Moon Shines Playing Trumpet for DCHS Marching Band

January 2, 2021
By: Bill Conger

Josh Moon, the son of Cedron and Diana Moon, started playing trumpet his 6th grade year in school and has been a part of the high school marching band since 7th grade.

Moon is the focus of the second feature in a four part series on DCHS senior band students.

“I was in 5th grade, and the band came to Northside,” Moon recalls. “They played a concert, and I thought, ‘That’s really cool.’ My dad played trumpet, but I didn’t know that whenever I chose it. I just liked the way it sounded. They used to play super high notes. I thought that was cool.”

In previous marching seasons Josh stepped up to play solos on Phobias and Magione Magic, a solo and duet in Phantom of the Opera, and a duet in Shades of Latin. He also has been honored to perform “Taps” at several of the American Legion Memorial and Veterans Day services.

Josh has continued to strive to be a better trumpet player each season.

“Trying to play trumpet loosely all the time, have a good fluid sound, and a good tone are the harder things I’ve had to learn to play trumpet.”

With much of the marching season cancelled, Josh was disappointed but kept his chin up.

“I wanted my senior year to be normal in a sense. Ever since my 8th grade year, we’ve been one of the better marching bands that we’ve had here in the last decade. We went four straight years getting nothing less than second place in all our competitions. This year we were not able to even go to a competition, and over 15 of our band students went remote so we were a smaller band.”

Despite the pitfalls, the 17-year-old musician proved what a true leader he is.

“I told these kids, ‘Look, it might not be the way I wanted my senior year to go, but we definitely made the absolute best out of it.’ I’m trying to help them so that whenever they become big enough to be a competitive band again and go to more competitions that they’ll be ready.”

“He helped in placement of student sections,” Don Whitt said. “I used him a lot during the year. He pushed the band to be as good as they could be. He is really a driving force in the band.”

Following his high school graduation, Josh plans to follow in the footsteps of his dad and brother, Joey, and join the Navy.

January 2, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

The DCHS basketball teams will be back on the court for the first time in the new year at Jamestown tonight against district foe York Institute.

The Lady Tigers are 3-4 overall and looking for their first district win of the season while the Tigers are 3-3 and 1-1 in district play. The Dragonettes are 6-3 (1-1) while the Dragons are 4-4 (1-0)

The girls game starts at 4 p.m. followed by the boys game and WJLE plans LIVE coverage with John Pryor on FM 101.7 and LIVE streaming at www.wjle.com.

WJLE’s Tiger Talk program airs today (Saturday) at 3:30 p.m. featuring Coaches John Sanders and Danny Fish and players Megan Cantrell, Kadee Ferrell, Ella Van Vranken, Evan Jones, and Luke Jenkins.

With only a few exceptions, no public attendance is permitted at high school athletic events until at least January 19 in accordance with Governor Bill Lee’s Executive Order #70. The only attendees permitted at high school athletic practices or games, in addition to the student-athletes on the team, are:

1.Players’ parents or guardians and immediate household members;
2.First Responders;
3.Coaching and team personnel;
4.School, game, and facility administrators;
5.Athletics officials; and
6.Media and athletic scouting personnel attending the event in their professional capacity.

Social distancing between persons from different households is required. While the Executive Order does not mandate the use of masks, the Governor has encouraged masks, and the TSSAA COVID-19 Sports Regulations provision regarding the use of masks remains.

These are minimum restrictions. Depending on particular school, facility, or community circumstances, school officials may require additional limitations on attendance.

January 2, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

The COVID-19 related death count in DeKalb County has increased to 33 according to the Tennessee Department of Health.

As of Friday, January 1, DeKalb County recorded 13 new cases bringing the total number of active cases to 244.

Thirty three people with COVID 19 have died in DeKalb County within the last ten months and 39 have been hospitalized. The total number of confirmed or probable cases of COVID 19 in DeKalb County since March stands at 2,087 and 1,810 are now inactive or have recovered.

At last report, DeKalb County had the 7th highest COVID-19 infection rate among Tennessee counties (per capita) at 104.6 per 100,000 residents and the 102 highest in the nation according to COVID ACT Now (CAN).

(Click link below to view CAN report on DeKalb County)
https://www.covidactnow.org/us/tennessee-tn/county/de_kalb_county?

Over the last seven days, DeKalb County had a case count of 150 for a daily case rate of 104.6 per 100,000 residents.

(Click Link Below for DeKalb County Report)
https://covid19.tn.gov/data/dashboards/?County=Dekalb