Dresden Enterprise - Covering Weakley County Like the Dew from Heaven for 118 Years

    With the current contract set to expire soon, the Weakley County Commission Public Safety Committee approved a request by Weakley County Ambulance Service to renew and extend it's contract with the County that has been in effect since July 1983 in a meeting held Monday afternoon.
    Weakley County Ambulance Service, which is a non-profit corporation, requested the contract extension as it has done every five years since being awarded the contract. The Public Safety Committee reviewed the request along with proposed amendments to bring the contract up to date and reflect changes that have been made to the service provide over the past twenty-five years. Originally, the contract only provided for a total of two ambulances to be staffed at stations in Dresden and Martin, but over the years the service has been expanded to add a third station in Greenfield. Changes have also been made over the years with the approval of the county in the way that the service bills for services that are not reflected in the original contract.
    A representative of Weakley County Ambulance Service told the Public Safety Committee Monday afternoon that the service is currently proposing to add a fourth full-time crew to the service with the additional crew to be stationed in Martin. This additional crew would mean that there would be a total of two full-time staffed ambulances in the Martin area to better address the demand for services in that area particularly from the hospital and nursing homes. The second Martin ambulance would be added at no additional cost to the taxpayers of Weakley County, which provides a subsidy for the operation of the ambulance service.
    The Public Safety Committee was informed that the City of Martin had recently approached the ambulance service about having two full-time crews in the City of Martin. The ambulance service representative said that while it is not financially feasible to meet all of the requests made by the City of Martin in regard to ambulance service for the city without additional county subsidy, the service was willing to meet the City of Martin half-way by adding an additional full-time ambulance to serve the Martin area and insuring that an ambulance is available in the area to answer emergency calls when the other unit is making out-of-county transfers. This additionally unit would likewise be beneficial to the remainder of the county in helping to meet the increasing call volume, particularly for out-of-county transfers from the hospital and insuring that the county remains adequately covered while other units make transfers.

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

School board hears proposed budget

By Jason Peevyhouse

Staff Reporter

    With the current fiscal year ending in the next few days, members of the Weakley County School Board were presented with a proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year, which will begin on July 1.
    Since the members of the board were just presented with the proposed budget on Monday afternoon at a special called meeting, the board decided to put off any action on the budget until the next meeting of the board, scheduled for July 1 at 5 p.m.
    In the proposed budget, there will be no salary increase for the county's teachers. But, there will also be no medical insurance increase for the school's employees either.
    With the county's alternative school losing its funding, there is currently no funding allotted to Carroll Academy. The county could continue to aid the school, but at an increase from $25,000 to $90,000 for the school year. Reportedly, some counties are prepared to make that large of a commitment to the school.

(Read the rest of this story in the June 25th print edition of the Dresden Enterprise.)

UT-Martin among safest four-year public institutions

    University of Tennessee at Martin students and their parents, as well as faculty and staff, can take comfort that UT Martin is one of the safest four-year public institutions in Tennessee in the most recent statewide crime statistics. Additionally, for crimes that are committed, the UT Martin Department of Public Safety has the best crime clearance rate – substantially above the state average.
    “UT Martin students continue to learn and grow in one of the safest environments in the South,” said UT Martin Chancellor Tom Rakes. “Our staff continues to work hard adjusting and improving public safety to ensure we are prepared for a variety of potential situations.”
    According to crime statistics for 2007 released by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, UT Martin ranked as the second safest campus in the state among Board of Regents and Board of Trustees institutions. UT Martin had a rating of 15 for group “A” offenses per 1,000 campus population with the statewide average at 22 for group “A” offenses per 1,000 campus population.
    UT Martin’s clearance rate (cases solved) for group “A” offenses was tops with 41 percent compared to the statewide average at 25.5 percent.
    “The high rate of clearances is a direct result of folks being willing to get involved and report criminal activity, which leads to a successful investigation and resolution of the case by members of Department of Public Safety. It is a total team effort by everyone involved,” said Scott Robbins, UT Martin director of public safety.

(Read the rest of this story in the June 25th print edition of the Dresden Enterprise.)

Accident claims the life of Sharon woman

An accident late Wednesday night on Highway 45E claimed the life of a Sharon woman.
According to the report from the Tennessee Highway Patrol, Alissa D. Fuller, of Sharon, was traveling south in the northbound lane of Highway 45 when the 2001 Nissan she was driving collided with and 18-wheeler driven by Stephen E. Leo of Mansfield, OH. The vehicles collided in the northbound lane and came to rest in the median.
Fuller was not wearing her seatbelt when the crash occurred.

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