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Teen caught passing fake bill at fair
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A local teen was charged with passing counterfeit money at the Warren County A&L Fair after he was identified moments after he passed his latest fake bill Wednesday night.
The suspected counterfeiter, Jack Dylan Howard, 18, is charged with one count of criminal simulation for an incident that happened at the Band Booster Club food booth Wednesday night. Sheriff Jackie Matheny says he will also likely be charged with the passing two fake $20 bills earlier this week at the Lucky CIC food booth.
The teen was charged after a volunteer at the Band Booster Club food booth discovered a $20 bill taken there was fake.
“Everyone has those pens and they’re checking them closely,” said Matheny, noting food booths were being extra careful to check $20 bills since two fake bills were passed at the Lucky booth.
Matheny said the pen, which shows if a bill is counterfeit, showed the $20 bill was fake. One of the workers then found the sheriff at the fair and told him they had just taken a fake bill. They were able to provide a description of the suspect who passed the phony bill.
“We were looking for him and all of a sudden the lady from the booth comes up to me and points him out,” Matheny said. “He was standing over by the cotton candy stand.”
Armed with a positive identification, lawmen questioned the teen and ended up making an arrest.
“These really weren’t very good fakes,” said Matheny, noting Howard took advantage of how busy volunteers were at the food booths.
While stopping short of claiming Howard made the fake bills himself, Matheny said it is likely the counterfeits from the Lucky CIC booth will be laid at his doorstep once the cases go to the grand jury.

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