News 2012

Registration is open for the second annual Great Central U. S. ShakeOut earthquake drill, which will take place at 10:15 a.m., CST, on Feb. 7, 2012. More than 3 million people in 11 states, including 250,000 Tennesseans, took part in the first Central U.S. ShakeOut drill on April 28, 2011. To sign up for the ShakeOut, go to www.shakeout.org/centralus/index.html. The site provides links to other earthquake preparedness information. In addition to schools, there are also participant categories for colleges and universities, businesses, non-profit organizations, medical facilities, individuals and families and more.
 “Small earthquakes and tremors occur frequently in Tennessee, said Director Jim Bassham of the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA).  “We hope Tennesseans will use the upcoming drill as an opportunity to practice protective actions and get prepared in case we have a major earthquake in our state.”
The New Madrid Seismic Zone, which is made up of several thrust faults that stretch from Marked Tree, Ark. to Cairo, Ill., has produced some of the largest earthquakes ever in the continental U.S. Experts say knowing how to respond when an earthquake occurs is an important step to practice before the next major event occurs.
During the ShakeOut, residents should practice the Drop, Cover and Hold On technique for 60 seconds: 

DROP to the ground

Take COVER by getting under a sturdy desk or table, and

 HOLD ON to it until the shaking stops
The Drop, Cover and Hold On technique is considered the best way to protect yourself in an earthquake.
The Feb. 7 ShakeOut drill will be held on the 200th anniversary of the largest of the great New Madrid Earthquakes of 1811 and 1812.
 Feb. 5 to Feb. 11, 2012 is also Tennessee’s annual Earthquake Awareness Week.
The states of Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi and Missouri are also participating in the Feb. 7 ShakeOut.

The Cannon County Commissioners Friday night in a special called meeting voted to approve the action of taking $25,000 out of the county general fund to settle a lawsuit filed by Loretta Bailey against the county and Sheriff Darrell Young.  According to the cannoncourier.com. Ms. Bailey a former employee of the Cannon County Sheriff’s Department claimed in a lawsuit that her civil rights were violated when Sherriff Darrell Young dismissed Bailey from her position as a receptionist on his first day on the job.  Bailey sought $250,000 from the county and $150,000 from Sheriff Young.  The settlement of the lawsuit is for $45,000.00 with the terms that the county’s insurance company pay $20,000 while the county paid $25,000.   Nine of the ten commissioners were present for the meeting.  Commissioner Tony Neal was not present and the only commissioner to vote no on the approval was Jim Bush.  Even though the motion was approved all the commissioners voiced displeasure in taking the action.

  Have you vowed to make 2012 the year to make a difference? Well now you have your chance to follow through on your resolution and participate in the American Cancer Society’s 2012 Relay For Life event.
The American Cancer Society is looking for anyone who wants to honor cancer survivors (anyone who has ever been diagnosed with cancer) and caregivers, or pay tribute to those who have lost their battle with cancer to join its Relay For Life, which will be held at 6 p.m. May 18th at the Dillon Park in Woodbury. The history of the event began back in 1985, when one man walked around a track for 24 hours raising $27,000. Since then, the event has grown across the country and is held in more than 4,800 communities. To get things started, The Relay For Life kickoff rally will be held at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 13, at Stones River Hospital. All interested participants, families, caregivers, companies, schools, etc. are invited to the kick off rally to get involved, sign up for activities, and educate themselves about one of the American Cancer Society’s biggest fundraisers.  This year’s theme will be board games. For those unfamiliar with the Relay For Life springtime event, it is an overnight community effort where individuals and teams camp out, barbecue, dance and take turns walking around a track relay style to raise funds to fight cancer. As day turns to night, participants will light hundreds of luminaria around the track in an inspiring ceremony to honor cancer survivors as well as friends and family members who have died from the disease. The Relay For Life event represents hope that those lost to cancer will never be forgotten, that those who face cancer will be supported, and that one day cancer will be eliminated.
This year vow to remember three things:Celebrate the lives of those who have battled cancer. The strength of survivors inspires
others to continue to fight.Remember loved ones lost to the disease. At Relay, people who have walked alongside
those battling cancer can grieve and find healing.Fight Back. We Relay because we have been touched by cancer and desperately want to
put an end to the disease. Make a commitment to save lives by taking up the fight.
 Relay For Life will be held starting at 6 p.m., Friday and Saturday, May 18th & 19th, at the Dillon Park, in Woodbury. To get involved a Relay For Life in your community, call Korie Aycock 615-542-6970 or 615-563-2311, 1-800-ACS-2345, or visit www.RelayForLife.org. With your help, we WILL make a difference.
 

