Two adults along with their families, friends and mentors, gathered Tuesday, January 24, 2017 to celebrate their graduation from the DeKalb County Recovery Court program.
The observance was held at the county complex. The graduates Terra Goad and Clint Cope received plaques noting their completion of the recovery court program through which participants commit to becoming clean and sober.
The recovery court program provides an alternative to incarceration for eligible non-violent offenders, who are deemed substance dependent. General Sessions and Juvenile Court Judge Bratten Cook, II said, “Both graduates have been drug free for more than a year. We’re extremely proud of them. Both of them came to us straight from jail as most of our recovery court participants do so instead of the county spending some $18,000 or $20,000 a year each on our recovery court participants, in recovery court I think the figure is like $3,000 or $4,000 a year per person. It’s a win-win for everyone, said Judge Cook.”
“The adult program lasts a minimum of twelve months. The participant must have some kind of criminal charge (to participate in recovery court). No violent offenders can be in the program. They can come (into the program) through a variety of ways as far as a violation of probation or any kind of drug charge, theft charges, and things like that. Typically they are all facing a minimum of a year to serve so this program is an alternative to incarceration. I’ve heard the judge tell plenty of participants it’s a lot easier to just lay down there (jail) for a year and do their time and we make it very clear to them that it is easier. You can go down to the jail and get served three meals a day or you can get into this program and have a new chance at life. You can graduate like our graduates tonight who have over a year being sober and are working and having their children back and their lives restored. But there are a lot of things they have to do. A lot of the program teaches responsibility and teaches them the tools to stay sober. That’s really the benefit to the participants. Of course the benefit to the community is that it saves taxpayer dollars while making the community and its citizens safer,” said Norene Puckett, Program Coordinator.
The recovery court graduation program featured guest speaker Will Taylor as well as a recovery court graduate and current juvenile recovery court participant performing “God on the Mountain.” Taylor is a Certified Peer Recovery Specialist through the TN Dept. of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services and works for Buffalo Valley in Castallian Springs as the Treatment Coordinator. He shared his personal story of recovery and offered encouragement and personal advice to participants and graduates. Taylor also conducts a weekly men’s group in Smithville at the Haven of Hope on Tuesday’s at 6:00pm for the recovery court program. This group is also available to any man in the county who would like to attend. For more information contact the recovery court office at 615-215-8690.
Recovery court team members who oversee the program locally in addition to Judge Cook and Recovery Court Coordinator Puckett are Sheriff Patrick Ray, Assistant District Attorney General Stephanie Johnson, John and Kay Quintero from Haven of Hope, primary treatment providers; Assistant Public Defender Scott Grissom, Probation Officer Jay Colton, Juvenile Case Manager Kristy Longmire, and Adult Case Manager Rhonda Harpole.

Members of the DCHS Class of 2017 are asking for your support of Project Graduation.
Madison Butler, a DCHS Senior, urges you to stop by any DeKalb County branch office of Liberty State Bank to make a donation.
“I am the 2017 Senior Class President, a baseball manager, a member of HOSA, Student Council, FFA, and the National BETA Club at DCHS. More importantly, I am a member of the 2017 graduating class. We are raising funds for our Project Graduation event that will take place the night of graduation in May. We will have food and fun activities. It is designed to keep us safe from the devastating effects of drugs and alcohol. In order to hold this event, we must raise funds and request the community’s help. Please stop by your local branch of Liberty State Bank in Alexandria, Liberty, or Smithville and make a donation to our account. All help will be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your support,” said Butler
Meanwhile a raffle for a 50 inch flat screen TV will be held Monday night, February 6 during the DCHS basketball games against Smith County at home. Tickets are 2 for $15 or $8.00 each. Proceeds will benefit DCHS Project Graduation.
A Corn Hole tournament is also set for February 25.

