Joe Foutch has been appointed to a new four year term on the DeKalb Utility District Board of Commissioners.
County Mayor Tim Stribling informed the county commission Monday night that he had reappointed Foutch to the board. Foutch’s current term expires August 31.
By law, the DUD board must certify a list of three names in order of preference to the county mayor, who has the sole authority to make the appointment.
During its regular monthly meeting Thursday, July 2, the DUD board voted to certify a list of nominees to the county mayor to fill the position. Foutch’s name was listed first followed by the names of Joe Johnson and Jimmy Herndon.
The DUD Board is made up of five members, three from DeKalb County (Jimmy Womack, Joe Foutch, and Hugh Washer), one from Cannon (Roger Turney), and one from Smith County (Danny Bass). The terms are staggered. All terms are for four years.

A 53 year old Smithville man has been indicted for the rape of a child.
Jacky Lynn Fults is accused of committing anal penetration with his finger on a seven year old girl at his Foster Road residence on September 28, 2014. According to the warrant at the time of his arrest, the child was examined by Our Kids in Nashville on September 29 and doctors did find evidence consistent with abuse. The child did give disclosure on September 30 at the Child Advocacy Center in Cookeville.
The case was investigated by Lieutenant Matt Holmes of the Smithville Police Department
The Grand Jury indicted Fults on Monday. The indictment alleges that “Fults, between September 25 and 28th, 2014 did intentionally and or knowingly engage in unlawful sexual penetration of a seven year old child constituting the offense of Rape of a Child.”
Fults will be arraigned in criminal court on August 10

Kathy Bryant has been named principal at DCHS.
Director of Schools Patrick Cripps made the announcement Tuesday. “She is a very intelligent, hard working individual. She has brought a lot to DeKalb County High School already. She has the respect of the teachers and she will take it another step. I have all the confidence in the world in her,” Cripps told WJLE Tuesday.
Bryant, who has served as assistant principal at DCHS for three years, succeeds Cripps, who was recently hired by the Board of Education as the Director of Schools.
“I’m humbled and I am excited. Mr. Cripps, Mr. (David) Gash, and myself we had a good thing at DeKalb County High School and I want to keep that same momentum. I’ve got big shoes to fill from Mr. Cripps. We’re just going to keep forging on. This has really become a good place to work and learn. We want students to keep being successful. We want to offer lots of programs for students that need to be challenged and students that need extra help too,” said Bryant in an interview with WJLE Tuesday.
After earning her B.S. degree in Interdisciplinary Studies at Middle Tennessee State University in 1996, Bryant received a Masters Degree in Instructional Leadership at Tennessee Tech in 2008 and then an Ed.S. degree in Instructional Leadership at Tennessee Tech in 2010. She is now starting her fourth semester working on a Doctorate Degree from East Tennessee State University.
Bryant began her teaching career in 1996 at Coffee County’s Hillsboro Elementary School and at North Coffee Elementary School. “My first job was in Coffee County. I taught at two different schools. I taught third grade and fifth grade Title I Reading and Math. My days were split. I would travel at lunch to a different school. My second year I was also at Coffee County and I taught fourth grade permanently at one of the schools where I was teaching,” she said.
Bryant then located to Memphis where she taught at Brookmead Elementary School before becoming director of the Sylvan Learning Center in Memphis. “I moved to Memphis. I met my husband. He was from Memphis. I taught half a year at Brookmead Elementary and then in January I was asked to be the Director of Sylvan Learning Center so I took that position. Then I came back home in 1999. I wanted to start a family. I taught fifth grade and then I moved to fourth grade at Northside Elementary School before becoming Assistant Principal at DeKalb Middle School in 2011,” said Bryant.
A year later, she went to DCHS to become an Assistant Principal along with Assistant Principal David Gash and Principal Patrick Cripps.
Bryant and her husband Neal are the parents of three sons, including a soon to be freshman at DCHS, a second grader at Smithville Elementary, and a four year old who will be in kindergarten next year. “I come from a family of educators. My grandmother was a teacher. My great grandmother was a teacher. Of course my dad (Aubrey Turner, Jr.) was an educator. He was Director of Schools here for sixteen years,” she said.
