Sheriff’s Department Employees Treated to Free Lunch from Community Supporters

July 2, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

Members of the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department are being treated to lunch.

As a way of showing support and appreciation to the department, John Flanders, President of Botanical Incorporated of McMinnville, and Tony Bess, owner of Smithville Marine, presented Sheriff Patrick Ray and Chief Deputy Robert Patrick certificates Wednesday for each sheriff’s department employee at Fireman One Barbeque in Smithville.

Flanders said others also supported the effort.

“A lot of people in the community have gotten together to buy the entire DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department lunch so we bought gift certificates to Fireman One Barbeque for every member of the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department as a show of appreciation in support of everything they do to keep our communities safe and to protect and serve the citizens of DeKalb County,” said Flanders.

“We appreciate what they have done for us. This is a good gesture to have people in the community support law enforcement and show it like this and we want to thank them for doing this. Every employee wants to thank them,” said Sheriff Ray.

Flanders did a similar presentation to the Warren County Sheriff’s Department.

July 2, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

Names have now been released in a fatal shooting which occurred a week ago at a residence on Carter Drive.

The deceased has been identified as 24 year old Jeffery William Rigsby of Smithville and the shooter is 34 year old Ronald Joshua Carter of Smithville, the owner of the residence where the incident happened.

The case is under investigation by the TBI and no further details have been released.

Sheriff Patrick Ray issued the following statement about the case.

“On June 25 at 12:28 p.m. Central Dispatch received a call of a shooting on Carter Drive in Smithville. This residence is located just outside of the city limits, approximately 240 yards, in the county. The caller stated someone had been shot.

When units from the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department and the Smithville Police Department arrived on the scene, they found one man lying on the front porch of a residence that had gunshot wounds. The man, Rigsby, was pronounced dead at the scene.

The District Attorney’s Office and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation were notified and arrived on the scene a short time later.

Through the investigation, it appears the home owner, Carter and Rigsby exchanged gunfire and Rigsby was shot and died at the scene. Carter was not injured.

No arrests have been made.

Sheriff Ray wishes to thank Smithville Police Chief Mark Collins and his Department for their assistance and Smithville Fire Chief Charlie Parker for bringing water for the Officer’s on the scene” and to Constable Mark Milam.

July 2, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

DeKalb County has fire stations in 12 communities. The latest one opened last summer in the Four Seasons area.

Residents of Wolf Creek are now asking that the county establish a fire hall in their community. Several people showed up Tuesday night at a meeting of the county’s emergency services committee to make the request. The closest firehalls currently are Silver Point (Putnam County) and Temperance Hall.

Among the concerned citizens from the community attending the meeting were star NASCAR driver Darrell Waltrip, who has a home in the area. First district county commissioner Julie Young, who represents that community, is a member of the emergency services committee.

In response to the concerns, the county budget committee, which met Wednesday night, voted to set aside $25,000 in seed money from the capital projects fund in the 2020-21 budget, subject to final approval by the county commission, toward future development of a fire hall at Wolf Creek. Fifth district commissioner Anita Puckett made the suggestion and the motion for the funding. The idea is to designate some money for the project now and add to it each year until enough is available to build the fire hall. A similar plan was followed several years ago when the county began planning for the Four Seasons Fire Station, a project (building) which eventually cost the county more than $160,000.

Currently, the county has no funds in place to build a new fire hall and the property where it would be located has not been secured. The county would also have to come up with another fire truck and the volunteers to staff it.

In the meantime, the county budget committee has included $12,000 in the new budget from the capital projects fund to install two fire hydrants in the Wolf Creek community. The committee took that action Wednesday night upon the recommendation of County Mayor Tim Stribling who said he had received requests from others for the hydrants.

The county’s 12 fire halls operated by the DeKalb County Volunteer Fire Department are located on Short Mountain Highway, Midway Community, Belk, Keltonburg, Cookeville Highway, Austin Bottom Community, Liberty, Temperance Hall, Main Station, Johnson Chapel, Four Seasons, and Blue Springs.