God’s Food Pantry to be Open Tuesday Morning for Makeup Pickup

January 22, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

God’s Food Pantry has announced a special pickup Tuesday, January 23.

Since the pantry was not open on its regular schedule last week due to the wintry weather, the pantry will be open Tuesday from 9 a.m. until 12 noon. They ask that you not begin forming the car pickup line until 8 a.m. The home deliveries will begin Tuesday afternoon.

Food is normally distributed on the first Friday after the first Thursday and on the third Friday of every month from 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon from the pantry at 430 East Broad, Smithville in a drive through pickup line.

January 21, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

The DeKalb County Fire Department introduced a new award during Saturday night’s annual banquet to honor one of the twelve station commanders.

The first ever Smithville Marine Station Commander award was presented to Andy Pack, Station Commander at the Belk Station. Wilson Bank & Trust was the program headlining sponsor.

Meanwhile, Lieutenant Dusty Johnson repeated as the Liberty State Bank Officer of the Year, and Justin Bass was honored with the “Git R Done” Award.

The Station Commander award recipient is chosen by the fire department’s officers. Considerations for this honor include meeting or exceeding the following standard responsibilities of the Station Commander position:

*Leadership at the station level – setting the example for members
*Oversight and accountability of the station and equipment maintenance
*Loss Prevention
*Membership communication and engagement &Community Involvement
*Participation and attendance at monthly officers’ meetings
*Understanding and communicating department guidelines and policies, and
*Timely submission of incident reports and monthly maintenance checklists and mileage logs

Based upon these measures, the officers selected Belk Station Commander Andy Pack as the recipient of the first ever DeKalb County Fire Department Station Commander of the Year award.

For the second year in a row, Lieutenant Dusty Johnson has earned the Liberty State Bank Officer of the Year Award.

This honor goes to a recipient exclusively selected from officers of the department who serve at the rank of lieutenant or above and for achievements in training attendance, incident response, and community service.

“Lieutenant Dusty Johnson attended 100% of the trainings for 2023. He is in charge of the smoke alarm program for the fire department and installs most of them himself. Lieutenant Johnson is the head of the DeKalb County Rescue Squad and under his leadership the Rescue Squad has been well trained and very dependable, thanks to him. Lieutenant Johnson is always helpful when it comes to preparing Thanksgiving and Christmas meals with the DeKalb Emergency Services Association. He helps with so many different activities and is an effective leader with the fire department,” said program emcee Alex Woodward.

The 2023 “Git R Done” Award went to Justin Bass of the Main Station.

“Justin is the type of guy who gives up a lot of his time for the fire department,” said program emcee Alex Woodward in making the announcement. “He not only has one of the top call volumes for firefighters but does many things in the department that makes it what it is today. Bass assists in many things such as training and he became a role model for all new rookies at the beginning of their career at the fire department. Justin teaches the 16-hour Introduction to Fire & Emergency Services course and has a great niche for winning over new rookies. He has a good attitude toward helping new rookies pass their first class and welcoming them to the department and his influence has turned many good rookies into great firefighters. Justin also helps the training officer to ensure quality training is provided to students in the classes they teach outside of the 16-hour introduction course. He helps with any work sessions the fire department conducts and worked the fire booth at the DeKalb County Fair for several days helping raise money for the organization. Justin spends a lot of time making sure different aspects of the department run smoothly. Anytime he is asked to take on a project Justin is always willing to help with a smile on his face. He also volunteered for the DeKalb Emergency Services Association in helping serve over 700 meals during Thanksgiving & Christmas for the needy in the community. DeKalb County should be proud to have Justin’s Get R Done attitude that helps make the DeKalb County Fire Department run smoothly,” said Wooward.