On Job Watch State Farm is reporting it has nearly 3,000 openings across the United States and Canada. About 60 positions will be available in Tennessee.  State Farm’s committment to creating innovative solutions to serve customers and policyholders is generating employment opportunities.  Named a top employer, State Farm is a family of insurance and financial services complaines that together serve tens of millions of customers.  the business offers more than 100 insurance products.  State Farm has offices in all 50 states and three Canadian provinces.  Current openings exist in Claims, Customer Service, IT/Systems and Underwriting.  To apply http://www.statefarm.com/careers/landing.asp  

The Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security today announced that 12,571 photo IDs had been issued for voting purposes from July 1 through January 30, 2011. The vast majority (11,896) of those issued were non-photo driver licenses converted into photo driver licenses, while 675 were original photo identification cards. 
Effective January 1, 2012, a new state law requires citizens to present a federal or state-issued photo ID to vote at the polls. The law also requires the Department of Safety and Homeland Security to issue photo IDs for voting purposes at no charge.
 
“We will only offer Saturday hours for the selected driver service centers twice more before the presidential primary in March,” Department of Safety and Homeland Security Commissioner Bill Gibbons said. “Citizens who need a photo ID for voting purposes are encouraged to utilize this special service, as well as our participating county clerk partners during the week.”
 
This Saturday, February 4, the state will open 19 driver service centers for citizens who need a photo ID for voting purposes, and will be open for the final Saturday on March 3 for the purpose of issuing voter photo IDs only.
 
The driver service centers that will be opened on the first Saturday of February and March are located in the following counties: Davidson (Centennial Blvd. and Hart Lane), Hamilton (both locations), Knox (both locations), Shelby (East Shelby Drive and Summer Avenue), Sullivan, Sumner, Rutherford, Washington, Williamson, Montgomery, Blount, Bradley, Putnam, Greene, and Carter.
 
The centers will be open normal business hours, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. 
 
To minimize the possibility of wait times during Saturday hours, groups or organizations planning to make a group visit to a driver service center should schedule an appointment by calling Linda Cone at 731-225-0924 or Wanda Adams at 615-251-5300.
 
For more information on the new voter photo ID law, including acceptable forms of photo identification and documents needed to obtain a photo ID for voting purposes, please visit the Department of Safety and Homeland Security’s website at www.tn.gov/safety

Today is a busy day in Cannon County.  Some of the organizational meetings and activities include Mooretown VFD will be having a Country Ham Breakfast Saturday morning Feb. 4th from 6-10 AM at Woodland School in the cafeteria. Cost is $6.00 and under 10 is $4.00. Call 615-542-0282 for delivery. Carry-out is available also.
The Cannon County Solid Waste Study Committee will meet Saturday morning at 9A at the Cannon County Arts Center.  The next meeting afterwards of the Committee will be tentatively scheduled for Saturday February 25th at 9A in a location to be announced.
The DeKalb/Cannon County Amateur Radio Club is sponsoring an Amateur Radio Exam Session on Saturday, February 4th, 2012 – 1:00 PM (Walk-ins are allowed) at the new Dekalb County Center, 722 South Congress Blvd., Smithville, TN 37166.  Contact Jerry E. Elkins – N4LZY at (615) 563-8888 if anyone has any questions.
Amateur Radio Operators also called “hams” communicate with other operators in the local area, statewide, nationally, and even worldwide.  Hams also aid during times of emergencies with vital communication links. The DeKalb/Cannon County Amateur Radio Club is an affiliated club of the American Radio Relay League.
Two officers with the Cannon County Sheriff’s Dept. will be conducting a State Handgun Carry Permit Class on Saturday, Feb. 4.
The one-day class will be held at the sheriff’s department from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., with a one hour break for lunch.
Cost is $50. Class limit is 25 persons. Participants must be at least 21 years of age.
Application forms may be obtained at the sheriff’s department of by contacting Chief Deputy Bruce Kirby at (931) 261-0919 or Investigator Mike Cawthon at (615) 330-1716
 

The Cannon County Lionettes held the Warren County Lady Pioneers to 10 of 35 from the floor in gaining their 21st win of the season.  Madison Walkup continued her strong play off the bench with 11 points while Abbey Sissom scored 14 and Lindsey Reed added 10.  Cannon had a big 3rd quarter to get the win 60-35.  Lauren Wilkinson scored 15 for the Lady Pioneers.  Cannon County goes to 21-6 with two regular season games left. The Cannon County Lions dug themselves another hole early in the game against Warren County falling behind by 10 at half.  The Lions would fight continously to get back in the game and trimmed a lead to as close as five before Warren County would answer.  Cannon held Warren without any field goal attempts and once again had more shot attempts than the Pioneers but still lost 56-42.  The Boys record falls to 7-20. Next up for the Lionettes and Lions will be Tuesday night as the teams travel to Smithville for a district grudge battle against Dekalb County

