2016

A memorial cancer walk will be held on the Moore County campus of Motlow State Community College on Thursday, Oct. 13, beginning at 1:45 p.m. at the Crouch Center.

This year’s event, The Greer Alsup Memorial Cancer Walk, honors the memory of Greer Alsup, a Motlow employee of 24 years who lost her battle to cancer in June. The walk will consist of one lap around the loop road and will be culminated with a reception in the Crouch Center.

To recognize Alsup’s service and dedication to Motlow State, a ceremony will precede the walk. A tree will be planted beside a park bench outside of Crouch Center and an engraved marker will denote the many contributions made by the at-large Motlow State community.

“The legacy of Greer Alsup will continue,” said Brenda Cannon, director of special events at Motlow. “This event, which for many years Greer served as grand marshal, honors the memory of our special friend and colleague who recently lost her battle with cancer.”

Additionally a Greer Alsup Memorial Scholarship Fund is being established through the Motlow College Foundation. Contributions are being accepted.

Cancer walks raise awareness of cancer and show solidarity of support for those affected by cancer. October is breast cancer awareness month.

“Cancer is color blind. Cancer has no respect of the person,” added Cannon. “We encourage the community to come and walk, wear pink and support this great cause.”

To make a donation to the Greer Alsup Memorial Scholarship fund please contact Lane Yoder, Motlow College Foundation director, at lyoder@mscc.edu or 931-393-1692.

Education Commissioner Candice McQueen announced Tuesday that the 2015-16 graduation rate of 88.5 percent is the highest on record since the state changed to a more rigorous calculation of graduation rates in 2011.
The latest statewide graduation rate was up nearly a full percentage point since last year and overall has increased three percentage points since the state implemented the more rigorous calculations. This year, nearly 60 percent of districts saw their graduation rates increase or stay the same when compared to last year’s rates.
Over the past few years, Tennessee has been raising expectations for both students and educators, and the state has seen significant gains as a result. These outcomes, including increases in graduation rates, are a testament to the work being done in schools across the state. The most notable gains and overall achievements are:
 12 districts improved their graduation rates by five percentage points or more.
    95 districts—over 70 percent of the districts in the state—have graduation rates at or above 90 percent, up from 81 districts last year.
76 districts—roughly 60 percent of districts in the state—had graduation rates at or above 90 percent for both 2014-15 and 2015-16.
More information, such as graduation rates for individual subgroups, will be available on the State Report Card, which will be released later this fall

DeKalb/Cannon County USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) County Executive Director Donny Green wants to inform hay and pasture producers of a new important crop acreage reporting deadline. For crop year 2017, acreage reports for perennial forage (hay and pasture) must be filed by November 15, 2016. Acreage reports filed after the established deadline could require the producer to pay a late-filed fee. 
In past years, crop acreage reports for hay and pasture had to be filed by July 15. However, the new Acreage/Crop Reporting Streamlining Initiatiave (ACRSI) has established a common USDA framework for acreage reporting dates to be used for all agencies.
In order to participate in most of the Farm Service Agency’s programs, complete and timely crop acreage reports must be filed for program approval and payment eligibility. “We realize that this change to the acreage reporting date for hay and pasture comes with very short notice. We only have about a month to get all of our hay and pasture producers certified and we are going to do our best to make sure everyone is aware of this change and the importance of getting hay and pasture crops certified before November 15, 2016”, says Green.
For questions regarding crop acreage reporting dates, please contact the DeKalb/Cannon County FSA office at 615-597-8225, extension 2.

Mr. William Freddy Curtis, a resident of Smithville, TN, is a 31 year veteran of Cannon County Schools and teaches US Government, Sociology, and Advanced Placement US Government & Politics at Cannon County High School in Woodbury, TN.  He was appointed to the Tennessee Social Studies Standards Recommendation Committee by Tennessee House of Representatives Speaker Beth Harwell earlier this year, and was subsequently elected Vice Chairman by the committee.  The following article by Committee Chairman Mr. Jason Roach and Mr. Curtis describes the responsibility of the committee and asks for the public’s input regarding changes in Tennessee’s Social Studies Standards.
 
