In Tennessee, an estimated 800 men, women, and children die by suicide each year. More people die by suicide each year than from homicide, AIDS or drunk driving.Suicide is the third-leading cause of death among youth and young adults ages 15-24 in Tennessee and throughout the entire nation.In order to bring attention to the urgency of the problem, the Tennessee Suicide Prevention Network has set aside September as Suicide Prevention Awareness Month in Tennessee.According to the Tennessee Department of Health, there were nine recorded suicides in DeKalb County during 2008, at a rate of 48.1 per 100,000 people.That's the highest rate among the fourteen counties of the Upper Cumberland and third highest in the state.Only Grundy and Benton County had a higher rate per 100,000 persons.The actual number of suicides in DeKalb County, at nine, is the third most in the Upper Cumberland, behind Putnam and Cumberland, each with 10. Of the 95 counties in the state, 27 had a higher number of suicides than DeKalb.Three other counties had the same number as DeKalb at nine, but the rate per 100,000 persons in those three counties, Coffee, Dickson and Hamblen, was much lower.State-wide, the Tennessee Department of Health reports 965 recorded suicide deaths for 2008, at a rate of 15.7 per 100,000 people.Both this number and the rate are the highest ever recorded for Tennessee.