5-year-old Sawyer Cole stood walked up to the plate at the T-Ball field more than ready to take his first swing. The little boy with Down syndrome had been diagnosed with B Lymphoblastic Leukemia at the end of March a few days after the team’s first practice and had not been able to attend any practices or games as he underwent chemo treatment at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital.
“Finally, he felt like going and batting one time,” recalls Sawyer’s mom Kristin Cole. “There wasn’t a dry eye at the field, I don’t think.”
Sawyer will continue with chemo until next May of 2019. This is just the latest challenge the Smith County family is facing since their son was born unexpectedly with Down syndrome.
“It was a shock,” says Cole. “We were numb at first, and then obviously, it didn’t matter after that, and that’s why we didn’t do the genetic test before because it wouldn’t have mattered either way.”
Sawyer remained in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital for 18 days, having several surgeries. After that, their precious bundle of boy underwent physical therapy and occupational therapy for several years until he was recently released.
“For now, he’s where he needs to be,” says his mom. “He was receiving speech and feeding therapy once a week, and we’ve taken a break from that for a few months trying to adjust to his new diagnosis and all the appointments that go along with it.”
Despite the struggles, his mom says the family has a positive attitude.
“I look at it as you can either make it hard, or you can just try to figure it out,” Kristin said. “You have to do it either way. So, there’s no reason in making it harder and stressing about it. You kind of figure it out and go on.”
Take away the physical challenge and Sawyer is like any other little boy.
“He loves any kind of water—pools, waterslides, any kind of slides or swings like going to fairs or amusement parks,” his mom says. “He loves Mickey Mouse and loves to watch Mickey Mouse Club House. His favorite toys are balls, stacking cups, drinking cups, any kind of cups. He can keep himself amused for a long time with those.”
“He’s kind of quiet, but then, he has his little moments when it’s just us. He can get kind of rowdy, and he’s really silly, incredibly loving. He’s so sweet. He’s just a little love bug with certain people.”
Sawyer is the Face of the Race for the 3rd Annual 3.21 Run for Down Syndrome Awareness on Saturday, October 7 at DeKalb West School. You can register for the race at www.321RUN4DS.org.
The event was started in the spring of 2015 by then DWS 8th grade student Addison Oakley. Addison and her family have strong ties to Down syndrome children who are close friends and family. They wanted to raise awareness and provide resources to children with Down syndrome and special needs in rural areas that don’t usually have the resources of people in metropolitan areas. Thanks to the support of folks in DeKalb and Smith Counties, the organization has given back over $10,000 to assist individuals, communities and school systems’ special needs’ programs with games, tools, and other educational supplies to benefit children with Down syndrome and special needs.
“We want to do what we can to help spread word about this race and Down syndrome specifically, and help people realize these kids are different, but they’re extra special too,” adds Cole.
Down syndrome occurs when an individual has a full or partial extra copy of chromosome 21. Typically, the nucleus of each cell contains 23 pairs of chromosomes.
If you are interested in helping this cause, or would like to donate or become a sponsor, please contact 321Run4DS@gmail.com or at 615-548-4624.

Were you aware that more than 55 percent of people that misused prescription pills in 2014 got those pills from a friend or a relative (most often from a medicine cabinet), according to the Tennessee Department of Health?
The DeKalb Prevention Coalition (DPC) recently partnered with three local pharmacies to help get the message out about their initiatives. The coalition has purchased 24,000 pharmacy bags to be used by F.Z. Webb & Sons Pharmacy, Caldwell’s Drug Store, and Johnny’s Drugs that have information about the Count It, Lock It, Drop It initiative as well as binge drinking and information to help quit smoking.
DPC wants to remind the community to COUNT your pills once every two weeks. This will prevent theft and ensure that medications are taken properly. LOCK up your medications and store them in a place that others would not think to look. Contact the Coalition for Medicine Lock Box.
DROP off unused and expired medications for proper disposal at the Smithville Police Department’s box located inside Smithville City Hall. It’s quick and anonymous. DPC meets the last Tuesday of every month at Noon. Please see the facebook page for meeting locations and information about upcoming events at www.facebook.com/DeKalbPreventionCoalition.

