News

Before a packed room last night, the Cannon County Commission moved forward on two issues, one several years in the making.  The commission accepted the recommendation of the planning commission and adopted a zoning plan for Cannon County.  The construction of facilities of two rock quarries, a shooting range and now an asphalt plant continued to place zoning on the mind of many county residents.During the public hearing period of the meeting, most comments pertained to the question of zoning, both pro and con. Commission policy normally allows for a 15-minute period for comments from the public.  During the meeting that time was extended until all who wished to speak could do so. The issue is very emotional and brought compassioned pleas from both sides of the topic.
The planning commission presented what has been referred to as a “base bones” plan.  Planning Commission Boyd Barker said, “only if you are building a business or industry, will you likely know that this zoning is in place.” One member of the committee referred to it as the “most property rights friendly zoning plan he had ever seen.” The entire plan is 43 pages in length compared to neighboring counties whose plans are hundreds of pages in length.
Following an extended period of discussion, the commission voted and by a majority vote the plan was accepted. 
For some in opposition, the discussion did not end as one commissioner was threated because of their vote for the plan.
The other major topics of this term’s final meeting dealt with the approval of the budget of the county for fiscal year 2018-2019 and the setting of the tax rate for fiscal year 2018-2019 to deal with those expenditures.
After much discussion on a short term transfer of funding dealing with solid waste, the commissioners settled on the amount of $100,000.  The budget is still under the close supervision of the state comptrollers office and the action taken should keep the county in “good graces” with the state.
The tax rate will remain the same at $2.38, however this is a real when property values have undergone re-evaluation.
The meeting lasted for over two and a half hours.   

 As a part of Cannon County Schools’ School-Wide Positive Behavior Support program, bullying prevention efforts are an ongoing priority. The school system has developed the following strategy statement regarding bullying behaviors:
We recognize bullying as the deliberate use of any word, look, sign, or act that hurts a person’s body, feelings, or things. We also recognize bullying as a type of violence that occurs when someone uses his or her power unfairly and repeatedly to hurt someone else. 
 
To make our school violence-free and safe from bullying, we pledge
·         not to tolerate bullying
·         to intervene in incidents of bullying and strictly enforce rules against bullying
·         to empower students to report bullying behavior and to treat one another with respect
 
As a part of the Bullying Prevention Program, students as well as all staff, participate in lessons designed to help him/her
·         define bullying and understand what behaviors are considered bullying
·         understand the effect of bullying behaviors and develop empathy for targeted students
·         learn ways to respond to bullying behavior
·         learn when and how to report bullying
·         learn the consequences the school has established for engaging in bullying behavior
The overall goal of the Bullying Prevention program is to empower students to report bullying behaviors and to give school staff the tools to recognize, intervene, and issue consequences for bullying behaviors they witness or hear about from students. Students who bully receive appropriate consequences to help them realize that bullying behavior isn’t appropriate and won’t be tolerated at school. 
Additionally, all students participate in lessons concerning internet safety.  Parents may also continue this conversation by using the “NetSmartz® Workshop” which may be found on the Cannon County School District’s homepage or “Stop Bullying.gov”.  “NetSmartz Workshop” is an interactive, educational program of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children® (NCMEC) that provides age-appropriate resources to help teach children how to be safer on- and offline. The program is designed for children ages 5-17, parents and guardians, educators, and law enforcement. With resources such as videos, games, activity cards, and presentations, NetSmartz entertains while it educates provides information to parents on how to keep students cyber-safe.  You may access this information at www.ccstn.net  under “Departments-Coordinated School Health- Bullying Prevention”.  
For questions regarding the Bullying Prevention program and how it is implemented, parents may contact their child’s school principal or school counselor.
 
