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Smith steps down from Housing Authority
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Charles Smith has resigned his position with the McMinnville Housing Authority Board. He volunteered for 58 years and was a founding member when the Housing Authority was established. Mayor Jimmy Haley, left, proclaimed Tuesday, Feb. 14, as Charles Smith Day across the city of McMinnville.
Lisa Hobbs
Updated: Feb 17, 2017, 12:34 AM
Published: Feb 17, 2017, 1:35 AM

McMinnville Housing Authority has lost a founding member of its board with the resignation of Charles L. Smith.
A reception for Smith was held at Central Church of Christ. In attendance were family and friends, as well as fellow board members. Each spoke of Smith’s generosity, kindness and dedication to his community through community service.
Smith expressed his gratitude and told a story of Clyde Winters, who announced his retirement from the Rotary Club and a similar reception was held for him.
“Clyde told the club one day that he was fixing to resign,” said Smith. “He was in his 90s. He was older than most people in the club. On the day of his resignation, the president of the club asked a couple members to give a short talk pertaining to him. When that time came, they said some very nice things about him. Some real nice things were said. When they got done, the president asked ‘Mr. Winters is there anything you would like to say?’ Clyde thought a minute, stood up and said ‘I’ve heard so many nice things about me here today that I think I’ll just stay’ and he stayed.”
While the story brought laughter from the crowd and urging that he could also stay, Smith declined.
“I’ve heard some very nice things about me today, but I’m not going to stay,” said Smith. “I appreciate each of you. I means a lot to me. It really does.”
Smith was appointed as a commissioner to the McMinnville Housing Authority Board on Dec. 6, 1958, when the Housing Authority was organized by the city of McMinnville. He has served continuously since that date, a total of 58 years.
After the charter was granted by the state of Tennessee and the first official meeting of the Board of Commissioners was held on March 18, 1959, Smith was elected vice chairman at the first meeting. He was elected as chairman in 1983 to fill the vacancy left after the passing of Elvin Spangler on June 5.
Smith was reappointed 11 times to serve on the board by McMinnville mayors.
Mayor Jimmy Haley presented Smith with a proclamation declaring Feb. 14 as Charles Smith Day in the city of McMinnville.
“As mayor, this is one of my fun things to do,” said Haley. “People call about dogs and garbage not being picked up and are mad all the time, but this is the part that’s kind of fun when we give shout-outs to community leaders who give so much to the community and dedicate their lives to improving the quality of life and making the city of McMinnville a great place to live.”
Haley says McMinnville Housing Authority offers less fortunate people suitable housing and individuals like Smith volunteered their time to ensure fairness in the administration of housing authority policies.
“Public housing freed a lot of people from a life of toil and trouble, shacks and shanties, and below-standard housing,” said Haley. “The Housing Authority filled a huge void in the lives of lots of people and it’s a well-run agency. I see how well it is run and the devotion of all of those who serve on the commission.”
Smith’s position on the board was filled by Warren County resident Barry King.
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