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Hollow Rock Youth Injured in Train-Car Collision |
Gregory Kee Forrest, age 18, of Hollow Rock was
injured Sunday morning when he pulled his 1989
Pontiac into the path of a train on Harris Road,
McKenzie. The vehicle was thrown 37 feet from impact
and landed on the southwest side of the track.
Forrest, the starting center for the Central
Football team was able to exit the vehicle, but
witnesses say he then collapsed. He was transported
to Methodist Hospital via ambulance and then
transferred to Jackson where he was released on
Monday after numerous sutures.
J.R. McCoy was the engineer of the CSX train.
Trooper James Sexton investigated the accident.
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Area Citizens To Carry Olympic Torch at 2002 Games |
By Linda Bolton
linda@mckenziebanner.comThe flame for the 2002 Winter Olympic games will be
in good hands when it passes through West Tennessee
and Arkansas in December of this year. Several area
residents, who represent the "Olympic Spirit", have
been selected to be Community Torchbearers for West
Tennessee, with the responsibility to carry a
3-pound torch about a quarter-mile each.
Torchbearers were selected from more than 210,000
inspirational nominees.
Local torchbearers include Frank Lacey of McKenzie,
Russell Lovett and Cherie Sawyers of Gleason, and
Leigh Hart of Dresden. The four, chosen for their
amazing stories of resiliency, were selected along
with eleven other nominees from Bolivar, Dyersburg,
Henderson, Jackson, Trenton, Eads, and Ripley. Each
Torchbearer will receive an official packet sometime
before the event, which will include an official
Olympic "jogging" suit to be worn during the torch
relay. The Torchbearers have been told only that
they will be carrying the torch December 14 or 15 at
one of the following locations: Jackson,TN, Memphis,
TN, Forrest City, AR or West Memphis,AR, with
notification of a specific site to come at a later
date.
The Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Torch Relay, presented by
Coca Cola and Chevrolet, will begin in Atlanta,
Georgia on December 4 and embarks on a 65-day,
13,500-mile journey through 46 states. Along the
journey, a total of 11,500 Torchbearers will carry
the Olympic flame. After traveling through the heart
of America, the Olympic Flame will reach its final
destination at Olympic Stadium in Salt Lake City,
where the caldron will be lit on February 8.
Frank Lacey
McKenzian Frank Lacey, a Physical Therapist for
University Home Health in Martin, was nominated by
his sixteen-year-old daughter, Ryan. In a
50-100-word essay submitted by email, Ryan told how
her father has spent his life "battling pain" that
resulted from breaking his neck in high school
physical education class at the age of 15. At the
time of the accident, he was a starting shortstop
for his varsity baseball team, starting on the
basketball team, and a member of the football team -
living in an athletic dream-world of ability and
potential.
Following the accident, Frank spent the next six
months of his life in the hospital, luckily escaping
paralysis. He spent the next decade recovering and
returning to top physical condition. He now spends
the rest of his life fighting the rapid
degeneration, which leaves him in constant,
throbbing pain, his daughter wrote.
"His neck may have been broken, but his natural
athletic spirit was left untouched," Ryan wrote. "In
high school, he began playing non-contact sports,
like tennis and cross-country running. He took up
rowing in college where he learned to be a physical
therapist. He continued to stay in shape, riding his
bike 22 miles a day, as well as lifting weights and
other exercise.
Now, as a 45-year-old man with a
30-year-old neck injury, he still rides his bike
10.8 miles a day (in 42 minutes), rides Nordic Track
in the morning, and lifts weights. He also plays
golf."
She concluded by saying, "My father has a
wonderfully strong character. His life is an example
for all."
Born in Indiana, Frank spent most of his formative
years in Massachusetts. He moved to McKenzie in
1984. He has worked as a physical therapist for 21
years, having been employed at University Home
Health for the past 12 years.
Ryan is an honor student at McKenzie High School,
where she is a junior with a 4.0 average. She plans
to later attend Georgetown University near
Washington, DC.
Frank is married to Donna Lacey and they also have
two sons, Rory, 18 and Randy, 14. They reside on
Tower Road and attend First United Methodist Church.
A representative of the Olympic Torch Relay notified
the Laceys in July that Frank had been selected to
be a Torchbearer.
"We would probably have known a little soon if Ryan
had checked her email," said Donna.
Frank was among 10 of the Torchbearers nationwide,
whose stories were highlighted in an October 4
edition of USA Today.
Russell Lovett
Russell Lovett of Gleason was nominated for the
honor by his daughter, Paula Lovett of Nashville. In
fact, both Ms. Lovett and her father are scheduled
to carry the Torch as a pair.