 
 

A traffic crash in Rutherford County earlier this week resulted in a death.52-year old Keith Smith was killed in the crash and two passengers in the vehicle were hurt. It happened on Halls Hill Pike, near Kittrell Road about 3pm Monday.
According to Tennessee Highway Patrol crash reports, Smith’s vehicle went off the roadway, struck a mailbox, culvert and tree before coming to rest. He was not wearing a seat belt.
The crash closed Halls Hill Pike for a couple of hours while emergency personnel investigated the crash and Lifeflight transported the injured to Vanderbilt Medical Center.
 
WBRY News Partner, WGNS contributed to this story.

If you are one of over 500 persons who keep looking over your shoulder because of an unserved warrant, two weeks from today could be good news for you.
Cannon County Court officers are declaring Wednesday, August 29th Amnesty Day. Persons wanted for misdemeanor or failure to appear warrants can come to court and have their cases hear, without fear of arrest. The 550 persons who fall into the categories have been sent letters.  On the 29th, those individuals may present the letter to a judicial commissioner and be issued a release on your own recognizance. No bond will need to be posted. Between the hours of 8:30am and 5:00pm, they will be seen by a judge and have the ability to settle their case on that date.

The district attorney and public defenders will be in courthouse. The judge will appoint a public defender to those persons who qualify. Individuals may speak to the district attorney and try to resolve their case without an attorney.

The overall goals of Amnesty Day is to reduce the reduce the workload of the sheriff’s department and clear cases from the books going back over a decade.

Cannon County Schools is pleased to announce Mr. Billy Best as Credit Recovery Teacher and Head Softball Coach at Cannon County High School beginning with the 2018-2019 School Year.
Coach Best is new to the state of Tennessee. Before coming to Tennessee, he lived in Georgia, where he has been working as a teacher and a coach. Billy graduated from Peachtree Ridge High School in 2012 and went on to get his bachelor’s degree from Georgia Gwinnett College while playing baseball. After graduating in December 2016, Coach Best started teaching at Mountain View High School in January. Coach Best taught inter-related resource Math (Algebra 1, Algebra 2, and Geometry) and now teaches credit recovery at Cannon County High School.

Coach Best started coaching while in college. He first coached at his alma mater, Peachtree Ridge High School in Gwinnett County. Coach Best coached four years of football at Peachtree Ridge, coaching mainly running backs and quarterbacks. While coaching at Peachtree Ridge, he also coached baseball for three years, working with the varsity infielders and hitting. Coach Best then moved to Mountain View when he got a teaching job there and coached football and baseball for one year before moving to Tennessee.

Billy is the son of Lynne and Tom Best. He has two younger siblings Blake and Brittany. Blake is a football player at the University of Kentucky, and Brittany is a senior in High School. Coach Best recently got married to Ashley Beyke, who is a former college softball player. Ashley is a Tennessee native who pitched at Ravenwood High School before playing softball at Georgia Gwinnett College.

We look forward to his teaching in the classroom, the impact of his character upon our student athletes, and his coaching abilities to aid our CCHS Softball program.

CCHS Principal Courtney Nichols has recommended him to me, and I have accepted his recommendation.  Coach Billy Best met with the CCHS Softball players earlier and will be meeting with Softball Parents this week.

As technology is increasingly prevalent in our daily lives, scammers are using these new tools to reinvent their schemes and swindle unsuspecting consumers. To help raise consumer awareness, the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance’s (TDCI) Division of Consumer Affairs is reminding Volunteer State residents to be on the lookout for con artists using technology as their platform to perpetrate scams. A recent report from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sheds light on the growing problem of scams in Tennessee. Tennessee has the 10th highest rate per capita for reports of fraud with losses totaling over $13.7 million last year for Tennessee consumers.
“While technological advances have made life easier, consumers must always remember they must take steps to protect themselves from cyber criminals who are using technology for their own nefarious ends,” said TDCI Commissioner Julie Mix McPeak. “We’re encouraging Tennesseans to always pause and think when approached on social media, through email, or via telephone about financial offers or requests for personal or financial information.”   
TDCI’s Division of Consumer Affairs shares the following information and tips for avoiding common electronic scams:Computer/Phone Scams

Make sure you have strong phrase passwords, not word password. Do not store your passwords in the browser or on a public computer.

