News 2015

Saturday, June 27th, 2015 WHERE:     Manson Pike Greenway Trailhead
                   Medical Center Pkwy & Searcy St. at Bridge
TIME:         9AM-NOON
BRING:       Clothes and shoes that can get wet and a towel (just in case)
                     Kids- bring your parents/ under 18 needs an adult
HOSTS:     City of Murfreesboro Parks & Recreation
                  Stones River Watershed Association               
About Boat Day
Boat Day is an annual partner event to introduce safe paddling and recreational opportunities to local citizens. Each year, the last Saturday of June is reserved for our annual Boat Day for local citizens. The event is co-hosted with the City of Murfreesboro’s Parks and Recreation Department and the Stones River Watershed Association.  We want to encourage citizens to get to know your river and learn how to be safe, while learning paddling techniques and trying different styles of boats. A variety of boats and personal floatation devices are provided. Staff and volunteers will be on-hand to assist and answer questions. Just bring yourself and a smile and be prepared to enjoy yourself!
 
Water quality is also important for healthy streams. Booths will also be onsite to share educational information about our local Stones River and the streams that flow into it. Educational materials are provided to encourage citizens to help protect our streams and their wildlife with easy-actions to prevent pollution. Please join us at this fun and family-friendly event. Learn, Paddle, Have Fun!

Art Round Tennessee’s recent ARTalong workshop series gave happy participants the opportunity to learn new techniques and create beautiful artwork all their own.  Currently in its second year, ARTalong was made possible by a Tennessee Arts Commission ‘Arts Build Communities’ grant.  Grant funding allowed these workshops to be offered at a low fee of $35 each, as well as provided all workshop instructors with compensation for their work and materials.   Local artists Katelyn Dunn, Sandra Bos, Linda Johnson, Sandy Miller and Joyce Sievers taught hands-on workshops in fibers, charcoal painting, clay, and book binding.  ARTalong administrator Arlene Dubo enthused about the series: “The hands-on workshops taught by professional artists successfully provided participants a direct experience with the creative process in an artistically charged atmosphere.” 
So much positivity stems from creative expression.  Workshop teachers experienced the joy that comes from sharing their personal artistic passion with the community.  Joyce Sievers, who taught bookbinding with origami pop-ups, shared, “Having hung up my ‘teaching’ hat a year and a half prior, I was reminded once again that while one teaches a single book format, each participant’s book was uniquely their own by the choices that they made and what they wanted to express.  For me, that’s ‘magic!’”  Sculptor Linda Johnson had a similar experience with her workshop: “The theme for my clay workshop was ‘Garden Creatures.’  Everyone’s creature had great decorative elements, and was very unique to its creator.” Ceramics artist Sandy Miller shared, “I loved the enthusiasm of the participants and their faces as they were working.  Their concentration and fascination with what they were doing were apparent, and everyone came away with something original.  Even when some were using stamps or carving with the same tools, each of their applications were unique and heart-felt.  I was thrilled with their end results, and I could tell they were too.”
A great benefit for the artists who teach these workshops is that they get to show participants some of the work involved in their artistic process.  Miller continued, “One participant told me she had a much greater appreciation for the work involved in what I do and how it increased her knowledge of the process.”  Most of the workshops were held in artists’ studios, which helps to showcase the talents of local artists and build awareness of the profession.
ART is already working to obtain funding for the third ARTalong workshop series, to be held in spring 2016. “It is clear that the positive repercussions are far-reaching into the community, and more artist-taught workshops are in ART’s future,“ said Dubo.  In the meantime, mark your calendars for ART’s 15th annual ART Prowl, which will be held November 13 and 14 in Cookeville.  Visit artprowl.com for information.

Tennessee Department of Labor & Workforce Development is announcing the Jobs4TN Hiring Event Smyrna sponsored by Rep. Dawn White. The event will be held on Tuesday, June 30, at 10:00 a.m. (CDT) at LifePoint Church located at 506 Legacy Drive, Smyrna. A variety of job opportunities with all levels of skill requirements will be available at this event.More than 30 employers are set to participate including Lowe’s Home Improvement, Comcast, and CVS Caremark. Attendees are encouraged to bring copies of their résumé and dress professionally. For more information please contact Debbie Mullins at 615-898-8041.
To view available jobs in your area, visit Jobs4TN Online that has more than 90,000 Tennessee jobs listed daily https://www.jobs4tn.gov/.

