Local economy to receive big boost
Omega announces major contract and expansion
By Chris Tramel

DeKalb County's economic outlook just received a big boost after a local factory announced a major expansion. Omega Apparel announced it has been awarded a five-year government contract that expands its operation and will create another 100-plus jobs.

Omega President Dick Chase made the announcement at a press conference on Monday. "The new contract will involve hiring production operators, cutters, material handlers, clerical staff, for 112 jobs," said Chase. "This has been a very interesting contract for us because of the expansion. We've had to increase the size of our sewing facility. We're going to have to renovate our building across the street and spend a quarter of a million dollars of renovation cost to bring it up to speed."

Omega currently makes uniforms for the United States military, including trousers for the Army and Navy, and skirts for the Air Force and Marine Corp. Through the new five-year, $34 million contract, Omega will be producing 176,0000 new dress pants for the Army. The Army is changing its uniform colors from green, to the more traditional white and blue uniform.

"This has been a community effort," said Chase. "The Mayor [Taft Hendrixson] has been involved, Mike [Foster] has been involved, the Commissioners have been involved, and without their participation to help get our cost to a point where we could be competitive, we might not have gotten this contract. It took some real hard effort on everybody's part to bring it here to Smithville."

Chase says the Smithville competed against other facilities in Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Puerto Rico to win the contract. Omega currently employs 86 people and plans on beginning hiring in two weeks.

Smithville Mayor Taft Hendrixson and DeKalb County Mayor Mike Foster praised the work of Omega in their efforts in working with the city and county, and staying in DeKalb County rather that relocating. Foster said he also wanted to thank the DeKalb Industrial Development Board for their work on making the Omega contract competitive.

DCHS announces top 2010 seniors
By Valerie Laprad

The DeKalb County High School has announced the names of the 2010 Valedictorian and Salutatorian, as well as the Top 25 Seniors for the year.

Hunter Tramel has been named Valedictorian of the Class of 2010. He is the son of Ronnie and Phyllis Tramel.

Wesley Blair has been named Salutatorian for this year's graduating class. He is the son of Mellissa Page and Freddy Blair.

The top seniors, listed in rank from one to 25, are Hunter Tramel, Wesley Blair, Grant James, Caleb Spencer, Meagan Sullivan, Hunter Poteete, Seth Willoughby, Amanda Ours, Reddy Munagala, Cynthia Woodward, Tyler Harbaugh, Tiffany Young, Haley Snyder, Erica Neely, Jared Adams, Dakota Dexter, Payne Denman, Nicholas Goff, Caroline Carter, Kendra Foutch, Kyle Hogue, Jessica Fox, Lindsey Harden, Austin Garrett, and Gabrielle Byford.

Also released were the names of students who have earned recognition as "Highest Distinction," with a grade point average of 3.8 to 4.0, "High Distinction," with a grade point average of 3.6 to 3.7999, and "Distinction," with a grade point average of 3.2 to 3.5999.

Those recognized with "Highest Distinction" are Hunter Tramel - Valedictorian - 4.0, Wesley Blair - Salutatorian - 4.0, Grant James - 4.0, Erica Neely - 4.0, Hunter Poteete - 4.0, Caleb Spencer - 4.0, Meagan Sullivan - 4.0, Seth Willoughby - 4.0, Cynthia Woodward - 4.0, Jared Adams, Caroline Carter, Payne Denman, Dakota Dexter, Kendra Foutch, Jessica Fox, Austin Garrett, Nicholas Goff, Tyler Harbaugh, Kyle Hogue, Reddy Munagala, Amanda Ours, Haley Snyder, and Tiffany Young.

Those recognized with "High Distinction" are Gabrielle Byford, Axyl Chalfant, Tyler Dunaway, Kayla Ellis, Sabrina Griffin, Lindsey Harden, Katie Nixon, and Katelyn Stutts.

Those recognized with "Distinction" are Paulina Alfaro, Matthew Antoniak, Reeves Beller, Elicia Cantrell, Samantha Coe, Rachel Cunningham, Brandon Dyer, Abram Edwards, Whitney Gann, Jaylen Garrett, Jessica Goldstein, April Hale, Ethan Hale, Stephanie Hobbs, Conner Jones, Sasha Knowles, Abigail Laprad, Layne Mathis, Tyler McCloud, Brad Michaels, Travis Neal, Zachary Odom, Morgan Page, Micah Prichard, Kristian Puckett, Myra Tramel, and Joseph Vickers.

Chamber celebrates 47 years at Annual Banquet
By Valerie Laprad

Despite the chilly weather, a near-capacity crowd gathered to attend the 2010 Annual Smithville/DeKalb County Chamber of Commerce Membership Banquet last Tuesday evening. The event featured live music by Mercedes Luna and Tomomi McDowell, a silent auction, and dinner served by the Leadership DeKalb Class of 2010.

The guest speaker for the evening was award-winning Watson Brown, who now serves as the Head Football Coach for Tennessee Tech University. He told several inspirational and personal stories from his many years of playing and coaching, extolling everyone to follow the three F's: Faith, Focus, and Finish - faith in yourself and others, focus on your goals, and finish whatever you start.

Leadership DeKalb Alumni also announced the nominees and winners of their "Legacy" and "Community Leader of the Year" awards.

The Community Leader of the Year Award is an honor given to someone who has made a significant and positive impact on the county over the past year. This year's recipient was Laura Stone.

