County Commission to Consider Another Speed Limit Request

August 22, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

For the third month in a row, the county commission Monday night will consider a speed limit request.

During Thursday night’s “Committee of the Whole” meeting of the County Commission, Fourth District member Janice Fish Stewart said a constituent who resides on Puckett’s Point Road has asked that the posted speed limit there be changed from 30 to 20 miles per hour due to safety concerns.

“He (constituent) talked about the traffic on that road and how fast people drive. He said there have been fatalities and serious accidents on that road. There have been two wrecks there within the past eight weeks. Currently the speed limit posted is 30 miles per hour half a mile from the Cookeville Highway intersection. He is proposing that the sign be changed to 20 mph which would make the road a continuous speed limit throughout and that a “Reduce Speed Ahead” sign be placed 100 feet from the intersection of Cookeville Highway. He said the general consensus of neighbors on that road is that this should be done because of increased traffic and dangers due to speeding especially when two vehicles pass each other,” said Commissioner Stewart.

Fifth District Commissioner Anita Puckett questioned the effectiveness of posted speed limit signs with little or no enforcement due to limited law enforcement manpower and she called for consistency if the county is intent on continuing to establish speed limits.

“We should contact law enforcement and find out how fast these people were going when they had these wrecks (Puckett’s Point Road). I guarantee you it wasn’t 30 miles per hour. I’m having issues with this. We have opened a can of worms that we can’t close. They already have a 30 mph speed limit (on Puckett’s Point Road). If it were 55 miles per hour with no speed limit I would totally agree but they already have a 30 mile per hour limit and now they want it to be 20 mph. I guarantee you with these 2 wrecks they were going faster than 30 miles per hour. If there is nobody to enforce this it’s not going to change. There could be two more wrecks next week with 20 mph signs. This is something we should be careful about and we should be consistent in the county. If we are going to put speed limit signs on these country roads we need to be consistent on all country roads. If 55 mph is the general consensus that the state sets, but we’re going to put 30 mph limits then put 30 mph limits on all county roads not 20 here, 30 there, and 35 somewhere else. We need to be consistent with what we put on all these county roads,” said Commissioner Puckett.

In July, the county commission voted to establish a posted 35 mile per hour speed limit on the Ragland Bottom Road to the US Army Corps of Engineers line and a 30 mile per hour limit on the Four Seasons Road from the Young Bend Cemetery to the Corps of Engineers line. A 30 mile per hour speed limit was also established on Dearman Street from the Smithville City Limits to Bright Hill Road. The portion of Dearman Street in the city is already posted at 30 miles per hour.

In June, the county commission established a posted 35 mile per hour speed limit on the Johnson’s Chapel Road.

Last November, the commission voted to establish a 35 mile per hour speed limit on Tramel Branch Road near Alexandria and to have signs posted to warn the public.

In each case, the actions were taken in response to either petitions or verbal public requests.

Under state law, the speed limit on any county road is 55 miles per hour unless the county commission acts to change it.

The DeKalb County Commission will meet in regular monthly session Monday night, August 24 at 6:30 p.m. in the main auditorium of the Mike Foster Multi-Purpose Center.

The agenda is as follows:

Sales Tax report

Budget amendments

Annual financial reports for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020

Discuss a request to rename Felts Cemeterv Road to Billings Cemetery Road

Discuss a request to name a private drive Peace Passage

Discuss a request to remove the end portion of Oak Drive at Lakeview Mountain Estates from the county road list

Appointment of a commissioner to the DeKalb Utility District

Discuss a request to establish a speed limit on Puckett’s Point Road to 20 miles per hour

Any other business properly presented

Notaries

August 22, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

The season opener was not what the DeKalb County Tigers had hoped for Friday night as the Warren County Pioneers came to Smithville and left with a 30 to 24 victory in this annual border rivalry showdown.

(Listen to WJLE’s Tiger Talk Program below)

https://www.wjle.com/tiger-talk/

It was the 16th straight meeting between these two programs since 2005 and Warren County leads the series in wins during that stretch 9 to 7.

The Tigers never led in the game.

Warren County scored on its first play from scrimmage as Pioneer Quarterback C.J. Taylor raced 53 years for a touchdown with 11:42 left in the 1st period. Kicker Steven Tony Curtis tacked on the extra point for a 7-0 Warren County lead.

