County Redistricting Committee Meets to Organize with Next Meeting Set for September 7

July 13, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

The DeKalb County Redistricting Committee met for the first time Monday night for the purpose of organizing and electing a chairman, vice-chairman and secretary.

In May the county commission appointed the Redistricting Committee which consists of eleven members including seven county commissioners, two school board members, the county mayor, and the administrator of elections.

Upon the recommendation of County Mayor Tim Stribling, the committee voted to name Administrator of Elections Dennis Stanley as Chairman. Fifth District County Commissioner Anita Puckett was selected as Vice Chairman and 4th District Commissioner Janice Fish-Stewart is the Secretary.

The committee will begin the process of preparing a redistricting plan when the population numbers from the 2020 Census count are released next month. The plan must be completed and in the hands of the county commission by no later than October 25.

In addition to County Mayor Stribling and Administrator of Elections Stanley, members of the Redistricting committee are County Commissioners Shaee Flatt from the 1st district, Myron Rhody- 2nd district, Susannah Cripps Daughtry- 3rd district, Janice Fish-Stewart- 4th district, Anita Puckett – 5th district, Matt Adcock – 6th district, and Bruce Malone from the 7th district. The two school board members appointed are Jim Beshearse of the 3rd district and Shaun Tubbs of the 7th district.

By law the county commission district boundary lines must be redrawn every 10 years following completion of the United States census. The federal government stipulates that districts must have nearly equal populations and must not discriminate on the basis of race or ethnicity.

Matthew Hill explained the redistricting process for members of the committee Monday night. Hill is the senior GIS Specialist for the TN Comptroller’s office and has presided over the Redistricting process for other Local Government officials the last 10 years.

Once the census numbers are known, the redistricting committee must produce a recommendation to submit to the county commission, which has the final say on redistricting. The approved plan then goes to the election commission to redraw precinct boundary lines so that voters and candidates for the 2022 elections know in which districts and precincts they reside.

“Based on the preliminary numbers we are looking at, I don’t see that you will have wholesale changes,” said Hill. The districts that standout in some of our projections are district 6 which we think will need somewhere around 112 people to get it up to that ideal population. As far as the districts that have grown the most, it appears to be districts 3 & 7 and they would need to lose right around 80 people each. The rest of the districts are really close. District 4 has to gain 14 people and that is probably ideally as close as you can get. Overall there can be no more than a 10% deviation in population,” Hill continued.

“When we do get the numbers we will come back and sit down with you and start the redistricting process. We are expecting to get the data on August 16. At our next meeting, we will bring in a projector and hook it up to a big screen to show you street level and block level data. It will show you the total population in there and you will be able to make adjustments based on various scenarios that you would like to see done or we (state) can come in with a plan already adjusted to present to the committee and you could take a vote to approve it,” said Hill.

Although by law, redistricting for each county must be completed by January 1, 2022 , Hill said it really needs to be done before the election commission begins issuing candidate petitions December 18 for the 2022 local primaries. That also gives the election commission time to set their voting precincts and update their voter rolls.

The redistricting committee’s next meeting is set for September 7 at 6 p.m. at the courthouse.

July 12, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

18 year old Ellisyn Kelsey Cripps is the 2021 DeKalb County Fairest of the Fair.

Cripps, daughter of Troy and Jamie Cripps of Smithville, won the crown Monday evening during the annual pageant held on opening night of the DeKalb County Fair in Alexandria. She was also named Miss Congeniality and Most Photogenic.

Cripps succeeds the 2019 Fairest of the Fair, Destiny Danielle Franklin, the 22 year old daughter of Jennifer and Charlie Ware of Smithville. There was no Fairest of the Fair pageant last year due to COVID-19.

Cripps will represent the DeKalb County Fair in the state pageant.

First runner-up in the Fairest of the Fair event was Alexis Grace Atnip, the 18 year old daughter of Veronica and Gary Johnson of Smithville.

Second runner-up: Mackenzie Leigh Sprague, 17 year old daughter of Wanda Sprague of Smithville.

Third runner-up: Caitlin Alisabeth Milligan, 19 year old daughter of Josh and Cyndi Milligan of Smithville

July 12, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

The 2021 Junior Fair Princess of the DeKalb County Fair is Keara McKinsey Milligan of Smithville.

Milligan , 14 year old daughter of Josh and Cyndi Milligan, was among nine young ladies ages 13-16 who competed for the crown on the opening night of the DeKalb County Fair Monday.

She succeeds the 2019 Junior Fair Princess, Addison Jean Puckett, 17 year old daughter of Jimmy and Anita Puckett of Smithville. There was no Junior Fair Princess Pageant last year due to COVID-19.

The first runner-up was Allyson Roxanne Fuller, 15 year old daughter of Anthony and Amanda Fuller of Smithville.

Second runner-up was Kailey Evangaline Herron, 16 year old daughter of Krista Mullican and Greg Herron of Smithville.

Chloe Faith Lawson was third runner-up. She is the 15 year old daughter of Victoria Poteet and Adam Denny of Smithville. Lawson was also named Miss Congeniality.

The fourth runner-up was Katie Madison Linder, 13 year old daughter of Joshua and Emily Linder of Smithville.

The title of Most Photogenic went to Elizabeth Harlee Rae Stanley, 16 year old daughter of Chris and Dana Stanley of Liberty.

Other contestants were Eden Garner, 14 year old daughter of Debbie Garner of Smithville; Addison Renae Hale, 14 year old daughter of Cayla Mahaney and Chris Hale of Smithville; and Kyleigh Breanne Hill, 16 year old daughter of David and Colleen Clary of Smithville and the late Kyle Hill.