DeKalb Prevention Coalition to host Stashed Away Trailer Event

March 17, 2022
By: Dwayne Page

The DeKalb Prevention Coalition will be hosting the Tennessee National Guard Counter Drug Task Force’s Stashed Away Trailer in the parking lot of the DeKalb County Complex on Tuesday, March 29.

The trailer is a mobile display designed to simulate a “typical” teenager’s bedroom, complete with all the paraphernalia and imagery one would expect to see but not necessarily understand from today’s younger culture. In the room, attendees will learn the meanings of signs, symbols and clothing, common hiding spots, and other precursors that can be tips for otherwise unsuspecting parents. The goal is to empower adults with the knowledge and tools to make an impact when talking to youth and to deter them from substance use and abuse.

“Everyday parents and guardians easily miss the signs of youth substance abuse. The Stashed Away Trailer is a substance abuse awareness event for parents. The trailer replicates a teenager’s bedroom and the potential items that can be indicators of experimentation with drugs and alcohol,” said Jennifer Matthews, Director of the DeKalb Prevention Coalition.

Prior to the walk through of the trailer, participants are asked to attend a meeting to become better informed about detecting the signs of youth substance abuse.

“Officers will have a presentation on current youth trends. DPC will also give an update on prevention efforts we have for the month of March,” said Matthews.

Youth today have more opportunities with less education on the danger of illegal substances. Newer substances become more readily available to a wider market. Many times, substances are disguised as everyday objects to covertly conceal them inside a simple can of soda or a hairbrush. Parents and teachers who are not informed as to what things mean to a user can be the difference between a child/youth progressing in the cycle of substance use and abuse. This program will educate parents and teachers of youth (primarily preteen and teenage at-risk youth) on the warning signs to identify potentially dangerous behaviors and lifestyle choices as well as how to intervene for a more positive outcome on behalf of those young targets before their life choices become terminal decisions. Drugs, violence and crime don’t discriminate against gender, skin color, religion or affiliation. Everyone can fall victim, and everyone is responsible to educate the next generation. At the conclusion of the experience, attendees will be provided with valuable resources such as: contact information for local prevention coalitions, substance abuse counselors, specific informational brochures, and much more. This will allow parents and teachers to continue fighting on behalf of their youth with the information gained from the experience.

The meeting will be Tuesday, March 29th at 12-Noon with a free lunch provided in the UT Extension training room at the Community Complex. Enter the building through the UT Extension double doors. The first room on the right is the training room. The training is free, and the lunch is free. The stashed away trailer will be in the large parking lot of the Community Complex until 2 p.m. that day.

If you are interested in attending the meeting, you may email the coalition at dekalbtnprevention@gmail or send a facebook message so they can have an estimate for lunch.

March 16, 2022
By: Dwayne Page

Dylan has been living at the DeKalb Animal Shelter for a long time. In fact, he has been there longer than any other pet. And while Dylan is welcome there, he needs a forever home.

Will you be that loving, caring family who gives him such a home?

You can adopt Dylan this week. He is the WJLE/DeKalb Animal Shelter featured “Pet of the Week”

“Dylan is our longest shelter resident. He has been with us eight months. He is a three-year-old Shepherd mix. Dylan is really good on a leash. He behaves well and loves to play. He is very dominant, so he needs to be the only dog in the household but if you have another dog we are open to having a meet and greet with them. He is great with people especially kids. Dylan is also sponsored by our “friends of “ organization so his adoption fee has been reduced to $100. He is neutered and is up to date on all his vaccinations. Dylan is micro-chipped and ready to go,” said Shelter Director Emmaly Bennett.

“ If you are interested in adopting Dylan go to our website at https://www.dekalbanimalsheltertn.com/ and fill out an adoption application and we will call you to set up a time for you to come in and meet him,” said Bennett.

The shelter is now open Monday-Friday from 8 to 4 and Saturday from 8 to 12 on Transfer Station Road behind Tenneco Automotive.

