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Freeze Road now open to traffic
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Lisa Hobbs
Updated: Jan 24, 2015, 5:45 PM
Published: Jan 24, 2015, 6:43 PM

Freeze Road is open to traffic. The new bridge is complete after approximately two months of a detour.
“It’s a big improvement as fair as drainage in the flooding areas is concerned,” said Road Superintendent Levie Glenn.
The news of bridge completion was shared with Highway and Bridge Committee members. On the committee are Commissioners Gary Prater, chairman, Randy England, David Rhea, Blaine Wilcher, and Melissa Yancy.
Freeze Road was detoured in order to allow a new bridge to be constructed to replace a deteriorating one. Curbers Inc., handled the work at a cost of $162,113, with Warren County Highway Department doing the paving estimated at $25,000.
Paving has yet to be done.
“It’s not the right time of the year to do paving,” said Glenn. “We have to wait until later this spring. We could do it a lot cheaper than the contractor’s bid. We always try to save the county money, so we decided to do that work in-house.”
The bridge on Freeze Road has been a source of continuous maintenance for the Highway Department, and drainage issues had created regular flooding, often causing the bridge to be closed, according to Glenn.
 “It will help the whole community,” said Glenn.
Replacing the bridge consisted of removing the existing tiles and realigning the drainage with bigger openings for water.
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