‘Twas a merry and bright Saturday night in downtown Smithville

December 5, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

‘Twas a merry and bright Saturday night in downtown Smithville as thousands of spectators celebrated the arrival of the holiday season during the Smithville Christmas Parade and Christmas on the Square.

(View 100 photos of the Smithville Christmas Parade and Christmas on the Square on the WJLE Facebook page)

Although it was cloudy, temperatures were mild for a December day and the rain held off. Many parked along the route to see the show as the parade motored from the New Life Connection Center down Congress Boulevard before turning onto Don Cantrell Street by City Hall into the Public Square. Others gathered downtown to get a closer look as the parade passed by and to scoop up some candy tossed to them by Santa and other participants. After the parade, many people stayed in town to shop and to enjoy all that Christmas on the Square had to offer including LIVE model window displays at several businesses, a reception by local public officials at the courthouse and city hall who served up refreshments, a pet photo shoot with Santa by the DeKalb Animal Coalition at the law office of Gayla Hendrix, a fun photo booth at the courthouse, and a visit with Santa at Justin Potter Library

DeKalb Funeral Chapel won 1st place for their entry. Second place went to the New West Point Free Will Baptist Church. Hurricane Marina took 3rd place. First Bank won the Spirit Award presented by the Smithville Business and Professional Women’s Club. Honorable mentions for the Spirit Award were Bee’s Body Boutique “Through Thick & Thin” and the DCHS Fighting Tiger Marching Band.

Mr. and Miss DeKalb County Michael and Tara Hale were the Grand Marshals of the Parade.

The parade was sponsored by the Smithville Fire Department.

December 4, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

Both DCHS basketball teams rolled to easy victories at Watertown Friday night. The Lady Tigers cruised to a 41 to 26 final while the Tigers breezed past the Purple Tigers 70 to 33.

https://www.wjle.com/tiger-talk/

The boys and girls improve their season records to 4-1 each. They will travel to Cannon County Monday night, December 6, host Smith County Tuesday night, December 7, and host Stone Memorial in their regional opener Friday night, December 10. Action starts each night with the girls contest at 6 p.m. followed by the boys game. WJLE will have LIVE coverage.

The Lady Tigers opened up a 15 to 9 lead over Watertown after the 1st period and led 26 to 11 at halftime, and 35 to 18 after the 3rd period before notching a 41 to 26 victory.

Ella VanVranken scored 24 followed by Kadee Ferrell 11 and Avery Agee 6.

The Tigers pounced on Watertown early leading 19 to 8 after the 1st period and led 41 to 16 at halftime and 55 to 28 after the 3rd period before taking a 70 to 33 win.

Conner Close led in scoring with 16 followed by Robert Wheeler 14, Zach Birmingham 8, Elishah Ramos and Isaac Knowles each with 7, Stetson Agee 6, Brayden Antoniak and Jordan Young each with 4, and Alex Antoniak and Nathaniel Crook each with 2.

December 4, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

The DeKalb County Republican Party Executive Committee met on Monday, November 29 and voted to hold a DeKalb County School Board Republican Primary election for districts 1, 2, 3, 4, 7 and any other vacancies that may occur, on Tuesday May 3, 2022.

Party leaders have until December 10 to notify the election commission of their decision in time for the 2022 elections.

The DeKalb County Democratic Party Executive Committee will meet Monday, December 6 to decide on whether to have a primary for school board races in 2022.

Under a new state law, candidates for local school boards in Tennessee can now run-in partisan races.

For many years local school board elections have been nonpartisan in Tennessee and candidates were barred from campaigning as a nominee or representative of a political party when running for school board.

Now, local political parties are allowed to direct county election officials to hold a party primary for the seats.

In a letter to chairs of both the DeKalb County Democratic and Republican Parties, Administrator of Elections Dennis Stanley explained that the district offices for school board up for election in 2022 can be added to local party primary ballots in May 2022.

“The General Assembly passed legislation during their recent special session that allows parties to nominate candidates for any school board office. Because you have called a primary in May, you have the option to add school board offices that will appear on the August ballot to the primary. This includes county school districts 1, 2, 3, 4, 7,” said Stanley.

“If you would like to supplement your existing call for a primary to add school board offices, you must file an original written notice with our office no later than the close of business on Friday, December 10, 2021. Like any call for a primary, we request that it be signed by two members of the county executive committee,” Stanley said.

The election commission will begin issuing candidate petitions for the May 3, 2022, primaries on December 20, 2021.