School Board Grants Tenure to 19 Teachers and Sells DCHS Tiny House

June 13, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

Nineteen teachers have been granted tenure by the Board of Education.

During Thursday night’s monthly meeting, Director of Schools Patrick Cripps presented the names of Jessica Antoniak, Megan Carroll, Sydney Johnson, Macy Nokes, Cheryl Vance, Allison Atnip, Tiffany Cowart, Tracy Luna, Gayla Parker, Cheryl Vandagriff, Nikyra Calcagno, Melba Farmer, Rebecca Miller, Cody Randolph, Seth Willoughby, Shana Cantrell, Brittany Gulley, Leslie Moore, and Emily Summers requesting they be granted tenure saying they had met all the requirements.

Meanwhile in his monthly report on personnel, Director Cripps announced that the following have resigned:

Lori Chew, teacher at Northside Elementary School; Brittany Dixon, teacher at DCHS; Barbara Jimenez, teacher at Northside Elementary School; Lindsey Pullum, teacher at DCHS; Jesse Vanatta, teacher at Smithville Elementary School; and Rita Young has retired as attendance clerk at Northside Elementary School.

The DCHS Tiny House has been sold.

Although it didn’t quite meet the established minimum bid of $22,600, the Board awarded bid to Richard and Kelly Delmotte of Whitehouse, Tennessee for $20,000. The only other bid received was for $15,000 from Jerry Alsup of Murfreesboro.

The Tiny House was recently completed by students in the DCHS Residential and Commercial Construction Class. The 8’ x 24’ Tiny House stands up to 13 feet and 6 inches and sets on a modified trailer that can be anchored or moved from place to place.

June 12, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

A McMinnville man lost his life after being shot during an armed standoff with officers of the DeKalb County Sheriff’s and Smithville Police Departments Thursday night at a residence on Toad Road.

Dead is 28 year old Gregorio Cruz Vanloo.

County and city authorities spent the day searching for Vanloo, who was a suspect in a “shots fired” incident at the parking lot of Los Lobos Mexican Restaurant Thursday morning.

“After we got a tip that he was at this residence on Toad Road, officers of the Sheriff’s Department and Smithville Police Department got together and went to this home trying to apprehend Vanloo. When we arrived on the scene, Vanloo was on the front porch threatening the officers and then he drew down on them with a handgun. After an exchange of gunfire with officers Vanloo was wounded. He was taken by DeKalb EMS to Ascension Saint Thomas DeKalb Hospital where he was pronounced dead,” said Sheriff Patrick Ray.

No one else was injured.

The case remains under review by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and District Attorney General Bryant Dunaway.

The story began Thursday morning when Vanloo caught a ride with a woman who brought her brother to work at Los Lobos Mexican Restaurant on Broad Street.

As the woman pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant in a red car, a white Chevy Suburban, driven by her former boyfriend, Steven Christopher Shelton of McMinnville drove up beside her. According to the woman, Shelton had been harassing her even though she had an order of protection against him. After the woman’s brother jumped from the red car with a tire iron to confront Shelton, Vanloo, seated in the back seat of the red car, pulled a handgun and fired two shots into the side of the Suburban. Shelton wasn’t hit but he drove to the rear of the restaurant, parked, and then got out and took refuge inside the restaurant, entering through the back door.

After dropping off her brother, the woman then drove Vanloo to the Midway Community where he had asked her to leave him. She then returned to town.

During an investigation at the restaurant by Smithville Police, a witness to the shooting spotted the woman’s red car pulling into the parking lot of McDonald’s Restaurant and reported it. Officers went to McDonalds to confront the woman and she explained what had happened and where she had taken Vanloo.

City and county officers then began their search for Vanloo and reverse 911 calls were made to area residents alerting them to the threat and to report suspicious activity. Sheriff Ray and Chief Mark Collins said the effort paid off as tips started coming in from the community. Officers learned that Vanloo was spotted around at least two homes on Sparta Highway and that his image was captured on home surveillance there.

“While we were searching a call came in that someone had spotted a man fitting the description of our suspect getting into a red Toyota, driven by another man later identified as Gregory Michael Patton, at the corner of Evins Mill Road and Highway 70. According to the witness, the man (suspect) got into the rear seat and laid down, The car then came back into town,” said Chief Collins.

