January 4, 2007-
The year 2006 ended on a tragic note with the death of 14 year-old Corriana Windsor in a Thursday afternoon, December 28 four-wheeler accident in a shady valley where Driver Road, Claude Fox Road and Bottom Road converge near a small bridge over White Oak Creek.
In sports, the MCHS girls took first place in the annual Nera White Tournament.
January 11, 2007-
A Tuesday morning, January 9 blaze destroyed a home on the Elzie Williams Road. The first “Across the Miles” column by Jack McCall appeared recalling the storytellers' “love of old barns,” and TVA trucked in a new, 243,000 pound transformer to replace the one which burned out at the Cold Springs Road Tri-County substation during the summer of 2006. Buster Roark and his grandson Tyler Bohanon were profiled, with each holding state championships in barrel and pole racing, and the RBSHS Lady Dawgs defeated Monterey 67-59 in their basketball Homecoming Game.
January 18, 2007-
The Red Boiling Springs city council met in special session to discuss a gas franchise proposal; a community meeting was held to discuss forming a Macon County Arts Council; and in sports, MCHS senior Keith Kirby was named All-State Quarterback by the TN Sportswriters Association. In other sports news, MCHS Tigerette Holly Compton reached her 1,000th point mark in a game against Gordonsville. And Amos Nash was back “on the road again” with a like-new 2002 Ford truck, which replaced his old brown truck after a Scottsville Road wreck ended its long career the previous month.
January 25, 2007-
16 year-old Trenton Boulton was critically injured in a January 21 Lafayette Hill accident. Boulton was ejected from a GMC Jimmy when it went off the road, struck an embankment and came to rest in the creek bed on its top. County Commissioners were considering the options should Clay County drop out of the Tri-County Vocational School shared by Clay, Macon and Jackson counties; and a California man was charged with statutory rape after he allegedly traveled to Lafayette to visit a girl he met on the Internet. Sheriff's deputies confiscated the teenager's computer, and Jonathan Cordenas of Van Nuys, CA was held on $100,000 bond.
February 1, 2007-
Two suspects were arrested in a January 27 robbery at the Sunshine Market, and $2,000 of the $3,300 taken was recovered. A benefit barbecue raised $3,250 to help with farmer Tony Dennis' medical bills for cancer treatment. Cumberland Bank announced a merger that would re-name the institution “Green Bank,” and the Corrections Corporation of America was said to be considering a Trousdale County site for a new private prison. In sports, Kelly Rich and Laken Leonard each scored their 1000th career points in a game against Clarkrange.
February 8, 2007-
It was announced that Smith County's zinc mines would re-open, employing 250 persons at three facilities. An employee, Tiffany Key, 28, was charged with complicity in the January 27 Sunshine Market robbery; icy roads caused a number of wrecks, but fortunately no injuries. In sports, the RBSHS Lady Dawgs were second to Clarkrange in district play with a 10-2 record, and Rachel Painter broke the school basketball record with 407 Most Career Assists to her credit.
February15, 2007-
Hermitage Springs firefighter Dustin “Bubba” Shaw, 20, died in a one vehicle accident Saturday afternoon February 10. A second firefighter, Jerry “Dino” York, 42 was seriously injured in the accident, in which his truck left the roadway, struck a tree and overturned. A former Macon County jailer, R. J. Spivey, 59, was arrested and charged with Sexual Contact with an Inmate and Official Misconduct after an investigation by the TBI; and the RBS City Council failed to pass a gas franchise motion for the second time. In sports, the RBSHS girls remained second in district basketball standings after defeating Gordonsville 57-47.
February 22, 2007-
The Jett Williams Days annual scholarship concert got a boost from Nestle Waters sponsorship of the event, and long-serving MCGH surgical nurse Dixie Wooten, 75, died at home on February 17. The county Industrial Development Board met and discussed a number of issues, including plans for a new Welcome Center, and the possibility that CCA might build a private prison in Trousdale County, bringing several hundreds of jobs to the region.
March 1, 2007-
Lafayette and Willette firefighters “saved” the historic Dr. Kirby home from fire on Monday morning, February 26, and Trevor Cole, 24, of Red Boiling Springs died in a Jackson County wreck on February 21 which serious injured his twin brother, Tyler Cole. County Commissioners approved the re-zoning of 11 acres near Westside School for a commercial butchering operation which might employ as many as thirty persons. In sports, the RBSHS girls lost to Clarkrange in the Regional Tournament after a quarterfinals win over Watertown.
March 8, 2007-
Owner E.C. Meadows planned to re-build the historic Dr. Kirby house “better than it was before” the February 26 fire which almost destroyed the two story 1860's structure. Three roll over accidents resulted in injuries to five persons; and Trousdale County commissioners voiced support for the location of a CCA prison on a 100 acre site near Hartsville.
March 15, 2007-
Brush fires burned over 100 acres near Hwy. 141 in western Macon County; School Transportation supervisor Larry Holland was injured in a one vehicle accident on March 13 on the Gamaliel Road; Taylor Wix was crowned Miss MCJHS; and Sheriff's Detective Bill Cothron spoke at the county school board meeting about the problem of students displaying obscene images on cell phones.
