Taking Orders from the President?

April 27, 2025
By: Dwayne Page

A man found talking out of his head about martial law, making threats against police, and saying he was taking his orders from the President was arrested earlier this month.

32-year-old Dustin Paul Summers of Smithville is charged with public intoxication, two counts of possession of a controlled substance (Fentanyl & Marijuana) with intent to manufacture, sell, or deliver; possession of Methamphetamine with intent to manufacture, sell or deliver; and possession of drug paraphernalia. He is under a $106,500 bond and will appear in court on May 8.

Chief Deputy Brian Williams of the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department said that on April 19 a deputy responded to 1071 Midway Road to conduct a welfare check on someone heard screaming. Upon arrival the officer found Summers in his vehicle at Faith Baptist Church on Midway Road and he was yelling out his window. According to the deputy, Summers appeared to be under the influence. He was talking out of his head about martial law, not making sense, and further stated that he was going to kill police and that he was getting his orders from President Trump. Summers was asked but refused to roll down his window so that officers could determine if he was under the influence or having a medical emergency. While deputies were talking to Summers, other officers were able to open the passenger door and remove him from the vehicle. During a search of his person, deputies found in his pocket a container which held a crystal-like substance believed to be methamphetamine. A further search of the vehicle turned up a bag containing drug paraphernalia, marijuana, and more crystal-like substances.

29-year-old Zackery Alexander Walker of Green Hill Road, Smithville, is charged with possession of methamphetamine with intent to manufacture, sell, or deliver and possession of drug paraphernalia. He is under a bond of $11,500 and his court date is May 1.

Chief Deputy Williams said that on April 16 a deputy was dispatched to the area of Big Rock Road, to investigate a report of two suspicious men on bicycles. Upon arrival, the officer observed Walker and another man. As Walker rode past the patrol car on his bike, the deputy noticed him reach into his left cargo pocket and drop something out. He checked the spot and found a glass pipe with residue. A further search of Walker’s person and bicycle yielded another pipe with residue in a black bag as well as a clear baggy that held a crystal-like substance believed to be methamphetamine that weighed 0.66 grams.

44-year-old Nathan Todd Cooke of Sparta is charged with aggravated assault and violation of an order of protection. He is under a $10,000 total bond and he will be in court on May 1.

Chief Deputy Williams said that on April 18 a deputy was summoned to the Johnsons Chapel Recreation Area due to a domestic complaint in which a man was observed assaulting a woman.

Upon arrival, the officer confronted Cooke and his wife. The woman said she and Cooke had been arguing when he pulled her out of the truck by the hair of her head. A background check through central dispatch revealed that Cooke was under a temporary modified order of protection from White County to keep away from his wife except for peaceful sober contact and that Cooke was prohibited from having possession of or consuming alcohol. Cooke smelled of alcohol and his speech was slurred. He admitted to having consumed four beers and he was placed in custody.

77-year-old Sharon Lois Moody of Smithville is charged with domestic assault. She is under a $2,500 bond and will be in court on May 1.

According to Chief Deputy Williams, an officer responded to Jacobs Pillar Road on April 19 due to a physical domestic compliant. Upon arrival, the deputy spoke with Moody and two others. One of them, Moody’s granddaughter alleged that Moody had struck her in the face and pinched her during an argument. Moody admitted to the assault saying she did not like the way her granddaughter was talking to her.

31-year-old Gerardo Morales of Smithville is charged with domestic assault. He is under a $3,500 bond and will be in court on May 8.

Chief Deputy Williams said that on April 20 a deputy was summoned to Blue Springs Road on a domestic abuse complaint. Upon arrival the officer spoke with two women who claimed that Morales, a husband to one of them, had gotten into an argument with one of the parties there and that when she slapped his arms to get him away from her daughter, Morales slapped her across the left side of the face, causing swelling and bruising. He was then taken into custody.

22-year-old Lucas Diaz Ruiz of Watertown is charged with DUI and driving without a license. He is under a $5,000 bond and he will make a court appearance on May 8.

According to Chief Deputy Williams, an officer was dispatched to Nashville Highway on April 20 due to multiple reports of a reckless driver. Callers reported a motorist driving on the wrong side of the road, almost striking other vehicles. The deputy spotted the suspect vehicle, a maroon Honda Civic in Liberty driving in the wrong lane. After making a traffic stop, the deputy spoke with the driver, Ruiz and learned from a background check through central dispatch that Ruiz did not have a valid driver’s license. Ruiz smelled of alcohol and his eyes were red and bloodshot. According to the officer, Ruiz was chugging a container of water, and he noticed extensive damage to Ruiz’s vehicle. A passerby reported to having followed Ruiz’s automobile and witnessed it hit another vehicle on Nashville Highway although officers were not able to locate the car he struck. Ruiz admitted to consuming two to four beers two hours prior to his arrest. He submitted to but performed poorly on field sobriety tasks.

