Woodbury Man Crashes Stolen Car Trying to Evade Arrest During Law Enforcement Pursuit

August 24, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

A Woodbury man driving a stolen car led authorities on a pursuit Sunday before being taken into custody after the vehicle crashed on County House Road.

33 year old Cory Allen Chapman of Sycamore Creek Road, Woodbury is charged with evading arrest, driving on a suspended license, and theft of property. His bond is $15,000.

A passenger in the car with Chapman, 24 year old Katie Leigh Mooneyham of Foster Road, Smithville had two warrants against her for failure to appear. She is being held without bond.

Sheriff Patrick Ray said a detective spotted Chapman driving a 1995 Toyota Avalon and activated the emergency equipment on his patrol car signaling him to stop. Instead of pulling over, Chapman sped up traveling down Short Mountain Highway and onto Jacobs Pillar Road where he ran over a road sign and went into a yard. Chapman then got back on Jacobs Pillar Road as the pursuit continued onto Turner Road , the Old Blue Springs Road, and then to County House Road where Chapman crashed at the new highway construction. The car then went into a field and stopped. Both Chapman and Mooneyham were taken into custody.

Chapman’s license were suspended for failure to show proof of insurance on January 7, 2019 in Warren County. The car Chapman was driving was reported stolen in DeKalb County on August 1. It is valued at $500.

No one was injured in the crash.

August 24, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

This is a test!

The City of Smithville will be conducting a test Wednesday, August 26 at 12 noon to determine if the old manually operated siren on top of the city hall building still works. In years gone by the siren was sounded like clockwork at 12 noon on weekdays in what became a community tradition. It was also used for other purposes.

Plans are to upgrade and reactivate the siren to make it part of the city’s new outdoor tornado alert system which will be launched this fall.

When all is said and done, the city will have a total of three tornado alert sirens, two of which will be mounted on 50 foot poles at city owned property on West Broad Street near the water tower close to DeKalb County High School and near the water tower on Miller Road. The city hall siren will serve as the third location.

The Smithville aldermen recently awarded a bid to Capitol Electronics for a Federal Signal system. The cost is $71,497. One time state grant funds coming to city will cover the purchase. The city has ordered the equipment and it should arrive within the next 4-6 weeks. Installation will beqin soon after probably in October. Further tests of the system will be conducted once its installed.

August 24, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

Enrollment in the DeKalb County School System is down by 24 students compared to last year at about this time and 25% of the students district-wide are receiving remote learning due to COVID-19 concerns.

Comparing the numbers for the first week of school, total enrollment from pre-kindergarten to 12th grade district wide is 2,974 as of Monday, August 24, down from 2,998 last year. This year 761 students are receiving remote learning which makes up 25.6% of the total enrollment.

As of Monday, August 24 enrollment at each school is as follows compared to last year:

DCHS: 854 (up by 14 students) including 201 remote learners (23.5%)

DeKalb Middle School: 587 (down by 20 students) including 171 remote learners (29.1%)

Northside Elementary: 592 (down by 2 students) including 190 remote learners (32.1%)

Smithville Elementary: 552 (down by 8 students) including 119 remote learners (21.6%)

DeKalb West School: 389 (down by 8 students) including 80 remote learners (20.6%)