Remembering Former State Representative Frank Buck

January 28, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

As DeKalb County joins the family of former State Representative Frank Buck in saying their final goodbyes today (Sunday), a few close friends are remembering his life and legacy.

Buck, age 80 who died Wednesday, January 24 at NHC Healthcare of Smithville, touched the lives of many, and a host of people knew him well. WJLE reached out to four of them last week to reminisce about their memories of Frank including State Representative Michael Hale, Sue Puckett, local attorney now retired; Vester Parsley, Jr., local attorney and former General Sessions and Juvenile Court Judge; and Walter Burton, local businessman and Republican leader, now retired.

“DeKalb County and the 40th district have so much to be thankful for because of Frank Buck,” said State Representative Hale, who now holds the position Buck had for 36 years in the Tennessee General Assembly.

“Frank was passionate about the people of the 40th district and he fought tooth and toenail for his constituents and to have a run of 36 years in the legislature is unbelievable. I remember when I was running for this office and we would talk, he encouraged me to take care of the people and serve them well if elected. He was a true public servant, and he served his constituents well. I think we owe him a lot of honor and thanks for what he did for DeKalb County and the 40th district. He will be greatly missed,” said Representative Hale.

“I remember so well my first encounter with Frank Forrest Buck,” said Sue Puckett. “I was secretary for McAllen Foutch, and Frank was a young lawyer, who came for an interview with Mr. Foutch. He did come to practice at the office. I soon discovered that he was a person of high energy, hard worker, but lacked the patience of Job. He was a colorful character, highly intelligent, a man of integrity, and loved pulling jokes especially on people he liked,” Puckett explained.

“I was his secretary for many years, helped him in his political endeavors, and we were good friends. Then when I became a lawyer, his adversary. However, it didn’t matter how hard we fought in court we always remained friends. He has been a friend to many and especially DeKalb County from his many years in the legislature. He truly made a difference and has certainly left his imprint upon our hearts and will be sorely missed,” said Puckett.

“What stood out the most about Frank were those khaki pants, penny loafers and sometimes tennis shoes, his blue buttoned-down shirt, and above all that brown leather vest,” said Walter Burton.

“I met Frank during our college days at Tennessee Tech in the 1960s and we got reacquainted when he came to practice law in downtown,” Burton explained.

“I was a Republican, and he was a Democrat, but we could find common ground working to help Smithville and DeKalb County. The biggest thing we worked on over the years was getting our roads updated, especially Highway 70 & 56. I lost count on how many trips we took to the Tennessee Department of Transportation office in Nashville but with a little help from Governor Don Sundquist, we finally got it going but it took a long time,” Burton continued

“He was for honesty in politics and championed ethics legislation like the “cup of coffee” bill to keep lobbyists from buying meals and paying for travel expenses for the General Assembly without disclosure. He was also for tourism and helped bring about things like the Tennessee Interstate Logos bill, which allows businesses to post their logos on interstate signs for motorists,” said Burton.

“Frank was also the master of innocent pranks on people he liked including me but he was the brunt of some of mine too,” said Burton.” He loved to dish it out but if you ever got one over on him, he always had to get you back”.

Burton said Frank cared about the people of his district and represented them well. “Rural areas like ours sometimes get left behind but Frank always tried his best to make sure that his district got its part”.

“Frank was a tireless, dedicated attorney and a member of the State House of Representatives for 36 years,” said Vester Parsley. “His work was always to improve Tennessee and life for the 40th District, which he represented. He always had the time to talk to the people in the district to find out what their opinions were. He was most concerned about making life better for future generations of Tennesseans”.

“One only needs to look back to see some of the road projects Frank helped secure for his district, especially in DeKalb County,” Parsley continued. “Among them being Highway 56, Highway 96, and Highway 70. While in the legislature, I heard him say many times that good roads help communities grow. He was always helping to improve the infrastructure with better roads, bridges, and water and sewer projects in DeKalb, Cannon, Smith, and part of Rutherford Counties”.

“If you knew Frank as I did, you would know how hard he worked to represent his clients. No case was too small or large when it came to getting the best results for them. I’ve tried many cases where he was on the other side and always knew it was going to be a fight. He never gave up”.

