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Fire station No. 3 in works for Rock Island department
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James Clark
Updated: Sep 2, 2011, 12:41 AM
Published: Sep 2, 2011, 1:40 AM

Campaign-Rock Island Volunteer Fire Department is in the process of building its third fire station.
It will be located on Sparta Highway just before you get to the flashing light at Highway 30.
The 1,600-square-foot building will have two bays and house two firetrucks. The building isn’t expected to be operational until early 2012, according to Fire Chief Benny Cannon.
“This is going to cut our response times way down, especially to the Collinwood area,” said Cannon. “Where it takes us 15 to 20 minutes to get to Collinwood now, it will only take us five or six minutes when the new station is ready. This will put us within the five-mile rule for everybody in this area except for the few who live on the county line.”
Cannon says Campaign-Rock Island volunteers are responsible for covering 69.5 square miles. The department currently has one station in Campaign and another in Midway near the community center. With two outlying stations, it takes longer to respond to fires closer to town.
Cannon says the ground has been cleared and the next step will be to accept bids for constructing the building. He says the project is being paid for by subscription fees and a recent fundraising effort.
“We’ve had a $25 annual subscription fee for years and we’ll be able to keep that at $25 again next year,” said Cannon. “We’re doing this to better serve our subscribers. It’s not my fire department. It belongs to everybody who lives in that area and pays their dues.”
Cannon says the fire department is 27 members strong.
Local farm partnership brings fresh beef to Warren County Schools
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Published: Apr 2, 2025, 11:31 PM

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