The DeKalb County Board of Education will reorganize next Thursday, September 14 during its regular monthly meeting.
The board chooses its Chairman, Vice Chairman, and Assistant Secretary every September to serve for 12 months.
The presiding Chairman is W.J. (Dub) Evins, III from the fifth district. The Vice Chairman is Doug Stephens from the sixth district and Shaun Tubbs of the seventh district is the Assistant Secretary.
The board agenda for next Thursday is as follows:
*Consider and act on 1st reading on School Board Policies
*Consider and act on granting tenure
*Consider and act on surplus property
*Consider and act on Health Insurance Premiums 2018
*School updates and or committee reports
*Personnel report from the Director of Schools.
Any other business that may properly come before the Board
The consent agenda is as follows:
Approval to utilize the electronic check signing and present signatures until update
Approval of the Contract for Audit of Activity and Cafeteria Funds for the Fiscal Year ending June 30, 2018
Consider and act on 2017-18 21st Century Grant approved funding and budget
Consider and act on CTE Equipment Grant and Budget Amendment
Consider and act on approval of a Acellus Grant
Consider and act on 141 Budget Amendment (land)
Consider and act on a request from DeKalb Middle School to participate in two (2) day (noon) basketball games with Warren County
Consider and act on a request from DeKalb West School to participate in two (2) day (noon) basketball games with Dibrell Elementary
Consider and act on approval to collect data from the STEMmobile program
Consider and act on approval of State Provided Progress Monitoring Grant (Special Education)
Consider and act on Dual Enrollment Agreement between DCHS and Motlow State Community College
Consider and act on DeKalb County School Board members attending the 2017 Leadership Conference and Annual Convention, Gaylord Opryland Resort, November 2-5 2017.
The meeting will be at 7 p.m. at the Ernest Ray Education Center. A work session will be held prior to the regular meeting at 6 p.m.

The dates have been set for the special elections to fill the vacancy in the 17th Senatorial district.
Governor Haslam issued a “writ of election” today (Friday) setting the Primary date for November 7th and the General Election for December 19th.
The vacancy was created with the resignation of Mae Beavers who announced she was devoting all of time to her campaign for governor.
“We anticipated these would be the dates of the special elections, and now that we know for sure we can officially begin the tasks that are required by law and make final preparations,” said Dennis Stanley, DeKalb County Administrator of Elections.
The qualifying deadline for candidates is Noon September 28th. Winners of the respective primaries will then square off in the general election along with any independent candidates that qualified by the deadline.
Early voting for the November 7th special primary will be held from October 18th through November 2nd. The exact hours will be set Monday night by the local election commission.
Early voting for the special General election will be November 29th through December 14th.
“We want to remind potential new voters that the last day to register to vote in the November primary is October 10th,” Stanley said. “And we want to remind election workers to mark the election dates on their calendars and be expecting a letter in the near future announcing the dates for training.”
If you are interested in becoming a poll worker, please contact the DeKalb County Election Office at 615-597-4146.

