16—Cleveland Daily Banner—Tuesday, January 5, 2016
www.clevelandbanner.com
Green
Tours
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Commissioner Bill Winters,
who is also an educator, spoke
of Green during Monday’s meeting of the Bradley County
Commission.
“We’ve lost a quality educator,” Winters said. “He had a
heart attack getting ready for his
first day back to school.”
He noted the students would
be returning to class with one of
their teachers not there.
“This is the same school that
lost Brian Gallaher at the beginning of the year, so those students will need our prayers and
thoughts tomorrow,” Winters
said.
He said Green resided with
and helped his mother “all of his
life.”
“Stan Green is a quality educator,” Winters said. “Stan was a
perfectionist and worked very
hard.”
“The seventh-graders will be
going in tomorrow and be noti-
“This is the same
school that lost Brian
Gallaher at the
beginning of the year, so
those students will need
our prayers and
thoughts tomorrow.”
— Commissioner Bill
Winters
fied a teacher they really appreciated has passed away.”
The longtime teacher had
spent years striving to better his
teaching skills by furthering his
own education.
According to his class assignments website, Green earned a
bachelor of science degree in
social sciences and secondary
education from Lee College in
1982. In 2001, he received a
master of education in class-
room teaching
from Lee
University. He again graduated
from Lee in 2009, receiving an
educational specialist degree in
educational administration and
leadership.
OMS Principal Ron Spangler
could not be reached for comment before press deadlines
Tuesday morning. A school
administrative assistant said all
the school’s administrators were
busy breaking the sad news to
students and trying to ensure
the first day went as well as possible.
Funeral arrangements are
being handled by Jim Rush
Funeral and Cremation Services.
Visitation with his family will
take place from 5:30 to 8 p.m.
Wednesday at the funeral
home’s North Ocoee Chapel. A
Remembrance of Life service will
be held at 1 p.m. Thursday in
The Dixon Chapel at North
Cleveland Church of God.
Anderson
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and Johnson apparently shared.
Both were killed in the bathroom
of the home, with 5-year-old
Colton reportedly taking a bath
when killed, police said. The affidavit of complaint said he was
clutching a toy in his hand when
found by authorities.
Anderson reportedly left the
home
and
traveled
to
Murfreesboro, where he was
eventually taken into custody by
police there. The Murfreesboro
Police Department said in its
report that Anderson admitted to
shooting the two, along with a
dog in the home.
He was transported to the
Moccasin Bend Mental Health
Institute in Chattanooga for evaluation, was brought to Bradley
County where he was booked on
two charges of first-degree murder, and then eventually transferred to a facility in Nashville.
He was returned to Bradley
County last week, and is being
held at the Bradley County Jail,
without bond, on those two
charges.
In court Monday afternoon,
Anderson said that he understood
the charges against him. District
Attorney General Steve Crump
reiterated to the judge that
Anderson had admitted to the
shootings when he was at a medical center in Rutherford County.
Anderson had also told a
Tennessee
Bureau
of
Investigation agent, during an
interview, that he committed the
crimes.
The sheriff’s office requested
the next appearance by
Anderson be held on a day when
few cases are scheduled to be
heard in Bradley County General
Sessions Court. Randolph set
the Jan. 20 date as Anderson’s
next appearance.
Bradley County Mayor D. Gary
Davis said the BCSO already has
such a line item.
County Finance Director Rena
Samples said the county’s
Workers’ Compensation premiums are budgeted at the beginning of each fiscal year.
She added the insurance representative attends the county safety meeting and reports on all of
the claims by departments made
during the previous period.
“We need to keep track of it,”
Crye said. “There’s not enough
publicity and recognition by the
public here. We’re spendi ng an
ungodly amount of money on stupidity.”
He said some accidents are
“understandable,” but things like
poison ivy “... are kind of ridiculous.”
“We’re losing a lot of money,”
Crye said.
Davis said the line items used
to not be part of the budget, but
was included to “make them
responsible for it.”
“All of these departments have
people on this safety committee,”
Davis said. “It needs more exposure. I know what [Crye] is wanting
to do. I’m just not sure what there
is for us to do other than taking
those reports and doing whatever
you want to do with them.”
