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Woman made up story about mugging
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Lacy Garrison
Updated: Jul 19, 2016, 9:51 PM
Published: Jul 19, 2016, 8:51 PM

A woman has been charged after she lied to police about being robbed in front of a convenience store.
The woman, Amanda Lynn Vespo, 33, waived her right to a preliminary hearing and was bound to the grand jury on the charge of filing a false report.
Her charge comes after police responded to a call of a mugging in front of Delta Express on Beersheba Street.
“When I arrived, I found her lying flat on the ground by her car’s driver door,” said policeman Stephen Daniels.
When asked what had happened, Vespo reportedly told the lawman she went outside to her car to get her cellphone when she was accosted by a strange man.
“She said he grabbed her by the hair and slammed her head into the car,” Daniels said. “Then, as she lay on the ground, he kicked her in the ribs.”
The woman claimed the man took her purse, which contained all of her cards, her medication, including her Alprazolam, $30 cash, checks, keys and inhaler.
However, a witness who was nearby reported seeing nothing unusual. Paramedics also reported no injuries.
With their suspicions raised, police went to talk to Vespo’s son. The youth said his mother had been gone all day. When police asked if her purse was there, the boy retrieved it. Inside were all the items Vespo had claimed where taken by the mugger.
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