Lucille Crips

82 year old Lucille “Tincy” Crips of Dowelltown died Friday of an extended illness at DeKalb Hospital. She was a member of the Dowelltown Baptist Church and retired from Served Incorporated. The funeral will be Sunday at 3:00 p.m. at DeKalb Funeral Chapel. Donald Owens and Wayne Malone will officiate and burial will be in Salem Cemetery. Visitation will be Saturday from 11:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m. and Sunday from 10:00 a.m. until the time of the service at 3:00 p.m. She was preceded in death by her parents, Claud and Jewell Gibbs Jennings; her husband, Austin Crips; a son, Eddie Crips; two brothers, Charles and James Jennings; and a sister, Claudine Simpkins. Survivors include a son and daughter-in-law, Tommy and Sue Crips of Alexandria. A daughter and son-in-law, Lynn and Roger Griffith of Smithville. Daughter-in-law, Gail Crips of Smithville. Six grandchildren, Melissa and her husband Paul Vanhook, Deborah and her husband Jeff Cantrell, Chris and his wife Jennifer Griffith, Ron and his wife Mindy Griffith, and Ryan and Jeff Crips. Eight great grandchildren and two sisters-in-law, Vena Fuston of Smithville and Beulah Jennings of Alexandria. DeKalb Funeral Chapel is in charge of the arrangements.

Clella Ann Green

89 year old Clella Ann Green, a homemaker, of Smithville died Thursday at DeKalb Hospital. Funeral services will be Sunday at 1:00 p.m. at the Chapel of Love Cantrell Funeral Home with burial to follow at Whorton Spings Cemetery. Visitation will be Saturday from noon until 6:00 p.m. and Sunday from 10:00 a.m. until the service time at 1pm. Mrs. Green was preceded in death by her parents: Jackson and Avo Pedigo Trapp and two husbands: Fred Petty and William Lloyd Green. She is survived by one son, Jewell Petty of Tullahoma. One granddaughter: Michelle Petty of Florida. Two sisters, Claudie Emberton & Cecil Billings of Smithville and one brother, Clifford Trapp of Sparta. Love Cantrell Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements.

David Allen Crook

29 year old David Allen Crook of Smithville died suddenly Sunday. He was pronounced dead on arrival at the emergency room of DeKalb Hospital. He was a member of the Old Fashioned Freewill Baptist Church and a nursery worker. The funeral will be Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. at DeKalb Funeral Chapel. Jerry Pack will officiate and burial will be in the Crook Family Cemetery. Visitation will be Tuesday from 11:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m. and Wednesday from 9:00 a.m. until the time of the service at 3:30 p.m. He was preceded in death by his father, Glenn Allen Crook; his maternal grandfather, Dallas Colwell; and his paternal grandfather, Will Allen Crook. Survivors include two sons, Dylan Allen and Matthew Wyatt Crook of Smithville. His wife, Joann Crook of Smithville. His mother and step-father, Frances and Eddie McGuire of Smithville. A sister, Angela Crook of Smithville. His maternal grandmother, Myrtle Colwell of Smithville. His paternal grandmother, Nettie Lou Judkins of Smithville. Special nephew, Austin Rochefort of Smithville and several aunts, uncles, and cousins. DeKalb Funeral Chapel is in charge of the arrangements. The family has asked that donations be made to DeKalb Funeral Chapel in lieu of flowers to help with funeral expenses

Tommy J. Patrick

63 year old Tommy J. Patrick of Smithville died Monday at DeKalb Community Hospital. He was retired from the Murrey Guard Company, a member of the Seventh Day Church of God, and he served in the United States Army. The funeral will be Thursday at 11:00 a.m. at the Chapel of Love-Cantrell Funeral Home. Jim Short will officate and burial will be in the Gardens of Memory. Visitation will be Wednesday from 11:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m. and Thursday from 9:00 a.m. until the time of the service. He was preceded in death by his parents, Robert and Mary Hillis Patrick and a brother, James Patrick. Survivors include his wife of 45 years Reda Patrick of Smithville. Three daughters, Janice Kaye Patrick and Sandra Rupp both of Indiana. A brother, Barry Jones of Bone Cave and two sisters, Betty Green of McMinnville and Mary Williams of Morrison. Love-Cantrell Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements. The family requests that donations be made to the funeral home for funeral expenses in lieu of flowers.

Eva Katherine Green

92 year old Eva Katherine Green has passed away.The funeral will be Saturday at 10:00a.m. at the Chapel of Whitson Funeral Home in Cookeville. Burial will follow in the Brotherton Cemetery. She is survived by one son Larry L. Green, one daughter Ann Shively, two brothers Vance and Orley Rockwell, and one sister Wilma Rockwell. Visitation will be Saturday from 9:00a.m. until the time of service at 10:00a.m. Whitson Funeral Home in Cookeville is in charge of the arrangements.

Fire Destroys Vacant Trailer Home

A vacant trailer home, belonging to Brad Johnson, was destroyed by fire early Tuesday morning on Yulanda Hills Road in the Holmes Creek area.
County Fire Chief Donny Green says fire fighters were summoned to the scene around 1:00 a.m. but the structure had already been burning for quite some time before it was discovered and it could not be saved.
Green says no one lived at the trailer and no utilities were connected to it.
The cause of the fire is undetermined.
Members of the Cookeville Highway and Short Mountain Highway stations and the tanker truck responded. No one was injured.