April 27, 2025
By: Brian Cadle

The DCHS boys’ tennis team ended regular season play on Tuesday with home victories over district rival Warren County, 8-1, and Watertown, 7-0. The Tigers finished the regular season with a 12-3 overall record and 5-1 in the district. Lance Duke and Ian Barnes were undefeated in singles and doubles, while Jackson Mathis, Luke Midgett, and Ethan Brown won both singles matches to lead the Tigers. The team clinched 2nd place in the district regular season behind Cookeville, which qualifies them for the team tournament. White County returns to Smithville for a semifinal team match on Friday. The Tigers pulled out a 5-4 victory earlier in the season, playing in a 6 singles, 3 doubles format. The TSSAA requires a 5 singles and 2 doubles tournament format, which poses a challenge for the boys. “Our boys and girls teams have both shown excellent depth throughout the season, especially in the district. We have won several matches, including White County, by clinching victories in the lower seeds, particularly 6 singles and 3 doubles. We will not have those positions in the tournament, meaning that our top seeds in singles and doubles need to step it up,” said DeKalb Head Tennis Coach Brian Cadle. “White County has some excellent players in their top positions. We are just as talented in those spots, but lost to them in the regular season. I am confident that our guys will be more ready this time around.”

The Lady Tigers lost on Tuesday to Warren County and Watertown, finishing their regular season with a 9-7 record and 3-4 in the district. While falling short of qualifying in the team tournament, Coach Cadle praised the girls for their substantial improvement this season. “I am so proud of this team and how the girls have improved since last season. We won six matches last year and almost reached ten wins this year. We are losing only one player from this year’s roster and returning everyone else. I know this group of girls will make the off-season commitments during the summer and fall continue to improve even more.”

Monday was senior day for the tennis program, with four players recognized: Charlotte Paladino, Ian Barnes, Jackson Mathis, and Luke Midgett. Each player has served an important role in helping the DCHS tennis team grow and improve into a competitive and successful program in the district and region. Paladino played in the #1 singles spot for the Lady Tigers for three seasons, a position that faces very stiff competition. “Charlotte has been the steady force on our girls’ team during her career. She assumed the #1 seed as a sophomore during a massive rebuilding year when we lost all of our matches in 2023. I am thankful for her commitment to sticking out those early challenges to lead our team to a 9-win season in 2025.” Barnes, Mathis, and Midgett joined the program as sophomores and helped the team emerge that year as a district contender, earning 2nd place in 2023. “I am thankful to Ian, Jackson, and Luke for helping our team rise to the top of our district behind Cookeville and alongside White County. They have partnered together to establish a foundation of success, a position we will strive to hold going forward.” Besides the team tournament match on Friday, the boys’ and girls’ teams will compete in the individual singles and doubles rounds on Thursday, May 1st, and Friday, May 2nd.

April 25, 2025
By: Dwayne Page

DeKalb County has filled the position of Medical Examiner with a familiar face.

During Thursday night’s workshop, County Mayor Matt Adcock informed the county commission that he has again appointed Dr. Caleb Cantrell as the medical examiner subject to approval of the commission. Dr. Cantrell had been named to the position last summer but didn’t serve amid the controversial suspension of former medical examiner Dr. Denise Dingle by the county mayor which the commission did not uphold. Months after she was returned to the position, Dr. Dingle resigned just as a new county policy went into effect regarding how the medical examiner and medical death investigator were to be paid per death call.

After the departure of Dr. Dingle, Dr. Cantrell was again approached but resisted taking the job due to policy concerns and no other local physicians have been willing to accept the role. Dr. Adele Lewis of Nashville, the State Medical Examiner has filled the void in recent weeks but has informed County Mayor Adcock that she will no longer continue doing the work for the county after April 30.

With a proposed revision in the medical examiner policy on the agenda for Monday night’s monthly county commission meeting, County Mayor Adcock said Dr. Cantrell has again decided to accept the offer.

Under the existing policy which went into effect February 1, “$200 will be paid to the Medical Examiner per decedent. The $200 will be $100 for the Medical Examiner and $100 for the Medical Investigator. 911 will notify the Medical Examiner. The Medical Examiner will be responsible for contacting a Medical Investigator on each body. The Medical Examiner will be responsible for paying the Medical Investigator within 30 days of receiving the money from the county. A DeKalb County employee (EMS) can be the Medical Investigator as long as they are not on the DeKalb County clock during the investigation”.

