News 2012

Cannon County voters continued the trend of early voting today, the second day of early voting for the November 6 election.  A total of 137 county voters cast their ballots today bringing the overall total to 338 voters in the county since early voting began on October 17. 

A couple of WBRY reminders for Saturday.  The Better Business Bureau is coordinating a national identity theft and fraud protection event .  People are encouraged to bring boxes or bags of paper documents that contain personal identifiers and the Bureau will shred them for free.  The mobile shred trucks are limited in the quantity that can be accommodated.  The truck will be at the Lowe’s in Murfreesboro on Old Fort Parkway from 9A- 12 noon. or until the truck is full. Anyone affiliated with the Central High School Class of 1954 is invited to come and reminisce at the Fellowship Hall of the Woodbury Church of Christ on Saturday.  The activity begins at 10 in the morning and the last Cruise In on the square takes place Saturday from 3 to 7 p.m.   This is known as the Toy Drive Cruise In.  You are asked to bring a toy to be given to the Child Advocacy Center for children in need at Christmas Time.  People can also donate a toy at anytime by taking it to Jennings Jewelers if they are unable to attend the cruise in.  All cars, trucks, motorcycles are welcome.
 

More than 7,000 MTEMC members lost power for as much as three hours and 15 minutes Wednesday following an equipment failure at the substation feeding most of Cannon County.The outage started at about 6 p.m., affecting the majority of the county. MTEMC crews and technicians were able to restore power to some members over the course of the outage, which ended at approximately 9:17 p.m.
“We are sorry for the inconvenience to our members,” MTEMC VP of Communications Chris Jones said. “MTEMC employees worked hard to restore power as quickly and safely as possible. We will be investigating the causes of the equipment failure over the next few days.

Sheriff’s Deputies answering a domestic disturbance call Monday found a stolen gun out of Nashville.  According to sheriff’s reports, Deputies were on the way to respond to the call at a residence on Old Pumphouse Road.  On the way there, dispatch advised the male subject had left the scene in a black Lincoln Town Car.  After Deputies stopped the car, they were advised that the suspect  Mr. Timothy Stanley of Cannon County could be armed as records show he had a gun permit.  Officers had Mr. Stanley exit his vehicle and found in his possession a Springfield Armory 45 caliber handgun.  After questioning Mr. Stanley about the disturbance call, they went back to the residence to speak to the complainant.  The complainant stated that Mr. Stanley threatened to harm her and a friend of hers and shoved her several times.  Mr. Stanley was then arrested for Domestic Assault.  Dispatch checked the serial number on the weapon and later found out it was stolen out of Nashville.  Mr. Stanley was then charged with theft over $500.00  

One of Florida’s newest State’s Attorneys — and the first U.S. prosecutor to present DNA evidence in court — will bring his expertise to MTSU on Thursday, Oct. 18. Jeff Ashton, who prosecuted accused child-killer Casey Anthony in 2011, is the fall 2012 speaker for the William M. Bass Legends in Forensic Science Lectureship. He will speak at 7 p.m. on “A Philosophy Major’s Life in Forensic Science” in the ballroom of MTSU’s new Student Union Building.
Ashton, who also is the co-author of Imperfect Justice: Prosecuting Casey Anthony, began his career prosecuting traffic offenses for the State Attorney’s Office in Orlando, Fla.
His handling of hearings there on the legality of evidence from Breathalyzer machines led him to explore how new scientific techniques could be used to convict defendants.
Ashton’s groundbreaking use of DNA evidence in a 1987 serial rape conviction helped to open the door for international acceptance of the new science. In a 30-year career as a prosecutor, he took 300 cases to trial, including 84 murder cases, and won convictions in 12 capital murder trials before retiring in 2011.
This past August, he defeated his longtime boss for the post of Orange-Osceola State Attorney. In January, Ashton will begin the new task of overseeing all prosecutions for Florida’s Ninth Judicial Circuit, which is headquartered in Orlando.
MTSU’s Forensic Institute for Research and Education, or FIRE, sponsors the free public lecture. The Bass Lecture Series, named for renowned University of Tennessee forensic anthropologist Dr. Bill Bass, brings respected forensic-science experts to campus each fall and spring.
Ashton will sign copies of his book after his Oct. 18 lecture. MTSU’s Phillips Bookstore, located in the Student Union Building, will sell the books before the lecture as well as outside the ballroom that evening.
Ashton’s lecture is co-sponsored by the MTSU Distinguished Lecture Fund, the Office of the University Provost, Phillips Bookstore, the College of Liberal Arts, the University College, the University Honors College and the MTSU sociology and anthropology, chemistry and criminal justice departments. The Middle Tennessee Forensic Science Society also is sponsoring Ashton’s visit.
Off-campus visitors planning to attend should be aware that nearby construction may limit parking opportunities. Organizers are encouraging visitors to park in the South Rutherford Boulevard lot and ride a Raider Xpress shuttle into campus and around the Roundabout to the Student Union Building. A printable campus map is available at http://tinyurl.com/MTParkingMap12-13.
For more information on the Oct. 18 lecture, please contact the FIRE offices at 615-494-7713 or visit www.mtsu.edu/fire.