The county’s safety meeting
where those reports are given is
made up of department heads and
is not subject to the Public
Meetings Act; however, Davis said
the county would begin sending a
notice to local news media as to
when those meetings are held.
“It is ridiculous when you have
an elected official there who
should know better than to send
them to an emergency room for
exposure
to
ivy,”
said
Commissioner Charlotte Peak.
Samples said the safety committee had several years ago
instructed all Workers’ Comp incidents “unless life-threatening or
an emergency” to “always use a
walk-in clinic because hospitals
charge so much more.”
Claims
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will show the payments made
from each department for the
compensation claims.
“The last batch of 10 included
exposure to poison ivy at the road
department,” Crye said. “It cost
the county around $3,730. We’re
dealing with small change, but
you add it up and we’re starting to
talk about money.”
Crye said no one would “pay
any attention to safety around
this place.”
“Where I come from, you’d get
fired for what we’re doing,” he
said.
Finance Chairman Milan Blake
said he understood Crye’s request
was an attempt to be able to track
the compensation payments.
“We could see where our workers’ comp issues are instead of
having to dig and go through a lot
of time and energy,” Blake said.
“We could just run a report.”
Crye said doing this would
bring it to the attention of those
who need to take notice of the situation.
remaining on the construction
deadline.
The project manager said the
recent rains slowed the concrete
work around the building somewhat, but installation of the
hardwood floor is going well.
They said a big issue in
installing the floor is the humidity in the building.
“We feel real well about the
humidity,” Conn said.
There had been some concern
with changing (outside) temperatures.
“This is the first time we’ve
worked where the temperature
dropped from 60 degrees to 30
degrees,” Templeton said.
Conn and Templeton emphasized a majority of the work
remaining is finishing touches.
In response to an inquiry from
board member Dr. Murl Dirksen
for a possible timeline on the
finish of the project, Conn said
the floor should continue over
the next two weeks, with the
bleachers to be installed after
that.
After the bleachers, there will
be additional floor work.
“There will be a lot of little
things coming up over the next
four to six weeks,” Conn said of
other projects.
The project manager added
that site work will be concurrent
with what the weather allows.
Following the update on arena
construction, the school board
went on to other business items,
until Ringstaff returned to the
new gymnasium later in the
evening.
The director of schools said he
and his administrative staff have
determined Tuesday, April 5,
would be a good date for an official ribbon cutting for the new
Raider Arena.
It is expected to be held late in
the day, probably around 5:30
p.m.
“Everyone (architect, contractor and staff) feels everything
should be good to go on this
date,” Ringstaff said.
He emphasized the building
will be officially opened at this
time, and students, teachers,
parents and the general public
will have the opportunity to visit.
It is anticipated the lobby area,
on the north side of the gymnasium, will be an adequate location
for the ceremony.
The first public event in the
new gymnasium will be a
Cleveland-Bradley
County
Chamber of Commerce coffee on
Tuesday morning, Tuesday, April
12.
“I believe this is the first time
we’ve ever been host to the
Chamber coffee,” said Ringstaff.
The first major event in the
new Raider Arena will be
Cleveland High School’s graduation later in the spring.
This is the main reason for
Ringstaff’s list of equipment
needs for the huge structure, for
use at graduation.
This equipment includes a projector-screen, LED “C” for the
front sign on the building, a
removable stage, graphicsbranding, media displays and
appliances such as ice makers.
The equipment list was
approved by the school board at
an estimated cost of $102,500.
The most expensive items are the
projector and screen at $50,000
with $15,000 for the LED lights
on the front sign, and a like
amount for the removable stage.
Graphics were estimated at
$10,000, media displays at
$7,500 and $5,000 for the appliances.
following a holiday basketball
tournament trip to Gatlinburg.
Another player was injured
seriously and underwent surgery.
The
discussion
Monday
evening was timely, since
Cleveland High has a basketball
game scheduled with Ooltewah
on Friday.
Director of Schools Dr. Martin
Ringstaff,
Cleveland
High
Athletic Director Eric Phillips
and principal Autumn O’Bryan
told board members safeguards
are in place regarding student
athletes, students and supervisors, and any possibility of incidents such as hazing, bullying
and abuse.
“But, it’s hard,” O’Bryan said,
referring to student conduct and
arising situations.