Some of the stories describing how torchbearers
overcame enormous challenges were so riveting that
the person who submitted the nomination was also
selected to run a leg of the relay and will hand-off
to their nominee, noted the Salt Lake Organizing
Committee (SLOC). This is the first time in Olympic
Torch Relay history that torchbearers will run in
pairs.
Paula said she wrote the essay nominating her father
for the event and had no idea that she had also been
chosen to join him until she received official
notification in June of this year.
Paula had read a notice requesting nominations for
"someone who has inspired you" to be considered as a
torchbearer.
She described her father as "an average American,
who worked all his life, served his country in the
U.S. Army in World War II and reared two daughters,
sending both to college."
"He grew up in a small town and provided for all our
needs," she continued.
Paula explained that many veterans of World War II
were unable to complete their high school curriculum
and receive their diploma, because they were called
away to war.
"My father was one of those men, so it was a big
thrill for him when she received his diploma in a
special ceremony in Carroll County earlier this
year," she said.
Although now semi-retired, he is still a busy man.
He was employed at Gleason Brick Company (now Boral
Brick) for 19 years, going to work there in the
early 1960's when it first began production. He
later became an insurance agent for Woodmen of the
World, working out of his home in Gleason.
He continues to work one or two days a week at
Gleason Hardware as a cashier and works at Gleason
Exxon every Saturday. He is also active in a lodge
associated with Woodmen of the World, said Paula.
He is married to Polly Lovett and attends McKenzie
Church of Christ. He also has another daughter, Pat
Sawyers, who teaches science at McKenzie High
School.
Paula is employed by the Tennessee Department of
Economics and Community Development as a grants
program manager. She administers grants that go to
the small cities across the state. She has been
employed by the state for 25 years and has worked
with the grants program for 20 years.
Paula said the Olympic Torch Relay representative
has told her that the group will meet the morning of
the relay, where they will be bused to the site, and
then bused back to the location following the relay.
Leigh Hart of Dresden, who has been employed as
Health and Physical Education Instructor at Dresden
Middle School for a number of years and assists with
girls' basketball, has also been selected for the
honor of being a Torchbearer.
Unlike Mr. Lacey and Mr. Lovett, Leigh said she has
no idea who nominated her for the honor or what they
wrote. She hopes to find out that information during
a press conference announcing the winners in Jackson
on Monday, October 15. |
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She was first notified August 6 when she received a
package in the mail with a Nebraska return address.
"I was a little hesitant about opening it," she
said, with a laugh, "because I don't know anyone
there. When I did open it, there was a cover letter
that said I had been potentially selected to be a
torchbearer in the 2002 Salt Lake City Games."
Leigh's first reaction was disbelief. "I thought it
was a joke," she said. "When I realized it wasn't, I
couldn't believe it. I thought, "this is real!"The next step was for Leigh to get one of the papers
notarized and returned.
"On October 4, a lady in Jackson called and said
that I had been selected to be a torch runner. It
was great," she said.
In the beginning, she was told not to tell anyone of
her honor, but when she was finally given the go
ahead to tell folks, Leigh said the kids and faculty
at her school were excited.
Leigh is married to Dickie Hart, who has been
employed by Martin Fire Department for 22 years, and
is currently serving as captain; and has been
employed at Dresden Fire Department for nine years,
where he serves as fire chief.
The Harts have a five-year-old daughter, Haley, who
is a kindergarten student.
With the U.S. now fighting in the Middle East, Leigh
said she assumed the Olympics would be canceled. And
although she's aware of the heightened security that
will surround the Salt Lake City games, she said
she's glad they decided to go ahead with them.
"I think that going ahead with the games is a good
thing...it helps to reinforce the feeling of unity
that America and her allies are trying to spread
across the world," said Leigh.
The Banner was unsuccessful in its attempts to reach
the other area Torchbearer, Cherie Sawyers.
"As the flames weaves its way across the nation, it
will ignite the Olympic spirit within each of us and
inspire us to make the world a better place," said
Mitt Romney, SLOC president and CEO.
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County Approves $240,000 For Carroll Academy
Gymnasium |
By Joel Washburn
washburn@mckenziebanner.com
Carroll County Commissioners approved $240,000 for a
multi-purpose facility for Carroll Academy during
the Monday evening meeting. Fearing the loss of the
state-funded school due to overcrowding, the
commission unanimously approved the funding for the
metal building.
The Commissioner had already approved $150,000 for
the construction in the FY2001-2002 budget. However,
the lowest bid was $187,497 for the 8,400 square
foot facility, which will be constructed by the
present Carroll Academy on High Street. The bid did
not include any air conditioning or heating due to
an oversight in the bid specifications.
Commissioners were to address an additional $37,497
budget amendment to pay the additional cost over the
$150,000, however Commissioner Billy J. Smith made
an amendment to provide the additional $90,000 for
the project, bringing the total to $240,000.