An MTSU researcher is seeking participants both on- and off-campus for an important study on the impact of sedentary behaviors on bone health in older women. Participants should be postmenopausal women age 65 or older who are able to walk with or without the use of assistive devices. Each volunteer will receive a free bone-density scan, and her activity levels will be monitored for seven days.
Saori Ishikawa, a doctoral candidate in the MTSU Department of Health and Human Performance, said she needs 40 people for the first part of her research, which entails a bone scan and activity monitoring.
Thirty people will participate in the second part, which involves personal coaching to reduce sedentary behavior. Volunteers for the first phase may also be eligible to participate in the second phase.
She said her analysis of national data indicates that physical activity levels are significant predictors of bone health in adolescents, but sedentary behavior is more significant in predicting bone health in older women.
“My study is an intervention where I communicate with the participants for one month and measure their activity level and sedentary behavior at the beginning and at the end of the study,” Ishikawa said.
Participants will document on a chart the times they take part in specific sedentary behaviors, such as sleeping, lying down to watch television or use electronic devices, non-work-related sitting and work-related sitting.
Based on their responses, Ishikawa will suggest replacing some of those behaviors with relatively simple activities, such as walking while talking on the phone, walking a pet an extra 10 minutes each day, and doing dishes by hand instead of using the dishwasher.
“I’m hoping to get the message out to people that you don’t necessarily have to engage in moderate to vigorous intensity activity,” said Ishikawa. “Having a little bit of activity throughout the day may help you sustain bone health.”
Ishikawa pointed out that women reach peak bone mass around the age of 30. Bone density in women remains consistent until after menopause, when it drops drastically.
The 28-year-old Ishikawa earned a bachelor’s degree in the University of Tsukuba in Tsukuba, Japan, in 2005, and a master’s degree in athletic training in 2008 from Bridgewater State University in Bridgewater, Mass.
To volunteer for the bone health study, or for more information, contact Ishikawa at 615-898-5545, 774-240-7517 or si2p@mtmail.mtsu.edu.

The American Legion Post 279 meets tonight at the Senior Center.  Dinner will be served at 5:45 with the meeting starting at 6:30.  Tonight the Post will be honoring three young men and three young ladies from Cannon County High School who attended the Boys and Girls State 2012.  Those being honored include Dalton Bell, Jarrett Melton and Nick Baker, Addison Knox, Janna Reed, and Carly Gannon.  The Post will also recognize teacher Mrs. Lisa Choate and Mr. William Freddy Curtis who mentored and prepared the students for the Boys and Girls State.  Other project sponsors and officers will be honored tonight during the meeting.  The Sons of the American Legion will have their first meeting to elect their officers.  They are starting out with 28 charter members.  Several other members have signed on since their charter was issued.    

Members of the DeKalb/Cannon County Amateur Radio Club participated in an emergency exercise on Saturday, October 6th, 2012.  The Simulated Emergency Test exercise was titled “Winter Storm 2012.”  The drill was conducted in association with DeKalb & Cannon County EMAs.  The exercise scenario was a Winter Storm entered Tennessee from the West near Memphis and moved into Middle Tennessee West of Nashville by noon on Saturday. The storm shut down all major Interstates and Highways across West Tennessee and Middle Tennessee. There was major widespread Power Outages across West and Middle Tennessee during the next several hours which included Cannon and DeKalb counties.  
Local Amateur Radio Operators utilized local radio repeaters and then utilized their emergency skills for stations in point-to-point contact.  Portable High Frequency and VHF/UHF stations and antenna systems were constructed, evaluated for performance, and deployed at several locations including DeKalb West School, Woodland School, and atop Short Mountain. Emergency Amateur Radio stations at Cannon County High School, DeKalb Community Hospital, and Stones’ River Hospital were also activated and evaluated for effectiveness.
The Amateur Radio station at the DeKalb County Emergency Operations Center located at the Smithville Fire Hall was the Command Center for the exercise.
 
