Tennessee’s 2017 spring turkey season opens on Saturday, April 1 and continues through Sunday, May 14. The state young sportsman hunt for youth ages 6-16 is March 25-26.
Spring turkey harvest numbers have been consistent for a number of years in Tennessee. Tennessee turkey hunters have passed the 30,000 harvest mark for 14 consecutive years during the spring hunting season.
Hunting hours for turkeys are 30 minutes prior to legal sunrise until legal sunset. Legal hunting equipment includes shotguns using ammunition loaded with No. 4 shot or smaller. There is no restriction on number of rounds in magazine. Longbows, recurve bows, compound bows, and crossbows are permitted.
Firearms and archery equipment may have sighting devices except those devices utilizing an artificial light capable of locating wildlife. Night vision scopes are illegal.
Bag limits are one bearded turkey per day, not to exceed four per season. Any turkeys harvested during the young sportsman hunt count toward the spring season limit.
More information on the 2017 spring turkey season can be found in the 2016-17 Tennessee Hunting & Trapping Guide. The guide is available at TWRA offices, license agents, and online at www.tnwildlife.org.

Retired educator and avid hunter Linda Franklin and her husband retired TWRA officer Ben Franklin recently returned from a hunting trip to Welaka, Florida where they each bagged an Osceola turkey.
With the kill, Linda has scored an American grand slam, having harvested a turkey from each of the four major subspecies in the United States, Eastern, Merriman, Rio Grande, and now the Osceola.
“We went to Florida because it’s the only place that has an Osceola turkey. That is the only one that I lacked having a grand slam. This was my third time down there and for me the third time was the charm. I will have to say in my defense that I have never pulled the trigger on one until this time. When I pulled the trigger, he fell,” she said.
While Linda is thrilled to have her first grand slam, Ben has four grand slams and is one kill away from scoring his fifth. “We’re going to Kansas next month to hunt the Rio again and if he gets one there that will be his fifth grand slam,” said Linda.

The Real Estate Team recently attended The Eastern Middle TN Association of Realtors Awards of Excellence Banquet at the Nashville Airport Marriott.
Three members of the team received the Gold Honor that represents sales in excess of $2.5 million and one silver honor in excess of $1.25 million.
Recipients’ include Tony Fuston, Betty Lattimore, Jennifer Hannah and Danny Conger. Some were saying this was the winners table for Dekalb County. The Real Estate Team strives for success and has added five new agents since October. They would like to thank all of our clients and DeKalb County for our continuing success. The firm is dedicated in representing the buyers and sellers in their best interest.

DeKalb County’s unemployment rate for January was 7.2%, up from 5.9% in December and above the rate of 5.8% in January, 2016.
The local labor force for January, 2017 was 7,670. A total of 7,120 were employed and 550 were unemployed.
County unemployment estimates for January 2017 show the rates increased in all 95 counties.
Jobless rates for January among the fourteen counties in the Upper Cumberland region were as follows from highest to lowest:
Jackson:9.1%
Clay: 8.9%
Pickett: 8.2%
Cumberland: 8.1%
Van Buren: 7.2%
DeKalb: 7.2%
Overton: 7.2%
Fentress: 6.8%
White: 6.1%
Smith: 6%
Putnam: 5.9%
Warren: 5.6%
Macon:5.2%
Cannon:5.1%
For the month of January, Davidson County has the state’s lowest major metropolitan rate at 4.1 percent, increasing from 3.7 percent the previous month. Knox County is 4.7 percent, an increase from the previous month’s 4.2 percent. The Hamilton County rate is 5.5 percent, increasing from a previous rate of 4.8 percent. Shelby County has a 6.3 percent rate, increasing from December’s 5.6 percent.
Tennessee and the U.S. have experienced an increase in the preliminary unemployment rates for January. Tennessee’s rate is 5.4 percent, increasing from the previous month’s revised rate by three-tenths of a percentage point. An increase of one-tenth raised the U.S. preliminary rate to 4.8 percent.
The state and national unemployment rates are seasonally adjusted, while the county unemployment rates are not. Seasonal adjustment is a statistical technique that eliminates the influences of weather, holidays, opening and closing of schools, and other recurring seasonal events from economic time series.

