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THE LEADER THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2011 ▪ VO L . 1 2 6 , N O. 4 6 ▪ T H E VO I C E O F TIPTON COUNTY S I N C E 1 8 8 6 ▪
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Volunteers load the Tipton County Commission on Aging van with food for elderly residents. Photo by Sherri Onorati
Sharing the Bread of Life Need drives church to help feed its neighbors By SHERRI ONORATI sonorati@covingtonleader.com
The Covington BBQ Fest, touted as the world’s oldest, took place Sept. 29-Oct. 1 at Cobb-Parr Park. The Red Hot Smokers were this year’s grand champions. Photo by Jeff Ireland
PUBLIC SAFETY
CFD hoping to curb 911 misuse New program will help cut down on nonemergency 911 calls By ECHO DAY eday@covingtonleader.com The City of Covington has hired a part-time employee, a man whose sole duty is to help decrease the number of non-emergency calls made to 911 each year. Covington native Mark Heaston, who has worked with similar programs in other cities, will begin working with Covington Fire Chief Jerry Craig next week to combat the growing problem. “We would like people to use the 911 system for what it was intended for: emergencies only,” Craig said. “People definitely have a broad definition of emergency.” Each year, his department answers 1,100 calls, 80 percent of which, he said, do not need ambulances. “We have about 40 people who call on a regular basis and when we get over there, nothing’s wrong. We need to convince these people they don’t need to call 911.” Last week, dispatchers estimated approximately 95-98 percent of calls received to 911 are non-emergency in nature. On Tuesday evening, a Delfield employee called 911, asking emergency personnel to make the scene at the facility, after locking his keys in his Lincoln Town Car. He works less than a block from the Tipton County
Sheriff’s Office. Twenty minutes later, the caller was seen waiting in the parking lot, two other men standing by his vehicle. All three appeared to be in good health. There was no apparent emergency. “We have got to stop this,” Craig said. “It’s getting out of hand.” Craig delivers other examples of frequent calls made to 911, calls which require his department to respond: overweight parties who have fallen or need help getting to the restroom, calls about controlled burns, elderly persons who just want to talk to someone and more. One woman called 911 for an earache she’d had for three days. Craig said when 911 started in 1992, the fire department only answered calls that meant the difference between life and death, but now medical emergencies have been added. And with those, the ever-growing number of calls made to 911 which are not legitimate emergencies. “It’s abuse of the system, it really is,” he said. “We get calls for headaches, earaches, mashed fingers ... you wouldn’t imagine the calls we get that aren’t emergencies.” And calls cost the city money. Craig said calls within the city limits cost $40 each time a fire truck is dispatched. Out of city calls can cost up to $400 because other shifts have to be called in. If a shift is called in to work, they have to be paid for at least two
A GROWING PROBLEM ▪ Dispatchers estimate 95-98 percent of calls received to 911 are nonemergencies, which costs more than $6,400 per year for the Covington Fire Department alone.
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hours’ worth of work. When there is no real emergency, the department, and ultimately tax dollars, are being wasted. “It’s a real problem for us, it costs the city a lot of money per year. There’s no telling how much the sheriff’s office spends every year in non-emergency calls.” They’re irritating, they waste money and they waste time, Craig said. “When emergency personnel are tied up on non-emergency calls, someone with an emergency’s having to wait.” At the city’s monthly general welfare/public safety committee meeting on Sept. 27, members agreed to Craig’s recommendation to hire Heaston. He said the program has been in the works for more than a year. A part-time employee, Heaston will be responsible for developing and implementing a program that Craig hopes will help decrease the number of non-emergency calls to the 911 center. “I haven’t seen (this program) not work anywhere else,” he said. “We want to make an effort to slow them down; we know we’re not gonna stop, but we hope to put a dent in it.”