“Frank could always make you laugh with his legendary stories and jokes. I remember how he would walk into the office with a smile on his face and a cheerful greeting for all. No matter how stressful the day was, he found a reason to stay positive and hopeful. These moments of comradery are some of the fondest memories of Frank,” said Parsley.

“Thinking of Frank, one can’t forget how dedicated he was to his wife, Lena Ann, the children, and grandchildren. All these roles gave him great joy. His commitment to his duties and responsibilities was remarkable. Frank was a great asset to his community as well as a mentor and great friend of mine,” added Parsley.

Frank is survived by his wife of over sixty-one (61) years, Lena, and daughters, Kathryn Buck Pursell (Brice) of Dowelltown; Melinda Buck Brown (Chase) of Oak Ridge; Sara Buck Doude (John) of Milledgeville, Georgia; and Jennifer Buck of Dowelltown; six grandchildren, Frank Forrest Pursell (Taylor) of Crossville; Ann Pursell Williams (Timothy) of Liberty; William Pursell of Liberty; Emeline Brown Hébert (Luke) of Nashville; Ellie Brown of Nashville; and Lilah Brown of Oak Ridge; and two great grandchildren, Lena Pursell of Liberty and Caroline Pursell of Crossville.

Visitation is scheduled for Sunday, January 28, 2024 from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm. The Celebration of Life is scheduled for Sunday, January 28, 2024 at 2:00 pm. Burial will follow in DeKalb Memorial Gardens. All services and visitation are scheduled at Love Cantrell Funeral Home, 100 East Church Street, Smithville, Tennessee 37166.

January 27, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

The White County Warriors and Warriorettes completed a season sweep of the DCHS basketball teams Friday night in Sparta winning the girls game 71 to 37 and topping the Tigers 42 to 24.

In the last meeting on January 5, the Tigers lost to the Warriors in Smithville 61 to 38 while the Lady Tigers suffered an 80 to 49 loss to White County.

The Tigers are now 10-11 on the season and 1-3 in the district. The Lady Tigers own a record of 9-12 overall and 0-4 in district play.

In the girls game Friday night, DeKalb County trailed 17 to 3 after the 1st period, 35 to 16 at halftime, and 51 to 30 by the close of the 3rd period before losing 71 to 37.

Ella VanVranken led DC in scoring with 18 followed by Avery Agee with 11, Chloe VanVranken 7, and Cam Branin with 1.

The Tigers led the Warriors 4 to 0 after the 1st period of the boys game but fell behind 13 to 10 by halftime and trailed 29 to 20 after the 3rd period before falling 42 to 24 to White County.

Conner Close scored 8 followed by Jon Hendrix with 7, Dallas Kirby 5, and Seth Fuson and Alex Antoniak each with 2.

The Tigers and Lady Tigers will meet Stone Memorial for the first time this season in a pair of makeup games today (Saturday, January 27) in Smithville starting with the girls game at 2 p.m. followed by the boys game. WJLE will broadcast LIVE.

The Panthers are 13-8 overall and 3-2 in district play while the Lady Panthers are 8-12 overall and 1-4 in the district.

January 26, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

How many beds would be needed if and when a new DeKalb County Jail or Judicial Center is built?

The Jail committee of the DeKalb County Commission met Thursday night and voted 8 to 1 to have the county’s architect and contractor come up with costs projections for a possible 150, 190 or 225 bed facility.

During the meeting, Jim Hart, Jail Consultant and Field Manager of the County Technical Assistance Service (CTAS) updated the committee on the county’s jail assessment revised study which now recommends up to 272 beds to meet current and future needs.

All members of the jail committee in attendance at the meeting voted in favor of the motion seeking bed count cost options except for Commissioner Greg Matthews, who apparently was not comfortable with at least one of the options.

“I don’t think 150 (beds) is going to cut it,” said Matthews. “I think 272 (beds) might seem a little too much. It seems like an awful lot compared to what it has been for years here and 250 beds is double what we currently have. There’s a big difference between 250 and 272 including the cost”, said Matthews.

Members of the committee in attendance voting in favor of the motion were County Commissioners Jeff Barnes, Daniel Cripps, Tony “Cully” Culwell, Tony Luna, Glynn Merriman, Sabrina Farler, Larry Green, and Beth Pafford.