Social Studies Standards in Tennessee: Changing for the Better
By: Jason Roach and William Freddy Curtis
How often do citizens speak up only to be patronized or, let’s face it, outright ignored by those who represent them? We can proudly report that Tennesseans spoke and Legislative Plaza listened. Not only did your representatives listen, but they implemented a ground-breaking process to fix a problem that irked many Tennesseans across our state.
During the 2014-2015 school year, the State Board of Education implemented a set of social studies standards that were designed to increase the academic rigor in social studies classrooms across the state. There were some concerns that many Tennesseans had with the content of the standards as well as how developmentally appropriate they were for Tennessee students. In 2016, after hearing many share their concerns, the state government designed a process to review the standards and to create a version that better reflects Tennessee values.
A team of professional educators was selected from all across the state to review and edit the standards. This “educator advisory team” has worked relentlessly to represent the core values of Tennesseans while also understanding the need to address a variety of historically relevant topics throughout the social studies curriculum. We have seen this team in action. They are a phenomenal group of social studies teachers and leaders that have worked to revise the social studies standards according to the needs of our students. As of now, they have wrapped up their first round of edits of the social studies standards.
The Social Studies Recommendation Committee is made up of many qualified professionals, from a district leader of Nashville Metro schools to a professor of history at Tennessee State University. Our committee will review the changes that are given to us, discuss further changes, and send the standards back to the educator advisory team to be addressed again. Once we conclude that the standards are ready, we will make a final recommendation to the State Board of Education for approval.
The need for continued feedback from Tennesseans is both necessary and desired throughout this process. The Tennessee State Board of Education has designed a program where any Tennessee citizen can comment on the standards that have been proposed. The public comment portion of this process was opened last year in order to obtain feedback about the standards before we began our work. We have looked at all 60,000 comments. Our committee values the input of our fellow Tennesseans. If you missed the first opportunity, you have until October 28th to review and leave feedback on the revised set of standards at https://apps.tn.gov/tcas/ .
The voices of all Tennesseans matter in this process. As we move forward with this process, we ask that you partner with us to create a set of social studies standards that we can ensure will benefit the students who sit in every public school classroom in the state of Tennessee.

Three, four-man crews from Middle Tennessee Electric are on their way to Florida to join efforts to restore power in the wake of Hurricane Matthew. 

The workers and nine trucks  departed from the electric cooperative’s Murfreesboro office  Friday; their destination is Keystone Heights, Fla., where they’ll be assisting Clay Electric Cooperative in restoration efforts. 

“We got the call yesterday asking if we could send crews to assist as Hurricane Matthew headed toward the U.S.,” said Chris Jones, MTEMC president and CEO. “MTEMC and a number of other electric cooperatives in Tennessee are responding to that call.” 

Jones said MTEMC’s line crews are often eager to help when situations are at their worst. 

“It is amazing to watch these guys when they know people are in need,” he said. “That’s when they’re at their best. We’re very proud of them.” 

The Middle Tennessee Electric crews will be joined by approximately 80 volunteers from electric cooperatives from across the state. Some of the cooperative volunteers are being dispatched to Charleston, S.C., while the majority will continue on to Florida.

“As cooperatives,” Jones said, “one of our core values is assisting other cooperatives in need. If we had a bad ice storm, you can bet these cooperatives would be there to help us if we needed them.”
 
The last time MTEMC was asked to assist in the wake of a hurricane was in 2011 after Hurricane Irene tore through Fredericksburg, Va. Prior to 2011, crews were sent to assist in the restoration efforts after Hurricane Gustav ravaged Louisiana in 2008.  
 
Middle Tennessee Electric Membership Corporation is a member-owned, not-for-profit cooperative providing electricity to more than 214,000 residential and business members in Williamson, Wilson, Rutherford, Cannon and surrounding counties.

The American Conservative Union (ACU), the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots conservative organization, this week announced that State Representative Mark Pody (R–Lebanon) is among those legislators recently honored with the Conservative Union’s prestigious “most conservative” award.
 