Middle Tennessee Electric announced it will begin rolling out its Brighter Future Program aimed at improving the reliability and efficiency of the current electrical infrastructure. The program comes at no additional cost to MTEMC members. 
As part of the program, members will be receiving upgraded meters. Advanced metering infrastructure will provide a number of future advantages to the members of MTEMC, including increased reliability and accuracy of outage notifications.
 
“In 2013, at our annual meeting, I spoke about a new technology we were researching and moving toward,” said MTEMC President Chris Jones. “We began with a small pilot, about 500 members in the Christiana area, to better understand the technology and its capabilities, and I am excited to say we are ready to roll this technology out to our entire membership.”
 
This new infrastructure provides MTEMC precise outage information by identifying where an outage occurred, so crews can be dispatched more accurately, which will help reduce the length of time that members are without power.
 
“If a member loses power, this new system sends an alert to our systems control center within minutes of the outage,” said Jones. “That alert allows us to verify the outage and respond more quickly and accurately.”
 
This technology will also help MTEMC to reduce the number of trucks it has out to read meters or disconnect and reconnect services, ultimately contributing to a greener middle Tennessee.
 
In addition to improved reliability, some of the other benefits include:
 

Improved Member Service: MTEMC member service representatives will be better equipped to handle bill related questions or concerns.
 

Future Member Tools & Services: The new technology will also enable MTEMC to roll out new services, with an emphasis on tools to help members better manage and control energy use (including new online tools, mobile applications, and energy saving programs).

Environmental Benefits: The new infrastructure will provide for better interconnectivity of renewable energy sources, demand response and energy efficiency.
The advanced meter rollout will begin in Williamson County in mid-July and finish in Wilson County in the fall of 2016. Approximately six week prior to receiving a new meter, members will receive a postcard in the mail, and one week before their meter is installed, they will receive a recorded phone call that will remind them of the installation.
“We want to deliver our members information on how they use energy on a day-to-day basis, and this technology is a platform for us to do that,” said Jones.
More information on the Brighter Future Program can be found at www.mtemc.com/BrighterFuture.
Middle Tennessee Electric Membership Corporation is a member-owned, not-for-profit electric cooperative providing electricity to more than 205,000 residential and business members in Williamson, Wilson, Rutherford and Cannon counties.

The Cannon County Sheriff’s Department recovered a stolen vehicle from Warren County and made an arrest in the theft.  According to Cannon County Sheriff’s Department Reports.  Sheriff’s Deputy Doc Smith responded to a call of a stolen 1993 Jeep Cherokee from Warren County which had been located on North Short Mountain Road in Cannon County.  The complainant Brian Emberton followed the red Jeep to North Short Mountain Road.  He also stated that he saw a black car which went around him at a high rate of speed and thought that he recognized the person driving it. Deputy Smith arrived on the scene and found that Emberton had blocked the roadway which kept the driver of the stolen jeep Elisha Jenkins of Auburntown from getting away.  Jenkins was arrested for theft of the vehicle.  the 1993 Jeep was recovered and Ivy Bluff Auto transported the vehicle to the Cannon County Sheriff’s Department.  The owner was contacted that his jeep had been found and Warren County Sheriff’s Department was notified that the vehicle was recovered. Jenkins will appear in General Sessions Court September 1st to answer to the charge.    

Prospective MTSU students and their families wanting to visit campus this summer have ample opportunities, including:  Now through Friday, Aug. 7, daily campus tours starting at 10 a.m. in the Student Services and Admissions Center, 1860 Blue Raider Drive. No tour will be offered Friday, July 3, because MTSU will be closed for the Independence Day holiday.
Special Saturday tours will be offered starting at 10 a.m. July 18 and Aug. 1. The June 27 tour is full.
To register, visit http://www.mtsu.edu/schedule-a-visit/index.php.
The daily campus and special Saturday tours include an information session, housing tour and visits inside the Campus Recreation Center, James E. Walker Library, Science Building, John Bragg Mass Communication Building and Business and Aerospace Building.
Tours, which are led by Office of Admissions Blue Elite team members, end in the Keathley University Center, where visitors can arrange to take 12:15 or 3:15 p.m. housing tours.
To contact admissions, call 615-898-2111 or email admissions@mtsu.edu. For questions about tours, call 615-898-5670 or email tours@mtsu.edu.
 

