Top Orators Awarded at DeKalb County 4-H County-Wide Public Speaking Contest

January 10, 2020
By: Leigh Fuson

The DeKalb County 4-H county-wide public speaking contest was held January 9th. The top contestants in 4th-6th grade from each class was invited to attend, and the contest was open to anyone in 7th-12th grade. The top two in each grade level will move on to the Area contest to be held in Overton County on January 23rd.

4th Grade:
Front Row: Lola Colwell (1st), Ava Steff (2nd), Maggie Myrick (3rd) , Kenadee Pedigo, Ben Waggoner, Khloe Grandstaff, Cassidy Orcutt
Back Row: Camille Barton, Kaydence Johnson, Kaiden Wilbur, Andrew Caplinger, Blaine Scarbro, Anderson Fortner, Gracie Johnson, Grace Chausse, Triniti Kelsor

5th Grade:
1st Row: Skylar Chausse (1st), Landon Tubbs (2nd) , Lillie Grace Young (3rd)
2nd Row: Boston Cantrell, LeAnn Wakefield, Kyleigh Mooneyham
3rd row: Olivia Minton, Rayna Johns, McKenzie Moss, Allie Estes

6th Grade:
Sydney Polk (1st) , Cali Agee (2nd), Aubrey Bare (3rd), Emily Anderson, Austin Pack

7th & 8th Grade:
Luke Midgett (1st) and Lilly Waggoner (1st)

January 10, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

Property owners are advised to guard against falling victim to a scam which appears to bill you for information you can get for free.

According to Assessor of Property Shannon Cantrell at least one property owner has reported having received by mail a notice from a place called “Property Site” bearing a California address which requests payment of a service fee of $95.00 from the would be victim for a “copy of your property assessment profile which includes a complimentary copy of your current Grant Deed or other record of title.”

A “Property Assessment Profile” is a comprehensive property report that provides a wealth of information on the property that can be used to verify property information is recorded correctly.

Although the notice to would be victims states that “Property Site” is not associated with any government agency and that you can obtain a copy of your grant deed or other record of title from the county recorder, it has the appearance of a bill for $95.00.

Cantrell advises you not to pay the fee and to request any information concerning your property records from either the Assessor of Property or Register of Deeds Offices free of charge.

January 10, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

Goodbye K-9 “Leo”

Its been a sad week for Smithville Police Detective James Cornelius and his family.

The former K-9 officer lost his longtime partner and friend “Leo” on Monday. The dog, a Dutch Shepherd, passed away at the age of 11.

Prior to being promoted to the rank of Sergeant almost three years ago, Cornelius was the Smithville Police Department’s K-9 officer and “Leo” had been his almost constant companion since 2011. Even after “Leo” was retired from duty in 2017 he continued to live with Cornelius and his family.

“He lived with me until the day he died,” said Cornelius.

In their official capacity, Cornelius and “Leo” served six and a half years together on the police force.

“I got him in March 2011. The position of a K-9 handler came open with the department and I put in for it and was given the position. That’s when I met him. Leo was already trained but I had to get trained with him. We had to go through a couple of months of training before I was able to handle him on the road,” said Detective Cornelius.

To be successful as a K-9 unit, dog and handler have to bond. Such was the case with Detective Cornelius and “Leo”.

“He was my partner for a long time. Many times it was just he and I riding around in a car together working a 12 hour  shift. Most of it was night shift. We also had to do a lot of maintenance training together. Every month, we had to do at least eight hours of training. We would go to Murfreesboro and train with other dogs and dog handlers,” said Cornelius.

And when the two could not be together, Detective Cornelius felt good knowing “Leo” was guarding his home and family.

“If I ever had to be away from home and he was there I always felt comfortable knowing that nobody would mess with the house, especially when I got married and had children. I was comfortable with him being there because he always looked after everything. He was always alert and made sure no one came around,” Cornelius continued.

Over the years, Officer Cornelius and “Leo” were instrumental in the investigation and prosecution of several drug cases.

“Mainly it was situations where there was probable cause to believe that there might be some type of drug or paraphernalia in a home or vehicle. Leo would be brought in to try and give an alert, and if there was any odor of any illegal drug or paraphernalia he would alert and give us the green light to go ahead and search and even sometimes pinpoint a location. If it was a house we could use him to hone in on the location of where that odor was coming from. We made several cases. We had at least two big marijuana busts that came in through the mail in which we were able to utilize Leo to help us pinpoint the package. Once he alerted on a package and we were able to legally open it up, something even the postmaster could not do without suspicion or probable cause,” said Detective Cornelius.

“Leo was my partner and he became a family member especially after retirement. He will be sadly missed,” added Detective Cornelius.