A Sparta man suffered serious injuries in a single vehicle crash in DeKalb County Sunday. Tennessee Highway Patrol Sergeant Eric McCormick reports that 24-year-old Jackie Sullivan crashed his Ford Focus on Highway 70 east near Midnight Express. Sullivan’s vehicle reportedly left the right side of the roadway and went into the woods. He received treatment at Saint Thomas DeKalb Hospital. ... Read More »

The Putnam County Board of Education voted to restructure its school enrichment programs Thursday. Enrichment programs help academically gifted students to excel by providing more challenging work. This year, one teacher will be the county coordinator and a teacher at each school will get a stipend to provide enrichment. That’s a change from last year when three teachers provided enrichment ... Read More »

Putnam County is some $180 million in debt. That’s the reason some Putnam commissioners voted against buying property in Baxter to host the county fair. Putnam County Executive Randy Porter said three years ago, the county’s debt was up over $200 million. “Since I’ve been in office we haven’t issued any more debt, but we’re paying it off. We have ... Read More »

The Putnam County Board of Education will hold a special called meeting to approve a budget after the county’s budget committee determines what they have to work with. The BOE approved the third draft of its budget during Thursday’s meeting. The Putnam County Commission has approved all other budgets, only the BOE budget remains. Putnam County Director of Schools Jerry ... Read More »

Former Nashville Mayor and Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Karl Dean will be in Smithville later this month. Dean is scheduled to appear at a dinner hosted by the DeKalb County Democratic Party on July 27th at DeKalb County High School. Dean will speak at the event along with United States Senate candidate James Mackler and Holly McCall, the Recruitment Coordinator for ... Read More »

A Crossville man will serve a 12 year prison sentence after pleading guilty to methamphetamine possession charges. 46-year-old Barry Keith Lail pleaded guilty possession of less than .5 grams of meth last week. He received a six year sentence for the charge, but that charge will run consecutive to a six year sentence handed down to Lail in April. His ... Read More »

A Sunday afternoon fire caused minor smoke damage to a number of Putnam County businesses. The Cookeville Fire Department received the call around 4:15 p.m. Sunday at the Jersey Mike’s Subs location on Jefferson Avenue. Fire department officials said the business was drying towels when a dryer malfunctioned and caught fire. Smoke from the fire reportedly filed up Jersey Mike’s ... Read More »

Putnam County’s emergency operations center will soon get an upgrade. Putnam County Executive Randy Porter said the center is nearly 10 years old. “When we had the last storm on Memorial Day weekend, we saw some things we thought we need to be looking at changing, technology has changed some,” Porter said. The county and the county’s 911 board have ... Read More »

Putnam County’s fair property problems could be solved by the Tennessee State Fair. Tennessee State Fair and Exposition commissioners reportedly voted 9-0 to explore other cities to host the fair beginning in 2019. Like Putnam County, the current fair site in Nashville is land-locked, with no room for expansion. Putnam County Executive Randy Porter said he’s interested in the idea. ... Read More »

The Putnam County Board of Education began the process to sell a small plot of land at its meeting Thursday. Pat Farris of the Mt. Hermon community addressed the board. The BOE owns a one-acre plot of land bordering the Mt. Hermon Church property. “It’s been the community’s belief that the property has been transferred, of course there’s no deed ... Read More »