March 22, 2007-
A head-on collision between a Ford Explorer and a semi-truck on Hwy. 10-south claimed the life of Matt Cliburn, 19, Lafayette, the same week two Clay County teenagers, Tyler Anderson and Ethan Franklin, died in a Walker Hill wreck. The American Greetings building was sold to William Carter and Dale Hix, who intended to use the facility temporarily as a warehouse for building materials, and the Red Boiling Springs city council agreed to buy the RBS Gas Utility, Inc., out of receivership for $250,000.
Pioneer businessman Carlos Lee Smith, the 2006 Will Hall Sullivan Award winner, died at age 96.
March 29, 2007-
The regional drought of 2007 was in progress. A county wide burning ban was imposed after a dry and warm winter and early spring without the usual precipitation caused numerous brush and woods fires. Steve Newberry announced his candidacy for a seat on the Red Boiling Springs city council, and a walking track was under construction around the Palace Care and Rehab Center in RBS.
April 5, 2007-
ATFAB, a recycling facility, was locating in the Lafayette Industrial Park on a two-acre site; County Tax Assessor Rick Shoulders said new tax reappraisal notices would go out at the end of April; several new businesses opened in the Spring, with All About Sports opening on the Public Square, and Extreme Coatings opening on the Hwy. 52-bypass in the building that had been Larry's Heating and Cooling.
April 12, 2007-
A hard freeze took the bloom out of spring with several nights of record low temperatures. Lafayette police officers Lt. Bryon Satterfield and Det. Grant Malo were injured when their patrol car crashed into a tree on Sycamore St. as they responded to a domestic call; a Gallatin robbery suspect, Thomas Doyle, was apprehended in Macon County after a high speed chase ended in a wreck on a bridge near John Lewis Hollow; and a pickup truck rear-ended a Mennonite buggy on the Scottsville Road, thankfully with no serious injuries to occupants or horse.
April 19, 2007-
A “Prom Awareness Program” was presented for high school students with dramatic enactments of a DUI crash scene at the Lafayette high school; school board members had narrowed the field for a new schools director to three persons: J.Y. Carter; Bobby Bransford; and Darrell Law.
And first reports that LPD Lt. Bryon Satterfield had sustained a broken leg in a April 10 car crash proved mistaken, with officer's injuries limited to a severely dislocated hip and ankle. Americans were mourning the death of Virginia Tech students who died April 16 when a classmate opened fire on teachers and students on the Blacksburg, Va. campus.
April 26, 2007-
Darrell Law was named new county schools director on April 17; the Hwy. 10-south project to get a new road from Lafayette to Lebanon was said to be ten years down the line, according to a TDOT regional director; and Mark Darnell joined Peoples State Bank of Commerce as their Hartsville branch president. In sports MCHS runner Brandon Mahaney broke a school record in the 1600 meter race at the AAA Boys State Track meet.
May 5, 2007-
RBS Mayor Kenneth Hollis won easy re-election April 28, and Steve Newberry replaced Lawrence Hollis on the city council. The Lafayette Fire Department improved its public protection rating, with a projected lowering of home owners insurance rates; and advanced tickets were available for the Jett Williams Days Concert at Deerwood Park, scheduled for Saturday, May 12.
May 10, 2007-
A SWAT team sucessfully disarmed a distraught Smyrna man who asked officers repeatedly to shoot him as he sat in his car on the Toney Road intent on suicide. Local nurses were featured as National Nurses Week was celebrated; and Garden Club ladies Reba Walrond and Barbara Oliver were planting Spring flowers in planters located on the Public Square. In sports, the RBSHS Bulldogs scored three straight baseball victories against Clarkrange, and the MCHS Tigers won their last home game against Smith County by a score of 10-4.
May 17, 2007-
More than a thousand fans turned out for the Jett Williams Days concert, which raised money for the Fred and Ruth Clark Scholarship Fund. $161,809 was donated to the Macon County Senior Citizens Center. The funds came from left over infrastructure grants awarded Nestle Waters when they located a plant in Red Boiling Springs. An industrial development consultant advised that the county needed a new Industrial Park site; and Red Boiling Springs was planning on the first extention of the city sewer system since 1992.
May 24, 2007-
Paulette's Day Care Center was closed by the state DHS after a surprise inspection revealed staffing and other deficiencies; a County-wide clean up was scheduled for all four Saturdays in June; the county commission discussed health insurance for employees; and gasoline prices topped $3 a gallon a week before the Memorial Day Weekend, the beginning of the “summer driving season.”
May 31, 2007-
Wayne Walker of Lafayette was killed when he stepped out in front of a semi-truck on Hwy. 231 south of Westmoreland. His death was an apparent suicide. Former Macon County School Board member and Westmoreland postmaster Gene Carter died suddenly of a heart attact on May 23. In sports, the MCHS track team took three state titles in Championship events, with Brandon Mahaney winning the 3200 meter race, and Markie Voyles winning both the 3200 and 1600 meter races.
The 2007 News in Review will be continued next week.
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