News

Grab your chair and bring the family -- starting Friday, Oct. 5, Bikini Bottoms will be welcoming over 3,500 people from across the nation, as well as from across the Atlantic Ocean, as the off-road park will be opening its doors for the 3rd Annual Icelandic Formula Off Road event.

Riders begin to arrive at the Dyer County Fairgrounds following their participation in the poker run during the 19th annual Boss Hoss National Rally and Mid-South Motorcycle Festival.

Beaver Creek Art Studios, located at 404 Masonic St. in downtown Dyersburg, is now exhibiting nearly 200 paintings at Dyersburg State Community College’s Learning Resource Center.

Dyersburg State Community College will host nursing information sessions for new and potential nursing students at each of its locations in October. These sessions will provide students with more information on DSCC’s LPN to RN Fast Track, Paramedic to RN Fast Track and Traditional Nursing programs. It will also provide students with information on the application process, deadlines and an opportunity to speak one-on-one with nursing faculty and staff...

NASHVILLE – The Tennessee Board of Regents will hold its fall quarterly meeting Sept. 27-28 at Dyersburg State Community College. The agenda includes updates and reports on fall semester enrollments, community college graduation rates, Drive to 55 degree and certificate targets, legislative priorities, system budget requests and a new digital engagement initiative that will offer students digital textbooks at lower costs...

Dyersburg State Community College Alumni Association hosted its Annual Fall Dinner and Silent Auction Tuesday, Sept. 11. Approximately 65 Alumni Association board members, alumni and their guests enjoyed the event inside the Student Center Commons on the Dyersburg campus.
 The DSCC Alumni Association board of directors hosts the annual event to acknowledge Alumni Association Scholarship recipients, elect members for the upcoming term and recognize those whose terms are ending. ...

On Friday morning, September 21, Billy D. Walls, 27, of Hayti, Missouri, appeared before Judge Dean Dedmon in Dyersburg City Court. Walls, who has been incarcerated in the Dyer County Law Enforcement Complex since August 23, was charged with Especially Aggravated Robbery by the Dyersburg Police Department stemming from the robbery of Allen’s Grocery which occurred during the morning hours on August 4. Walls was initially arrigned in City Court before Judge Dedmon on August 24, where his bond was set at $500,000.

Cassandra Wallace, 31, of Dyersburg appeared before Judge Dean Dedmon Friday morning with various charges from Dyersburg Police Department including theft of property, aggravated robbery, and aggravated assault, stemming from an incident on July 19. Wallace was arraigned in Dyersburg City Court on Monday, July 23 and was issued a bond of $150,000.

On Wednesday at noon, the Dyersburg Electric System Power Board convened for its regularly scheduled monthly meeting. All members of the board as well as DES’ Executive Management Team were present. With no old items of business on the agenda, the meeting turned to new business led by a bad-debt charge-off.

On Sept. 14, the Tennessee Department of Corrections graduated 14 correctional officers from its Basic Correctional Officer Training program. All officers will be starting their careers at the Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville, and West Tennessee State Penitentiary in Henning, Tennessee.

Emergency call takers at Dyersburg 911 will soon have new technology available for pinpointing the exact locations of 911 callers, especially those who are indoors. Mark Grant, director for Dyersburg 911 said the technology they’ve used since the late 1990s is X-Y coordinates which does a fairly good job of locating wireless callers who are outdoors. More recently, we have seen the addition of the “z” coordinate information, which is elevation. All of that, however, is rapidly changing...

The Local Government committee convened Wednesday, Sept. 19, at the Dyer County Courthouse to discuss leasing out a portion of the former Red Cross building, located on South Mill Ave., and the possible relocation or restructuring of the General Sessions courtroom and Dyer County Elections Commission.

Due to increased customer demand, Dot Transportation, Inc., affiliate trucking partner of Dot Foods, the largest food industry redistributor in North America, will hire 50 new truck drivers by the end of 2018 for its Tennessee Distribution Center. To help fill these 50 positions, the company is holding a job fair on Thursday, Sept. ...

On Tuesday evening, the Dyersburg Head Start held an open house consisting of a back to school picnic and family literacy night. According to local resident and Chairman of the Head Start Policy Council, George Turks, the open house was held for stakeholders, community members and parents to get to know the instructors. Throughout the evening, parents accompanied their children into the various classrooms where they participated in numerous activities. Representatives from McIver’s Grant Public Library were also present to share with parents the various programming the library has to offer as well as give children the opportunity to take home a book.

Hazen McMahon died unexpectedly on Christmas Day of last year. She was a beautiful vibrant young woman with two young children, Gracie who is 11, and Jasper, who is 6. Her mother, Lorna Donaldson, is the one who took on the care of her children. The children’s aunt, Amy Hart of Memphis, is a member of a quilting guild in Memphis called Pickin’ Up the Pieces, aka ‘PUPS’. ...

DCHS Spotlight Student for the week of Sept. 3 is 10th-grade student, Allie McReynolds. ‘Allie displayed integrity and excellence when she informed a student he dropped his cash in the commons area. I was overjoyed to see one of our students display honesty and sincerity to another student in our building. That kind of character will take her a long way in life.’ - Mrs. Mary Greer...

This week’s Dyersburg High School student spotlight representative is senior Hannah McDaniel. Hannah was nominated by DHS Theatre Arts teacher Chris Solmon. ‘Hannah McDaniel has been involved in the Trojan Drama program during her entire high school career,’ said Solmon. ‘She is a great contributor to the Drama program and is always happy and upbeat. Her personality brings joy to those around her.’...

On Wednesday, September 19, members of the U.S. Marshals Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force arrested Jason Chase Riley of Dyer County on charges pertaining to the April 9, 2017 death of 22-year old Hollie Marie Adcock.

On Tuesday, Sept. 18, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and Commissioner of Education Candace McQueen paid a special visit to Dyer County High School, where they spent time speaking with school administration before taking an hour-long tour of the facility and classrooms, including Dyer County High School’s new STEM lab.

On Monday, Sept. 17, the Newbern Board of Mayor and Aldermen discussed and approved the first reading of the 2018-19 budget, as well as a tax levy of $1.49. Highlights of the budget meeting include performance-based pay increases of up to 3-percent for city workers, additional funding for a new police officers and discussion regarding the potential increase of gas rates...

The United Way Campaign in Dyer County will kick off on Tuesday, Sept. 25, with a Food Truck Lunch Fundraiser at Okeena Park from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. The cost will be $6. The Food Trucks featured will be Freckled Belly and Hog Heaven. All proceeds will go toward the Dyer County campaign goal and will be used during our Community Impact process in the spring that is locally driven by volunteers in Dyer County. ...

BRANDON HUTCHESON bhutcheson@stategazette.com The City of Dyersburg Board of Mayor and Aldermen convened Monday at 7 p.m. inside the Municipal Building courtroom. Following the call to order and opening prayer, Dyersburg Mayor John Holden noted an error in the previous meeting minutes. ...

With nearly 70 vendors ranging from foods and merchandise to carnival rides, inflatables and games, the 26th Annual Depot Days festival drew in a crowd of thousands over the weekend.

On Aug. 14, 2018, Dyersburg Police initiated a traffic stop on a suspected DUI, which lead to a very stressful and chaotic series of events for all public safety responders involved. Dyersburg Police Chief Steve Isbell issued a letter of commendation to the 911 dispatchers who were on duty at the time of the incident...