News 2016

Cannon County UT Extension Office continues it’s Farm School Series tonight as the Cannon County Cattlemen’s Association presents “Beef Night”.  Dr Dwight Loveday will demonstrate where cuts come from a beef carcass.  Also Mr. Dale Bryson from the Tennessee Farmers Cooperative will discuss minerals and mineral requirments for the beef herd.  The meeting will be held tonight at the Woodbury Lions Club Building

The Cannon County Sheriff’s Department took a report of a residential break in recently.  According to the report, the break in was on Hollow Springs Road.  The victims stated that when they got home the front door was open a slight bit.  A 22 automatic Springfield rifle worth approximately $150 and a Pro Magnum Stihl chain saw valued at approximately $700 were taken.  The victims never locked the doors of the home when they weren’t there.  The Sheriff’s Department is continuing the investigation.

A Cannon County man is in trouble for Contempt of Court after violating a court order of no contact.  According to Sheriff’s Department reports Lori Wilder went to the Sheriff’s Department to speak about seeking a warrant for her ex husband James Adam Walls arrest  Ms. Wilder advised that she had a court order of no contact and he has been texting her multiple times since the order was issued.  She further stated that she did not reply to him hoping it was an issue that would go away but apparently it would not.  Ms. Wilder stated that after a while she had text him back saying that she did not wish to be contacted by him anymore.  Several more texts were made by Walls afterwards.  A warrant was issued for Mr Walls arrest.

Recently the Hilton Stone American Legion Post 279 held their election for the 2016-2017 Commander and Officers     David J. Faulkner has been elected as the new Commander of the Post.  Faulkner will be installed as the Commander during the April 21st meeting.
The Slate of New Officers for 2016-2017 also includes: Peter Parker, as Vice 2 Commander, John Basinger as Vice 3 Commander, Brent Bush as Adjutant, Jim Stone as Finance Officer;  Executive Board Members Charlie Harrell, Bob Spencer, and Christine Barrett;  Chaplain Britt Knox; and  Veterans Service Officer Penny Daniels.
The outgoing Commander Charlie Harrell has commanded the Post for the past two years.
During his command Post 279 has received several grants, is sending five boys to Boys State 2016, expanded theOratorical Contest, increased the Scholarship Fund, increased the support for the Annual Fishing Rodeo, plans and conducts the 4th of July Fireworks Celebration, put new flags in all 10 Volunteer Fire Stations in the County,furnishing new flags to all County Schools, and a new initiative to provide new flags and a program for all schools on Flag Etiquette and Flag History.

Donny Green, DeKalb/Cannon Co. Farm Service Agency County Executive Director, reminds local farmers and landowners of the importance of timely crop reporting.  Participation in most USDA programs requires annual reporting of crops and land use and requires a report of all cropland on a farm, even though the land may not be used for annually-tilled row crops.  
Field Grown and Ornamental Nursery crops have unique crop years. As a result, they also have unique crop reporting deadlines. Below are the crop year period and the acreage reporting deadline:
Nursery Crop Year 2017—-June 1, 2016 through May 31, 2017
2017 Nursery Crop Reporting Deadline (field grown and container)—May 31, 2016
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the office at (615) 597-8225, Ext. 2.

The Woodbury and Cannon County Fire Departments have sent out a mailer  recently to help raise funds for fire safety education materials for children Pre-K through the fifth grade in all the Woodbury and Cannon County Schools and Daycares.  These materials have been designed exclusively by the National Fire Safety Council Inc. a 501 (c) (3) tax exempt non profit organization.  This program will assist the various fire departments in teaching children fire safety and burn prevention.  There are several sponsorship levels available.  If you would like to donate simply follow the instructions in the mailer.  If you did not receive a mailer and would like to donate please contact Joe Loftus Fire Chief of the Woodbury Fire Department for more information by May 31st
 

Motlow State Community College staff members are putting the wheels in motion to reconnect with prospective adult students who have completed some college courses but have yet to complete enough to graduate.

This effort is part of Tennessee Reconnect, which is crucial to Gov. Bill Haslam’s Drive to 55 campaign, an initiative that aims to ensure that at least 55 percent of the state’s population holds a college degree or certificate by the year 2025.

Motlow State, in conjunction with the statewide Reconnect campaign, is making specific efforts to find and encourage adult learners to return to the college.

Recently over 500 “push” cards were mailed to former Motlow students to begin discussion about coming back to complete their education.

