News

Graduation rates in Tennessee for the 2018-19 school calendar year reached 89.7 percent.  Not only is that more than half a percentage point higher than the previous year, but it’s the highest graduation rate on record for Tennessee.  That translates into an increase of 183 graduates statewide. 

Cannon County is among 67 districts to improve its graduation rate from 2018 to 2019. Cannon County High School’s graduation rate was 91.0% for 2018-2019, which was a 1.2% increase from the rate in 2017-2018 of 89.8.  The female graduation rate increased 7.7% from 90.8% in 2017 – 2018 to 98.5% in the past school year. However, the male graduation rate decreased 4.2% from 88.7% in 2017-2018 to 84.8% in 2018-2019.

Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn said, “While this is certainly something to celebrate, I know we can do even better!  Ultimately, I would like to see all 130 districts that serve high school students have a 90 percent graduation or better.  That’s something my team will be very focused on over the next four years, along with making sure those students have a career or college path in mind the day they walk across the stage to get that diploma.”

Director of Cannon County Schools William F. Curtis agreed with Commissioner Schwinn. He added, “Cannon County High School is to be commended for their efforts, and I look forward to 2020’s graduation rate being even higher!  It is all of us, the Cannon County community, parents, teachers, and staff working together to achieve our MISSION – ‘Preparing All Students for Their Future’ through our VISION – ‘The New E3 – Engaged in Excellence Every Day!’  Cannon County Schools are advancing, and we must continue every effort for our students to graduate from Cannon County High School ‘College and Career’ ready!”

More information on graduation rates for individual districts and schools, go to the following link and click on the section titled “Graduation Cohort Data”  https://www.tn.gov/education/data/data-downloads.html  

An investigation by Special Agents with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has resulted in two former corrections officers with the Warren County Jail being charged with tampering with governmental records. 

Last winter, at the request of the 31st District Attorney General, TBI agents joined investigators with the DA’s office in investigating an inmate death that had occurred on January 14 in the Warren County Jail. During the course of the investigation, agents developed information that two corrections officers, Zechariah Clark and Steven Mason, did not conduct the required jail walk-through, and that jail logs were altered at some point to reflect that the walk-through had been completed. Neither man is still employed at the jail. 

On September 6th, the Warren County Grand Jury returned indictments charging Zechariah Jacob Clark and Steven Thomas Mason each with one count of Destruction of and Tampering with Governmental Records.  On Monday, they were booked into the Warren County Jail.

On Thursday, September 19, 2019 the American Red Cross will be at the Lions Memorial Building from 12:00 PM until 6:00 PM collecting blood donations.  The Woodbury Lions Club will be hosting the drive.  Again, a shortage of supply in the Blood Banks means it is critical to replenish shelves.  Due to hurricane Dorian and Labor Day traffic an increase in demand occurred.  Red Cross goal is to collect 45 pints, Woodbury Lions Club would like to see  this goal met plus 10 to fifteen more units.  Cannon County always seems to be able to achieve higher goals than many areas with three or four times more populated.

SportClips haircuts will send a coupon by email for a free haircut at participating locations to all that come out to donate.  The Lions Memorial Building is located on the newly rename We Serve Circle which was earlier Park Circle, but if using a GPS device to find the location use 634 Lehman Street, Woodbury.  Red Cross and the Woodbury Lions Club encourages everyone who thinks that they may want to donate to go to website:  RedCrossBlood.org and enter sponsor code :  WoodburyCommunity19 and schedule an appointment.  Doing this will cause Red Cross to make sure that they have enough staff to handle expected donors.  When 35 donors register and sixty show up and their staff only has enough to handle 44, this will cause a long unnecessary delay.  You can also streamline your donation and save up to 15 minutes by going to website:  RedCrossBlood.org/RapidPass on the day of the drive and completing your pre-donation reading and health history.

Both the American Red Cross and the Woodbury Lions Club encourages you to come and donate the gift of life.

Teresa Lewis, Food Service Assistant for Cannon County Schools was named as “Employee of the Month” for July 2019 by Cannon County Schools. During the September Meeting of the Cannon County Board of Education, Lewis was recognized and presented a certificate by Cannon County Schools Director William F. Curtis for her service to the Cannon County School System.  Employees are nominated by School Principals or School District Supervisors and are voted on during monthly Principal and Supervisor meetings regarding individuals who exemplify the Mission and Vision of Cannon County Schools.

Supervisor of Cannon County Schools Food Service, Jennifer Insell, stated, “Mrs. Teresa Lewis is truly a blessing to all the students of Cannon County Schools.  She takes great pride in doing her job well every day.  I am blessed to be her supervisor. She has taught me more than I could ever teach her. Cannon County School Food Service considers her one of the best.”

