Dresden Enterprise - Covering Weakley County Like the Dew from Heaven for 118 Years

During Monday night’s meeting of the Weakley County Commission, members agreed to postpone action on the county’s budget for fiscal year 2007-’08, which calls for a 20-cent property tax increase, until after next week’s public hearing set for 5 p.m. on Monday, July 30. They did, however, take care of several important items of business.

2007-’08 Budget

At the request of Commissioner Richard Phebus, who serves as Chairman of the Weakley County Commission, a resolution making appropriations for various funds, departments, institutions, offices and agencies of Weakley County, as well as a second resolution fixing the tax levy for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2007 and ending June 30, 2008, were both put on hold in order to meet the legal requirement of announcing a public hearing 10 days prior to the event. Phebus stated that from the time the announcement ran in the newspaper until the earliest possible date to hold the public hearing would be next Sunday, so the County Commission would have to take place after that date.

During the public hearing the people of Weakley County will have an opportunity to voice their opinions about the proposed tax increase or other matters dealing with the budget. The Commission will then address the tax increase issue during their next meeting, which is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 31.

If the proposed tax hike were approved, it would increase the county’s property tax rate from $2.17 to $2.37 for an increase of 20 cents per $100 of assessed value.

A breakdown of the distribution of the property taxes as follows:

• General Fund = $0.68 cents

• School Fund = $0.88 cents

• Capital Projects = $0.025 cents

• Highway Fund = $0.185 cents

• Debt Service = $0.60 cents

This would increase the General Fund by 2 cents (from 66 to 68 cents), plus the General Fund would receive the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) money which presently goes into the School Fund; the Debt Service Fund would increase by 10 cents (from 50 to 60 cents); and the TVA money would be shifted out of the School Fund and placed it into the General Fund. For this reason, the School Fund would increase from 80 cents of the property tax rate to 88 cents, which is no difference in the total amount of money the School Fund receives. The only difference is the source of the funds.

The TVA money is Weakley County’s share of the funds Tennessee receives from TVA in lieu of taxes each year. TVA pays out approximately 5 percent of its revenues from the sale of electrical power to the seven states making up the TVA. Tennessee takes a percent of the money it receives from TVA and gives it to county government to spend as needed.

(Read the rest of this story, plus much more in this week's print edition of the Dresden Enterprise.)

Bomb threat reported at Weakley County Courthouse; investigation continues

At approximately 8:30 a.m. last Wednesday, members of the Dresden Police Department were dispatched to the Weakley County Courthouse in response to a bomb threat.

According to Dresden Police Chief Jerry Wilson, an unknown caller had phoned the Weakley County Assessor of Property’s Office and made the following statement, “My name is Mr. Jones, my brother is coming to court today and he’s bringing a bomb.”

Upon hearing about the bomb threat, Weakley County Mayor Houston Patrick ordered that the courthouse be cleared of all personnel.

A search of the courthouse was conducted by officers of the Dresden Police Department, along with Weakley County Sheriff Mike Wilson and other officers of the Weakley County Sheriff’s Department. After a thorough search, no explosive device was found, and the offices at the courthouse returned to normal operation.

(Read the rest of this story in the July 25th print edition of the Dresden Enterprise!)

W.C.S.D. makes arrests in assorted incidents

Officers of the Weakley County Sheriff’s Department report that they have made arrests in several assorted incidents and are investigating several other cases involving theft and vandalism.

Domestic Disturbance Leads to Drug Arrest

On Sunday, July 22, Deputy Steve Fulcher met with a complainant, Cassandra Alsup, who told him that she and her husband, Damion Paul Beam, had been split up since Thursday, July 19. She stated that he had called her cell phone approximately 40 times since the time of their separation and he had called about 16 times that day, leaving threatening messages. Alsup said that when she left the Sheriff’s Department going to Martin, Beam saw her and turned around in the road and followed her into Martin. She stated that when she went around the aisle in Wal-Mart, Beam was there and told her that divorces aren’t easy. She said she would be staying at a different location until Wednesday, and that she was going to get an order of protection the date of the report.

However, the case did not end here. Deputy John J. Curtis responded to a domestic disturbance call on Ralston Road in Martin at approximately 10:50 a.m. on Monday, July 23, and was met by Cassandra Alsup, who stated that she was in fear of her life from her husband, who was drunk. Upon speaking with Beam, he was agreeable to whatever would resolve things for the night. He told the officer that his wife smoked marijuana and that this was an ongoing problem with their relationship. In fact, Beam said that Alsup had some marijuana in her purse.

After giving Alsup several occasions to leave and go to the Outback Shelter, she refused, because of her personal effects. But she was finally convinced to leave with the deputies. As she was leaving Dep. Curtis asked to search her purse, which she consented to. A hard glasses case was found to contain rolling papers and a small bag of marijuana. She was then taken into custody and transported to the Weakley County Detention Center without incident.

(Read the rest of this story in this week's print edition of the Dresden Enterprise!)