SHERIFF’S DEPT. TRAINS TO SAVE CHILDREN, 4A
BETHEL SPRINGS MOVES TO FIX BUDGET WOES, 5A
Independent Appeal
AHS SQUEAKS BY CASCADE Champions fail to live up to name. PAGE 1B
SELMER HONORS VETS Selmer holds annual Veteran’s parade PAGE 2A
Making McNairy County headlines for more than 100 years
Volume 107, Number 26, Wednesday, November 16, 2011
HOPE EBBS AS DEADLINE NEARS
McNairy BOE fails to approve site, funding plan for new schools By Jeff Whitten Head News Writer
The McNairy County Board of Education failed to choose a site for the proposed new Selmer Elementary School at its meeting last Thursday. They also failed to adopt a funding plan for SES and the proposed new school in Adamsville. Project engineer Jev Vaughn said that he talked to Greg Littlefield’s secretary, of Littlifields Surveying of Savannah, and he said she told him the field work is done and he hoped to finish up drafting work last Wednesday and get it to Vaughn either last Wednesday or last Thursday. Vaughn said he called Littlefield twice last Thursday. “As soon as I get a survey, it won’t take me long to get a site plan developed,” Vaughn said. In response to a question from board member Tony Chapman, Vaughn said the survey would not tell the board how much expense it would take to develop it, that it would require an engineering study to do that. The survey is going to provide boundary and topographic informa-
tion about the site, Vaughn said. In response to another question from Chapman, Vaughn said the survey would determine how much of the property is in a flood plain. School board chairman Frank Lacey first said that another item on planning committee agenda was to get a tax rate plan to fund the schools to the county commission, but they do not have the time to get on the presidential primary ballot in March, so they would be shooting to get it on the county general election ballot in August. “Our goal is once we get the survey to present the plan to the county commission and appropriate members of the building, budget and education committee and get an initiative on the August ballot,” Lacey said. Chapman said that a 50 day notice to the election commission was necessary in order to get an initiative on the ballot, and that means that the election commission would have to be notified in December. Lacey noted that the commission meets before the board in December. Chapman said he checked with Elections Administrator Joanie Col-
File Photo
The McNairy County Board of Education failed to approve a site for the Selmer Elementary School in their November meeting and faces a difficult challenge in meeting the December deadline to add a sales tax measure to the ballot in March. The current school (above) is projected to face overcrowding in the future and its location leaves little room for expansion. lins and she said that the election commission would have to be notified by Dec. 10. “I have every hope it will be on the March ballot. I think we have the best chance of passing it the sooner
we do it. I think if we had gotten a commitment from our biggest sales tax collector (Selmer) in the county, 34 percent, we could have gone for-
See DEADLINE, 3A
Head News Writer
Staff Photo by Jeff Whitten
A pickup lands upside down in a creek last Thursday in Selmer after the driver lost control. Driver Justin R. Raider, 23, of Selmer lost control of a purple 1998 Chevrolet S10 on Sulphur Springs Road near Highway 64 after flipping around, landed upside down in a creek. The pickup was traveling northbound on Sulphur Springs Road when he ran off the side of the road. He apparently overcorrected and crossed into the southbound lane. The truck spun around in the air and ran off the road. It then overturned and fell into a large creek. According to the crash report by Sgt. Larry Forsythe of the Tennessee Highway Patrol, who responded to the accident, Raider was allegedly inattentive to the road. In addition to lack of due care, Raider was also cited for not wearing a seat belt and violation of financial responsibility law (lack of insurance). Raider was transported by ambulance to McNairy Regional Hospital with possible injury. The truck suffered disabling damage and was towed by Moore Brothers to their lot. Attempts to contact MRH to confirm Raider’s condition were not returned as of press time.
Selmer elects two incumbents, one challenger For Betty and Dennie Howell: Helping others is their business Head News Writer
Selmer voters re-elected two incumbents and one challenger to the Board of Aldermen Nov. 8. The top vote getter was challenger Chris Tull, with 324 votes, according to returns from the McNairy County Election Commission. Incumbent Paul Simpson got the second highest number of votes with 302, followed by incumbent Edward Smith with 227 votes. Failing to win one of the three seats were challenger Johnny Norris with 203 votes, incumbent
Lloyd Tennyson with 173 votes and challenger John David Hurst with 171 votes. Tull’s biggest margin came in the North Selmer precinct and he narrowly carried Northeast Selmer. Simpson carried Southeast Selmer. Tull was strongest among election day voters, while Simpson did best among absentee and early voters. Tull has served as manager of the airport for the past four years. Simpson is an attorney and has served on the board since 1991. Smith is in the insurance business and has served on the board since 2007.
