Core Drilling Scheduled Monday on Allen Ferry Road Property

Core drilling has not yet been conducted on the property the school board is hoping to purchase on Allen Ferry Road because of recent rainy weather.

Director of Schools Mark Willoughby said Thursday night during the school board meeting that the core drilling has been re-scheduled for next week. "We were supposed to have core drilling done last Wednesday but the rain came in and we didn't get to have it on that day. We were going to have it on Monday but that didn't happen either because of the rain. Now it's set up for the core drilling to be done next Monday depending upon the weather. We're hoping to have that complete to give you (school board) a report pretty soon."

Meanwhile, Willoughby said he is hoping to negotiate a better price for the property with the owners after a recent survey of the site. "When we had the land surveyed, it came out to 52.97 acres which is about 4.68 acres less than what we thought it was going to be. When we looked at the survey the discrepancy in the 4.68 acres was actually an area that we could not use anyway so I am talking with the owners about lowering the price. I think that may be a good possibility that we may be able to purchase the property a little bit cheaper than what we had planned on."

Willoughby added "I think that particular site is going to suit our purposes really well. We will go forward once we get the core drilling and the professional opinions from the people that do this all the time. We'll find out whether we go ahead or not. Some people have been concerned but I just want to let everybody know that if the site doesn't meet the professional opinions of the engineers and it's not found to be a good building site, we won't go forward. If it does meet the opinions and the requirements of the architects and engineers then we will go forward with it. We're just waiting on the core drilling."

The school board voted last month to request that the county commission adopt a budget amendment to appropriate $374,000 of Basic Education Program (BEP) Reserve funds to purchase 57.59 acres more or less on Allen Ferry Road to be used for future educational needs. So far, the county commission has not acted on the request.

County Fire Department Saves Home on Allens Chapel Road

Thanks to quick action by the DeKalb County Volunteer Fire Department, a home on Allens Chapel Road was spared from possible widespread fire damage Thursday night.

County Fire Chief Donny Green said that firefighters were called to the home of Ronnie Redman, Jr. at 222 Allen's Chapel Road at 7:46 p.m.

According to Chief Green, a passerby driving by saw smoke coming from the home and called 911. "When we arrived, we found no one at home. We later learned that the family had left about an hour prior to the fire to go visit friends at Gordonsville," said Green. "We made entry and found a fire in the laundry room which started in a trash can. We put out the fire and contained the damage to the laundry room and hallway outside of the laundry room. The rest of the house received extensive smoke and heat damage," said Chief Green.

Members of the Cookeville Highway, Tanker Truck, Main Station, and Short Mountain Highway Stations responded along with the Sheriff's Department and DeKalb EMS. Smithville Police officers were also there to control traffic. No one was injured.