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Centertown firefighters turn to bikes
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After getting a luke-warm response from county officials, a medical and rescue bicycle team has found a home at Centertown Volunteer Fire Department.
“The department’s board of directors voted to fund it,” said Centertown Capt. Clyde Prater. “We think it will be well worth it.”
The medical and rescue bicycle team presently consists of two bicycles and four volunteers. They hope to expand it soon.
Centertown Lt. Joey Clark, who is also a paramedic, says the unit is important because the bicycle patrol can go places where regular vehicles cannot. That ability, Clark noted, allows them to respond to a patient faster in certain situations.
The unit was used at the recent Warren County A&L Fair.
“We were able to do lost child searches and we also figured out the bikes can be useful for clearing crowds to get the Gator through after they pick up a patient,” Clark said.
McMinnville City Police Department already has a mounted bike patrol that works security and crowd control at community events like the Autumn Street Fair, the Dr Pepper Fireworks Show and Back to the Strip Night. The city’s police unit has even made DUI arrests during its bicycle patrols.
Clark said the Centertown bicycle unit will be utilized in the same way except in their case their usefulness will be in search and rescue and medical first-response. Most recently, the bike unit was on display at the Centertown Fall Festival.
Clark had pitched the idea to members of the Warren County Commission, but was met with a tepid response prompting him to take the plan before the volunteer fire department where he is a member.

Local farm partnership brings fresh beef to Warren County Schools
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Warren County Schools has beefed up lunch menus this school year through a new community partnership. Thanks to a collaboration between the district’s School Nutrition Department and Barton Creek Farms, students at Warren County High School, Warren County Middle School, West Elementary, Eastside Elementary, and Dibrell Elementary are enjoying locally sourced, farm-fresh beef in their lunches as part of a pilot program.

The initiative, spearheaded by Terri Mullican, Director of School Nutrition, has already shown great promise in its first few months. The partnership with Barton Creek Farms, located in Rock Island, Tennessee, ensures that the beef served is not only local to Warren County but of the highest quality. Barton Creek Farms specializes in farm-to-fork beef, with grass-fed and grain-finished cattle. Each calf is born and raised in Rock Island and goes through USDA-inspected processing, ensuring it meets the strictest safety and quality standards.

“When the opportunity arose to provide fresh, local beef, we knew it was a no-brainer,” Mullican said. “The fact that it’s a product from right here in our community makes it even more special. We can’t wait to implement it district-wide.”

Barton Creek Farms delivers fresh ground beef to the district monthly, and the nutrition

department incorporates it into homemade recipes such as lasagna, meatloaf, chili, and tacos.

As of now, the beef is being served at five schools, but the ultimate goal is to expand the program to all ten lunch-serving schools in the district.

The pilot program originated from a conversation between Mary Roller of Barton Creek Farms and Mullican. Roller, recognizing the farm’s potential to support local schools, reached out to gauge the district’s interest in serving local beef to students. Around the same time, a Warren County school board member contacted Mullican to share information about a similar partnership in neighboring Dekalb County, which helped push the initiative forward.

The timing worked in the district’s favor, as the nutrition department was able to fund the purchase of the beef using existing resources, eliminating the need for additional funding. Now that the pilot program is enjoying a successful run, the department has budgeted to extend the partnership district-wide for the 2025-26 school year.

Dr. Grant Swallows, Director of Schools, praised the program’s economic approach to student nutrition.

“This pilot is a perfect example of how we can use local resources to continue providing nutritious, healthy meals for our students,” he said. “We are grateful for partnerships like this one that benefit both our students and our local community. We always strive to support our local businesses when we can because our community is so good to us.”

In addition to working with Warren County Schools, Barton Creek Farms also partners with local restaurants to offer farm-fresh beef on their menus. The farm’s offerings include ground beef, steaks, roasts, and custom cuts by the quarter, half, or whole cow, meeting diverse consumer needs.

As the program continues to grow, the district hopes to expand its focus on farm-to-school meals, benefiting students’ health and connecting them to the agricultural roots of the community