Selmer Election Results by Precinct Southeast Selmer
North Selmer
Northeast Selmer
Total
Tull
88
113
123
324
Simpson
99
82
121
302
Smith
72
58
97
227
Norris
42
87
74
203
Tennyson
50
50
73
173
Hurst
50
52
69
171
Former staff member sets record straight on former governor, McNairy native Head News Writer
By Jeff Whitten
By Jeff Whitten
Freeland writes Blanton book
By Jeff Whitten
Cat burglar hits Truck crashes into creek Selmer Fred’s Fred’s, fell victim to a cat burglar on Nov. 6., in an incident left the officer with minor injuries, but no damage or missing items were reported at the store. The lack of damage or loss at the store can be attributed to the fact that this was no ordinary cat burglar. It was an actual cat. Our story begins on the afternoon of Nov. 6. A call went out that the alarm was going off at Fred’s, according to Selmer Police Department Patrolman Bob Pipkins. A couple of Sheriff’s deputies who happened to be in that area passed the building. They checked the building and everything was secure, but they saw a cat inside. About a half an hour later, Pipkins heard the alarm going off again. He pulled up and checked it again. At about that time, a Fred’s employee showed up. “We seen the cat and chased it because the cat was setting the alarm off, the motion detectors, and if we hadn’t got it out, it would have been setting it off all night,” Pipkins said. Pipkins said they chased the cat for at least 30 minutes until they finally got it cornered in the office. “It tried to take off again,” Pipkins said. Pipkins grabbed it, picked it up and put it outside. He said the cat was not hurt, but Pipkins was wounded by the apprehension, receiving a scratch on his hand. “It’s one of those things that you don’t have happen every day. It’s part of serve and protect,” Pipkins said. As of press time, the cat burglar’s whereabouts were unknown.
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By Christen Coulon Editor
Betty and Dennie Howell of Selmer have seen a lot during their 50 years of marriage, the couple has managed to travel the world while running successful towing and bail bond businesses. Despite their exciting career paths and adventurous lifestyle, they have remained humbled by their love for God and each other. The couple credits hard work, both in their personal and professional lives, and a love for helping others for their happiness. The Howells started their towing business in 1981. They began bail bonding in 1987 and have in many ways stood as personal witnesses to the many changes that have occurred in McNairy County during that time. Dennie said that when he began towing, the job was quite different than it is today. He said early on in his career tow truck operators were relied upon as first responders as well. “Back years ago when we
started, there were no such things as EMTs or ambulance service, Dennie Howell said. “All they had back at that time was a Shackleford Funeral Home ambulance that ran to the wreck, and we were the ones that had to help extract them from the vehicles and this type of stuff, and we had some pretty bad cases.” They also stated that bonding has allowed them to see some of the best and worst of the community. They recalled their decision to turn down the Mary Winkler case when it came before them, but said that they had to deal with many other difficult and rewarding cases. Betty recalled a particularly troubling case where one of the men they had bonded murdered his wife while on bail. She said that they knew the man’s family and there was no indication that he would be violent. “That case made me want
O. H. “Shorty” Freeland wrote the book “Ray Blanton and I” for two reasons. The first is to show the people of Tennessee that former Gov. Ray Blanton did not do anything to deserve going to prison. The second is to raise money for a Ray Blanton memorial in Adamsville. There is currently no such memorial, and Freeland said all money made from the book will go to this purpose. Freeland was a member of Blanton’s staff during his term as governor from 1975 to 1979. He, along with the 95 county advisory committees, was in charge of hiring and firing for state jobs. These committee members provided the instigation to write the book. “I wrote the chairman of each one of them (the committees)…I got back some letters that got returned to me and I’ve got about 40 or 45 that did return that I’m going to send them a book free. I told them that I was thinking about doing a book, would they be interested if I did and I got a lot of beautiful letters back, saying ‘Yes, we would love to have the book. One lady or two of them told me ‘Not only do I want one, I want three because I’ve got children. Each one of them wants one.’’ The book is being published by Hill-Helen Group of Jackson and was released earlier this year. The 250page book was whittled down from the original 965 pages. Freeland had been thinking about doing the book and debating whether to do it or not and made his decision after hearing about a booksigning at the Savannah public library. After calling them, he was told that he would not be able to talk to the author, but that he would be able to speak with Judy Majors, who had published her own children’s book. “I told her, I’m Shorty Freeland and I’m contemplating writing a book on Ray Blanton and myself. I don’t really know how to start it. I’m planning to send a copy if I do it to every county in the state committee, that was on our committees and so she said, “Yeah, Mr. Freeland, that sounds interesting, so I’ll tell you what. Could I come see you… I told her, now Judy, the only way I can do it, the only way is to get a tape recorder, which I’ve got and when I feel like talking, I’ll talk. It may be East Tennessee today and it may be West Tennessee tomorrow or halfway through the tape. Whatever comes to my mind, I’m going to do it and I want you to type it up and I want it double-spaced so I can write in between there, so she said ‘Yeah, that sounds interesting to me, Mr. Freeland. I’d like to do that for you,” Freeland remembered. After finishing the 965 pages, Majors said, “Mr. Freeland, I’ve gone as far as I can go.” “What am I gonna do with all of this?” Freeland thought. Freeland and Blanton got their start in politics in 1964, when Blanton successfully ran for state representative. Freeland recounted an early encounter with a farmer. “One of the first times he stopped to shake hands with this man out in the field plowing and he told Ray, said, ‘Mr. Blanton, you want to be my representative’ and Ray said ‘Yes sir.’ ‘Dress like it,’ the man said. From that point on, he wore a shirt and tie and coat. Now it got hot…When we got back in those cars, of course, we took those coats off,” Freeland remembered. Freeland continued his work with Ray Blanton when he was running for Congress in 1966. “Ray and Betty (his wife) was sit-
See HOWELL, 3A
See BLANTON, 11A
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