An incident report filed at the Macon County Sheriff’s Department on September 16, accuses former Red Boiling Springs Mayor and Macon County business owner Kenneth Hollis of sexual battery.

A black cloud of smoke hovered over the City of Hartsville on Tuesday, September 25, after Holder’s Tobacco Warehouse, located off East Main Street in Hartsville, caught fire during a roof repair.

According to Trousdale County Mayor Jake West, the fire ignited when roofers were working to repair some of the rubber materials that make up the roof system. The sparks from a torch, used to heat the roof material and form an adhesive bond, are said to be what started the blaze.

According to Trousdale County dispatch, the fire call went out at 10:34 a.m., and it was not long before neighboring community Fire Departments from Lafayette, Smith, Sumner and Wilson Counties responded with assistance. Mayor West stated that Lascassas, Kitrell, Castalian Springs and Ashland City Fire Departments responded as well.

“There are more departments and organizations that were there that I have not mentioned, but at this time I'm still compiling data,” Mayor West remarked. “I will review video at a later date, and I will see that a word of thanks will be sent to each department.”

The morning fire turned into a long afternoon for firefighters, who worked to contain and put out the fire until 10 p.m. that night.

“I would like to thank all those who were involved and those volunteers that took the time out of their day to help provide water and supplies to the firemen,” stated Mayor West. “A big thanks goes out to the EMA of Sumner County. Ken Weidner & Johnny Robertson were on the scene within the hour of the blaze to help organize and stage the set up to contain the fire.”

The Trousdale County Fire Department and the Sumner County EMA were back the next morning to take a survey of the warehouse.

Only one minor injury, involving a Sumner County firefighter, was reported. The injured firefighter was sent to the hospital and arrived back on the scene by the end of the day.

“Again, I can't put into words the appreciation I have for having such great brothers and sisters in our surrounding counties,” he added. “To each of them, I would like to say thank you and God bless you for your service to the citizens in our community.”

According to the Trousdale County Property Assessors Office approximately 100,000 square feet, of the 340,000 square foot warehouse, was burned in the fire. At this time there is no estimate on the quantity of Tobacco that was in storage.

The building, according to the Trousdale County Registers office, was constructed in 1960 as a business called Marlene Garment Factory. In the late 1960's this building housed approximately 980 employees.

On Friday morning, September 21^st the Second Harvest Food Bank tractor-trailer rolled into the parking lot of Bethel Family Worship Center, located at 101 Church Street, in Lafayette, to join forces with UnitedHealthcare, who recently donated $100,000 to the organization’s mobile pantry program.

Bethel Family Worship Center has been providing food assistance to people in our area for several years now, and Second Harvest has become an important part of Bro. Billy Traughber’s attempt to prevent hunger in Macon County. “When I was informed that UnitedHealthcare had donated $100,000 to Second Harvest to provide food for people in our area,” said Bro. Taughber, “I was humbled when they chose Bethel Family Worship Center as a distribution center.”

According to UnitedHealthcare representative Terri Francescon, they are teaming up to fight hunger in Middle Tennessee through Second Harvest’s Mobile Pantry program. “We gave a $100,000 contribution to Second Harvest to help provide food for people who are struggling to put food on the table,” said Terri. “I see the poverty and hunger in this area and with this money we are able to help provide truck loads of food throughout Middle Tennessee.”

“Second Harvest of Middle Tennessee is a great organization,” Terri said, “and we enjoy working with them. There will be three more truckloads brought to Bethel Worship Center in the next nine months including October, February and April. We plan to start coming to Lafayette on a regular basis.”

 “It is certainly a blessing to have UnitedHealthcare and Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee join forces to help out in our community,” said Bro. Traughber, “and three more food drops will be provided out of that $100,000 donation. “It was wonderful to see all the people that received food last Friday and the thankful expressions on the faces of 300 families. We pray all the time for God to give us food to help out around here and once again he has provided for us. I want to thank everybody for helping us out and we appreciate what Second Harvest and Unitedhealthcare is doing in Middle Tennessee.”

Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam visited Macon County last Tuesday, September 18, delivering a $500,000 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) for sewer system improvements to the City of Lafayette.

The $500,000 CDBG will be combined with $102,410 in local funds to replace 6,050 feet of sewer line, including 4,200 feet of line near downtown Lafayette.

Governor Haslam stated that his visit to our county was the first stop in his statewide CDBG tour.

“Community Development Block Grants are federal money given out through HUD to let the State apportion as we see needed,” the Governor explained. “These grants are for towns (with populations) under 50,000 and focus on their infrastructure needs.”

During the grant presentation, Governor Haslam referred to his experience as a former mayor and the importance of these grants to cities such as Lafayette.

“I’ve been a mayor and I don’t care if the town is 500,000 or 500, the needs are remarkably similar and it starts with providing basic services to people,” he added. “One of the things I learned really quick as mayor was… at the end of the day, people want the basic needs of the City met, that’s what they elect you to do. These grants help us do that.”

The grant was approved following an application submission by the City of Lafayette.

“For every ten applications made we can grant about two of them,” the Governor stated concerning the supply and demand of the Community Development Block Grants.

Joining Governor Haslam for the grant presentation were Speaker of the House Beth Harwell, Senator Mae Beavers and 40^th District State Representative Terri Lynn Weaver.

The CDBG program is administered in Tennessee by the Department of Economic and Community Development.

Other grant recipients included Alexandria ($500,000 for water system improvements), Algood ($500,000 for housing rehabilitation), McMinnville ($500,000 for sewer system improvements), South Carthage ($250,000 for sewer system improvements), Sparta ($500,000 for sewer system improvements) and Westmoreland ($400,000 for sewer system improvements).

Additional CDBG recipients will be announced throughout September and October.