The award is only presented to those members of the Tennessee General Assembly who scored at least 80% on the ACU Tennessee 2016 State Legislative Rating and who most consistently vote with the ideals articulated in the Tennessee and U.S. Constitution. 
 
“I am honored to be presented this award by the American Conservative Union,” said Representative Pody. “I am committed to working with my colleagues in the Tennessee General Assembly to lower taxes, cut government waste, and help create an environment in our state where businesses can grow and thrive. I am thankful for organizations like the ACU who recognize the work of our conservative Republican majority and look forward to advancing our shared Tennessee values even further in the upcoming legislative session.”
 
To view the Tennessee ratings guide, visit http://acuratings.conservative.org/state-ratings-2016/ and click on Tennessee.

Despite what some might believe, Cannon County government is not broke.  However according to the State of Tennessee Comptroller and Treasury Department, Cannon County is in a financial management crisis but depending on when revenues start generating in, the crisis might be short lived.  The State Comptroller’s office has not yet approved the 2016-2017 fiscal year budget.  They have until November 30th in order to do so.  Cannon County Executive Mike Gannon called a special meeting with the Cannon County Commissioners last Friday to inform them they had enough money to meet this months payroll for county employees but not enough to pay any other bills or expenditures.  The meeting was announced Monday.  In the meantime the State of Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury mailed a letter to the County Executive’s office which was received Friday afternoon after lunch.  The letter states that We as in the State of Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury understand that as of the end of August 2016, Cannon County government had spent 20% of its fiscal year 2017 annual appropriations.  At this rate of spending, the County will not have enough money to meet its expenses through the end of this fiscal year.  Cash flow forecasts for the General Fund provided by the County indicate that it spends more than its receipts for seven out of twelve months.  As of the end of September, the County has already borrowed $920,322 in tax and revenue anticipation notes, which represent 18% of its projected annual cash receipts and are required to be repaid prior to the end of the current fiscal year.  Additionally, the County has to begin repayment of over $1,000,000 it spent from debt service monies restricted for education.  Due to its continuing financial distress, the County has now requested additional borrowing authority for operational expenditures.  
The Comptroller’s office believes Cannon County is at a crossroads.  The Commission needs to take immediate action to control the County’s spending and overall financial situation.  Without strong, decisive action by the Commission, the County will spend more money than it receives during the fiscal year 2017 as it has every year since fiscal year 2012.
Based on the above, an pursuant to the authority of Tennessee Code Annotated, the Comptroller directs the County Commission and other officials to take the following actions to ensure compliance with the statutory cash basis budget requirements and to successfully manage the financial affairs of the County:
The County’s finance staff shall provide budget-to-actual and cash flow reports for all major, special revenue and enterprise funds at each regular meeting of the County Commission and furnish copies of these reports to the Office of State and Local Finance.
The County commission shall adopt a budget police approved by the office of state and local finance that requires it to maintain a balanced cash basis budget that only allows spending if cash is available or is approved by the office of state and local finance.
The County Commission shall adopt a cash management police approved by the OSLF
The County Commission shall determine with the assistance of the OSLF the level of cash necessary to provide working capital sufficient to maintain a balanced budget and the County Commission shall cease improper interfund borrowing from its debt service funds to finance general government operations.
The letter concludes with if the County chooses to not follow these directives, the Comptroller may take such other action deemed appropriate including, but not limited to, exercising his authority to take control of the County’s spending.  
County Executive Mike Gannon went over the letter with the Commissioners during Friday’s meeting.
It’s no secret that the majority of the revenue that Cannon County government runs on is produced by property tax.  Each penny of property tax is expected to bring in $20,000.  While expenditures of county government is expected to increase each fiscal year, revenues must be planned to cover as close to the estimated expenditures for that fiscal year as possible.  
Expenditures of County Government are expected to increase every year.  Several factors come into play whether it be State mandated raises of the County’s leaders, judges and employees or health insurance costs.  Different county departments may have needs for new equipment or emergency vehicles.    Revenues from property tax generally don’t start trickling in until the start of November after the property values come in and the tax cards are made.  So where does Cannon County get the money to operate from the time they pass the fiscal year budget till the property tax revenue starts to come in?  Normally a county would be able to operate until the time of the property tax revenue in generally a two month window from the rainy day fund which at one point Cannon had built up to close to a $1.5 million dollar balance back in 2010.  Now the fund balance at the end of the 2016 year was $269,688.00 which is not enough to fund the government over a three month period.  According to County Executive Mike Gannon and the State Comptroller’s office the county would borrow from its debt service fund to finance the operations and when the revenues from the property tax came in they would repay debt service.  This was perfectly fine with the State Comptroller’s office until the office changed their policy in the 2015-2016 fiscal year.  The State now wants every county to have a healthy fund balance at the end of the year to take care of those expenses until their revenue comes in.  The State now frowns on a county borrowing money from its debt service fund.  When the fund balance was a healthy one back in 2010, the commission at that point voted to spend that fund balance down which was a concern voiced several times by some of the commissioners who served at that time as well as County Executive Mike Gannon.  So instead of raising the property tax a penny or two each year to help pay for the expenditures, the County was forced to whittle down their general fund balance during the months they needed to cover expenditures before the revenue would come in.  Several years according to the letter the county’s expenditures ended up exceeding revenue since there was no property tax increase to help pay for those expenditures.  Even though the fund balance is expected to be $289,795.00 at the end of the fiscal year, the County will still have to take $10,800 out of fund balance to cover the expenditures.  County Executive Gannon stated the other issue wasn’t really an issue in the long run as in the letter it mentioned the County has to begin repayment of over $1,000,000 it spent from debt service monies restricted for education.  That wasn’t necessarily a mistake, Gannon contends.  The state of Tennessee auditors approved of the way it was done for close to a 20 year span.  Past county commissions and several county executives were following what they were told was right.  But after the state changed their mind, they are allowing Cannon the opportunity to correct it in a 10 year span instead of all at once.  The big advantage of this, Gannon said is that the school debt will be paid off sooner and after the final payment is made the wheel tax will decrease $40.
County Executive Gannon also said that the property tax rate can not be touched until next fiscal year.  The County Executive’s office will be meeting with the State’s County Technical Advisory representatives this week  to discuss the various options of raising revenue and covering expenditures  to satisfy the State’s newer requirements.