Director of Cannon County Schools, William F. Curtis, commented “Mrs. Teresa Lewis is an exceptional employee as Food Service Assistant. She goes beyond and assists in the office whatever is asked from her.  Mrs. Lewis has served in numerous roles in her career in Cannon County Schools as Receptionist, Coordinated School Health Assistant, and has recently been named by me as part-time Food Service Assistant and Executive Assistant to the Director.  She will be working as the new front office face of the School District.  I believe Mrs. Teresa Lewis personifies our Mission of Cannon County Schools of ‘Preparing All Students for their Future’ by most assuredly being ‘The New E3 – Engaged in Excellence Every Day.’  Congratulations to Mrs. Teresa Lewis for being an impactful ‘Team Player’ in our Cannon County Schools family.”

Tennessee Agriculture Enhancement application process is opening soon. The 2019/2020 applications are available at the Cannon County University of Tennessee Extension Office located at 614 Lehman St. Producers must apply for funding during the upcoming application period October 1 – 15, 2019. Receipts dated October 1, 2019 or after are eligible for cost share reimbursement contingent on approval of application. To be eligible, producers must have a current Beef Quality Assurance Certification when your application is submitted.

Drop by the Cannon County UT Extension Office to update or obtain your BQA certification. I have scheduled BQA certification meetings for September 16^th, 23^rd and the 30^th at 6:00 downstairs of the UT Cannon County Extension Office. I will also conduct these certifications during the week, please contact the Extension Office at 615-563-2554 to schedule a time.

Livestock producers applying for TAEP Farm Investment dollars are eligible for 35% cost-share. To increase cost share to 50%, producers must attend The University of Tennessee Extension Advanced Master Beef (AMB) program. Producers which have graduated from past TAEP programs prior to 2016, will not qualify for the 50% TAEP cost share and must renew their AMB certification. Please contact the Cannon County Extension Office to verify when you attended the most recent AMBP course.

The next Master Beef Certification meeting begins on Tuesday, October 8^th at the Centertown Community at 6:00 P.M. Participants must attend all four sessions to obtain you Master Beef certification.

Tuesday, Oct 8 – Protecting our Heritage and our HerdJulie Giles (Farm Animal Care Coalition of Tennessee AGwareness and Predator Control John Ferrell (TSU Franklin County)

Thursday, Oct 10 – Herd Health Dr. Katlyn Currie, DVM (counts as BQAcertification)                                                                                  

Tuesday, Oct 15 – Staying Alive and Emerging Issues and Trends (safety and upcoming issues in beef industry) Tri-Green Equipment McMinnville/Eddie Clark Tennessee Farm Bureau Federation

Thursday, Oct 17 – Fencing and Forages David Bilderback (UT Extension)                                         Innovative Fencing Techniques and Forage Management John Goddard (UT Extension, Loudon County)                                                                                                          

The cost of the certification is $75.00. If you are planning to participate in this certification, please drop by the Extension office and register.(615-563-2554). Please help us spread the word on the upcoming AMBP sessions and the Tennessee Ag Enhancement program.

Everyone is welcome to attend any meetings hosted by the Cannon County UT Extension. These meetings provides an opportunity to viewed researched based information from The University of Tennessee. Your local Cannon County Extension Office is the outreach department of the University. This program, like all UT Extension programs, is open to all eligible persons regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, age, religion, disability or veteran status.

Budgets, policy revisions and elections were all part of the September meeting of the Cannon County Board of Education.

The board now has a new chairman, District 4 board member Javin Fann was elected chairman.  District 2 Travis Turney was re-elected as vice-chairman and District 5 Board member Brian Elrod was re-elected as chairman pro tem.

Lisa Black presented a compensation proposal for contracted bus drivers. The board approved the proposal.

Coach Matt Daniel submitted a proposal to the board for a public address system for the football and soccer field.  The facility currently uses a system on loan by the school’s FFA Chapter.  Total cost for the new system is $13,314.00.  The Touchdown Club has committed a donation of $3,100.00 and First National Bank will donate $3,000.00 with the commitment of the School Board for the remaining $7,000.00.  The board approved the plan.

The board gave approval for Bonnie Patterson to begin the bidding process for a grant with the Safe Schools program. The goal is to complete audio and video systems for three of the schools in the system.

The board also approved their 2019-2020 operating budget.

NewScThis meeting marked the return of Director William F. Curtis following his medical absence.

The public and Middle Tennessee State University community are invited to the annual MTSU 9/11 Remembrance at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 11.

It will be at a new venue, the Miller Education Center second-floor atrium, 503 E. Bell St., this year because of on-campus construction near the Veterans Memorial adjacent to the Tom H. Jackson Building. Officials with the Charlie and Hazel Daniels Veterans and Military Family Center expect to return to the Veterans Memorial for the 9/11 Remembrance in 2020.

The event commemorates the 17^thanniversary of a series of four coordinated terrorist suicide attacks by the extremist group al-Qaida on U.S. landmarks, which occurred Sept. 11, 2001.

