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Matheny wins, Curtiss undecided
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One state representative that serves Warren County won easily last night, while the other was still clinging to a narrow lead at press time.
Republican Judd Matheny cruised to re-election as he easily beat Democratic challenger Scott Price 14,898 votes to 7,779.
Matheny has faced a fight for his 47th District seat every year he has been up for election. In defeating Price last night, Matheny was elected to his sixth term.
Matheny was strong in Warren County, winning with 68 percent of the vote. He represents all of Coffee County and roughly one-third of Warren County.
As for state Rep. Charles Curtiss, he was clinging to a narrow lead over his challenger, Robert Dunham. Curtiss was up 8,690 votes to 8,252.
Curtiss was strong in Warren County where he won 4,264 to 3,435.
The delay in election results comes due to problems in Grundy County. Votes were finally trickling in around midnight in Grundy County, but not in time to make this edition of the newspaper.
Due to redistricting, the 43rd District now represents all of White and Grundy counties and roughly two-thirds of Warren County.
The race was tight thanks to a negative campaign launched by Dunham and the Republican Party. Curtiss was criticized in several mailers as his opponent made claims Curtiss said amounted to a bunch of lies.

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