Bryant is the 11th principal at DCHS since 1963. Her predecessors are Amon Snyder, Jim Butler, Tucker Hendrix, Ernest Ray, Dr. Charles Collier, Larry Johnson, Dr. Barry Roberts, Weldon Parkinson, Kathy Hendrix, and Patrick Cripps.

Although no foul play is suspected, the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department is still awaiting findings of an autopsy before issuing a statement on how 21 year old Lauren Taylor Agee died.
The Hendersonville woman’s body was found Sunday afternoon by a fisherman on Center Hill Lake near the Still Point Boat Ramp across from Pates Ford Marina.
Reports say she had been enjoying an outing with friends known as “Wakefest” over the weekend and was camping near the edge of a steep cliff overlooking the lake prior to the tragedy.

Fifty seven people were indicted by the DeKalb County Grand Jury Monday including nine named in sealed indictments.
Those indicted will be arraigned in DeKalb County Criminal Court on Monday, August 10 at 9 a.m.
Names of the defendants and their charges in the indictments are as follows:
Jeremy Mark Ashburn: driving under the influence (2nd offense) and possession of a firearm while under the influence
Clay Andrew Bain: disrupting a meeting or procession and assault (2 counts)
Jeri Nicole Beckham: forgery (18 counts)
Eddie Dean Blair: driving under the influence (4th offense), driving on a revoked license (4th offense), and speeding
Willard Darrell Brown: vandalism over $1,000
Kelli Rae Bullard: driving under the influence and failure to maintain lane
Anthony Tyrone Crews: first degree murder
Darrell Wayne Crook: domestic assault and resisting arrest
Lindsey Paulette Davenport: assault on a viable fetus
Christina Ervin: driving on a suspended license, financial responsibility, registration violation, and speeding
Jimmy Lane Estes: Robbery
Douglas Ray Ferrell: driving under the influence, reckless driving, and leaving the scene
Jacky Lynn Fults: rape of a child
Clint Garrett: worthless check
Candice Rochelle Guidry: possession of schedule IV drug, possession of paraphernalia, and light law violation.
Victor Gingerich: driving under the influence (2nd offense), driving on a revoked license, driving on a revoked license (2nd offense), financial responsibility, registration violation (two counts), and open container
Rhonda Goff: driving under the influence and failure to maintain lane
Cheryl Gotro: driving under the influence and registration violation
Joel Thomas Hayes: theft under $500 (2 counts)
Jeffrey Hennessee: reckless driving
Paul Cox Herron, Jr.: driving under the influence (2nd offense) and failure to maintain lane
Nicholas Alton Hollingsworth: initiation of a process to manufacture methamphetamine
Jesse Jones: possession of a schedule II drug for resale, possession of a prohibited weapon, possession of paraphernalia; driving under the influence, financial responsibility, and registration violation
Chad Knowles: violation of the habitual motor vehicle offender status (2 counts), driving on a revoked license (2 counts), evading arrest, reckless driving, speeding (2 counts), possession of a schedule II drug, possession of paraphernalia, and financial responsibility.
Michelle Lasser: driving on a suspended license, registration violation, and light law violation.
David Linnear: possession of a schedule VI drug
Bradley Luna: driving under the influence
Carl Everett Martin: domestic assault
Patsy Lynn Estes McCoy: auto burglary (2 counts), theft under $500 (3 counts), theft over $500, and resisting arrest
Clayton Allen Moore: driving under the influence
Lynda Michelle Neville: theft under $500
Charles Payne: possession of a schedule VI drug and violation of an order of protection
Jerry Edward Perdue: aggravated burglary
Wallace Marlon Rackley: false report
Connie Nicole Randolph: driving on a suspended license
Michael Brandon Redmon: assault (2 counts), aggravated burglary, and theft over $1,000
Teesha Reynolds: fraudulent use of a credit card (2 counts) and theft under $500
Clarence Eddie Sexton, Jr.: driving on a suspended license, financial responsibility, and seatbelt violation
William Drane Smallwood, II: driving under the influence (2nd offense), driving on a suspended license, financial responsibility, reckless driving, and seatbelt violation (2 counts)
Amanda Louise Smith: introduction of contraband into a penal institution
Sara Nicole South: driving on a revoked license (2nd offense), financial responsibility, and seatbelt violation
Rachael Sprague: child abuse
Max Arnold Teeples and Kenneth Lavon Teeples: possession of a weapon by a felon; hunting without a license, failure to wear orange, tagging violation, illegal possession of wildlife
Mark Thompson: driving under the influence (3rd offense)
Joshua McNeil Vincent: driving on a suspended license, financial responsibility, seatbelt violation, and light law violation
Andrew Wesley Wilbert: driving under the influence
Michelle Yarbro: driving under the influence and possession of a schedule IV drug
Tina Beth Young: driving under the influence (2nd offense), driving on a revoked license, financial responsibility, seatbelt violation, and failure to maintain lane

DeKalb County property owners will have to ante up a little more when their tax bill comes due this fall.