Phillips said he is continually
talking with the high school’s
coaches about how to handle difficult situations.
“I talk to the first-year coaches
every week,” he said.
O’Bryan and Phillips have
scheduled a meeting today to
discuss the ongoing situation.
They said the high school’s staff
have directions to call an
authority figure regarding any
severe event.
Mariah Voytik, the student
liaison on the Cleveland school
board, said the Cleveland High
student body is a very close-knit
community.
“We don’t hear much about
situations or rumors about
things like this,” she said.
Ringstaff and Phillips are
keeping tabs on the developments of the Ooltewah investigation, since additional findings,
charges and/or reprimands may
be handed down.
The Hamilton County Board of
Education is currently handling
the matter.
— Cleveland Middle School
will have bleachers in place for
its outside athletic complexes
this spring.
Principal Mike Collier, who has
announced plans to step down
from his job (not the school system) at the end of this school
year, approached the board
Monday evening.
Collier and his staff have
determined they will need four
units of bleachers for a seating
capacity of 800 fans. The bleachers will cost $14,625 per unit (a
total of $58,500), with a $7,000
installation fee.
With site preparation, it is
expected the bleachers will cost
around $78,281.
The original estimate for the
project was $125,000, but
Collier said it appears it will be
much less.
The board approved a motion
from Pesterfield to OK the purchase and installation of the
bleachers at a cost not to exceed
$90,000.
showed off some of their prized
vehicles.
November
- Junior Achievement of the
Ocoee Region celebrated its
50th anniversary.
- “Red Back: America’s BestLoved Hymnal,” a permanent
exhibit at the Museum Center at
Five Points, opened with fanfare
and song. The exhibit also
placed Cleveland on the state’s
“Music Trail.”
- Hardwick Clothes introduced its new line of blazers and
was recognized by “Garden &
Gun Magazine” as the Style category winner for its sixth annual
“Made in the South Awards.”
- More than 160 turned out
for the Bradley County Housing
Coalition Symposium held at
First Baptist Church of
Cleveland highlighting the lack
of affordable housing in the
area.
- Bradley County was
assigned an “AA” rating by
Standard and Poor’s rating service.
- An investigation into the
accident at the Bradley County
Road Department on Aug. 3 by
the Tennessee Occupational
Safety
and
Health
Administration revealed a “serious” violation for the department. The violations were
reported as being corrected and
the driver of the truck, James
Droke, was terminated. Droke
was not individually held
responsible in the TOSHA
report.
- Bradley County EMS began
operations from a new staging
site with an ambulance and
paramedics now stationed at the
Bradley County Fire-Rescue sta-
tion on Tasso Road.
December
- Bradley County leaders
began discussions on the funding of the county’s 911 service.
- Bradley County EMS
Director
Danny
Lawson
announced his retirement after
37 years with the service.
- An audit showed the county’s debt had decreased by $4.1
million.
- Polartec LLC announced it
would move operations from its
New Hampshire plant to
Cleveland. The company had
purchased United Knitting L.P.
in late September.
- Charlotte Peak was named
“Builder of the Year” by the
Ocoee
Region
Builders
Association.
- The newly remodeled
Interstate 75 Exit 20 received a
formal opening, and the move
was on to name the exit in
honor of state Rep. Kevin
Brooks who is credited for pushing the project in Nashville.
- The Dustin Ledford
Scholarship Foundation was
awarded the East Tennessee
Power of Community Award by
the Mothers Against Drunk
Driving of Tennessee.
Officers
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ciate your service.”
Dr. Murl Dirksen, a faculty
member at Lee University, nominated Robinson for the chairmanship.
He said he appreciated her for
her insight, and her knowledge
of education issues on local,
state and national levels.
Dirksen was then, in turn,
nominated by board member
Peggy Pesterfield to serve as vice
chairman.
Steve Morgan was nominated
by Robinson for the chairman
pro-tem position on this year’s
school board.
Robinson pointed out that
Morgan was an outspoken
Mayfield Elementary School parent before he was elected to the
board.
All three offices were elected
by acclamation, with no individual ballots cast.
In other school board business:
— Cleveland school board
members had a somber discussion with school system and
Cleveland High authorities
regarding the recent incident
involving Ooltewah High School
basketball players and coaches.
