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City of McMinnville honors Lady Bulldogs for gold medals
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McMinnville Central High School’s Lady Bulldogs are still going strong after all these years.
After winning their second Senior Olympic gold medal, they were honored by the city of McMinnville on Tuesday night.
McMinnville Mayor Norman Rone presented the Lady Bulldogs with special awards in recognition of their “great accomplishments” in the National Senior Olympics.
“It’s a lot of fun to do this,” said Rone. “I’m honoring people from my generation. Maybe I shouldn’t say this with the ladies present, but it was from the late 1940s and mid-1950s.”
The Lady Bulldogs defended their National Senior Olympics 2009 championship in June of this year in Houston, Texas and once again walked away gold medalists.
“These ladies are an inspiration, not only to the younger generation, but to this one,” said Rone. “They are a shining example of how important exercise is to people of all ages. As long as you stay active, you can accomplish anything.”
After presenting teams members Blanche Cook, Carolyn Lance, Wanda Shanks and JoAn Cantrell with certificates, Rone presented coach Dewey Cantrell with one as well.
“We couldn’t forget about the coach,” Rone said.
JoAn says team members enjoy playing basketball together and competing against teams from across the nation.
“They enjoy playing against us, too,” she said. “The people we play against like our team because we don’t get aggressive when we play.”
To the statement, Rone said, “So, no elbowing?”
“They did, but we didn’t,” said JoAn. “Carolyn comes home bruised up every time.”
Lady Bulldogs compete in the 75-year-old division of the National Senior Olympics. This year’s event attracted over 10,000 athletes competing in various age groups and sports.

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