County and city officers later spotted a red Toyota matching the description on Highland Avenue and when they approached the car it sped away resulting in a pursuit which started in Smithville and traversed along several streets and county roads before heading out Short Mountain Highway and into Cannon County where the driver finally pulled over on Jim Cummings Highway near the Coffee County line. During the chase, which at times exceeded speeds of 100 miles per hour, a Be On The Lookout (BOLO) was issued and officers from the Warren County and Cannon County Sheriff’s Departments, Woodbury Police Department, and the Tennessee Highway Patrol joined in the effort to get the vehicle stopped. Warren County Sheriff Tommy Myers was also helpful to the local departments in identifying Vanloo as the suspect because of his criminal record there.

Following the chase , officers received a tip that Vanloo was at a residence on Highland Avenue where the pursuit began but upon arriving there after the tip, they discovered Vanloo had already left.

“During our search of the home, we found our suspect’s backpack. There was also a large amount of methamphetamine in the backpack. We had information earlier that Vanloo had two weapons on him at the time of the shooting at Los Lobos and we found one of the weapons among his belongings at this residence on Highland Avenue. He also had a police scanner so we knew he could monitor our movements while we were out trying to catch him,” said Chief Collins.

“We later had a report of him on foot walking by Florence & White Ford so we did another 911 reverse call to alert residents in that area,” said Sheriff Ray.

“Calls came in from people who saw men walking that matched the description and we began following up on all of those leads. We even had a call reporting someone in the bushes by Walmart. Both city and county agencies responded but it turned out not to be him. Walmart was put on lock down for a long time during that period,” said Chief Collins.

Later after receiving another tip, officers converged at the residence on Toad Road where Vanloo was found and confronted.

Sheriff Ray said that Patton has been charged with reckless endangerment, evading arrest, and driving under the influence. He was also cited for possession of schedule II and V drugs (methamphetamine and Gabapentin).

The charges against Patton allege he tried to evade law enforcement in congested traffic driving at speeds exceeding 100 miles per hour forcing several vehicles off the roadway and going through a public housing area at excessive speeds where children were present. Patton admitted to having taken methamphetamine and heroin. His speech was slurred and he was unsteady on his feet. Patton had to be assisted to the patrol car. He had on him 0.4 grams of methamphetamine and two Gabapentin pills.

Shelton is charged with assault and violating an order of protection. His bond is $7,000 and he will make a court appearance on June 25.

“A special thanks to Warren County Sheriff Tommy Myers and his staff, Cannon County Sheriff Darrell Young and his staff, the Tennessee Highway Patrol, Woodbury Police Department, TBI, and District Attorney General Bryant Dunaway and his staff for their assistance,” said Sheriff Ray.

“We also want to thank the citizens for their support in giving us tips and for the things we have seen on facebook since this has happened along with the calls, text messages, and emails we have had in support of us through this. We want people to continue to pray for our deputies, us, and the city police officers who were there and please pray for Mr. Vanloo’s family,” said Sheriff Ray.

“We will be setting up a debriefing for our officers. That was a very tragic thing for them to have gone through. All of our officers are young and we want to make sure they are okay,” he said.

“I want to express my thanks to Sheriff Ray and his staff. They were there with us at the beginning and helped us. We couldn’t have done this without them today. We both had several officers working and we needed all of them. Its great that we live and work in a place where two agencies like ours work together. Today we started this case together and finished it together,” said Chief Collins.

June 11, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

Director of Schools Patrick Cripps has hired a total of 233 teachers and other professional personnel for the 2020-21 school year.

Cripps presented a list of the employees to the Board of Education Thursday night.

Certified personnel at each school are as follows:

DeKalb County High School-
Kelly Agee, Angie Anderson, Charlotte Blaylock, Amanda Brown, Kevin Burchfield, Elizabeth Burrows,Thomas Cagle, Amee Cantrell, Jeanine Cantrell, Todd Cantrell, Gary Caplinger, Lisa Craig, Deborah DePriest, Andrew Dixon, Donna Emmons, Lauren Ferrell, Danny Fish, Samantha Fletcher, Amanda Fuller, Stephanie Fuson, David Gash, Emily Geist, Jessica Griffith, Britney Gulley, Josh Gulley, Lesa Hayes, Bradley Hendrix, Sonja House, Randy Jennings, Dylan Kleparek, Brad Leach, Tracy Luna, Rebecca Miller, Lori Myrick, Jenny Norris, Shelly Painter, David Parkers,, Linda Parris, Wanda Phillips, John Pryor, Corey Rathbone, Melissa Ruch, John Sanders, Daniel Seber, Michael Shaw, Aaron Shirah, Brent Simpson, Steve Trapp, Stephanie Turner, Chris Vance, Logan Vance,Tad Webb, Barbara Weller, Michael Whitefield, Seth Willoughby, and Sara Young.