The Tennessee Department of Transportation will have a bid letting Friday, February 10 for repairs to the Veterans Memorial Bridge on South College Street over Highway 70.
The bid is expected to be awarded to a contractor by mid-March. The completion time on the project is on or before September 30.
The bridge has been closed since Monday, June 27, 2016 when a DeKalb County Landfill truck, driven by 54 year old Roger Chapman, hit the underside of the bridge as it was traveling east on Broad Street. Although the truck carried no dumpster at the time, the lift was up. Chapman received minor injuries and was cited by Smithville Police for speeding.
A TDOT inspection after the crash revealed “heavy collision damage” to the bridge and it will remain closed to traffic until repairs are made.
“The bridge repair project is scheduled for the February 10, 2017 bid letting, meaning it won’t be awarded to a contractor until approximately mid-March,” Jennifer Flynn, TDOT Community Relations Officer recently told WJLE.
“Bridge repair plans have been completed by our Office of Bridge Repair (part of TDOT’s Division of Structures in Nashville). The Bridge Repair Office is responsible for the design and plans preparation of bridge repair projects on state-maintained bridges. Repair projects are let to contract through the normal bid process and administered by the HQ Construction Office. During the construction phase, the Bridge Repair Section assists regional construction personnel in construction inspection and in solving any problems that may arise,” added Flynn.
The scope of the work to be done to the bridge includes repairing damage to beams E&F in span 3 due to collision damage; injecting epoxy into cracks in the deck, sidewalk, and beams in span 3; installing steel channels on beam E in span 3; and performing partial depth repair to the sidewalk in span 3. No existing utility lines are to be affected during the repairs.
Other TDOT project bid lettings Friday, February 10 affecting DeKalb County include the following:
*The resurfacing (microsurfacing) on U.S. 70 (S.R. 26) from east of S.R. 96 (L.M. 6.10) to the Dowelltown City limits (L.M. 10.88). Project Length – 4.780 miles. Completion Time – On or before 9/30/2017
*The resurfacing (microsurfacing) on S.R. 96 from the Wilson County line (L.M. 0.00) to Center Hill Dam (L.M. 12.66). Project Length – 12.660 miles. Completion Time – On or before 9/30/2017
*The miscellaneous safety improvements on U.S. 70 (S.R. 26) from west of the DeKalb County Line (L.M. 20.16) in Wilson County to near S.R. 96 (L.M. 6.10) in DeKalb County. Project Length – 6.260 miles. Completion Time – On or before 6/30/2017 (DEKALB AND WILSON COUNTIES)
*The mowing on various State Routes. (CLAY, DEKALB, JACKSON, OVERTON, PUTNAM, SMITH, AND WHITE COUNTIES)
*The random on-call pavement marking on various Interstate and State Routes. (BLEDSOE, BRADLEY, CANNON, CLAY, COFFEE, CUMBERLAND, DEKALB, FENTRESS, FRANKLIN, GRUNDY, HAMILTON, JACKSON, MARION, MCMINN, MEIGS, OVERTON, POLK, PUTNAM, RHEA, SEQUATCHIE, VAN BUREN, WARREN, AND WHITE COUNTIES)
*The retracing of pavement markings with spray thermoplastic on various Interstate and State Routes. (BLEDSOE, BRADLEY, CANNON, CLAY, COFFEE, CUMBERLAND, DEKALB, FENTRESS, GRUNDY, HAMILTON, JACKSON, MARION, MCMINN, MEIGS, OVERTON, PICKETT, POLK, PUTNAM, RHEA, SCOTT, SEQUATCHIE, VAN BUREN, AND WHITE COUNTIES)
*The relensing of snowplowable pavement markers on various Interstate and State Routes. (CLAY, CUMBERLAND, DEKALB, FENTRESS, JACKSON, OVERTON, PICKETT, PUTNAM, AND WHITE COUNTIES)

State Representative Terri Lynn Weaver has introduced legislation which would allow county road superintendents to spend state-aid funds for roads that are not part of the state-aid highway system.
“I have a bill to help bring in some funding for our locals concerning transportation. I met with my road supervisors. If we could take off some of the regulations and restrictions from the state aid money coming to the counties that would afford our elected road superintendents to make the decision then they could say “hey maybe we don’t need to put another layer of pavement on the state road. We could really use that money on a Class B or Class C road. It wouldn’t bring in a whole lot of money. It will just give our elected officials in our county the authority to say “we trust you to make the right decisions because you know the roads better than anybody because you are elected to maintain them,”Representative Weaver told WJLE.
Under Weaver’s bill, “once the local governments within a county geographical area have addressed the project priorities established by the (TDOT)commissioner, the county road superintendent or other similar county highway official may expend funds allocated for the state-aid highway system for other roadway purposes, including Class II and Class III roads and highways and other roads and highways that are not a part of the state-aid highway system. No approval of the (TDOT) commissioner is required for the expenditure, and no conditions shall be imposed by the commissioner in conjunction with the expenditure.”
“This legislation might ultimately be part of the comprehensive bill that we all work together on to not only fund the Tennessee Department of Transportation but here in our counties. That is where the rubber meets the road. We have got to get money back to our counties,” said Representative Weaver.