American Radio Relay League Field Day is Saturday, June 27th, 2015 – Noon til Dark at Jim Cummings Park, just east of Woodbury toward McMinnville at top of the hill on right. This local operation is sponsored by the DeKalb/Cannon County Amateur Radio Club.     
The public is invited to attend and observe Amateur Radio in operation!!  Meet local amateur radio operators and observe portable emergency radio communications!  We look forward to seeing you there!!
 
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.  Call 615-597-9563 for more information or check out the club’s webpage at http://www.dccarc.org.
 
 

Today, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation released its annual study into the volume and type of crime on school campuses in Tennessee. 
The study, “School Crime 2012-2014,” utilizes data collected by TBI in 2012, 2013, and 2014 through the Tennessee Incident Based Reporting System (TIBRS). Among the report’s findings:
 

From 2012 to 2014, a total of 30,232 offenses, which included 21,813 victims, were reported by Tennessee law enforcement agencies.

Overall, the number of offenses occurring in school decreased 14.4% during the study’s time frame.

Simple Assault was the most frequently reported offense, accounting for 35.4% of reported incidents.

Females accounted for 52.9% of total victims.

The largest percentage of reported offenses in schools occurred between 8:00 AM and 11:59 AM.
 
“This study will hopefully assist law enforcement, school administrators, and government officials in planning their efforts in the fight against crime and continue to create an awareness that crime exists as a threat in our communities,” said TBI Director Mark Gwyn.
 

