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Tempers flare at county meeting
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County officials voted 3-1 Monday to allow Southern Insurance Company to continue handling the county’s insurance.
The decision came after a stalemate in April when John Pelham and Linda Hillis voted in favor of  Southern Insurance, while Commissioners Hershel Wells and Gary Prater voted to give the bid to Hoover & Son Insurance.
It was at that time Wells said, “I’m not going to change my vote.”
But he did change his vote, as he sided with Pelham and Hillis to continue allowing Southern Insurance to remain the county’s insurance carrier. Prater did not change his vote, and voted for Hoover & Sons.
When later asked why he changed his vote, Wells said, “I’ve got a reason, but I’d rather not say.” He then added, “We couldn’t keep going and not have insurance. Some of it was going to run out in June. The biggest reason was because we couldn’t keep going without insurance.”
Freddie Hoover voiced his irritation about not being informed of the meeting sooner. He said he received his meeting agenda at 10 a.m. Monday morning. The meeting was held at 1:30 p.m.
“They were all mailed at the same time,” stated Hillis.
In a previous Purchasing Commission meeting, Wells and Prater said they were not informed in a timely manner about that meeting. Hillis told them their letters were sent at the same time as everyone else’s.
Hoover said, “I feel like you’re trying not to show everything. Maybe that’s the way you want it.”
Hoover announced to commission members, “I think this is really low how this is being handled. Why not start in January if insurance is running out? Why didn’t you start in January?” he asked.
Hillis answered, “We actually started in March.”
“You should have started earlier,” replied Hoover.
Prater held up the insurance policy statement and said “There is no information on this paper telling what a guy can bid. It says $48,000 is involved, but I’d say there is more involved than that. How could anyone bid a job from that? It is not specific enough.”
Both county attorney Larry Stanley and county financial advisor Bob Shupe said they liked the current arrangement with Southern Insurance and had no desire to change.
Said Shupe, “This is a unique program for your size entity in the state of Tennessee. It has been handled very well.”
Shupe went on to say the premiums on insurance have not gone up in several years. “You have saved $1.5 million since self-insurance went into effect.”
Present at the meeting were Pelham, Wells, Prater, Stanley, Bob Shupe and Jeremy Shupe, Jay Bragg, Hoover and Rick Stacy.

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