The DeKalb County Democratic Party will host a Chili Supper on Tuesday, February 28, 2017 at 6:00 p.m. at DeKalb County High School cafeteria.
State Representative Brenda Gilmore (D-Nashville) and House Democratic Leader Craig Fitzhugh (D-Ripley) will be the keynote speakers for the evening. Representative Fitzhugh is considering running for Governor in 2018. Music will be provided by Seth Willoughby.
Join them for food, discussion, and music as they consider plans to move forward

Two people escaped serious injury in a rollover crash early this morning (Saturday) on West Broad Street near Bridgeway Motel.
Central Dispatch received the call at 4:05 a.m.
According to Smithville Police, Jeremy Bilbrey and Stacey Robinson were traveling west in a one ton dump truck when the vehicle struck a culvert and left the highway, overturning down an embankment near the creek . Someone at the motel heard the crash and called 911. Both Bilbrey and Robinson got out of the truck on their own and had only minor injuries. They did not have to be transported to the hospital. The truck had no load at the time of the accident.
Members of DeKalb EMS and the Smithville Volunteer Fire Department were also on the scene.

A bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy will be considered by Tennessee lawmakers.
State Representative Terri Lynn Weaver has filed the bill which would outlaw abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy unless the life of the mother is in danger.
“I had the bill on file last year. I put in on hold because of the litigation going on across the nation. But currently 19 states now have passed this same legislation. It would prevent aborting a child that can survive at 20 weeks from the womb unless it’s a case of incest or there is harm to the mother,” Representative Weaver told WJLE
“The pendulum is switching. More and more people believe that this is not just a blob of muscle tissue inside the womb but that this is actually a human. It has a separate DNA. And its just downright murder to rip a child from the womb at this stage. In fact, the United States is only one of seven countries in the whole world that allows this. Europe will not allow abortions after 12 weeks so we need to address this. More and more people are being educated on it and seeing that science has proven that you can see this child moving around in the womb. I believe life begins at conception and we have science to prove that,” she said.
Representative Weaver was in Smithville Friday for her public forum “Coffee and Conversations”.

State Representative Terri Lynn Weaver is getting a first hand look at what a typical day is like for a Trooper with the Tennessee Highway Patrol.
Following her monthly public forum she calls “Coffee and Conversations” this morning (Friday) at Angie’s Diner in Smithville, State Representative Weaver took a ride with Trooper T.J. Withers for a day of job shadowing.
“The State House Transportation Committee doesn’t just deal with pavement and bridges. We are actually over Homeland Security and Safety. Today I am shadowing Trooper T.J. Withers of the Tennessee Highway Patrol just to see what his day is like,” she said.
State Representative Weaver, who serves as Sub-Committee Chairman of the State House Transportation Committee, said she has a deep appreciation for the THP and wants to learn more about their job and the challenges they face each day.

DeKalb County man was the victim of a robbery after connecting with a woman he met on an on-line date site known as Plenty of Fish.
(CLICK LINK BELOW TO VIEW MUG SHOTS OF PERSONS RECENTLY BOOKED AT THE DEKALB COUNTY JAIL- Intakes & Releases From: 1/30/2017 Thru: 2/6/2017)Seagate Crystal Reports – REPOR_9.pdf (2.9 MB)A
According to a report from the Southern Standard in McMinnville, the 27-year-old DeKalb County man, who was not identified, was robbed at gun point at a Warren County cemetery recently and his car was stolen. The man had to walk to a nearby house to call 911.
The story unfolded after Warren County deputies were summoned to Blues Hill Cemetery on Short Mountain Road and learned the victim had been ambushed soon after parking there with his date, a woman the victim knew at the time only as “Patricia.” He had connected with the woman on the internet dating site.
The newspaper reported that a male subject then tapped on the victim’s window and showed a handgun. The DeKalb man then rolled down the window and the assailant grabbed him and made him get out of the car. The victim was then struck in the mouth with the gun.
The suspect, later identified as Nicholas James Klingerman, age 25, jumped into the victim’s new Ford Mustang and fled the scene along with the woman, identified as Cheyenne Cook, age 18.
According to the story, the victim said he had never met the woman before their date but said they had gone to Walmart, the skating rink, bowling alley and Applebee’s before she suggested they drive to the isolated cemetery.
When authorities suspected Klingerman and Cook were responsible for the crime, they went to their home and were given permission to search. Authorities found 24 grams of marijuana and paraphernalia
In the end, the two were charged with carjacking and aggravated robbery. The crimes carry a sentence of up to 12 years in prison.