Watertown Couple Arrested After Confrontation with Deputy

February 28, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

A Watertown couple was arrested earlier this week after a confrontation with an officer during a traffic stop.

28 year old Kyle Robert Johnson is charged with assault; domestic assault; and resisting stop, frisk, halt, search or arrest and 29 year old Tiahra Yesenia Johnson was arrested for public intoxication. Kyle’s bond is $6,500 while bond for Tiahra is $1,500. They will make a court appearance on March 14.

Sheriff Patrick Ray said that on Sunday, February 24 a deputy was traveling east on Nashville Highway when he spotted a black Nissan SUV driving at a high rate of speed. After the driver locked up his brakes the vehicle slid to a stop. The officer then saw Kyle Johnson open the driver side back door and grab a passenger around the neck before slamming him down in the roadway. Others in the vehicle said Kyle also struck Tiahra in the face with the back of his hand injuring her lip and nose. After being placed under arrest by the deputy, Kyle began kicking while seated in the back of the patrol car and when the officer opened the door to keep him from damaging the vehicle, Kyle tried to get out of the back seat.

Meanwhile, Tiahra was charged after the officer noticed that she had a strong odor of alcohol on her person and that she was unsteady on her feet. Tiahra also became very confrontational with the deputy.

41 year old Amy Lynn Hall of Felts Road, Sparta is charged with being a fugitive from justice. Her bond is $15,000 and her court date is March 14.

Sheriff Ray said that on Sunday, February 24 Hall was at the scene of an accident and while checking her driver license through central dispatch, the officer learned that she has a failure to appear warrant against her in Bartow County, Georgia.

February 28, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

Smithville Elementary would like to recognize our Students of the Month for February. These students were selected for their outstanding character, academics, and other traits that make them an all-around excellent student. Selected as Students of the Month for February are:

PreK – Alan Ramos

K – Aveionka Fisk

1st – Azriel Fermin

2nd – Allie Tarpley

Smithville Elementary Upcoming Events for March 2019

Weds., March 6- Family Reading Night

Thurs., March 7- Family Reading Night

March 11-15 – Scholastic Book Fair

Weds., March 13- Family Reading Night

Thurs., March 14- In-School Banking

Thurs., March 14-Report Cards go home

Thurs., March 14-Book Fair Family Night

Thurs., March 14-Parent Teacher Conferences, 3:00-6:00 p.m.

Tues., March 19 – Group Pictures & Spring Pictures

Weds., March 20- Family Reading Night

Thurs., March 21- Family Reading Night

March 25-29 Spring Break

February 28, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

Fourth in series of five stories. 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Cheryl Vandagriff has found her niche in life as a classroom teacher and the journey she took to get there has brought her full circle to where her career began at Northside Elementary School.

For the last four years Vandagriff has been at Northside where she teaches fifth grade English, Language Arts, and Social Studies and its for her outstanding performance in the classroom that she has earned this year’s Teacher of the Year honor at the school.

IMG_4459 from dwayne page on Vimeo.

Northside is a special place for Vandagriff because its where she first started teaching fifth grade fifteen years ago fresh out of college. But after two years, Vandagriff left to join the staff at Dibrell Elementary School where she spent the next ten years of her life teaching third grade, before returning to Northside.

Although Vandagriff loves her job today, there was a time earlier in life when Vandagriff wasn’t so sure of her career path until she experienced a spiritual awakening.

“I had been working as a teacher assistant at Dibrell where my son attended school. After my first year of doing that I tried working in insurance and a couple of other things and never felt like I had found my niche in life. Then one morning I just woke up and it was like God speaking to me saying go back and get your degree. That very next day I went and signed up for my classes and never looked back. I graduated in 2004 with a Bachelors Degree in Education and I have a Masters Degree in Education from Tennessee Tech. I feel like it’s a true calling and what I need to be doing,” she said.

Vandagriff is happy to be back at Northside Elementary and enjoys working with the students and her fellow teachers.

“I love it here. I work with some exceptional teachers and they make me the teacher that I am. Without them I don’t think I could do what I do every day as well as I am able to do it so the team we have here at Northside is why I drive thirty minutes each day to come and teach these children. It makes me a better teacher,” she said.

When asked about being named Teacher of the Year at Northside Elementary, Vandagriff said “I am honored but also humbled. Of course I never feel like I am doing enough as a teacher and I always want to do a better job but it is an honor”.

How would she feel if named DeKalb County Teacher of the Year? “ That would be a great honor too. The other teachers (nominees) are so exceptional I don’t feel like that would happen but it would be a great honor,” she said.

In addition to Vandagriff, this year’s honorees are Justin Nokes, seventh grade World History teacher at DeKalb Middle School; first grade teacher Vicky Hawker at Smithville Elementary School; Linda Parris, a family and consumer sciences/culinary arts teacher at DeKalb County High School; and Jessica Antoniak, a sixth grade math and science teacher at DeKalb West School.

The overall DeKalb County Teacher of the Year winner will be announced during the twelfth annual Teacher of the Year banquet next Tuesday, March 5 at the Smithville First Baptist Church Life Enrichment Center.

WJLE will be featuring each of the five Teachers of the Year at the school level through next Tuesday. Features on Justin Nokes, Vicky Hawker, and Linda Parris already appear further down this page under local news.