January 12, 2019
By: Dwayne Page
Smithville Volunteer Firefighter and Deputy Chief Hoyte Hale received the “Robert Eller Highest Attendance Award” Friday night during an appreciation dinner for city firefighters at the New Life Connection Center.
The award was presented to Hale by Smithville Fire Chief Charlie Parker. This is the fifth straight year Hale has earned this award which was named this year in honor of the late Robert Eller, who served the Smithville Fire Department as a member and assistant chief for 64 years until his death in 2009.
“Until the time he got sick and his death, Eller was at just about every call, every meeting, and every training that we had so we wanted to pay homage to him by naming this award after him for the firefighter who made the most calls, trainings, workings throughout the year,” said Chief Parker.
Hale, a 34 year veteran of the department, attended 158 out of 214 calls during the year 2018. This includes calls, trainings, and workings.
“This award really shows his dedication to the department and to the city. He gets up at two o’clock in the morning to do these things and it really makes a difference. Having responded to 158 calls last year, that tells you how much he is committed to what he does at the Smithville Fire Department,” said Chief Parker.
Other firefighters with high attendance responses to their credit were Lieutenant Donnie Cantrell with 154, Chief Parker 150, Lieutenant Danny Poss with 133, Lieutenant John Poss 132, and Dalton Roberts with 100 calls.
2018 was the 80th year of the Smithville Fire Department. It was established in February 1938.
In his remarks during the dinner, Chief Parker thanked the mayor and aldermen for their support and highlighted achievements during the past year.
“In addition to those 214 calls (trainings and work activities) we managed to log in over 800 hours of training collectively with this group. That is pretty good with a group of about 27 people. In that number we had a total of 46 hours of work details around the fire hall which still did not include over 75 hours of meetings. Those were not included in that 214 number. That also does not include the number of hours we spent on fire calls. We had 160 plus fire calls but that is just the number of calls. That’s does not include the number of hours they spent during the middle of the night or day away from work and family. That averages out to about a call every day and a half in our little small town of Smithville,” he said.
Chief Parker also praised the late former mayor Waniford Cantrell, who passed away this week. Cantrell served two terms as mayor from 1982 to 1986. Parker said Cantrell was a huge supporter of the fire department and as mayor budgeted funds for the department’s first “jaws of life” extrication rescue equipment and set up an interest bearing account for the department, funds of which were used in 1992 for the purchase of a new fire truck. Cantrell also came up with the idea of longevity awards to firefighters based on years of service.
Meanwhile city firefighters were recognized for years of service including the following:
Brenda Soto-Rookie
Dillon Hicks-Rookie
Caleb London-2 years
Ryan Herron: 3 years
Garrett Johnson: 3 years
Seth Wright-3 years
Kim Johnson-3 years
Robin Summers-3 years
Bradley Johnson- 5 years
Dalton Roberts-5 years
C.J. Tramel- 5 years
Shawn Jacobs-6 years
Becky Atnip- 6 years
Cory Killian-8 years
Glen Lattimore-11 years
Stephanee Wright-13 years
Gary Johnson-14 years
James Randall Hunt-14 years
Wallace Caldwell- Chaplain 15 years
Lieutenant Kevin Adcock- 20 years
William (Wink) Brown-21 years
Greg Bess-photographer 24 years
Lieutenant John Poss-28 years
Captain Jeff Wright-33 years
Deputy Chief Hoyte Hale-34 years
Lieutenant Donnie Cantrell-39 years
Lieutenant Danny Poss-39 years
Chief Charlie Parker-39 years