Board members were seeking
assurances that such a situation
could not happen at Cleveland
High.
Three Ooltewah basketball
players were charged with rape,
and dismissed from the team,
County
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Plan
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The act does not specifically
spell out how the money is distributed and that is where the
memo comes into play.
According to the agreement,
the total tax collected would be
divided based on these percentages: 39.2 percent for the
Chamber of Commerce (19.6 percent for economic development
and 19.6 percent for tourism
development) and 17.9 percent to
Tri-State for tourism development.
A new economic development
fund will be established with
22.9 percent going into that line
item that is designed to make the
anticipated payments on a $3
million bond that will finance the
county’s half of the Spring
Branch Industrial Park infrastructure.
Approximately $300,000 will
be transferred to the debt service
fund for the completion of capital
improvments to the Spring
Branch Industrial Park.
Should the bond payments be
less or tax revenue more, the
“extra” funds would remain in
that fund for future projects.
According to the agreement,
once the county has retired its
portion of the bonds for Spring
Branch, the funds obtained for
that purpose will be retained in
the new fund for similar projects
in the future.
The agreement puts a threeyear moratorium on spending
from the fund.
When those funds become
available, a process has been
“It has been a pleasure
working with the
Chamber and Tri-State
on getting this put
together. We appreciate
the partnership they
have shown in helping
us with this important
process to bring
industry to Bradley
County.”
— Louie Alford
designed for the request and
rewarding of the funds:
— Requests will be submitted
to the Industrial Development
Board for review and recommendation
to
the
County
Commission.
— After review, the IDB will
forward its recommendation to
the Commi ssion.
— The Commission will take
action on the recommendation
with approval requiring a twothirds vote of the Commission.
“It is the intent of the
Economic Development/Tourism
Development Fund to be used for
significant projects that are in
keeping with the overall intent of
this agreement,” the document
reads.
“We are talking about major
projects concerning economic
development,” said Finance
Chairman Milan Blake. “This is
not for pet projects like water
slides.”
The memo also states should
there be a shortfall in the tax collections that would impact the
debt service for the industrial
park, the shortfall “would be
shared equally by the county
from its share, the Chamber’s
Economic Development and
Tourism Development divisions,
Tri-State from their shares, and
the same from the newly-developed fund.
Terms of the agreement are
for five years with the ability of
any of the parties to terminate or
amend the agreement with a 90day notice.
“Should this agreement be
terminated or amended for any
reason, the county will continue
its obligation to the payment of
the debt service on the Spring
Branch Industrial Park until it is
paid in full,” the agreement
reads.
The document also calls for all
parties receiving funds under
the agreement to present an
annual
report
to
the
Commission on activities and
projects carried out under the
agreement.
The Commission was unanimous in its approval with Vice
Chairman Jeff Yarber absent.
“It has been a pleasure working with the Chamber and TriState on getting this put together,” said Commission Chairman
Louie Alford. “We appreciate the
partnership they have shown in
helping us with this important
process to bring industry to
Bradley County.”
event to recognize the work of
area law enforcement and first
responders.
- SkyRidge Medical Center
announced it would become
Tennova Healthcare-Cleveland.
- TCPS was recognized as a
National Blue Ribbon School —
only one of two private schools
in Tennessee to receive the
recognition.
October
- Bradley County commissioners heard from Bradley
County Director of Schools Dr.
Linda Cash the new estimate for
a new Lake Forest Middle
School could top $16 million.
- An audience of 50 residents
attended a local forum at
Heritage Fellowship Church of
God to express their support for
a change in the law that could
spur a change in the local availability of broadband service. It
was the first of many and a
more vocal support for the
change.
- The third annual Patty Ann
Grissom Memorial WOOPathon
in support of the Alzheimer’s
Association raised $22,175,
which was $3,674 more than
contributions received the previous year.
- Lee University held its annual Red Back Hymnal singing at
the school’s chapel with a
packed crowd in attendance.
- The Tennessee Court of
Appeals overturned the decision
of the local Circuit Court in the
case of former Cleveland Police
officer Duff Brumley, who
claimed he was dismissed from
his job as an act of retribution.
- The Rolls-Royce Owners
Club paid a visit to the Bald
Headed Bistro restaurant and
Don’t
Throw
Me
Away!
I’m
Recyclable!