“Dr. Cantrell had been concerned about having to pay1099 employees, having an accountant, and issuing tax statements, etc. He said I’m not a tax person. I am a doctor. He said it was already an inconvenience to be the medical examiner, and he doesn’t really want to do it. He said the only reason he would do it is to serve the community,” said County Mayor Adcock.

If approved by the commission Monday night, the new policy states that “The DeKalb County Medical Examiner will be paid $100 per decedent and the Medical Death Investigators will be paid an hourly rate based off their ambulance service salary. Medical Death Investigators must be approved by the Medical Examiner, EMS Director, and the County Mayor before they can participate in the position of Medical Death Investigator. The minimum amount of hours to be paid to a Medical Death Investigator should be four hours”.

“This new policy is to get us back in line with the state so we will be paying the medical examiner $100 per decedent and pay the medical death investigators at an hourly rate based on their ambulance service salary. That was the opinion of the comptroller’s office who said we could not pay an hourly employee a flat rate. They said if you are paid hourly at one (county) job you have to be compensated at the same wage for the other (county) job. It also states that the medical death investigators must be approved by the Medical Examiner, EMS Director and myself as County Mayor. Of course, they (medical death investigators) would be working under the medical examiner doctor’s license, and their salaries would be coming out of the EMS budget,” said County Mayor Adcock.

“I am hoping we can find a way to compensate these medical death investigator employees at a flat rate,” County Mayor Adcock continued. “I am working with the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office on how we can legally do that to keep employees from double dipping,” he said.

Meanwhile, the county commission is expected Monday night to approve the appointment of First District Commissioner Daniel Cripps to replace fellow First District Commissioner Tom Chandler as a member of the budget committee. Although Chandler is not stepping down from the commission he is relinquishing his budget committee assignment due to a recent illness.

The commission is also expected to correct a typographical error in a personnel policy regarding vacation time. The mistake in the policy states that full time county employees with five years of consecutive service are to get 10 days of vacation when in fact the policy should read three consecutive years for 10 vacation days. Meanwhile, County Mayor Adcock is asking the commission to add a provision to the policy to give full time county employees with 20 years of consecutive service 20 days of vacation time. The current policy also provides for 5 days of vacation for one year of service for full time employees and 15 days’ vacation for full time county employees with 10 years of consecutive service.

Commissioner Larry Green gave a report Thursday night on a legal consultation he, County Mayor Adcock, and County Attorney Hilton Conger had in Nashville recently with members of a law firm on where the county stands regarding enforcement of the County Powers Act adopted by the county commission last October.

Some members of the public have argued that three companies — the McMinnville Energy LLC cryptocurrency mining and the Jones Brothers and SRM quarries should be subject to the County Powers Act claiming they were not already “in operation” when the commission passed the local regulations.

“Their advice to us was to be patient and do nothing right now because the way the County Powers Act is written they (companies in question) have to do certain things before they can apply for a permit from us (county) and until they get those things done and go into operation we don’t have a case. They said you can’t get a cease and desist until they do something,” said Commissioner Green.

“Right now, they are not operating,” said County Mayor Adcock. “They are still in that period of trying to meet the prerequisites to be able to apply. Technically they are not violating anything because they are not in operation,” he said.

Last month, County Attorney Conger informed the county commission about a case involving similar issues which originated in Grundy County months ago and has now made it to the state supreme court. Oral arguments will be made before the state’s high court in May and Conger urges all to get online to listen.

“In Grundy County, Tinsley versus Grundy County was a lawsuit that was filed in Grundy County over these same issues. Its in the supreme court of Tennessee right now. On May 29th at 9 a.m. you can go online to the administrative office of the courts and listen to the oral arguments before the Tennessee Supreme Court and hear the arguments that are made pro and con over these issues that we are discussing here but the Supreme Court will not decide it then. That’s another factor. It was heard in the Court of Appeals in February 2024. Its just now going to be argued at the Supreme Court level in May, 2025 and they (Court) will take their own sweet time about rendering a decision. They don’t rule from the bench like judges in circuit court,” said Conger.

Green further described for the commission Thursday night what the Nashville attorneys had said during the consultation “When we got there, they had already looked at our County Powers Act, Grundy County vs Tinsley, all the oral arguments, the Chancery Court case and the Appellate Court and how they ruled. They were pretty up to date on it. This is what they specialize in. They said there might be a ruling from the state supreme court on that case within four to six months. Until then the County Powers Act is still up in the air depending on how they rule, ” Green explained.

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