I, Andy Rutherford, would like to officially announce my candidacy seeking to be one of your representatives of the Sixth District on the county commission.

For those of you that may not know me, I am a lifelong resident of this county, residing in South Carthage for the first 17 years of my life, and in Carthage for the past 11 years. I am a member of the Carthage Church of Christ and my faith is crucially important to me, followed by my family and closest of friends.

I am a graduate of Smith County High School and I received my bachelor’s degree in Communications-Journalism from Tennessee Tech University. Currently, I study law at Nashville School of Law. I am a member of American Mensa as well.

What I may lack in experience in an elected leadership role, I make up for in my desire to be a part of the betterment of this county and this district. My family has served this community for many years, and while I’m not in the healthcare profession, I share that passion for helping people in any way that I can.

As a member of the county commission, I would bring a new voice to the table, and more importantly, a voice formulated on your needs and desires for what could further improve our county.

I look forward to meeting and meeting with many of you in the coming months and I would greatly appreciate your vote in August.

Andy Rutherford

(Smith County Insider Press) Pleasant Shade, Tenn. – A second Democrat has entered the Tennessee House of Representatives race for the 40th District seat.

Teresa Marion of the Pleasant Shade Community qualified to run against Gayla Hendrix of Smithville as a Democrat for the August primary election.

My name is Teresa Marion, I’m running as a Democrat for the Tennessee House of Representative, from District 40. I have been a resident of Smith County for 28 years along with my second husband of 34 years. I have two daughters and five grandchildren. My family history is blue collar and progressive. As a survivor of domestic violence and a single parent, I’ve held a variety of jobs, two and three at a time, one of which was as a paralegal for a nonprofit law firm, counseling other survivors of domestic violence. I have a college education but, do not have a degree or pedigree. I’m not a Lawyer, Politician or Entertainer. My reason for running for Representative from District 40 is to take back the voice of the people “we the people” and to hold our representatives accountable. Make them do their jobs, instead of patting themselves on the back for NOT doing their jobs and wasting the tax payers money. My contact information is wildchild37145@aol.com. I would love to hear from the hard working people of District 40.

Teresa Marion (D) – Candidate for State Representative in the 40th District.

(Smith County Insider Press) Carthage, Tenn. – Petitions are available at the Smith County Election Office, located at 122 Turner High Circle, Suite 105. As of 4/5/16, the following individuals have picked up petitions (Bold denotes that the individual has qualified):

TN House of Representatives – 40th District (Primary) – Terri Lynn Weaver (R), Gayla Colvert Hendrix (D) and Teresa Marion (D)

County Commission – Rock City – District 4 (To fill an unexpired term) – Shannon Minchey

County Commission – Carthage – District 6 (To fill an unexpired term) – Sabra Hodge and Andy Rutherford

Smith County Assessor of Property – Terry Collins

Smith County Road Superintendent – Steve Coble

School Board – Defeated – District 1 – Robin Moore

School Board – Tanglewood – District 2 – David G. Apple, Scotty Enoch, and Melissa R. Herbert

School Board – Gordonsville – District 5 – Tommy L Manning

School Board – South Carthage – District 7 – Brian Lee Smith

Town of South Carthage Alderman – Ward 1 – Hollis Lee Mullinax

Town of South Carthage Alderman – Ward 2 – Christy Grisham

Less than two days to qualify for the August 4th General Election. The qualifying deadline is April 7th at 12 noon. The election will consists of the State Primary Election and the Smith County General Election. The following is a list of positions that will be up for election.

U.S. House of Representatives – 6th Congressional District (Primary)

TN House of Representatives – 40th District (Primary)

County Commission – Rock City – District 4 (To fill an unexpired term)

County Commission – Carthage – District 6 (To fill an unexpired term)

Smith County Assessor of Property

Smith County Road Superintendent

School Board – Defeated – District 1

School Board – Tanglewood – District 2

School Board – Gordonsville – District 5

School Board – South Carthage – District 7

Town of South Carthage Alderman – Ward 1

Town of South Carthage Alderman – Ward 2

Smith County Insider will keep you up-to-date on all election news. Be sure to check our new Politics Page for regular updates.

(Smith County Insider Press) South Carthage, Tenn. – A special arranged meeting was held in Nashville in effort for local leaders to find funding for a temporary Smith County School System program. The meeting was held at the State Capitol on March 16. The initiative was organized by school board member, Tina Gantenbein and Director of Schools, Barry Smith.

