Director Confirms Reports of COVID-19 Cases But Not Enough to Close Schools

August 28, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

Although he would not confirm whether its students or faculty or how many, Director of Schools Patrick Cripps told WJLE Friday that individuals have come forward to report symptoms or positive cases of COVID-19 among stakeholders of the school system.

“We’ve had some positive cases and we are just following Centers for Disease Control and the Tennessee Department of Health guidelines and protocols”.

Asked if schools would close because of the reports, Director Cripps said “not at this time”.

Meanwhile, in its latest report, the Tennessee Department of Health says DeKalb County (not schools) had 109 active cases as of Friday, August 28. A total of 443 confirmed or probable cases have shown up in DeKalb County since March and while there have been five deaths 329 have recovered.

August 28, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

As much as Oscar enjoys being at the DeKalb Animal Shelter, what he really needs is a forever home.

This four month old feline is the WJLE/DeKalb Animal Shelter featured “Pet of the Week”

“Oscar has been with us since he was a kitten. He was found as a stray by himself. Oscar is four months old. He is neutered and up to date on his vaccinations. He is ready to go. Oscar is super playful and he loves everyone and everything. His adoption fee is only $40. In fact we’re offering a deal through the end of September on all kittens for $40 and if you get one, you can adopt an additional kitten for $20,” said Shelter employee Emmaly Bennett.

DeKalb Animal Shelter employees Emmaly Bennett and Jennifer Angaran with Oscar from dwayne page on Vimeo.

“We are still doing everything by appointment only. Give us a call and we can walk you through that process or visit our facebook page. You can find our adoption application at dekalbanimalcoalition.org. On the adopt tab scroll all the way to the bottom to find the application and send it to our email and we will call you and schedule an appointment,” said Bennett.

The shelter, located on Transfer Station Road behind Tenneco Automotive off Highway 70 east in Smithville, has been in operation since November, 2017 under the DeKalb Animal Coalition, a 501 c 3 non profit organization.

Phone 615-597-3647 (DOGS) for more information.

August 27, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

The oar will remain in Baxter.

For the fourth straight year the Upperman Bees have won “The Battle of Center Hill” after knocking off the DeKalb County Tigers 27 to 21 in Smithville Thursday night.

The oar, a trophy instituted a few years ago between these two schools, is affectionately nicknamed “The Battle of Center Hill,” because the teams are on opposite sides of Center Hill Lake. The winner of the annual grudge match gets to keep the oar for a year until the next meeting.

The game was moved from Friday to Thursday night due to expected heavy rains and possible lightning moving in from the remnants of Hurricane Laura.

The Bees scored first on a 42 yard touchdown run by Terrance Dedmon with 4:50 left in the 2nd period. Joshua Manis added the extra point to give Upperman a 7-0 lead.

The Tigers answered with 2:09 left in the 2nd period on a 5 yard quarterback keeper by Axel Aldino capping a 47 yard drive. Jasper Kleparek split the uprights for the extra point and the game was tied 7-7 by halftime.

Daniel Metzgar extended the Upperman lead on an 82 yard kickoff return to open the second half. Manis tacked on the extra point and the Bees led 14-7 with 11:40 left in the 3rd period.

Upperman’s Ty Dutchess scored on a 57 yard touchdown run with 8:38 left in the 3rd period. Manis connected on the extra point and the Bees built a 21-7 advantage.

The Tigers cut into the Upperman lead with 6:02 left in the 3rd period on a 10 yard touchdown pass from Aldino to Desmond Nokes. Kleparek added the PAT and DeKalb County trailed 21-14.

Upperman quarterback Thomas Ensor scored on a keeper capping a 56 yard drive with 27 seconds left in the 3rd period. The PAT attempt was blocked but the Bees extended their lead to 27-14.

The Tigers got on the board with 1.5 seconds left in the game on a 10 yard pass from Aldino to Evan Jones for a touchdown. Kleparek tacked on the extra point but DeKalb County fell short losing 27 to 21.

DeKalb County (0-2) will travel to Stone Memorial (1-1) in Crossville for the 1st region game of the season Friday night, September 4. Kick-off is at 7 p.m. WJLE will have LIVE coverage. Upperman improves to 1-1. Stone Memorial opened their season with a 34 to 14 loss to Grace Christian of Knoxville last week but defeated Clay County 32-0 Thursday night.