MCP2-29-24

M ARSHALL C OUNTY P OST $1 Thursday, February 29, 2024 Vol. 1 No. 29 Belfast • Chapel Hill • Cornersville • Lewisburg • Petersburg FFA Competition Page 3 Sports Page 10 Firefighters and first responders after flames were put out at unit on 1st Ave. –post photo by Tracy Harris Fire on Friday at 1 st Ave. N. A call came over the radio Friday around 8:30 a.m. for a structure fi re at 416 1 st Ave. N. First Responders called out “con fi rmed structure fi re” upon arrival and immediately afterwards, “there’s fl ames com- ing out the back of the unit.” The fi re was extin- guished within minutes, thanks to the quick re- sponse from the Lewis- burg Fire Department. Quarterly Meeting of Local Emergency Planning TRACY HARRIS Staff Writer T he Local Emergency Planning Committee met on Feb. 13 at the O ffi ce of Emergency Management (OEM). The meeting was called to order at 10 a.m. The Drought Re- port was fi rst on the agenda. Director Steve Calahan reported that the rain has helped much of the state, includ- ing Marshall County. He warned that despite the extreme drought being lifted, “as spring comes, we will still see the e ff ects of the drought.” There were 31 responses in Janu- ary 2024 including 14 structure fi res. Fire Chief DrewHawkins said, “We’ve had an abnormally high amount of fi res, a third higher than we’re used to.” The new Fire Inspector is Mike Barron. The new Codes Director is Keith Hollingsworth. Henry Horton Utility District is growing and report- ed 4,900 current customers. Matt Fox reported that the south- ern end of the county has had less calls for service than normal. Fox is Operations Chief at OEM. He works for the Lewisburg Fire Department and is the Chief for both South Mar- shall Volunteer Fire Department and the Town of Cornersville Fire Depart- ment. He stressed the need for more volunteers throughout the county. For more info on becoming a volun- teer, contact OEM at (931) 359-5810. Kevin Miller of Lewisburg Electric System (LES) reported, “We faired pretty well during the cold snap.” Miller asked for recommendations on rolling out timely alerts during future weather events rather than just post- ing them to Facebook. Deputy Direc- tor Kevin Calahan suggested getting with him so that they can add LES announcements to their “CodeRED” alert system. CodeRED noti fi es residents and businesses by phone, text message, email, and social media of time- sensitive information, emergencies, or urgent noti fi cations. It can reach See Planning, Page 4A CHS Business Communication Class & MC Chamber of Commerce By Patty Blackburn S tudents in the Business Communication Class at Cor- nersville High School, under the instruction of Vicky Carlton, are studying entrepreneurship and marketing strategies. Jessica Gilliam - Chamber Director, Stacie Henderson - Chamber President, and RobWiles - Cham- ber Board Member, met with this class and discussed the importance of the Chamber of Commerce in the commu- nity. Several students hosted a co ff ee, after viewing social media photos of co ff ees that businesseswho aremembers of theMC Chamber of Commerce hosted. Vicky Carlton, Jessica Gilliam, Rylee Wentzel, Lily Gayle Ledford, Hanna Sullivan, Garrett LaLonde, Allie Mowell, Kenzie Wright, Gracie Shaddy, Stacie Henderson, Rob Wiles W hen you think of Waverly, Ten- nessee you may think of the fl ooding disaster that occurred in the small town of Waverly in 2021 , but do you remember the train derailment and then a huge fi re explosion that oc- curred in the same town 46 years ago this month? The 1978 tragedy was the topic of the February meeting of the Lewisburg Study Club. Guest speaker Patti Damesworth from Waverly be- gan by speaking to the group about the train disaster which caused several deaths and over two hundred injuries. She is working on fi nding survivors who want to tell their stories in re- counting the event, but also preserv- ing and documenting this tragic event Lewisburg Study Club See Club, Page 4A Health Factors TRACY HARRIS Staff Writer T his article is part of a series that breaks down the health of Mar- shall County residents using the newest report from County Health Rankings National Find- ing Report. As a reminder, Mar- shall County ranked 26th out of all 95 Ten- nessee counties in the newest 2023 report, a drastic improvement from a decade ago. The report uses Health Out- comes, Health Factors, and County Demo- graphics, to create the County Health Rankings & Roadmaps through a program at the Univer- sity of Wisconsin Popu- lation Health Institute. Health Outcomes contained three cat- egories. Length of Life, Quality of Life, and Ad- ditional Health Out- Voting Numbers TRACY HARRIS Staff Writer A s of Friday, Feb. 23 at 2:30 p.m., Andrew Robertson con fi rmed that 607 votes were cast. There were 507 Republican voters and 100 Dem- ocrat voters. Robertson said, “This is the total as of this moment including absentee ballot and the people in nursing homes.” Early voting this year ran from Feb. 14 to Feb. 27. The Presidential Primary is March 5, 2024. The hours are di ff erent for March 5 this year – 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. The Health of Marshall County Part 3 See Health, Page 4A