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Courthouse, jail two facilities in need
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The courthouse, health department and jail may soon receive facelifts to the tune of $225,000.
Improvements to the buildings, including new outside trim, new air conditioning units, and a new canopy at the courthouse will come from an interest-bearing capital outlay note.
The canopy is needed at the courthouse due to the large number of people who must stand outside in the weather, including on recent rainy days, while waiting to enter the building through the newly installed metal detector.
Listed among the proposed improvements are:
At the courthouse:
• Fire alarm system replacement
• Replacement of air conditioning units
• Installation of a canopy over the front entrance
• Security system installation
• Repair and replacement of outside trim
At the jail:
• Replacement of light fixtures in the men’s cells
• Installation of steel in cells/ceilings
• Installation of razor wire fencing
• Gate reinforcements and repairs in the exercise yard
• Gate reinforcements and repairs at the back entrance
At the health department:
• Repairs to the air conditioning unit
The proposal also includes improvements to any other county building deemed necessary.
The fire alarm replacement at the courthouse has been mandated by the state fire marshal and required by the grand jury. The grand jury also recommended installing a security system at the courthouse. Bids for those two projects may come in higher than originally predicted due to the thickness of walls in the building.
“Some walls are two-and-a-half to three feet thick that wires must go through. And, there is a lot of wiring to be done up there,” said Commissioner Carl Bouldin.
Anyone wishing to bid on installing a fire alarm at the courthouse must attend a pre-bid meeting being held at the courthouse Jan. 22. “I want everyone to know exactly what they are bidding on. They need to see just how thick some of the walls are,” said County Executive John Pelham.
It has been several years since the trim and gutters have been worked on at the courthouse. “If you stand back and look up, it looks awful. Boards are rotten,” said Greg Bowdoin, head of county maintenance.
The quarter-million dollar proposal must gain the approval of the full Warren County Commission which will meet at 6:30 p.m., Monday, Jan. 21.

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