DCHS Class of 2020 Senior Awards Program to be Broadcast Monday Night, June 15

June 11, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

The names of scholarship and other award recipients from the Class of 2020 at DeKalb County High School will be announced during the annual Senior Awards program to be broadcast Monday night, June 15 at 7:00 p.m. on WJLE and DTC TV Channel 3 platforms.

The program was recorded Wednesday, June 10 at the DCHS cafeteria.

Making the award announcements were DCHS Principal Randy Jennings, Assistant Principal Jenny Norris, and DCHS Staff members Lori Myrick, Shelly Painter, Walteen Parker, and Tera Mooneyham.

No students were present due to COVID-19.

WJLE will post a local news story with the names of the scholarship award recipients immediately after the program concludes Monday night.

June 11, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

The DeKalb County School District is conducting a “Fall Reopening Survey for Parents of DeKalb County Students”.

Parents are urged to complete the seven question survey and submit it online. The survey is available in both English and Spanish.

Click the links below to answer the following questions

Fall 2020 Parent Survey- Please click below.

Fall 2020 Parent Survey-English

Encuesta de reapertura de otoño para padres de estudiantes del Condado de Dekalb. Por favor complete la encuesta a continuación.

Encuesta de Padres – Otoño 2020. Por favor haga clic abajo.

Encuesta de Padres – Otoño 2020

Questions on the survey are as follows:

1.How many students do you have that attend DeKalb County School System? *

2.How do you plan for your child to travel to and from school for fall 2020? *

Car

Bus

Other means of transportation

3.In the event that schools must conduct online learning, do you have Internet access? *

Yes

No

Cell phone/smart phone ONLY

4.When DeKalb County Schools reopen, which of the following do you prefer? *

1. Students in buildings with health and safety measures in place
2. Fully online with DeKalb teachers delivering standardized course content virtually
3. A combination of options A and B

5.Which method(s) of communication do you prefer? (check all that apply) *

email

text message

social media

phone calls

website

6.Check all the following topics that pose a concern for you about your student(s) online learning. *

Lack of experience with specific computer programs (ie. Google Classroom, Zoom)

Communication between teachers, students, and families

Lack of Internet support

Lack of academic support

None of the above

7.If given the choice to do work packets or online learning, which method works best for you? *

I prefer packets.

I prefer online.

June 10, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

An undercover drug investigation conducted jointly by the DeKalb County Sheriff’s and Smithville Police Departments that spanned several months has culminated in sealed indictments against 23 people.

The indictments were returned by the regular term of the grand jury last Tuesday, June 2 and officers of both departments spent Tuesday and Wednesday this week rounding up 17 of them. Six more remain to be arrested. All are to be arraigned in DeKalb County Criminal Court on July 14.

Sheriff Patrick Ray and Smithville Police Chief Mark Collins, in a joint statement released Wednesday, said the investigation involved the sale of methamphetamine, oxycodone, suboxone, heroin, and hydrocodone. The majority of the cases were made by the sheriff’s department. In one case, officers found 15 marijuana plants while serving indictments against a couple of defendants resulting in further charges against them. Special thanks to Alexandria Police Chief Chris Russell and his staff from the Alexandria Police Department who assisted the sheriff’s department in making one drug buy.

Sheriff Ray and Chief Collins said the joint investigation between the two law enforcement departments worked well and they hope to have more ventures of this kind in the future.

“I appreciate what Chief Collins and his guys have done during this investigation. They put in a lot of long hours. Hopefully this is one of many we will do in conjunction with each other,” said Sheriff Ray.

“We could not have done this without the help of the sheriff’s department. When you can combine the resources of two law enforcement departments like this you can get great things done. I want to thank the detectives of both agencies because they worked long hours and got this done. I also want to thank Sheriff Ray and his department for allowing us to be part of it. We look forward to working with them again in the future, ” said Chief Collins.

Original plans were to present the cases for indictment during the regular term of the grand jury in April but the COVID-19 pandemic intervened forcing the courts to shut down. Because inmate population is still somewhat limited due to social distancing practices, only a few of the drug defendants could be brought in at a time for booking.

