The McKenzie Police Department is now accepting applications for its first Citizens Police Academy, beginning March 5.

According to Investigator Jasmin Powell, the Citizens Police Academy is a chance for citizens who live or work in the McKenzie area to get a firsthand view of the operations of the McKenzie Police Department.

The class will meet one night a week for ten weeks, with instruction to include use of force, undercover drug operations, crime scene investigation, DUI enforcement, criminal law, firearms, and other areas.

Investigator Powell says during the ten week course, participants will be required to ride with a McKenzie Police Officer at least one time, between the hours of 6:00pm and 2:00am.

Applications will be accepted until March 2 or until the class is filled and may be picked up at the McKenzie Police Department.

A Martin man is in the Weakley County Jail accused of violating the sex offender registry.

53-year-old Thomas Allen Warner, of Elm Street in Martin, was arrested by Weakley County Sheriff’s Captain Terry McDade after it was learned Warner was supposed to be living at an address in Kentucky, but had been living in Weakley County for at least two weeks without registering with the Martin Police Department.

According to the arrest affidavit, Captain McDade spoke with Warner’s state probation officer in Kentucky and they’ve been unable to reach Warner for several weeks.

The Weakley County Sheriff’s Department is receiving a lifesaving donation from the Sadie Saves Charity organization of Gleason.

The organization will be presenting the Sheriff’s Department with eight brand new Automated External Defibrillators valued at $8,000 dollars.

The lifesaving AEDs will be placed in deputies’ patrol cars responding to emergency calls across Weakley County.

The charity is named for Sadie Cook, a Gleason High School graduate and marketing major at UT Martin, who, at just 20 years of age in 2010, died of a bronchial asthma attack, possibly triggered by an allergic reaction.

The organization raises money to help save lives with the purchase of EpiPens and AED machines.

The Sadie Saves Charity will make the presentation Tuesday night at 5:00 at the Weakley County Sheriff’s Department.

A Weakley County man is set to appear in court Wednesday, charged with pouring gasoline on himself and in the house while threatening to kill his children’s mother and burn down the house.

37-year-old Matthew Thomas Helms, of Palmersville, was arrested last week at his residence on Palmersville Highway 89 after making the threats while highly intoxicated.

Helms is charged with Criminal Attempt to Commit Aggravated Assault, and Manufacturing Marijuana after marijuana being grown was found in the house.

Helms is scheduled to appear Wednesday in Weakley County General Sessions Court.

Officials say a $200 million Amazon distribution center in Memphis will employ 1,000 workers and should be up and running in time for this year’s holiday season.

With the skeleton of the massive building in the background, Amazon officials and state and local politicians gathered at the construction site Monday to talk about the project.

Officials say workers will make at least $15 per hour as they pack and ship consumer products alongside Amazon’s robots.

The center will be Amazon’s third in Memphis.

(by Karen Campbell, Weakley County Schools Communications Director)

Sharon School is wild about kindness as seen by their animal print clothing.

Based on the beliefs that “kindness is strength” and that as an action is repeated, a habit is formed, the Great Kindness Challenge is now in more than 24,000 schools including those in Weakley County.

Most Weakley Schools will observe the week beginning January 27.

The Great Kindness Challenge is a grassroots movement observed in more than 110 countries. The event is usually a week long and encourages schools and communities “to make the world a kinder and more compassionate place for all.”

While the manner in which Weakley County schools are observing the emphasis varies – some with themed apparel days to underscore a message and others with specific checklists of kind acts to perform – the emphasis on kindness is set.

Suggested kind acts for schools to promote are: smiling at a certain number of people, complimenting others, telling a joke and making someone laugh, write thank you notes or letters, help a teacher with a task, and even cleaning your room at home.

Six of the schools will be underscoring kindness messages using themed attire – Dresden Elementary, Dresden Middle, Gleason, Martin Primary, Martin Elementary, and Sharon. Examples included pajamas to emphasize “dreaming of kindness;” camouflage will remind students “not to hide their kindness;” spirit wear or favorite team’s attire will be for “teaming up for kindness.”

Dresden Elementary is asking each grade to vote on a kindest person in their grade and those will be announced during our Citizen of the Month assembly on Friday. They are jointly — with Dresden Middle — hosting a blood drive on Thursday from 12:00-5:30 p.m. for parents and the community.

Dresden Middle School has a canned soup drive planned. They are collaborating with Rolling Thunder to donate to local veterans in need. UTM Chancellor Dr. Keith Carver will speak to the school. Students can also purchase “Conversation Hearts” for 50 cents and recipients can then pay 50 cents to learn who the sender was. And students will make cards to send to veterans.

Greenfield faculty will be on the lookout for acts of kindness this week and the rewards will range from a piece of candy to coupons for a meal at McDonald’s. Kindergarten through second grade will enter a coloring contest. Grades 3-5 will be drawing pictures of kindness. Grades 6-8 will express themselves in poetry. The elementary school will also be making cards for veterans and nursing home residents.