Due to the Highway 70 Bridge being out of service, the school board put in place an additional bus route in the morning that transports children to Forks River school. This additional route is projected to cost the Smith County School System $15,578.40 from January when it started until near the end of May when the school year concludes.

Attending the meeting in Nashville was Director of Schools Barry Smith, School Board Member Tina Gantenbein (District 8 – Elmwood), State Representative Terri Lynn Weaver, TDOT Representative Paul Degges, and Chief of Staff Jim Henry.

TDOT has promised the contractor, who will be performing the construction on the Highway 70 Bridge, a $4,500 daily incentive for every day the bridge is completed before July 31, 2016 with a $400,000 cap. The School Board would just need a little over 3 days of that incentive pay to cover the entire cost the school system will be out for the last half of the year.

This new additional bus route benefits around 12 families that include approximately 27 to 30 children. Keeping these students enrolled at Forks River is important to the school system to keep the correct student to teacher ratio. If the students were to enroll in another school, the school board will have to look at possibly hiring another teacher because of over spill.

This proposal is going to be presented to Governor Haslam and possibly introduced to the State Legislature. The School System will be contacted through Barry Smith some time most likely this summer with an answer.

A Democrat will be in the race for State Representative in the 40th district this year.

Gayla Hendrix of Smithville has obtained a qualifying petition from the DeKalb County Election Commission. She plans to seek the Democratic nomination in August for the seat now held by Republican Incumbent Terri Lynn Weaver of Lancaster. Weaver is also seeking re-nomination by the GOP in August.

The qualifying deadline is April 7.

The race will be decided in the Tennessee General Election in November.

Hendrix currently serves as Alderman for the City of Smithville.

“I was born and raised in DeKalb County. I graduated from DCHS and went on to college at MTSU where I earned a Bachelor’s and a Master’s Degree in education. From there I went to Tennessee Tech University where I earned an Education Specialist degree. I later earned a degree from the Nashville School of Law. I am an attorney and formerly served as an educator in the DeKalb County School System. I also owned my own small business right off of the courthouse square for a couple of years. My husband, Farron Hendrix and I have three children,” said Hendrix.

Hendrix’ first entry into politics came in 2008 when she sought the Democratic nomination for State Representative. Three years later Hendrix was elected alderman in Smithville. She served one term but returned to the Board of Aldermen in 2014.

Information courtesy of WJLE.com

(Smith County Insider Press) Carthage, Tenn. – On Thursday, March 24, Republican Senator Bob Corker met with several leaders of Smith County at the Smith County Chamber of Commerce for breakfast. Senator Corker spoke to the leaders about how severe the country’s deficit is. Mayor Nesbitt asked Senator Corker if there were any plans in place to try to balance the federal budget. Corker responded, “Right now, we are going in no direction and over the next 10 years there will be an estimated increase to the deficit of over $9.6 Trillion.” He explained how the federal government’s entitlement programs are depleting federal funds, but neither democrats nor republicans want to touch the issue because it effects too much of the voting class. Senator Corker explained a few proposals he had created to help control the federal deficit by slowly and gradually tweaking some of the entitlement programs to save money over time.

In a vote split down party lines, lawmakers passed a bill that would give private schools and colleges in Tennessee the choice of allowing guns on campus.

Republicans pushed the bill as a move that would keep students safer, while Democrats furiously disagreed calling the change “stupid.”

Senate Bill 1559 passed both chambers on Thursday. It requires the administrative officer of a private K-12 school or private university to implement a handgun carry policy. Currently guns are prohibited at all private and public schools.

If signed in to law, private schools wishing to allow guns on campus would have to submit a plan with the local sheriff’s department.

“This bill simply allows at their discretion these private schools to set their own firearms policy for the safety of our children,” said Tilman Goins, a Republican from Morristown who sponsored the bill.

The House voted 79 – 12 Thursday to send the law the Governor Haslam.

Democrats say allowing guns on schools grounds would create potentially dangerous scenarios during an active shooter situation where law enforcement officials can’t quickly discern who is a threat if everyone has a gun.

“They (the Republicans) just want to get as many guns out there as possible. That’s just not the way to prevent tragedy from happening. We have a lot of seriously horrible legislation passing right now,” said Sherry Jones, a Democrat from Nashville.

