a facebook page,” Brown concluded.
Brown also hosts a radio show on WJLE the first Saturday of each month at 8:00 a.m. called “Voices of the Community”

Smithville Police will block off one lane of traffic on West Broad Street Saturday morning for the DCHS Tiger 5K Zombie Run and 1 Mile Fun Run to benefit Project Graduation.
The run begins at 8:30 a.m. with registration starting at 7:30 a.m.
According to Captain Steven Leffew, the run will begin at DeKalb High School, to Tiger Drive by the health department, left on Allen’s Ferry Road and then left onto West Broad Street. The runners will make their way down Broad Street before turning left onto Ervin Street (near O’Reilly Auto Parts) and then left onto West Main Street back to the high school.
“As a safety precaution, one west bound lane on West Broad Street (approximately from O’Reilly Auto Parts to Kilgore’s Restaurant) will be temporarily closed during the run,” said Captain Leffew
Should anyone have any questions concerning the Project Graduation Fun Run contact Charlotte Parsley at 931-265-8398

It has been part of the Smithville landscape for 51 years but after today (Wednesday) the water tower on Kendra Drive near Mountain Street will be gone.

A subcontractor for the city spent the better part of the day dismantling the water tank.
“The tank has been out of service for four years so we decided to take it down”, said Kevin Robinson, Public Works Director for the City of Smithville.
“There’s no need for it anymore. We have two million gallons worth of water in storage,” said Robinson. The city maintains three other water tanks including one on Miller Road, on Highway 70 near the high school, and one near the airport.
The Kendra Drive tank, which stood 119 feet tall and had a water capacity of 100,000 gallons, was erected in 1964.