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Investigation underway in death of dog
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Lisa Hobbs
Published: Aug 17, 2012, 1:56 AM

The investigation continues in the shooting death of a dog on Driftwood Lane in Warren County over the weekend. No witnesses have come forward in the incident involving Jake.
Warren County Sheriff’s Department has been investigating the shooting since Sunday when a report was made by the dog’s owner, Laura Warner.
“We have been investigating this case since the police report was made on Sunday, I can promise you that,” said Warren County Sheriff Jackie Matheny on Thursday, refuting commits made by some individuals that his department has refused to investigate.
“I don’t know why anyone would say we are not investigating this, or that we refused to investigate it,” said Matheny. “That’s just not true.”
Matheny says his investigators have canvassed the neighborhood more than once and have talked to numerous individuals trying to find witnesses who allegedly saw the shooting.
“I’ve seen some news reports that a group of children at a birthday party or children playing with the dog witnessed the shooting, but we can find no truth to those statements,” Matheny said.
What the sheriff’s department has found is numerous individuals in the neighborhood who say the dog was among a pack of dogs causing chaos.
“Among those statements taken, one neighbor said the dog, in a pack of other dogs, attacked her and she was bitten,” said Matheny. “She tried to defend herself from the attack with a piece of PVC pipe, the plastic kind used for water lines.”
One news report says the woman that was bitten was later seen with the man who shot the dog.
“Let’s just say that some of the comments that have been made are not 100 percent true,” said Matheny. “The lady was bitten, which is true. There is no evidence that she had anything to do with the shooting, and we don’t believe she did.”
Matheny says false statements are hindering, not helping, the department in solving the case.
“When we have to take time to investigate false information, it slows down our investigation,” said Matheny. “I promise you we are dedicated to solving this case, just like we would be with any other reported incident.”
Despite the lack of actual witnesses, Matheny says some progress is being made in Jake’s case. However, he would not elaborate.
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