The Martin Police Department arrested a Gleason man following an altercation at a Martin bar.

    According to a police report filed by Martin Ptl. Terry W. Guthrie, an employee at Cadillacs Bar, located at 113 Church Street, told officers that at approximately 1:50 a.m. on Thursday, March 27, the victim, Charles F. Atkinson, 28, of Martin, stepped outside the bar and, at one point, exchanged words with a man wearing a dark shirt and dark hat. The witness stated the man, wearing dark clothing, stepped back into the bar, and then, stepped outside again, hitting the victim with the door and then striking him across the face with a pool stick.

    Minutes later, Ptl. Guthrie located the alleged offender identified as Brian Wainscott, 32, of 307 Phelps Street in Gleason, during a traffic stop, after spotting a vehicle matching the description of a vehicle driven by suspects involved in an assault.

    Wainscott, was taken into custody and transported to Martin Police Department where he was charged with aggravated assault.

(Read the rest of this story in the April 2nd print edition of the Dresden Enterprise.)

    A group of eighth grade girls in Mrs. Leigh Hart’s Health & Physical Education class volunteered to help host an afternoon of fun and games for the students at Dresden K-8 School, called “Play for Clay” to raise funds to benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

    Those taking part in the charitable event, held after school on Friday, were on the team of six-year-old Clay Higgs, who suffers from cystic fibrosis, a genetic disorder.

    “We’re doing a service learning project,” Mrs. Hart said. “And we chose to try to raise money for cystic fibrosis research. We have a young man in our community, whose name is Clay Higgs. He’s five-years old and he has CS. Joyce Hale, who is out at the alternative school, received some grant money for service learning projects for Weakley County students to take the initiative to do a project with that money, so everything we generate here today is profit.

“Also, community businesses donated, including E.W. James, B.P., Little General, Wal-Mart, Subway, and Cine Theater gave us movie tickets,” Hart said. “So we’ve got all kinds of giveaways going on all afternoon. The kids pay $2 to stay and ‘Play for Clay’ – that’s the theme of our event.”

    Mrs. Hart stated that every penny Friday’s ‘Play for Clay’ event generated will be donated at the ‘Weakley/Obion County Great Strides Walk’ in support of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, scheduled Saturday, April 26, at the Martin Recreation Complex.

    Clay is son of Tina and Shane Higgs of Dresden. Clay’s mom, Tina, said Clay’s six-year-old brother, Bennett, attends Dresden Elementary School. “And Clay will be coming to kindergarten here at Dresden in the fall.”

    Mrs. Higgs stated, Clay, who’s in Diane Mayo’s Head Start class in Dresden, can currently do most anything a normal five-year-old can do; but as he gets older, he may become more limited, due to less-than-normal lung capacity. She explained that cystic fibrosis produces lots of mucus in the body, which affects the lungs. “They are constantly coughing, and they cough up mucus,” Mrs. Higgs said. “For most of them, it affects their digestive system and their pancreas. Because the mucus in their bodies won’t allow the tubes in their pancreas to let any of the enzymes get out to digest their food. So, they have to take enzymes to make up for what their bodies don’t produce. Every time they eat, they take them (enzymes). And that’s how they gain weight. Most of them have a difficult time gaining weight.” As for her son, Clay, she said, “The more active he is, the better it is for his lungs.”

(Read the rest of this story in the April 2nd print edition of the Dresden Enterprise.)

    The Weakley County Municipal Electric Service has announced a rate increase for its local customers effective April 1, 2008.

    The new rates amount to a 7 percent increase for electrical power usage as follows:

    The rate for residential customers includes a minimum service fee of $8.88, with a charge of $0.07909 per kilowatt-hour, up to 800 kilowatts, and $0.7828 for each kilowatt-hour over 800 kilowatts.

    Commercial customers falling in the small businesses category will pay a minimum service charge of $15.74, plus $0.08748 per kilowatt-hour, regardless of the amount used. Additionally, commercial customers will pay sales tax.

    According to a news release from the Tennessee Valley Authority, the 7-percent increase in firm wholesale electric rates will fund new power generation and energy efficiency initiatives needed to meet the growing power demand of the Tennessee Valley.

    The rate adjustment provides an estimated $300 million in additional revenue during fiscal year 2008. While amounts vary across the Valley, residential customers may expect an increase of about $4 to $7 on monthly retail electric bills, depending on their individual energy use.

    “We certainly recognize the financial challenges that consumers face as we make a recommendation to the Board on the need to increase power rates,” TVA President and CEO Tom Kilgore said. “TVA is taking steps to reduce its non-fuel operating and maintenance costs by more than $400 million over the next three years. However, additional revenue is needed for long-term investments to keep the power system reliable and lessen our dependence on volatile energy markets. That will help us keep electricity reliable and affordable in the years to come.”

    At its public meeting last May, the Board recognized the need for a rate adjustment to fund the implementation of the Strategic Plan. In approving the fiscal year 2008 budget in September, the Board directed TVA staff to work with local power distributors to develop a rate adjustment proposal for consideration early in 2008.

    The 2008 budget includes $2 billion in capital expenditures for the addition of new power plants and work to complete Unit 2 at Watts Bar Nuclear Plant. TVA needs the additional power plants to meet power demand that is growing by about 2 percent a year during peak periods.

(Check out the rest of this story in this week's print edition of the Dresden Enterprise!)