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THURDSAY, APRIL 17, 2014 ▪ VO L . 1 2 9 , N O. 3 5 ▪ T H E VO I C E O F TIPTON COUNTY S I N C E 1 8 8 6 ▪
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County to seek storm damage relief Damages total $2.3M from early March ice storm By JEFF IRELAND jireland@covingtonleader.com
Tipton County, as well as local municipalities and power companies, should be getting some financial assistance soon to offset costs incurred during the ice storm that hit the area March 2-4. Tommy Dunavant, a county commissioner and director of the Covington-Tipton County Emergency Management Agency, revealed those details during a meeting of the Tipton County
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Legislature Monday night. Dunavant met with area officials for a day and a half last week and the group came up with the financial damage: $434,000 for utilities and municipalities and $1.9 million for the county. Gov. Bill Haslam announced on Friday that eight counties, including Tipton County, will receive federal assistance through presidential
disaster declaration. “Local governments, volunteer organizations and electrical cooperatives responded to the needs of the communities when it was needed,” Haslam said. “The assistance will relieve some of the financial costs to these counties as they recover from this winter emergency.” “That's a good thing for us to help these agencies that had losses,”
Dunavant said. Federal Emergency Management Association officials will have to verify the figures and are expected to be in town to do so soon, Dunavant said. The county, municipalities and power companies will receive 75 percent of the final figures. Dunavant also said he is keeping figures for financial losses incurred
during another ice storm that hit the area in February. “We could get some grant money for that down the road,” he said. Also during the meeting, the commissioners voted to instruct the Tipton County Landfill to stop receiving storm debris for free, something the landfill had been doing for over two months. SEE RELIEF, PAGE A3
EDUCATION
Petitioner doesn’t qualify for school board race By ECHO DAY eday@covingtonleader.com Not everyone who submitted a petition to run in the upcoming election will be on the August ballot, the Tipton County Election Commission said this week. Following the April 3 filing deadline, last week the election commission met to qualify petitions. Steve Clark, who hoped to run for the District 2 seat on the school board, did not qualify. “Steve did not file proof of education with his petition, as is required,” said Tipton County Administrator of Elections Neil Bell. “He has filed a request to have his write-in votes counted, which we will do.” Clark not qualifying means there will be no candidate on the ballot for that race. Incumbent Chris Fisher did not seek re-election. District 2 encompasses North Covington. Additionally, Bell said the AntiSkullduggery Act of 1991 has been triggered by the withdrawal of incumbent constable Bob Pike from the DisThe Antitrict 6 race. skullduggery Act “If an of 1991 extends incumbent withdraws on the qualifying and the day of the withdrawal deadlines when an incumbent withdrawal pulls out of the race deadline, the on the last day of the qualifying withdrawal period. deadline for The term skullduggery the office must refers to dishonest dealings. be extended seven days,” Bell said. The deadline for the District 6 constable race has been extended until noon today and the withdrawal date has been extended until noon on April 21. Prior to the extension, Pike was only opposed by James “Shugs” Stroud of Drummonds, a Tipton County dispatcher and lieutenant at Quito-Drummonds Volunteer Fire Department.
A teacher from Shanhai, China, pictured above photographing students' projects, recently visited Munford Middle School as part of a leadership collaborative with the state of Tennessee. Last August, local principals visited China to observe the international schools. Photos by France Gasquet
Shanghai studies schools Leadership collaborative brings visitors to MMS By FRANCE GASQUET fgasquet@covingtonleader.com As part of the Tennessee-Shanghai Leadership Collaborative, Professor Li of the Institute of Schooling Reform and Development at East China Normal University visited Munford Middle School recently. Last August, Vicki Shipley of Munford Middle School, Patricia Mills of Drummonds Elementary and Leisa Bennett of Austin Peay Elementary visited the Institute of Schooling Reform and Development at East China Normal University in Shanghai, China. The three principals from Tipton County, along with 15 other principals from across the state, participated in a leadership development project hosted by Vanderbilt University. The week-long visit included observation of methods used to create positive change of low functioning schools to become high functioning. The Tennessee Leadership Shanghai Collaborative, developed by Vanderbilt, focused on nurturing teacher leadership
In-county rivals Covington and Munford meet for a meal and church service prior to Sunday game. B1
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group, one teaching and the others observing the lesson. Afterwards, all participate in a feedback session. When the principals returned the lessons they learned in China were added to the school’s teaching methods. SEE VISIT, PAGE A3
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through teacher observation with peer evaluation. Teacher peer example groups, or TPEGs, were highlighted, with real life application techniques for classrooms, in which teams of teachers work as a
Reader's Guide Opinion A4 Obituaries A6 Classifieds B4 Legals B5 Puzzles A10
ANTI-DRUG COALITION SPEAKER
Events Sports Community Correspondence Faith
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Please join us for the observance of the National Day of Prayer on the Tipton County courthouse lawn at noon Thursday, May 1, 2014. 2 Chronicles 7:14
DA Mike Dunavant recently spoke to the anti-drug coalition, A11
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