Students will be able to receive up to five excused absences for personal illness during a school year without a doctor’s statement under a policy amendment adopted on first reading by the Board of Education Thursday night.
Under the current board policy, a doctor statement is required for all student absences due to illness in order to be excused. The amendment allows schools to accept notes from parents for up to five absences per school year. A doctor’s statement will be required for students who are absent after the fifth day of personal illness.
The amendment will be up for passage on second and final reading next month.
The board also adopted a policy on first reading which prohibits employees from accessing social media and networking sites through the schools network or by any other means (e.g. smart phones) during work hours. Passage of the new policy on second reading will be considered next month.
In other business, Director of Schools Patrick Cripps announced in his monthly report on personnel moves that Lindsey Bouldin and Nikita Johnson, both teachers at Smithville Elementary School have been granted a leave of absence as requested.

Two local Tennessee Highway Patrol troopers were honored last Thursday evening at the THP Trooper and Dispatcher of the Year Ceremony in Murfreesboro. There, troopers and dispatchers were recognized for their outstanding service to the State of Tennessee.
Trooper Jeremy D. S. Tramel was named Trooper of the Year for the 6th District, citing an incident that occurred last summer.
On June 5, 2016, Trooper Tramel was at the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department when a call was received for a suicidal female. THP assistance was requested due to a firearm being involved.
He arrived at 12:00 midnight to find the front door of the facility open and the lights turned off. Trooper Tramel noticed the door to the female restroom was closed and the light inside on. When he approached the door, and announced himself, the female occupant told him she had a gun up her nose and would pull the trigger if he opened the door.
He began to talk with her in an attempt to gain her trust and keep her calm, while the other officers notified dispatch to send additional resources, including a negotiator. The woman stated she needed mental help and wanted to go to Massachusetts. She also requested a friend to come to the scene; however, he was in Lawrenceburg and would not arrive for two hours.
Trooper Tramel continued to converse with the woman, who requested a cigarette. He began to slide her cigarettes under the door, trading them one at a time for bullets from her weapon. A negotiator with Putnam County Sheriff’s Office arrived and determined that allowing Trooper Tramel to continue negotiations would be best since he had been doing so for nearly one and a half hours.
Three and a half hours after arriving on scene, she had just two bullets remaining, when her friend from Lawrenceburg arrived. She gave up her weapon and remained inside the door. Trooper Tramel finally got her safely out of the room, gently placed her in handcuffs, and then accompanied her to the hospital for evaluation, riding with her in the back of a DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office patrol car.
THP Sergeant Dewaine Jennings was also recognized at the ceremony with a Lifesaver Award for a call he responded to last Spring.
On May, 30, 2016, at around 1:40 AM, Sergeant Jennings arrived on the scene of a boy standing on a billboard, threatening suicide. When he arrived, there were two other officers present, but none were attempting to make contact with the youth. He felt he needed to get to the teen and attempt to evaluate him and see what his needs were.
With the assistance of Trooper Al Seitner, Sgt. Jennings was eventually able to be lifted high enough to grasp a ladder on the billboard, and climb up to where the boy was located. He made contact with the teen and began conversing with him.
The boy stated that he was fed up and did not want to go on with life. Sgt. Jennings noticed blood all over the boy’s arm from self-inflicted wounds. He learned that boy was 16 years old, and began to talk with him about his hobbies and school.
Sgt. Jennings conversed with the teen for approximately one hour and ultimately convinced him to go to the hospital for evaluation. The Cookeville City Fire Department responded with a ladder truck to help them get off the billboard safely. Sgt. Jennings secured the boy with a safety belt, and moved him to the platform of the ladder truck, before securing his own safety.
At the request of the boy’s mother, Sgt. Jennings transported him to the hospital, in lieu of EMS, because he had developed a rapport with him, and exhibited great concern for his safety.