“We are going to take those (jail bed) options and consult with our architect and contractor to develop an estimated cost on what this would be to give us an idea of what revenue source we would have to acquire to meet our needs,” said County Mayor Matt Adcock.

“We (jail committee) will meet again on February 27 to evaluate the estimated costs of these three jail bed count options as presented by our architect and contractor as well as the admin costs associated with the rest of the proposed judicial center including the sheriff’s department, court rooms, clerks’ offices, storage, etc. We still haven’t put our finger on a good piece of land yet for the facility and so far there are not many viable options,” said County Mayor Adcock.

Hart explained findings of the revised CTAS Jail study.

“An accepted figure is that your jail is crowded when your average daily population exceeds 85% of capacity. If you have a 100-bed jail and it routinely exceeds 85 inmates, you are overcrowded and that has an impact on your ability to classify and separate offenders by their risk and needs and to address when you have surges in the inmate population due to weekend offenders, major roundups, or a backlog in court. You have been trending just above your rating capacity for males and females,” said Hart.

Unlike when the DeKalb Jail Annex was built in 2001, Hart explained that dormitory type facilities like the annex, pose more concerns today.

“Twenty years ago, a lot of dormitory space in jails were built for housing low risk misdemeanor offenders. Today we have a high number of pre-trial felons in custody and more violent offenders as well as individuals with mental illnesses and substance use disorders. We see a whole different dynamic of inmate populations today so open bay dormitory style housing becomes very problematic today,” said Hart.

“Now for every inmate who comes into custody, we should be doing a formal classification assessment which identifies specific risk and needs of that individual offender such as whether he or she is an escape risk, violent person, sexual predator, or a danger or threat to our facility”.

“An inmate’s needs must also be considered such as their mental health, whether they are elderly, in advanced stages of pregnancy, or other reasons that they can’t be in the general population. We try to house them according to their risks and needs to ensure the safety and security of everyone,” said Hart.

Hart further explained how the CTAS assessment arrived at the 272-bed recommendation for DeKalb County.

“How I do a calculation to do a projection for about 20 years out is I look at your actual census data and the incarceration rate based on a 10-year period of combining data as to how many people were incarcerated during that time. I also include a peaking factor in which I take the three highest population counts each month over a 10-year period and divide the average daily population into that to get the peaking factor. I also include a 20.1% projected surge in inmate population with construction of a new jail as has been the case with other new jails we have seen”.

Taking into account these factors (potential base average daily population forecast, potential surge percentage, peaking factor, and classification factor), Hart said the study shows total estimated space requirements for DeKalb County are projected to be 67 beds for female inmates and 205 for males by the year 2043 totaling 272 beds.

Its been five months  since the county was forced to cut the certifiable bed capacity of the DeKalb County Jail in half from 102 to 52 and since that time many prisoners have been relocated to other jails across the mid-state. And while the county continues to ponder what and where to build in terms of a new jail or judicial center, the costs to the county of sending these inmates off to other places continues to rise.

During Thursday night’s meeting, Sheriff Patrick Ray updated members of the jail committee on where these prisoners are going and how much it is costing to keep them there.

As of Thursday, January 25, Sheriff Ray said that the DeKalb County Jail held a total of 51 men but no women and  seven men and eleven women were being housed elsewhere including the Robertson, White, Lincoln,  Smith, and Warren County jails.

The breakdown is as follows:

*5 DeKalb County male prisoners housed in the Robertson County Jail- $55.40 per day per prisoner

*2 female prisoners in the White County Jail-$50 per day per prisoner

*2 female prisoners in the Smith County Jail-$44 per day per prisoner

*2 female prisoners in the Lincoln County Jail-$0

*1 male and 4 female prisoners in the Warren County Jail-$41.00 per day per prisoner

*1 male prisoner in DeBerry-$0

“We have paid out $45,417 (75.69%) of funds budgeted for this expense and have not received bills from some counties yet. We have also started using ankle monitors for some inmates and the cost is around $7.00 per day- We currently have one female prisoner on an ankle monitor”, said Sheriff Ray.