The DeKalb County Tigers will renew an old rivalry tonight as they travel to Watertown to take on the purple tigers.
Game time is 7:00 p.m.
(CLICK LINK BELOW TO HEAR TIGER TALK WITH COACH STEVE TRAPP AND PLAYERS HUNTER FANN, PAXTON BUTLER, AND ISAAC CROSS)
http://www.wjle.com/audio/tiger-talk-september-8
The Tigers are 0-3 with losses to Warren County 26 to 10, Upperman 49 to 27, and Stone Memorial 38 to 16.
Watertown is 1-2 with a season opening win over Gordonsville 20 to 0 and back to back losses to Mount Juliet Christian 42 to 21 and Trousdale County 42 to 6
Tiger Coach Steve Trapp said he is hoping for a good performance from his team in tonight’s game.”It’s not that the guys do not have the ability to play the type of football that we want. It’s just getting them in the right position and getting them mentally correct but ultimately they have to get out on the field with a strong desire and passion to be the greatest football players they can be each and every play. Our effort is good. We’ve never had to question their effort but mentally we’re still trying to get everybody on the same page and playing a good brand of football,” said Coach Trapp.
Coach Trapp also talks about what he expects from Watertown.”Defensively, they are very similar to our defense. Coverage wise it looks like its pretty similar. I expect them to step up their pressure game because we’ve got four new offensive linemen out there. They probably have seen film on every game we’ve played this year. I expect them to probably blitz a little bit more than what they have shown on tape. Offensively they really do want to spread the field with a lot of screen game and jet sweep game. I don’t know if they throw it down the field quite like we want to do. Its more horizontal stuff. They try to out leverage you and get more people to the point of attack so our defense really has to make sure we’re aligned well and running to the football fast,” added Coach Trapp.
Kick-off is at 7 p.m. and WJLE will have LIVE coverage on AM 1480/FM 101.7 and LIVE streaming at www.wjle.com with the Voice of the Tigers John Pryor and Luke Willoughby.
WJLE’s Pre-Game shows begin with “Coach to Coach” at 5:00 p.m. featuring former UT football coach Phillip Fulmer and former UT assistant coach Doug Matthews with broadcaster Larry Stone talking Tennessee and SEC football.
“Coach to Coach” is followed by “Murphy’s Matchups at 6:00 p.m., a look at Tennessee High School Football from Murphy Fair with commentary on games and coaches interviews.
“Tiger Talk” airs at 6:30 p.m. with the Voice of the Tigers John Pryor interviewing Coach Steve Trapp and Tiger players Hunter Fann, Paxton Butler, and Isaac Cross.
The game kicks off at 7:00 p.m. with play by play coverage on WJLE with John Pryor and color commentary by Luke Willoughby

A Smithville man has been arrested for allegedly assaulting his mother.
27 year old Michael Joseph Lee of Estes Street, Smithville is charged with domestic assault. His bond is $5,000 and his court date is September 14. Sheriff Patrick Ray said that on Monday, August 28 Lee allegedly assaulted his mother by kicking her in the face and chest causing red marks. It was determined that Lee was the primary aggressor.
52 year old Kanday Kay Fish of Old Snow Hill Road, Dowelltown is charged with driving under the influence. She was also cited for failure to maintain lane of travel. Her bond is $1,500. Sheriff Ray said that on Monday, August 28 after receiving a call from central dispatch to be on the lookout for a reckless driver, a deputy spotted a vehicle matching the description while traveling south on Anthony Avenue. After observing the vehicle travel into the oncoming lane of traffic, the officer stopped it and spoke with the driver, Fish. According to the deputy, Fish could barely keep her eyes open. Her speech was slurred and she was very unsteady on her feet, After performing poorly on field sobriety tasks she was placed under arrest.
43 year old Jason Bradley Cripps is charged with driving under the influence and a second offense of driving on a revoked license. His bond is $4,500 and his court date is September 14. Sheriff Ray said that on Monday, August 28 a deputy was notified by corrections officers at the sheriff’s office that someone had driven to the jail without a license. Upon arrival the deputy spoke with a man, Cripps, who was sitting in the passenger seat of a white car. The officer reviewed video from a surveillance camera which showed that Cripps had driven to the jail and parked. He then exited the car on the driver side and then re-entered the vehicle on the passenger side. The officer knew that Cripps’ license were revoked. Cripps’ eyes were glossy and bloodshot with pinpoint pupils. His speech was slow and slurred and he was unsteady on his feet. Cripps submitted to but performed poorly on field sobriety tasks. He was placed under arrest. Sheriff Ray said Cripps had come to the jail to pick up Kanday Fish. Cripps’ license were revoked in 2006 for failure to file a property damage accident report.
38 year old James Cary Hicks, Jr. of Clear Fork Road, Liberty is charged with resisting stop, frisk, halt, search, or arrest. Sheriff Ray said that on Friday, September 1 a deputy went to Hicks’ residence to serve a warrant on him. Upon the officer’s arrival, Hicks ran out of a side door. The deputy identified himself and gave repeated commands for Hicks to stop but he refused. Hicks was later arrested.
35 year old Dustin Lee Mason of Greenbrier is charged with public intoxication. His bond is $1,500 and his court date is September 14. Sheriff Ray said that on Monday, September 4 a deputy was called to Pates Ford Marina due to someone causing problems there. Upon arrival the officer spoke with the man, Mason who had a very strong odor of alcohol on his person. His speech was slurred. His eyes were glassy and he was very combative. Mason went back to his campsite as ordered by the officer but he later returned to the marina before the deputy left. Mason was placed under arrest.
30 year old Brittany Nicole Kane of Ashland City is charged with public intoxication. Her bond is $1,500 and her court date is September 14. Sheriff Ray said that on Monday, September 4 a deputy was called to Pates Ford Marina due to someone there causing problems. Upon arrival the officer spoke with the woman, Kane who had a very strong odor of alcohol on her person. Her speech was slurred. Her eyes were glassy and she was very combative. Kane was placed under arrest.