Martin Elementary is doing dress up days, a coloring and drawing contest that will be displayed in the gym, and kindness challenges for students and staff.  Each classroom was encouraged to do a project of their own to promote kindness.

Martin Middle School will feature daily announcements about an aspect of kindness read by a different student each day and students will be encouraged to focus on that aspect throughout the day. They are also promoting a poster contest and essay contest for prizes.  Students will sign a large banner after they display an act of kindness. On Friday, an 8th grade student, Jeremiah Britt, will do the announcements and talk about his initiative to reach money for St. Jude’s Hospital.  His fundraising idea will take place in February.

At Sharon School, January 31 will be Sharon’s Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports reward day for kindergarten-8th grade. Their activities include a photo op for putting the “I” in Kind.

Westview has plans for a door decorating contest highlighting a kindness, positive, or anti-bullying theme. The doors will be judged, and the classroom with the best door will receive a prize. Students will receive a list of acts of kindness suggestions and also be collecting items for the Target House at St. Jude.

Dresden High started the week by reminding students, “In a world where you can be anything, choose to be KIND!” Each day different ways to promote kindness are planned. On Monday, a sheet of suggested kindness acts was distributed. Tuesday students sign a declaration for having a “Heart of a Lion.” On Wednesday a photo op for social media will be available. On Thursday, community members have a special greeting planned for students and a school-wide photo depicting a heart is being arranged.  And on Friday, students will turn in their chronicle of “Kind Acts” and be eligible for a drawing for Walmart gift cards.  Students will also select the kindest students from each grade.

Gleason School will be observing the Kindness Challenge February 10-14.

The elementary students will participate in dress up days and reading books with kindness themes. The middle and high school students will be selling candy grams — positive message to be sent to a friend or teacher for $1. The entire school is also encouraged to make Valentine cards for St. Jude, and a card is also being signed for a student who is currently serving in the military who graduated last year.  “Kindness Matters” t-shirts are being sold to be worn Friday, Feb 14 with proceeds from shirt sales as well as the candy grams benefitting the American Heart Association.

School nurses, coordinated school heath teams, and Weakley County Youth Coalition groups are among the masterminds for planning, promoting and coordinating activities throughout the week.

(by Erin Chesnut, UTM University Relations Staff Writer)

UT Martin Chancellor Dr. Keith Carver expects 2020 to be a year of growth for the university, mentioning increased enrollment, new academic programs and new buildings on his radar for the coming months.

“Spring enrollment for 2020 is trending upward and says good things for this fall. Our graduate student enrollment has reached a record high, with 580 graduate students currently taking classes. That’s a 60.2 percent increase, so 218 students total, compared to last spring,” he said. “I am also proud to announce that our full-time equivalency totals are up by 143 students, which will be a factor in state funding for the 2020-21 academic year.”

Full-time equivalency, or FTE, is calculated by dividing the total number of enrolled course hours by 15 for undergraduate students and 12 for graduate students and is used to allocate higher education funding statewide. UT Martin has also seen an enrollment increase for dual and concurrent students this spring, with 1,260 students taking classes – an increase of 78 students (6.6 percent) compared to spring 2019. Total student headcount stands at 6,728 students at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

“We’re working hard to secure new freshmen and transfer students and optimize retention efforts for our current students,” he said. The chancellor also spoke of five new academic programs in the coming year, with four of those announced at the master’s level. He says the university’s strategic enrollment plan, in production with the help of national research firm Ruffalo Noel Levitz, will be finished this year and help to guide student recruitment and retention efforts for the next five years.

“I am most excited about the Latimer Engineering and Science Building. This will be the first new academic building developed at UT Martin in more than 40 years,” he said. “We’ll open construction bids later this month, and there will be lots of associated activity as a result of the design and building process. … We’re also working to make sure we have the most secure campus that we can possibly have, and we’ll be installing approximately 200 new security cameras over the next year.”

Carver is also excited to see renovations completed in Clement Hall, which will house a variety of student success units once finalized. The upgrades will make the building a “one-stop shop” for students taking care of university business.

As for what the next decade holds, Carver is hopeful the university will continue to thrive and expand to offer even more opportunities for West Tennessee residents.

“I’d like to see us keeping true to our mission to be the finest regional, undergraduate teaching institution that we can possibly be. I’d like to see our five off-campus centers thriving and offering master’s degree programs from those locations,” he said. “I’d hope that our enrollment in 10 years would reflect the diversity of our region and state.”

Carver also mentioned the second Skyhawk Retention Summit, scheduled for May 13, which will continue the discussion about student success and persistence among colleges and universities across the southeast. The 2019 summit welcomed 250 representatives from 28 institutions across six states.