Ninety Vote Early This Week In City Election

A total of 90 people have voted early to date in the Smithville Municipal Election.
The DeKalb County Election Commission reports that 27 people voted in person on Wednesday, 24 cast ballots in person on Thursday, and 39 voted in person on Friday.
These totals do not count ballots arriving by mail.
Early voting for the city election began Wednesday, May 31st.
Voting hours will be from 9:00 a.m. until noon Monday through Saturday, through June 15th on the first floor of the courthouse at the Election Commission Office.
Election Day voting will be from 8:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. at the same location.
A mayor and two aldermen will be elected on Tuesday, June 20. The positions are currently held by Mayor Cecil Burger and Aldermen Steve White and Jackie Rigsby.
Rigsby is currently serving out an unexpired term and will be seeking his first elected term; and Burger is running for alderman instead of mayor.
Other candidates for aldermen are Alford Webber and Incumbent Steve White
Taft Hendrixson and Jerry Hutchins’ Sr. are running for mayor.
Each of the terms is for two years.
Call 597-4146 for more information.

County Commission Reluctantly Votes To Pay Comp Time To 32 People

The County Commission, by a vote of 9 to 5 Monday night, reluctantly voted to pay more than $100,000 in accrued comp time to a total of 31 employees who worked for former Sheriff Lloyd Emmons and one employee of former Trustee Bobbie Young.
The measure was approved on the second roll call vote. It failed 10 to 4 on the first roll call.
County Mayor Mike Foster told the commission that the money had to be paid by Friday, or the county could risk having to pay penalties. ” We have been meeting with the Federal Fair Labor and Wage people for the last three or four weeks. He told us we should pay these amounts by this Friday or we will be under a penalty.”
Foster says in most cases, the employees are clearly due the money because they have the proper documentation. “Some of them are very clear cut and we absolutely owe them. Some of them we may need to question further. Many of these people have good time sheets and need to be paid, but there are some we need to have an attorney look at.”
Foster says three cents of the 39 cent tax increase or $115,000 has been included in the new budget to pay the comp time, yet he still wanted the commission to give him approval.
On the first roll call, ten commissioners voted against making the payment including Willie Thomas, Larry Summers, Marshall Ferrell, Jeff Barnes, Jeff Barrett, Wayne Cantrell, Randy Caplinger, Bobby Joines, Elmer Ellis, Jr. and Mason Carter.
Those voting in favor were John Green, Chris Smithson, Jerry Scott, and Jack Barton.
After the vote failed, Foster told the commission while he agreed with their decision, they must face facts that the money must be paid.” Friday morning, if we don’t pay this, we will incur a 10% penalty that will incur on a regular basis. If we go to court, they told us it would cost probably $200,000 and if we should not prevail, these people would be paid three times what this amount is for.”
County Attorney Hilton Conger agreed saying, ” The problem is the auditor has come in and he has verified it and he says you owe it. If you go to court, it’s a losing proposition.”
Realizing they had no other alternative, the commission voted 9 to 5 on the second roll call vote, to make the payments.
Those voting in favor were John Green, Jack Barton, Marshall Ferrell, Jeff Barrett, Chris Smithson, Jerry Scott, Bobby Joines, Elmer Ellis, Jr. and Mason Carter.
Commissioners voting against were Willie Thomas, Larry Summers, Jeff Barnes, Wayne Cantrell, and Randy Caplinger.
The names of the persons and the amounts owed are as follows:
Boyd Atnip- $2,947.84
Gayle Bowling- $2,840.32
Milton Bowling- $1,141. 28
Patrick Britton- $5,117.51
McClure Cantrell- $994.56
Kyra Clouse- $201.60
Mark Collins- $2,664.64
Darla Emberton- $331.52
Charles Griffith- $1,116. 94
David Hedge- $207.08
Jimmy Hendrix- $1,258.88
Bobby Johnson- $340.48
Mac Judkins- $216.10
Dana Lafever- $5,586.75
Shane Martin- $1,811.06
Chris McMillen- $1,909.55
Howard “Butch” Morris- $19,065.96
Jackie Ray- $560.00
Kenneth Ray- $1,052.80
Patty Rottero-$236.84
Jon Slager- $3,236.10
Ricky Smith-$1,216.32
Andy Snow-$2,064.32
Thomas Southworth- $978.88
Joyce Spurlock- $2,246.72
Susan Teachout- $860.16
Angela Tisdale- $1,357.44
David Ward- $3,818.38
Roger Whitehead- $1,403.03
Samantha Young- $654.08
Debra Stanley- $705.60
Talmage Young- $33,380
The total including fringe benefits comes to around $114,000.
Foster says new policies and procedures will soon be implemented to try to keep this from re-occurring. ” We’re going to be using one time sheet from now on and under no circumstances will anybody be paid in the future without a time sheet except department heads that the law exempts. We’ll have one time sheet that everybody signs. It will keep a running balance of comp times used and accrued and all other leaves and it will be on file in the office as required, and if someone leaves his or her employment, that position won’t be filled until his or her normal salary pays for that comp time to equal it out.”

Elsie A. Staggs Luna

95 year old Elsie A. Staggs Luna of Sparta died Friday at DeKalb Community Hospital. The funeral will be Sunday at 2:00 p.m. at the Chapel of Thurman Funeral Home in Sparta. Burial will be in the Taylor Providence Cemetery. The family will receive friends Saturday from 2:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. at the Chapel. Survivors include daughters and sons-in-law, Earlene and Bill McCormick of Cookeville, Rena Dinky Adcock of Smithville, and Ovean and J.W. Phifer of Sparta. A son and daughter-in-law, Danny and Donna Luna of Lebanon. Fourteen grandchildren, twenty great grandchildren, and seven step grandchildren survive. Thurman Funeral Home in Sparta is in charge of the arrangements.