The Industrial Development Board of Cannon County will meet Monday October 10, 2016 at 6:00 PM at the Rustic Elegance Event Center located at 1751 Doolittle Road Woodbury, TN.

The public is invited and encouraged to attend. We hope to see you there!

Only three more games are left on the Cannon County Lions High School football schedule and none of them will be easy.  Despite being a 2-A program, their opponent tonight Middle Tennessee Christian School has made it look easy winning 6 out of 7 games.  The Cougars feature a dual threat quarterback that the Lions have to contain if they want to have a chance to come back from Murfreesboro Friday night with their third win of the year.  The Lions have struggled offensively gaining just a little over 100 yards in their homecoming loss to Smith County last week.  The Cougars are coming off an upset loss to Forrest which shows they are human but are playing in front of a home crowd in Murfreesboro.  Football Friday begins at 5:30 with Murphy Fair and Murphy’s Matchups.  From there we head to hear from Dennis Weaver and previews of high school football matchups throughout Middle Tennessee on Friday Night Thunder at 6:00.  At 6:45 its the Reeds Builders Supply pregame show followed by the kickoff of the game at 7.  You can hear the game live from Murfreesboro on AM 1540/ Shine 107.1 WBRY and online at wbry.com
 

Normally the Cannon County Car Cruise-ins happen at the final Saturday of the month but since the sun sets earlier toward the end of October the October cruise in is Saturday. Final Cruise-in of the season—this is a toy drive cruise-in benefiting Cannon County children on the Angel Tree Program at Christmas. DTC will be awarding the 32 inch TV to cruisers who have participated in the cruise-in’s all year (you must be present to win) and Iron Pig Antique’s will give away a quilt. All cars, trucks and motorcycles are welcome, anyone can donate a toy, The Cruise in will take place  on the Square in Woodbury from 3 to 6:30. This cruise in is sponsored by Jennings Jewelers, contact John Barker at 615-542-4065 or Chamber of Commerce at 615-563-2222 for further information.