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Liven up Halloween with 'Night of the Living Dead'
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Night of the Living Dead is a 1968 American independent horror film, directed by George A. Romero.

“Night of the Living Dead” will be showing at Park Theater on Monday, Oct. 31. The Halloween special is a fundraiser for the Warren County High School Film Club.
“Right now we are a club that gets together and talks about and studies film,” said Joe Harvey. “We do an annual Oscar party and we are hoping to make a trip to a nearby film festival or maybe create a short film of our own.”
Admission is free. However, donations are appreciated and will be used to fund the club’s future endeavors. Costumes are welcome for those that want to dress for the occasion.
“Night of the Living Dead” is a 1968 American independent horror film, directed by George A. Romero, starring Duane Jones and Judith O’Dea. It was completed on a $114,000 budget.
The film became a financial success, grossing $12 million domestically and $18 million internationally. It has been a cult classic ever since. It has been selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry as a film deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”
Park Theater doors open at 7 p.m. Show time is 8 p.m. Seating is first come, first serve. The movie is sponsored by Security Federal Savings Bank. Individuals who do not want to see the movie but want to make a donation, can do so.

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