The county commission Monday night, by a vote of 9-4, increased the overall property tax rate to $1.78 cents per $100 of assessed value, as recommended by the budget committee. That’s a sixteen cent increase from the current rate of $1.62.
The new budget totaling $40,936,094 was also approved.
(CLICK LINK BELOW TO VIEW THE 2015-16 BUDGET IN ITS ENTIRETY)
DeKalb-16 Budget WITH 16 CENTS 7-7-15.pdf (229.82 KB)
According to Steve Bates, the county’s financial advisor, the primary reason for the tax increase is to keep the county from digging too deeply into fund balances to operate. “If we don’t increase the revenue this year then more than likely you’re going to start having to borrow money in order to just meet payroll. That is not a position that DeKalb County has ever been in and doesn’t want to be in,” Bates told the commission earlier this month
Bates said the county’s budget woes are primarily due to a stagnant economy in recent years in which revenues have been down while the cost of government has increased. Extra added costs due to the Affordable HealthCare Act (ObamaCare) and lower than anticipated receipts from the ambulance service are also factors.
Four commissioners voted against the sixteen cent tax increase, Joe Johnson, Betty Atnip, Elmer Ellis, Jr. and Jimmy Midgett. Ellis said while he had respect for the budget committee, he could not vote himself a tax increase. Midgett, a member of the budget committee, had previously voted for the proposed budget and tax increase when it came out of committee earlier this month.
The nine commissioners voting for the sixteen cent tax hike were Mason Carter, Jack Barton, Bradley Hendrix, Wayne Cantrell, Anita Puckett, Jerry Adcock, Jeff Barnes, Kevin Robinson, and Larry Summers. Jonathon Norris was absent.
Prior to the vote on the tax levy, the commissioners voted 10-3 in favor of the appropriations resolution for the 2015-16 fiscal year. All voted in favor except for Johnson, Midgett, and Atnip. Both Hendrix and Puckett, who are employed by the school system as teachers declared that while they had a conflict, they were representing their constituents and voting their conscience in supporting the resolution which includes school appropriations.
Meanwhile all thirteen members voted in favor of funding various non-profit groups, as is done each year, and in favor of the consolidated budget, which brings all individual funds under one spending plan.
Prior to the meeting, a public hearing was held. Only one person addressed the commission in opposition to the tax increase, asking what the new revenues would be used for. Several members and supporters of the DeKalb Animal Coalition also addressed the commission asking that the county commit funding to help start a new animal shelter. The City of Smithville has already budgeted $75,000 for this purpose. County Mayor Tim Stribling and Commissioner Jack Barton said the issue would be addressed at the next county commission meeting in August.
The new tax rate is divided up as follows:
County General Fund: 94 cents (a 12 cent increase)
General Purpose Schools: 57 cents ( a 2 cent increase)
Debt Service: 12 cents
County Highway Department: 4 cents ( a 1 cent increase)
Capital Projects Fund: 11 cents ( a 1 cent increase)
The solid waste fund, under this budget as in recent years, will not receive any property tax money but will continue to be supported by revenues derived from payment-in-lieu of taxes, local option sales tax, hotel-motel tax, state revenue sharing-TVA funds, alcoholic beverage tax, bank excise tax, and the state and wholesale beer tax.