Commissioner Billy J. Smith said the students at
Carroll Academy attend school year-round and the
air-conditioning is essential in the metal building.
Presently 120 students attend the Academy and the
facility is overcrowded. He said the State could
force the facility to close if overcrowding is not
soon eliminated. He noted that Carroll Academy has
more than paid its part. The County paid $250,000 to
renovate the current facility in the early 1990s. He
also noted they have provided a $501,256 supplement
to the General Fund and have received $1.32 million
in grants. It has paid $860,000 in rent since 1994.
The Academy has 36 employees with annual payroll of
$1,044,617.
Commissioner Jimmy Kee asked if the project could be
re-bid, but Smith said timing is of the essence with
the onset of cold weather, which could affect the
pouring of concrete.
Barrett Construction Company of Paris was the
successful bidder on the project with an initial bid
of $187,497.00 without air conditioning or heating.
The Commission also voted to make a budget amendment
of $62,711.07 to the self-insured fund to pay for a
court judgment for an injury that occurred at the
Yuma Volunteer Fire Department's Haunted House.
Commissioner Jimmy Kee, a paramedic with Baptist
Emergency Medical Services, demonstrated an
automated heart defibrillator. He said that eight of
the defibrillators were obtained through a Tennessee
Department of Health grant. The units will be placed
throughout the county. Kee said a six to eight hour
course will be available to train citizens on the
use of the AED. He encouraged commissioners to tell
their constituents about the units and the free
training classes.
In other business, the Commission:
- approved Vince Taylor to serve on the Carroll
County Electrical Board. He will fill the position
left vacant by the late Roy Gene Jarrett.
- approved a Safety Committee consisting of Denise
Barger, Willie Clement, Jeff Heyduck, Janice Moon,
Janice Newman, Jan Swor, Mike Tolley, Bobby Mayo,
and Charlotte Tucker.
- approved a Governmental Accounting Standards Board
Committee consisting of Kenny McBride, Charlotte
Tucker, Ricky Scott, Paula Bolen, Gaye Tippitt, and
Denise Barger.
- accepted a grant in the amount of $136,641 for
Carroll Academy. The grant comes from W.I.A. and
could not have been accepted unless the construction
of classrooms and a gymnasium was approved.
- approved a resolution to oppose unfounded state
mandates that affect local governments.
- elected notaries - Lora Wofford, Sandra Bradberry,
Theresa L. Brownlee, Jennie Barnett, Debra P. Cobb,
and Bonnie Hopper.
- approved a resolution supporting the President of
the United States in the fight against terrorism.
- approved changing the November meeting to Tuesday,
November 13 because Monday, November 12 will be
celebrated as Veterans' Day.
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Arrest Made In New Generations Bomb Threat; Company
Receives Second Call |
By Linda Bolton
linda@mckenziebanner.com
Carroll County Sheriff's Department has made an
arrest in connection with a Wednesday, September 26
bomb threat at New Generations furniture
manufacturing industry in McKenzie. The arrest came
on the heels of a second bomb threat made Tuesday
during the noon hour, less than a week from the
first threat, according to Ben Gaines Jr., CEO.
Joshua Black, 19, of McKenzie has been charged with
filing a false report, according to CCSO
Investigator Becky Keith. The suspect, who was an
employee of the company at the time of the threat,
is currently free on $5,000 bond, pending a court
appearance.
The Banner had originally reported the September 26
caller was a female, however the report should have
stated the caller was a "male." The caller asked the
receptionist if she could take a message for a
supervisor, then stated, "Tell him a bomb is in the
building."
"There is a section in that charge whereby if there
is an emergency personnel response, it is charged as
a felony," said Investigator Keith.
The second bomb threat was made between the hours of
12 and 1 p.m. Tuesday, October 2. The caller was
once again a man, but used a different approach,
according to Mr. Gaines.
The caller reportedly stated, "There's a bomb," and
then hung up.
Employees were once again evacuated while members of
Carroll County Sheriff's Department, management of
New Generations, and Carroll County Emergency
Management Agency searched the building. Also
standing by at the scene were McKenzie Fire and
Rescue Department and Methodist Ambulance Service.
Employees were allowed to return to work at
approximately 12:50 p.m. after the "all clear" was
given.
Investigator Keith declined to comment on whether
Mr. Black is a suspect in the second threat, stating
only that the department is looking into that
possibility.
Mr. Gaines stated that the person who is responsible
for either of the calls is "obviously a person with
deep psychological problems," especially in light of
the recent terrorist attacks and fears of further
attacks throughout the U.S. However, he added, "We
feel very appreciative about the way the
investigation is going. Investigators Keith and Andy
Dickson have done a thorough and professional job."
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