Never give personal or financial information to a person unless you initiated contact and know why the information is needed. If you get an email or phone offer, hang up and call the business directly at a number that you independently verify.

Never pay a fee for a “free” grant. A real government agency won’t ask you to pay fees for a grant that you have already been awarded. You can check information for all federal grant-making agencies at http://www.grants.gov/.

Do not give an unsolicited caller access to your computer and do not call a number that pops up on your screen in a warning about a computer problem. If you’re concerned about your computer, call your security software company directly – but don’t use the phone number in the pop-up or on caller ID. Instead, look for the company’s contact information online, or on a software package or your receipt.

If you get a call claiming to be from the IRS or from law enforcement threatening arrest if you do not respond, hang up and do not call back. Remember: The IRS always initiates contact through mail and law enforcement will not call ahead to alert you of a warrant.

ID “spoofing” deceives consumers into unwittingly answering a phone call that they might not normally answer. Criminals using Caller ID cloaking technology can mask their real phone numbers, causing a consumer’s own phone number (or the phone number of a loved one) to appear on your phone’s Caller ID. When an unsuspecting consumer answers the phone, the scammers will then attempt to defraud consumers with a host of schemes (card services scams, medical alert device scams, among others) all designed to cheat consumers. Don’t answer the phone if your number appears on your phone’s Caller ID. If you do answer the call, do not give out your personal or financial information. Hang up.

E-Mail Scams

Scammers may use threatening emails to try to gain access to your personal and financial information. A recent scam trend involves scammers sending emails claiming to have video of the email’s recipients watching pornographic content that will be released unless they’re given money. If you receive an email with this theme, delete it immediately and do not click on any links.

Look out for spoofed emails. Just like scammers can spoof phone numbers, phishing scammers can spoof an email to make it appear as if it’s coming from a familiar or trusted source. Some of these emails are sophisticated enough to improperly use the business logo to make their scam appear legitimate.

Be suspicious if an email claiming to be from a business, government agency, or organization asks you to click on a link that then asks for your username or password or other personal data.

Ask questions. Does it make sense for your bank to need this information? Does this account ever ask for a credit card number to sign in? Do links on the rest of the webpage go to different pages or lead you back to the same page? If you can’t tell if the email is legitimate, call the company’s customer service number found on their website, not the one linked to in the email.

The IRS will not initiate contact with consumers through email. They will initially reach out through postal mail. Don’t open any attachments or click on any links that are emailed to you claiming to be from the IRS. Those emails may have malicious code that will infect your computer. Forward IRS imposter emails to phishing@irs.gov and then delete it.

Social Media Scams

Complete your research before sharing a post on social media for a free giveaway or purchasing a usually high-priced item for a steeply-discounted price. Verify that the page or site is legitimate by checking that it is verified by the social media site and has a lengthy post history. If you find that the giveaway or page is likely a scam, report them to the social media site.

If a social media site links you to a webpage for purchase, make sure the page is secure. A padlock will be displayed next to the website URL or the website will lead with ‘https’ rather than just ‘http’.

Research who you’re doing business with using tools like Google or Bing. Look at previous customer or client reviews to see if anyone has reported having issues with the company.

To report a scam, file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission and the Better Business Bureau. For more consumer tips and resources, visit the TDCI Division of Consumer Affairs at www.tn.gov/consumer.
 

 Due to an increase in Cannon County’s rate from previous years’ data, Cannon County Schools will implement a new program that is aimed to reduce teen pregnancy rates in Cannon County. Tennessee Code Annotated 49-6-1302 requires all school districts in counties with a pregnancy rate exceeding 19.5 to create and implement a family life education program.  
 