Full time county general and sheriff’s department employees due a pay raise under the existing step wage scales will get them under this budget. The sheriff’s department budget includes a new modified pay scale that adds two more tiers to the plan. Some funding in the sheriff’s department budget was reallocated to help offset the costs. The budget also includes a $500 per month increase in pay for the county attorney.
The school budget includes funds for a new computer teacher position at Smithville Elementary School, a new part time janitor position at DeKalb West School, a new school nurse, technology and equipment upgrades, additional supplies for classrooms and intervention programs, a deaf education contract, a new scrubber, and a few other proposed new expenditures.
The county volunteer fire department budget includes funds to start an incentive pay plan based on a points system intended to help retain members and recruit new ones.
Under the incentive approach, firefighters may accumulate points for performing duties or services within the department. The more points accumulated, the greater the reward. The cost is $50,000 but only $15,000 in new money will be needed to fund the program. “We’re basically deleting the training incentive program and the fuel reimbursement program and putting it all (funding from these two programs) toward the points system as a more comprehensive approach to provide different incentives to volunteers,” said Chief Donny Green in previous meetings.
Three fire trucks in the fleet which have failed pump tests will be repaired using $33,670 from the Capital Projects Fund. And $25,000 in seed money will be set aside toward developing a new fire station in the Four Seasons community at some point in the future.
Work will continue toward completion of the new solid waste transfer station. The county has budgeted $475,000 for paving to the facility. After the transfer station is in operation the county will close its existing Class I landfill but develop a Class III/IV site on the same property for the disposal of construction material, household furniture, and other non-household garbage.
Capital projects fund expenses for the year total $373,670 including:
*”Motor Vehicles” Ambulance- $95,000
*”Other Equipment”$12,500
*”Motor Vehicles” Patrol Cars-$82,500
*”Other Equipment”- Fire department (repairs to fire trucks) $33,670
**”Other Construction”- Striping $15,000
*”Building Construction” Omega Building $40,000
**Building Construction”(seed money for Four Seasons Fire Station) $25,000
*”Solid Waste Equipment” Skidsteer/Backhoe $70,000 (landfill)
The county will be making appropriations of $146,681 to the following non-profit organizations:
Upper Cumberland Development District- $2,000
Tennessee Division of Forestry-$1,500
DeKalb County Rescue Squad- $16,821
Plateau Mental Health-$7,180
Families First-$750
Senior Citizens Program-$25,839
DeKalb Soil Conservation District-$33,166
DeKalb County Chamber of Commerce-$17,500
Imagination Library- $7,200
Genesis House- $1,500
Veterans Honor Guard-$2,000
Upper Cumberland Child Advocacy Center- $1,780
DeKalb County Fair- $1,500
WCTE-TV- $5,000
Prospect Incorporated-$12,500
Upper Cumberland Human Resources-$1,200
UCHRA Assessment-Homemaker Aide, etc-$9,245

The man accused in the fatal stabbing of his girlfriend in February is now facing a more serious charge.
The DeKalb County Grand Jury on Monday indicted 42 year old Anthony (Tony) Tyrone Crews on a charge of first degree murder in the death of 28 year old Ashley Bain, whose body was found lying on the floor of a bedroom at the home she and Crews shared at 3870 Cookeville Highway, Smithville on Thursday afternoon, February 5. At the time of his arrest on the evening of the stabbing, Crews had been charged with second degree murder.
Crews will be arraigned in Criminal Court on August 10.
The indictment alleges that “Crews, on February 5, did unlawfully, intentionally, and with premeditation, kill Ashley Bain, constituting the offense of first degree murder”.
Bain was stabbed numerous times about the upper body. It’s not known exactly how long she had been dead by the time authorities were notified but she had been seen alive earlier in the day. A knife, believed to have been the murder weapon, was found in the home.
According to Sheriff Patrick Ray, Crews called 911 at 2:33 p.m. on February 5 to report that he had discovered Bain’s body when he entered the residence. Sheriff Ray and members of the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department were alerted and quickly arrived on the scene. The TBI and District Attorney General’s Office also joined the investigation. Sheriff Ray said authorities determined that Crews had committed the crime and made up the story about finding the body.
