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Suspects caught after one-hour manhunt
They abandoned their vehicle in Newtown
Manhunt
Law enforcement officers walk down Bridge Builders Road on Wednesday afternoon searching for suspects from a high-speed chase. Their white Ford Edge can be seen in the background.

Three suspects were taken into custody Wednesday just after 1 p.m. in the Newtown area after they abandoned their vehicle and fled on foot. The manhunt lasted about an hour.

The vehicle was found on Bridge Builders Road in the Newtown area. Officers with high-powered rifles were following a specially trained K-9 led by McMinnville detective Eddie Colwell in trying to pick up the scent of the suspects.

The dog led officers to the TDOT maintenance shed which is located between Bridge Builders Road and Nashville Highway.

The suspects, driving a white Ford Edge with Florida tags, barreled into Warren County on Wednesday morning on Highway 55 coming from Manchester. Officers from Coffee County were in pursuit.

The high-speed chase exceeded speeds of 100 mph, according to traffic over the police scanner. Officers blocked intersections before the speeding vehicle arrived to prevent an innocent motorist from pulling into the path of the suspects. The chase zoomed past Warren County High School where officers had hoped to deploy spike strips.

The suspects then traveled on the wrong side of Highway 55, heading inbound in the outbound lanes. In Newtown, they went the wrong way up the on-ramp used to access Highway 55 and turned left onto Nashville Highway.

Officers discontinued the chase in the interest of public safety and lost sight of the vehicle. It was initially assumed the Ford Edge was heading outbound to Centertown, but it was located on Bridge Builders Road, a tiny secondary road that’s one lane in parts.

McMinnville Police Department’s K-9 unit was called to help track the suspects and the Newtown area was heavily saturated with law enforcement officers. Two males and one female were reportedly taken into custody.

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