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Parents of child left alone get probation
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Parents who let their 3-year-old son wander away from home have been granted probation but will be required to be under the scrutiny of the Department of Children’s Services.
The couple, Mikella M. Garcia, 22, and Ladonta D. Hall, 24, entered guilty pleas before General Sessions Judge Bill Locke on Tuesday afternoon to charges of misdemeanor child abuse. Garcia was granted a six-month judicial diversion while Hall was placed on probation for six months. The difference between the two sentences is that in the case of the judicial diversion, Garcia’s criminal record will be erased at the end of probation. Hall was not afforded a diversion because of a prior offense.
Both parents will have to abide by DCS requirements regarding their parenting. They were originally hit with felony child neglect but the charge was reduced as a result of their plea agreements.
Their sentences come after their son was found in the parking lot of NHC Homecare which is located off Sparta Street and is a high-traffic area. A manager from NHC called police to report the young child being unattended in their parking lot.
“He was wearing only a pair of shorts, no shirt or shoes, and the temperature was 85 degrees and sunny,” said McMinnville policeman Richard Teachout.
Nearly half an hour after the child was first seen in the parking lot, Garcia came to ask about the child. When asked why the child was wandering alone, the mother told the officer she had instructed an 18-year-old friend to watch the children while she and her their father went to the store. However, during later questioning, the teen denied being asked to watch the children. Although she was at the residence where the parents lived, she said she didn’t even know they had left the residence.

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