TDOT says County’s Wolf Creek Convenience Site must be moved off state right of way
by: Dwayne PageMar 24, 2025
For years the county has maintained an unmanned garbage collection convenience center in the Wolf Creek community at the intersection of Medley Amonette Road (Highway 96) and Old Buffalo Valley Road, but its located on the Tennessee Department of Transportation right of way and TDOT wants it to be removed.
During last week’s public works committee meeting, County Public Works Director Brian Reed raised the issue about whether the Wolf Creek site could eventually become a manned site. According to County Mayor Matt Adcock, Reed later checked with TDOT and the answer was not only no, but even the unmanned site there will have to go.
“The waste container can’t be on TDOT right of way and should be removed. It may be possible to purchase land from TDOT using the excess land program. I drew a line on the picture (attached) to show a possibility for purchasing excess land. Any entrance would have to meet TDOT’s driveway manual and would be difficult to have a safe entrance this close to the intersection,” wrote TDOT District 27 Engineer Bo Hoskins in an email correspondence to Reed.
The county has 11 manned convenience sites and Wolf Creek is one of three unmanned sites. The other two are at Temperance Hall and in the Austin Bottoms community. Of the fourteen sites, the county owns all but three, Snow Hill, Silver Point, and at Alexandria.
According to Reed, the state is making a push for counties to go to all manned sites and is funding grants for that purpose.
“The state has put a priority on grants for those sites and is funding up to $125,000 with a 10% local match per site and I would like to apply for some grants in next year’s budget to eventually get rid of our unmanned sites,” said Reed.
The county has not yet come up with an alternate convenience site location for Wolf Creek.
DCHS Tennis Developing a Winning Culture
by: Dwayne PageMar 24, 2025
The DCHS boys’ tennis team won the DeKalb Invitational with a 5-2 victory over Macon County at the Smithville Golf Club last Friday. The Tigers were 3-0 on the day, with their other two victories over Riverdale and Oakland. The tournament title was the first in the tenure of Head Coach Brian Cadle, who is in his fourth year at the helm for the Tigers.
Lance Duke, a freshman, led the Tigers with a 6-0 record for the day, going undefeated in both singles and doubles play. Tiger seniors Ian Barnes, Jackson Mathis, and Luke Midgett all won five matches to secure the team championship. The Tigers stand at 4-1 for the season and Coach Cadle was both pleased and excited for the boys. “I started this tournament a few years ago to give our kids a chance to play lots of matches on the same day as a way to prepare for both the district regular season matches and tournament. Winning the tournament and gaining valuable season experience is a double blessing.”
The girls finished second in the tournament with a 2-1 record. They defeated Riverdale and Oakland but lost to Macon County in the championship. Charlotte Paladino, the lone senior in the varsity lineup, led the girls with a 4-2 record. Junior Candice Rico also won four matches. Juniors Abby Joe Crook, Jayde Lester, and sophomore Kayce Hale all won three matches for the Lady Tigers. The girls’ team record is 3-2, with the three wins equalling half of the team victories from last season. Cadle pointed out the growth of the girls’ team over the past three seasons. “Our girls’ program had to essentially start over in 2023, with the loss of several seniors and two returning players not coming out. We did not win a match that year, won six matches last year and now sit at three wins already. The girls have worked through the adversity and worked hard in the off-season to improve and get more experience. It certainly shows right now.”
The DCHS tennis program has enjoyed an overall surge in both participation and success, along with growing player confidence. Mathis, the senior captain, for the Tigers, commented on his confidence as a doubles player. He is partnering with a longtime friend, Midgett. “Luke and I have been friends for over ten years and know how to play off each other. We are both very energetic people on the court who know when to take the load if one of us is not playing well. We are confident in each other and go into every match knowing that we can win.”