NewsChannel 5 reached out to Governor Haslam to ask if he would sign the bill in to law, his office has not responded.

Click HERE to view the full Bill and all amendments on the Tennessee General Assembly’s Website.

Article Courtesy of News Channel 5. Click HERE to see full article.

(Smith County Insider Press) South Carthage, Tenn. – Last Tuesday night, March 15, the Smith County School Board held their regular monthly meeting. The first item of new business on the agenda was the contract renewal of the school system’s director. Chairman Brian Smith called for a motion to extend Mr. Barry Smith’s contract. A motion was made by Tommy Manning and seconded by Robin Moore. The vote was unanimous.

Mr. Barry Smith’s contract was extended four years, which is the statutory maximum. The contract goes into effect on July 1, 2016 and will run through June 30, 2020.

Watch the full March 2016 meeting of the Smith County Board of Education below.

(Smith County Insider Press) Carthage, Tenn. – Petitions are available at the Smith County Election Office, located at 122 Turner High Circle, Suite 105. As of 3/21/16, the following individuals have picked up petitions (Bold denotes that the individual has qualified):

TN House of Representatives – 40th District (Primary) – Terri Lynn Weaver (R) and Teresa C Marion-Slover (D)

County Commission – Rock City – District 4 (To fill an unexpired term) – Shannon Minchey

County Commission – Carthage – District 6 (To fill an unexpired term) – Sabra Hodge and Andy Rutherford

Smith County Assessor of Property – Terry Collins

Smith County Road Superintendent – Steve Coble

School Board – Defeated – District 1 – Robin Moore

School Board – Tanglewood – District 2 – David G. Apple and Scotty Enoch

School Board – South Carthage – District 7 – Brian Lee Smith

Town of South Carthage Alderman – Ward 1 – Hollis Lee Mullinax

Town of South Carthage Alderman – Ward 2 – Christy Grisham

Less than one month to qualify for the August 4th General Election. The qualifying deadline is April 7th at 12 noon. The election will consists of the State Primary Election and the Smith County General Election. The following is a list of positions that will be up for election.

U.S. House of Representatives – 6th Congressional District (Primary)

TN House of Representatives – 40th District (Primary)

County Commission – Rock City – District 4 (To fill an unexpired term)

County Commission – Carthage – District 6 (To fill an unexpired term)

Smith County Assessor of Property

Smith County Road Superintendent

School Board – Defeated – District 1

School Board – Tanglewood – District 2

School Board – Gordonsville – District 5

School Board – South Carthage – District 7

Town of South Carthage Alderman – Ward 1

Town of South Carthage Alderman – Ward 2

Smith County Insider will keep you up-to-date on all election news. Be sure to check our new Politics Page for regular updates.

(Smith County Insider Press) Carthage, Tenn. – Less than one month to qualify for the August 4th General Election. The qualifying deadline is April 7th at 12 noon. The election will consists of the State Primary Election and the Smith County General Election. The following is a list of positions that will be up for election.

U.S. House of Representatives – 6th Congressional District (Primary)

TN House of Representatives – 40th District (Primary)

County Commission – Rock City – District 4 (To fill an unexpired term)

County Commission – Carthage – District 6 (To fill an unexpired term)

Smith County Assessor of Property

Smith County Road Superintendent

School Board – Defeated – District 1

School Board – Tanglewood – District 2

School Board – Gordonsville – District 5

School Board – South Carthage – District 7

Town of South Carthage Alderman – Ward 1

Town of South Carthage Alderman – Ward 2

Petitions are available at the Smith County Election Office, located at 122 Turner High Circle, Suite 105.

As of 3/9/16, the following individuals have picked up petitions (Bold denotes that the individual has qualified):

TN House of Representatives – 40th District (Primary) – Terri Lynn Weaver

County Commission – Rock City – District 4 (To fill an unexpired term) – Shannon Minchey

Smith County Assessor of Property – Terry Collins

Smith County Road Superintendent – Steve Coble

School Board – Tanglewood – District 2 – David G. Apple and Scotty Enoch

School Board – South Carthage – District 7 – Brian Lee Smith

Town of South Carthage Alderman – Ward 1 – Hollis Lee Mullinax

Smith County Insider will keep you up-to-date on all election news. Be sure to check our new Politics Page for regular updates.