Mountain City, Tennessee 3768375 centsWednesday, January 2, 2019 Vol. 145 No. 1

THE TOMAHAWKwww.thetomahawk.com

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Health ................................ A2Agriculture/Education ....... A3Court Report ..................... A4Obituaries .......................... A5

Sports ............................. B1,3Community Calendar........ B2Faith .................................. B4Service Directory .............. B5Classifieds ......................... B6

INSIDE THIS WEEK

The Tomahawk Christmas Gift and Celebrations Give-A-Way Contest winners Laurie Reece, left, and Clara Smith pose with their gift baskets. Photos by Rita Hewett

The Johnson County Com-mission held its final session for the year last week in the John-son County Courthouse with the planned Agricultural Center build-ing project taking much of the time for the evening.

Following the routine, the meet-ing opened with a prayer followed by the Pledge of Allegiance, roll call, and a call to order and a call for any public comments was then issued. Meeting minutes from the previous November County Commission meeting were unani-

mously approved. Amongst the Commission’s

various agenda items for the eve-ning were the approval of Eric Nordmark to be hired for Archi-tectural Services for Agricultural Center construction, authoriza-tion to execute an Archeological survey for the Agricultural Center site at the cost of $5,500 and ap-proval of Resolution and Policy for credit card usage within The Commission.

The planned Agricultural Center building project was of great im-portance as the Budget Committee

By Bethany AndersonFreelance Writer

Agricultural Complex plans move forward

Johnson County Mayor Mike Taylor concludes the December County Commission meeting with holiday well wishes for all

in attendance. Photo By Bethany Anderson See Agri Page A6

The nation’s struggle with opioids continues as nearly two million Americans are estimated to be addicted to prescription painkillers, and the volunteer state seems especially vulnerable with nearly 2,000 reported drug over-

Opioids abuse remains a big problem for Tennes-

see, Johnson County.

Battling addiction

And the winners are …TNReady audit examines failures

By Jill PenleyFreelance Writer

One of the most talked about issue that has made headlines as it affected many across the state last year was the 2018 TNReady test.

According to a recent press release from the Tennessee Comp-troller’s Office a performance audit of the Tennessee Department of Education has detailed many of the problems that led up to the difficul-ties in executing the spring 2018 TNReady tests.

As most already know the online student assessment tests were plagued with numerous issues including login delays, slow servers, and software bugs. The first signs of trouble began on April 16, 2018, and continued through the end of the month.

The issues occurred are primar-ily credited to Questar Assessment, Inc’s performance and updates to the student assessment system.

Auditors also found the De-partment of Education’s over-sight of test administration fell

By Tamas MondovicsEditor

See Opioids Page A6

See TNReady Page A6

COUNTY COMMISSIONERS MEETING

It took sometime to make what many feared true to be official that U.S. Marine Corps Corporal William “Carter” Ross of Hender-sonville was declared deceased by the Marine Corps on December 11 after five days of search and rescue opera-tions attempting to find five Ma-rines involved in an accident b e t w e e n t w o aircraft off the coast of Japan on December 6.

Ross was rec-ognized and re-membered for his service and sacrifice during a recent ceremony by State of-ficials including Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and Department of Veterans Services Commissioner Many-Bears Grinder.

”All Tennesseans should be proud of this decorated U.S. Ma-rine who made the ultimate sac-rifice to help keep all Americans

safe,” Haslam said. “We extend our condolences and prayers to Carter’s parents, his younger sis-ters and his friends.”

Ross, 21 a Sumner County native worked in aircraft maintenance and refueling with the intention of becoming a crew master in the Marine Corps.

According to officials, the KC-130 Hercules was assigned to the Marine Aerial Re-fueler Transport Squadron 152, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing. The F/A-18 Hornet was assigned to Ma-rine All-Weather Fighter Attack Squadron 242.

Ross was in the flight crew on the

KC-130 at the time of the col-lision, which is currently under investigation.

The young Marine comes from a legacy of military service that dates back to World War I. After attending Hendersonville High School, Ross graduated from

Tennessee Marine remembered after fatal

aircraft collision

Volunteers welcome

Tomahawk’s Dandy Dozen All Johnson-Carter County football team … see page B1

School bus safety laws …see page A3

By Tamas MondovicsEditor

Corporal William Ross

See Marine Page A6

The Upper East Tennessee Hu-man Development Agency is once again hosting its annual Commodity Distribution planned for Tuesday, January 22, 2019, at the National

G u a r d A r -mory 1923 S. Shady Street.

The event will also give local volun-teers to as-sist and to be available to

help the elderly and disabled per-sons carry their commodities.

According to UETHDA officials, items will be distributed on a first come first served basis to income-eligible households until all com-modities are gone.

“All recipients must be residents of Tennessee,” said Upper East Tennessee Human Development Agency Communications Man-ager, Haley White. “This project is funded under an agreement with the Tennessee Department of Agri- culture.”

White explained that each recipi-ent must now have a purple colored commodity ID card to pick up his or her commodities.

An ID card is obtained by com-pleting an application at the Neigh-

borhood Service Center. “We strongly encourage each

recipient to complete the applica-tion before January 18, this will be helpful in reducing wait time,” Haley said.

By Tamas MondovicsEditor

UETHDA Announces Date for January, ID card needed to receive commodity

Lend a hand at annual Johnson County Commodity Food Distribution

SportsEducation

Volunteers assisting the Upper East Tennesse Human Development Agency during a food distribution event.

Submitted photo

See Volunteer Page A4