After a Tiger turnover, Warren County mounted another scoring drive as Taylor again rambled 50 yards for his second TD of the night with 5:10 left in the 1st period. Curtis added the PAT and the Pioneers led 14-0.

DeKalb County answered with 2:06 left in opening period on a 30 yard touchdown pass from Quarterback Axel Aldino to Isaac Knowles. The PAT attempt by Aldino was no good and the Pioneers lead was cut to 14-6.

Warren County extended its lead with 8:36 left in the 2nd period as Taylor found his target on a 21 yard touchdown pass. Curtis added the extra point and the Pioneers held a 21-6 advantage.

The Tigers answered with 1:49 left in the 2nd period as Aldino found Desmond Nokes on a 20 yard touchdown pass. The 2 point conversion attempt failed and DeKalb County trailed 21-12 at halftime.

After exchanging fumbles early in the 3rd period, DeKalb County cut the gap on a touchdown strike from Aldino to T.J. Alexander with 11:37 left in the period. The 2 point conversion try failed but the Tigers were down by only 3 at 21-18.

Warren County extended its lead to 24-18 on a 31 yard field goal by Curtis with 7:03 left in the 3rd period and then took a two score advantage with 7:55 left in the 4th period after Taylor took it in on a 1 yard plunge. The PAT by Curtis put the Pioneers on top 30-18.

The Tigers added one more score with 3:46 left in the game as Alexander caught a 15 yard touchdown pass from Aldino. The extra point attempt was no good and DeKalb County lost 30 to 24.

The Tigers will host the Upperman Bees next Friday night in Smithville. WJLE will have LIVE coverage. Upperman lost at Cookeville Thursday night 28-0.

August 21, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

What’s the best means of stopping a fleeing suspect or felon in a vehicle during a high speed law enforcement pursuit?

Fifth District County Commissioner Jerry Adcock believes “Stop Sticks” may be the answer. A stop stick is a tire deflation device for high speed pursuits.

During Thursday night’s “Committee of the Whole” meeting of the County Commission, Adcock proposed the county purchasing 20 stop sticks for the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department which would cost around $11,000.

Adcock referenced a pursuit just a month ago in which a Rock Island man led Warren County deputies on a pursuit from McMinnville to near Smithville before being forced off the road. Had the local Sheriff’s Department had stop sticks, the suspect may have been intercepted earlier.

Along with the stop sticks, Adcock proposed purchasing dash mounted radar units for county patrol cars for better enforcement of speed limits on county roads. Adcock said up to 20 cars could be equipped with radar devices for around $2,500 each.

Adcock said stop sticks and radar units are needed in the interest of public safety. The purchase could be made from an appropriation out of the county’s capital projects fund.

Sheriff Patrick Ray said while the stop sticks would be useful there could be problems enforcing speed limits even with radar units because so many county roads do not have authorized posted speed limits by the county commission and others are posted with unauthorized signs. Under state law, if a county road is not posted, the speed limit is 55 miles per hour.

“Some signs are posted that were not approved by the county commission. Its where somebody just put up a homemade sign. In some cases the signs even look like the real thing but they are no good and can’t be enforced,” he said.

“I know of a case once where someone was pulled over for violating a speed limit on a county road which turned into a drug case. Their attorney went back and checked and the posted speed limit never was voted on by the county commission. They (officers) lost that case because it wasn’t a good stop”.

Given the choice of one or the other, Sheriff Ray said he would prefer the stop sticks over the radar units.

“It’s a whole lot cheaper to buy stop sticks if we were to get in a pursuit and then they crashed into somebody resulting in a lawsuit. Right now we have no way to stop them once we get after them. A few months ago we chased one through three counties trying to get him to stop. What you see on TV, patrol cars knocking people off the road, there is liability that goes with that. We can’t just go out and do pit maneuvers on somebody because we are not trained to do that. There is a certain way to safely knock someone off the road. There have been times when we have done it but we carry that liability when we do it. Most departments go with stop sticks. It’s a lot cheaper and they don’t blow out tires, when they run over them. Its a slow release of air from the tires but they will have to stop or run on rims,” said Sheriff Ray.

No action has been taken.