A Republican has announced his candidacy for the office of DeKalb County Assessor of Property.
Shannon A. Cantrell of Smithville made an appearance at a DeKalb County Republican Party meeting Saturday morning at the courthouse to make the announcement.
Meanwhile Lee Plummer in the 1st district and Tom Theriaque in the 2nd district announced their intentions to seek the Republican nomination for constable.
Republican candidates for Assessor of Property and Constable will seek their party’s nomination for those offices during the local GOP caucus set for Saturday, December 5 at 9:00 a.m. at the courthouse. Nominees will run in the August 2016 DeKalb County General Election against Democratic nominees and any Independent candidates.
Cantrell, apparently no relation to the Democratic Incumbent Assessor of Property Scott Cantrell, is married with two children. He is also a local Baptist minister.
“I have been married to my wife Tonya for the last 21 years. We have two children, Kaylee and Levi. Kaylee is in her third year at Cumberland University and Levi is in the seventh grade at DeKalb Middle School,” said Cantrell.
“I am a local pastor. I have been since 2003 first with Coopers Chapel Baptist Church in the Dismal community and since 2008 I have been pastor at Temple Baptist Church in Smithville,” Cantrell continued.
“I am a lifelong resident and with the exception of a couple of years while I was in my early 20s I’ve always worked here in town. The last eleven years I worked at DeKalb Utility District. I was there up until September of this year,” said Cantrell.
A resident of Liberty, Theriaque and Heather, his wife of 20 years have three children, 17 year old Nathaniel, 15 year old Danielle, and 13 year old Dolton. He is the owner of DND Farm, which grows produce for local restaurants. The family attends the Smithville First United Methodist Church.
“I am looking forward to running in District 2. I plan to be active and I will meet state requirements and work with all other agencies if elected constable,” said Theriaque.
Plummer, who resides just outside the city limits of Alexandria, is a retired U.S. Army officer and retired college professor. Plummer said he pledges to be an active constable if elected. “I already have more than 90 hours of in-service training as an associate member of the Tennessee Constables Association and they only require 40 hours of training in your first year as constable so I could go the entire first year without going to a single class and I’m still qualified,” said Plummer.
Plummer is the father of six children one of whom is deceased. His wife passed away in 1996.
The deadline to get in these races including Democrats, Republicans, and Independents is NOON, Thursday December 10. Independent candidates, like Democrats, must qualify through the petition process. The local Republican Party will select nominees by caucus.
The DeKalb County Democratic Primary will be held in conjunction with the Tennessee Presidential Preference Primary on March 1.
Incumbent DeKalb County Assessor of Property Scott Cantrell has already picked up and returned his petition to seek re-election. He will be running for his party’s nomination in the March 1 primary.
Meanwhile, Incumbent Constables Paul Cantrell in the 4th district, Mark Milam in the 5th district, Carl Lee Webb in the 6th district, and Johnny King in the 7th district have all been issued petitions and have returned them to the election commission. They will be running for their party’s nomination in the Democratic Primary on March 1.
Meanwhile Travis Bryant, who was elected constable last year as an Independent to fill an unexpired term in the 3rd district has picked up a petition for the same office but this time he plans to run for nomination as a Democrat in the March Primary. Bryant has not yet returned his petition.
Chad Curtis, a Democrat in the 1st district and Republican Chris Tramel in the 2nd district were elected constable last year to fill vacant positions.