Northside Elementary School-
Marla Beshearse, Mollie Bratten, Linda Bush, Shanea Cantrell, Megan Carroll, Allison Collier, Trent Colwell, Gates Craighead, Michael Crockett, Alisha Day, Tabitha Farmer, Lindsay Floyd, Carrie Gottlied, Amanda Griffith, Jennifer Griffith, Cynthia Hale, Jessica Hale, Patty Hale, Loree Hall, Jennifer Herndon, Amber Hipsher, Meagan Humbert, Lorie Isabell, Shelly Jennings, Karen Knowles, Kristy Lasser, Lisa Mabe, Jama Martin, Amanda Mathis, Elizabeth Miller, Diana Moon, Melissa Odom, Josh Odom, Beth Pafford, Deb Poteete, Paris Rabidoux, Kathy Ramsey, Amy Raymond, Kristen Rowland, Melissa Roysdon, Sandra Saracho, Tammy Sims, Sarah Storey, Carol Tripp, Cheryl Vandagriff, Kristen Van Vranken, and Sandy Willingham.

DeKalb West School-
Joey Agee, Jessica Antoniak, Sean Antoniak, Crystal Barnes, Vickey Barrett, Whitney Brelje, Jenny Cantrell, Jeanna Caplinger, William Conger, Kim Crook, Martha Damron, Rachel Desimone, Tonya Ellis, Sabrina Farler, Karen France, Julie Hale, Cathleen Humphrey, Nadina Martel, Jennifer Martin, Shelia McMillen, Amanda Mullinax, Tammy Payne, Lori Pryor, Kelly Pyburn, Cynthia Snow, Katie Stutts, Teresa Sullivan, Ashlee Thomason, Shelia Vanatta, Natasha Vaughn, Susan West, Vicki Wilson, and Amy Young.

Smithville Elementary School-
Misty Agee, Brooke Anderson, Allison Atnip, Ashley Barnes, Lindsey Bouldin, Beth Cantrell, Summer Cantrell, Claire Cloyd, Tiffany Cowart, Amanda Dakas, Edward Dillard, Mykaela Duke, Tina Gash, Vicky Hawker, Holly Hendrix, Tanya Howard, Kelly Huling, Ana Jarvis, Sydney Johnson, Niki Johnson, Nathalie Kintz, Cameron Lester, Leah Magness, Kristen Malone, Adrienne McCormick, Christina Merriman, LeVaughnda Midgett, Kady Moffett, Leslie Moore, Macy Nokes, Jacquelyn Overbey, Amanda Parker, Joy Parker, Bethany Poss, Jane Ramsey, Amanda Rhoady, Bethany Rigsby, Melissa Sliger, Cristy Spears, Cynthia Stoglin, Emily Summers, Allison Taylor, Janet Trapp, Allyson Trapp, Kristy Williams, Lisa Woods, Janet Woodward, Christie Young, Crystal Young, and Sherian Zamora.

DeKalb Middle School-
January Agee, Josh Agee, Samantha Antoniak, Suzette Barnes, Kelly Birmingham, Galen Brown, Nikyra Calcagno, Nancy Cowan, Melba Farmer, Lacey Foutch, Amy Fricks, Suzanne Gash, Amy Hayes, Lori Hendrix, Callie Herman, Rachel Hernandez, JSarah Jacobs, Angela Johnson, Teresa Jones, Bryan Jones, Michelle Jones, Alyssa Leslie, Kristen Lynch, Martha Melching, Justin Nokes, Courtney O’Conner, Scott Odom, Hunter Poteete, Justin Poteete, Anita Puckett, Cody Randolph, Janie Roberts, Candice Scrabo, Carson Speck, Danni Stahlke, Carol Tallent, Kitty Thomas, Cheryl Vance, and Jennifer West.

Central Office Staff-
Dr. Kathy Bryant, Michelle Burklow, Dr. Danielle Collins, Elise Driver, Shea Hennessee, Amy Lattimore, Joey Reeder, and Lori Rogers.