187 words and 29 rounds comprised one of the longest most competitive Cannon County spelling bees in recent history and the marathon contest was won by spelling the word camelot.  Eastside’s Lauren Underwood spelled the word correctly and will now be headed to Nashville in March to participate in the Statewide Spelling Bee contest at Belmont University.  23 Cannon County 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th graders participated in this years event at Westside School Thursday night in which it took sixteen rounds to get down to the final two contestants. Baylee Nemeth from Woodland School almost had it won in the 23rd round when Lauren misspelled disappearance.  Baylee spelled intrigue right but miscued the word impenetrable giving Lauren new life.  Six rounds later Baylee missed the word syringe.  After Lauren spelled insulation correctly, she then spelled camelot for the win.  Baylee Nemeth takes second place, Austin Brock of Eastside finished third, while Kyle Margarito of Westside claimed fourth, and Woodland’s Maggie Cook finished fifth.  
Student Spelling Bee Participants (*Finished in top of school spelling bees but did not participate in County Spelling Bee)
Auburn
Hunter Vickers
Chloe Dill
Bradly Vickers
Rachel Dorris*
Rachel Hale-Alternate
Eastside
Brittany Klen*
Lindsey Bowman
Lauren Underwood
James Jones
Austin Brock
Jacob Gonzalez-Alternate*
Short Mountain
Caitlyn Miller
Addison Hale
Rachel Alexander*
Katie Reedy*
Erika Taylor
West Side
Kyle Margarito
Michael Buse
Amy Mears
Justin Hill
Joram Hardin
Taylor Cochran-Alternate*
Woodbury Grammar
Abigail Ferrell
Dathan Ring
Jacob Bentley
Josh Walkup*
Micah Fonoti*
 
Woodland
Baylee Nemeth
Maggie Cook
Austin Taylor
Cierra Thomas
Katie Gannon*
 
Judges
Kasi Agee
Chassity Burks
Gloria Simon
 
 

Ms. Robi Turner, Stones River Hospital Employee Health Nurse was nominated to be the Cannon County representative for the regional health council at Thursday’s quarterly meeting of the Cannon County Health Council.  Council members Connie Rigsby, Karen Zabriskie, Sharon Stevenson, Lisa Black, Connie Foster, Carla Bush, John Rust, Ann Marie Richards, Michael Ralling and Carl Johnson were present for the meeting.  After the approval of Ms. Turner for the regional council, Michael Ralling of the Cannon County Health Department gave a brief report on the WIC program.  Ralling informed the council that WIC Education is available now online for qualified recipients.  The numbers of eligible population receiving WIC is decreasing at 67 percent.  It is the goal to reach 87 percent of the eligible population.  Connie Rigsby of the Cannon County Senior Center gave an update.  The Silversneakers exercise program takes place every Monday Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday.  The Center also has a physical fitness center room where members can use the exercise equipment at any time the center is open.  Ms. Rigsby also touched on the Cannon County Good Ole Days where the Senior Center will be the sole sponsor this year.  They will be adding some new features to the event in May with the Cannonball 5K run that will take place Saturday May 19th and a 1 Mile Fun Run and/or Walk. Connie Foster, Cannon County Schools reported that Ms. Robi Turner is going to some of the schools in Cannon County and teaching CPR classes.  Ms. Foster spoke about the Safe Routes To School Grant that the School System was recently awarded.  This grant will be used to build sidewalks at Woodbury Grammar School.  Ms. Foster also talked about how successful the Cub Clinic at the Woodbury Grammar School to the point where the nurse practitioner Paula Todd felt certain there were a number of kids that she has seen that would never have seen a doctor if it hadn’t been for the services of the clinic.
Taylor Blanton and Carly Gannon students at Cannon County High School are on the Teen Health Council.  The Council made up a video taped public service announcement for the grammar schools that dealt with tobacco prevention and promoting a health lifestyle.
Carla Bush of the UT Extension office gave the council and update.  With the TNCEP programs and personnel cut from the State funded budgets. A TNCEP coalition has been formed.  The program is intended to help All Cannon County Schools and Pre-K programs.  Department of Human Services, USDA Commodity Programs and the Cannon County Senior Center. Ms Bush handed out a needs assessment worksheet for the council to give their input on the needs and specifics of a TNCEP program.  
A proposed by-law change was brought up before the council.  A motion was made, seconded and approved by all those in attendance.  The change deals with the council officers serving a term of two years on the council rather than the one year the original policy stated.  Appointment and election for new officers will still be made by the Council members.
The next meeting of the Cannon County Health Council will be on May the 8th.

The Cannon County Lionettes are hungry for win number 21 on the season.  After back to back losses to powerhouses in Livingston and Upperman, the Lionettes will travel next door to McMinnville to take on a struggling Warren County Lady Pioneer Team.  Warren County has lost 7 of their last 9 and even though they sneaked by Dekalb and a rebuilding Cookeville team during that stretch they were handed a loss by White County Tuesday night 53-35  Warren County’s boys team thought they had broken a losing streak. After losing five in a row, the Pioneers claimed a two point win over Coffee County.  Then the Pioneers took a trip to Sparta Tuesday and came back with a loss 76-60 Cannon County has lost their last two in a row but have had more shot attempts than their opponents.  Tonight’s games will start at 5:45 with pregame 6:00 with the tipoff on AM 1540/FM96.7 WBRY