The Motlow mailing coincided with a $1 million statewide Reconnect advertising campaign that was launched in January by the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC). The THEC campaign is directed at the approximately 1 million adults in Tennessee with some college but no degree.

“Tennessee Reconnect targets the adult population, a population that is critical to the mission of Motlow State,” said Brenda Cannon, Motlow Tennessee Reconnect liaison. “As workforce training and education needs of the adult population change and evolve, Motlow State will continue as a primary higher education institution that addresses these needs. We are definitely on board supporting the Drive to 55 initiatives that will position Tennessee as a more educated state, which in turn yields a better quality of life for everyone.”

The greatest challenge of the Reconnect initiative is just that – reconnecting. Engaging with prospective adult students is a major challenge, and is being accomplished in a variety of mediums at the state, regional, and individual college level.

In addition to mail outs and the advertising campaign, Tennessee Reconnect Community (TRC) events are being launched this month throughout the state at various locations for the purpose of engaging and informing interested adults about the program.

Motlow staff members are participating in TRC events located in the 11-county service area of the College, providing opportunity for in-person conversation with adult learner prospects about opportunities offered by Motlow.

Each TRC is comprised of local leaders from the community, employers, and higher education institutions, focusing on a localized plan to engage adults in the area. The TRCs provide adults with free advising, career counseling, support, and a personalized path to and through college. Adults can receive information about returning to college, sign up for TRC advising services, and talk to colleges about options available to them.

The Motlow Student Affairs office has extended its hours of operation each Tuesday through May 3 until 6 p.m., in order to accommodate the schedule challenges of the working adult. Appointments can be made and walk-ins are welcome.

For more information and to reconnect with Motlow, interested adults should contact Brenda Cannon, Adult Learner Contact, at 931-393-1548, or bcannon@mscc.edu.

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN CANNON COUNTY SCHOOLS
 
March 29—CCHS Baseball game at Macon Co., 6:00 p.m.
March 29—CCHS Softball game at Upperman
March 29—CCHS Soccer match with Macon Co. at home, 5:00 p.m.
March 31—CCHS Softball game with Dekalb Co. at home, 4:30 p.m.
April 2—CCHS Baseball games with Mr. Juliet Christian at home, 1:00 (DH)
April 4—CCHS Baseball game at Central Magnet, 5:00 p.m.
April 4—CCHS Tennis match with Goodpasture at home, 3:30 p.m.
April 5—CCHS Baseball game with Central Magnet at home, 5:00 p.m.
April 5—CCHS Softball game with York at home, 4:00 p.m. (DH)
April 5—CCHS Soccer match at Merrol Hyde, 7:00 p.m.
April 7—CCHS Softball game at Livingston (DH)
April 7—CCHS Soccer match with Bledsoe Co. at home, 6:00 p.m.
April 7—CCHS Tennis match with Merrol Hyde at home, 3:30 p.m.
April 8—CCHS Tennis match at Central Magnet, 4:30 p.m.
April 8-9 – CCHS Baseball at Clarkrange Classic
April 11—CCHS Soccer match at Warren Co., 6:00 p.m.
April 11—CCHS Tennis match at Providence Christian, 4:30 p.m.
April 12—CCHS Tennis match at Dekalb Co., 4:30 p.m.
April 11—CCHS Baseball game with Upperman at home, 5:00 p.m.
April 12—CCHS Baseball game at Upperman, 5:30 p.m.
April 12—CCHS Softball game with Central Magnet at home, 4:30 p.m.
April 14—CCHS Softball game with Smith Co. at home, 4:30 p.m.
 
NOTE—May 6, 2016 will be a regular instructional day.  This will also be the make-up day for Part 2 of TN Ready testing.

County unemployment rates for February show the rates decreased in 93 counties, increased in only one county and stayed the same in one county.
Cannon County’s unemployment rate for February was 4.3 percent down four-tenths of a percentage point from January Out of estimated workforce of 6010 people 5750 people were employed while 260 people were unemployed during the month of February
Surrounding counties also showed a decrease in unemployment
Warren County’s unemployment rate for February was 4.3 percent, down from 4.6 percent in January. Coffee County went from 4.7 to 4.2 percent. DeKalb County went from 5.9 to 5.4. Rutherford went from 3.6 to 3.3 and Wilson County went from 3.9 to 3.6 percent.  The unemployment rate for Cannon County at this time last year was 5.8 percent
 