The Pure and Simple curriculum is a research based family life program that teaches abstinence from risky behaviors and will target 7th and 8th grade students beginning in October.  The goal of Pure & Simple Choice curriculum series is to empower youth with inner strength to practice sexual self-control while avoiding other risky behaviors that lead to negative consequences. Students will learn skills for goal-setting, decision-making, setting personal boundaries, self-control and relationship skills, as well as, how to deal with negative influences of peers, the media, and societal norms.
 
The class will be taught in two one hour sessions with a train Health educator from the Department of Health and with Cannon County Schools Lead Nurse, Leslie Pelham.  Parents will be sent a packet with a detail description of each class along with a parent permission form allowing their child to participate.  Students will not be penalized for not participating since no grade will be assigned. Power points used in the presentation will be posted on the Coordinated School Health webpage for parents to view in September.   For more information concerning this program contact, Bonnie Patterson, Director of Coordinated School Health at 615-563-5752. 
 
 

Elizabeth House of Cannon County was recently recognized among 70 other 4-H members across Tennessee during Tennessee 4-H Roundup with the Vol State award, the highest level of recognition a Tennessee 4-H member may achieve.Vol State is the final step in Tennessee’s three-level recognition program… Honor Club, All Stars and Vol State. Members are inducted in an impressive candlelight ceremony on the final night of Tennessee 4-H Roundup. The purpose of this award is to give deserved recognition to 4-H members and others on a statewide basis who have particularly outstanding records in project achievement, leadership and service in 4-H. Vol State is presented to high school juniors and seniors in recognition of excellence in all phases of 4-H work, as well as service and leadership rendered in their communities. Through her years in 4-H, Elizabeth has been exceptional at everything she does. She has worked hard as a Cannon County 4-H Honor Club member organizing a service project where 3600 items were collected for the Nashville Rescue Mission. She also serves as Cannon County Healthy Lifestyle’s Ambassador where she travels to Cannon County Elementary Schools influencing younger students not to smoke through 4-H Health Rocks and Tennessee Teens Talk Tobacco programs.
Elizabeth has won Level 1 and now Level 2 at Tennessee 4-H Roundup in her Line and Design Project after first starting an art club years ago in her elementary school that she still helps with some.
Congratulations to Elizabeth House for receiving the Vol State Award.

Governor Bill Haslam commented this week that a lot has changed in the last seven and a half years when it comes to how people get their news.  “Many individuals say the internet, and sometimes that can be false information.” The remarks came in an address to the state’s radio and television stations owners and operators in a luncheon address in Murfreesboro.  The governor commented, “I am thankful for the efforts of newsrooms in radio and television stations across the state.  I may not always like the news I hear. But I know the information has been verified and the facts were checked.”Just last week, WBRY was the victim of a “fake news” story on a social media site.

The Tennessee Department of Agriculture Division of Forestry is accepting grant applications for the 2018-19 Volunteer Fire Assistance (VFA) program from now until Sept. 14, 2018. Volunteer fire departments (VFDs) serving communities with populations of 10,000 or less are eligible for this 50% reimbursement grant. Grants will be awarded for qualifying purchases up to $6,000. Last year, 115 VFDs received grants for a total amount of $264,368.
Examples of qualifying purchases include personal protective equipment, firefighting hand tools, communications equipment, parts and supplies for engines, and training materials. 
According to State Forester David Arnold, “All areas in Tennessee are susceptible to wildland fire. We are proud to be able to support these firefighters who serve the rural areas that rely on volunteers for fire assistance.” 
Applications must be submitted to the area’s Assistant District Forester. To qualify to apply, volunteer fire departments must have a current memorandum of understanding with the Division of Forestry. 
In addition to this grant, 575 VFD firefighters received wildland fire training through the VFA program in 2017. For more information about the program and examples of items that can be purchased using VFA grant funds, please visit www.burnsafetn.org/vfa.html or contact Robin Bible at 615-837 5537.