Trio arrested for multi-city thefts By ECHO DAY eday@covingtonleader.com Three men were arrested early Friday morning after a deputy conducting a traffic stop noticed a cache of electronics inside their vehicle. According to the sheriff’s office, a 1996 Chevrolet Silverado was pulled over at approximately 1:40 a.m. on Mt. Carmel Road. While approaching the driver, the deputy noticed a large quantity of electronic items inside their original boxes in the back of the truck. And the security devices
were still attached to the boxes. The driver, identified as 31-yearold Elvis Hester of Memphis, was confirmed to be driving on a suspended license. The passengers, Christopher Carlos Palmer and Rodney Lewis Williams, had active warrants in Shelby County. Detectives determined the items were stolen from the Walmart store located in Dyersburg. Video surveillance reportedly confirms the theft. The stolen items include two 40-, three 32- and two 22-inch LCD flatscreen televisions, four portable
DVD players, six video game controllers, a motorcycle battery, clothing items, a broom and laundry detergent. Officials say the value of the stolen goods was more than $4,320. Hester was charged with theft of property over $1,000, driving on a suspended license, failure to show financial responsibility and driving left of center of lane. Williams and Palmer were charged with theft of property over $1,000 and held on various active warrants. The men are expected in court on Nov. 15.
SCHOOL OF THE WEEK
Tipton Rosemark Academy Covington • Barretville • Millington • Collierville South Tipton • South Covington Mortgage Offices in South Tipton • South Covington • Collierville • Millington
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Setting up a community food pantry is a daunting task but when a need exists in the community it’s the right thing to do. Covington resident Grace Phelps recognized there might be a need in Tipton County for a food pantry after visiting a Memphis church which hosted one every month. “We started it on faith,” said Phelps, associate pastor for First United Methodist Church in Covington. “The first Saturday we were opened we had 10 people and now we serve an average of 75 to 90 families at both our locations.” A lot has changed in the 18 months since the Bread of Life Food Pantry first opened, including the number of families fed each month. It was those numbers that validated Phelps’ hunch there was a real need for assistance within her own community. “We have distributed more than 75 tons of food in the past 12 months to more than 2,800 needy Tipton County residents,” she said. “At our Brighton location, we serve an average of
8696 Rosemark Road ■ Millington, Tennessee 38053 Phone: 901-829-4221 ■ Web: tiptonrosemarkacademy.net
Brighton man dies in Okla. wreck By BROKEN ARROW (OKLA.) LEDGER STAFF A Brighton man died early Friday morning after crashing his pickup truck into a tree in Broken Arrow, Okla. A little after midnight, Broken Arrow police responded to a single vehicle collision at the intersection of Elm Place and Jasper. Michael Eugene Headin, 32, was southbound on Elm Place and failed to stop at the stop sign at the three-way intersection. The vehicle, occupied only by Headin, sped south off the roadway, went airborne and struck a tree south of the intersection on the Indian Springs Golf course. Headin was pinned in the vehicle until Broken Arrow firefighters were able to extricate him. Although he was wearing a seatbelt, the driver died on the scene from his injuries. The preliminary investigation indicates that alcohol and high speed were the primary factors in the collision, according to police. No other vehicles were struck. This collision is still under investigation, police said. SEE WRECK, PAGE A3 Reader’s Guide TODAY’S WEATHER Sunny. High, 85. Low, 56. INSIDE Opinion Faith Obituaries Education Lifestyles
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Sports Correspondence Classifieds Puzzles Legals
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BREAK TIME! Tipton County schools are on Fall Break next week, Oct. 10-14. Students and teachers report back on Monday, Oct. 17. HOW TO REACH US Call 901.476.7116 Fax 901.476.0373 Email news@covingtonleader.com Visit us at 2001 Hwy. 51 South, Covington, TN 38019 or online at covingtonleader.com
LOCAL EVENTS OCT. 14-15 Scandal at the Hampton Estates Ruffin Theater, Covington OCT. 16 National Boss’s Day
► At right, students honor the late Marylou McDaniel, A11
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