Taking a summer road trip is a family affair, and oftentimes that includes pets. Almost two in five pet owners (38%) will bring their furry companions with them on vacations and road trips, according to a recent AAA Consumer Pulse™ survey. Yet more than one in three (37%) admit to never restraining their pet while riding in the car. This can lead to added distractions for the driver and increased dangers for all passengers, including pets. Dangers of Traveling with Your Pet
Almost half (45%) of respondents stated they do not use a pet restraint because they primarily take short trips with their pet. However, in the case of a crash, a loose pet will be thrown around the vehicle regardless of trip length – a danger to passengers as well as the animal. Other reasons cited for not using a restraint include: my pet does not need it (40%), pet is not happy in crate or restraint (23%), pet wants to put their head out the window (21%), and 14 percent say their pet wants to sit in their lap.
“A 10-pound dog in a crash at only 30 mph becomes a 300 pound projectile, while an unrestrained 80-pound dog will exert approximately 2,400 pounds of force,” said Amy Stracke, Executive Director, Auto Club Group Traffic Safety Foundation. “This poses a serious risk of injury or even death for either your pet or anyone else in its path, reinforcing the importance of restraining your four-legged friend every time they are in the car.”
More than one in ten (13%) pet owners admit to becoming distracted by their pet while driving. The majority of drivers admit to engaging in risky behavior while behind the wheel; petting their animal was the most common activity cited (42%). Other distracting behaviors drivers admitted to include allowing their pet to freely move from seat to seat (26%), allowing their pet to sit in their lap (22%), giving food or water (17%) and 12 percent have taken a photo of their pet while driving. These behaviors can distract the driver and increase the risk of a crash. Using a pet restraint can aid in limiting distractions and help protect pets and passengers.
According to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, taking your eyes off the road to attend to your pet for two seconds doubles your risk of a crash. “A restraint will not only limit distractions, but also protect you, your pet and other passengers in the event of a crash or sudden stop,” Stracke said.
How to Travel With Your Pet
Keep the following tips in mind so that everyone, including your animal friends, has an enjoyable and safe trip:
    For safety reasons, pets should be confined to the back seat, either in a carrier or a harness attached to the car’s seat belt. This will prevent distractions as well as protect the animal and other passengers in the event of a collision.
    To help prevent carsickness, feed your pet a light meal 4 to 6 hours before departing.
    Do not give an animal food or water in a moving vehicle.
    Never allow your pet to ride in the bed of a pickup truck. It’s illegal in some states; he also can jump out or be thrown. Harnessing or leashing him to the truck bed is not advisable either: if he tries to jump out, he could be dragged along the road or the restraint could become a noose.
    Avoid placing animals in campers or trailers.
    Don’t let your dog stick her head out the window, no matter how enjoyable it seems. Road debris and other flying objects can injure delicate eyes and ears, and the animal is at greater risk for severe injury if the vehicle should stop suddenly or be struck.
    AAA recommends that drivers stop every 2 hours to stretch their legs and take a quick break from driving. Your pet will appreciate the same break. Plan to visit a rest stop every 4 hours or so to let him have a drink and a chance to answer the call of nature.
    Be sure your pet is leashed before opening the car door. This will prevent her from unexpectedly breaking free and running away. Keep in mind that even the most obedient pet may become disoriented during travel or in strange places and set off for home.
    NEVER leave an animal in a parked car, even if the windows are partially open. Even on pleasant days the temperature inside a car can soar to well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit in less than 10 minutes, placing your pet at risk for heatstroke and possibly death. On very cold days, hypothermia is a risk. Also, animals left unattended in parked cars can be stolen.
Pet Travel Resources
A variety of reasonably priced products are available to keep pets safe and help pet owners reduce potential distractions caused by pets while driving. AAA recommends owners use a restraint system anytime they are driving with their pet—even short trips close to home.
AAA members save 20 percent on pet restraint products and carriers from Kurgo when shopping through AAA.com/Save and using promo code AAAKurgo2014. Prescriptions for family pets that can be filled at a traditional pharmacy may also be eligible for a AAA discount. For more information and to obtain a free AAA Prescription Savings Card visit AAA.com/Rx or call 1-866-AAA-SAVE (1-866-222-7283). Visit AAA.com/Save for more information and a complete list of retailers and member offers.
To assist motorists who plan to take their pets on a summer road trip, AAA has released a newly updated Traveling with Your Pet: The AAA PetBook®. Now in its 17th edition, the guide features more than 15,000 AAA Approved hotels, restaurants and campgrounds that welcome travelers and their furry family members. Animal-loving travelers can now also enter this year’s AAA PetBook Photo Contest, sponsored by Best Western, for a chance to win prizes and see their pet on a cover of a future edition of the book. The 17th edition of Traveling with Your Pet: The AAA PetBook is available now at many AAA and CAA offices, bookstores and online booksellers, with a suggested retail price of $18.95.

Legislation restoring commonsense protections for women seeking an abortion in accordance with Amendment 1 adopted by voters last fall will become effective on July 1.  The new law, sponsored by Senator Mae Beavers (R-Mt. Juliet), implements informed consent and a 48-hour waiting period before an abortion is performed in Tennessee.  
“For too long, Tennessee has been an abortion destination in which women and girls considering abortion have been denied full information regarding the age and development of their unborn children, potential health risks associated with the procedure, and available resources to assist them during a difficult pregnancy,” said Senator Beavers.  “As a result of passing Amendment 1, Tennesseans have spoken and this new law implements their decision by restoring balance to this state’s abortion policy.”
 
The Tennessee Supreme Court handed down a ruling in 2000 that went a step beyond the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade decision.  That action struck down legislation passed by the Tennessee General Assembly that called for women to receive “informed consent” information about the surgery and to wait 48 hours before they receive an abortion.  Beavers said that passage of Amendment 1 put Tennessee back in a position to require basic standards.
 
The Centers for Disease Control notes that one of four abortions in Tennessee are performed on women residing in another state, the third highest out-of-state abortion rate in the nation. Such numbers have resulted in Tennessee becoming known as an abortion destination.
 
“It was an honor to carry these bills and to stand up for the weak and defenseless in our state.  I am very pleased that this law will be implemented for the protection of women and the unborn,” Beavers concluded.