The DeKalb Animal Coalition Presents “Smithville’s Unquiet Dead: A Haunted History Tour”

October 14, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

Smithville has a ghoulish past with stories of devilish deeds that will make your hair stand on end. Learn all about these blood curdling events on a guided journey called “Smithville’s Unquiet Dead: A Haunted History Tour” that will take you to the scenes of these horrific crimes. It’s a pre-Halloween event you don’t want to miss. Come along if you dare Tuesday and Thursday, October 19 & 21 starting at 6:30 p.m. each night. The cost is only $10 for adults and $5 for children 10 years of age and younger and all proceeds raised will be donated to the DeKalb Animal Coalition for the continued operation of the DeKalb Animal Shelter.

The starting point of the tour each night is the law office of Sarah J. Cripps at 201 West Main Street Smithville at 6:30 p.m. and tickets can be purchased there beginning at 5:30 p.m. each of those nights. Tickets are available now at various local businesses and establishments including the law offices of Sarah J. Cripps, Tecia Puckett Pryor, the DeKalb Animal Shelter among others.

“We will be talking about some murders both solved and unsolved during the 19th & 20th centuries in the City of Smithville and actually take you to the places where they occurred. We will also have a map for everyone who signs up for the tour ,” said Sarah Cripps, event organizer.

“Among the cases we will be discussing on the tour is the unsolved murder of Henrietta Tramel which occurred on January 31, 1974 in her home,” Cripps continued.

“We will also be covering a much discussed murder of Ms. Cannie Hayes Smith that occurred on May 2, 1929. That one is also unsolved”.

“We will talk about the hanging of young John Presswood. When he was 16 years old in the year 1870 he brutally murdered with an axe Rachel Billings in the presence of her three children. That crime led him to the gallows. On May 24, 1872 at only age 17 he was hanged on the east side of the courthouse between the city hall and courthouse,” said Cripps.

“Another crime we are going to cover is the lynching of Charlie Davis that occurred on August 2,1901. This was a blood thirsty mob that lynched a middle-aged dapper white man for dating a younger and extremely beautiful white woman. The lynching party was led by the family of Katie Hughes whom Charlie was courting at the time. It was a very brutal event involving a lot of townspeople who lived here at the time,” she said.

“We will also cover some more recent murders as well. These murders occurred as the result of all kinds of motives including passion, revenge, greed, financial gain, the use of drugs by the perpetrators, etc. We will cover the gamut with multiple actors telling the stories of these people whose lives were cut short unjustly and prematurely,” added Cripps.

October 13, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

Returning to his roots!

The congregation of Elizabeth Chapel Baptist Church recently welcomed the arrival of a new minister.

Scott Pack, a native of Cannon County with ties to DeKalb County, became pastor of the church only a few weeks ago but already for him its beginning to feel like home. In some ways it is home. Pack’s grandparents Amon and Barbara Page Pack were from the Holmes Creek community and grew up attending Elizabeth Chapel. Scott himself occasionally visited the church as a child with his parents Allan and Sharon Pack usually during homecoming services. Still, it was a bit of a surprise when the call came from the church’s search committee asking him to take the position.

Although he did not know it at the time, members of the committee had been watching him during online services from the Cornerstone Baptist Church in McMinnville where Pack served as interim pastor before graduating from Southwestern Seminary with a Master of Divinity degree. After that graduation ceremony a member of the Elizabeth Chapel search committee, Laura Reed approached him and asked if he was related to the Pack families in the Smithville area. For Pack, it was the Lord’s divine way of directing his path

The first year and a half of his three years in the ministry, Pack was pastor at a Brazilian Church in Arlington Texas.

“I felt the Lord calling me to pastor when I was about 20 and I surrendered to the call. I went out to Texas to study at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth. My wife is Brazilian so we were in the Brazilian Church and they called me to pastor them so I did that for a year and a half before becoming interim pastor at Cornerstone,” said Pack.

Pack and his wife Gabriela have been married for 11 years and are the parents of four children, Ana, Samuel, Benjamin, and Maria. Pack met Gabriela while on a mission trip to Brazil.

“I was attending Lakewood Baptist Church in Coffee County when I took my first mission trip to Brazil to do evangelism work. The Holy Spirit just spoke to me and said you need to go on that trip. That was when I was 17 right after my junior year in high school. It was a wonderful experience. I got to see people come to know Christ. The next year I went back and it was on that second trip that I met Gabriela. I can still remember the way it felt when I first saw her. She was beautiful but there was something about her spirit that was different. It really was love at first sight and at first spirit. After that trip we didn’t see each other in person again for another four years. We wrote each other and used Skype to communicate. I eventually went back and visited her and we later got engaged and married,” said Pack.

The Pack’s currently reside in Woodbury.

Asked about his vision for Elizabeth Chapel, Pack said he would like to see the church grow more in terms of evangelism and discipleship to “reach more people who are not usually in church”.

To learn more about the church visit https://www.elizabethchapel.org/

October 12, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

From Sparta to Bell Buckle, motorcycle bikers will set out on a journey Saturday morning, October 16 to raise funds and honor Tennessee Firefighters who have made the supreme sacrifice in the line of duty while protecting citizens.

Shady Brady Tennessee Fallen Firefighter Memorial ride from dwayne page on Vimeo.

Bikers in the 8th annual Shady Brady Tennessee Fallen Firefighter Memorial ride will pass through Smithville on Highway 70 from Sparta and then onto Highway 56 south toward McMinnville enroute to Bell Buckle on the campus of the Tennessee Fire Service and Codes Enforcement Academy where the memorial is located. The riders will be passing thru Smithville around 9:15 a.m. and the Smithville Fire Department will set up in the Food Lion parking lot to raise a Flag and show support as they pass. Everyone is welcome to join the firefighters in greeting the bikers Saturday morning.

This ride was first organized by Sparta firefighter Barry Brady to raise money for the Tennessee Fallen Firefighter Memorial. It continues today as a tribute to Barry (now deceased) and the many others that work year around to support the memorial. Anyone can enter or at least come out and support them along their route.

For more information call Bradley Johnson at 615-967-6557, Kayla Williams at 615-948-7508, or Kenny Kilgore at 931-200-7380.

Beginning in 2002, the first Tennessee Fallen Firefighter Memorial Committee was founded with a mission to create a memorial to honor fallen firefighters in Tennessee. After earning its 501©3 not-for-profit status, the board of directors began to actively raise funds to build the memorial.

In 2005, the Tennessee General Assembly passed a resolution, which dedicated land on the Tennessee Fire Service and Codes Enforcement Academy property to be used for constructing a memorial.

Fundraising efforts began with the TUFF Challenge and by selling bricks in support of the memorial.

Construction of the memorial was broken up into two phases. The official ribbon cutting ceremony for phase one was held Sept. 11, 2009. Dedication of the completion of the second phase was held on Sept. 10, 2011.

The Tennessee Fallen Firefighter Memorial honors the fallen firefighters of Tennessee. Additionally, a section was added to the memorial that pays tribute to the lives lost during the terrorist attacks that occurred Sept. 11, 2001. As part of that memorial, a piece of a steel I-beam, which was recovered from “Ground Zero” in New York City, is also on display.