Paxton Media Group Purchases Southern Standard and Smithville Review
by: Dwayne PageMar 16, 2025
Paxton Media Group, which owns Cookeville Herald-Citizen, has purchased the Southern Standard and Smithville Review from Morris Multimedia.
The Southern Standard was established in 1879 and will continue to be published three times per week. The Smithville Review started in 1892 and is published weekly.
Paxton Media is a family-owned company headquartered in Paducah, Ky. The company publishes daily and weekly newspapers in more than 120 communities in the Midwest and South and operates an NBC-affiliated television station. The company is currently managed by fourth- and fifth-generation family members.
The Southern Standard and Smithville Review will join the ten other Paxton-owned newspapers in Tennessee managed by Group Publisher, Jana Thomasson.
What A Dog! (View Video Here)
by: Dwayne PageMar 10, 2025
Make friend for life with Jackson! The WJLE/DeKalb Animal Shelter featured “Pet of the Week”
Jackson is a two-year-old pointer/Coon hound that is already neutered and has had all of his vaccinations. He loves being outdoors. Jackson is sponsored by the Friends of the DeKalb Animal Coalition, so his adoption fee is only $50.
If you are interested in meeting Jackson, fill out an application on the animal shelter website or come in. Visit https://www.dekalbanimalsheltertn.com/ or call 615-597-3647.
The shelter is open Mondays-Fridays from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. on Transfer Station Road off Highway 70 east behind Tenneco.
Three People Sentenced in Criminal Court
by: Dwayne PageMar 09, 2025
Three people were sentenced in DeKalb County Criminal Court Wednesday, March 5.
42-year-old Krista Shaynae Hodges entered a plea by criminal information to tampering with evidence and received a three-year sentence all suspended to supervised probation. After two years of probation if she is in compliance with probation, she can be moved to good behavior probation.
Sheriff Patrick Ray said that in September 2023 a detective obtained a search warrant for a residence and two phones resulting in charges for illegal possession of drugs and weapons. While looking through the evidence on the Samsung Galaxy A03s the phone shut down and then remotely reset but all information that had been on the phone was lost. Later, an inmate at the jail had a video visit with Hodges which was recorded. On the video, Hodges admitted to having remotely reset the phone. According to Sheriff Ray, Hodges’ act of deleting evidence from the phone effectively hindered the drug investigation.
In other cases, 46-year-old Zeb Donovan Pololu entered a plea to simple possession of a schedule II drug and received a sentence of 11 months and 29 days suspended to supervised probation. He was fined $750 and granted judicial diversion.
Sheriff Ray said that on Friday, November 26, 2021 a deputy stopped a red Chevrolet mini van for the traffic offense of crossing the highway’s middle white dotted lines several times. He then spoke with the driver, Pololu who had no insurance. After obtaining consent to search the vehicle, the officer found in a baggie inside a pocketbook 2.13 grams of a crystal-like substance believed to be methamphetamine. Also recovered were other baggies and two scales, one of which had a white substance on it.
23-year-old Christopher Edward Spoon-Murphy, Jr. entered a plea by criminal information to possession of a schedule II drug (methamphetamine) under 0.5 grams and was sentenced to six years to serve at 30% before his release eligibility date. He was fined $2,000. The sentence is to run concurrently with two violation of probation cases against him. Spoon was given 305 days jail credit.