“This is probably the most unique round up I have been part of in my 30 years of law enforcement. We have had to pace ourselves doing the pickups to keep from overloading the booking area and quarantine cells and I want to thank our correctional officers because its been an especially challenging process for them. We would pick up a few of these drug defendants and then take a pause to give them time to post bond or be moved into the quarantine cells if they couldn’t make bond. Inmates tested for COVID-19 have to be quarantined. Recent test results on other inmates have all come back negative,” said Sheriff Ray

Defendants in this week’s drug round up and their charges are as follows:

*54 year old Mark Gregory Brock of Webb Lane, Smithville: sale and delivery of a schedule II drug (methamphetamine) $5,000 bond

*47 year old April Lynn Coronado of AB Frazier Road, Smithville: sale and delivery of a schedule II drug (hydrocodone) 2 counts- $5,000 bond

*51 year old Dorothy Renee Crowell of Redmon Road, Smithville: sale and delivery of a schedule II drug (hydrocodone) 2 counts- $10,000 bond

*38 year old Sherri Francine Gunter of Jacobs Pillar Road, Smithville: sale and delivery of a schedule II drug (methamphetamine) 2 counts- $10,000 bond

*42 year old James Allen Hesson of Oak Drive, Smithville: sale and delivery of a schedule II drug (methamphetamine) 2 counts- $5,000 bond

*46 year old Glen Ray Jones of Hurricane Ridge Road, Smithville: sale and delivery of a schedule II drug (methamphetamine) 2 counts- $5,000 bond

*59 year old Larry Estil Lattimore of Robinson Road, Smithville: sale and delivery of a schedule II drug (methamphetamine) 2 counts- $5,000 bond

*41 year old Sabrina Lattimore of Judkins Lane, Smithville: sale and delivery of a schedule II drug (oxycodone and hydrocodone) 2 counts- $7,500 bond

*46 year old Charlotte Elaine Malone, Sparta Highway: sale and delivery of a schedule III drug (suboxone) 2 counts. During the arrest, officers found 15 marijuana plants growing on the premises and charged Malone with manufacturing a schedule VI drug (marijuana). Her court date on the marijuana charge is July 2. Bond $8,500

*43 year old Crystal Gail Malone of Sparta Highway (co-defendant with Charlotte Malone): sale and delivery of a schedule III drug (suboxone) 4 counts. During the arrest, officers found 15 marijuana plants growing on the premises and charged Malone with manufacturing a schedule VI drug (marijuana). Her court date on the marijuana charge is July 2. Bond $13,500.

*53 year old Teresa Darlene Mayo of Walker Lane, Smithville: sale and delivery of a schedule II drug (methamphetamine) 2 counts- $5,000 bond

*39 year old Michael Chad Owens of Shady Drive, Smithville: sale and delivery of a schedule I drug in a drug free zone (heroin) and sale and delivery of a schedule II drug (methamphetamine)- $15,000 bond.

*46 year old Donald Hugh Pack of Adams Street, Smithville: sale and delivery of a schedule II drug (hydrocodone) 2 counts- $10,000 bond

*48 year old Marcus John Peregoy of Fleming Street, Alexandria: sale and delivery of a schedule II drug (methamphetamine) 2 counts- $5,000 bond

*38 year old Carla Jean Ray of Nikki Lane, Smithville: sale and delivery of a schedule II drug (oxycodone) 2 counts- $5,000 bond

*40 year old Nelson Pack Redmon of Forrest Avenue, Smithville: sale and delivery of a schedule II drug (methamphetamine) – $5,000 bond

*60 year old Ivan Martel Young of West Main Street, Smithville: sale and delivery of a schedule II drug (methamphetamine) 2 counts – $5,000 bond

Meanwhile another man at one of the drug defendants homes was arrested on an unrelated charge. 29 year old Robert Alexander Judkins of Baxter is charged with failure to appear. His bond is $2,000 and he will make a court date June 18