According to Leadership DeKalb, Laura is involved in many aspects of community service representing her employer, DeKalb Community Bank. Laura founded the non-profit DeKalb County Angel Tree, Inc., and has served as president since the Smithville Women's Club resigned sponsorship in 1995. Since then, she has led fund raising efforts collecting over $22,000 in money and gifts annually. The program has grown to involve hundreds of gifts for disadvantaged children of DeKalb County. Laura also serves as a board member for Habitat for Humanity of DeKalb County since early 2007, serving on the Family Selection committee, acting as volunteer coordinator and assisting in construction. She is a Leadership DeKalb graduate (Class of 2005). She has been an active committee member of the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life since 2005, serving as team captain for her company. Laura's volunteerism is broad, from the Edgar Evins State Park History Hayride to the Nashville Rescue Mission and the Hope Center, serving meals to the indigent and homeless of Nashville. If there is a worthy cause or community event, Laura is there to lead and inspire.

The Legacy Award is given to someone who has made a significant and positive impact over a considerable period of time and in multiple or lasting ways. This year's recipient was Judy Sandlin.

According to Leadership DeKalb, the first thing to say about Judy is that she can cook! For years, she has provided countless dinners to folks connected with the DeKalb County Fair, Alexandria Senior Center, Leadership DeKalb, and many others. She is a living example of the "can-do" attitude. She has generously and tirelessly contributed sweat-equity and leadership to the DeKalb County Fair Board, the Smithville-DeKalb County Chamber of Commerce, the Alexandria Lions Club and Senior Center. Her recipes are legendary, but her legacy is her selfless nature in demonstrating true leadership and hard work.

The 2010 Corporate Sponsors for the Chamber Annual Membership Banquet included Caney Fork Electric, DTC Communications/DTC Wireless, DeKalb Community Bank, Liberty State Bank, Middle TN Natural Gas, My Team Insurance Services, LLC, Omega Apparel, and Swallows-Garrett Insurance Agency.

Retiring Chamber Board members were also recognized during the event: Gina Denman, Denny Lamp, Elmer Ellis, Jr., County Commissioner - District 1, Kelley Garrett, Garrett Insurance, Charlie Parker, Smithville Builders Supply, and Chris Griffith, DeKalb Farm Bureau.

Newly-elected Chamber Board members were also recognized, including Tom Miller, Liberty State Bank, Keith Blair, Attorney-at-Law, George Oliver, Smithville Rotary Club, Jason Ray, Leadership Alumni - Class of 2009, and Mike Williams, DeKalb Sherriff's Dept./DeKalb Fair Board.

Other 2010 Chamber Board of Directors members include Janna Gillard, The DeKalb County Guide, Robin Driver, Center Hill Realty, Tim Hintz, Off the Beaten Path, Valerie Laprad, The Middle Tennessee Times, Judy Sandlin, DeKalb Fair Board, Rob Willingham, Middle TN Natural Gas, Les Greer, DTC Communications, Michelle Burklow, DeKalb Board of Education, Angie Meadows, The Smithville Review, and Kathie McGlamery, Appalachian Center for Craft

The 2010 Chamber officers are Tim Hintz - President, Les Greer - Vice President, Valerie Laprad - Secretary, Kathie McGlamery - Treasurer, and Robin Driver - Past President.

 

Hollywood makes a stop in Liberty
By Chris Tramel

A bit of Hollywood came to DeKalb County last week as the movie, "Love Don't Let Me Down," shot scenes in Liberty. The film is being shot in the Nashville area, including a few scenes at the Liberty Dance in the old school cafeteria.

The $15 million project stars Oscar-winner Gwyneth Paltrow, country music superstar Tim McGraw, Leighton Meester (Gossip Girl) and Garrett Hedlund (Friday Night Lights).

The production company hired local Tennessee residents for almost 75 percent of the film's crew and 90 percent of the film's cast. More than 50 Tennessee crew members have already been put to work in a variety of jobs such as camera operators, assistant directors, grips, electricians, sound mixers, casting directors, location managers, stuntmen, set decorators, prop masters, hair and make-up artists, costumers and transportation coordinators. Pre-production began in November and principal photography is expected to last through the first week of March. Post-production will continue through April 1.

A significant number of Tennessee companies stand to benefit during Love Don't Let Me Down's five month stay in Middle Tennessee. Office space has been rented since November, along with rehearsal and recording studio space. Other businesses to be utilized include office supply companies, rental car agencies, grocery stores, caterers, dry cleaners, florists, printers, security firms, waste management and more.

Love Don't Let Me Down is directed by Shana Feste from her original screenplay. Her first feature The Greatest, starring Pierce Brosnan and Susan Sarandon, was highly praised at last year's Sundance Festival. Feste describes the film's story as one revolving around "a rising young singer-songwriter (Hedlund) who becomes involved with a fallen country singer (Paltrow). As they embark on a career resurrection tour with her husband and manager (McGraw) and a beauty queen-turned-singer (Meester), romantic entanglements and old demons threaten to derail them all."

The movie's producers include actor Tobey McGuire of the Spiderman movie series and Jenno Topping, whose producing credits include Charlie's Angels, 28 Days and I-Spy. A release date has not yet been announced.

The dance hall is located behind the two-story, 1918 limestone structure that once served as the Liberty High School. The building now serves as City Hall, library, history room and senior citizen center. The tiny grammar school in the back, built in the 1930's by WPA workers, has a rock exterior, boasts an all-wood interior. The Liberty scenes were shot last Monday and Tuesday and included several extras. The dance hall was decorated and lighted, transforming it, for a time, into a Hollywood set.

Love Don't Let Me Down joins a long list of recent movie and television projects filmed in the Volunteer State including Bailey, Tough Trade, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, The Grace Card, Can You Duet, Savage County, Billy: The Early Years and Hannah Montana: The Movie.