Tag Archives: Dekalb County

All Dekalb County Schools will continue remote learning through the rest of 2020. The county school system went fully remote on December 4th due to an increase in COVID cases among staff and students. Dekalb County School Director Patrick Cripps said the school system will look to return in person on January 4th. Previously, when Dekalb County High School was ... Read More »

Dekalb County is looking to add a second water tanker to the fire department. Dekalb County Fire Chief Donny Green said the department currently has to bring its own water when responding to fires. Green said a limited water supply is one of the issues he hopes this second tanker will address. “Being rural, we have a very limited water ... Read More »

A substitute teacher shortage has forced Dekalb County High School to stop in-person learning through December 11. Dekalb County School Director Patrick Cripps said he’s dealing with 1/4 to 1/3 of his staff being out, with quarantine numbers in the double digits at just one school. Cripps said this was his fear going into Thanksgiving break. “Starting Friday, actually Thursday ... Read More »

A Smithville man died Thursday morning in an accident along State Route 96 in Dekalb County near Dale Ridge Road. The Tennessee Highway Patrol reports 41-year-old Brian E. Clark of Smithville died when his vehicle crossed into the oncoming lane of traffic striking a car head-on. The preliminary reports show Clark was not wearing a seatbelt. Clark was driving southbound ... Read More »

State park investments not only support recreation, they also help economically distressed counties. That’s according to TDEC Commissioner David Salyers. He said nearly all of the states distressed counties have the foundation to bring in outdoor tourism. “Most of our parks and many, as far as our distressed counties, I think we have 10 parks in distressed counties,” Salyers said. ... Read More »

Five Upper Cumberland counties reported COVID positivity rates above 25 percent Wednesday. The positivity rate refers to the percentage of tests given that produce a positive COVID result. CDC guidelines want those numbers around five percent. Only Van Buren County among Upper Cumberland counties has a rate under ten percent with nine percent positivity. Dekalb County’s positivity rate stands at ... Read More »

The Smithville Fire Department is adding its first full time firefighter to assist the fire chief. Smithville Alderman approved the hiring of Dalton Roberts Monday night. Smithville Fire Chief Charles Parker said he hopes adding a full time firefighter will help decrease response time and increase safety. He said there are already plans for how they will be used. “We’ll ... Read More »

The Tennessee Tech Board Of Trustees will consider changes to the student conduct code as well as Title IX compliance during its Tuesday meeting. Trustees will get an update on the campus COVID-19 response. In addition, the president’s evaluation will be considered. Meetings begin Tuesday morning and will be streamed via the Tennessee Tech website. Dekalb County Commissioners Monday night ... Read More »

Unemployment fell below double digits in every Upper Cumberland county last month except Dekalb County. Warren County saw the biggest decrease in July as unemployment dropped 2.5 percent to 9.9 percent. Dekalb County’s July rate stands at 10.3 percent, but that’s down 1.2 percent from June. Both counties saw the biggest increases in job loss during the COVID shutdown. Every ... Read More »

Dekalb County Schools reopen Wednesday morning with a mask mandate and remote learning as two separate challenges. Dekalb County delayed opening schools for two weeks when an employee tested positive for COVID-19. Dekalb County School Director Patrick Cripps said he wanted to avoid having regrets about re-opening without a mask mandate. “We’ve got to try to keep our students and ... Read More »