The Dyersburg / Dyer County Inquisitor

12/23/2024

Glad to see all these agencies working together for animal welfare! Good work y'all!

09/04/2024

September is Library Card Sign-Up Month!

With a library card you can discover new and exciting worlds! From borrowing audiobooks to streaming movies to taking virtual Do It Yourself classes, there is so much you can access with a library card. Knowledge is power!

In Dyersburg, you can visit McIver's Grant Library at 410 W Court St, Dyersburg, TN 38024.
https://www.dyersburgdyercolibrary.com

In Newbern, the City Library is at 220 E Main St, Newbern, TN 38059.
https://newberncitylibrary.weebly.com

or visit Hamilton Parks Public Library in Trimble at 74 Parks Plaza Trimble, TN 38259
https://www.hppubliclibrary.org

07/30/2024

Christopher Milton is a 17-year-old white male, 5'7" tall, 126 lbs., with blonde hair and green eyes. Christopher may be in the area of Lake County, TN. If you have seen Christopher or have information regarding his whereabouts, please contact the Atoka Police Department at 901-475-4300 or TBI at 1-800- TBI-FIND.

Age: 17
S*x: Male
Race: White
Hair: Blonde Eyes: Green
Height: 5'7"
Weight: 126 lbs. NCIC: M207891557
Missing From: Atoka, TN Missing Since: 5/15/2024

For the full flyer see TBI website:https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/tbi/USTN_MILTON_AtokaPD.pdf

06/13/2024

Gibson County Sheriff Paul Thomas used inmate labor to enrich himself and others, stole inmates' wages, and lied to the State about where inmates were housed in order to continue to receive over half a million dollars in taxpayer funds.

He should have learned from Tommy Cribbs that you can't get away with it.

Thomas set up a company to act as a staffing agency and used this agency to steal more than $1.4 million of inmates' wages, thus enriching himself and others, according to details released by the Tennessee Comptroller's Office.

The State reports Thomas had a 20% ownership stake in a group of three companies he and other investors founded, collectively called the Alliance Group. These companies provided labor from local and state inmates to businesses. At least 170 inmates were employed by these companies.

The inmates he was stealing from were unwittingly also helping him steal from the State of Tennessee. Thomas claimed these inmates were being housed at the jail, but were actually being kept at a private facility called Orchard House. Thomas lied to Tennessee Department of Corrections and received $507,000 in taxpayer funds through this scheme. The state said Alliance Group received $18 a day for transportation, and inmates at Orchard House were charged $40 a day. During this time he allegedly deposited nearly $450,000 in inmate wages into a private account owned and controlled by the Alliance Group.

He surrendered to authorities in Nashville on Wednesday.

This follows his indictment by a Gibson County grand jury and surrender there on Tuesday June 11, 2024.

As Sheriff, Thomas is prohibited by state law from profiting or benefiting from the labor of inmates. However he received $181,644.50 in compensation, payroll benefits, and legal representation services from Alliance, the state said. The money was derived from inmate labor.

The FBI raided his home and other locations in connection with this case in 2022.

05/29/2024

Hear David Swift's attorney's full opening statement

In opening statements, David Swift's attorney said that while Karen Swift was murdered, there is nothing that ties his client to her death.

05/29/2024

Watch District Attorney General Danny Goodman present opening statements in the David Swift trial

In opening statements, prosecutors described David Swift as controlling his wife, Karen, who had filed for divorce before her disappearance.

04/06/2024

STATE REP GIVES INTEREST-FREE LOAN TO FAMILY USING CAMPAIGN FUNDS

When looking for a loan one can find a variety of interest rates, but you cannot beat 0%. That's the interest rate on a loan State Representative Rusty Grills campaign gave to his father Jack Grills of Newbern, TN in 2019. According to campaign finance reports submitted to the State of Tennessee, since 2019 thru Feb 2024 (the date of the latest report) the Rep's balance books show an outstanding loan to Rep. Grills's father Jack. While other loans have appeared and been seemingly paid off, the loan to Rep. Grills' father has remained unchanged per the latest report.

If only I could find a five year, interest-free loan... wouldn't it be nice?

04/06/2024

DARK MONEY IN POLITICS, DYER COUNTY STYLE

According to the State of Tennessee's Campaign Finance site
From July 1, 2023 to Feb. 14, 2024
State Representative Rusty Grills received campaign donations from residents of West Tennessee, a total of $3,150.00

CHILDRESS, WALLY - $1,000.00
CONLEY, STEVE - $250.00
MORRIS FARMS AND SONS - $1,500.00
QUICK, DAVID - $300.00
ROBERTSON, DOUGLAS - $50.00
ROBERTSON, DOUG - $50.00

In comparison, during this same time, Mr. Grills received from Political Action Committees (PACs) aka Lobbyists and non-West Tennessee residents a total of $24,750.00

Here is a sample of the PACs/lobbyists financing Mr. Grills's campaign:

TENNESSEE APARTMENT PAC
TENNESSEE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY PAC
TENNESSEE FIRST
TENNESSEE HIGHWAY CONTRACTORS PAC
TENNESSEE MANUFACTURED HOUSING ASSN PAC
TENNESSEE ORTHOPAEDIC POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE
TENNESSEE RPAC
TENNESSEE TELPAC
TENNESSEE VETERINARY PAC
TN FI****MS ASSN LEGISLATIVE ACTION COMM. (TFALAC)
TYSON FOODS, INC.
VALERO ENERGY CORP. PAC
VOGEL PAC

For more details see: https://apps.tn.gov/tncamp/public/replist.htm?id=7793&owner=GRILLS,%20RUSTY

12/24/2023

Sign up by January 9th to get a $25 gift card for Family Dollar.

https://fdwarehousesettlement.com/submit-claim

If you shopped at any Family Dollar store supplied by their West Memphis warehouse, you only need to input the store number and address where you shopped to get a free $25 gift card. **ONLY ONE SIGNUP PER HOUSEHOLD / PHYSICAL ADDRESS**

For example, if you shopped at store #3283, 1935 St John Ave C
Dyersburg, TN 38024 you should enter that information.

For Lake County folks, use store #4175, 101 Lake St, Ridgely, TN 38080 or store #13383, 730 Everett Street, Tiptonville, TN 38079 for y'all.

The rest of the store list can be found here: https://www.familydollar.com/locations/tn/

01/11/2023

12/09/2022

Be On The Lookout For Tommy Griffin and Toni Gordon

12/06/2022

Gus's Fried Chicken ranked #1 chicken chain in America

Gus's Fried Chicken (located at 1129 Forrest St in Dyersburg) was recently ranked the top chicken chain in the United States by Daily Meal, beating out Popeye's, Chick-Fil-A, and KFC.

Originally opened in Mason, TN, Gus's is a Mid-South favorite and has been using the same recipe since 1953. They currently operate in 14 states.

Here’s the full list of Daily Meal‘s ranking of the best in the country:

11. Kentucky Fried Chicken
10. Wingstop
9. Church’s Chicken
8. Buffalo Wild Wings
7. Chick-Fil-A
6. Zaxby’s
5. Popeyes
4. Slim Chickens
3. Jollibee
2. Raising Cane’s
1. Gus’s Fried Chicken

12/06/2022

Dyer County has some of the best Deputies around.

12/06/2022

The following businesses share the same address in Dyersburg and received large (+$25,000) Paycheck Protection Plan (PPP) loans.

From what we're able to gather via publically accessible data sources* all of these businesses appear to be owned, wholly or in part, by Darrell Sells, Darren Sells, and Dena Sells Quertermous, et al.

These businesses appear to be for various McDonalds resturants in Arkansas, Missouri, and Tennessee owned by the Sells family. As far as we are aware most McDonalds did not close, except the dining room.

All of these loans were forgiven.

Address
575 MALL BLVD
SUITE M
DYERSBURG, TN 38024

Business Name - Loan Amount

1. Falling Rock LLC - $830,300
2. Genesis Management, LLC - $200,300
3. Kenmo, LLC - $135,700
4. Raging River, LLC - $135,200
5. Sisbro Management, LLC - $124,800
6. Darsel Management Co, LLC - $112,400
7. Sells Enterprises, LLC - $110,200
8. Riverbend Management, LLC - $107,900
9. BJE Management LLC - $95,200
10. Next Generation Management LLC - $82,900
11. Darden Management, Inc - $30,000

Total PPP Loans: $1,964,900

(Note: This list may not be complete. There may be more businesses we have yet to find info on, and this list may be updated later.)

*Data sources used: PPP loan information (https://www.federalpay.org/paycheck-protection-program), AR, MO, & TN State websites, and OpenCorporates.com

12/05/2022

The Top 15 Recipients of Federal Agriculture Subsidies in 38024 (1995-2019)

1. Cold Creek Farms Partnership - $4,065,333.80
2. Sikes Planting Co - $2,914,532.80
3. Quad Farms Partnership - $2,832,685.26
4. Anderson Farms II - $2,734,343.89
5. North Farms - $1,790,198.86
6. Schultz Brothers - $1,767,929.12
7. C A Finley & Son - $1,551,023.99
8. Jimmy Joe Welch* - $1,337,488.36
9. Long Farms Ptr - $1,297,218.44
10. Steven R North - $1,025,246.12
11. Rogers Van Ausdall Jr - $1,018,298.16
12. John Robert Butler - $993,937.01
13. W G Lovelace - $975,355.61
14. Mel Farms Inc - $926,770.10
15. S O S Farms - $859,262.30

View the full list and amounts by year here: https://farm.ewg.org/addrsearch.php?z=1&zip=38024&page=0

*This name appears multiple times or with different variations of the name, for example #26 is Jimmy Joe & Shelia Welch - $625,921.31.

EWG's Farm Subsidy Database put the issue on the map and is driving reform. Just ten percent of America's largest and richest farms collect almost three-fourths of federal farm subsidies; cash payments that often harm the environment.