The United States and Tennessee filed suit in U.S. District Court in Nashville Thursday, alleging that Matthew Anderson, a Chiropractor from Lenoir City, Tenn., and David Florence, a Doctor of Osteopathy from Manchester, Tenn., made fraudulent claims to Medicare and TennCare in violation of the False Claims Act and the Tennessee Medicaid False Claims Act, announced David Rivera, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee. The suit also names the Cookeville Center for Pain Management; Preferred Pain Center of Grundy County; McMinnville Pain Relief Center; and PMC Management; and claims that the defendants have been unjustly enriched and caused Medicare and TennCare to pay out money through mistake of fact.
“The U.S. Attorney’s Office will work with our federal and state partners and aggressively pursue those who seek to profit at the expense of taxpayers,” said U.S. Attorney David Rivera. “It is imperative that those who profit from dispensing pain medication always consider the well-being of patients as well as the addiction epidemic facing this country.”
Anderson is a chiropractor who operated four pain clinics in Tennessee. Although several of these clinics changed names at times, they were recently known as Cookeville Center for Pain Management; Spinal Pain Solutions in Harriman, Tenn; Preferred Pain Center of Grundy County in Gruetli Laager, Tenn; and McMinnville Pain Relief Center. Anderson operated these clinics both on his own and later through his management company, PMC Management. All of the clinics are now closed, except that the clinic in Harriman, Tenn. now operates under a new name with new owners.
According to the complaint, Anderson believed that medical clinics had to have a physician owner, so he recruited several physicians to serve as the sham owners of the four pain clinics, while Anderson, and later his company PMC, managed the clinics. In fact, according to the complaint, Anderson was the true owner who controlled the pain clinics during the entire time they were in operation.
The complaint alleges that the four pain clinics engaged in the following fraud schemes:
• Anderson operated Cookeville Center for Pain Management as a pill mill in which a nurse practitioner wrote prescriptions for controlled substances for Medicare and TennCare patients that had no legitimate medical purpose. Medicare and TennCare ultimately paid for those prescriptions, which were not allowable under Program rules.
• Anderson instructed employees at the four pain clinics to upcode office visits, by assigning an inaccurate billing code to increase Medicare reimbursement.
• Anderson continued to allow the pain clinics in Cookeville and Harriman to operate as pain management clinics and bill Medicare for services during a period in 2012 in which medical directors were not on site for the minimum time during operating hours as required by Tennessee law governing pain management clinics. As a result, according to the complaint, Medicare paid for non-reimbursable office visits, injections, and controlled substances prescriptions written by nurse practitioners at the clinics, without the required oversight of a medical director.
• In addition, David Florence, a doctor of osteopathy in Manchester, Tenn., who was one of the sham physician owners, also ran a pill mill out of his Center for Advanced Medicine in Manchester.
According to the complaint, Anderson reaped over $5 million from the four pain clinics, and took over 90% of the pain clinics’ profits, while the sham physicians only earned a salary for their service as medical directors. The government alleges that the scheme defrauded Medicare and TennCare of at least $1 million. The United States and Tennessee are seeking to recover treble damages plus penalties pursuant to the False Claims Act.
“These defendants allegedly supplied narcotics to patients without regard to medical need,” said Derrick L. Jackson, the Special Agent in Charge at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General in Atlanta. “The result was an expansion of abuse and addiction to controlled substances which enriched the defendants at the expense of the taxpayers.”
“Our office is dedicated to fighting Tennessee’s prescription drug crisis with every tool at our disposal,” said Tennessee Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III. “Pursuing individuals who attempt to take advantage of the system serves as a deterrent and helps protect the integrity of our healthcare programs.”
“Like many states, Tennessee is battling a prescription drug epidemic,” said TBI Director Mark Gwyn. “We want to hold those accountable who unnecessarily provide prescription drugs with no regard for the taxpayer’s dime and ensure legal medications get in the hands of citizens who really need them.”
The allegations in Thursday’s complaint were originally raised in a lawsuit filed by the former office manager in the Cookeville pain clinic. She brought her claims under the qui tam, or whistleblower, provisions of the False Claims Act, which allow private citizens with knowledge of false claims to bring civil suits on behalf of the government and to share in any recovery.
The case was investigated by the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ellen Bowden McIntyre represents the United States, and Assistant Attorney General Philip Bangle represents Tennessee.
The case is docketed as United States ex rel. Norris v. Anderson, No. 3:12-cv-00035 (M.D. Tenn.). The claims in the complaint are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.
(Newspartner WMSR-Manchester)