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Drunk driver does 94 mph with kids
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A lead-footed drunk driver who was caught doing 100 mph down Manchester Highway with four children in her car will serve 62 days in jail.
The repeat drunk driver, Bonnie Sue Williams, 46, entered guilty pleas before Circuit Court Judge Bart Stanley to charges of reckless endangerment with a vehicle and DUI with a child under 18. She was ordered to serve 62 days of a two-year sentence, pay $1,100 plus costs, perform 32 hours public service work, undergo a drug and alcohol assessment, and lose her driver license.
Her jail time comes after sheriff’s deputy Brad Myers clocked her doing 94 mph in a 45-mph zone. Myers said he blue-lighted the speeding driver but she was slow in getting the message.
“She traveled a mile and a half before she pulled over,” Myers said in his warrant, noting he immediately smelled a strong odor of intoxicant as he walked up to her window.
“She almost fell into the roadway when she exited her vehicle,” Myers said, noting she was unsteady on her feet, had slurred speech and couldn’t perform a field sobriety test. “She stated she had been drinking earlier in the evening.”
The deputy found four children in the car ages 3, 7, and two 13-year-olds. The younger two were not properly restrained.
Williams, who hails from Manchester, made things worse when she became combative both with the deputy and with medical personnel who were trying to draw her blood for an alcohol reading. The deputy noted Williams has three prior drunk driving arrests.

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