One week later, Crews made his first court appearance under tight security at the DeKalb County Courthouse.
During the brief hearing in General Sessions Court covered exclusively by WJLE, Judge Bratten Cook, II increased Crews’ bond from $250,000 to one million dollars. He also appointed the District Public Defender’s Office to represent Crews.
Before increasing the bond amount, Judge Cook questioned Crews about his background. Crews said he was from New York and had relocated to McMinnville three years ago. He is married and had once served in the military. At the time of his arrest, Crews was enrolled as a student at MTSU and had worked at Shiroki in Smithville. He admitted to having a misdemeanor criminal past for simple assault in New York but claimed the charges against him there were dismissed. Crews said he is not currently on parole or probation for any other offense.
After being appointed to represent Crews, Assistant District Public Defender Allison Rasbury West asked that his bond be kept at $250,000 saying that amount was sufficient. However Judge Cook raised it to one million dollars. Upon hearing the judge’s decision, Bain’s father, who was in the courtroom along with other family members, called out “Thank you Judge”.
Crews’ second appearance in General Sessions Court was for a preliminary hearing on March 26.
Following the hearing covered exclusively by WJLE, Judge Cook ordered the case bound to the grand jury and increased Crew’s bond from one million to two million dollars.
Assistant District Attorney General Greg Strong called two persons to testify during the March 26 hearing and they were questioned by both Strong and Assistant Public Defender Allison Rasbury West , who is representing Crews.
Amy Tucker, a clerk at Village Market Marathon on North Congress Boulevard, testified that Crews was a regular customer and bought beer there on the day that Bain was killed. ” He was a pretty steady customer. He came in usually two or three times a day every day and bought beer,” she said.
During his testimony, TBI Special Agent and Criminal Investigator Lance Walker said surveillance video from Village Market showed Crews making a beer purchase around 1:00 p.m. on the day of the murder and an empty beer bottle and a bloody knife, believed to have been the murder weapon were found later that afternoon inside a Village Market bag at the crime scene. “We had heard that he had gone to Village Market and we retrieved a receipt (from the store) that matched up with beer sales of Mr. Crews purchasing 2-24 ounce Bud Ices and a Steel Reserve with a time stamp on the receipt at 1 p.m. The store video showed him making the purchase. When we got to the scene back in the bedroom where Ms Bain’s body was found, there was a plastic bag consistent with the bags that Village Market uses and in the bag was an empty Steel Reserve bottle and next to the bottle in the bag was a knife that had been bent from the force used upon it covered in reddish brown stains. There was also blonde hair appearing to belong to the victim on that knife. The knife was recovered and sent for testing,” Walker testified.
Agent Walker said that he was notified of the stabbing at around 2:00 p.m. that day and arrived on the scene at around 3:30 p.m. He described what he observed . ” I arrived on the scene after I received the call. We set up a perimeter for the crime scene. Mr. Crews (who was on the scene) was transported to be interviewed by another agent. I conducted a crime scene investigation. The first thing we noticed was that the front door was ajar. The frame was off the door. We went through the house and saw reddish brown stains which we assumed to be blood throughout the house leading back to the back left bedroom. And then we encountered Ms. Bain’s body. She was found on the left side of the bed, near the foot of the bed close to the wall. The manner of death (according to the autopsy) was multiple stab wounds. They could confidently say that there were at least fifteen (stab wounds). They could not establish the estimated time of death,” testified Agent Walker.
” Mr. Crews (who was at the scene) was disheveled. He was repeating himself over and over again. He appeared to be incoherent and he had a strong odor of alcohol on him. My understanding was that he and Ms. Bain were in a relationship and he stayed at the house at times throughout the week off and on. His clothing had what appeared to be blood. His long sleeved shirt, pants, and shoes all had reddish brown stains on them. His hands had what appeared to be dried blood. His clothing was sent to the lab for testing,” said Walker
“Samples of blood were taken from designated areas inside the home and sent to the crime lab for analysis including from the floor of the hallway, bedroom, dining/kitchen area, and a number of other items such as the knife and Bain’s wallet, which was found between two trash bags filled with trash (one on top of the other) in the kitchen. The wallet had about $1,400 in it. We also found more money (another $1,600 or $1,700) that appeared to come from the same source in the bedroom,” Walker testified.