Losing a child is unspeakably painful and perhaps the most devastating ordeal a parent could have to encounter.
Tyler and Jessica Cripps of Alexandria know what that’s like. Their daughter Paislee Cheyanne Cripps was stillborn on May 3, 2013. Their hearts were broken. Their world was shattered.
But during their grief they received the love and support of family, friends, church, and the community in such a way that it inspired Tyler and Jessica to help other parents mourning infant loss. As a result, Paislee’s Foundation was formed by the Cripps’ along with their friend Wesley McCubbin.
Paislee’s Foundation is a non-profit organization. Its purpose is to support those whose lives have been touched tragically within the past six months due to stillbirth, infant loss, or child loss up to three years old. Through the foundation, families can receive funds to assist them with funeral costs or other expenses. More than 40 families have been served since the foundation was established in October, 2013.
One of the annual fundraisers held to support the foundation is set for next month, the Paislee’s Foundation Craft & Home Show. This 4th annual event will take place on Saturday, October 14 from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. inside the Kenneth Sandlin Building at the DeKalb County Fairgrounds in Alexandria.
Admission is free and there will be plenty of free parking. Donations will be accepted for the foundation.
Thirty eight vendors had booths at the Craft & Home Show last year and more are expected this year.
If you would like to set up an inside booth as a craft vendor the cost is $25.00 for a 10’x8’ space. Outside space is also available. Demonstrations are welcome.
All proceeds fund Paislee’s Foundation. No one associated with the foundation gets paid. All funds collected go to support those grieving from still birth and infant loss.
For more information call or text Darcie Cripps at 615-464-5139 or email paisleesfoundation@gmail.com
(CLICK LINK BELOW TO LEARN MORE ABOUT PAISLEE’S FOUNDATION)http://www.paisleesfoundation.org/

Former State Senator Mae Beavers was in Smithville today (Wednesday) to donate her framed collection of Smithville Fiddlers Jamboree posters and Center Hill Dam print to the Smithville-DeKalb County Chamber of Commerce.
“Since I have moved out of my (senate) office we thought the place for these to be was the Chamber office in the courthouse,” said Beavers
Beavers has resigned her state senate office to devote full time to running for Governor.
Chamber Director Suzanne Williams stated, “I am so excited to have this Jamboree and Center Hill Lake art at the Chamber office. This generous gift will be displayed proudly to be enjoyed by many for years to come. What a beautiful addition to our office!”
The Jamboree posters included the 40th, 41st, 42nd, 43rd, 44th, 45th, & 46th festivals
Pictured l-r:
Front: Jerry Beavers, Smithville Mayor Jimmy Poss, Mae Beavers, Chamber Board Members Kathy Hendrixson and Jane Brown
Back: State Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver, DeKalb Co. Administrator of Elections Dennis Stanley, Chamber Director Suzanne Williams