Communications were sent to the State Emergency Operations Center at TEMA in Nashville, Tennessee via wireless computer-radio access.  These messages relayed the latest emergency status in DeKalb and Cannon Counties.  This involved the following process:  Messages were sent from either the DeKalb EOC or a mobile station setup atop Short Mountain. It was transmitted by HF radio to an automated station in another part of the U.S., outside the local simulated disaster area. It then went via one of five hardened servers located worldwide (for redundancy), and then into the regular Internet, to be delivered via e-mail anywhere that e-mail is available. Thus, if the Internet were down locally or even regionally, by using the Winlink 2000 system, we would still have some e-mail capabilities. This is in addition to and separate from the usual local and area VHF/UHF operations.
 
A total of 14 Amateur Radio Operators from throughout Middle Tennessee checked into the emergency radio network. Local amateur repeaters were utilized, as well as, VHF/UHF and High Frequency point-to-point contact. Those local DeKalb /Cannon County Amateur Radio Operators involved in the exercise included W3HKG – Bob Mitchell, N4WJT – Billy Hooper, KD4WFE – Clarence Gilley, N4LZY – Jerry Elkins, KK4GBO – James Young, AC4QP – Buck Barton,  KG4IKT – Jeff Estal, W4ODB – David Brown, KK4JUO – Wade Campbell, NN9J – Steve Kujawski , NF9G – Kathy Kujawski, and KC4GUG – Freddy Curtis – DeKalb  & Cannon County Amateur Radio Emergency Coordinator.  Additional stations checking into the radio network were KD4WX – John O’Conner ARRL – ARES District 6 Emergency Coordinator, KK4ISW – Dallas Rife of Shelbyville, and WB4CWS – Gary George of McMinnville.
 
The club would like to thank DeKalb County Emergency Management Director Charlie Parker, Faye Morse – Cannon County EMA Director, DeKalb Community Hospital, and Stones’ River Hospital for their support of local participation in this annual state-wide exercise.
 The DeKalb County Amateur Radio Club is an organization of Amateur Radio operators from DeKalb/Cannon and Surrounding Counties and is an affiliated club of the American Radio Relay League.  The next club meeting will be on Thursday, October 25th, 2012 – 6:30 PM at the DeKalb County Complex, 722 South Congress Boulevard in Smithville.  Any person interested in Amateur Radio is invited to attend.

The Tennessee Department of Agriculture in cooperation with USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and University of Tennessee Extension are hosting a series of meetings to address the recent discovery of Emerald Ash Borer in Smith County. Presentations delivered at the meeting will provide information about the danger this pest poses to forest and community tree health, as well as how to move ash products under the quarantine regulations. Local residents, forest industry, homeowners, outdoor recreation enthusiasts and others interested in learning more about this invasive nonnative pest are welcome to attend. 
Meeting dates and locations include:
 Putnam and surrounding counties – Monday, October 22, 2012 @ 6:30 pm CT
Hyder-Burks Agriculture Pavilion
2390 Gainesboro Grade
Cookeville, TN
 Smith and surrounding counties – Tuesday, October 30, 2012 @ 6:00 pm CT
Smith County Chamber of Commerce
939 Upper Ferry Road
Carthage, TN
 Wilson and surrounding counties – Thursday, November 1, 2012 @ 5:00 pm CT
James E. Ward Agricultural Center
945 E. Baddour Parkway
Lebanon, TN
 
More information about this and other forest pests in Tennessee can be found at:http://protecttnforests.org

Cannon County voters turned in a strong showing at the polls yesterday, the first day of early voting for the November 6 election.  A total of 201 county voters cast their ballots yesterday. 
“Early voting is a flexible and convenient option for many voters,” said Administrator of Elections Dorinda Mankin.  “It is my hope that voters will continue to take advantage of this opportunity over the next two weeks.”
 
Early voting will continue through Thursday, November 1.  Voters with questions regarding the locations and hours of early voting are encouraged to contact the Cannon County Election Commission at 563-5650 or our website at cannoncountyelection.org for more information.