News

Cannon County is known for white oak baskets and moonshine, could that expand to movies?  A new venture in the county is holding a fund raiser Thursday night.Movie producer David Rosler is inviting the public to find out more about his movie Orbiter, a 3D Christian motion picture project.   The event is scheduled at Moonlight Theater in Woodbury. Christian speaker Emily Powell, Backroads Country Band, candidate for State Representative Menda McCall Holmes, singer Chaylyn Thompson and plenty of movie trailers are all scheduled.
 Rosler recently acquired property in the county for the purpose of creating a movie studio.
The fund raiser is Thursday night from 7:00pm – 11:00pm.  Adults $10.00, children 6 and older $5.00 and children under 5 are free.
 http://www.orbitermovie.com/christian-movie-studio.htmlwww.davidrosler.com
Christian speaker /host EMILY POWELLhttps://egpowell416.myportfolio.com/
 

Law enforcement agencies across the southeast are gearing up to put the brakes on high-speed drivers. The second annual “Operation Southern Shield” is underway in Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Florida and South Carolina. The goal of the operation, which lasts through Sunday, July 22, is to reduce crashes, fatalities and injuries by cracking down on speeding drivers.
In Tennessee, more than 9,100 citations were issued during the 2017 operation. 5,500 of those were for speeding.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says speeding killed more than 10,000 people in the United States in 2016 and was a factor in 27 percent of fatal crashes in the nation.

A veteran Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office detective is on paid leave pending a couple of investigations.  Sheriff’s office officials say narcotics division detective, Lieutenant Jason Mathis, is facing an internal investigation and a probe by the TBI.  Mathis has been with the department for 20 years.  He was part of the department’s April seizure of nearly 60-thousand Xanax pills and other drugs.  

An update from the General Assembly, naming of committee members for the new grievance committee and several other items were on the agenda for the Cannon County Board of Commissioners this weekend.In a discussion that lasted over 30 minutes to the question of buying a firetruck for the Bradyville Fire Department, no decision was reached.  Commissioners couldn’t agree if they needed to buy the truck, pay off a truck for the rescue squad or replacing an ambulance for medical services.
As we reported over the weekend, Cannon County Baseball Coach Colin Jones had developed a plan to build a small field house for the team beside of the baseball diamond at the fairgrounds.  The coach working with members of the community supporting the project.  The board of education gave approval pending budget approval and the approval of the commissioners.
Since the baseball field is on the county fairgrounds, a lease was proposed to move the sports field from the county to the school board. The question may return before the commissioners in the future, however the answer on Saturday was no.
Members were announced for the county’s new grievance committee; Judy Shone, Marty Williams, Joe Young, Randall Davis and Oletha Thomas.  James Atkins will serve as chairman.
State Senator Mark Pody gave an update to the commissioners on the past session of the general assembly and took questions from the public.
Robert Bush informed the commissioners on the work of the records preservation committee. The group is working with the Tennessee Secretary of State’s office and are working to acquire some financial assist with the work.
Since the next scheduled meeting date for the commissioners is slated for election primary day, August 2nd, the meeting has been re-scheduled for 16th.
 

Cannon County School Board made policy changes and advanced the discussion on facility upgrades at their regular monthly meeting this week (July 12th).One project discussed at the June meeting was developing a field house at the high school baseball field. The field is located on the county fairgrounds.  Coach Collin Jones gave the board an update on the planning process.  Indications are the bulk of the project will be funded by fans of the program.  The board gave their support, pending approval by county government.  More is expected at the next meeting.
The board approved eight policy changes, six were revisions and two were new policies.  Many of the revisions were minor in nature and follow along the guidelines of the Tennessee School Board Association.
The continuation of a special education transportation agreement with the Rutherford County Board of Education was approved.
The board has submitted their budget to the county budget committee. 
Next scheduled meeting for the board is a workshop session on Tuesday, August 7th.  The regular board meeting is Thursday, August 9th.
 