March 15, 2022
By: Dwayne Page

A 54-year-old DeKalb County man serving a life sentence for first degree murder in the kidnapping and brutal killing of two men in 1995 will be up for parole next month.

The hearing for James Christopher Tatrow, convicted in the murders of John Harry and Roger Zammit, will be held at the Northwest Correctional Complex (NWCX) in Lake County at Tiptonville, Tennessee where Tatrow is incarcerated. Tatrow has spent half of his life behind bars because of the crimes.

This will be Tatrow’s second appearance before members of the Tennessee Board of Parole.

“At Tatrow’s initial parole hearing on Oct. 3, 2019, the Board voted to decline parole at the time and recommended a review hearing to be scheduled in April 2022. In Mr. Tatrow’s particular case, there needs to be four concurring votes by the Board members to reach a final decision,” said Dustin Krugel, Communications Director for the Tennessee Board of Parole.

(Click the link below to read details about the Chris Tatrow case in this 1998 Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals ruling)

CHRIS TATROW STORY

The story centers around Tatrow, who was a rodeo cowboy, college student and family man until he started abusing drugs after a serious back injury.

In January 1995 Tatrow’s trailer home in the Belk Community of DeKalb County became a hangout house where friends and acquaintances of Tatrow came and went.

The beginning of the nightmare was when Tatrow returned home from a trip to Texas to find that his trailer had been robbed. Prize belt buckles won in rodeos, a Navajo blanket that belonged to a close friend, an antique knife collection, a coin purse inherited from his great-grandfather, a toolbox and several guns were reported stolen to the sheriff’s department but having heard rumors that Roger Zammit and John Harry were responsible for the theft, Tatrow allegedly decided to take matters into his own hands. Along with several accomplices, Tatrow kidnapped Harry and Zammit and brought them to his home where they were tortured and beaten for several days before being murdered. According to court documents, Zammit, gored and bloody, along with Harry, was made to kneel in a bathtub. A plastic bag was placed around Zammit’s head and a cord around his neck. Tatrow, the former Rodeo star, had his knee in Zammit’s back and yanked the cord, and then took a heavy-duty flashlight and mercilessly beat him. After Zammit died, Harry was marched outside where he was shot in the head and died. Tatrow and his accomplices then wrapped the bodies of Zammit and Harry in carpet and woven wire fencing and took them to Hurricane Bridge on Cookeville Highway where they were dumped from the bridge in the lake.

After Zammit and Harry were reported missing an investigation led to the discovery of the bodies and the arrest of Tatrow and his accomplices. Because of the pre-trial publicity, the trial court ordered that the case against Tatrow be tried in Cumberland County rather than DeKalb County. Other co-defendants in the case were sentenced after the Tatrow trial. While Tatrow admitted that he was involved in the kidnappings and that he killed the victims, he contended that because he was suffering from a drug-induced psychosis, he was unable to formulate the requisite knowledge of wrongdoing at the time the crimes occurred. The state argued that voluntary intoxication could not be used to negate the element of recklessness and that the evidence in the record demonstrated beyond a reasonable doubt that Tatrow knowingly kidnapped and then recklessly murdered the victims.

At the conclusion of the two-week trial in 1996, the jury convicted Tatrow of two counts of felony murder and two counts of especially aggravated kidnapping in the deaths of Zammit and Harry. Tatrow was also convicted of two counts of premeditated and deliberate murder of the same victims, but the trial court set aside those verdicts as the thirteenth juror. In the sentencing phase, the jury declined to impose the death penalty or life without parole and sentenced Tatrow to serve life sentences with the possibility of parole. At the conclusion of a sentencing hearing, the trial court judge ordered Tatrow to serve two consecutive life sentences concurrently with sentences of 22 years for the kidnapping convictions. Tatrow later challenged the validity of the convictions and the propriety of consecutive sentencing.

Upon a review of the record and the law, The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals in 1998 affirmed Tatrow’s convictions but vacated the order to run the two life sentences consecutively.