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Saturated patrols a success
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Memorial weekend’s saturated patrol by McMinnville Police Department resulted in one arrest and 27 tickets, as well as 34 warnings for moving and non-moving violations.
“It was a very successful saturation patrol,” said McMinnville Police Lt. Mark Mara. “We had no accidents related to DUIs, but we did have one DUI arrest made during the patrol. We were able to get that individual off the streets. Thank goodness, after Friday morning’s tragedy, we don’t want any more fatalities.”
The department had four additional officers patrolling the streets over the weekend.
“It’s like having an additional shift on the streets,” said Mara. “These officers do not respond to calls. Their only job is to look for bad drivers. That is why the effort is so effective.”
Saturation patrols do receive criticism from the public about its “actual” goal of giving tickets. Mara says there is only one goal, that being to make streets safer for everyone.
“I think some people misunderstand what these patrols are about,” said Mara. “It isn’t our goal to hand out as many tickets as we can in one weekend. We gave out more warnings than tickets. Our goal is to look for drunk drivers and make the streets safer for everyone.”
The department worked in conjunction with Tennessee Highway Patrol. Numbers of tickets and warnings give by THP are unknown.

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