Cadle is excited about the Tiger tennis program seeing players from the same family joining in. “We are proud to have two second-generation players in Ian and Lance. Their dads, Adam Barnes, and Patrick Duke, were both tennis players at DeKalb during their time in high school. Barnes stated, “My dad was a great influence in how I got into tennis and grew my skill so quickly. We would go to the courts a lot and hit and he taught me all that he knew about the sport.”
The DCHS team also has several siblings of current players in the tennis program pipeline. Ethan Brown, a sophomore Tiger player has an older brother, Isaac, who played for the Tigers and graduated back in 2023. Mia Bell is a freshman player for the girls’ varsity team and has a brother, Oliver, who is a 6th grader on the middle school team. Luke Midgett’s youngest, brother, John Casey, a 4th grader, is participating in the 10 and under tennis program offered in Smithville by Coach Cadle. Paladino has an older brother, Ian, who played for the Tigers and graduated in 2022. “The best tennis programs have players who belong to tennis families, with several kids playing tennis for their school. I have seen that trend in all my years of coaching. I am so excited to see our DeKalb families going in that direction.”
The boys’ program has seen a winning season in the last two seasons and earned ten wins in 2024. Cadle is hopeful that both teams will reach that pinnacle this season.”We have started strong and the kids have begun to develop a winning culture of commitment, consistency, and confidence. Our team has progressed to believing in their ability to win matches.” At press time, the Tigers played White County on Tuesday and will host York Institute on Thursday at 3:30 pm.
Mayor places Alexandria Police Chief on suspension without pay pending hearing
by: Dwayne PageMar 16, 2025
The Town of Alexandria is again without a police chief at least temporarily.
On Thursday March 13, Mayor Beth Tripp issued a written reprimand of Police Chief Kenneth (K.D.) Smith and placed him on suspension without pay until a disciplinary hearing before the mayor and aldermen Thursday night, March 20 at 7 p.m. at city hall.
The mayor’s written reprimand or write-ups to go in the chief’s personnel file are based on alleged events which occurred on November 30, 2024, December 14, 2024, March 10, 2025, and March 13, 2025.
WJLE was unable to make contact with Mayor Tripp by phone for comment Saturday but Chief Smith provided WJLE with a copy of the mayor’s written reprimand as shown here which alleges as follows:
“Resident complaints on several occasions telling residents city information”
“Making workplace intolerable”
“Making workers and myself (mayor) feel unsafe. This isn’t the first time”
“I gave several warnings on your temper and voice getting loud”
“Body language shows anger”
“Not following chain of command on several occasions”
“Talked with you several times trying to get you to calm down”
“Many residents have complained to me about you”
“On Thursday, March 13 at around 3 or 3:30 p.m. the mayor came in and told me to go home for the day. About 15 minutes later I was getting ready to leave and I got called in the office to read and sign a written reprimand. I read over it. I put on it “non agreeable” because I don’t agree with the information that was written down. I initialed it and handed it back to her. I had to turn in my badge, my gun and the keys to the vehicle (patrol car) and to the department. I left the vehicle parked and I had to get an officer to get me a ride home,” said Chief Smith.
“She (mayor) suspended me without pay. I have a hearing on March 20 at 7 p.m. at city hall to determine the disciplinary action toward me. I presume that will be either to dismiss the suspension, uphold it or terminate me,” Chief Smith continued.
According to Chief Smith, the allegations are baseless and without merit.
“As far as I know I have a good rapport and good relationship with all the citizens in the town that I have had contact with and all the businesspeople. I’m the type of person that I go and sit down and talk with the businesspeople. I see people sitting on their front porch and I have stopped and talked with them. I don’t know where the citizen complaints are coming from. That’ll be something that I will address at the hearing. I am trying to build a good police department for the city, and we have a good working relationship with everybody. We’re trying to get there but this is kind of a slap in the face,” said Chief Smith.
According to Chief Smith, the police department is now left with only three part time officers. “There are no full-time officers right now. There are only part time officers trying to cover the town and there will be days between now and my hearing that there will be limited police presence. I hate that for the citizens of the town,” he said.