Saturday July 14th was supposed to be a day for the Cannon County Football Team to get some work in for their offense and defense and then maybe make a splash in the tournament following the pool play in the Shelbyville “Pencil City” 7 on 7 Passing Tournament.  Don’t tell that to the 17 players from Cannon who came to compete!  Going 2-2 in the Pool play, with a last minute possible upset of Franklin County, Cannon entered the bracket as the number 8 seed to face arch rival DeKalb, the number 9 seed.  Both teams squared off for what would become a very tight game.  Cannon scored first taking almost 8 plays to reach the end zone, but DeKalb came right back and scored on their first play from 40 yards out.  Both teams settling in and creating stops on defense for both sides let Cannon finish with a 9-8 victory over DeKalb with a late interception (interceptions gain 2 points for the defense) to seal the contest as time expired. Cannon’s victory over DeKalb earned them the quarterfinal game against #1 seed Franklin County, who Cannon had just missed beating in the final seconds of their pool play games.  Franklin came out with over 40 players and were very impressive on offense as the Rebels moved down the field to take the early lead.  Cannon sputtered on offense the first two drives and threw an interception to end one of those series.  However, the Cannon defense would not be denied and responded with their own pick that put excitement back in Cannon and spurred the offense to move the ball down the field with a long pass from Reese Smith to Cort Litchford for the game winning touchdown.  Cannon’s defense shut the Rebels offense down on the 5-yard line and forced the turn over on downs.  Cannon wins the quarterfinal game 11-8.
Cannon then moved to the semi-finals to face Creek Wood who would shut Cannon’s offense down the first two series.  Luckily the Cannon defense made Creek Wood use almost all its downs to score their first two touchdowns, which gave the Cannon offensive staff time to make adjustments to Creek Woods defense.  The rain then moved in and it looked like Cannon’s run had come to an end with 3rd and long and soaked footballs.  However, Smith connected with Brady Cunningham on a 15 yard crossing pattern to get the first down.  Cannon would score in the next two plays with a deep corner route to Litchford to put the game within reach.  Cannon’s defense shined again with a pick, and two points, that gave some life to a Cannon squad that was worn out having to play both ways.  Down by 4 points with less than 7 minutes left the Lions moved down the field with catches by Conner Tucker, Dillon Taylor, Nick Phillips, and Logan Bundy.  Burning clock and making first downs, capped off with a late touchdown, the Lions punched their ticket to the finals with a score of 16-14 over Creek Wood.
Due to weather restrictions the game versus Page was delayed and then decided that Cannon and Page would be Co-Champions because the weather was becoming unpredictable.  Cannon finished the tournament 5-2 and Co-Champs of the tournament.
Coach Matt Daniel praised his team for the effort and level of commitment showed by the offense and defense.  Daniel also pointed out that the team was playing with less than 20 players and that most people played both ways all day along with 3 freshmen who made huge impacts at their position.  Big Defensive plays by Brandy Cunningham, Brady Smith, Blake Bond, Lucas Clark, Cort Litchford, and Reese Smith contributed to Cannon’s success.
Cannon has one more 7 on 7 event vs Community High School on July 17th @ 11AM @ Community.  Cannon begins fall camp on July 23rd and has its first full scrimmage August 3rd @ Huntland.  Cannon’s first home scrimmage will be August 10th vs White County and will open the season at home vs Red Boiling Springs on August 17th.

The WeCareCannon back-to-school event will be held July 29, 2018 between the hours of 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Woodbury Grammar School.  In its 7th year of existence, WeCareCannon prepares children of Cannon County for the upcoming school year.  The goal of the program is to provide school supplies, shoes, hygiene products, undergarments, haircuts, dental, vision, and athletic health screenings to all Cannon County youth (Pre-K through 12th grade) in the Cannon County area.  Kick off the school year with free check-ups, school supplies, and backpacks! Remember, children must be present to receive services.

An investigation by Special Agents with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has resulted in the indictment and arrest of a Watertown man, who is charged with statutory rape and multiple counts of soliciting sexual exploitation of a minor.
At the request of 15th District Attorney General Tom Thompson, on June 12th, Special Agents began an investigation into allegations of statutory rape and solicitation of a minor by James Hall of Watertown.  During the course of the investigation, Agents developed information that from March through May of this year, Hall had engaged in multiple offenses of soliciting sexual exploitation of a minor and especially aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, and one offense of statutory rape.

On Monday, the Wilson County Grand Jury returned indictments charging James Wade Hall (DOB 04/18/1996) with one count of Statutory Rape, ten counts of Soliciting Sexual Exploitation of a Minor by Electronic Means (B felony), four counts of Soliciting Sexual Exploitation of a Minor by Electronic Means (E felony), and ten counts of Especially Aggravated Sexual Exploitation of a Minor. Late Wednesday night, Wall turned himself in to authorities and was arrested. He was booked into the Wilson County Jail with a $100,000 bond.

Two Community Development Block Grants totaling more than $1 million dollars for water system upgrades in Woodbury and Cannon County were announced today by State Representative Clark Boyd and State Senator Mark Pody. 
The funding will assist with the purchase of new water tanks and was allocated under a procedure authorized by the Tennessee General Assembly based on priorities set at local levels where community needs are best known.
 
 
“This investment made by the Tennessee Department of Economic & Community Development will have a tremendous impact on the people of Woodbury and Cannon County,” said Representative Boyd. “There is a critical need for new water tanks in these areas, and I am very excited to see these projects get funded. It was a privilege to work with Senator Pody and many others from Tennessee Dept of Economic and Community Development to secure these grant dollars.”
 
 
“Quality and sound infrastructure is essential to our community as we work to create an environment in our area that is attractive for new businesses to locate here,” said Senator Pody. “These grants serve a vital role in the economic development of rural areas across Tennessee and I am grateful for the state’s commitment to seeing ­­­­ Cannon ­­­­County and Woodbury succeed.”
 
 
The Community Development Block Grant program is administered by the Department of Economic and Community Development. For more information please visit: https://www.tn.gov/ecd
 
 
 

May sales tax collections are compiled and counties for a whole reflected a loss from the previous month across the Upper Cumberland region; falling 2.8 percent, or a loss of more than $624,000 in collections.While many Upper Cumberland counties reported a dip compared to April’s collections, a handful of counties reported an increase over the previous month.
Pickett, Jackson and Overton Counties reported gains in collections.
Cannon down 3.1 percent and DeKalb dropped 1.0 percent below April’s reported sales tax collections.
Overall, the state reported a small increase of four-tenths of a percentage point.