The DeKalb County Commission gave their blessing to the State of Tennessee last Monday night, approving a resolution in support of the state naming certain portions of state highways and bridges to honor local citizens.
The resolution supports State Representative Michael Hale’s move in the Tennessee General Assembly to honor former Liberty Mayor J. Edward Hale, Jr., former Sligo Marina manager and employee Darwin Gard, and Joseph Bowen, former DeKalb County Sheriff’s deputy and at the time of his death member of the Lebanon Police Department.
Hale wants the state to name Sligo Bridge in memory of Gard, while designating an unnamed bridge on Highway 70 near Dowelltown for Bowen. In addition, the stretch of Highway 70 within the Liberty City limits would be named in honor of the late Mayor Hale.
The body of Lebanon police officer Joseph Bowen was found after his truck plunged into Dry Creek off of Nashville Highway at Dowelltown in 2018. Bowen left work in Lebanon around 6 a.m. and was headed to DeKalb County; however, he did not make it home. A search for his whereabouts began around noon and shortly thereafter his truck was spotted in rain-swollen Dry Creek. His truck had run off the four-lane, missed the safety barrier and plunged over an embankment into the flooded creek. The truck was found submerged on its side.
Gard was manager of Sligo Boat Dock for many years and later stayed on as an employee until his retirement in July, 2015. Mr. Gard was a retired veteran of the Air Force, serving from 1950-1971, he served in the Korean and Vietnam War. He was also a professional fisherman for Hydra Sport and Winner Boats. He was known as “The King of Center Hill.”
J. Edward Hale, Jr., age 95, served as mayor of Liberty from 1971 until his passing in May, 2013. At 42 years, Mayor Hale held the distinction at the time of having been the longest serving public official in DeKalb County.
Hale spent many years as an educator in the school system and he once held a rural carrier position in the postal service. In 2013 Hale was presented the Leadership DeKalb “Legacy Award” during the annual membership banquet of the Smithville-DeKalb County Chamber of Commerce.
The County Commission voted last year to no longer name county roads and bridges in memory of others, but County Mayor Matt Adcock said that this resolution is the county giving support for the state to rename state highways and bridges by the Tennessee General Assembly if requested by state lawmakers.
In other County Commission news, the commission approved a request by 911 Director Brad Mullinax to amend the plan for the new county emergency radio system.
In January, the County approved a one-time expenditure of $1.2 million, between the county and the 911 board, to replace radios for the sheriff’s department and ambulance service. The deal through Motorola Solutions, would see the county and 911 split the cost at $600,000 each.
Mullinax reported that since that time, he learned that the total project cost would actually be $1.15 million instead of $1.2 million, and with that he had come up with a better deal for the county.
Director Mullinax said the 911 board would agree to put an extra $100,000 toward the purchase of mobile radios for the county’s fire trucks, which can be bought for half price. He reported that grants for fire department mobile radios have been moved to a lower priority and the departments might find it harder to obtain funding for the equipment.
Furthermore, the change would make the plan more cost effective and not require any extra funding from the county.
Three judicial commissioner positions were reappointed at the meeting. Tammy Ashburn, Joy Whitman, and Gerald Bailiff were all reappointed to new one-year terms.
Duties of the Judicial commissioners include processing the following: Criminal summons for the general public; Orders of protections; signing all arrest warrants for the Smithville, Alexandria, and DeKalb County Sheriff’s Departments, Tennessee Highway Patrol, Edgar Evins State Park Rangers, and TWRA Officers; signing search warrants and search warrants for blood draws; signing Mittimus; setting bonds; speaking with every person who has been arrested; answering any and all calls from the public; and attending certification classes three days each year with no pay for hours attended.
Judicial Commissioners are subject to call at all hours of the day and night when on duty. Only one judicial commissioner works at a time during a one-week period on call for 168 hours. They rotate their weeks one week on duty and two weeks off. Each judicial commissioner is paid $14,900 per year.