“We encourage people in the community to come,” said Hilary Miller, Daniels Center director. “We will have three great speakers, who have an impact at the local, state and national level.”

Guest speakers will include Mike Krause, executive director with the Tennessee Higher Education Commission and a veteran; retired U.S. Navy Capt. Jennifer Vedral-Baron, VA Health System director; and Murfreesboro Mayor Shane McFarland, an MTSU alumnus.

Keith M. Huber, senior adviser for veterans and leadership initiatives and a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general, will provide the welcome and introductions. Country music singer Rachel Lipsky will sing the National Anthem. A 9/11 memorial speech will be read by an MTSU ROTC cadet following a moment of silence.

Robert Aanerud will perform taps near the end of the ceremony.

The 9/11 Remembrance will be the start of a busy day for the Veterans Center.

Other events Wednesday will include:

• A 9/11 Tennessee Remembrance Walk with the American and ROTC flags led by Blue Raider American Veterans Organization, or BRAVO, from 9 to 11 a.m. in the heart of campus. It is part of a college organization-led drive across the state on Sept. 11.

“There are freshmen now who don’t know anything about 9/11,” said C.J. Ockletree, a master’s degree candidate in the College of Behavioral and Health Sciences and an Army veteran who works in the veterans center.

“I was in middle school and watched it (the events surrounding 9/11) in class and that’s why I joined the military. I lost family, an aunt at the Pentagon and an uncle at the twin towers in New York. It’s an education process for some students. They need to know what their country’s been through.”

To preregister, email Ockletree at cjo2m@mtmail.mtsu.edu. Walkers, runners and ruckers (participants wearing backpacks) also can register on the back side of the KUC facing Military Memorial.

• A VA Whole Health/Disabled American Veterans visit, with their personnel manning tables from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. outside the veterans center’s first-floor office, KUC Room 124.

• The “Battle of the Branches” American Red Cross blood drive from noon to 6 p.m. just outside the veterans center’s third-floor office, Room 322 in the Keathley University Center, 1524 Military Memorial Drive, in the heart of campus.

MTSU has more than 300 combined undergraduate and graduate programs.

Middle Tennessee State University President Dr. Sidney McPhee and a group of school supporters spent Sunday on a relief mission in the Bahamas, delivering supplies for victims of Hurricane Dorian there. Two flights took off from the Murfreesboro airport Sunday morning in this Raider Relief project: one flown by Trustees’ Vice Chair Darrell Freeman, and the other by Captain Terry Dorris with the MTSU Aerospace program.

Raider Relief supplies were off-loaded from both aircraft at the airport in Freeport, Bahamas and delivered to a nearby church that has agreed to serve as a pick-up point for families of MTSU students. Dr. Sidney McPhee thanked the congregation of Life Fellowship Church, which also provided trucks and help to unload the planes. The MTSU president is from the Bahamas. He lost a family member, his great niece, as Dorian pounded the island nation with heavy wind and flooding conditions.

ABC News reports that Dorian was the strongest storm in history to hit the Bahamas, and the fact that it moved so slowly across the islands–about one mile per hour–decimated the islands for 48 hours, leading to the deaths of at least 43 people.

A ceremony at Cannon County High School this Wednesday will commemorate the attacks on America that killed thousands on September 11, 2001. The event, presented by American Legion Post 279, will honor those who lost their lives, as well as current first responders. It will include a bell ceremony, a POW/MIA remembrance ceremony, remarks by representatives of first responder groups, the laying of a memorial wreath.

Motorcycles carrying dozens of riders passed through Cannon County on their way to Bedford County over the weekend. The occasion was the sixth annual Tennessee Fallen Firefighter Memorial ride, which ends at the memorial on the campus of the Tennessee Fire Service and Codes Enforcement Academy near Bell Buckle.

This year’s ride was dedicated to Jason Dickey of the Lawrenceburg Fire Department, the 2008 Line of Duty Death, and to Barry Brady (Shady Brady) of the Sparta Fire Department. Brady, founder of the Tennessee Fallen Firefighter Memorial ride, passed away earlier this year.

The Tennessee Fallen Firefighter Memorial Committee was founded in 2002 with a mission to create a memorial to honor fallen firefighters in Tennessee. After earning its 501©3 not-for-profit status, the board of directors began to actively raise funds to build the memorial. In 2005, the legislature passed a resolution setting aside land on the Tennessee Fire Service and Codes Enforcement Academy property to be used for constructing a memorial.

Construction of the memorial was broken up into two phases. The official ribbon cutting ceremony for phase one was held Sept. 11, 2009. Dedication of the completion of the second phase was held on Sept. 10, 2011.

The Tennessee Fallen Firefighter Memorial honors fallen firefighters of Tennessee. Another section of the memorial pays tribute to the lives lost during the terrorist attacks that occurred Sept. 11, 2001. As part of that memorial, a piece of a steel I-beam, which was recovered from Ground Zero in New York City, is also on display.