As for the broken front door, Agent Walker said Crews had reported to the Sheriff’s Department in January that it had been damaged in an attempted break-in. “The Sheriff’s Office let me know that a report had been filed on January 26 for a supposed break-in. I think Crews filed the report that somebody had broke the door. I re-secured it before I left. It seemed secure,” Agent Walker testified.
Following the hearing, Crews was transported back to a facility in another county where he is being held.

An outburst during a March court hearing in a murder case has resulted in a Grand Jury indictment.
23 year old Clay Andrew Bain of Lakeview Drive, Smithville was indicted Monday by the DeKalb County Grand Jury for disrupting a meeting or procession and two counts of assault. He will be arraigned on August 10 in criminal court.
The incident occurred at the end of a General Sessions Court preliminary hearing in the second degree murder case against 42 year old Anthony (Tony) Tyrone Crews, who is charged in the February 5th fatal stabbing of 28 year old Ashley Bain. The woman was found dead in the home she and Crews shared at 3870 Cookeville Highway, Smithville. Clay Bain is the victim’s brother.
As WJLE first reported at the time, after Judge Bratten Cook, II ordered the case bound to the grand jury, Bain stood up and walked toward the door as if to exit the courtroom. When Judge Cook asked him to return to his seat, Bain walked past where Crews was seated and took a swing at him with his fist, hitting Crews in the head. A deputy standing beside Crews, Sergeant Brian Williams, suffered an injury to his left hand as Bain was trying to get to Crews. After being hit, Crews, who was handcuffed, stood up and turned toward Bain but he was quickly grabbed by officers and taken out of the courtroom. Bain was also escorted out. During the outburst, others in the courtroom, believed to be members of the Bain family began shouting and yelling obscenities at Crews.
The assault charges against Bain are for his attack on both Crews and Sergeant Williams.
WJLE has obtained a copy of the indictment.
Count 1 alleges that “Bain, on March 26, with intent to prevent or disrupt a lawful meeting, procession, or gathering, did substantially obstruct or interfere with the meeting, procession, or gathering by physical action or verbal utterance, constituting the offense of disrupting a meeting or procession.”
Count 2 states that “Bain, on March 26, did knowingly cause physical contact with Brian Williams, and a reasonable person would regard the contact as extremely offensive or provocative, constituting the offense of assault.”
Count 3 states that “Bain, on March 26, did knowingly cause physical contact with Anthony Crews, and a reasonable person would regard the contact as extremely offensive or provocative, constituting the offense of assault.”

A Liberty mother is the first person to be indicted in DeKalb County under a new law, which took effect last summer that allows the state to seek criminal charges against a woman who uses illegal drugs while pregnant.
The DeKalb County Grand Jury on Monday indicted 27 year old Lindsey Paulette Davenport of Woodbury Highway, Liberty on one count of assault on a viable fetus.
She will be arraigned in criminal court on August 10.
Sheriff Patrick Ray told WJLE that on January 21, Davenport gave birth to a baby boy whose urine tested positive for opiates. Blood drawn from the umbilical cord tested positive for Suboxone, Methodone, and Morphine.
WJLE obtained a copy of the indictment which states that “Davenport, between the 1st day of March, 2014 and the 21st day of January, 2015 intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly did cause bodily injury to a viable fetus, by illegally using a narcotic drug while pregnant, and the child was born addicted to and/or harmed by the narcotic drug and the addition and/or harm was a result of her illegal use of a narcotic drug taken while pregnant, constituting the offense of assault on a viable fetus.”
Faced with a growing number of babies born addicted to drugs in Tennessee, state legislators enacted the new law, sponsored by Representative Terri Lynn Weaver, with the intention of reducing the problem.
Signed by Governor Bill Haslam, the law became effective July 1,2014. It allows prosecutors to pursue criminal assault charges and potential jail terms if women bear children who are addicted or suffer other injuries because of the mom’s drug use. The Governor said at the time that the new law had been carefully considered and is intended to encourage law enforcement officers and prosecutors to push pregnant women with substance abuse issues toward treatment.