Safe Industries sponsored 100% training awards which were  or will be presented to the following 29 DeKalb County Firefighters (some were absent from the banquet Saturday night to receive their award):

Justin Bass, Anthony Boyd, Triston Brandon, Luis Caceres, Blake Cantrell, Joshua Davis, Keith Elkins, Donny Green, Luke Green, Christina Hovey, Dustin Johnson, Heather Lader, Jordan Lader, Steven Lawrence, Cindy Nixon, Will Odom, Matt Olson, Andy Pack, Billy Parker, Robert Patrick, Cheyenne Phalin, Terry Phillips, Shawn Puckett, Blake Reffue, Frank Rodegeb, Robert Sartin, Eric Snow, Brian Williams, and Alex Woodward.

Meanwhile, B&B Emergency Equipment sponsored 75% training awards which were or will be presented to the following 13 DeKalb County Firefighters (some were absent from the banquet Saturday night to receive their award):

Clayton Anstis, Bill Brown, Sandra Caffee, Kim Cantrell, Alyssa Harvey, Andrew Harvey, Kyle Hovey, Donnie Johnson, Tony Moore, Steven Phalin, Steve Repasy, Calvin Tramel, and Parker Vantrease.

(Other stories from the banquet will be posted later)

January 21, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

A member of the Cookeville Highway Station and training officer has won the DeKalb County Fire Department’s most coveted award.

Luke Green is the 2023 Wilson Bank & Trust Firefighter of the Year.

Green was honored Saturday night during the DeKalb County Volunteer Fire Department’s Annual Awards Program at the county complex auditorium. Wilson Bank & Trust was the headlining sponsor of the program. The emcee was Alex Woodward, a firefighter of the Cookeville Highway Station.

Meanwhile, Lieutenant Dusty Johnson repeated as the Liberty State Bank Officer of the Year and Justin Bass was selected to receive the DeKalb Funeral Chapel “Git R Done” Award. The DeKalb Telephone Cooperative (DTC) Rookie of the Year Award went to Clayton Anstis and the Temperance Hall Station was the FirstBank Station of the Year award winner. The first ever Smithville Marine Station Commander of the Year award went to Andy Pack.

Luke Green’s award was presented by his father, Fire Chief Donny Green along with Chad Colwell of Wilson Bank & Trust

In making the presentation,  program emcee Alex Woodward said Green was selected from firefighters demonstrating excellence in training participation, incident response, and community service.

“Luke is an upstanding citizen in DeKalb County. He is a Volunteer Firefighter, an educator and a role model to many people throughout the school system, fire department, and his church. Green has an upbeat personality that we all wish we could have and many people look up to him. He always wants anyone to excel in anything they do in life and is the type of motivator that any fire department would love to have. Luke assumed the department’s training responsibilities at the beginning of the year and has taken training to a new level within the department. He has set up and coordinated many extra trainings for firefighters not required of him and through these trainings, all ages have been able to continue their education and learn from being a safety officer to someone who does interior attacks. Green always has a job for everyone at the training so no one is ever left out and they never stop until the job is done or until they can mentor someone else to achieve their goals. Luke has worked hard in continuing his education to better serve DeKalb County and the fire department over the last year. He not only performs in his role as a training officer but also leads by example showing his skills on the fire scene. Green also coaches football and when some of the students do not have rides home, he will take them home out of the goodness of his heart. Firefighters who display these characteristics deserve to be awarded for the hard work not only done at the fire department but also for our community. Luke is the type of guy that every department across Tennessee wishes they had on their department”.

Ten members have earned Length of Service awards.  The 5 & 10 year awards were sponsored by Walmart while Middle Tennessee Natural Gas sponsored the 15 & 25 year service awards

5 years of service: Sandra Caffee (Cookeville Highway Station), Andrew Harvey (Liberty Station), Tony Moore (Station Commander of Cookeville Highway Station), and Jason Young(Short Mountain Highway Station)

10 years of service: Matt Boss (Liberty Station), Harley Lawrence (Main Station), Brent Reed (Blue Springs Station), and Robert Sartin (Station Commander of the Short Mountain Highway Station)

15 years of service: Steve Repasy (Midway Station)

25 years of service:  Anthony Boyd, Assistant Chief.

(Other stories from the banquet will be posted later)