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Keller caught with knife at jail
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Lacy Garrison
Updated: Jul 12, 2013, 12:09 AM
Published: Jul 12, 2013, 12:10 AM

A man caught trying to smuggle a knife into Warren County Jail will serve a year behind bars.
The man, Clifford Keller, 29, has entered guilty pleas to a host of charges before Circuit Court Judge Bart Stanley. The charges included second-offense driving on a revoked license, failure to appear in court, and bringing contraband into a penal institution. As part of his plea bargain, Keller will serve one year of a six-year sentence and must pay $2,000 plus costs and perform 100 hours public service work.
Keller was charged after the discovery was made while he was being dressed out by jailers in preparation of being placed in the jail’s general population. Corrections officer David Snowden said he saw the knife concealed between Keller’s legs. Keller had been brought in on outstanding warrants.
“While I was dressing him out I saw toilet paper (between his legs),” Snowden said. “I told him to give it up and he pulled a piece of toilet paper and threw it to me. Then I told him to give it all up. He then pulled out a knife that was still in the toilet paper.”
Keller reportedly admitted he had wrapped the small knife in toilet paper while he was inside a holding cell a few minutes before it was found.
“He said he intended to keep it until he was released,” Snowden said in his warrant against Keller.
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