Smithville Man Indicted in 2018 Sex Crime

February 25, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

A Smithville man was recently arrested after being indicted almost two years ago in a child sex crime investigated by the Smithville Police Department.

39 year old Hoss Lee Stith of Cripps Lane, Smithville is charged with sexual exploitation of a minor and sexual battery by an authority figure. His bond totals $100,000 and his court date is May 19.

Stith, who was arrested on February 19, appeared for arraignment Friday, February 21 in DeKalb County Criminal Court before Judge Wesley Bray.

According to the sealed indictments returned by the DeKalb County Grand Jury on July 23, 2018, Stith had sexual contact with a 16 year old girl on June 3, 2018. He also had less than 50 images of minors engaged in sexual activity.

February 25, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

The Trustee’s Office is a busy place this week as taxpayers rush to beat the February 29 deadline to pay their 2019 county property taxes.

Because 2020 is leap year, taxpayers have an extra day to pay without penalty. The Trustee’s office is open Monday-Friday and will be open on Saturday, February 29 from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.

As of today (Tuesday), Trustee Sean Driver said collections were at 76.77% of almost $10.7 million in DeKalb County property taxes to be collected by February 29, 2020 which includes property, residential, commercial, personal, and public utility taxes.

For budgeting purposes, the county expects tax collections each year to be at least 94.75% with a 5.25% delinquency.

Property taxes are now due and payable through February 29, 2020 before any interest becomes due on March 1, 2020.

The Trustee’s office offers up to 6 different options to pay your property taxes:

*Come in person to the office to pay

*Mail in your payment

* Pay online @ www.tennesseetrustee.org, then select DeKalb and follow the instructions to the next screens. The Vendor BIS (Business Information Systems) accepts Discover, MasterCard, or American Express-The Vendor convenience fee of 2.75% on the total tax bill will apply and fees are subject to change for using credit/debit cards. Also, a $2.75 fee will be assessed on an e-check payment of any amount.

* A QR (Quick Response Code) is also your means of accessing the website www.tennesseetrustee.org with your smart phone.

* Dropbox located on the outside of the building at the County Complex (County Offices Section) for your convenience after hours or on weekends. “If on the last day you can’t make it to the post office to postmark your payment, you can use the dropbox and when we gather the mail on Monday, March 2 in the office, if your payment is in there no interest will be applied to your 2019 tax,” said Trustee Sean Driver.

*Partial Payments are accepted and you the taxpayer sets the amount to pay until full payment is made.
The Trustee’s office is accepting applications for the Property Tax Relief Program through April 6, 2020.

If you would like to inquire more about a possible tax relief for property taxes, come by the Trustee’s office in the County Complex at 732 S Congress Boulevard-Room 103, Smithville or call 615-597-5176.

February 25, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

Lisa Cripps of DeKalb County was honored earlier this month during the 12th Annual Governor’s Volunteer Stars Awards ceremony at the Franklin Marriott Cool Springs in Franklin.

The awards celebrated the efforts of 115 volunteers statewide who have strived to improve their communities through service. Miss Tennessee Volunteer 2019, Kerri Arnold, presented the awards, and NewsChannel5 weekend anchor, Jennifer Kraus, served as emcee for the event.

Cripps was awarded for her active role in improving her community and helping others primarily as the coordinator of the DeKalb Prevention Coalition.

Since becoming board chair and director of the DeKalb Prevention Coalition two years ago, Ms. Cripps has brought this organization’s community engagement to new heights. She works tirelessly and fearlessly to bring awareness, education, and solutions to our community’s drug addiction-related issues, for both addict and prevention programs. In the past two years, Lisa has had over 100 speaking engagements to over 1,000 school children. In 2019, the DeKalb Prevention Coalition held a “Take Back” drug collection that recovered 8.6 pounds of controlled substances and 56.6 pounds of other medications. In addition to her service to DeKalb Prevention Coalition, Lisa serves as Vice Chair of the Chamber of Commerce board of directors. She is a graduate of Leadership DeKalb, and actively gives of her time during program days. She is very involved in her church and has participated in mission work both locally and abroad. Lisa Cripps makes retirement look exhausting.

Participating counties were invited to select one youth and one adult volunteer to receive this prestigious award. Nominees were judged based on the community’s need of the volunteer service performed, initiative taken to perform the service, creativity used to solve a community problem and impact of the volunteer service on the community. The individual awards are sponsored by Community Care of Rutherford County and Tennessee 4-H. Visit www.volunteertennessee.net to find photos of individual honorees receiving their award, as well as additional event photos.

The Governor’s Volunteer Stars Awards also includes business and non-profit categories. One business and one non-profit were selected from each of Tennessee’s three Grand Regions for their outstanding community involvement and service. The business honorees included: Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee, East Tennessee Business Honoree; Southeast Venture, Middle Tennessee Business Honoree; and Medtronic, West Tennessee Business Honoree. The business awards were sponsored by Advance Financial. The non-profit honorees included: Centro Hispano de East Tennessee, East Tennessee Non-Profit Honoree; Nashville Conflict Resolution Center, Middle Tennessee Non-Profit Honoree; and Beautiful Spirited Women, West Tennessee Non-Profit Honoree. The non-profit awards were sponsored by Friends of Volunteer Tennessee.

“Each year, 1.6 million Tennessee volunteers give more than 137 million hours of service, contributing the equivalent of $3.3 billion to Tennessee’s economy. They are the backbone of our great state, and by giving of their time and talents to fulfill needs that would otherwise go unmet, they truly embody the spirit of giving,” said Volunteer Tennessee Executive Director, Jim Snell.

Volunteer Tennessee coordinates the Governor’s Volunteer Stars Awards at the state level. Volunteer Tennessee is the 25 member bipartisan citizen board appointed by the Governor to oversee AmeriCorps and service-learning programs and to advance volunteerism and citizen service to solve community problems in the Volunteer State.